We had a miracle happen

This week was a good one. We had zone conference, it was all about baptism, passion, and being better at finding people through door approaches. The best things ever to be trained on. It is what all missionaries everywhere can do better. 

We had a miracle happen yesterday. We were sitting in Sacrament meeting and no one showed up. Not members or non members. We had no investigators there and not even half of the regular members were there. When your investigators don't come to church, it's hard to find a reason to be there. So all of sacrament meeting I was struggling. At the end of Sacrament meeting I got a text from one of our investigators that the reason that she can't come to church is because of work. She text and said, "My client left with her son so I am free and we'll be to church in a few minutes." I was super excited. She came to church and that means she's come twice, so she will be baptized this upcoming Saturday. It was cool. I taught Gospel Principles on the Church of Jesus Christ in former times and talked about the pillars of Christ church and how they fell away into Apostasy and how because of that falling away we have the fullness. I didn't go into the Restoration because that is next weeks lesson, but she loved it and told us that she wanted to be baptized. So we are gonna make that happen.

This upcoming week we will also have what we call the "Why I Believe" fireside and DJ, Christina and Dale Johnson, 3 of the Recent Converts over the last month or so, are going to be sharing their stories. It'll be cool to see those who I worked with share. This upcoming week we are also planning to go to the Temple with DJ and Christina to help them perform baptisms for deceased ancestors. Pretty excited for that. They are the coolest people ever. We are actually teaching their daughter now too and her Sister. So their is a bunch of people coming to the church because of their conversion. They also have a son who will come around to it in time but he isn't quite ready at this point. Things are going awesome. Transfers are next Tuesday, so this upcoming Saturday I'll know whether I stay here in Wapato Park or whether I get transferred. There is rumor I might stay, but I honestly have no idea what will happen. Just going to roll with it and work as hard as I can wherever I go. 

I had a cool experience this week that helped me to know that the mission is the absolute best place that anyone can be at this point in their lives. I've known that my whole mission and had experiences before that helped affirm that knowledge but this week I had a standout experience that helped me really solidify my knowledge more. I've never felt the spirit stronger than while serving the Lord. It's with me all the time and it is great, but the other day we had a guy "bash" us and it caused the spirit to leave the conversation and it SUCKED. I hated it. It's really nice to have the guidance all the time and when I don't have it I don't like it. All of us need to seek for that guidance to be with us always because without it life is a whole lot harder. Hope that you will all take the chance to do what President Hinckley invites us to do in Preach My Gospel. “Every morning … , missionaries (I say all people) should get on their knees and plead with the Lord to loosen their tongues and speak through them to the blessing of those they will be teaching (in contact with). If they will do this, a new light will come into their lives. There will be greater enthusiasm for the work (life). They will come to know that in a very real sense, they are servants of the Lord speaking in His behalf. They will find a different response from those they teach (associate with). As they do so by the Spirit, their investigators (friends or associates) will respond under the influence of the same Spirit.”

—President Gordon B. Hinckley

I love you all and hope that you have a fantastic week! 

Love,

Elder Reynolds 

 Zone Conference April 2017

Zone Meeting and MLC

Hey!

This week was really good. We worked really hard and are finding really cool people, they just aren't as committal as they need to be. We are working on helping them make the final steps to be baptized. 

Easter here was interesting.  We had a really good dinner at a families house in the ward. They made Cafe Rio type stuff - it's my favorite. Then for church, like nobody came. It seems like all the families went to church with their family elsewhere. That's okay though, the Spirit was still there. 

We also had a street contact this week where 5 people bashed us. It's so frustrating when people try to Bible bash because it never gets them or us anywhere, but they sure seem to try. 

I am way short on time, so I will send more next week. I love you all!

Elder Reynolds 

Zone Meeting and MLC Pictures-

Sister Ellertson & Larsen, Elder Reynolds & Droubay

Easter Week

This week was awesome. We had the baptism of Dale Johnson. One of the coolest baptisms that I've been able to be a part of on my mission. He was baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday. Within the last month Dale has had both of his legs removed, he is the most dedicated and faithful man I've met in a long time. No matter what he is going through he relies on our Father in Heaven for his support. He doesn't look to anything else and never asks why. I'm sure that the thought may cross his mind but he is planning to be back to work as soon as he can and be doing the things that he wants to do.

That was the highlight of the week. Other than that we are just working hard. Missionary work is a lot of fun. It's crazy how fast things go. General Conference was already a week ago and in a week it'll be Easter. I hope that you all have had the chance to watch the church's Prince of Peace video, it is really good. I am grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for the grace that I am able to feel because of the suffering that He did for us. I know that He lives and that He loves each of us. I've never felt it more than on my mission. Happy Easter to all of you this upcoming week!

Oh, we also started the Book of Mormon translation challenge, on April 7 1829 Joseph Smith began translating the Book of Mormon and finished on June 30. That's 7 pages a day, so each of us have the chance to read it in the time that he translated it. It's super cool. I am excited to be able to do it this year and I would encourage all of you to do it as well. Even though it's already a few days after when it started. I promise you that you'll find happiness as you read it. I have. I love it. Hope that you all have a great week.

Love,
Elder Reynolds

Baptism of Dale Johnson
Elders Droubay, Reynolds and Alvarez

General Conference week as a missionary is always great.

General Conference week as a missionary is always great. This one didn't disappoint at all. We were able to watch all the sessions on Saturday and Sunday. They were really enjoyable and we had a good time with them. I look forward to General Conference big time. This conference I enjoyed President Russell M Nelsons talk a lot. The highlight that talk that stood out to me is that the Atonement is the events that Christ performed. Because of those events we can feel the Love that He had for us but we do not feel the Atonement. It is real. Not something that we feel. I like that concept. I enjoy the love that Christ has given to me and the chance that I have to feel of that forgiveness through the good decisions that I make in my life.

We got a big surprise yesterday when President Blatter called us. Found out that Elder Trebilcock will be ET'd (emergency transferred) to a new area and that I will only have Elder Droubay as my companion for the rest of the transfer. So there will be the WAP house where we live back down to just the two of us again. Going to be a lot of fun though because we can just work work work. With 3 people it was always hard to figure out when to work and how to work, but now it's pretty simple. There will probably be a lot less messing around but we are still going to have a lot of fun.

We found a decent bridge and went for a little bit of a walk this morning and took some pics. The companions are both awesome dudes and we have so much fun! Gonna miss the blonde one! He's been awesome. Both of these guys have helped me learn a lot in the last two weeks and the next few are just gonna keep getting better. The sun is out and it's warm. Short sleeves and working hard all day every day is back. I'm way excited!

This week we got things rolling again.  We had a struggle for awhile with helping people to set a baptismal date, but that struggle is no longer here, things are fantastic now and the work is going really well. I'm way happy to be here and to listen to the words of the Prophets and share with others the things that we know to be true. Hope that you all have a great week!

 Love,
Elder Reynolds

Elders Reynolds, Trebilcock and Droubay

General Conference Pics