Knocking Skyline

Hey Everyone!!

This week has been a really good one. I have worked hard and found a lot of success. We have someone on date and a few others working towards a date. Temple is our most solid investigator. They knocked into him last transfer and we went back and gave him a Book of Mormon and taught him the Restoration. It was sick. He was really down to come to church but didn't end up being able to come. Sad day. He wants to be Baptized and as long as he comes to church over the next couple weeks he will be ready. He started reading the Book of Mormon and has read til Laban is killed in 1 Nephi. He said he really likes it. I'm excited to help him out.

We had a really cool tender mercy yesterday. We were knocking Skyline and Elder Tafua has knocked it before so he knew there wasn't that much potential but we felt like that is where we should be. So we knocked. There was a bunch of contentious people trying to bash or cause a scuffle or whatever. It was super duper lame. But we kept knocking and pushing on. Nothing really came but then I knocked on a door. It was close to the freeway. I knocked and the guy was like, I'm pretty busy I gotta get ready and shower and go bowling. I said, "Well would you like to be Baptized?" He said Yes! My Mom has been wanting me to be baptized for a long time but I never have done it or anything. So we said alright sweet. We got his number, and gave our number to him and we left him with a prayer and sent him on his way to bowling. I find it awesome how the lord puts us through trials so that we can show him how bad we want it and then he will bless us with opportunities to help others come unto him through this wonderful gospel. I don't know if Jeff will get baptized or not, but I do know that our Heavenly Father loves us and puts us in the places that we need to be at the right time so that we can help others. It isn't about us, it is about other people coming closer to Jesus Christ, the savior of the world.

Elder Tafua and I have been getting along great so far and are having fun. It is good to be here and be able to work with him in the Skyline ward in Tacoma. I hope you all are having a good time at home and doing what you are supposed to. I know that Heavenly Father watches out for you each and every day no matter what the trials and challenges we go through are.

Oh and a funny story. For the last two days I haven't had a missionary tag...oops!?!? So the first one I sent home to the immediate fam for Christmas and haven't gotten the new one yet. And my Mag tag I lost the magnet three days ago so I rigged it so that it would work. Then we were OYMing at a park and this guy was running and wanted to talk so we ran with him and my tag fell off while we were running and I looked for it for a few minutes and didn't find anything. So no more tag for me. Hopefully my new one came today...if not then a week being tagless will not be good but I'll just have to be a missionary with the way I act and look instead of puttin on the tag. You all can be missionaries too. I love you!! Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Reynolds

Stake Conference with Elder & Sister Renlund

Transfers

Hey Everyone!

This week was alright. Not too bad here in the WA-TAC! The best mission by far in the world. I love it here so much. I am really enjoying being here, but found out I"m going to Tacoma tomorrow. I'm excited to go to Tacoma and be able to teach the people there. My new companion came out with me and we are going to work hard to be the best missionaries that we can be.

This last week we found a couple new people to teach. One who is 19 named Chris. He has divorced parents. One of them is a Buddihst and the other is Christian so he has had a mix of a lot of beliefs. He told us that he is interested in learning more though. We are really excited to work with him later on next week. I am short on time so I will add more to this later. But this week has been great and I am looking forward to next week. I love you all. Hope you have a great week. You are the best.

Love,
Elder Reynolds

Meeting an Apostle

Hey Everyone!

This week was super awesome. I have had a great week and I learned so much. The week started off super duper slow but I got a haircut so the confidence is back. (; haha just teasing but it has been doing me really good to have shorter hair and less to take care of every day. Then we started off slow with numbers but it got better. Our Zone leaders gave us some crap last week but basically we have now recovered from the sucky Christmas/holiday break when people aren't quite as busy as they are the rest of the year. We are finally being able to teach our investigators and help them to be prepared for baptism and confirmation and it all goes back to the Book of Mormon. If the Book of Mormon is true and you follow the teachings found there, then the blessings are insurmountable. As Joseph Smith shared in the Introduction to the Book of Mormon that if you abide by the teachings found there you will come closer to God than by any other book. I love that so much. We had the opportunity to teach Nicole the simplicities found in the Book of Mormon and help her to know that through it and the simpleness she will be able to overcome the trials and challenges that life presents to all of us.

We had the opportunity of Elder Dale G. Renlund coming to the Silverdale stake and being able to feel of his spirit was awesome. He talked about the atonement and the blessings that are promised to us from Christ himself. That if we keep his commandments we receive his atonement more fully and feel the love that he gives. I know that he lives. The most important message that we can share. Not something about what he did but that he still lives today. Jesus Christ's atonement is infinite and will bless you more than you can imagine. I promise you that. I know that this gospel is true and that he lives.

Plus yesterday we had a special stake conference where Elder Dale G. Renlund of the 12 came and he talked about the atonement and we all got to shake his hand and talk to him and we even took a picture with him that I'll forward on. It was a really cool experience to have an apostle present and I even got to sit on the front row of the chapel because we had a convert to the church who was there so we got to sit in the "reserved seating" section up front and I basically had eye contact with Him and his wife the entire meeting. It was such a spiritual experience and for the first stake conference in my entire life it went by fast and I learned a ton. It was so amazing. So I got to talk to an Apostle this week. Super cool I thought. One thing that I learned was that Apostles really are real. Meeting one for the first time and listening to him talk outside of general conference was cool because they talk just like they are having a conversation and not like they are giving a sermon. They literally speak scriptures though. Just automatically know where to go and it makes me want to know my scriptures better than I do so that I can just speak them and be able to share the light of Christ more fully with the world. (Greg took to the liberty to add this paragraph from another email Elder Reynolds sent to the family)

I hope you all have a great week. Here in the mission we are working on working with members more and it is starting to work out. We haven't found anything yet but it is getting better. This upcoming week is transfers so if anything is coming in the mail make sure it is by the 19th or I might be gone. I'll find out Saturday and then the transfer is on Tuesday. I love you all.

Elder Reynolds

New Year...4 Months...Mission Life

Hey Everyone!!

This week here in the WA-TAC was a good one. The weather is freezing cold but not any snow so it's kinda disappointing but I love it here. We didn't do anything special for new years but this last week we had a zone conference. Zone Conference is always a special time. I really love the opportunity to share the gospel with others. The most frustrating thing ever is that I cant just force people to do things. People have their free agency and sometimes that is the hardest thing to realize, but then at the same time as we are patient with people they find the desires to do things that they normally wouldn't do.

I really love the first part of the Book of Mormon. Over the last couple weeks I have restarted reading it after we finished as a mission on Christmas. It is so crazy how much truth there is found there even though it is just so simple. it basically talks about the history but Nephi is such an inspiration to all of us. He is the youngest of three older brothers, that definitely wouldn't be the easiest thing ever. But he pushes through and is a Prophet of the lord because of it. I hope we can all strive to be more like Nephi as he was blessed so much because of the faith that he had in our savior. Continue to strengthen your faith and you will be blessed.

The work in Poulsbo is picking up and hopefully over the next month we will be able to see a few people be baptized and enter into covenants with our Heavenly Father. I hope you all have a great week. Happy NEW YEAR!! It's crazy how fast four months has gone but I look forward to what is to come because it will be the best thing ever.

Love you All!!
Elder Reynolds


Here are some other pictures Elder Reynolds uploaded this week.