DO IT!!!!!!!!!

Hey Guys, How is it going? How is everyone? Well guys I hate to say it but at the same time love to say it but I’m finished! I have fulfilled all the Lord has called me here to do at this time in this area. As missionaries at the beginning we look forward to the moment we will finish and go home, so much. At least that’s how it has been for me. Now that the time is here I am so sad! I’m so excited to see my family and to see my friends and to tackle whatever is next in my life but I almost don’t want to leave. As I look back on my wonderful areas and the wonderful people and the changes I’ve seen people make, it makes me sad that I’m leaving this. I will never forget the wonderful people. As I finish I know that something that I will do is make goals because I learned at a young age from Grandpa Jackson that goals help us progress in life. I never realized how right he is until I came on my mission. My Dad emailed me today and asked me if it was all I thought it would be... as I’ve been sitting here pondering that question the answer is it has been so much more than I thought it would be! It has by far been the best thing that I’ve ever done in my life and I’m going to miss it so much. I want to thank everyone for all the support and prayers you have given! I love you all so much. I truly learned how it feels to love someone and it is great! That is how the Lord feels about all of us but its deeper than we can comprehend. Always keep on keepin on. If anyone is contemplating serving a mission my advice is DO IT!!!!!!!!! That might have been a lot of exclamation marks but it’s cause it is the greatest thing in the world for 19-27 year olds. It is so great! I have loved it so much. I have had my struggles, as will everyone that serves. But the Lord lifts us up and we learn and grow so much for the better. Thanks again. Remember to keep on keepin on! I love you all! See you soon! Love Elder Weston Reay

My feelings right now are bittersweet !

Hey Guys, How is everyone doing? I hope all is well! I will be heading home in a weeks time from now. My feelings right now are bittersweet. It almost doesn’t seem real. I am very excited to see my family and to see all of you! It will be great! I want to thank everyone for all the support youv’e shown for me and my family. It has truly been a blessing to be able to be here and serve here. I love it and will cherish this time I’ve had to serve the Lord, for eternity! This week I want to share an experience that is great. It shows that age doesn’t matter the spirit will work through anyone that is doing what is right. So we were at a lesson talking to a lady who we are trying to baptize. We were talking to her and finding out her concerns about being baptized on the 9th of June. She wants her mom to be there but her mom lives out of the state and it’s just gonna be hard for her to make it and she was concerned about that. Her grandson who is 10 years old who we baptized in December bore his testimony to her and told her that its good that she wants her mom to be there but she can’t keep putting it off. He told her that he wanted his mom to be there for his baptism but she wasn’t there but it didn’t matter cause it’s what God wants her to do and it is for her and no one else. At that point she was crying and the spirit was so strong in the lesson. She came to church and really enjoyed it and was given an assignment to read a book for Relief Society so they can have their brunch this Saturday and talk about the book and she has almost read the whole thing. We went over yesterday and she told us that she wants to get baptized this Saturday and she’s excited. It is so great how the Lord works. It’s happened to me numerous times and it amazes me every time it happens. I love these moments. It makes all the tough times worth it. I know that her grandson has had a huge impact and that is because he has a sincere love and that’s what we all need to have. When we care for people like we care for our own family members then we do what it takes to help them see the blessings. It was a humbling experience. One I will never forget. I will be finishing with a bang this weekend with our baptism. Once again thanks for all you guys do and especially for the prayers. They help so much! I love you all and hope you keep on keepin on! Love Elder Weston Reay pic1-my last district pic2-the Williams family(love them)

Wear out your shoes!

Hey Guys, How’s it going? I hope all is well! Things here in the Texas Lubbock Mission are doing well! The work is moving forward. We are doing work! That’s what’s up! So this week what I’m going to talk about and I apologize if I have talked about it before but I’m talking about service and how it just makes everything flow smoothly. So as missionaries we have goals and really the reason we have goals, I believe is so we can push ourselves to do our best and to help others. Lately in Plainview almost every single morning we have been getting up and going over to member’s houses or investigators houses and doing service. We have done service from rotor tilling, planting cotton, mowing lawns, all the way up to helping someone set up for a yard sale. We've spent a great deal of time serving in a different way than we usually do. We have been helping members any way we can. It’s taken up a lot of time and usually I think missionaries would be worried cause they wouldn’t be able to get the good numbers for the week but it seems like because we are serving and helping Heavenly Father's children any way we can, He makes everything happen. It seems like we go do service then get ready to go out and things have just been falling into our laps. It has been a real testimony builder to me that if you quit worrying about the numbers and about how you look to others and just get out there and serve and care about the people then the Lord will build you and others up and all will work out. When we serve we line our will with His will and it sure is great! I took a picture of my vans that I’ve had for a while and before I left on my mission they were in pretty good condition and they got a rip or two in them over the last little while on my mission but over the last 2 weeks from all the service we have been doing they have just gotten wore out. So this week’s message is to wear out your shoes! Wear out your body in the service of the Lord. When you do this, you feel good, you feel the spirit and God helps you with things you need. As I’ve worn my shoes out and served my whole mission, the times that I know I’ve been the happiest is when I’ve just been focusing on the people and serving my hardest. For example when I was in Midland with Elder Nelson (who is a straight up stud) we worked our butts off and just served any way we could. We had so much fun and so much success. We baptized and we loved the people. I know I learned that serving is the ‘bees knees’! I still believe that and hope that we will all go forward and serve! I love you all and thank you for your support. Keep on keepin on! Love Elder Weston Reay! pic 1- vans+service=happiness pic 2-the Carbines and myself pic 3- vans again.

Watch over, love, help and protect His sheep.

Hey Guys, How is everything going? So I only have 2 more times after today to write about either my personal growth or experiences. Today I don’t have a lot of time and was gonna skip it but I can’t cause I won’t be able to write many more times. It is crazy how fast time has been going. I swear it was January a few days ago and now May is almost over. My little brother Dylan is graduating high school. It seems like he’s still 16 and I’m still 19. Where has the time gone? I want to congratulate Dylan for graduating! He is such a stud! I am proud of him and wish I could spend the day with him but it’s ok. I will see him soon. :D Today I want to talk about being a good shepherd and watching over our sheep. In life our ultimate goal is to become like Christ. To do the things He did and to be like Him. We all want to be good shepherds and love and watch over our sheep. My uncle Bill wrote about how after we baptize converts they are our sheep and we continue to watch over them, love them and take care of them. In missionary work a lot of times we have a baptism then we just move on to the next one. But that is not at all what it is about. We create a relationship with these people we come in contact with from the beginning and as we continue to nurture and strengthen our relationships it builds more trust. When these people trust us, then there is so much more love and our concern for them and the welfare of their souls is greater! I’ve noticed as I’ve thought back on all the people that I’ve seen get baptized and been a part of their lives. I’ve had a good trust level with them and in missionary work we have to trust our sheep that they are doing what they say they are doing. If we don’t trust them then how can we expect them to trust us? They have to trust us with their lives. The Lord has entrusted all of us with the salvation of all these souls and it is our duty to watch over, love, help and protect His sheep. I had an experience that really helped me understand this yesterday at church. I was in primary during sharing time and the teacher was talking about the Holy Ghost and how it guides us in our lives. She had one of my converts get up there and put a blindfold on and told him to make it back to his seat with it on. He tried but couldn’t do it because he couldn’t see. She then asked him who he trusted with his life and he picked me. Normally I wouldn’t have been in primary but I was helping with one of our other investigators that was there. I feel like the reason I was in there was to learn this lesson. I helped him back to his seat as the Holy Ghost helps us back to our Heavenly Father if we seek after Him. Another thing that helps us all back to Heavenly Father is the members of the church, the good shepherds looking after all these sheep. We are to help one another, to uplift and love one another. When that is what we understand then that is when service is not only fun but it’s easy. This was a great lesson for me to learn and I pray someone else will get something out of it! Thanks for your time and love! Keep on keepin on! Love Elder Weston Reay pic 1- gasol need I say more (that’s for you Chris Saladbar) pic 2-watching over our sheep pic 3-sugar time is Jordan’s life. lol (P.S. Weston’s Homecoming will be on July 22nd at 9:00 am at our church on 1700 E 900 S in Springville. Love to see you there. Laura)

Happy Mother's Day for the 3rd time on the mission.

Hey Guys, How’s it going? So yesterday was Mothers Day and it was so great! We had a wonderful sacrament meeting. We had a couple from the mission office speak in our branch and they are legit and talked about how Mothers Day is all about honoring our mothers and that’s what it’s all about.(I love my mom and all she has done for me!) They also talked about how wonderful and powerful a child’s prayer is. It was great! I also got to talk to my family yesterday which was great! They are great! So what I’m gonna talk about today is how sometimes we see people making mistakes but we don’t feel like we can say anything cause we feel like we need to correct ourselves first. I’ve learned that if you see a problem and there is an opportunity to help someone correct themselves it’s an opportunity to serve. As we all try to serve and become like the good shepherd we realize that everyone we know is a sheep and we have to look after them! It’s so great as we serve we come to know the Savior better and we also become more like Him. Things are going great here and I’m sure gonna miss my mission in a month. Thanks for your love and support. Haters gonna hate! Love you guys...the TLM always on the cutting edge! B E L I E V E !!! Keep on keepin on! Love Elder Weston Reay pic1- about to rain. black and rainy to the east and sunny and warm to the west. only in Texas pic2- we made a titanic boat its legit! pic3- colt 45 and two zig zags baby that’s all we need!

Finding Investigators!!!

Hey peoples, What’s good? How is everything? Things here are going good. My service is coming to an end. It is crazy how fast time flies. What will I do when I get home? Any ideas? Today I wanted to talk about 2 things. The first is; last night I was thinking about the people from my mission that I absolutely love that have affected me. If they are on the email list I hope they know that I love them so much. The specific couple that I love that has changed my life that I will remember forever is the Slaughters! Man I love them and it has been a very long time since I’ve seen them but I want to thank them for all they do! They are the greatest people ever. They deserve the best and will receive it in heaven cause all they do for the Lord and their love for the gospel... great people! You all should be jealous of me cause I got to meet them and most of you haven’t.. (in your faces!) I’m so grateful for the wonderful people I’ve met! My life will be forever changed because of these people. The other person I’d like to mention is Sherry Gooden. Man she's great! She will never know how much she has changed my life and how much she helped me. In each area I’ve ever served in, I have had a lady that I called mom. It has been cool to find my own little mission mom's in each area and how great they are. How I can turn to them as I can my own mother. And as I reflected last night on these area moms that I’ve had, I was just so full of gratitude cause the love they show me and what they have done for me! I love all you mission moms!!!! The other thing that I wanted to talk about was finding investigators.. a lot of people think missionary work is all about knocking on doors but that is false. Knocking doors is not very effective. All the people that I have seen progress in the gospel were people who were referrals from members or friends with other investigators we have. We were at a party on Cinco de Mayo and there were so many people there and not one of them is a member of our faith. They were all great people and we were able to teach them by what we were doing and saying. I of course was running around playing tag with all the little kids having a blast and sweating like crazy. It was fun. And my companion got to sit and converse with a lot of them. We had the chance to invite them all to church.... none came yesterday but it was great to see that referrals are where the success comes from. Maybe some day soon. This Church is true and it will help everyone who will put its doctrine to the test! Everyone who tests it will know it is from Christ and from God! It’s great to have that knowledge. Go share it with your friends! It’s your duty! I love you all and hope you have a fantastic Mothers Day! I know I will! Keep on keepin on! Love Elder Weston Reay -me and my sweet razor scooter!

What's Poppin?

Hey Everybody, What’s poppin? How are things? Go Oklahoma City Thunder!!! Let’s all hope and pray the Lakers or Mavericks don’t win the finals this year! Well enough of my little sports rant... This last weekend was legit! We had the baptism for a little black girl named Genesis. It was such a great experience. She was so excited to get baptized and become a member of the Church. It was a great experience to share with her. What I want to write about today is something that I’ve been thinking about lately.. I hope we all do service for the right reasons. I hope we do it for the Lord! I think too often we think that because we are members of the Church of Jesus Christ that we have the easy road but that is wrong 100 percent! Joseph Smith explained that service is what our church is! We kinda fall into little ruts where we are content with the amount of service we are doing and we aren’t going the extra mile that the Lord expects from us. We have all made promises with the Lord that we will do all we can to build the kingdom and that includes less actives and friends that are not of our faith. When we fulfill our covenants and do all we can, we all will receive blessings. It is a blessing to get to serve. It is wonderful to help people anyway we can. We should never feel obligated that we have to go help someone move or go visit a less active family. We ‘get’ to do these things so the Lord can build us up. We signed up for this. Some of us do more than others and we can’t complain about those who don’t have as much responsibility cause like the Savior taught with the laborers, we signed up to do whatever the Lord asks of us and sometimes He wants to stretch us and we need to be humble and willing to do what He asks. That’s what trust in the Lord is to me. This has something that has been on my mind lately. I hope that if I ever fall into a rut that one of you will love me enough to help me out of it. If you are in a rut I hope you will do what it takes to get out of it. And what it takes is loving service. Be willing to do what you promised to do and you will be so much happier! I love you all and thank you for what you do for me. I will be finishing my mission here in Plainview, Tx. It is a great area and I love it here. Keep on keepin on guys! All the best! Love Elder Reay pic 1- me and my buddy pork chop

pic 2- genesis' baptism pic 3- me and genesis