A Beautiful Week Here In The WA-TAC

Hey Everyone!!

What a beautiful week here in the WA-TAC. The bipolar weather is the most popular thing here. It's been 80 degrees and even up to 90 and then it drops back to 50-60 degrees often. Definitely better than constant rain though. With the weather being horrible I have coughed like crazy and it could be allergies or sickness but coughing is no fun. Luckily it doesn't make it so that I have to stay home I can still go out and go to work.

We had a ton of success this last week. The Colvin family came to church and they are on date for this upcoming Sunday. It's going to be fantastic. We also have Marty on date for May 8th so as long as they pray and ask God they will be prepared to be Baptized on those days. It's going to be awesome. We also had lots of lessons and found new investigators. Our mission had a goal of 375 New Investigators and we blew it out of the water and had over 600 New people to teach. Miracles happen all the time when we work for them and pray for them. I know that through our Heavenly Father we can do all things.

I also learned this week that when we don't know how to do something we do things better than if we do know how to do them. Once we get comfortable doing things then we don't put forth as much effort and make them as good as they could because we have it all figured out. Liz Wiseman said in a talk given at BYU, "Who wants a job that they are qualified for, that means there is nothing to learn." I took this to heart and I look for things to do that I am not qualified for. If we are not qualified, we find success because we work to be qualified. Friends and Family we are not qualified for the Kingdom of God but if we rely on him and do things that we don't know how to do we will make it and will be welcomed into his presence. I know this is true with all of my heart.

I love you all and hope you have a great week.


Love,
Elder Reynolds

Another good week here in the WATAC!!

Hey Everyone!!

Another good week here in the WATAC!! We had some funny things happen. We had zone meeting and the mission president and assistants came. That only happens to one zone and for whatever reason they chose the Lacey Zone so that was fun. It's always great to have our mission president around. He brings such a special spirit and makes the meeting better cause quite honestly all the missionaries make comments and do things they normally wouldn't do to get President's attention and try to "suck up". It's funny cause some of us notice it and we laughed way hard about it.

We taught the Colvin's like 3 times and they are starting to progress a little bit more. They havent' been reading and praying as a family and that is the biggest difference. If we read and pray and ask God then we can know the truth. They didn't come to church again but they are on date for May 1st so they should come this week. Please pray for them if you get the chance. They are such a special family and I know that this Gospel will bless them. It already has and they talk all the time about the change that has come. The Gospel brings changes to our lives that bring more happiness and joy than ever before. I know that they need this.

Yesterday (Monday) we were knocking on doors and we knocked on the door and started talking to this lady. We found out that her name is Kristen later on and she wasn't too interested and like many others said I'm already Christian. So I asked, "Well have you been baptized or is that something that you would like to do?" She said well I have been. It led perfectly into explaining how we have the authority from God and that through that authority we must be baptized. We set up an appointment to meet her at the church on Wednesday.

We also walked onto a property and said Hello How's it going? His first response was I'm a Christian. Elder Stevens said well would you like to be baptized?? He said, Yes. I need to do that. We put him on date for May 8th and he agreed and is planning to be baptized and we are going back on Saturday to talk to him more about it.

Miracles happen friends and family. We just have to be Bold and invite and our Heavenly Father will bless us with experiences that are beyond comprehension and make no sense, but because of the way that we feel, we know that these things are true. I hope you all have a great week!!

Much love,
Elder Trevor Reynolds

*FYI - Elder Reynolds will be staying in Rainier with the same companion, so no new address.

Pictures are from the Lacey Zone Meeting and the "Why I Believe Fireside"

Elder Reynolds and the mission momma

Determination and Hard Work

Hey Everyone!!

This week was a good one. We got a lot done and have been finding success. The Colvin's have been progressing and I think they are ready to commit to a baptismal date. They are taking steps to bring other people to the church before they even come themselves. On Saturday we stopped by to remind them about church and they invited all of their family and friends that were over for a BBQ. It was awesome. They didn't end up being able to come but that's alright we will get them to come next week. They are committed to come and it is fantastic. Their family is seeing the blessings of coming to the gospel more and more. We teach them often and they trust what we say.

Last night we also taught someone new that we found named Shawna. She's talked to lots of missionaries before and we basically told her straight up that the gospel brings blessings and that if she finds this out she will be baptized. If we give commitments and are straight with people they listen more. It's fantastic.

On Friday we went on exchanges with the District Leader so I worked in a different area. It's so weird to do it for a day but not too bad. While working there we found lots of success in an area that generally hasn't found success. It all comes with determination and hard work. We got to go bowling on Monday for pday too and that was crazy with a bunch of missionaries but things are going great. I know that through prayer miracles can and do happen. I hope you all have a great week. Love you all!

Elder Reynolds

*Transfers are next week on the 19th.
Washington is a beautiful place I love it so much!!

A pretty area where they were knocking doors

Flowers right outside the door at their apartment

A little golfing on their break in their backyard

Still taking selfies :)

Week of Conferences

Hey Everyone!

Another great week here in the best mission in the world in the best area in the mission. The Deschutes River ward is so awesome and the people are great.

This week was full of awesome experiences. Zone conference to General Conference. Two of the best things in a mission I think. General Conference was awesome! It is such a wonderful experience to hear from our Prophets and Apostles. They are so inspired to share with us just what we need to hear and help us to apply it into our lives. I loved the Temple part of General Conference. We must be attending the Temple and keeping our eyes set on going there if we are not ready at this time or worthy to go. I know that it brings so many blessings into our lives and it has brought me so many blessings in my own personal life. I love it so much! The overall theme I got from conference is that we are all one. We have to do things together to be the best that we can be. It can't be done alone. There's lots of other themes but that was one that stuck out to me big time.

We watched the Saturday and Sunday morning sessions at the church. On Sunday we had Davion come to the church and it was way awesome. Then in the afternoon on Saturday we went to the Jackson's house. They are the sweetest family ever!! They have 8 kids, including a daughter on a mission and a son who is of mission age but decided not to go. We watched Saturday afternoon and Priesthood at their home. Then Sunday afternoon we were supposed to watch with a family that is investigating the church but they canceled so we went to the Grenigers. He is in the bishopric and then we had dinner with them after. We didn't have the chance to watch conference with any of our investigators, but the Colvins (Family of 7) watched an hour of general conference on their OWN!!! They are so awesome! They are struggling with keeping some of the commitments that we are giving them so if you guys could pray for them that would be super awesome. Please pray for them to be able to read from the Book of Mormon and know that it is true. I know as we do so that they will all be blessed and be ready to be Baptized and confirmed in the next month!

On Wednesday we had Zone Conference with the southern conference. Kinda crazy that in the first few months of my mission that I have been in all three conferences. I know missionaries that have been in the same conference their whole mission. Our mission has three conferences. It's all based off of Tacoma so there is a Southern, Central and Northern. I started North then went Central and Tacoma and I am now in Southern. It's cool. (: I have been able to see lots because of it so I am grateful.

Zone Conference was sweet. The best part was our AP's training where they talked about the two great commandments and why we are on our missions. I know why I am on my mission and it is to work my butt off and not waste any of the Lord's time. Basically they chastised the entire mission in the course of three days on wasting time. Best thing ever! I loved it. One thing that has been really cool about my mission so far is I notice when I am doing something wrong and start to fix it, then the mission leadership gives a training on that same change. It's so cool how Heavenly Father reassures me in what I am working on and changing. I love it so much.

It was crazy cause this week we lost the phone, last night actually. We were in Lacey at the Stake Center and good ol' Elder Reynolds left the phone there. We don't have a house phone or anything so we had to go over and talk to the landlord. I felt super duper relieved to not have a phone. It was weird. I know even as a missionary that I face the distractions of the world as everyone does and that as we push the distractions away and put the focus where it needs to be that our Heavenly Father will bless us. I know that the lord blesses us when we give our lives to Him.

I hope you all have a great week! Love you lots!

Elder Reynolds (:

Davion's Baptism                                                                



Zone Conference