Talk Less and Do More (visiting authorities Elder Clayton & Elder Uceda)

This week was good. It was way awesome actually.
Aubrey was baptized on Sunday and will be confirmed this upcoming week.
We found two new families to teach.
One of them has 5 kids who are a little older and they are a blended family. It all started with talking to the Mom as she was headed in to get groceries and about 25 minutes later we had talked about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon and they took a copy and we are going to stop by this weekend.
We also found a family last night, The Campbells. They are a really sweet family. So things are going well and hopefully will continue to pick up and be the best that we can be here in Silverdale.
Then we had the general authorities here so that is always the best and things went well with that. The time spent with general authorities was absolutely fantastic. Elder Uceda highlighted 3 things that are necessary for converts to come to the church. Prayer, Study of the Scriptures, and attending church. Honestly the Primary answers are what bring the most joy and allow us to be able to find the most success in our lives. It was cool how he took the missionary purpose which is: "Our purpose is to invite others to Come Unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through Faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end." He went backwards and helped us to understand that we have to truly help people to gain Faith in Jesus Christ. That is the first thing. He talked about how we gain Faith in Christ and we do that through prayer, reading the scriptures, and coming to church. Prayer is the most important and first step and then everything else begins to follow after that.
Elder Uceda highlighted an important principle that Elder Clayton and him both felt that we needed as missionaries here in the WATAC. The first two were personal and companionship studies and the last I think was my favorite. He said, Talk less, and Do more. I think so many times I have talked about what successful people do and why they do it and studied all of these things. I've done a lot of talking and a lot less doing. Now it's time to talk a lot less and do a lot more. He focused it on working with our investigators and not just talking to them but doing things with them and helping them to come unto Christ rather than telling them to go unto Christ. There is a huge difference. Just a few highlights of what was talked about. Very profound and inspired meetings for our mission. It's something that has changed my life forever and right now changed my mission. It's really cool.
Then the rest of the week was normal. Just work work work (: Today it got rainy again. the first rainy time in awhile.
My new companion Elder Strong is great. he is from Pleasant Grove and his family is a bigger one than ours. He is the oldest of 7 kids and they seem way awesome.
I love everything that has been happening lately and I am so blessed to be here in the WATAC!
Love,
Elder Reynolds

Aubrey's Baptism

Aubry's Baptism

Elder Reynolds and Elder Strong

A Pretty Awesome Week

Had a pretty awesome week here. We worked hard and we had a goal as a mission for how many other lessons we were going to teach. Unfortunately because of the streets that we knocked there were a lot of people who were not down to hear much of what we had to say so we struggled. But it worked out. 

I had the awesome opportunity of seeing Daryl be baptized this weekend. It was such a special experience and the spirit was so strong. He even came to church the next day to be confirmed in a suit. I didn't even know he owned a suit so that was really cool. I love being able to be apart of Baptisms and be able to know what our Heavenly Father has in store for each and every one of us. 

Tomorrow is transfers so I'll be getting a new companion. His name is Elder Strong. From what I hear he is a cool kid and we should have a lot of fun together. Sad to see Elder Sutton and Elder Sulcer go because they have been way fun to work with but they have other places to be. 

Recently I studied a principle of teaching effectively and teaching for understanding. At District Meeting Wednesday there was an awesome comment made from one of the members. Don't teach so that they can understand, teach so that they can't possibly misunderstand. I believe there was a name with who that quote went to but I can't remember it. I think that is very important though. When we teach people to understand something from what we say they can get a lot, but if we teach so simply and purely that they can't possibly misunderstand this is where we can find a lot of success. It reminded me of something that Nate Bywater (Box Elder's HS soccer coach) would tell us all the time. "Don't practice it until you get it right, do it until you can't get it wrong." This is an eternal principle that will bring many blessings to you in your lives i can promise you that. I hope you all have a great week! 

It also got really hot this week so knocking and being out in the heat was brutal but we had some fun with it. (:

Love,

Elder Reynolds (:

Daryl's Baptism- Elder Sutton and Elder Sulcer

HOT Temperatures 100 degrees!

A Week Full of Miracles

This week was a week full of miracles. I can promise you that as you look for them and you are doing everything that you can to get there that you will have the opportunity to see miracles happen. This week we worked hard. On Wednesday we had zone meeting and that was super duper fun. It's always fun to see the zone and be able to hang out and talk about the work. Then on Saturday so many good things happened. For a long time we were working on getting no 0's in our key indicators (numbers for the week). We got really close a couple weeks ago but we didn't have a baptism so it wasn't able to happen. This week we worked really hard. We got to Saturday and Saturday morning Dylan was baptized and then he was confirmed on Sunday. It was an awesome baptism and a lot of the ward was there to support him.

All day on Saturday we were hoping to find someone that we could give a Church Tour to. We knocked a lot during the day and were out finding and couldn't get anyone. Saturday night our district did a movie night together where we watched Meet the Mormons and brought investigators and Less Actives and things. One of the members of another ward brought a friend and I started talking to him after the movie and asking him about his beliefs and he said he was interested in ours. So I offered to give him a Church Tour. Elder Sutton and I gave him a church tour and showed him the Baptismal font and invited him to be baptized and he said he would on September 10. He then came to church on Sunday and was able to feel of the spirit and we are going to continue teaching him.

Miracles happen. I see them every day as a missionary and you can do the same. Things are going really well and I'm finding tons of new ways to improve myself and to be the best that I can be. We also were able to have another non member come to church. Daryl came for the 3rd time to church yesterday. He has been preparing somewhat to be baptized but it's been hard to meet with him and he was struggling with the Word of Wisdom. At church yesterday he said that he would live it and that he's planning to be baptized next Saturday. So cool to see how the spirit can work inside someone to help them feel the spirit and know that the Gospel is true. There are countless other things that happen each week that show how much our Father in Heaven watches out for us if we are truly looking and striving to be the best you that you can be. I love you all! Have a great week!
Elder Reynolds (:

Dylan's Baptism

Zone

Elder Sutton and Elder Reynolds

A video of some fun after doing some service.

Focus and Priorities

This week was absolutely awesome for our companionship. As a mission we have been focusing on our goal of inviting people to be baptized. We had a goal of 10,000 and we got 16,000. Some peopled didn't quite do it in the right way but that is alright. They will fix it and we should be able to reach our new goal this upcoming week. I had the opportunity this week to go out knocking with some of the priests in the ward. Since they came with us we had the opportunity to have 52 lessons taught with a member present and 54 other lessons that we taught with just missionaries. It's so cool to help the priests and myself to recognize how blessed we truly are when we know that Christ is our savior and that he will allow us to become clean as we follow him.

A cool experience happened in Sacrament Meeting where a young girl got up and bore her testimony on how her Baptism helped her out in her life. She is only 8 years old and she knows without a doubt that Jesus Christ loves her. This is what all people need and are able to recognize if they humble themselves and do the things that God has asked of them. It's a huge blessing.

Working hard and having a plan for the work that you are going to do is something that has brought so much success lately. When we purely just work hard sometimes it's like a story that Elder Dallin H. Oaks shared in his talk entitled Focus and Priorities.
 Two men formed a partnership. They built a small shed beside a busy road. They obtained a truck and drove it to a farmer’s field, where they purchased a truckload of melons for a dollar a melon. They drove the loaded truck to their shed by the road, where they sold their melons fora dollar a melon. They drove back to the farmer’s field and bought another truckload of melons for a dollar a melon. Transporting them to the roadside, they again sold them for a dollar a melon. As they drove back toward the farmer’s field to get another load, one partner said to the other, “We’re not making much money on this business, are we?”“No, we’re not,” his partner replied. “Do you think we need a bigger truck?”
When I read this I thought it was quite funny. These guys worked really hard but on the wrong thing. They didn't recognize how not so smart they were being and not making any money. Kind of interesting. This is something that we all need to apply into our lives. When we work hard and that work is focused and prioritized then we receive so many blessings because of it.

This week we went through 5 gallons of Milk. We are working out every morning and taking protein shakes and eating healthy and things and in 6 days between 3 people we went through 5 gallons of milk, another half gallon of Chocolate milk, as well as 4 1.5 Liter Chocolate milk that we got at Costco last week. Plus we ate a bunch of food too. So there you go. The mission diet is insane! When you are trying to bulk up you gotta eat a lot so I guess that is just a part of life. (: hahaha

Also we are always playing jokes or messing with each other. Right now Elder Sulcer and Sutton like to refer to me as being Salty ALL the time. It makes for fun conversation and lots of interesting debates/conversations. Fast Sunday was the worst for this because we were all way hungry so not only was I salty but so were they. We had a big salt fest as many would call it. It's a fun time to be able to mess with the companions that you have. We have a great relationship and it causes for a lot of good missionary work to be done. We even saw a sign that said it so we HAD to take a picture because I'm so salty.

Sorry this is kinda long! But I love you all! Hope you have a great week (:
Love,
Elder Reynolds

Also a picture of Elder Piel and I at a meeting because he is going home in like a week and half so I had to get a picture cause I wont' see him for awhile!

 

Click on the link for: More pics of Elder Reynolds at Why I Believe Fireside and MLC

Make Miracles Happen

What an awesome week. We had the opportunity to get out and to work hard and find lots of new people to teach as well as have fun while doing it. The longer that I do this the more and more I realize that if you aren't having fun then you aren't doing it right. No matter what you are doing in this life you can have fun. I sure can anyway. Well there's a few things that maybe not but for the most part you can be having fun with everything that you do.

This week we went on exchanges. Exchanges are always fun so for one day I was on bike. Being on bike isn't too bad when it is sunny and warm outside. I honestly enjoyed it. We had the opportunity to teach Kirshna. She's so cool and way willing to learn. We had her come to a Book of Mormon study class and also taught her a lesson this week. We haven't had a chance to set a date for baptism yet but I know that she will as she continues to pray and keep commitments that we are giving her. She was the last door that we knocked one night during our 5-7's. My friends, I know for whatever reason that this happens often. When we are going through trials, or not finding lots of success in something that we do but we keep pushing anyway that we receive SOO many blessings that it is amazing.

I have seen on more than a handful of occasions that our Father in Heaven was allowing us to go through some rough people to find the most awesome people ever. For example, Kirshna and the Colvin family who were recently baptized. The day that I first knocked on their door we had gone through the whole street and had nobody be receptive but they were. Huge tender mercies that our Father gives to us ALL the time. I love it.

I also had a pretty crazy experience where we were out knocking and a 36 year old called me Hot and told me that I needed to sing for her...It was the funniest experience ever. We laughed it off and moved on but my companions gave me so much crap. It was funny. Just a little reminder that as a missionary I'm not prone to the influences of the world but I sure am protected. It was funny. Just a little side story but hope you all enjoy.

Make MIRACLES HAPPEN!! We live in a day of miracles I can promise you that!

Love,
Elder Trevor Reynolds

Elder Trev at the "Why I Believe Fireside"

Zone at the "Why I Believe Fireside"

Elders at the "Why I Believe Fireside"

Elder Trevor Reynolds 

Elder Trevor Reynolds

Elder Trevor Reynolds and Sister Ashlyn Larsen

Elder Trevor Reynolds and Sister Ashlyn Larsen