Hello! from Maranguape

Well, this week was great! We nearly had a baptism, but Angela nees a little more time, and we met a bunch of new people, so this week is going to be busy! I am excited to see how things will turn out, and I am loving the time I have with my new companion, Elder Patino. He is from Columbus, Ohio.

I ran out of time again, so I will just have to explain things more "detalhado" next week! Hope you have a good one!

Send me pics and quotes and stories of how your wonderful lives are going! If any of you are heading out on a mission, please send me a letter and your mission address so that I can write you back!

Love you all,

Elder Reid Powell Empey

The News - from Maranguape

Hello, all!

So, I have a bit of a sad piece of news. Elder Tibbitts, my companion, because of the headaches that he has been having (nearly six weeks without stopping now), it has become necessary that he return home to try to resolve the difficulties. He hasn't been able to study, nor walk a lot, or much of anything, and so it will be much easier for him to relax at home. I have a new companion, Elder Patino from Ohio, and we are already getting along really well. Elder Tibbitts is flying out on Wednesday. So, my "son" will be continuing his adventures and service elsewhere for the time being. The Lord has a plan in everything, and I am so grateful to have been Elder Tibbitts' companion during this time. I know that the Lord has His hand in all things in our lives.

So, Vitrória and Daniel were confirmed, and now all the members of their family that can be baptized are baptized! I am so happy to see them progressing in the Gospel.

Anyway, I gotta go, but I love you all, and have a wonderful week!

Tchau!

Até o próximo, 

Elder Reid Powell Empey

Quick!

So, another quick email!

We saw a few miracles this week. Márcio was baptized and confirmed, and then, even though I highly doubted and never thought that it would actually happen, Jacinta's daughter and son were baptized as well! Vitória, her daughter, is getting along well with the young women in the ward, and Daniel, her son, is attending. He is very shy and timid, but the young men's president is going to work more with him to help him out.

So, this has been an amazing week! Sadly, the headaches of my companion continue to be a difficulty. We are trying to not do anything to aggravate the situation, which is hard considering that the pain is aggravated by basically anything we do, walking, speaking in Portuguese, studying, the hot Cearense sun, etc. So, we are just doing the best that we can, and trying to keep moving forward!

I'm way out of time, but I love you all, and wish you a happy New Year, 2013! I never thought we'd get this far because of 2012, so I guess I'll have to re-think my life plan......:)

Love always,

Elder Reid Powell Empey

Happy Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy 2013! - From Maranguape

Hello, all. 
I hope that you are having a wonderfullly, awesomely, splenderific day! I know my sister Joslyn is, because she's still out of school on break:)

So, this week was great. Oh, sorry, by the way, that I didn't send an email last week. I was a bit too busy talking to my FAMILY!!! On Skype:) It was awesome:)

This week was good because of Christmas and all (by the way, I got my Christmas package, Mom. I finally ate one of those giant Reese's today, and it was amazing. And, please tell my companion that the other one is for him. He refuses to believe that it's for him, and insists that I eat it), but it was still challenging. My companion, Elder Tibbitts, is having some very difficult health challenges. He has had a headache for nearly five weeks, and it hasn't gone away. He already got a tomography, with and without contrast, and a CT scan, but everything checked out normal. We are not sure what to do, especially because we did what the doctor said and rested this past week and took some other medicines, but it didn't really help. Please keep him in your prayers so that we can find the solution. The Missionary Department is working on it right now.

Jacinta was confirmed yesterday, and her two older kids finally went. Also, Márcio, a young man who is 19, is getting baptized this Saturday, and confirmed on Sunday! He's awesome, and I'm so excited for his decision to do the right thing.  Please pray for him as well, that he can have the strength he needs to confront the difficulties that he is facing and will continue to face. Pray for Jacinta as well!

I love you all so very much! Have a wonderful week, and don't forget that I'm thinking about you, and pray and hope for the best for you all!

With love as always,

Elder Reid Powell Empey

Good Times, Hard Times, Another Week in Maranguape

Hey, everyone! Hope it's been a good week.

This week was good, we had the Christmas Conference for our whole mission, and we were able to talk to everybody. Also, I sang a song for the talent show, it's a song that the mission president loves, and a group randomly asked me, "Hey, do you know this song? We need an American who can sing and speaks English!" Because the song is in English:) It's "He Ain't Heavy" by the Hollies. It's a good song when you're thinking about companions and difficulties. I'll try to attach the video.

Anyway, we talked to a woman this week who is awesome! Her name is Jacinta, and she really wants to get baptized. Her soon-to-be ex-husband was baptized yesterday, and the Elders who were doing his interview invited her to hear the missionary lessons when she was dropping of their two girls at his house. She accepted, and we went over there that same day we got the referral, and then she when to church the next day and loved it! She wants to be baptized, and be forgiven of her sins, so she truly has been prepared by the Lord. She was recently very disappointed by her own church, and the things that we going on there. So, her heart in open and receptive at this time. I am excited to see how things turn out this week!

Anyway, I gotta go! I will see some of you next week, the 24th, Christmas Eve, on Skype! I love you all so very much! Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year! The Church is true!

Love always,

Elder Reid Powell Empey

Hurry! Nov. 26, 2012

I didn't have much time to write an email this week because I was buried in other emails......I love you all so much!

This week was kind of a tough week, but we figured out how we can get the work going. We are going to work with the members in Tabatinga, an area of the ward, to help us bring back lots of less-active members and to help us find more people to teach, rescuing and strengthening these families in the Gospel at the same time. That is what real Church growth is all about.

I love you all so very much, sorry for the short email! Elder Tibbits is awesome, and I am excited for the adventures ahead:)

With all my heart,

Elder Reid Powell Empey

AH!! Crazy fast! ~ Dec. 10, 2012

Sorry, guys! I ran out of time this week! Things are doing good, not perfect (well, duh, Elder Empey, nothing in this life is perfect...), but things are running along.

I am excited for the Gospel to be preached to so many more people now that there will be so many more missionaries in the field, and a lot more Sisters! Let me tell you, the Sisters who are coming into the field will begin to raise the baptisms up to an unprecedented level, and it will be them that will set the example and the standard that the Elders will have to live up to.

I was actually thinking about this during this week: it was Eve, not Adam, that perceived the importance of keeping the higher commandment of multiplying and replenishing the Earth, that they needed to partake of the fruit to progress. It was Eve that showed to Adam the "more excellent way". I believe this will also be manifest in our missionary efforts. The Sisters take their callings more seriously, more diligently, and they truly receive power in their callings, even when Elders in the same circumstances don't. I truly believe that there are Sisters that have more power to preach the gospel than some of the Elders, because the Elders have the authority of the priesthood, but lack the diligence and desire to receive the necessary power. It is like that in many different aspects of the Church, not only missionary work. We must rise up, and be men, fulfilling the roles which we were called and ordained to fulfill. Not to say that the wonderful women of the Church cannot or should not or are not meant to fulfill such roles, because they are wonderfully capable and majestic at doing just that. It is simply sad and unfortunate, however, when the women of the Church do so in a necessity to "pick up the slack" that the men leave undone, having to do what the men are supposed to do merely because the men choose not to live up to their obligations and responsibilities. Thankfully and happy, however, this is not the case. I am thankful for wondferful men in my life who stand up, making the difference, and fulfilling their priesthood roles and fatherly obligations, and do so willingly and lovingly. They are examples of the Savior, and they are blessed immensely for their diligent priesthood service.

The Gospel is true! I love you all so very much. Have an awesome, splendiferic week!

Love always,

Elder Reid Powell Empey