April Showers!

Familia!

We were blessed with some PRIME weather this past week. It was overcast and kind of cool all week and then it finally rained onSaturday. That was the end of the good weather though, now it's back to summer weather again haha. Sure was nice while it lasted though!

Finally got that plaque finished huh? Thanks for doing that! Just in time for the halfway mark! Hahaha, I remember it taking quite a while to get Luke's up there too. Good stuff though!

We had a good week this week out here in Carson. We had district meeting Friday and set a goal for baptismal dates we were going to set as a district. We prayed as companionships and then got together and discussed what we felt the Lord would help us achieve. The goal the my companion and I had was 3. Our two investigators with baptismal dates moved out of our area, so we didn't have any at the time. We went out after district meeting and were blessed to set two more! One with Norma Ramos and another with Jonathan Valdez. Both real nice people we are hoping will be able to work toward that goal! We also had an investigator named Liliana show up to church for the third hour and she stayed for a baptism afterward! It was awesome! My companion and I had to teach the Gospel Principles class and it went surprisingly well. I never feel extremely confident about my ability to speak, but I somehow make it through! Haha

One of the counselors in the bishopric grabbed me after church and gave me the assignment to speak on Mother's Day about the influence my mother had on my decision to serve a mission and how she continues to influence me. I told him that there'd be tears and Spanglish if he gave me that topic! Haha I'm looking forward to being able to tell the ward about what a great mother I have though. I can't believe that I'll be calling again in a couple weeks! It feels like I just did that! I remember Tyler Cluff emailing me right after Christmas and telling me to get ready for how fast the time between Christmas and Mother's Day goes. He was right!

A man in church yesterday related a story of a man named Robert Thomas who was found by missionaries in the Dominican Republic. He said that the missionaries knew immediately that he wasn't a native of the island, so they began to talk to him. He listened to the missionaries and eventually gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon and the Restored Gospel. Apparently, he was in the Army and had been stationed in Germany when he stole a lot of money from the US government and fled to the DR. He knew that in order to fully repent and be baptized, he needed to turn himself in and pay for the consequences of the things he'd done. So he did! He was taken back to Germany to be judged. He was given a sentence of 25 years in prison. After lots of letters from missionaries and the mission president (who is now our ward mission leader), the sentence was dropped to 15 years, then 7, then 2, then 17 months. This man was willing to serve 25 years in prison in order to be baptized into Christ's restored church! Do we each have the of Robert Thomas to stand for what we know to be true? I hope we all do! I love you all!

Elder Reynolds

Happy Anniversary!

I sent you guys a letter, but it sounds like it must not have gotten there yet. I guess you'll have a late "Happy Anniversary" letter get to you this week haha. Thanks so much for your example to us boys! I feel so blessed to have you as my parents. Finally got the new car too huh? Nice! Hopefully that one will last as long as the Malibu haha.

Well this week was good. We were able to find some new people to teach and have had some good lessons with previous investigators. Lots of door knocking too haha. Last night we kind of found out about kind of a tough situation though: our two investigators with baptismal dates moved out of the apartment they were staying in because one of their roommates had caused a problem, so they moved out of our area. I couldn't believe it! I know it will all work out though, just keep Alondra and Chris in your thoughts. I'm not sure of all the details just yet, but I'm hoping it can be resolved soon. We also got a new investigator this week who had been previously been taught in Washington! It was fun talking to her about the State of Washington (that I've come to appreciate more now that I've been away from it) haha. She is awesome though.

I had a tender mercy on Friday when an English member that lived in the boundaries of my last area called me. I didn't know who he was, so I street contacted him and then he told me he was a member, so I invited him to come to general conference at the church building and then asked him if there was anything we could do to help him. We ended up seeing him at the building for conference, so I made sure to go talk to him. He called me and thanked me for offering my help and said it was just what he needed. He had just got back from the doctor and had some bad news, but he wanted to thank me for doing that and wanted me to know how much that meant to him.

I know the Lord looks out for each one of His children and that we can be the answer to others' prayers. I love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Reynolds

Cambios Repentinos

Familia!

 

Well I got a call Tuesday night from the APs while I was soaking wet out in the rain haha. They said I would be getting transferred down to Torrance which is near the bottom of the mission, so I needed to pack and be at a church building at 11 on Wednesday. Kind of funny how whenever you start to feel comfortable, something changes. I just switched places with another missionary. I guess he and my current companion were having some problems, so President decided to switch them. He gave me a call Tuesdaynight and explained the situation to me which I thought was pretty thoughtful.

 

There wasn't any work when I got here Wednesday. No investigators and hardly any potentials, but we've been able to set 3 baptismal dates already! I've just been working super hard and pushing my companion and things have been going really well. I've been able to see the Lord's hand in tons of aspects in just the past few days.

 

I don't get as much time to email anymore, so I'm trying to fit all the important stuff in haha. I had some great Book of Mormon study this week. Read Enos and Mosiah ch. 2. Powerful chapters! King Benjamin gives some great counsel. I have also been studying humility this week. What a blessing it is to be humble. It is power in the Gospel. I'm out of time, but I hope you all know how much I love you. Thanks for your prayers and love.

 

Elder Reynolds

General Conference!

Familia!

How great was conference?! I loved it! Kind of weird having that opposition during the sustaining wasn't it? Almost gave me a sick feeling in my stomach. Made me think of 2 Nefi 2:11 though; opposition in all things! There's a quote from President Kimball I think it is that says something along the lines of "If this weren't the Lord's church, the devil wouldn't pay any attention to us!" It's so true though! That's why it's so important that we always stay on the right path. It is harder than what the world wants us to be doing of course, but that is because it is the Lord's ways are higher than the world's ways and His thoughts are higher than the world's thoughts. What a blessing the Gospel is!

We were able to get Miguel to come to the Sunday morning session of conference with us, so that was a blessing! I loved being able to just sit and listen attentively to those inspired men and women. Elder Holland's talk of course struck a note with me. I got a little emotional during that one thinking of my brothers. I know I have been extremely blessed to have the brothers I have. Another talk I liked was by Elder Andersen of the 70 who related the Gospel to dancing and music haha. I thought it was pretty clever how he tied that in. If we can hear the music of the Gospel, the dancing makes sense! But if you don't hear the music, the dance moves seem awkward and out of place. We must always strive to be in tune with the music of the Gospel and have the Holy Ghost with us! I also enjoyed Elder Uchtdorf's talk during Priesthood session of conference. He talked about how it isn't always about the numbers or statistics of the things we do, but about the state of our heart. If we do the best we can and strive to help others out of love, the numbers that come because of it aren't the most important thing. That one really impacted me. So many good ones, I can't wait to go back and read them again!

Thanks for the Easter package, too! We didn't have much time to dye eggs, but we were able to do a couple. We didn't have any vinegar, so the colors didn't stay too well, but we got em goin! Haha we got some sushi in between sessions on Saturday too. It was way good! 

Fam! I love you all so much! I hope you know of the deep love and understanding the Savior has for each one of us. He understands each of our challenges, weaknesses, and difficulties. Turn to Him and He can relieve the burdens that we all have. We are all indebted to Him for all He has done for us.. I'm sure we can all think of some way we can improve to better show our love for Him! Have a great week!

Elder Reynolds