Buenos Dias!

Buenos Dias!

 It has been a fun week! The last week of the transfer! This weekend we have had one of the Hermanas with us from the Spanish branch. Her companion’s mission ended so we adopted her for a bit. I will now claim to have been a Hermana.... just like I claimed to be and Arabic

missionary :D 

saying goodbye to the motley kids! i love them! 

getting an oil change at pepboys with hermana van-lueven

 I'm being transferred back to the north half of the mission! RENTON! I am excited but also very nervous. I personally don’t think I have been in graham long enough but the Lord works in mysterious ways and where I am going is where I need to be for now. I have fallen in love with the people here. They have swooped into my life and I don’t want to let go. Both wards are amazing and the people are true followers of Christ! They each have such a strong testimony that has made me want to be better in every way! Saying good bye was hard. There were tears shed and I think most of them were mine but I was always taught that a good cry isn't bad and to never be ashamed so I’m not ;) 

  

sister tayco says this is her favorite food.... that is a yam
that is being eaten like an icecream cone with nothing
 on it(well she shoved ancient marshmallows in it)..
im not to sure about it yet

 With our car being back in business we have been driving like crazy! We have checked on a lot of part member families and less active members... most of them weren't home or weren't too fond of us showing up but it was good to help them know they are loved!!

   

 I know this is lame how short this email is but friends, transfers are calling and we have to go on a road trip to the north half of the mission. I love you all and I am so grateful to be serving a mission. It isn’t always the easiest but my testimony of the

 Atonement has grown so much. I am grateful for my savior. I know that because of his sacrifice I can be made clean and I can feel comforted when I need it. I know that the book of Mormon really does testify of Christ ad as we read it we will have a greater desire to remember our covenants we’ve made and will make and try our best to keep them! We are all far from perfect but our weakness can be made strong through the Lord! Love you all and have a good week! 

Adios!

Sister Reynolds

What a week!

 I feel like it has gone on and on and never was going to end... but here we are on a Monday again!! Life is amazing though! One of the best news.... WE GOT OUR CAR BACK!!!!!!!!! woot woot! Best day ever!! I have been so grateful for the things we have been blessed with and the car is one that I will treasure for life :)

 So, I have had many requests of a picture of the little stubby bird... I will say that yes, i got a picture but it isn’t the best... and I will explain why.

NUBBY THE BIRD!

 So, I have been hearing requests left and right so I told sister Tayco we would need to stop by to 'use the bathroom' sometime. That same day we were blessed to be in their neighborhood so we decided to fulfill the mission right then. When we knocked on the door we hear a young boy saying "it’s the sisters! It’s the sisters!" finally the dad came to the door and asked how he could help us.  We told him we were going to see if we could use his bathroom and he said," oh man, there aren’t any women in the house." within a second after that statement he was yelling for all the boys to get outside! “Outside, outside! boys everyone OUT!" I heard one boy say something like what about our other brother and the other son said," don’t even worry he will take a year and a half in there." by this point I’m trying not to die laughing and the whole family is outside with their 2 dogs and we had been given instructions to get to the upstairs bathroom. So, I made my way upstairs as I eyed the birds in the corner of the kitchen. I did my thang and then made my way downstairs to get the picture. As I reached the bottom of the stairs the son who would take 'a year and a half' was at the bottom of the stairs the same time I was..... all he said was," Who are you???" (He was quite confused) I told him in a very uncomfortable voice that I was the missionary and everyone had left the house so we could use the bathroom. From outside you could hear the whole family shouting, “GET OUT! GO OUTSIDE!!!!" he was very quick to leave! haha! So, I went quickly to the birdcage and took a picture as quick as possible. Thus the bad image quality but i think it does it all justice! The poor bird was going crazy... I think it might have PTSD and it is triggered when humans come towards its cage. It was quite a funny memory that we now have!! So awkward!!!

 Today before emailing our entire Zone went on a hike to the Eatonville falls! It was way fun! I just have to say Washington is GORGEOUS! We had so much fun but we are exhausted! Well, at least sister Tayco and I are! I will be sending home lots of pictures this week! :D I love this area so much! Transfer calls are on Sunday so hopefully I’ll be able to stay here again! 

Zone Hike

 Well those are the highlights of my week! The sun is finally out again after a long time of overcast so that is a blessing! i love you all so much and I want you all to know that I love this gospel! We are blessed to have it in our lives. I know that no matter what happens or what we do, we can find peace and comfort in this church! Our savior is amazing! Love you all!

Sister Reynolds

Back in the Hood

Zone Hike

Zone Hike

Zone Hike

Zone Hike

Zone Hike

member in our ward ironing dollar bills... hahaha!

one of our investigators moms cutting the grass
with scissors... i love her!

Week of CrazySist

Hello Again!

 Well, we are back to Monday again! I think each time I get on the computer to write home my spelling and typing skills get worse and worse... and they were never good to begin with. So, if emails get stranger and incoherent politely tell me to use the auto correct stuff :) 

 This week has been one of ups and downs. We have had some really hard things come up. Our investigator Sammi had gotten Anti-Mormon information on Sunday of last week. She sat through 2 hours of some horrible things and had lots of nerves and questions about the church afterwards, which is completely understandable. The man who told her all of this is an old member which is even more heart breaking. We took care of everything Monday night. One of the first things she said was that she still wanted to be baptized on Tuesday but she just wanted to clear things up. So we did. We were with some amazing members who had some of the same things done to them so they were good support. We went home that night feeling confident and excited about the next day. We were walking to the church for District meeting when we got a call from Sammi. She told us that the man who had shown her all that stuff had found her parents number and called them and did all the same things to them. They haven’t been exposed to the gospel much so they were scared for her. I completely understand where they are coming from but it was difficult. Her dad told her she couldn’t be baptized that night so we had to cancel everything. I feel bad for Sammi beaus I know that it was something she wanted but I also know that one day things will work out. Our plan is to keep working with her and hopefully get to know her parents more. Keep her in your prayers. I know that hard things happen for a reason. it is difficult and sometimes it makes you want to give up but I know our trial make us stronger! 

Sister Tayco, Paula & Sister Reynolds

 On a happier note, PAULA GOT BAPTIZED! Woot woot! I am so proud of her! She is amazing and she has such a wonderful testimony of this gospel. It is a privilege to know this amazing family! The service was a bit jumbled because the program had quite a few errors but it truly was beautiful. I have never felt the spirit so strong at a baptism before. I know that the heavens were watching that night and I know that Our Heavenly Father is so happy with her!! Sister Tayco and I sang a song for it and some past missionaries were able to be there. Overall, it was amazing. I’m grateful for her decision to be baptized!

Sister Bowman & Sister Reynolds

 We are still on bike sadly.... I was on exchange with our sister training leader and the poor sister had to go from the luxury of a car to the rough metal frame of a bike. She was a trooper though :) It has been beautiful here in Washington the past couple days except for this day with this sister... it POURED! It was like an Arizona monsoon rainstorm!! We were on a side road when it just started coming down like crazy! I’m sure people driving by thought we were crazy! We looked like drowned rats!! Well, she didn’t but man I’ll tell ya what, rain, bike helmet, and a long soaking wet skirt does NOT look good all together! Ha ha! We rode in it for about 45 min while making our way home for dinner. By the time we reached our house I had a brain freeze from the cold! 😰it was a fun memory though! Just like everything here on the mission

We spoke in church on Sunday and that was scary. It was for a mission farewell. So they had us two missionaries and the soon to be missionary... it was weird but also cool! Of course I got up there and cried... I am a lot like my sweet mother, more than I ever thought ;) we spoke about charity and love and how having those qualities helps us share the gospel with our friends. I learned a lot about all of those things while preparing. We based it off of President Monson’s talk from conference. (Priesthood session) I would invite you all to read it! It was amazing, short, but amazing. I’m grateful for his example. I know that he is a prophet of God and that his words are truly inspired! 

 I love you all so much! Thank you for being amazing! Never forget to read the book of Mormon and pray to your Father in Heaven. I know that doing those things will bring you closer to your savior! 

Sister Reynolds

Adventures of BIKING!

Hola Amigos!!

walking to our recent converts house!

 What a week it has been! We have had some fun moments and some sad moments but overall, it’s been a marvelous week!! As I mentioned last week, our car got hit... so on Thursday we took it into the Auburn car shop, which is 40 min away from my area. Sadly, it takes a while for things to get done here in the mission, not that I’m complaining, and so we have been and will be on foot/biking for the next week at least. 

 Our first day biking was quite an experience. We had to bike from our apartment to the church building which is about 3 miles. uphill. (I have come to the realization that I’m out of shape and exercise is needed in my life...) as we hit the middle of the biggest hill Washington did what Washington does best. Rain and I mean it RAINED HARD. We haven’t had rain in a few days so I’m pretty sure it was all the stores water that had been waiting to burst! It was fun though not going to lie. Sister Tayco and I were laughing so hard. Better laugh then cry in the words of Sister Hinckley! It was way fun and a good memory. The past few days, not AS fun but still memories. One day it was super-hot, AKA 75 degrees and we biked to a recent convert’s house. I now have a watch tan that I’m pretty dang proud of ;) 

my new friends... sister tayco is so patient
with me and all my animal friends i meet haha!
(she also probably thinks im crazy)

 Also, when walking you are able to appreciate the world around you so much more! I have seen some beautiful things that you never see when driving! i have also seen more cows goats and alpacas than ever before! haha! They come running whenever we walk by, they must like us :) 

biking in the rain that first day... pure joy

 The best part of this though is that the members have been so amazing. They are always willing to pick us up and take us to far appointments which makes my heart so happy. 😊 A little miracle that happened the other day truly was a faith building experience.. a silly one but faith building nonetheless. We had a dinner appointment with someone in the sunrise ward which was about 10 miles away... we didn’t think it would be smart to take so much time biking there so we told her the situation and she wanted to pick us up and take us out to eat instead. We gave her the address of where we were at the time but about an hour later we had to send her a new address because our appointment had ended and we walked home. Her phone service was shut off randomly so apparently she didn’t get the message. As we were walking out to the road to see if we could flag her down as she drove past, we saw her car zoom right by before we could get to the corner we were at a loss. It would have taken us another hour to walk to where we were so we said a quick prayer to know what needed to be done. Less than 5 minutes later a YSA member drove by and then turned around and offered to give us a ride! To make a long story short we FOUND THE MEMBER! and we also got to eat yummy Thai food! It was amazing to see prayers answered so quickly! Our heavenly father is so good!

a member said im her favorite and
she thought this rose was life
my personality so she gave me the
big one as well as a smaller pink one and a small white one

 I truly am grateful for everything in my life. even the hard times. I know that Satan tries to make us doubt and make the situations we are in seem even worse than they are but if we can "hope for a better world" aka a better situation, I know they will come! Our Father in Heaven is so very aware of each of us. Even with the simple things I know he is looking out for us and wants us to be happy in this life! I see so many blessings surrounding me and those I serve. I want to point them all out to everyone but I think that seeing them for ourselves is part of the process of Becoming like Christ. Truly we are a blessed people and i know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is one of our biggest blessings! I love you all so much and I’m grateful that I have your love and support. I truly feel it each day! I hope your week is amazing and all that you hoped it would be! Look for the positive in life and keep smiling!!

the Graham Hermanas took us to choir and
 the library today! (Sister Tayco and Hermana Souza
are in the back if you look closely..

Sister Reynolds

 i think Arizona wants me back... 

Two weeks of post... half way mark and Washington's Bigfoot

Hello family and friends!!

 What a week it has been! it has been full of miracles and fun memories! I hit my 9 month mark on Wednesday the 17... INSANITY! I cannot believe that I have been out that long but then again... sometimes I can believe it hah! I am grateful for all of the amazing things I have learned by serving the Lord and the people here in Washington!

 This week we had a lesson with the motley family again but we brought Sister Motleys friend from when she was active in the church! They are still close and it was good to see how they were remembering things from girl’s camp and church things! I think Sister Motley is having a change of heart and having a greater desire to be a part of the church again!  She has come to church the past 2 weeks!! I love her and her kiddos so much. She sent us a text the other day thanking us for not giving up on them and for loving her and her kids. I think it is the little things that make these 18 months so amazing! I love seeing people change their lives and have a greater desire to follow the Lord.

Sammi, our investigator, has had a few struggles lately. she has felt pretty down about some things that she didn’t do as well as she would have hoped to do and she has been really questioning her testimony and her desire to be baptized. We met with her on Thursday at a member’s home and had a good talk about opposition and finding faith. The member gave an analogy about two wolfs that are in us and are constantly fighting. one is the wolf of Faith and the other of doubt. She told Sammi that the wolf that will win is the wolf that we feed. I loved that and it really helped her see what she needed to do! FEED THE FAITH WOLF! Sammi is back on date for baptism on June 10th. Keep her in your prayers! we know she can do it with the help of the Savior Jesus Christ.

On Saturday we had a Washington federal way finding day... again.  We have them on the first Saturday of every month. We go out from 10am to 5pm and knock doors all day.  So fun, but really it isn’t that bad and miracles happen which is awesome! We went on a few exchanges with sisters throughout the day. I went with Hermana Soza, one of the sweetest sisters ever! We were tracting in my area in the afternoon and it was there that I rescued a small puppy from 3 HUGE dogs. These two little girls were outside playing with the puppy and we had already talked with them so we were walking away. as we started leaving the puppy started following us and we were in the middle of a side street and then I heard this yell from someone saying " HEY! Get back here!" I turned around to see this massive lab coming towards us at full speed. I jumped in front of it to try to catch it for the owner who was running after it but they dog slid out of my fingers! BUT it stopped turned around and started 'playing' with the girl’s puppy. That thing looked like it was eating the poor thing! the two girls were screaming and trying to save the puppy but they couldn't get it off so I grabbed it and pulled it away and then TWO other huge dogs came barreling toward the pup too! The little girls screams were even louder as they were shouting at me to save it. my comp is just standing in shock off to the side so I pulled the other two dogs off the puppy and grabbed it and held it up while the creatures around me jumped up to try to get it. I felt like i was being mugged by dogs. The owner of the 3 dogs finally showed up and I handed the puppy off to Hermana Soza and I grabbed two of the dogs by their collars and helped her take them back to the ladies house. by the time this fiasco was done I had mud and dog hair all over me. I looked like I had been attacked. Ha ha! It definitely had me and my comp laughing the whole way home! good time, good times.

Elder Dube of the 70 came to our mission this week! He is hilarious!! It was a true blessing to have him come and speak at our stake conference and our zone conference. He told us that when he was first called to the 70 he was supper nervous at the first meeting. he said he trailed in the back and then out of nowhere he heard elder Holland say, "Edward!! i love you!" and elder Holland gave him a hug. Elder Dube then said that when he pulled away he reached up and started playing with his cheeks! Can you imagine it?!?!?! Elder Holland playing with his cheeks! hahaha!! Elder Dube told us that the next meeting he saw Holland do the same thing but to elder oaks! Ha ha! It was so funny! His message to us missionaries was powerful though. He spoke a lot about becoming a disciple of Christ missionary and turning away from the "me" missionary. I have realized that I have a lot of growth to do but the greatest thing is that we can all become better! all because of our savior and redeemer. I love that about this gospel. Even though we may not be the best at things we can always improve.

 I love you all so much and I want y’all to know that I am grateful for this gospel and I know that it is true. I have been blessed to be a part of it and even more blessed to be serving a mission! I KNOW that this church is true and that it blesses our life! I love you all so much and I hope you have a great week!

Sister Reynolds

HELLO FROM THE LAND OF BIGFOOT BELIEVERS!!

 Family, Friends, the Washingtonians are MAJOR Bigfoot/Sasquatch believers! this past week I’ve heard more about him than any other subject! even more than politics! Okay not quite but pretty close! I may come home a believer.. They have me almost convinced... We talked with this one man in our ward and we spoke for about an hour about his encounters with Bigfoot. he told us these crazy stories about him in the woods and he heard this knocking sound that was a sign of bigfoot and how he had this thing push his car up on two wheels in the middle of the woods at 2am! INSANE! He even had an audio recording of the knocking noises.. He was quite persuasive and just for the heck of it i might claim to believe in Bigfoot :) 

what we find on our walks to church.. anyone want
a free used toilet?? its a rare find

 Anyway, GOOD NEWS!!! Sammi Kuhlman and Paula Martin are getting baptized in June!! Sammi will be baptized on June 6th and Paula on June 10th! We are so excited for them! These two are amazing and have truly won over my heart. They both have their own struggles and quirks but I love them even with those things! It has been so amazing to be there as they have made the changes necessary for baptism! 

 We did service for one of our favorite families this past week! (The motley crew) we pulled out her garden because it was overrun with weeds and black berry bushes. Those suckers are evil and they are SO hard to pull out of the ground! It’s ridiculous! We found spiders, worms frogs and slugs everywhere in that miniature jungle of theirs. I’ll have you know that I HATE slugs. These are creatures of the abyss and they are everywhere. The other day sister Tayco had the audacity to throw one at me... not a fan of that moment! Ha ha! Later that day when we finished the garden we had a BBQ and sister Tayco and I made pasta salads! We also had lumpia, cream cheese wantons and cookies :) what a combo! Ha ha! It was so much fun to be with them and help them out. I love their family so much! Sister Motley told us she wanted us to move in with her after our missions! (Don’t worry mom I told her I had to stay in AZ for a little bit :))

     looking back at past pictures. 

                i love this girl! 

 Crazy story, we went to dinner on Monday at a member’s home. They are an older couple and her son was there with his 2 kids. While we were eating the woman said to us that someone had just hit our car that was parked outside the house! Sure enough when we went out there our poor car had a huge dent in its driver’s side door and the driver’s passenger door! The woman was backing out of her house and just didn’t turn enough. I felt super bad for her but I was just glad nobody was hurt. That was something I was hoping to never have happen... now i have my name on the mission records for car accidents.. How fun :)

 Other than that nothing too exciting to talk about! I saw this Mormon message today and I really liked it!

https://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/the-music-of-the-gospel?cid=HP_WE_24-5-2017_dPFD_fMLIB_xLIDyL1-C_

It is a bit different then ones I have seen in the past but I really like the way they explain hearing the music of the gospel. I know that what it talks about is so true! We need to make sure we are having the spirit with us as we go about living the gospel. It is what will help us hear the music! I love you all and I’m so grateful for each of you! I hope you have an amazing week!

love,

Sister Reynolds