10/13/2014

Dear Family,

So I am getting transferred to the Blue Lake Ward in the Gresham stake in Oregon. It is pretty much directly south of where I am now, just right across the river. It is east of Portland. I have heard different things about Gresham. There is the downtown part which is infested with gangs and drugs and all kinds of bad stuff. Then there is the nice, rich part of Gresham. Elder Kunz served in that ward before so I need to talk to him and get some information about it because I don't know anything about it. There is a chance that I will be companions with Elder Jensen from Idaho Falls! We will see what happens. I find out on Wednesday.

We got to watch Meet the Mormons on Wednesday at the mission office. It was so well done and not what I was expecting at all. I wish we could tell how many non members watched it. I can't imagine too many. It was not preachy at all; it just talked about six families and how their faith in Jesus Christ helped them. The last family that they talked about was my favorite. They also talked about a black bishop in Alabama, Navy's head football coach (get Coach Vanderhorst to watch that), the candy bomber, a kick-boxer in Costa Rica, and a convert born and raised in Nepal. It was a cool movie and it would be good to invite non members there.

Saturday was such an awesome day! We played ultimate Frisbee that morning and then the ward mission leader sprained his ankle really bad. It was kind of funny and it reminded me of when Dad jumped off the deck that one time and sprained his ankle. The reactions were a little different ... This one laid on the ground for a few minutes in agony and then we each took an arm and he limped back to his car. We went to his house and gave him a blessing because there was so much that he had to do that day. Elder Livingston gave a good blessing. He was at Nick's baptism, boot and all! The baptism was awesome. the only bad part was that there was a baptism earlier and they weren't supposed to drain the font, but they did anyway. So the font was only half full when he got baptized and Nick and to literally lie all the way down to get all the way under the water. It was pretty cool, though. The talk on baptism was absolute classic. She is in the primary, so she made a sword, shield, breastplate, and helmet all out of cardboard. She then proceeded to put all of the armor on. It was so funny because she didn't even crack a smile the whole time and everybody else was kind of snickering. I was racking my brain trying to come up with a way to take a picture, but it was kind of hard. It was really a good service. The closing song was How Great Thou Art and there were so many people crying. Everybody in the ward has known nick since he was a kid and they know about al of this health issues that he has battled. It was a special moment. Nick's mom and grandma bore their testimonies for the first time in forever on Sunday. It capped off an awesome weekend.

I found out why I was moved to this ward. Remember when I got emergency transferred here and I wasn't all that thrilled? Well, on Sunday, we went over to Nick's grandma's house for dessert. We were talking about why Nick wanted to get baptized. He just said that he felt like that was something that he needed to do so he would start showing up to church. The first Sunday that he came was the first Sunday that I was there.  He came with him mom and grandma and we sat next to them and that was where I heard them talking about Newdale and Felt. Crazy stuff! Nick's great uncle baptized him and he grew up in Sugar City and knows Janet Arnold really well. Ask her if she remembers "Skip" from high school. I also found out that Nick's grandpa went to Tetonia elementary school and middle school and his mom was an English teacher at Teton High School. I also connected with his less-active grandma. She was wondering where her dad's farm was in Felt and she kind of described to me where the house was. Then she showed me a picture that she took a few weeks ago of where she thought the far and the farmhouse might be. Sure enough, there was Gary's house and his farm. I told her that I moved pipe on that same farm that her dad sold 75 years ago! We were going through these Felt books and I shoed her where the Robson's were and there were a few pictures of their old farm. That was pretty awesome. I also connected with Nick because he is really into sports and basketball and one of the things he was dealing with was playing sports on Sundays. I was able to tell him that sports are awesome, but they are nowhere near what the gospel has to offer. It was a testimony builder to me. I know that Heavenly Father is in charge and he knows what is best fro us, even when we don't see it. Now I trust even more that I am going where I am supposed to be going.

I remember Brother Bell! HaHa! that is so great that you saw him. He would just stand in his yard and shag balls while Grandpa pitched to me. Those are great memories.

That is sad about Lyle Beard. I didn't know him but I know Trixie. I wonder what Lyle is thinking right now. I bet it was a huge gathering of Beards because there are so many of them.

I feel so bad for our football team. That loss to Sugar sounds so brutal. I really hope they can come back next week. Do they just have one week left? Thanks for the update on all the other games. I'm glad that JV won. Any victory over sugar is great. Too bad SF didn't hang on to beat Shelley. I'll be glad when that powerhouse goes down. Good job Browns!!! Nick was keeping me pretty updated on them. 

That is so cool that Joe got baptized. That is awesome. The gospel can benefit everybody and I am so glad that he made that decision to do it. 

Say Hi to the Beans for me. Tell Shauna thanks for Jourdon's letters. Also tell Justin that Utah State is the best! We can be roommates! Just kidding... well kind of. Praying about it would probably be the most important thing to do of course.

I love you all and thanks again for all you do for me.

Love, Elder Reiley