April 25, 2011

Dear Family,
Hey, yeah, I’m doing well. Just another week down. So that’s ok. Nothing really new, just the Holy Week here, mainly for the Catholics. They all actually go to church, which is actually rare. I know. Whatever. But it was ok.
Easter was just the same as it always is. We worked regular yesterday. Didn’t get a whole lot done, but it was fun. I thought for sure for sure that Elder Perez was gonna leave today, but, well, not yet. We´ll just have to wait and see. Maybe this next week. If not, in 2 absolutely. I dunno. We fight like its nobody’s business. I’m apparently a baby, and he’s just judgemental and talks like crazy. Who said you´d love every companion like a best buddy? Anyway. The time is flying by like crazy, and its almost may. I can hardly believe that. Almost 4 months of this year are gone. I still feel like I haven’t changed at all. Well, yes, but not that much. I always see other missionaries after like 3 months and they all look so much older and more mature. I bet I look the same, but just don’t know it. There’s something about the plaque and the clothes. They just make us really look like messengers from God, angels. Its really cool. There’s an experiment I like to do, and you just lose so much power without that plaque. Haha, anyway.
Yeah, we´ve been doin some fun stuff these days. Today, we went into Quito and bowled and played pool and stuff, and then ate KFC. It was good stuff. That’s why this one is a little late. But all in all, fun. I feel like I’m progressing. Even though I don’t talk much in the lessons, I know that I could. If I had the opportunity. In these upcoming days and months and stuff, I really hope that I can just take off and start doing work. P-days are actually kinda hard. I always look forward to them, but when they come, I kinda get disfocused and trunky. So it’s good to be doin work during the week. I just need to forget what everyone thinks and what they feel and just do my very best. We´ll see.
About my shoes, yeah, I already got them repaired, ten bucks, so no worries there. You already got the letter about the packages, so until I can find out more, it might just be better to tell everyone not to send any. I really like getting them, and always appreciate it, but at this moment it seems like it will just be a huge burden to get them out, and if I’m in the coast or something, I may never get them at all. And dad said, it would be hard in the coast, but I wanna go there SO bad. The people from there are so friendly, and their accents are my favorite in the world. Give me a girl from the coast and her accent and I’ll show you a happy Jace Reber (not Elder Reber because he’s not interested in those things). Haha, yeah, pues.
Well, I can’t think of anything else. We didn’t have a whole lot this week. A baptism, Finally! and that’s it. We should have quite a few more for May, so I’m excited. 2 baptisms in three weeks is not good, especially for Ecuador. We´re turnin it around, little by little.
Well, I love you guys, and miss you a whole lot. Don’t worry about telling me the stuff that went on at home, I really love to hear it. It doesn’t make me homesick at all, it just makes me excited for when I’ll have the chance to do it again. Only 15 and a half months! Doesn’t it just look crazy as a written number? I think so. Well, have a good week. Sorry if I forgot something. I left my camera in the house of an investigator last night, so I can’t send any. Chuzo. Asi es la vida.
Tengan una buena semana.
Con amor,
Elder Reber
Jace

April 25, 2011

Madison,
No, seriously, I started the name there. That’s about all I’m gonna say about that.
But cool beans with the life. It sounds like things are really movin along and all that. Just don’t let it go to your head. God is blessing you, but you gotta keep doin the stuff. Pray, every morning and night. READ THE SCRIPTURES. The Book of Mormon more than anything, I’m serious! And GO TO CHURCH. DO IT. I’M SERIOUS. I’ll kill you. I’m gonna reconvert Britney and Brad when I get back, but the immediate family first. Do it, yeah?
Yeah, ok. Yup, sola dos semanas before we can all chat and stuff. Pretty crazy! We´ll see how it goes. Anyway. Sorry. Ain’t got a whole lot to say, or a whole lot of time, but yeah, next time, for sure. I love you and miss you! See ya.
Love,
Jace

April 18, 2011

Dear Family,
Hey, yeah, I’m doing fine. Just the same ol same ol, nothing really new has passed. I’ll look through my agenda to see if I had any cool stories, but I doubt it. I can never remember anything of what happened. Ah well. Maybe some day. It sounds like you guys are having a ton of fun at home. Really cool that the missionaries could come over. I´d like to see some photos of them, too. How was their lesson? How long have they been out? Anyway, enough of that.
Yeah, we´ve been workin. This last week wasn’t very productive, but I had an insane confidence builder doing divisions on Friday. I went to a different sector with a gringo named Elder Smith, and he’s kinda new, so I had to contact and teach basically alone. I didn’t know if I would be able to, because this freakin Perez never stops talking, but I did it really well and I know that I can. It would obviously be a lot better to practice and take it one step at a time, but we´ll just have to see how it all goes. AND I don’t really have a lot of fear for changes now, so that’s cool. Lastly, it just barely hit me how routine everything is starting to feel. Like, just the weeks and finding and teaching and inviting and everything. It’s gonna start to just fly, I feel, and then I’ll have a year! Wow, it’s drawin in, and it kinda scares me. I remember imagining when I started what it would be like I’m glad to hear that everything is still progressing there. I am just looking forward to working with a gringo. I’ve been with a latino for every single day this year, except for Jan1 and 2. Crazy, no? So much Spanish, so little time. But it’s here.
Yeah, I don’t really have much that happened. We were in the house of a mamita, and in a swinging chair thing, and I busted it. Felt like a moron. AND we ate chicken heart. That was interesting. I can’t remember if we had anything funny happen or anything, but I don’t think so. Oh well. On Sunday, with that Smith, we contacted a ton, found a huge family, and I taught them all. Like, 15 people, but it was crazy. They were runnin around and stuff, and it was hard to keep them all calm enough to talk. Then we had an interview in the church, but couldn’t leave because we didn’t have the keys. We had to wait for the hermanas to come and close it, and we there for like 3 hours total. It was fun to just sit and talk. It’s the times like that that I take for granted. Work hard there, but always enjoy the free time. There’s not much. Back at home, for the minimum, like, 4 hours every day. Here, it’s like. . . well, never, haha. I have time in the morning to write and stuff, which is "technically" free time, I guess, but not much. We´re just always thinkin about something. Can’t remember what it was like just thinkin about nothin. Or having nothing to think about later. Haha, not sure if I ever will again, either, what with me havin to work and school and date when I get back home. See ya, casualidad. Is that a word?
Anyway, that’s about it. I’m gonna send some photos. We just got through watchin Toy Story 3 as a zone, and I´d never seen it. Really, really, really good. I loved it. Laughed a ton, and almost cried, too. A little trunky, but all good. Anyway. Keep up the stuff you’re doing. Remember to read the scriptures, and always have Family Home Evening. They stress that here so much, and it’s really good and important and the people have a lot of success when they do it. I love you guys, and pray for you all every night. Haha, remember when I said at Christmas only 5 months till we talk again? Haha, wow, in like 3 weeks it´ll be then. That blows my mind. It´ll really only have been 4 and a half, but still. Super loco. Haha, keep me in your thoughts and prayers, too. Have a good week. If we don’t talk next week, it’s because there are cambios. It’s a really good chance that my comp will leave, so just lettin ya know. Les amo!
Con amor,
Elder Reber, de la iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Dias, or
Jace

Olé, by the way, on that CD, were there videos too, or only photos? Thanks. And the package, no, I haven’t got back or out yet. We´ll see how it goes. And I fixed my shoes, like, April 2, but they are breakin again. Freakin shoes. Love you guys!

April 18, 2011

Dear Whitney,
I’m doing fine with my companion. He’s not too bad. I’m glad you got to do some fun stuff over this weekend. Its always fun to do that, right? I miss Bandit a lot, too. Well, I love you and miss you. Chao!
Love,
Jace

Dear Hunter,
¿Bien, y tú? Estoy feliz, no más. I’m fine. It’s kind of a pain in the butt, but I do it! It’s pretty fun. We´re FINALLY gonna have another baptism, so that’s cool. I’m glad you are playing football and stuff outside. Keep doing it! You´ll be the best player in all of Canyon View, that’s for sure. Well, I love you and miss you too, buddy, and hope you have a lot of fun. Hasta luego.
Love,
Jace

Dear Brooklyn,
I’m glad that you had a really super fun week. It sounds like it was just really full, but that’s good and fun to do, right? I didn’t do too much, just the usual stuff. Teaching and finding and helping and doing all of that stuff. So that’s good. Thanks for prayin and stuff; it really helps. Anyway. Have a fun week, I love you and miss you, and that’s it. For Easter here, they don’t do much. Its called La semana santa, which means Holy week. All of the Catholics go to church. Which is rare, haha. Bueno, nos vemos, yeah?
Love,
Jace

April 11, 2011

Madison,
Wow, you made Prom Queen! Are you serious?! That’s way super cool. It’s good to see that you are still keeping the Reber name alive there. I mean, I did a ton for that, but still. Congrats! And yeah, I got the pictures. Pretty pretty! That’s exciting, though. How did you feel when they called your name? Good? Awesome? Nervous? I dunno, but way to be. About the ACT, yeah, you did really well. Just keep the grades up, and take it again. If you can pull a 3.9 and get like 28 on the ACT, I think you are eligible for a full ride at Utah State. When the college fair thing comes, go to Utah State and see. Anyway, cool stuff. I’m glad you are having a ton of good things come your way. God is really blessing you for the good things that you are doing, and the good . . . woman (ugh, I don’t like to say that, it’s weird) that you are becoming. Anyway.
Don’t worry about things going bad. If you’re living right, God will keep blessing you. He might throw something down to test your faith, but if you handle it good, he´ll put even more good in your life. Trust me. Just keep going on. Don’t think like that. That if it does, only to you. Mom does that a lot, too, and it’s not right, really. God has a ton in store for us, and we just gotta keep our heads up. He’s not gonna do anything that you don’t deserve or that he thinks you can’t handle. Just remember he’s always there, and, well, Jace is out here workin, too, so that´ll keep some support in there. Anyway. Have just an incredible week, keep up the good work, and I hope to hear more good things this next week. Love you, and remember, I’m always here. Oh, and I hit 8 months today! Wow! Only 16 more. Crazy, right?

Love,
Jace
Elder Reber

April 11, 2011

Dear Mom and Dad,
Hey, super sorry that I couldn’t put anything out last week. Like, at all. No, I didn’t get changed. We went to some waterfalls for P-day, and it was freakin awesome. I just tried to send some photos, but this computer sucks superly, and it´ll take forever, like, 30 minutes to even send 3, so I’ll just have to wait until next week. But other than that, super good. Everything is the same, and I’m still here in the mismo Conocoto, just workin away. So again, sorry.
Hmmm, quite a lot of stuff has happened. Well, first up, Conference was this last weekend, and yes, it was really good. It wasn’t as good as in October, but I liked a lot of the stuff. They destroyed on marriage, and completely ruined my excuses for everything. So that’s just great. But its ok. I’ve had FULL ganas to get married these days. Like, a ton. AND I’m gonna marry me a girl from the coast here, because their accents, oooh, it makes me melt inside. Just gotta wait 16 months before I can flirt back, heh heh. Oh, and exactly 16 months, because I hit 8 today! Crazy, no? Yes. Haha, but yeah, conference was good. I’m glad you guys enjoyed what you could hear, too. And yes, we watched it in English. In the stake center, but all of the gringos went into a different room, and they hopped the signal to there, so I was happy. We watched for the first one in Spanish, and it was awful.
So boring. But yeah.
What else. The packages, yes, I got them, the both, and they were really cool, thanks. I wore the kool-aid shirt to the waterfalls, and everyone else was jealous. Besides my amazing personality and good looks, now the other elders have a reason to envy me: my p-day clothes, oh yeah. And yes, I got Candace’s too, thanks. Excellent. Freak, we went to the offices today, and the secretary elder, Elder Vomacil, told me that I have a package in mail jail, and that every package we receive will go there, and you gotta pay 5 bucks for every one. So that sucks. But they are just gonna pull it out of our support money, so that’s ok. I’m hoping to get it out soon, honestly.
Yeah, the last couple of p-days have been awesome. The mital del mundo is yes, the equator, and there were a ton of experiments and stuff, and it was really fun. Last week we went to the waterfalls, and it was really cool and pretty. I’ll send some next week of the both, because it was just really super cool. Good times.
Baptisms. Ugh. Well, we were supposed to have Flia Tipan, but they told our district leader in the interview that they weren’t married. Freak! Are you serious? Liar, lady! She totally told us that yes, and we taught the law of chastity and everything. So that fell. And we just don’t have anything right now. Like, nothing. All of our people suck. We´re lookin for new ones, but its just really, really hard here. I hope to have at least one more before I leave the mish! At this rate, not lookin it. But all good. We´re workin, and that’s what’s important.
Oh, and the package that I sent with the photos, it had movies on it too, yeah? I sure hope so, because I had a ton of good ones on there. If not, well, darn it, but oh well. Just lemme know. And it was only like 5 bucks, so no worries.
Wow, Madison won Prom Queen! That’s really super cool. I can’t believe it. She’s carrying on the legacy that I started at that school, that’s for sure. But I bet she was super excited. I dunno, it’s interesting. I’m glad the guy wasn’t a total pig either. So cool beans on that. I’m glad for her. And yes, she did tell me. Sent me like 7 photos, no más. So I knew, haha. Chevere.
With me, nothing really new has happened. We are just going, day by day, and I’m gettin a little sick of my comp. We argue a ton, and he just talks all the time in the lessons, and I just sit bored. Like, he leads, even though I’m senior comp, and I’m fine with it, and a little worried for when he leaves, because I might just suck it up. Nah, I’m not too worried. I mean, I gotta do it. There’s no other answer. I have to. So we´ll see. We found a cool lady on Saturday. She actually approached us, and we went to her house. She didn’t know crap about God or church, and she told us an interesting story. "Well, my friend came, and asked if I wanted to go, and I said sure. So we go in, and there’s a big screen, and a guy there, and everyone is worshiping him. So we sit down, and the guy on the screen has tattoos and piercings. He comes on, and says hes the Anti-Christ, and that he’shere to save the world. I just sat there, a little uncomfortable. I think it might´ve been Satanic or something." Haha, what? Of course, lady! But she really didn’t know. She hasn’t ever attended a church, and she just started reading the Bible a little bit ago. But still, it was a little amusing. The name of the church was, get this, 666. Yeah. Crazy. That’s about the only crazy thing thats happened over these last couple a weeks with me. I’m always a little on edge, worried that we´re gonna get scolded for sucking, but I dunno. It’s weird, this life. I shouldn’t worry about that, but I feel I need to. We really need to step it up, and we´ve started. We found a whole bunch of new people this last week, so that should be good. Awesome.
Well, that’s about it for me. I hope that you guys have a really good week. Thanks for all the news with everything. It’s good to know the stuff that is occurring in the good ol US of A. I’m excited for the things that are going on, and excited for when I can come back and do them. Keep me in your prayers, as you are all in mine, and have a good week. Hopefully, we´ll keep this goin and start to have some success. I love all of you a ton, and miss you a lot, too. Siguen adelante y nunca se olviden a hacer las cosas pequeñas, como leer, orar, y asistir la iglesia. Les amo, y ya no puedo creer que es Abril! ¡Que loco!

Love,
Jace
Elder Reber

Alma 53: 20-21 Doesn’t it just explain me? Haha, nah.

April 11, 2011

Hey Brooklyn,

It sounds like you just had a super crazy weekend. Sorry I couldn’t write, and that I won’t be able to write very much, but that’s just the way life is. I hope that everything works out. Just keep your head up. You have a lot of friends, and you’re nice. Just remember to always be nice to everyone. I never had any of the cousins, either, and I’m way super cool. Haha, well, I love you and miss you.
Love,
Jace

Dear Hunter,
Haha, wow, that’s cool buddy. I’m glad you had a ton of fun with Colby and that you have a whole bunch of fun things happen. Keep doing the things you should, and yes, you look like me! How cool, huh? Well, have a good week! I love and miss you. Chao, hermano.
Love,
Jace

Dear Whitney,
Hey, that’s cool that Jens having a baby! I didn’t know that. That´ll be pretty weird for when I get back, no? I sure think so. We´ll have to see. I love you and miss you too, and hope that you just have the funnest week of your whole life.
Love,
Jace