It's been a packed week this week, but this upcoming one is going to be even more so. We were in a trio this past week with an Elder named Elder Sauyun who was from a mission in Florida and was just waiting for some travel stuff to get sorted out. He left at 3:45 this morning. It was a lot of fun to be in that trio though! We don't have a whole lot of investigators to teach, so we spend most of the day walking the streets and knocking doors. We did find some sweet people that we're excited to work with though! We have a baptismal date with a lady named America who is (was) suuuper pregnant. Her due date was for today, so she might have already had her baby. Her date is for the end of this month though, so hopefully she'll be able to make that and not have to rush too many things with the new baby. Also keep Maria and Amado in your prayers! We talked to Maria on the street on Friday, had a lesson on Saturday with her and her husband, and it turned out that they had been taught years ago and already had a Book of Mormon! So we had her find her book and then taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ yesterday and challenged them to be baptized. They didn't accept a date, but committed to continue learning and go to church this Sunday. Good things!
It was super weird going back to the La Cienega ward again yesterday haha. It was good to see a lot of familiar faces though! Nobody could believe that it had been 7 months already since I had left. Neither could I! Being down in Carson and Wilmington just felt like a dream. I miss it down there! I'll have to get back there again sometime though. We spent most of Halloween tracting and street contacting and when it got closer to dusk, we started getting some smiles and laughs from people who thought we were in costumes haha. It was a good day though. We spent the night weekly planning. Then we forgot about daylight savings time, so we missed out on getting an extra hour of sleep! I don't know how I forgot! Haha
Good things to come up here in SanMo though. We only have two Elders in the whole zone which kind of stinks, because I love working with the Elders, but I'm excited to get it going. I was reminded of the power in a smile this week. Last transfer, I committed myself to smile at everyone I met. It has been making a huge difference in the way people listen and the way they feel as we share the Gospel with them. It's so hard to say that your message could bring someone happiness when you don't look happy haha. I've tried to make sure that my smile is the first thing they see and then if they don't accept a return appointment or an invitation, I just try to make sure I leave them feeling better than they did before I met them. It's fun seeing peoples' eyes light up from a smile! I'd challenge you all to smile at everyone you meet this week and see the difference that it makes in your associations with people. I promise that it will make you happier as well! I love you all! Have the best week!
Elder Reynolds
