Great Week!

Familia!

We had an awesome week this week! Some ups and downs, but it was great. I'm a little pressed for time, so this will be short, but some great things happened. We had a "mini-missionary" this weekend from Friday night to Sunday night. He just came out with us for the weekend and did everything we do to prepare for his own mission. His name was Salesi Fifita and he's Tongan. He was sick! We had a way good time together, it was fun to have a little change and we were able to see some miracles. We found a new investigator on Saturdaynight who had been found about 10 years ago by missionaries! I'm excited to work with her and see what happens.

Mom--I did get your package! I wanted to send a picture with it, so that's why I didn't mention it last week. That was a way cool package though! Super creative haha. Even the Oreos were green!

We met some awesome people with that mini-missionary too on Saturday. A member originally from Brazil pulled up along side us on the street and talked to us for a little while. He actually served in the same mission as Luke! Then a little farther down the street, we met a guy from Egypt and explained the Book of Mormon to him. He was way nice! Then a little farther down the same street, we met a guy from Serbia! He has family that are members of the church, but wasn't very interested. I talked to him a little bit about tennis though and asked him if he knew who Novak Djokovic was and he gave me the update on Indian Wells haha. It was awesome! 

My zone leaders had a baptism yesterday and we had the chance to go. It was a lady that I had the chance to teach a couple times on exchanges, and she actually wanted to me be part of her baptismal program, so that was a huge blessing. It was awesome. She is one of the most prepared people I've ever met. She knew right when she met the missionaries that she wanted to change her life and that they were going to help her do that. Her husband hasn't showed any interest in the church, but he still supports her in going to church and everything, so that is awesome. She had no doubts about being baptized though, she bore her testimony right after the service and said that she knows one day her husband will join her because of the happiness she feels. So cool.

I love you all so much! Have a great week!

Elder Reynolds

Great Week!

Familia!

Can't believe another week is gone already! I had the opportunity to give three baptismal interviews this past week, which was really a sweet experience. Two of them were a husband and wife who are the investigators of some Sisters in my district.. The husband really didn't feel ready, but we ended up talking for two hours and I was able to put a lot of his concerns at ease. It seemed like he might not have been taught a lot of the things he needed to know or he didn't really understand, so I basically taught him every lesson throughout the interview haha. It was fun to be able to just talk straight Spanish. I interviewed his wife after and she is extremely prepared. She is just waiting for him to feel ready before she gets baptized so they can both do it together. I ended up being able to speak straight Spanish for 3 hours straight between the two interviews, it was super fun. Then yesterday I gave an interview to my Zone Leader's investigator who is awesome! She is from Ecuador and just moved here a year or two ago. She is getting baptized next Sunday.

We're teaching Miguel again tonight and are going to try to keep meeting with him as much as we can over the next couple weeks to try helping him toward his baptism at the end of this month. Super excited for that! We've also got Jesus who we were able to meet with again last Wednesday and will be meeting with him again this Wednesday. He's really an awesome guy! It had been two weeks since we had seen him, so we went over the Restoration again pretty simply just to review. He had read the pamphlet we left with him, so he had some great questions and insight. As we were teaching, he was connecting different things and said that it just made sense. It was probably the best lesson I've ever had out here! I was just stoked after the end of that lesson! Then on the way home, I ran across the street to talk to a guy and ended up being able to set up a return appointment with him for tomorrow. He seemed genuinely interested, so I'm excited to meet with him!

I had the great experience of going to the Temple on Wednesday. What a great place to be! I love that place. I hope you are all attending the Temple as much as you can! Love you all! Happy Birthday to Grandpa!

Elder Reynolds

Dame, pues, tu honra

Familia!

I hope you are all doing well! It was a pretty good week this week! I had exchanges with one of my zone leaders, Elder Puertas, in my area. We taught Miguel who has a baptismal date for the 29th of this month and it went really well! We taught him obedience to the commandments, follow the prophet, and keeping the word of wisdom. He brought up some concerns about alcohol, but we really just testified and promised him that as long as he did the best he could, the Lord would help him to overcome that temptation. I'm excited to see how he continues to progress! Keep him in your prayers! 

Sorry I don't have much to say, I'm a little pressed for time, but it was a great week! I'm sure this next one will be better! Crazy that Whitney is coming home this week! Give her all my best when you see her! She'll probably have a sweet Argentine accent haha. There's a couple in my ward from Argentina, so I always try to talk to them whenever I get a chance. The hermano, Florencio Sanchez, told me I can come over sometime to have empanadas with them, so I'm definitely going to take him up on that offer.

I love you all so much and hope you have a great week! Always look for opportunities to share the Gospel!

Elder Reynolds

Marzo!

When does March Madness start? I might need to have you send me a bracket to fill out haha. That's crazy that BYU beat Gonzaga! Hopefully they'll get a bid because of it!

It was kind of a rough week this week, but we had some sweet lessons! We taught a guy named Jesus on Wednesday and it was way good. My previous companion and I had gone by his place multiple times, but the gate out front was always locked or he wasn't there when we actually did get in, so we never got a chance to talk to him. But we ended up being able to set up a lesson with him and he was actually there when we went by! He's had a pretty tough life and has had to deal with a lot of health problems, but he loves his family a ton and wants to know more about the gospel. He seemed kind of hesitant when we first got there, but by the end of the lesson, he was excited and even asked us when we were going to come back instead of the other way around! I'm excited to see what happens with him. We also had a good lesson with Miguel on Thursday, he is progressing well. He came to church yesterday too. 

I had a district leader training last week and we were trained on a new method of extending invitations/commitments. It's super simple, but it's so good! We've implemented it in our teaching and I trained on it this past Friday in district meeting. It's basically just this: teach, testify, promise blessings, invite (extend commitment invitation), testify, promise blessings. Super simple, but we've seen some great success from it! People are a lot more willing to accept an invitation to do something when they know that there are some good things waiting for them! Haha

We had a couple rainy days this past week and even had some thunder and lightning! When we got out of church yesterday it started raining super hard and then it started hailing as well haha. It was pretty wild. Kind of nice to have a little change in the weather though. I feel like it was just the first of February and now it's already the first of March haha. Crazy stuff. 

I hope you all have the best week yet! My testimony of the Book of Mormon continues to have a way of getting stronger. I love that book so much haha. I've been trying to share a scripture from the Book of Mormon with people who actually open their doors and it's been super cool. I love you all so much!

Elder Reynolds