Week one of the new transfer...

Family, Friends.

 I must tell you something that cannot be spoken to anyone. I think I am in love with my new area. :) I know it’s only been a week but I really do love it! I am enjoying the area, the people, and my companion! It is a crazy change and there are A LOT of things that I miss about Kent and my old ward but I know I will be able to make just as good of relationships here as well!

we got eater bunnies from someone and by the time mine arrived
home it had some issues. i now have nightmares..

 A little about Sister Tayco, she is from Murray Utah and has been out on her mission for 10 months now! She is the oldest in her family and she is super funny! We have had some good laughs this past week. I am hoping that the video I attach will help you see 1. What life is like here in the rural parts of the mission and 2. What our companionship is like :) she is also an amazing missionary. She has such a strong testimony of this gospel and has a great desire to work hard. She will be good for me and together, I know that miracles are going to happen!

I made chocolate pudding with a somoa girl scout
cookie crust last night. It was way good,
not for us. but for our taste buds :)
this is me and Sister Tayco admiring it

 On my second day here, we were going to check on a member who lived out in the middle of nowhere. We got lost quite a few times and finally ended up at their house, surrounded by trees. And their property was padlocked. I turned to sister Tayco and I assumed we would be seeing ourselves to another destination because the gate was closed and she just looked and me and then made her way through the barbed wire fence surrounding the entire property. She slipped through and then it was my turn. Holding the barbed wire so I wouldn't be impaled, I went through it, in a skirt, and came out alive on the other side with nothing but a mere scratch. (What a tender mercy). We walked up to this families house and the first things I saw were chickens, rabbits, tires, and HUGE trucks that looked like they could run over the great wall of china. Sadly this family wasn't home so we made the trek back to our car and through the fence, (the video is of us on our way out of the fencing). Man, I feel like these are my people and I will fit right in if these are the adventures we will be having this transfer.

 The two different wards we cover seem to be in two different worlds. The Sunrise ward is in more established neighborhoods that are more like something I would see in Renton area and the Graham ward is what I would see in Thatcher. It’s a very small town feel. We live next to cow and horse pastures and around the corner there are alpacas. (I have come to love alpacas and I think they are descendants from giraffes.) Like I said before, we get lost quite often

but I guess it is one way to learn an area but it is hurting our miles. Hopefully in the next week my U-turn skills will be top notch and I’ll know exactly how to weave in and out through traffic to get to the turning lane that sister Tayco frantically remembers is the one we need to be in. I will basically end up driving like those in fast and furious, except going the speed limit because the Tiwi box that we have in our car will yell at me again. I’m not a fan of being yelled at while driving...

 So this past week I went to one of the part member families houses in the area. This was the first time sister Tayco and I had ever seen or talked with them. They have 3 kids and the mom is a less active member and the dad isn’t a member at all but has tried every other religion. The wife has gone with him in the process. We went over to share the new Prince of Peace video that the church came out with for Easter. As we pull into the trailer park it took us 25 min to find there house and then when we got there the children had just eaten a ton of candy and were bouncing off the walls. We were finally able to get everyone rallied together and we watched the video. They seemed to like it and then sister Tayco started talking with the husband about learning more about the church, as she did this I was in charge of keeping the kids attention. That was an impossible thing to do. Long story short, I walked out of that house with fear and anxiety because of the threats that were made from mother to child and child to mother all the while my companion was discussing the gospel with the father. She told me later she didn’t see anything or hear anything that had happened.  Moral of the story, well the thing I got out of that day, is to not tell my children they are going to the ”chokie” and not to let my kids do karate on me or their siblings. But again, I really do love these people I’m working with, I promise :)

 Well, life is good and I’m grateful for this new adventure that I am starting. I have started reading the Book of Mormon again with the whole mission and I have learned so much in the past couple of days and my testimony has definitely been strengthened! I am grateful for this gospel and the chance we have to become better people every day! I hope that each of you know how much I love you. You are all so amazing and I’m grateful to know you all :) have an amazing week!

Sister Reynolds