Progress in area!

Happy birthday to my mom! Couldn’t have asked for a better mom. She is the best example in my life and the most loving person I know. I hope the fam was nice for your big day.

Well…. This was a CRAZY week!!

We saw lots of miracles this week. Probably the coolest week of my mission! It’s funny because I feel like I’ve said that lots before but this one was especially special.

Monday we met a great man named Arnelle. He listened to our message of the Restoration and we had a great lesson. He shared tons of insights and said he’s been looking for our message for quite some time now. The problem was he had to leave for Saudi for 3 years on Thursday. We thought aw darn this will probably be the only visit but he told us that Tuesday night he was going to a birthday party in Quezon City, but wed night we could stop by and share again. So Wednesday night comes around and he invites us in. Lots of his family was there with him since he was leaving the next morning and wouldn’t see each other for 3 years! I felt super honored to be able to have some of his time right before he was leaving all of his kids and wife. We taught their family and he got all teared up and said he wished we could’ve met earlier. He insisted he was going to take the restoration pamphlet with him and read it and share it often. We then pulled out a book of Mormon for him and he lost  his mind! It was sooo cool it was one of the most powerful lessons. There aren’t missionaries in Saudi but he’s going to find a meeting place. We’re super sad he left but it was amazing God put him in our path right before he left for a difficult new adventure.

We met 4 less actives on the streets this week! We got lots of their numbers and two of them were actually RM’s who had moved into Makati. Super cool! One said he’d work with us sometime.

Justine is doin “alright.” We gave her a book of Mormon last Saturday and we had another lesson last Tuesday. Well… what a lesson that was! We followed up if she was able to read the Book of Mormon and she said she was in 2 NEPHI 19!!! We were like wait first nephi or second? She said “second! The words of Isaiah.” We both about jumped out of our chairs! Haha we both freaked out it was awesome! I haven’t even read anything close to that much in 3 days. We then started talking about baptism and extended an invitation to be baptized. She said “I want to I really do!” We then went and started to set a goal date and OUT OF NOWHERE the member we were with did something I’ll never forget haha. He said “baptism?? Wait elders you can’t do this!” He then turned to her and said “sister have you been to church yet?” She said no and lets just say everything went downhill from there haha. She kinda lost confidence and we didn’t get a date set. But it was still an amazing lesson when I walked out of the church I felt like I had just hit a full court shot at the buzzer. Later this wk we had another lesson with her and she accepted for Aug 26! She was at church too yesterday!

Claire and Angel had dinner with us at the Makilings (members) again this Wednesday!! It’s amazing how quick people can progress if they have a friend at church. We also set baptism dates with them and they were at church yesterday!! Also we coordinated with the Elders quorum and they’re gonna go fix up their house a little for some service!

Wednesday I had an interview with President.. I was working in the office and he came out of his office and had me come in after Elder Webster. He told me “if you were to get hit by a bus tonight, would elder webster be able to train someone to take over your position in the office?” Haha I said yes (elder webster can do anything) and then he told me he’s having me transfer! Soo yeah.. I’m transferring in two days! It was totally out of nowhere because normally an office elder comes in 3 weeks before the transfer. Elder Cram is my beloved son.. he came in earlier this week. He’s from Riverton! Haha I’m teaching him as much as I can but basically the joke is I’m the “worst father the mission has ever seen.” My lineage in the office is very rich and I’m kinda the disappointing link in the chain. My child comes and I leave him right away;)

Crazy thing happened that you won’t believe. Elder Cram came walking in with all of his luggage and you’d never ever guess what he was holding.. a cactus!! He found a place that sells them I guess! So pday we went and bought one. It was awesome! It gets better though. After talking to the lady in the greenhouse for awhile about cacti she gave me my cactus and pot for free!! It was meant to be haha! So now I’ve got a cactus in possession. We ordered mcdonalds to come to our house that day and it ended up being one of the best p days ever haha!

Met and taught a retired jockey! He was apparently super good and won all kinds of races here. He spoke fluent English since he also raced in other countries. Once again I pulled the Kentucky card out of my pocket and we were immediately best friends! The elders will be going back to him this week. We actually met his wife at 7 11 and was looking for her.. but it all worked out! They’re both super nice and have tons of potential.

Well I’m super sad to be leaving this area but I’m excited to get back into the field full time! It’s kinda hard because our area is doing really well right now I’ll be missing lots of good things! But I’m excited to go to las pinas and continue to share this amazing gospel. I challenge you all to talk to someone new this week! Never really something I’d do before my mission but I’ve seen so much joy come from always opening our mouth. I have never once regretted opening my mouth to share the gospel or even to simply lift someone up- even if some of the time it hasn’t been the perfect exchange or maybe a little awkward or something. I know God will always help be with us and we can have amazing moments with people we may never see again.

Love Elder Reber

Office Elders and the AP's

The horse that will be making it's way all around the world to all of Parker's friends that are serving missions. 

Back story on the cactus obsession was Parker and a great friend decided to start up a new club at the high school. Somehow they decided that a cactus club would be a good choice. The funniest part about it was just after Parker left for his mision, they became so popular and we keep seeing them on all sorts of things like clothes and home accessories. Little did they know they were ahead of their time with the trends!

His beloved cactus in the seat of honor.