Service Week

I think that the title of this weeks email should be service week. We worked as hard as we possibly could but we ended up doing a lot of service. Monday was a good day and we found some cool people to teach. Then Tuesday we had service in the morning at around 9:30 in the morning. Then we did service til the afternoon and found as much time as possible to knock and do whatever else we could. Then we worked way hard on Wednesday. It started off with district meeting and then we had to get base passes so that we could go on the military base to do more service on Friday. It was a lot of fun but we didn't get the chance to knock quite as much as we would have liked to do.

On Saturday we were headed in to knock a cool neighborhood in our area and we ran into a super cool dude.  He accepted a baptismal date but he's got some struggles in his life that he'll have to overcome. It's so cool to see people out there who are searching for God and wanting him in their lives. I love it so much.

I hope that you all have a great week this week. Love ya!

Elder Reynolds

Dinner at Sister White's

This week was a super fast week.....Then this weekend was a miracle

 

Heyy everyone!

This week was a super fast week. I feel like nothing happened but a whole lot of things happened this week. It started off good with some exchanges with one of our district leaders. It was a lot of fun to switch things up a little bit this week. Then on Wednesday we just did some planning and then Thursday was chill cause we had zone conference. It's always a good time to be around a bunch of missionaries and have a good time. Then this weekend was a miracle.

We had Pale on date for the longest time. He's been on probation so he wasn't able to be baptized but at the start of August he was released from probation. He lives with the "Mom of his kids" as he calls her and they are just super awesome. As we approached his baptism we knew that he might need to be married before he was baptized. So while on exchanges I went with the missionary that I was working with and we talked with Bishop Love. He wasn't very excited to allow us to have Pale Baptized if he wasn't married. So we set up the interview with President Leishman anyway and were counting on the interview being enough for Bishop to allow it to happen anyway. We found out otherwise after Pres Leishman interviewed him and wasn't able to help Bishop accept him being baptized this weekend. SO...we had the awesome opportunity of going to Pale's house and telling him he couldn't get baptized unless he moved out or got married. He wasn't going to get married and they already had family set up to come and musical numbers and things...so we worked it out so that he could move out and get baptized. We then called Bishop and President and got things worked out.

Pale wasn't the happiest but the spirit allowed him to be patient and next week he'll receive the gift of the holy ghost because he was baptized this weekend. If he was the only person that I was able to help be baptized my whole mission I would be happy. It was the coolest baptismal service and everyone was in tears because the spirit was so strong. I know that this work is God's work. I love it with all my heart. I wouldn't rather be doing anything else at this point in my life.

I hope that each of you will reflect on the special opportunity that having the spirit of God in your life. It's the most important thing that you will have with you in your life so be receptive to it and follow the spirit. Thanks for all of your support. I love you!

Elder Reynolds

A few pictures of Zone Conference from the mission blog:

I love knocking doors - I love missionary work

Hey everyone!

This week was a really good one. Lots of crazy events and fun things going on. It started off good with a few things goin' on but not all that much. Then things got way fun. On Friday our ENTIRE MISSION knocked a 9-9 is what we call it. It's where you start knocking doors at 9 am and you don't stop until 9 pm. So our zone did a little bit of a switch up and we all went to different areas. We knocked in the morning on a bunch of houses in the Brookdale ward and didn't really find many people. Then about 4:00 in the afternoon we got to an apartment complex that you aren't really supposed to be able to get into but the back gate was unlocked so we were able to slip in. From 4:00 in the afternoon until 9:00 at night we knocked one apartment complex. It was SOO MUCH FUN! I love knocking doors. If there is something that I've probably learned the most from on my mission it's knocking. I've learned how to talk to complete strangers. Those who don't want to talk to you and then be able to help them have a desire to talk to me and to share with me their struggles. I love missionary work. It's a lot of fun!

After the 9-9 we had some miracles happen. All week long Elder Allen and I were praying to find two people to baptize and then we get a text from one of our investigators, she said, "I was thinking about it and I want to be baptized this weekend if possible." She didn't end up getting baptized this weekend because she felt sick but miracles do happen. Then last night we had the baptism for the Sisters where Elder Allen was in white. Then after we drove WAY fast over to the other church for the fireside and walked in a few minutes late. After getting there late we walked in and as we were walking on the stage we had to go past the sacrament table and I....snagged my suit on the microphone and it ripped. So go me with a ripped suit. The fireside was great and we had a really good time and then we headed home. That just about sums up the week. It was a lot of fun and we just are doing everything we can to find people to baptize. We should have a couple next weekend and things are looking good. I love you all! See ya in a few weeks...<<<yep I dropped it.

Love you!!!
Elder Reynolds (:

Congratulations WA-TAC on our mission wide 9 to 9 knocking 

Just a lot of hard work

Missionary Leadership Council

This week was just a lot of hard work. We worked hard and were pretty effective but didn't see a whole lot of the fruits. Right now it's time to just work hard and find as many people as possible to head down to the waters of baptism. We have a lot of people right now that talk about having the desire to be baptized and take these steps but then not too much. I'm having a ton of fun with Elder Allen though. We get along well and it's a good time to be able to just work hard with the two of us.

I love my mission because I was able to put the things of the past in the past and focus on what is at hand. I have a quote by Pele that talks about success being loving what you are doing and working for it. So when you have a situation and you want to find success then you learn to love it and you work for it.

I'm grateful for your love and the opportunity that I have to be out here.
Have a great week!

Elder Reynolds