New Companions

What a great week. It's weird right now to get to the end of it and look back and it feels like I've had my companions for forever. We all get along well and it took about two days to get into the swing of things with them and since that point it has gone as usual. They are fantastic. Elder Droubay is from Tooele, UT and he went to Stansbury High School. We knew each other coming out from the MTC. I knew he liked dirt bikes but I didn't know that he knows everything about them and who rides them. It's like me with most sports, but with dirt bikes. He's awesome and we get along great. Elder Trebilcock is from Roswell, GA. It's north of Atlanta, that's all I know. He's a super funny kid and when his energy gets up he has a ton of fun. Knocking doors in a threesome is a little bit interesting, but it's a lot of fun. 

We saw some progress in a couple of our investigators this week, but with a new transfer and new companions and changes happening it was a little bit slower than things might have normally been. Right now we have a lot of people that are in hover stages because they haven't made it to church as much as they would like before they have the chance to progress to be baptized. I think the highlight of the week is new companions. We might be getting another one this week but I doubt it. It seems like it'll probably just be the 3 of us for the next 5 weeks doing our best to baptize as many people as we can here in Wap. I love the people here a lot. It's so much fun to be able to get out and talk with them. 

This upcoming week is General Conference so that is always exciting. All of you should watch it. (: What a chance to listen to the Prophet speak. Such a blessing in our lives to have that fresh off the press inspiration from God every 6 months. Hope that you all enjoy it!

Love,

Elder Reynolds

Transfer Day Pics

Elders Droubay and Reynolds

I am excited to continue working in the Wapato Park Ward & finding lots of success. I love this work!

Transfers are tomorrow. Crazy that it's been another 6 weeks here in the Wapato Park ward. My companion Elder Alvarez will be moving on and I'll be getting 2 new missionaries to be my companions. We will be in a threesome for the second time on my mission. Elder Droubay and Elder Trebilecock will be my new companions. It will be a lot of fun to serve with them. I already know Elder Droubay really well and him and I will get along great. I am excited to continue working here in the Wapato Park ward and finding lots of success. I love this work. 

This week we had a lot of craziness. We were scheduled to have all of our investigators come to church and them to be baptized in the next couple of weeks. But only 2 came. It is always hard to see the inconsistency in people but we find it among our own members so it doesn't really surprise me that things get shaken up and people choose not to come to church. It is frustrating to deal with people who don't keep commitments. This last week we took time and went and worked with some Elders in our zone. We knocked their area with them and found that they have a lot of people who if they listen will keep commitments. Living here in the "sketchy" part of town we often will not have very normal conversation with people. We talk to those who have gone through worse things in the course of their life than anyone should ever have to go through. So when I talk to someone who has a fairly normal life I don't know how to talk with them anymore. It's really interesting. But I love them so much and wanna see the gospel change their life. Sometimes the only problem is they don't want to change and creating a desire in someone else when the seed of that desire isn't there...is a hard thing to do. I'm learning how to do it better than before, but it still isn't easy. 

I had a cool opportunity this last week to go to Federal Way. It is outside of our mission but we got permission to head over to the hospital outside of our mission to meet with Dale Johnson. He is going through a lot of struggles and recently found out that instead of only having one of his legs removed like he has right now, that he will have both of his legs removed within the next week. Really sad to see a man as strong as him go through the experiences that he is going through. With time I believe that he will be able to recover and he has plans. Through Christ and his gospel all things are possible and I am excited to be able to learn of the experience that he will have as he recovers from his injuries. There are so many crazy things in this world that others can experience. For those of you who don't have these struggles and challenges, I encourage you to take advantage of the time that you have in life because you never know when things might change. Live your life to the fullest and enjoy it. (: That's what I am striving to do with my mission. I get 24 months to give my all to the Lord with no other worries, and I'm grateful for that chance. It's so awesome. If you are thinking about serving a mission, do it. (: I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Reynolds 

The work is hastening here and I love it!

This week was wet. It's still raining right now. We had two days straight this week where it rained all day non-stop. Pretty normal spring weather for Washington but tracting in the rain gets old that is for sure. While out working we found a lot of success though. We knocked the street that we live on and found a couple really cool people. One, a High School teacher that has a lot of Mormon students and is willing to listen. She let us in and we taught a short simple lesson and we'll be going back tomorrow.

We had some awesome people come to church. Misti came to church this week, she's a single Mom with a 5 year old and she is really starting to progress. This week we had a lesson with our Bishop. It was a great lesson and she is taking strides. We also have another couple that is going to be getting married and baptized this month. I'm pretty excited to see that happen on the 25th. The work is hastening here and I love it.

We had a way funny experience the other day. We were on our way to the church and there is a back alley near the church that we often will take because it is faster than taking the main roads. While heading down the alley we looked up and saw a couch and a mattress just laying in the middle of the alley. So we had to get out and move it. just a reminder of how uhh interesting of a city that Tacoma is. Most of Tacoma is really nice but the neighborhood that the church is in, isn't so nice. I will attach a picture so that you can all see because it was quite funny.

We also had a meeting with President Blatter and got some "transfer buzz". There is a good chance that I'm staying and Elder Alvarez will leave and that I might be covering two wards. We will see how things go from here on out. I'm excited for change but with Elder Alvarez and I serving 3 transfers together it's gonna be a little different. That's good though. I hope that you all have a fantastic week.

Elder Reynolds :)

I am grateful for the power of the Spirit in our lives

Baptism of Owen Hadely - Elder Reynolds & Elder Alvarez

Hey everyone! This week was awesome. We found some good success and had a baptism on Monday and he was confirmed yesterday at church. Owen Hadely was one of the hardest children's baptisms ever. We actually had to work hard to prepare lessons and help him feel the spirit to prepare to be baptized. When we first started meeting with Owen just over 2 months ago he wouldn't be baptized because he was afraid of water and wanted to be older before he did it. It took two months of twice a week visits bringing the spirit to help him to make the decision. He had a struggle within the week of his original baptism date with Coffee and Tea, which made it seem like he wouldn't ever get baptized because after having to change his baptismal date he decided to go to another church. This was kind of a shock. But we went back later on the next week and talked with him and he said, "That wasn't really church, that was more a concert." So he made the decision to be baptized on Monday Feb. 27th and he did it. It was awesome. I am grateful for the power of the Spirit in our lives. It was so cool to see the spirit change someone and help them to feel ready for something that originally they didn't feel ready for at all.

This week we also had the cool opportunity to knock with our Mission President's grand nephew. He is a convert to the church of about 3 years and just returned home from his mission 4 weeks ago. He came knocking with us on Friday from 5-7 and we found a really cool experience. We got into 4 homes and had the chance to find a fantastic new investigator named Misti. Misti went to church in Tacoma with us before but recently moved to our area and we happened to knock on her door. She's been through a lot so we were able to go into her home and share a short message.  We didn't share the Restoration yet, but we talked to her about the happiness that the gospel can bring and she committed to come to church. She didn't come because her son got sick but they are going to come this upcoming week and she will be baptized in the month of March. We are meeting with her tonight to talk with her more.

We also had a scary experience...one of our investigators attempted suicide and is in the hospital. So if you could be praying for Brandi and her family that would be awesome! Other than that the week was really good and a lot of positive experiences. We have so much fun here in the WA-TAC. I hope that you are all doing well and that you have a great week.

Last Monday we also had a Zone Activity where we did a picture scavenger hunt around downtown Tacoma. It was a lot of fun. We lost, the sisters won the race so they got to take our trophy. I should have taken a picture of it but I didn't. It was a lot of fun though and the zone had a great time together. Here is a pic of the companionship doing our favorite yoga pose in front a cool little fountain in downtown Tacoma. We got to wear our street clothes which was a lot of fun. Busy busy work is always good.

Love,
Elder Reynolds

companionship doing our favorite yoga pose