Letter from November 26, 2012

   Thanksgiving was great but unfortunately the work was pretty slow with the holiday. Both our wards on Sunday were near empty (I guess Vegas isn't the place to be for Thanksgiving) and for sacrament meeting one of our wards just sang hymns. We weren't able to meet with Kendal, Dray or Gina and Micah for the interview. We were however able to visit the Ha'o family and help them with their Christmas decorations! Also random side note while we were out making visits we saw our mail lady with her kids putting up lights so we now know where she lives. The Turkey Bowl this last week didn't end up going in our favor as our team tied one game and got creamed in the other two, and it certainly didn't help that we were playing against a zone that had a BYU football player on it who was 6'8" and could catch anything they threw his way.

 

   This transfer has been flying by for me and it's crazy to think that I could be in a new area in less than two weeks. I've grown attached to Red Rock and it's going to be hard to leave, but if I do get transferred I'm hoping they send me out to the boonies. I love Las Vegas but I feel a bit claustrophobic not being able to drive out of our little bubbles, and it's going to be weird not having area boundaries I have to stay in after the mission. I hear that there are some farming communities in our mission so I'd be pretty down for being sent out there for a while.

  

   The work is beginning to really pick up as we approach December and everyone is feeling the Holiday joy. The last couple of weeks we've been focusing on inviting people to the Nativity which has been really successful for us. We have a number of investigators and less actives who plan on attending and we'll be there to help usher on two of the four nights. Just last night we stopped by an investigators home to invite her out to the Nativity and we ended up getting even more than we hoped for. Our investigator had a friend over who had stopped coming to church but really opened up to us and wanted to come to the Nativity and to sit in on the lessons we'll be teaching. This just testified to me that there are many people in the church who are ready to come back into activity but just need someone to help them back.

 

   We had a temple trip today which is why our P-Day was moved to Wednesday rather than our usual Monday P-Day. The temple was a great experience and I love the spirit that the visit brings into our lives even as missionaries. I also discovered some neat features to the Las Vegas temple that I did not know about from my last visit. Throughout the grounds surrounding the temple are these brick patterns along the walkway, well every now and then you come across a circle of bricks on the ground. When you stand in the center of the circle and speak it sounds like your voice is being magnified by a dome or speaker system which is pretty neat! Well anyways it was a good day and we've got a couple of lessons set for tonight. I hope that you are all doing well and recovering from any injures that might have been brought about from ward Turkey Bowls. I love you all and keep you in my prayers! Love,

Elder Keller Reeves

Letter from November 19, 2012

   Well this last week has been a long one for us between the many meetings we had, and the contention that has been arising in the apartment. I am very much looking forward to Thanksgiving and hope that we can all feel the joy with this holiday season. I did loved the opportunity that we had to hear from Elder Echo Hawk and loved the stories that he had to share with us about his conversion and about his childhood. We learned a lot about his life and about a few of the many blessings he has received through faithful church attendance. We also learned about the exciting campaign that the church is launching this holiday season. Starting November 26th the church will be launching ads on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, and other websites inviting people to remember and celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. Their is a link now (Mormon.org/Christmas) where you can send people for free copies of the Christmas story, e-card downloads, and Christmas music downloads. It's pretty awesome and I would encourage you to go check out the link. It's amazing how much more friendly people are around the holiday season as Christians unite in celebrating the birth of Christ, and makes it very easy to reach out to people and invite them to a Christmas event.

 

   Well enough about Christmas since it's still a month away and lets focus on the missionary work here. Mimi has been having an excellent week and all her family is in town to celebrate Thanksgiving with her. We're looking forward to our next visit with her especially since the family will be there for it. In our last discussion she was having a problem with coffee and we challenged her to pray about it and at least try giving it up for a time. She has a great spirit and I know that she will come in time. Dray texted us this last week that his back has been doing better and he wants to meet sometime this week. Kendal was supposed to make it out to church this week but last second some family matters came up which kept him away from us. Hopefully we can meet with him this week and continue to prepare him for baptism in early December. We're supposed to be meeting with Gina and Micah either Friday or Monday so we can do the baptismal interview and hopefully baptize them next week. We also got a hold of John this week who was the Compton cop who had a book written about his life. He let us into the door and we had a pretty good discussion and invited him to a live production of the nativity that the church is putting on out here. Speaking of the nativity it's supposed to be super awesome and have live animals, actors, and music. A lot of the members in our ward council are going to be in it and have been growing out their breads for the last month so it's been interesting attending a sacrament meeting where the person conducting has a full beard growing. Anyways it should be a great show and makes our door to door approaches much happier visits as we simply invite people to attend the event.

 

   You'll have to tell Elder McKay hi for me and let him know that I really appreciated that they took me with them to make visits. How's his new companion fitting into the ward? I really hope that the ward doesn't change to much while I'm away cause I really have come to love that ward. Oh and we did receive some exciting news from the Zang family who we had taught and then turned over to their missionaries when we found out that their in another ward. The son Sunny is getting baptized in December and the mom will surely follow soon after. We miss having them in our ward but I know that the other ward will take good care of them. I'm really excited for the Turkey Bowl this week and for being able to celebrate with some members in our ward!!! Oh and make sure that Elder McKay and his companion have a place to go for Thanksgiving. Also I had sent dad a letter the other day for his birthday and it should hopefully get their by tomorrow. Well sounds like you guys are having an exciting week you'll have to let me know how it plays out. Thank you every one for the support you give the missionaries and the love you show them while their away from their families during the holidays. I pray for you all and wish you the best, Happy Thanksgiving!! Love,

 

Elder Keller Reeves

Letter from November 12, 2012

So today my zone will be practicing football for the up coming mission turkey bowl! We submitted our T-Shirt design on Saturday and are excited to get our team jerseys for the game on Thanksgiving. I'm also really excited for this week and the mission tour from Larry Echo Hawk who spoke in this last general conference. It should be a great meeting and I'm sure that we'll all learn a lot. As for the mission we received some great news about the increase in missionaries... since our mission split in July we dropped down from 190 missionaries to about 110-120 and have since increased to around 160 and are working our way back up to 190. Well our mission president received a letter from the first presidency shortly after the announcement in October telling him to prepare to have 250 missionaries in our mission!!! I would imagine that this will be the same for many of the missions here and throughout the world bringing the number of missionaries in Nevada to about 750 between the 3 missions and many more else where. We will have a set of missionaries for every single ward and no longer have to run from one ward to another giving us the ability to really get to know the area and the ward. It also means I will very likely be on bike before to long and probably a good part of the rest my mission....Oh well. I'm very excited for the changes being made and we should begin receiving the new missionaries in February. Also this last week the bishop of the Hillpointe ward announced that both his daughter and son received their mission calls and one would be going to Buenos Aires North mission and the other to the Buenos Aires South mission...that will be a neat experience for their family!

 

   Well not to much happened this past week for me to report on just that our investigators are doing well. We ran into Kendal early in the week while we were cleaning out our car and had a good conversation about his life. He's doing really well and personal shared with us that he had been praying for a date and told his grandmother that he wants to get baptized in early December. I of course was thrilled to hear this news and seeing as how I might be leaving the area on December 9th I'm grateful to still be here to be a part of it. He also told me he wanted to make sure we stay in touch and we'll probably invite him our to some of the zone activities we have on P-Days.

 

   We received some sad news from our investigator Dray who threw out his back and isn't doing to well as of right now. We hope to see him sometime this week and possibly give him a blessing. On the brighter side of things we did meet with a new investigator this week named Martin. Martin is a very bright older man who translates English-Spanish-and Armenian. He has a great knowledge of religions and love to discuss religion. While we have high hopes for him and feel very welcome in his home I fear that he is set with his faith and isn't very likely to change. We did leave him with the Book of Mormon to read and a pamphlet to ask questions about next time we come by so my fingers are crossed.

 

   Well my roommates and I continue to improve the status of our apartment as we cleaned up, moved the furniture around, and had the carpets shampooed and cleaned. We can hardly recognize the place now and it looks drastically better than when I arrived. Also I got very tired of ramen a while back and I'll admit that I began doing slim fast to keep the weight down and because it's super cheap! Now please don't send me junk food for the Holidays!!! We already have way to much sitting around our place all the time and way to many dinners with desert every night. Well I'm excited for all the new changes in the mission and for the up coming holidays and mission tour. I love you all and wish you the best,

Elder Keller Reeves

Letter from November 5, 2012

   Good morning!!! I hope that everyone is feeling extra refreshed from the added hour of sleep we all got this weekend. It was strange being able to wake up to the sun filling our bedroom with light on Sunday morning, but definitely a welcomed sight. My companion and I had a pretty good week and were able to hear some very exciting news. So the week began with transfers on Monday where we got to meet our new roommate Elder Millar. Millar is a pretty neat guy and fits right in with the rest of us in the apartment. Since meeting him we taught him a bit about our apartment culture (Card games, Inside Jokes, "The Apartment Rules") and he introduced a bit of his culture into the apartment as well. We've now enjoyed some intense hacky sack tournaments during lunch and some funny/depressing new missionary music to enjoy. One that especially hit my other roommate hard was about getting a Dear John which he had received just last month.

   As the week continued we had our mission talent show which was pretty good for the most part. I loved getting to see my MTC district again and hear about how their experiences have been so far. The talent show itself was the more interesting part of the night with many borderline appropriate skits being perform but many good ones as well. My companion and one of our roommates did an awesome drumming act in which I had a very small part where I ran out briefly on stage. One of the other great acts was a play off of American Idol in which a zone combined American Idol, with characters from The Testament, The District, and Finding Faith in Christ. It was was really good and had us all laughing pretty hard throughout the show.

   On Friday my companion and I received a very sad message from a new member in the ward who had a very close nonmember friend in the hospital. Her friend was in critical care after giving birth to premature twins and the member asked if we would be able to go and give her a blessing. So after receiving permission from our zone leaders to go to the hospital which was out of our area we headed down and began to make our way in. As we walk toward the entrance we were stopped by a man with a woman in a wheel chair who ask if we could say a prayer for the woman. The faith of this man really touched me and I nearly cried as the woman was overcome with gratitude toward us in praying for her. When we got into the hospital we had to give a password to see our patient and be escorted to her room. The woman was hooked up to dozens of tubs and looked to be in horrible condition. She couldn't talk but gently nodded her head to give us permission to give proceed with a blessing. It was a tender sweet moment of my mission for me and I doubt that I will ever forget the feelings I had that day.

   In terms of progress with our investigators we had two great experiences. This week we challenged Dray to come to church to which he replied he wouldn't commit to a day but he did promise us that we would see him at church sometime this year. Sunday's are his only days off and he doesn't like making plans for the day. He then asked us to come to one of his yoga classes he teaches and promised that he would come to church if we come to one of his classes on a P-Day. We accepted the challenge and he said that if he comes to church now he's going to approach us and remind us that he'll see us on Monday. Dray really is a great guy and I've loved the opportunity that we've had to teach him so far.

   The other investigator with very exciting news was Kendal. We weren't able to have a lesson with him this week since he was out of town but I was excited to hear from our neighbors that he had come over and told them that he wants to get baptized before December. We're going to really push him now on coming to church each week and I hope that we'll be able to hold his baptismal service by the end of the month.

   Oh and to end my letter this week I'll share a brief fun story from the weekend. So we saw one of Keanu's sisters on Saturday holding a sign at a street corner to advertise for one of the local businesses, and the next day we went to church and were pretty disappointed to see that his sister didn't make it. Well as we drove back after our meetings we saw her out by the curb with the sign again and decided to turn the car around and park. We then grabbed our scriptures and walked down to the sidewalk to see how see was doing. She informed us that she had requested not to work weekends but because of an art show that was right next door they told her they would need her to work. So we got to stand their and teach her a brief lesson and urge her to continue to read, pray, and attend church!!!

   Well hope all is going well with everyone at home and I wish you the best!

Love Elder Reeves

Letter from October 29, 2012

Well we received our transfer calls on Saturday and the good news is that my companion and I will be together for another transfer which will be a blessing for me since I'll be able to see many of the people I've been teaching get baptized! We currently have 5 people we've extended baptismal commitments to who've accepted and should be getting baptized this transfer. Tehani, Mimi, Gina, Micah, and Kendal all accepted our invitation and are praying for a date. We just taught Kendal the 3rd lesson yesterday and I was so happy to hear how excited he was about baptism and learning more about the church. Kendal is a senior in High School and is just now beginning to look into colleges, so naturally I brought up BYU after the lesson and tried to do a little recruiting. It'd be so awesome to come back from my mission and go to school with a kid that I baptized!!! He's such a great kid and has never had a religious back ground so my companion and I have had the privileged to start from scratch. In talking about the Holy Ghost it was amazing hearing him share his experience and recognition of the Holy Ghost in his life with us. He's had a pretty rough past and is living with his grandmother in the apartments right next to ours which makes it easy to get a hold of him and keep in touch. I can definitely tell that the church will greatly help him in his life and I can't wait to see him get baptized.

   As for the man and his children that we had been teaching... well things have really slowed down. He's still going through a lot of drama with his wife and the whole divorce situation and so it's been hard to get a time where he and his kids can sit in. Things are beginning to look promising for him though and it looks like he and his wife might be getting back together and taking the lessons as a complete family.

   Now Dray (the awesome Yoga instructor, and DJ) that we've been teaching had to unfortunately cancel on us this past week but we're really looking forward to meeting with him this week and hopefully ask him to pray about baptism. It's been great teaching him and it really warms my heart to hear people tell us that they already believe the things that we are teaching to them. I know that their are great blessings in store for him as he continues to progress and build his testimony of the Gospel.

   This last week I was excited to attend two of our ward Halloween parties but a little bumbed that we had to leave both of them early to make other appointments we had scheduled. It's amazing how many people who you spend months trying to contact end up finding their way to these church activities so we we're blessed to spend our time getting to know new people.

   Oh and with transfers today we are getting a new roommate which is really going to change the feel of the apartment. I'm excited to meet the new missionary on whom we already have a few harmless jokes we are planning to play. I'll have to let you know how those go in the next letter. Well Halloween is drawing near and mission rules are that we can't be out. We do however have a mission get together that day and a dinner that night. It should be a lot of fun and I can't wait to see the whole mission together at one time!!!! That's a lot of spiritual power right there! Well I'm glad to hear things are going well and you were able to view the pictures I sent. I wish you all the best, Love

Elder Keller Reeves

Letter from October 22, 2012

   Well this wasn't the best week for my companion and I in the field. The work was pretty slow this week but we still had some great experiences. After changing a members flat tire on Monday we enjoyed the rest of our P-Day and made our way to dinner that night. Following dinner we still had some time to go make some visits and figured we should stop by the ward fish fry that was going on. Well lets just say I'm really glad that we did! From the half hour that we were there we set up a couple lessons, placed a Book of Mormon, and received a new investigator!!! So the current standings with our main investigators are as follows.

 

Gina and Mika - Just finished the lessons waiting to find out what Saturday they'll be available to hold the baptism on.

Tehani - Keanu's 17 year old sister, Just finished the lessons asked her to pray about a date.

Amanda - New investigator from fish fry, 1st lesson went really well and I have a feeling she's going to get baptized, have a second lesson set for this week.

Mimi - Agreed to be baptized, working on a date.

  -  And the rest are at the same spot as last week. 

Guy and Maluhia - Keanu's dad and 19 year old sister we've taught the 1st lesson to and are meeting with them when ever their available hope to set them for the end of November.

Kendal - Looking to set him this week to get baptized early November

Dray - Set for mid to late November

Goyeau family of 6 - Not certain yet but we should be teaching them the second lesson soon and I hope they'll be ready between late November and early December.

 

   Well our zone all had interviews with the mission president this week which I thought went really well. The president was really up lifting and told us that he had received some complements about my companion and I from a member whose in charge of stake public relations. Our transfers are in a week and I think I'll still be here another transfer but one of our roommates already knows he's leaving so we've all been speculating on what the new guy is going to be like. I'm excited to see some of the work my companion and I have been doing turn into a number of baptisms in the upcoming month!!! We've been privledged to teach so many amazing people who all have strong testimonies of the gospel of christ. Everytime I see the Warburtons I can't help but smile and state again just how grateful I am to know them and be part of their baptism. Coming from the priesthood meeting last night he walked by us as we drove a way and yelled "Ask the missionaries they can help you". Also I don't know if I told you but we have brother Corbridge in our ward whose father is in the Seventy got the Warburtons some awesome tickets to general conference up front....AND...they got to go through the tunnels and have lunch in the Seventy's cafeteria!! I'm so jealous but happy for them at the same time!!! When they got back from Salt Lake they gave my companion and I gifts that they bought at Deseret Book of two plastic missionaries! Ha man their awesome!

  

   Well I hope you were able to go through all the pictures that I sent you guys! And I'm really excited for this election to end cause I'm tired of all the dumb political junk mail that we get every single day! One of the people running for Senate here is in the Stake Presidency and we got to here from him last night. He gave a great talk and a big focus of the night was about missionary work. It's crazy to think how many poeple are going on missions now, but I can't help but be excited. At the same time I'm glad that I'm on my mission right now cause I don't know how I'd be doing with all the drama going on at home and college!! I'm really glad that I'm able to focus on the mission and really not worry to much about the things going on in the world around me. I hope you all are doing well and I'm sorry to hear about Daniels game! Tell Harris that I love him and will be praying for his health. Best wishes!!! Love,

Elder Keller Reeves

Letter from October 15, 2012

   All went very well this past week and I feel that we made some great progress with our investigators. With our 3 new investigators we taught the second lessons to this past week all of them went great and we are ready to set two of them with dates in our next meeting. One investigator Kendal began asking us how he can become Mormon and about baptism so I would say that he is pretty ready. The second lesson with Mimi went great as well and we are hoping to set her with a date sometime in November when her kids are in town so they can come attend. Then Dray our 3rd new investigator received the second lesson far better than I could have hoped for! He said that the Plan of Salvation made perfect sense to him and he all ready believed in a lot of it just with his personal beliefs from before. Though he hasn't come to church yet he thanked us for teaching him and is looking forward to our next lessons! So here is our current standing with each of our investigators I see getting baptized either this transfer or next.

 

Gina and Mika - We just recieved permission to baptize Mika and are going to shoot for the 27th of this month.

Tehani - Keanu's 17 year old sister we're hoping to teach her the last two lessons this week and set her for the 27th as well.

Guy and Maluhia - Keanu's dad and 19 year old sister we've taught the 1st lesson to and are meeting with them when ever their available hope to set them for the end of November.

Kendal - Looking to set him this week to get baptized early November

Mimi - Looking to set for mid November

Dray - Set for mid to late November

Goyeau family of 6 - Not certain yet but we should be teaching them the second lesson soon and I hope they'll be ready between late November and early December.

 

   Those are all the people we are teaching who I think will get baptized within the next transfer. I really hope I can stay in the area and see all this great work play out! We were also excited this week for the Palo Verde ward as we received 3 new investigators at church yesterday. We meet a family two weeks ago and asked if they'd be interested in coming to church, so we were naturally thrilled to see them actually there on Sunday and to see the members do a great job with fellowshiping them right in. Another sister who we've been trying to contact for months finally just showed up at church and we're working to set up lessons with her at a members home. Kevin who we found tracking the other month still hasn't had a weekend we could meet with him but I still have very high hopes for the man!!! I feel that he's a pretty solid investigator and it's just a matter of time for him.

 

   So in typing this letter we came to the library this morning but I received a call from Keanu's mom asking if we knew how to change a tire...So my companion and I looked to each other logged of and headed over there, with our roommates who gave us a ride to the library, to help her family with their car. While we were changing the tire 3 people stopped and asked if we needed any help and one asked us how many missionaries it took to change a tire (we had 4 working on it). Well we got it changed but I was on the ground and got myself and my whites pretty dirty. What's important though is that I remembered how to change a tire...I mean that we helped the family out!!! Ha ya after getting stranded for a while on the farm this summer with a flat I was able to get right two it in a fraction of the time!!! See I told you my job this summer did a good job with preparing me for the mission! I love all the service we get to do though at times I feel a bit like a moving company seeing as how I've done at least 5 moves in the past two weeks.

 

   It really is crazy to think that Harris is already 17!!! Hope you guys have a great party oh and look out for a little something in the mail sometime this week. Thank you for sending me that list mom it really helps me with writing them in on my calender so that I'll remember. I'm excited to hear how Noah and Daniel's games play out and if their going to be facing off in the Super Bowl game! Also you'll have to send me some pictures of Wilson's new home that they just moved in. This last week was pretty interesting weather for Vegas as we experienced some serious flash floods that turned the streets into rivers within seconds. It was fun though and we got soaked coming in that night. Well I love you all and wish the best, Elder Reeves.

Letter from October 8, 2012

This conference was absolutely amazing! I had heard stories from missionaries saying that conference is so much better as a missionary and I can testify of the truth of that statement. The spirit was so strong during the conference and I was so tuned that it flew by and was way to short!!! As soon as president Monson made the announcement that all 18 year old young men can now apply for their missions my mind went immediately to Harris and the opportunity this allows for him. I'm excited to think now that my younger brother can be out on his mission in just a year and a half allowing him to turn 18 and graduate from high school. This is so exciting since he can be in the mission field and serving at the same time as me....who knows maybe even the same mission!?!? I'm also excited for the opportunity this provides to many of the women who would like to serve missions. Women are great missionaries and really help the work to progress so it'll be exciting to receive even more of them in the next few years. As for how this effects me well I'll probably be serving with and training 18yr olds in the very near future.

   I loved the themes of the conference focusing on missionary work, children, and following Christ. We live in such an exciting time for the church and missionary work is going to take off in the next few years! We also had some great lessons with two new investigators in between the conference addresses. We met with Kendal for the first time on Saturday morning and had an amazing lesson with the 17 year old young man. He had lots of great questions for us and was excited to accept a copy of the Book of Mormon and begin reading. We're meeting with him again this week and I can't wait to see how the reading went. Our other new investigator is Dray who is a yoga instructor and a DJ, (Like I said Vegas is a pretty interesting place). Well Dray drives a pretty sweet decked out red convertible bug, and was very open to the message we had to share. He agreed to read the Book of Mormon and take all the lessons from us and was just over all amazing. The work here is strong and plenty oh and I just remembered that we also had another new investigator we taught this week for the first time named Mimi. She's a very sweet older woman who has children who are members but has never looked into our church herself. The lesson went great and we helped her to install the scriptures onto her smart phone before we left. This next week looks promising as we will be teaching the second lesson to hopefully 11 of our investigators!!! We also are looking forward to teaching the 3rd lesson to Gina and her son tonight as we prepare them for baptism this month!

   I'm glad to hear things are going well at home and I'm excited for dad's new position in the CMC. My companion and I continue to get along well and had the best week together yet, our Zone Leaders dropped in this morning to have combined studies with us and said that we were doing an awesome job, in just a bit our zone is doing a combined bowling activity which should be pretty exciting. One worry that has been on the back of my mind these past few weeks is that I'd be transferred before I get to see so many of the people I've been working with get baptized. We easily have 6-10 people that will likely be baptised this next transfer. So while I'll be happy to go where the lord needs me I still have my fingers crossed that I'll get to stay for at least one more transfer.

   Well I love you all and wish you the best, and after the General Conference announcement I sure hope there are at least some women still at home when I get back from my mission HaHa! Love,

Elder Reeves

Letter from October 3, 2012

Sorry in my last letter I didn't mean to make it sound like the church has begun to support the consumption of caffeine and I absolutely do not teach that to our investigators. I was just laughing at the comments that were made by the members in ward counsel the other week over the press release. I still am on your side of the issue mom and warn our investigators and members of the dangers that addictions to caffeine can lead to.

   This past week has not been the best week for my companion and I as appointment after appointment fell through and many of our investigators just didn't have the time to meet with us this week. On the brighter side we have almost everyday this week already book and are really cleaning things up. My companion and I continue to get along great and I'm getting the best training I could ask for seeing as how I simply had to take over the area. We've begun to go through the area books and the apartment cleaning old papers and trash that don't belong and have begun to update missing information on our area. There's a lot to do but by the end of our transfer we should have it all up to date.

   I'm so excited for general conference this week and have heard so many stories of how amazing the messages are to you while your on a mission. Now sure it kinda stinks that I can't wake up and watch the broadcast with my family in my pajamas but I'm excited to go and watch it with those that we are teaching. Church just flies by every Sunday and your heart leaps as the investigator you challenged to come to church walks in the chapel doors. I love hearing the testimonies of our investigators and I'm excited to hear from the Warburton family how they enjoy their very first general conference. Every time I go and visit the Warburtons we always find them singing and listening to the hymns, reading the scriptures or preach my gospel, and just being flat out amazing. I really hope that I can find another amazing couple like them who are willing to not just listen to us but to build their faith and then act upon that faith. Faith as described in the bible is a word of action. In James 2:17 It states that faith if it hath not works is dead meaning that a testimony of Christ is simply not enough as having faith in him. If we are to truly have faith in Christ we will take it upon ourselves to do something about it through striving to become more like Christ. I love the mission not only because of the lessons we are able to teach to others but also because of the lessons that we ourselves learn.

   So the highlight of this past week was probably the dinner/lesson we had with our ward mission leader and the Ha'o family. As for dinner we had an authentic Hawaiian dish which lets just say made me appreciate the fact that I'm serving in Las Vegas and not Hawaii. We had Lau Lau's which is fish and pork wrapped in laulau leaves and steamed or something along those lines in short it tasted a lot like raw fish wrapped in a ton of seaweed. Besides my risky experiment of the Lau Lau which I guess really wasn't that bad we began our lessons with Guy, Tehani, and Malihia which was awesome! I can already tell that they are all going to be baptized and I'm so excited to see their family finally come together.

   I hope that you guys remember to continue to go and speak up about the church to your friends and invite them to attend activities. I realize that it can be hard and missionaries will ask you over and over without it really sinking in but I promise you that you will be amazed by how many people you know who are ready for it! I had an experience this last week speaking with a missionary from Haiti serving in our mission. He just arrived two weeks ago and is already finding how hard the work is serving in a ward in which the members don't help with the missionary work. I've been so blessed with wards who love their friends and family and aren't afraid to speak up about the church to them. By working with the members we are able to get more work done, and see more results. I love you all and hope that you help your friends and missionaries out by just taking the step to reach out.

   We had a great P-day today with our zone by having a combined breakfast and games activity. One of the sisters in our zone made everyone Swedish pancakes which were quite delicious and the rest of us all pitched in bringing drinks, bagels, donuts, and games! So far this last week my companion and I are on a role helping with 3 differnent moves as we prepare for even more service this week. I still love hearing all of your stories from home and wish you all the very best Prep Day Monday ever. (It's funny how before the mission you always dread Mondays but now you grow to love them!)

Love, Elder Reeves

 

P.S. Could you please send me a copy of everyones birthdays and ages!!!!

Letter from September 24, 2012

 My new companion and I have been getting along great and though this week was slower than we would have liked we were able to set up a ton of appointments for this next week. My companion is from Maryland and has been on his mission for a year. I also learned that his name is spelled Koncurat rather than however I spelled it in my last letter. Its been a interesting week since I had to take charge of our area after only 6 weeks into our mission, (New missionaries almost always spend at least the first 12 weeks with their trainer.) but it's been a great experience!!! I had to set up every lesson and make every phone call and it really just helped build my confidence. We met with the family of 5 again on Saturday and the lesson went great with two of the girls coming out to church the next day. We're hoping that the rest of the family will make it to church this week. I also extended an invitation to two of our 15 year old investigators to come attend seminary and while they both seemed pretty interested they unfortunately had to cancel last moment at least for this week.

 Well in other news we helped with two moves this week and got quite the workout each time. I love being able to provide service and I especially love being able to take our white shirt and tie off once and while. You know that your a missionary when you start referring to your slacks, white shirt, and tie as your "normal clothes". Oh and I forgot to mention in my last letter that I was able to get the window replaced and we now have a new Crystal clear window in our bedroom! Courtesy of Elder Reeves haha. I have also become somewhat of an expert at preparing ramen noodles as it is a good portion of my diet while I try to recover from the window debt. I've been adding carrots, celery, peppers, hot sauce, and what ever else I can find to change it up a bit.

 In terms of your comment on Dr. Pepper as a missionary we are pretty up to date on the latest church news, and the church made an official statement on the 29th of last month stating that caffeine is ok and is not against the word of wisdom. Now with that being said I still choose not to drink it and have not had a single caffinated drink in over 4 months so you can be proud of me mom! I've tried to stay away from soda completely now and I think that it really has been a blessing in my life.

 In church a couple of weeks ago and every week since we have had state representatives in the hallways registering people to vote. Since Nevada is a pretty important swing state in the upcoming election its been hit pretty hard with politics and I went ahead and registered to vote in the state of Nevada. I'm sure that Colorado has been hit just as bad though with the election commercials and talk.

 You'll have to send me some pictures of Wilson's new home, the kids football games, and everything else that's been going on. I'll let you know if we're able to get anyone to seminary this week and how our new investigators are progressing. I really hope that I am able to stay here for at least one more transfer though so that I can see all these wonderful people through to baptism. What's important is that they do come unto Christ but it's always neat to be able to be there for it.

 Keep up the missionary work and try to get the missionaries more involved with your friends. I keep you in my prayers and wish you all the best. Love you,

Elder Keller Reeves

Letter from September 17, 2012

Since beginning my mission I've often wanted to go back to high school and do a better job of sharing the gospel with my friends. I was always afraid of how they might react and of being to overbearing. Often as members we think that as soon as we get the missionaries involved then it's just to much for our friends to handle at that time. Almost all of the work that we do as missionaries is directly effected by the willingness of the members to reach out to their friends and family. The impact that a simple invitation to a church meeting or activity can make is amazing. As I look back to high school I now realize how many people were ready for the gospel if I had just taken the time to invite them. I would encourage all of you at home to accept the challenge of inviting at least one friend or family to come to the next church social and introduce them to the missionaries, and YES I expect to hear how it goes from each one of you at home!!! I'M SERIOUS! Harris go and invite Mrs. Peters to come to the next ward Christmas party. Tell her that Keller a.k.a (Elder Reeves) wants her to come and that she needs to write me sometime. Tell Noah to keep up the amazing missionary work that I've already seen him do. When he turned 8 years old he invited our next door neighbors to come to his baptism. I have already seen 3 people on my mission come to a baptism to support a friend and leave the baptism with the desire to be baptized themselves. Seeing how much help the members in my area offer us as missionaries I can promise you that your missionaries will love you ever so much if you just give them somewhere to start!

 

   As for how this past week went for my companion and I well.... it's been great! We finished again with record numbers and then the best part is that we picked up 6 new investigators!!!! One is a family of 5 who we meet with and taught most of the first lesson. The family loved how it went and said they would be interested in hearing more. We left them with a reading assignment and were pleased to hear that they planned to read it together as a family. The father of the family is currently going through a divorce and we are teaching him, his son, and his 3 daughters. I have high hopes for the family and can't wait to hear how their reading went. The next investigator that we picked up is a young man around 16-17 who lives in the building right next to us. He lives above a member family who are good friends to him and finally invited him out to church. He really enjoyed sacrament meeting and informed me that he would love for us to come over and to teach him more. Like I said it been an amazing week.

 

   Yesterday my companion and I went on splits with our roommates and I was able to teach a second lesson to an investigator that my companion and I came across the other week and turned over to our roommates who are over the singles ward. That night he informed us that he prayed and received his answer to be baptized. It will be the first baptism for my roommates and I'm so happy to have been a part of it.

 

   Now for perhaps the biggest news of the week. Transfers are today and we received the call Wednesday night that my companion will be leaving the area. It's going to be hard taking charge over the area since I barely know the map of our area and couldn't tell you the gate codes for any of the neighborhoods (or for our apartment complex), but I'm very excited for my new companion. From what I've heard he's a hard worker and I have a list of goals I know we can complete if he's up for the challenge. I'll get to meet him in person at 5 today and then we'll get right to the point and get to work. We have a lot of work to do and relationships to repair but I know that with the right mind set we can do it. I love you all and hope to hear soon how my challenge goes! Oh and my new companion is Elder Conqueret. Best wishes,

Elder Reeves

Lunchtime in Vegas

Letter from September 10, 2012

This past week ended up going great as we hoped it would. My companion and I continued to lead the zone and finished the week with 20 lessons,received some great referrals and found some more investigators! We also found out from Keanu's 18yr old sister that she wants to start taking the lessons as well which is so awesome! This week did however have a downside as result of me getting a little carried away during companionship study. We were reading over the missionary handbook in which we came across the section about personal health and using the missionary health guide to assist you in maintaining a healthy life style. My companion stated that he didn't even think he had the book so I grabbed mine and out fell a rubber resistance band for working out and also happens to make a wonderful slingshot..... Long story short I wound up behind the sling shot that was set in the hall way between two doors (BAD IDEA). I grabbed the closest thing to me which was a battery (REALLY BAD IDEA) and lightly launched it across the room which deflected off our night stand and went through our window! I then had to go to the office and inform them that I broke our window. All in all it was not a very fun day and I was given an estimate of $310 to fix the window. Now believe it or not this story does get a little bit better....But not very much. That night after coming home my roommates informed me as I walked in the door that they had found me a new window and I ran to the room to find two windows that were no where near the size or style of window that I needed. So the next morning I went through the phone book and found an ad for a window replacement company that looked promising and I called them up to come over and give us their estimate for the damages. I was so relieved when they came and said they could do it for $180. We then asked them if they could use the other windows we had been given and as result were able to get another $20 off which now means I'm down to about half the price of the original estimate!!! The company is supposed to come today to replace the window and hopefully all goes well. Who would have ever guessed that I could burn through all my money that fast in the mission. Haha well I should be able to make it through but I will be living off my Ramen Noodles for quite a while.

My companion and I were able to do some real service this week and went over to the Warburtons to help them with their garden. It was a great experience and brought me back memories from the farm work this last summer. I'm still so happy I got to meet the Warburtons and be a part of their conversion the big news for them now is that we are trying to get their 18yr daughter more involved with the lessons and with coming to church. She's been extremely busy with school and hasn't had the time for or the interest in the church. We really hope that she'll change her mind and at least let us begin to teach her the lessons.

We also picked up a new golden investigator this last week who I'm sure will get baptized but we sadly handed him over to our roommates who are over the singles ward seeing as how they are more likely a better fit for the young man. I'll continue to let you know how our other new investigators progress and can't wait to share how things pan out for the other half of Keanu's family. Our 3 other investigators we had set to get baptized this month are still solid but because of scheduling issues we had to push their baptisms back a week.

In regards to the movie the 'Best Two Years' I would love to watch it again now that I'm on my mission and see how accurate it really is. Also the Warburton's are beginning to look into the "Cheesy Mormon Films" that our family so loves and I provided them with some suggestions to look into.

I love the stories you guys share with me and would love to hear even more. Oh and what's this thing about Dave's public bathroom experience!?!?

Well I love you and wish you the best,

Elder Keller Reeves

Letter from September 5, 2012

Well it would seem I have lots of questions to answer (which I guess comes with the territory of being a missionary) but I'll start by saying that this has been the best start of a week I could ask for! This last week was stressful and sluggish. Our week was filled with meetings and slowed due to the lack of access to a car then to make matters worse our two golden investigators gave us a scare going into the baptism! After finding out they would have to be interviewed by our mission president I had an extremely hard time sleeping at night. I woke up three to four times throughout the night thinking about them and whether or not we would still be able to baptize them. I'm very happy to say that all went well and we baptized the couple into the church on Saturady as planned!!! The mission preident then came to the confirmation on Sunday which I perfromed and was terrified about. As if confirming and blessing a family in front of an entire ward isn't nerve racking enough, having the mission president next to you as you do your first is beyond terrifying! I'm so thankful that I was able to confirm them though and feel much more confident moving forward.

Now to this amazing week!!! Monday we weren't able to write home since the library was closed for Labor day so we recieved permission to write home on Tuesday which ended up being such a busy day I couldn't write until today. Monday was a good day for us in which we set some more lessons and found new investigaors. Then the reason why Tuesday was so busy that I didn't have time to write home was because every second of the day was so packed with blessings we forgot ourselves and really got lost in the work. We began the day with a great district meeting where we made new goals for the following weeks and month. After the meeting we went home, had lunch, and began to unload the bikes we had been borrowing from our car. As we unloaded my companion overheard a lady nearby us speaking on the phone in a foreign lanuage. As he listened he soon realized that she was speaking Romanian which happens to be where my comanion was born and a language which he knows well. She began to walk away and as she did soon found my companion chasing her down to have an entire conversation in Romanian and invited her out to church on Sunday. We then continued to have a good day as we finally got a hold of Alex Mark who let us into his home to teach the first lesson to him and answer any questions he had. Following our visit with Alex we meet with Keanu's family in which we recieved even more exciting news. Keanu's older sister informed us that she has been thinking about being baptized finally and so we set her with a date as well as with appointments in which we hope she will also bring her boyfriend to. She then told us that her dad has also been thinking about baptism and wants to be able to baptize his youngest daughter when she turns 8 in November! What an amazing blessing it'll be to have their entire family baptized and active in the gospel of Christ. Finally to end the day we had dinner with the Hawker family in which it turns out Brother Hawker was raised in Burley Idaho and knows the Beck family! It was a great day and great start of the week and I can't wait to see how the rest of the week unfolds. Now to answer some of your questions, yes we do have another set of missionaies in our apartment and the four of us actually all sleep in the same room with our mattresses lining the walls going in a circle around the room. It's a tight fit but i'm so thankful to have other people with whom I can talk to and keep us all on the same page. Also no worries I have been using my personal time each night to write in my journal and have yet to miss a day we just use the last couple of minutes to play a quick game before we hit the sack. Thank you for the package you sent I just got it yesterday! As for that picture that's one of my friends from Idaho and as we had dinner with her family I also found out that one of my other college friends is in the same ward that my roommates are over. It really is crazy how many connections you make with people in the Mormon community.

 I'm so happy to hear that you guys are keeping busy and really wish I could have been there for one of dad's rocket launches (which I have yet to see). Tell Daniel happy birthday for me and if you could get me a list of everyones age's, and birthdays that'll really help me out! haha Sounds like football is going well and I can't wait to hear some more stories about it and about school. Have Harris write me more about his Eagle project and send me some pictures! I'm so proud of him and still think it's crazy that he'll be in my shoes before he knows it. I was telling Anna the other day that it's crazy how fast the mission is already going by. I hit my one month mark in the field tomorrow, and my two month mark for the mission in just two weeks! Oh and tell dad that the Warburton family who we just baptized are life members at front sight and think that we should all go together after my mission and get to know you guys. Well I can't wait to tell you guys how this week wraps up and the progress that we make. I love hearing your stories and wish I had more time to write.

Love you,

Elder Reeves

Picture at the mission office

Letter from August 27, 2012

  Well I'm glad to hear that you guys are keeping it busy at the home front! Out here my companion and I are sweating it out in the Vegas heat. We ran out of miles on our car for the month and are borrowing bikes to get us around town. Not only is this a far slower means of transportation but a far hotter choice as well. We have to be extra careful to keep hydrated going forward.
  As for our investigators we were able to hear back briefly from John Baker who was happy to inform us that Hollywood bought his story and plan to make it into a TV series that'll air in January!!!  He doesn't know how much their paying him yet but we get to meet with him later this week.  The Warburton family is scheduled to get baptized this Saturday at 5 and so we'll be teaching them the final lesson on Tuesday. We’re also teaching the first lessons to Gina and her son this week who are scheduled to be baptized on the 15th.
  We haven't had to much happen this last week due to zone conference, meetings, and other items so I'm hoping that this week is much better. Also we get to go to the temple on Wednesday which is of course really exciting for us! The Las Vegas temple looks beautiful from the pictures and from stories and I can't wait to see it for myself.
  My old MTC district set up an email group this last week and we are able to keep in touch with each other now. This is great because it lets me hear from other missionaries who are in the same situations as me being new to the mission field and lets me keep in touch with all my good friends. I still look to my MTC district leader as an excellent example and leader and someone I can still go to for advice.
  While we were over at Jordan Hoffman's this last week (whose scheduled to be baptized on the 8th) his younger brother walked in wearing a neon John Deer sweater that I just absolutely have to have, so I'm currently working on the situation. :) We still haven't been able to get a hold of Alex Mark who expressed a lot of interested in learning more about the church to us the other week. I left a note last week and when we drove by later the note was still there so we're hoping that he is just out of town for now.
  My roommates and I are getting along great and I've been learning a lot of new card games to play during personal time at night. I still haven't had any problem with getting plenty to eat and of course plenty to drink as well. I also found out this last week that one of my friends from college is in a ward that I'm over and I was able to have a short conversation with her mother on Sunday. It's crazy to think how small the world is... especially the Mormon one!
  I promise I will send the pictures but it'll be a bit. Maybe I'll get around to it once I start to get some mail from you guys as well.(Just kidding - I still need to get a flash drive to mail them) Well I love all of you and want you to know that I'm really happy to be here on a mission and especially to be in the mission to which I was called to. Best Wishes,
Elder Reeves

Letter from August 20, 2012

Well it's been another really eventful week in the Las Vegas West mission for Elder Reeves. Well to start the baptism went great!!! The young man Keanu actually asked me to do the baptism which was a really exciting feeling to perform my first baptism of the mission. I did however have to learn his full name (Ethan Guy Keanu Ha-o' Ka Avoloa) which as you can imagine was a bit of a challenge! I'm excited for the rest of his family and really hope they make the choice to be baptized as well. Our 15 year old investigator made it to the baptism and expressed to us how excited he is for his own baptism that is scheduled for the 8th of September. Our golden couple finally got back in town on Saturday and I was finally able to meet them at church on Sunday. They're super sweet and still seem as excited as ever to join the church! More exciting news is that we came across two more investigators this past week who want to get baptized. It's a single mom and her 13 yr old kid who had friends in the church. We currently have them scheduled to be baptised in September and look forward to teaching them the lessons. So all is well with one baptism done and 5 set for next month! We have yet to get a hold of Alex's schedule so we can meet with him but still have high hopes for him and his family.

   On the celebrity side of things we met this week with a retired cop named John Baker. He's the most decorated cop of America's most dangerous city Compton New York. It was neat to hear some of his stories as a cop and the spiritual struggles he had to face. He lived a pretty sinful life and now that he's retired is looking into our church for guideance. He just recently hade a book written about him called Vice and recieved a call from Hollywood who's flying him out to California to talk with him about making his book into a tv series. So He'll be in California this week and we can't wait to meet with him afterwards to see how things go. Who knows this could be the next CSI/NCIS!! Ha pretty neat stuff.

   For our P-Day activity last week we got to go to the Yamagata Residence in Spanish Hills. He's a member of the church who lets just say is a very very very successful business man worth hundreds of millions. His house had an indoor racket ball court on the bottom two floors, an indoor elevator, waterfalls, a gorgeous view of the strip, and a huge garage with all his very nice cars. The newest edition to his collection was a 2012 258 Italia Ferrari that was less than a week old. We of course all took turns taking pictures of us in and around the car. Brother Yamagata is honestly one of the nicest people i have ever met and has donated millions to the church and BYU Hawaii. 

   Well I'm so happy to hear that the Eagle Scout project went well and the boys are staying busy. You'll have to let me know more about the project and send some pictures. What do the care pakages have? And let me know how the hospital reacts to your very successful donations drive. Well wish you the best and hope to hear from you soon. Love

Elder Reeves

Letter from August 15, 2012

Well for the past week since I've been here it's been averaging 110. So it's pretty darn hot! I'm definitely thankful that we have a car to drive and are not on bikes. The culture here in Vegas is really strange and interesting. Every house you stop at, whether they're members or not, generally offer you water so it's nice cause I'm staying really hydrated. In fact it's the law here to give water to someone if they ask for it! Crazy Right? But definitely needed! The short sleeve shirts are great! I honestly don't know what I'd do if I didn't have them.
As for the investigators and baptisms I was telling you about we have a 12 year old who is getting baptized this Friday! His name is Keanu and he's got an awesome family. I've been spending lots of time at his house since we give him reading assignments every day and then go and check up on how he's been doing. He has a younger sister and two older sisters. His 14 year old sister was baptized not too long ago as was his mom. His 16 yr old sister and his dad aren't though. His younger sister usually comes and listens when we visit and we were excited to see the whole family at church on Sunday. The family is from Hawaii and are super sweet I just hope we can baptize the whole family before I leave the area.
Another  two of our baptisms are these investigators who just randomly showed up at church a couple weeks ago. The husband came and took notes during the sacrament meeting and then went up to the missionaries after the meeting to ask how he and his wife could become converts!!!! Ha what an amazing story!  Right now they are out of town so I haven't met them but I look forward to meeting them and they are set to be baptized in two weeks!. The last set baptism we have is for a 15 yr old named Jordan. He self referred to the missionaries a couple weeks back and we've been teaching him the lessons. So far the only problems we've been having with him is getting him to come to church each week. His parents’ aren't interested in the church and no one in his family is a member so each Sunday he's either sleeping or hanging with friends. Hopefully all goes well and we can get him to start coming again!
Since I have been here we found a couple more awesome investigators that we're going to start working with this week. One is the Mark family. The father of the family's name is Alex who ordered some church dvd's and we've been trying to get a hold of him since. We finally got a hold of him on Saturday and he wanted to send us his schedule so we could come and meet with him. He was very clear in that he really wanted to meet with us and it was something that was very serious to him. It's just been hard to get a hold of him because of how much he works....which according to his wife is in the Wine and Spirits business haha but it should be a good meeting.
We received some more leads at church and a few more investigators that showed up! I really do love the area! We are over two wards here, the Hillpoint ward and the Palo Verde ward. The members are super sweet and really take care of the missionaries!  We had a delicious dinner last night with Brother Palmer of the Palo Verde ward and had some amazing steak, chicken, potatoes, and salad. As if that weren't enough as we were leaving he told us that he was going to be out of town for a bit and unloaded his fridge and cabinets to us. We literally went home with three large trash bags completely filled with food!! Yeah!  We don't have to go grocery shopping for another month or two.
Well here is a little bit more that I've learned about the Las Vegas area since I've been here.
 1. Cash is king. People will do anything to get money here which is often stealing and pawning for cash. The crime is horrible and since I live in a nicer area, there is security everywhere! A lot of the parking lots here have security guards walking around and almost every neighborhood is gated and has security. This makes it especially hard to visit members and to go tracking which luckily we don't even have much time to do since we're so busy with work.
 2. Looks are everything. People in my area are extremely worried about their looks. The rule of thumb here is that any one under 20 is generally three yrs younger than they look and any one older is older than they look. I was shocked by our sacrament meeting when the bishop called up girls that were only 12 but looked  like they were at least 15.  Ha it's really confusing.
The 3rd thing I have learned here is that Vegas is really the melting pot of the U.S. There are all sorts of people that live here from really really weird to some amazing individuals. We've been working with a couple in our area that's super involved in the shows that go on in Vegas and with the celebrities. Mike is in charge of building the stages and everything else apperance wise for huge car displays, shows, and whatever else comes his way. His wife Yo sews costumes and outfits for celebrities and theatre performances. She's currently working for the Phantom of the opera show that's in town but has worked with Justin Timberlake, Justin Beiber, N sync, and many other big names! Ha there such a crazy fun couple to talk with! Well my time is running out but it was great hearing from you as always and I wish you the best!
Elder Keller Reeves

P.S. I'll try and mail you the pictures I've been taking about as soon as I get a chance.

Here's my apartment address, Also I can always receive mail from the MTC offices which address you should have.

1350 N Town Center Dr Apt 1007
Las Vegas NV 89144

Love you!!!

Letter from August 7, 2012

Wow I've been in Vegas for a day and I already have so much to talk about and share. Well we left the MTC (Missionary training Center) at 5 in the morning yesterday to drive to Salt Lake. Our plane got to Vegas at 9 in the morning here and we went straight to the mission home and then stake center were we would hold our introduction meetings. The mission president greeted us with his counslers at the airport and claimed a historic day for the Las Vegas West mission in that our group of 28 was the largerst group of missionaries they have ever recieved. We had a delicious breakfast at his house and as I said began our classes at the stake center. At 5 that afternoon we finally recieved our assignments with our areas and new compainions. All but one of our zones here are actually in the Las Vegas Area so we're really living right here in Vegas! it was sad to finally say goodbye to all my friends I had made from our district in the MTC but I know that we all will do great work. I was called to Red Rock zone here in Vegas with Elder Guist as my companion. After meeting him I found out he's from Huston Texas and is actually dating a girl from our Stake back in Texas - Kacnyca Kim I believe she was in Weatherford ward. Anyways he seems like a great guy and from what I understand has really helped turn our area around, although he does seem to have a problem with following all the rules. The area we are in is great! It's supposedly one of the wealthiest areas of Vegas and the church is really strong here with lots of work to do. I've also been blessed with the supposedly nicest appartments in the mission. Things seem to be looking up for me. Well last night we went out to dinner with a member and I was then able to meet with our Elder's Quorm president who has practically filled in the role of ward mission president. He left me with some great advice and challenge to set high goals and become the first missionaries to baptize an entire family here in over 12 years. After meeting with him we finished the night by meeting with a 12 year old investigator who has been reading the Book oof Mormon and reporting his progress and understanding with the missionaries. He's in a part member family whose extremely sweet to us and I look forward to working with more. As for the line up we have 4 baptisms lined up in the area and i can't wait to see those through. My excitment and desire to work hard has really been boosted by my call to this area. Well I love to here from all of you and wish the best! I enjoyed being able to talk with you before we left and I'm excited to keep you updated about my ward and area. Love you! Elder, Keller Reeves

E-mail from August 2, 2012

Hey!!!!
Greetings from the MTC! The count down until I arrive in Las Vegas is now down to less than a week! Well just so you know I am allowed to print my emails out here at the MTC but my next P-Day I'll be in Vegas already and we will luckily have more time to email our families! I thank all of you guys for your prays and support. I have continued to grow spiritually here at the MTC and I feel very prepared to go and serve the people of the Las Vegas West mission. It sounds like the Olympics are exciting and while I wish I could be home watching them with you guys their is plenty of work here to keep me preoccupied. I'm sorry if I'm slow with getting back to some people but just about every second of my day here is packed so I make the best of the few minutes I have on Prep Day to write my letters and emails. Well today was the first day that we were able to go to the Provo temple since they reopened it and it was a great way to start the day! I love the spirit that the temple can bring even on our so called "free day" even tho we all know it's not really a free day since we have agreed to give everyday of the next two years to serving the Lord. We had a great devotional in the evening by Rex Pinegar who used to be the president of the 70. In it he shared many stories from his time as a mission president and left us all with new energy to go and serve the best missions we can! My district all got front row seats to the devotional and were very happy that we had waited the hour and a half to do so! The MTC really has been a great experience but I can't wait till monday morning when we get to step foot in the airport and begin to teach the gospel. Here we tend to be pretty sheltered from what's happening on the other side of the gates, but once we step foot in the airport I want to really hit the ground running. I can't wait to meet my new senior companion in the field who will train me. All my teachers so far here in the MTC have been awesome and I really couldn't have asked for much more. Just the other week one of them shared with us some pretty neat information about the english missions. He was telling us how blessed the English speaking missionaries are to have the newest remodeled building on campus since originally they were building it for the spanish speaking missionaries. After they finished the building the brethren of the church switched it to being for the English missionaries because of events that are going to happen over the next few years. He said that the brethren of the church see a huge increase in the need for English missionaries in the near future and the work that they will be doing and as a result they are giving us access to all of the best equipment here.....which means new classrooms, desks, computers, and HUGE FLATSCREEN TV's! Ah YEAH!!! haha well I can't wait to see what my mission holds in store for me, and I'm so grateful to be able to serve at this time in history! I love all you guys and wish the best!
Elder Keller Reeves

E-mail from July 25, 2012

Hello from the MTC! Well as you can prob figure today was our first P-Day. Man things have been happening at such a fast pace over this past week. This is one of the first moments I've really had to sit down and process all that has happened since entering into my mission. The spirit here is so strong and my ability to read and understand scriptures has begun to amaze me. Never before have I taken so much out of my reading and begun to get excited about reading the stories of the book of mormon. Unfortunately we only have 30 minutes to write our emails each week so I'll have to write my thoughts fast before it kicks me off. Well we've all ready begun to teach lessons and have mostly taught about the restoration and prepared to teach our next lesson on the restoration tomorrow. My companion and I have luckly improved countless amounts tho since our first lesson and are excited to begin to teach our "investigators" about heavenly fathers plan for them. Speaking of companion I have been blessed with a very knowledgeable companion who definately has a strong.... personality. I love my district so much and we all get along great! I'm so excited to be able to go to Las Vegas with these guys on the 6th!! We also found two other disticts here of missionaries who are heading to the same mission at the same time as us bringing it to over 16 of us who are going to the Las Vegas West mission together. I've only heard good things about the mission we have been called to labor in and I so incredibly excited. I just recently heard about the Colorado shooting and it really saddened me but brought a reality of the work that we need to be doing. I've been able to have a couple moments since being here that I have been hit by the spirit as only a few other times in my life. In our introduction ceremony we began to sing army of helamen and changed the words "we are as the lords missionaries" to 'we are now the lords missionaries". Man what a powerful song and realization of the great blessing to be serving a mission. Later on on sunday we had a fantastic devotional in which we were blessed to here from a member of the 70 who taught us that no matter how hard the mission gets if we but push forward we will be blessed greatly, or more importantely the people who we teach will be. We related his teaching to the song come come ye saints. I'm still amazed by the power of the spirit that song can bring into a room.

      Well I was able to find all the things you left me mom thanks so much I'll write you a letter when I have the time. Also I haven't recieved any of the mail that people have been sending so I'm not sure if ya'll have the wrong address or if they just haven't gotten here yet so hopefully it's the latter. Well my time is running out so I'd just like to thank again all the people who have halped prepare me for this moment in my life. For my familys(Reeves, and Becks), and my brother Cary for serving a mission himself and setting an example of endurance. I thank my leaders and teachers through out the years, and all of my great friends. This really will be the hardest and best two years of my life and I'm so excited that the mission has begun!! Love you guys!!!!

Elder Keller Reeves