Spoke to Elder Peter last night!! It was awesome to hear his voice. Boy do I miss him. He is doing really well. He says it is hot!! He is in one of the nicest apartments of the mission and is really appreciating it, after having lived in the trailer!! He likes his companion and he says that the people in the ward are feeding them well!! He also said that he has lost some weight with all the bike riding they are doing. Way to go Peter!! He did say that because they are now in the city, people are a little rough around the edges (they had a bottle thrown at them) but he is loving all the opportunities to teach the gospel because the percentage of members is a lot less here.

We are so glad and grateful that we were able to talk to him this Mother's Day. I know he also got to Skype with my Mom, which he LOVED!! He said it made him feel so good to see them and be able to talk to them. What a wonderful miracle the Internet can be. I know he also talked with Marcy and he got to talk to each of my kids, which they LOVED!!

Peter, we love you and are so proud of you. You are an amazing young man and are doing a wonderful work. Keep up the good work and we will talk to you at Christmas!!

More pictures. Enjoy.

I love his smile on this picture!

April 18, 2011

Left: Elder Reese, Elder Patterson, Elder Earl, Elder Bingham, Elder Manumaleuna, Elder Morris

Top Left: Elder Anderson (Zone Leader), Elder Liu, ELder Bingham, Elder Morris, Elder Patterson, Elder Hall, Elder Reese.

Middle Left: Elder Jeffers (AP), Elder Tyrrell, Elder Perry, Sister Rust, Sister Curlee, Elder Grigg, Elder Shultz, Elder Griffeth (AP)

Bottom Left: Elder Pierce (Best Zone Leader EVER), Elder Holyoak, Elder Earl (My District Leader)

Okay, well, this letter is going to be pretty short because I have to upload all the photo's I have. I've been a little behind on that. Everything here in Gila is going good. Elder Holyoak and I are working hard to start using family mission plans in the homes of our members. They have been really open to starting them and following up on them. It's really good. I love and miss you all.

Love, Elder Reese

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Side note: Christy here. I am assuming more pictures are coming through later. Mom said she got some and is resizing them and sending them to me. Hopefully we will have some more pictures to post soon. Looks like they are having a lot of fun though!

April 11, 2011

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Here is a cool sunset we saw the other day!

You can't really see it in the picture but the large glowing thing in the middle is the temple. It was really cool to see.

April 4, 2011 Everything here in Thatcher is the same. We go out, we teach, we come home and we eat. Then we teach some more, then eat at members, then teach even more, then go to bed. A lot of our effort right now is trying to find people. There were a lot of talks this conference about marriage and family. I know that if you die and Ben lives, that he will talk about you just as Elder Scott talked about his wife. I love you and miss you. Give all the kids hugs for me. Love Elder Reese

Happy Green Day!
I put this little flower (and one for his companion) in Peter's St. Patty's Day care package. I told him that I wanted him to at least send me a picture with it on (and that if they didn't want to wear them all day, it wouldn't hurt my feelings!). It was so great of him to do this for me...he is such an obedient little brother!

March 28, 2011

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http:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpe-n5LdTks

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If this video doesn't work, go to youtube.com and type for Madison.

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So this is a video that the Young Women in our ward did for one of the girls. I thought you would really like to see it. it is pretty amazing.

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Another thing I wanted to share, yesterday, as I was sitting in sacrament I noticed a boy in our ward. His name is Chris. Chris is a deacon who as the priesthood and passes the sacrament. As I looked at all the deacons in our ward, passing the sacrament, they all had that frown and kind of tired look, but not Chris. Chris had a huge smile on his face. He looked like he LOVED to pass the sacrament. Chris has Down Syndrome. It is amazing to see this young man pass the sacrament. When he does, everyone that he passes too has an extra tear in their eyes. It is an amazing thing to see. Chris is the most loved kid in our ward. Everyone knows him and everyone loves him because he loves everyone.

Love,

Elder Reese

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PS, as I was typing this (Christy here) I kept typing Christ instead of Chris on accident. I am sure you can see how that would be an easy error. As I did it for the 3rd or 4th time I realized that there was almost a double meaning to it. We are so lucky to have those with special abilities come to earth and be a part of our lives. They remind of us of all the pure and good things that happen. Their smiles and innocence can bless us, if we let it. They are probably closer to Christ and Heavely Father than the rest of us and we love seeing the light of Christ shine through them! Thanks for sharing this story Peter!

Sent 3/16/11

Our investigators are doing good. Vincent was baptized on Friday. It was extremely spiritual. The talks at his baptism were given by one of his friends and one of his friends Dad. They both were great. We had so many people there that we couldn't do the talks in the room with the font. We had to do everything in the chapel, then walk over to the room. Something like 100 students from the high school were there. Right before the baptism Elder M. and I snuck into the changing room to have a quick word with Vincent and his best friend who was baptizing him. As soon as we walked in they insisted that they have a prayer before the baptism. Mitchell (Vincent's best friend) offered the prayer. The spirit was so strong there. It felt as if angels were in the room with us.

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After the baptism we had the confirmation. This was done by Elder Manumaleuna. As he was giving the prayer he said that Vincent, our 17 year old, just baptized member, was to prepare and serve a mission. After the blessing I asked Elder M. why he had insisted that he say Vincent was to go on a mission. Elder M. Said that as he gave the prayer an image of Vincent wearing a missionary name tag popped into his head and did not leave. The whole experience was very spiritual.

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On Sunday, we had everyone talking about mission work so after sacrament we asked Vincent if he was going on a mission. He said that he was truly thinking about it and felt like he wanted to. Later that evening our new member of 2 days went to a mission prep. fireside. He is such an amazing young man and has grown so close to the spirit sense we had started teaching him.

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I haven't taught much on my own. I would add to what Elder M. said but he pretty much dominated the lessons. I thought this was ok because I'm just a greeny and I don't' want to mess things up. Well, yesterday Elder Manumaleuna got transfered and Elder Holyoak became my new companion. Today we had a lesson with our investigator Ben. Being a greeny, I didn't know what to teach or do because Elder M. was always in charge of that. So I thought I would just introduce Elder Holyoak and maybe share a little scripture. Boy was I wrong. The Lord wanted more than that. This morning I was reading in Alma Chapter 7 and I was reading about baptism. The spirit told me that I needed to share that with Ben. Ben has had all the discussions and so we are just waiting on him to act on what he has been told. Well, today we went to district meeting and they talked about the importance of getting your investigator to say the prayer. I thought back to all the previous lessons and realized that Ben had never said a prayer. So I thought, well I will really ask him today. When we got into the lesson I shared what I felt like I needed to share with Ben. It was really good. Then, towards the end, I was getting ready to ask him to give a closing prayer when I felt like I needed to explain how to pray to him. He had the 3 big lessons before I got there, so I assumed that he already knew our order of prayer. Again I was prompted to talk about how we pray. Well, I didn't want to ignore the spirit, so I asked him if he knew our we, as members of the church, prayed. He said that he did not know how. I then proceeded to talk about how we pray and then asked him if he would pray, and he did. It was a really great experience.

Love,

Elder Reese

So it got a little hot when we were out biking on saturday so we stopped at a snowcone place and got the biggest snowcone they had. it was pretty good.

So while biking to the post office today we past the elementry school and we so ronald outside packing up so we got a quick picture with him. pretty random that we saw him.

Vincent's Baptism

So on March 11th Vincent got baptized and recieved the Holy Ghost. This was a very spiritual experience. The room with the font wasn't big enough to hold everyone so we had it in the Chapel. The youth filled up the whole middle. There were some great talks and some great blessings to this young man. On Sunday Elder Manumaleuna asked him if he wanted to go on a mission. He replied that he had started to seriously think about it. That evening he attended a mission prep fireside. He will make a great missionary.

Mission Office Change

As of April 1, 2011 our new mission office will be:

Arizona Tucson Mission
939 W Chapala Rd
Tucson, Arizona 85704-4516

Please let your family and friends know this as mail at the old address will not forward unless it has the "Arizona Tucson Mission" above the name.

I Thought the Mission didnt Allow Pets

So Elder Bingham and I went on Exchanges and when we were walking back to his place this dog followed us home. we left it outside and hoped that it would eventually go home. two hours later we had to go up to another missionaries appartment (Elder Bingham lives with a couple sets of missionaries in an appartment complex) when we stepped out of the appartment the dog was sitting right there on our front porch. He must have really loved us. Eventually some crazy dog lady came and got him and took him to her place and called the police to find out who's dog it was. Thatcher is such a small town that people tend to just let their dogs wander the streets. we run into them all the time but none have ever followed us home before.

Hi, from the snow, right back to you. It snowed here in the Gila Valley for a few minutes (like20) but still, it snowed! I was able to take a few pictures but you can't really tell it's snowing because the sun is shining brightly in the back ground. That was probably the most exciting thing that happened to us this week. Besides that, everything is going the same. All is well here in Thatcher. I got my blanket from Marcy and it is keeping me warm. We have been pretty busy the last few days and even though today is p-day, it is no different. We have a really packed schedule and not a lot of time so I have to keep things short. I am trying to e-mail you some pictures but I think they are too big to put on this e-mail account. I have to figure out how to shrink them down. I sure wish I had Ben here to just do it for me. I love and miss you all.

Snow? In southern Arizona? I know you can't see it but this is a picture of it snowing.

SEE!!!
AHHHHHH our trailer's on fire!!! JUST KIDDING. They were doing a controlled fire in our area and they burned down a house and 2 trailers and so we took a picture of it!

We have a member in our ward who is a policeman (most of the policemen are members of the church). Any ways, he took us to the station between meetings one Sunday to get us a soda and we got this picture.

This is Elder Manumaleuna and I in front of the temple.

Golfing on our P-day. The golfing was free but we did have to rent the cart. I didn't do well.

Pictures of my trailer!

Brother Roberts and me at the MTC. He wasn't our teacher but he visited a lot our last week. He is from South Africa and served in London. He had lots of cool stories to tell.
This is me and Vanhin Clegg. He was one of my zone leaders in the MTC. He will be serving in Finland.

This is me, my companions and Vanem Peterson. He was my other zone leader. He will be serving in Estonia. They were a great help and great friends to me and my companions.

Elder Miller and Me. He is 7'2"

Branch President Thorpe and his wife in the MTC.
Brother Reid and me. He was my teacher in the MTC and in the picture he is telling me that I better work hard!

These are the 2 teachers that we had in the MTC Brother Belliston and Brother Reid along with the Elders that were in our class.

It was great to hear from you all. Sorry I didn't get an e-mail out yesterday. I was hard at work, plus it was President's Day so all the computer labs were closed. We are taking our p-day today. We went to the Temple today. The Gila Valley Temple is really beautiful. It has a lot of amazing art works. After our session we got to talk with the temple president and get a tour of the rest of the temple. It was a little crazy because we had 16 elders there. Everything has been really slow this past week. Vincent, our investigator knows he wants to be baptized, but he hasn't decided on a set date. We are hoping to get a firm date from him by the end of this week. We had a lot of clouds blow in but it only drizzled, not a lot of rain. That is good for the missionaries, but not so great for the local farmers. The whole town has been praying and fasting for rain. Besides that, nothing new has happened. I need to print out and send or get something so I can put the pictures on the computer because I have taken quite a few, so you can see what life is like here in the Gila Valley.
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I love and miss you all.
Love,
Elder Reese

Mission President

A letter to Mom and Dad came this week and included this picture.
In part, the letter said:
"From the airport we took him and the other missionaries to the Mormon Battalion Monument in downtown Tucson, where we talked about commitment, and leaving behind all the cares of the world to focus on the work of the Lord. After a brief stop at the mission office to meet the office staff, we went to the mission home, where our Elders and Sisters received instruction and training from the Assistants to the President, Sister Walker and myself. I had the pleasure of interviewing your son and of getting to know him personally and to feel his wonderful missionary spirit. Later that evening we dined together, took photographs and took the opportunity to discuss our purpose as missionaries..."
"As you write your son, please encourage him to continue to serve faithfully, being completely obedient throughout his mission. We know that he, and the Tucson Mission, will be in your prayers. We also know that the coming months will bring many blessings into your lives by your son's faithful service and the sacrifice you are making for him to serve the Lord and his fellow men."
President Wesley P. Walker and Sister Christine W. Walker

February 14, 2011

Christy, Yes, I know all about Mormon.org. Our mission president tells us to spend an hour a month on it making our profile and getting familiar with the site. Every time we visit potential investigators we ask them to go and visit the site. The people you chat with are actually missionaries in Provo. They are the missionaries that have physical handicaps. It is amazing because they get to teach people around the world.

We don't teach the people in our trailer park. Most of them are college students. This is a college town, Eastern Arizona College is right down the street. It is actually a junior college that was started by Brigham Young. We only teach families because we are in the family wards. It is really hard to get new investigators though because this is such a Mormon town. Everyone here is either a member or inactive. When we ride down the street every other car will honk and wave at us. It feels nice to be loved by all the members here. We get fed most every night. The members like to take care of us.

Yeah, you can tell they (the leaders of the church. I was talking to him about how the Ensign is full of stories about missionaries and is really encouraging young adults and senior adults to serve a mission) are doing a really big push on missionary work. Mom and Dad might be on some missionary video thing. We met this sister missionary in the MTC who was chosen to have a camera follow her for part of her mission so they can use it to promote the mission work.

My e-mail address can be used for ALL FAMILY MEMBER's. Tony, Davey, and BJ e-mail Christy and she will send you my e-mail address. We get plenty of time each week to answer e-mails.

Well, this week has been pretty quiet in Thatcher, not much going on. We are teaching the lessons to all our investigators. Ben, is having some trouble with the Word of Wisdom but he says if the Lord can help him through it then he will know the church is true. Elder Manumaleuna and I are going to try our hardest to help him.

I love and miss you all.
Love,
Elder Reese

So, the first week has gone pretty well. I have felt homesick a lot, but have gotten over it, for the most part. We have a couple of investigators that we are working with right now. Vincent, is an 17 year old kid we are teaching. He is at his Mom's, so we think he will be baptized. We are also teaching this guy Ben. His wife is an inactive member. We have him praying about a baptism date this month. Hopefully he will be baptized by the end of the month. We just picked up this investigator. Her name is Cherri. Shemoved into the trailer park here. She seems pretty interested, so we are going to see her a lot. The tracting out here is different than they always tell you. Because there are so many members, you don't tract too much. It's all member referrals. We go to a lot of members houses to try and get them excited about missionary work. We live in a trailer park here in Thatcher. The trailer has no heat and it's been 8 degrees the past few days. We have 3 little space heaters but you can only put one in a room or they will short each other out. So we keep one in the bedroom, one in the study, and one in the main room. The walls are paper thin, so whatever the temperature outside, that's what it is inside. You just got to live through it. A member gave us some big sleeping bags to keep warm but it is starting to warm up now, so we don't use them much. Well, that's pretty much what has been going on down here in Arizona. I love and miss you.

Hey, I just wanted to let you know that I got into the mission field okay. I am serving in the Gila Valley area (there is a temple here but not in my specific area) and my companion is Elder Manumaleuna. People always talk about trainers who are relaxed, well that's the trainer I got. But it is ok. We live in this tiny trailer that's pretty interesting. Last night we stayed at the mission home and that was really nice. We had dinner with the mission president and the area 70. We then had a testimony meeting and some orientation. There was such ans amazing spirit. I did get my new address. Its....
P.O. Box 791
Thatcher, AZ 85552
So you can mail things there and I will get them sooner than the mission home. Transfers happen every 6 weeks and they say you can stay in an area about 3 or 4 transfers, but I will keep you updated. Our P-days are on Monday or on Tuesday, if it's a transfer week. There is a good group of missionaries here in the stake, so I hope everything will go great. I will write you next week to let you know how it is going here.

Love Elder Reese

Peter called me today from the airport. It was so exciting!! He sounds thrilled to be going out into the field and getting started. He is such an amazing kid!! He said he called Marcy and was calling Mom and Dad next. How fun is that? I loved hearing his voice. It was such a wonderful suprise and luckily Ammon and Pyper were here so they could yell hello and we love you to him!! Here is the address you can write to him at. He would love to get some letters. Ben told me that the best letters are the ones where people just told him what they were doing. The every day stuff is interesting to a missionary!!

Love
Christy

Elder Peter Alan Reese
Arizona Tucson Mission
1840 East River Road Ste 102
Tucson, AZ 85718

Sent Wednesday January 26, 2011

Hello Everyone,

All is well in the MTC. Its pretty much been the same since I got here. You work hard, you learn a lot, and you practice teaching. We have taught a few lessons this week and they have gone pretty good. We had one that didn't go to well but it was a great learning experience. I met two Elders, I can't remember their names, but they are going to Georgia on their missions. I told them to look out for you (refering to my parents) and ask you for some Reese's, so you better bring some! Besides that there isn't too much to report. I just keep on reading the Book of Mormon and studying my Preach My Gospel. Being District leader is going good. Most of the problems in the district have gotten worked out and we can't wait until Monday when we leave. So, tell everyone that if they want to write me letters to send it to my mission home. I don't have the address on me but I'll mail it to Christy and she can put it on the blog. You can buy anything at the MTC store, almost, and it is pretty cheap, so get your stuff here. Send everyone my love and tell them I miss them all. I'll keep you updated as soon as I get in the mission field and find out how everything is there. Love you all.

Love, Elder Reese

Pictures from the MTC

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Elder Swallow, Elder Wood, Elder Reese, my companions!

My Room
Jake and I at the Provo temple!

Dear Family,

The MTC is so great. We have been learning so much. We learned how to teach and we have taught two different people so far. My companions are great. They are so helpful to me. I was asked to be the District Leader of our 9 Elders. There have been a few challenges but the Lord is giving me patience. We are able to learn so much by the spirit here. Every time you do anything the spirit guides. It is such a great feeling. My companions are so great. They have a great sense of humor and know ho to have fun, but also to buckle down and work when its time. I miss you so much. Today we got to go to the temple. It was so great to be there and to see the inside of another temple. It's a little different because it's so big but the spirit there is just the same as it was in the one back home. We are learning to keep a better study journal, so I have been trying to write down everything I can and organize it as best as I can. I rarely see the senior missionaries. They are hard to set apart from all the branch presidents and MTC workers, so I have no idea what they do. I was able to find Jake and talk to him a couple of times. I was even able to get a picture of him and I in front of the temple. I will be printing out pictures and sending them to you in the mail, hopefully in the next few days. All I can say is that this is the Lords' work and he loves everyone one of his children.

Love
Elder Reese

The Holt's first letter from Uncle Peter

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Christy & Ben & Kids,

The MTC is amazing. I got here early so a few elders and I got to go looks around. Then they threw us into orientation and classes. It's amazing how strong the spirit is here. There is no way that anyone can deny it. I met my two companions Elder Swallows and Elder Wood. They seem like pretty good guys. There are 5 us us going to Tucson "English". There are Tucson "Spanish" Elders here also. I did get to see Jake at dinner and give him a big hug. After talking to my ZL (zone leader) he said that I could e-mail you (we were concerned about this because they are only allowed to e-mail parents but since my parents will also be on there mission, we were hoping he would get special permission to send me an e-mail as well. It looks like he gets too). I will get 30 minutes every Wednesday until January 31st. Then I'll head into the field. I miss you all so much and I miss all the kids. I have the family picture in my room to remind me of you every day. If the kids want to send me pictures I would love to hang them up. It was great being able to hear from you the first day I arrived. I love you all so much.

--

Love

Elder Reese

Airport

Peter's flight left Sacramento International Airport at 6:00 am on Wednesday January 12, 2011 headed to Salt Lake City Airport. He will catch a van from there to take him to Provo, Ut where he will enter the Missionary Training Center (MTC). He will learn how to be a missionary while at the MTC for about 3 weeks. Then he will fly from there to Tucson, AZ.
At 4:30 am he was able to say good-bye to Megan, Marcy and Brooklynn before heading to the plane.
A good-bye to Arron and an extra big good-bye hug from Courtney.
Good-bye to Mom and Dad (for now...they will see each other for a meal or two in the MTC).
Marcy couldn't let him leave without a few snacks for the road. (I also included a Tupperware container full of rock-hard gum balls from the gum ball machine. I told him to keep them in his suitcase so that he will always feel "at home"...Reese siblings should understand that!)
One last hug from Dad.
We watched as he climbed the escalator...this is where we had to part ways. He hesitated and joked about not being able to turn back. Then smiled his big smile and headed up!
Waved good-bye at the top and was on his way.

Birthday Party

For Peter's 19th Birthday we had a little luncheon get-together. Peter's mom made some really yummy chicken wraps for lunch.
One of the first things Peter did was learn the "Missionary Handshake" from Grandma Reese.
The Holt family got Peter a zipper tie. He admitted that he got one of these before and thought it would be too dorky to use, but he learned that he loved them...zip and go! He was very excited to be adding another one to his collection.
Peter was shocked and surprised to get one of the five last things he needs...one white shirt!
...and then another!
...is that still a look of surprise on his face?
...and then there were three.
...then four.
The five white shirts he needed!

We played some Pictionary, enjoyed the good food and visited and wished Peter the best for a wonderful year...as a missionary!