Write to Elder Reiley

Washington Vancouver Mission
2223 NW 99th St.
Vancouver WA 98665
jaxon.reiley@myldsmail.net

Monday, February 22, 2016

02/15/2016

Dear Family,

Here is the update for this week...

Joe is a man that moved in with a less-active family a few weeks ago and we have been teaching him. He is definitely interested,but he progresses more slowly than most. We will have to push his date back. The M family are the family he is living with and they are returning to activity. I wish I could explain how crazy this family is, but I will never be able to do it over email. Elder Stevens and I were talking about how we wish we could attach a camera so everybody could know what we do all day and the crazy experiences we have. HaHa. It has definitely been entertaining!

Luis is doing well. We actually took our bishop over there on Tuesday and put him on-date. Our bishop doesn't speak any Spanish, but it was good for him to go. We read 2 Nephi 31 with Luis and talked about baptism. On the car ride home, he was telling us that he could understand the Spanish and that he could clearly tell that we read Alma 32 and talked about faith. It took everything I had not to start laughing, but I kept it in. I felt like Raymond after Debra (on Everyone Loves Raymond) tells him her parents are getting separated. HaHa. but we just rolled with it.

We found another family with a lot of potential. Some other elders said that they met a less-active lady in the store and they took down her contact info and gave it to us. We stopped by yesterday and she was really happy to see us. Her name is Deloris. About halfway through our visit, her 21 year daughter came down and sat in. It turns out she isn't a member and she has been thinking about baptism lately! So hopefully we can continue to teach them. They just moved here from Utah.

I made a cool connection this week. I met a less-active named Amber Talbot up in Long Beach on exchanges. I found out that she used to live in Victor for a while. Then she said that she still has a lot of family that live there. I was like WHO????  She threw out some names. Earl Hamblin is her great uncle. She also said she was related to some Jeppsen's, but she wasn't super familiar with them. I asked her if she knew any Talbots there since that is her last name. She said that her dad't family are all from Salmon, Idaho and that she didn't know if any lived in the valley. So how about that? Another small world connection. 

Our stake got shaken up quite a bit this week. Elder Nash from the seventy came and we had a special meeting to sustain a new stake president. the 2nd counselor was called to be the new one. Elder Stevens and I are really excited about that. It also came as a surprise that our bishop got called to be the 2nd counselor in the stake presidency, so we are now bishopless. We will see what happens on Sunday. 

That's interesting that you brought up college stuff. So we had interviews with President Ferrin on Tuesday. It was weird being interviewed by a different mission president, but it was good, too. I like President Ferrin a lot. My interview was pretty much an exit interview! He mostly talked to me about plans for after the mission. I told him I had made a plan before my mission, but that I hadn't looked into changing it at all. He said now is the time to start making a plan so here we go...

In about a month the mission office is going to call me and ask where I am flying home to and as of right now, I have no idea. It will be from Portland. Can I get to Idaho Falls? Jackson? Do I have to settle for Salt Lake? I'm not really sure, so think about it and get back to me. I need some information about work. I have not thought at all about college. I have just kind of assumed I am going to Utah State, but I will do some praying and fasting the next couple of weeks and get back to you, but here are my thoughts right now. BYU-I isn't calling my name right now. I just don't feel like I should be there, but maybe that will change. Those are some interesting points though about being closer to home and family, and the financial part. Here is a thought. Maybe I won't go to Utah State until January. If I can find a job in the Valley for the fall, then I can save some money to get ready for college which would be nice. I don't think Utah State is that much more expensive and I remember getting an academic scholarship that helped a lot with the cost and I don't remember getting anything from BYU-I. Hopefully we can track all of this down before too long. If I did that, I could stay home through he fall and I wouldn't miss out on he hunting season and Austin's and Carson's games and stuff. Tell me what you think and I will continue to think about it as well.

Basketball sounds like it is going well. It sounds like the girls are hitting their stride at the right time. That would be so cool if they could take state. Have the Teton girls ever taken state before? Hopefully the boys team can keep fighting. That's good that they are having a successful year.

Thanks for sending the package. I have no idea when I will get it. Sometimes they forward it to where I live and sometimes I have to wait until I am in Vancouver again, so we will see, but  thank you.

Thanks again so much for the great email! I lvoe you all and I hope you have a great week. 

Love: Jaxon

PS I am sending some pictures of a hike we went on last Monday. All week it has been nasty weather, but it was beautiful on Monday. We got to see a cool beach. We also got to see a coast guard station. There was a lighthouse that we went to. The coolest part was we walked around an old Civil War fort called Fort Canby. This area has been a crucial place in the wars that we have been so there is a lot of cool stuff. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the fort, but I got a cool picture of us in a much smaller building that we actually aren't even sure what it is!
 




 

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