Write to Elder Reiley

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

Monday, February 29, 2016

02/29/2016

Dear Family,

Thank you for the great email and sharing the updates about the week. Here are the updates from here.

First thing, no bishop yet. I guess a name has been submitted and it has to go to the First Presidency for approval so we are just waiting for that. They are guessing within the next two weeks or so.

We were able to put Amanda on-date for the 26th of March. It was a great lesson and she is so excited to learn. Both her and Deloris came to church again and Amanda even sang in the choir for a musical number in sacrament meeting. They are both doing great and it has been awesome to teach them. Unfortunately the other guy we are teaching got really sick on Saturday and didn't come to church... it wasn't the Saturday night sickness he and the family he is living with got really sick. Hopefully they will get better soon. 

The Spanish lady pulled a bad one and dropped the sisters five days before her baptism. It was such a bummer. Sometimes I am confused about why Heavenly Father works the way He does, but I can trust that it is all in His hands.

Thursday was the best day weather wise I have seen since I have been in Astoria. It was sunny all day and in the high 60's. We were able to do some service, too, that was nice. The rest of the week has been pretty typical Astoria weather.

We got transfer news. So usually we get letters in the mail on the Friday before transfers. This time was different. President Taylor made all the transfer moves, but he didn't get back until Sunday, So he called all of the companionship this morning and told them what was happening, so it is pretty fresh! I am getting transferred. I will be covering the Mint Valley ward and the Cathlamet branch in the Longview stake. Longview has been the only stake in the mission that I haven't served in so now I have hit them all. Longview is about an hour away from Astoria. My new companion will be Elder Trotter. I got to know him pretty well when I was a traveling assistant. He is awesome. He has been out for about four months. I am getting doubled-in! Again! HaHa. It is crazy how many times I have gotten doubled-in, but I love it. It is like getting a fresh start. It is hard for the first couple of weeks, but overall, it is better. Also, I will be a district leader. I am way excited for that. I was only a district leader for a transfer so I am pumped to have another shot at that. President Taylor told me this morning that my job is to train Elder Trotter to be a district leader so that will be fun.

On the other hand, I am bummed about leaving Astoria. It is such a cool city. It is also a great ward. I have loved serving here. It will also  be tough to leave Elder Stevens. He has been one of my favorite companions and we have become good friends. Also, I was really looking forward to being a part of the Spanish group. We just brainstormed a bunch of ideas with the sisters so it is going to take off next transfer. I was just starting to get a hold of the language, too. So as you can tell, I have some mixed feelings. But I know that every transfer move is inspired so I know I am going to where the Lord needs me. 

(From Carson's letter..."Hey Jaxon, how is that Spanish coming and in your patriarchal blessing did it say you would learn a foreign language?" Jaxon's answer: Hey Carson, So in my blessing it basically says that I will have to learn another language if I have to. That is coming true. I was on exchanges the other day with a missionary who doesn't speak Spanish. We ran into a Spanish-speaking lady and I had a conversation with her and set up another time to come back. It was cool. I am definitely not fluent, though, but it has been cool to see the improvements.")

Thanks for the sports updates. I am pumped that baseball is starting up. Hopefully the snow can start melting quickly so you can get on the field soon. I am glad that Carson had a good year for basketball. Those were some interesting names for state wrestling. Who is the coach now? I don't remember. I just think most of those people as little guys in middle school, but now it would make sense that they would be wrestling in high school. That would be awesome to let me know how the state basketball tournament goes this week.

I am going to fast about school this Sunday but I am leaning on starting in August or whenever it starts. I will let you know for sure though probably next week. Idaho Falls would be good to fly into and that should work fine, but if not, I'll tell them Jackson.

I have thought a lot about those ladies that were supposed to get baptized but then just dropped. I asked "why?" to Heavenly Father a lot. I thought if anybody was prepared to hear the gospel it would be those two. As I have thought, I was overcome with the exceeding love that Heavenly Father has for those two. He loves them more than their mothers do. He has His eye on them and they are both in His hands. If they would've been  baptized and they weren't supposed to, it would be so much worse than what is happening now. I was just reassured that this is all under control.

Thanks again for the email. I love you all and I hope you have a great week.

Love: Jaxon








District lunch
Scenery?
Scenery?
Milk expire 29th leap year (do I see Fred Meyer?)
Elk
Tracting on a houseboat
(Ignore the accidental elk one again)

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