Happy Halloween

Friends and family!

 This week has been different from the rest. It’s been exciting, fun, emotional and exhausting. What a roller coaster but also, what a learning experience!

Well the first of this week we had exchanges! It was cool because I got to exchange with Sister Richardson! My fellow Mesa Arizona pal and I had an entire day of serving the lord and reminiscing! What fun times! We stayed in my area, Kent and Renton, so it was fun to introduce her to people and then talk about us growing up together! What a joy! :) Because of this exchange though, I had to drive for the first time since being out here. Now, some may oppose this statement but I really am not that bad of a driver but something about Washington brings out the worse in me when it comes to navigation and driving, Must be the rain. haha! We ended up going outside our mission for point two seconds...shhhh that goes nowhere..... We took all the wrong turns, my bad, and then when we got to our destination in Skyway, that’s the tiny bit of Seattle that is in our mission, our appointment cancelled. We couldn’t catch a break. The rain was pouring more than it had since I have arrived in Washington, what a day! I felt bad that Sister Richardson had to endure this probably traumatizing event. We ended up surviving though and making it back home so really there is no room for complaints. haah!

 We also had as lesson with someone named Bebeto. Bebeto is from Haiti and when we first met him, as a hand off lesson with other missionaries, he was super solid and ready to learn the truth. He was sadly exposed to some things that really made him question everything. He had been avoiding us but we finally got in with him, as we taught him the plan of salvation we could tell he was not interested in finding truth for himself. He just wanted to have it proven to him and he didn’t want to take the time to ask God. This truly broke my heart. All we wanted was for him to come and gain a testimony and he wasn’t willing to even try. I find that a hard thing to understand. There is no harm that will happen by reading a book and praying to ask if it is real. All we ask people is to try and we testify that if they try it with the intent to know they WILL know that it is true. It just baffles me that so many people won’t try something so simple. Bebeto wouldn’t do just that. He seems to be mad at God for not just telling him without his effort. At this point all we could do was bare to him our testimonies and leave. It took me a while to stop the silent tears to stop coming. I don’t know why but this mission has taught me how to love people, even those I know so little about, and it breaks my heart to see them turn away from some of the greatest knowledge they will ever receive. I pray that he will have his heart softened and reach out to us because this Gospel will truly bless his life. 

On a happier note, we have been working with a lot of less active members and helping them to come back to church! They have all been pretty receptive to the message and have been feeling the old testimony that they once had. I love seeing people remember how good God is and to see them have the desire to return! I feel like a proud mama! haha! These people in Washington are just so amazing! I love seeing them and hearing about their lives. I know I have mentioned it before but there are so many different nationalities here it is so cool! We met two men from Kenya today and they are so amazing! They both had the sweetest accents and just wanted to chitchat and laugh! These are my kind of people! :) 

The weather is getting wetter and colder every day. I have noticed that my hair is darker and my skin is whiter, if that is even possible! I’ve noticed that certain parts of Kent like to flood and create illusions of puddles when in all reality they are huge ponds that have formed in the space of an hour! AVOID THESE AT ALL COSTS! I have had to learn the hard way but that’s life I guess!  I have been picking up on some Spanish, Arabic and Napoli words and I get to use them daily and it’s so fun! Except once you say a word they think you speak fluently and they look quite disappointed when you only know English... 

These apartments in Kent are creepy...

Halloween, being tonight, means that we have to stay in but somehow our zone leaders have gotten permission for us to have a party! So tonight we will be dressing down for once, jeans allowed, and going to hang out with the missionaries in our zone! Weird! But I am also excited to meet everyone, officially, and get to know who they were back in the days of old! Everyone be safe out tonight... these clowns are real... real scary... ha... I’m bad at these joke things now... anyway thanks for all the prayers, emails and pictures! i love you all so much and I am so grateful for all of you! Hope your week goes well!

Love 

Sister Reynolds