It is my prayer that we will all take this new Year serious with excitement and service

Hey Everyone,
How goes it in your neck of the woods? There isn’t really any woods, that I’ve seen around here in West Texas but Plainview is going great! We had the opportunity to confirm Jeremiah and Christopher at church this past Sunday and it was great! They both asked me to do it. They are such a good family and they truly love the gospel.
It’s funny how being competitive can be a good thing when it comes to the gospel. We go over and visit them and all the kids want to be the ones to impress my companion and I. They all want to say the opening prayer or want to answer the questions. When we think of being competitive we usually think that its bad but in their case they are learning because of it. We gave them the 13 articles of faith pass along card and challenged them to memorize them. It will be good for them cause they will always remember those things.
I don’t know if I shared this story before but I heard it when I was in Hereford. It was about a girl who had gone less active in church and her young women leader challenged her to memorized the Living Christ. Every week her leader would state what she had learned and how far she had progressed in her memorizing the Living Christ. It was a competition for a while. at the end of the year they had a fireside and all the girls who had memorized it got up and stated it. This one girl who was less active got up there and stated it. It brought her to tears because she realized what the Savior has done for her and how much she really loves Him. Everyone is different and we have to adapt our teaching and our personalities to different people. That young women’s leader was able to adapt the competitive-ness (is that a word?) of this less active girl and make it a learning experience.
We have been adapting our teaching to the needs of our investigators and it is paying off. I’ve noticed time and time again on my mission as we focus on them and nothing else. The growth of them is much more and also the growth of myself. When we serve and actually serve for them and not for us then it becomes so much more meaningful and we in the end do receive our reward!
It is my prayer that we will all take this new Year serious with excitement and service and we will all adjust our service to meet the needs of our fellow brothers and sisters! As we all do this the world will become a better place! We can all make a difference! Thank you all for what you do for me! You’ve made a difference in my life whether you believe it or not! I love you all! Keep on keepin on!

Love Elder Weston Reay