Its all a blur...

Heyo!!                                                                                                             12/4/17

 So, I feel like this last week went so fast. I can’t figure out what happened what day so there’s that. Time is going really fast and I can’t believe we are already in December!! Where does the time go??????There are so many houses with their Christmas lights up and their trees and it makes my heart happy :)

 Light the World is going great! i am loving the daily videos and all of the excitement that our ward has for it! They are all so kind and every day we have been used for the families’ service opportunity. Day one, someone gave us 3 freezer meals. Day 2, the family we ate with made sure to pour us a lot of water. Day 3, they openly admitted that they were using us eating at their house for that day’s service! haha! I love it :) we will see if this lasts for all 25 days 😂

 We had zone conference this past Thursday and it was SO good! We talked a lot about goal setting and planning. President walked us through ways to plan effectively and it really helps when we have to plan for hours each week! We also talked about enthusiasm in the work! We read our ministerial certificate and we talked about the authority of our calling. It is cool to think about how the prophet of God called each missionary to their area by divine revelation! We should be so excited about that and even more excited to go out and help gather Israel!!!!! I love missionary work! It is the most rewarding work there is :)

 Sunday was so good! All of the testimonies were amazing and the relief society lesson was on Light. Sister Smith taught and she focused on how we can find the light of Christ in our lives and how we can share it with those around us. I love the hope that Christs light brings into our lives. Even if we are having challenges and trials, Christs light will overcome the darkness!

 I sure do love you all! Keep being amazing! Thank you for your love and kindness and MERRY EARLY CHRISTMAS!

Sister Reynolds 

#Lighttheworld

1. I found a new buddy :)

2.some kids in the ward drew us Christmas cards!!

3. we were bored at Walmart.... we found the Christmas section and were there for longer then i care to admit :) 

What a good week!!

 It has been such a good past 6 weeks! i cannot believe that it is almost Christmas!!! I am so excited!! This new transfer is bringing lots of fun surprises. It will come with challenges I’m sure but I am excited about it!

 It was the evening of Sunday December 10th. We were waiting for the calls to know if we would be staying in Mill pond for another transfer or if we would be headed out for a new adventure. Luckily the call never came and we were SAFE! woot woot! We were super happy and we slept well that night. We went about the next day with a skip in our step excited for the transfer ahead of us. We had a good day and came home at the designated time. (9pm) Sister Espinoza went to get ready for bed and I went about working on our never ending 1000 piece puzzle. (I hate this thing BTW) I went to grab the phone to wait for our nightly calls from the District Leader and to my absolute HORROR I saw a missed call from our mission president. I am telling you panic struck me real quick! I love the man but when you get unexpected calls you start questioning everything! So, we called him back and I could hear the smile on his face as he told us we would be whitewashing the White River Ward in Auburn but also staying in our ward! DOUBLE COVERING! We also found out we had to move to another apartment. So after being excited to not have to pack up we found out we both get to pack up and move. We asked when we needed to be out and President Rasmussen said, “you have 30 minutes." there was a silence for a second and then he started laughing and said “just kidding!" haha! We were panicking! So that is our new adventure! Whitewashing AND double covering!

 I am very grateful that I get to finish Training Sister Espinoza! I love her and I am so grateful for all that she does! She is an amazing missionary!! We have some good laughs and fun memories! I am so grateful for companions and the things we learn from each other!!

 Our investigator Zach is on date for baptism for January 13th! We are so excited for him! He has lots of good questions and has so much real intent. I am so grateful for his desire to learn more about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ! 

 Everyone, it is almost CHRISTMAS!! I hope everyone has been finding ways to #lighttheworld! I have loved sharing this initiative with those around me! The ward members have really rallied around it and I love seeing their light shine! I love this gospel! I love the things we are promised if we are faithful. I know we can return to live with our father in heaven as we try our best to be obedient. All he asks is that we try to be faithful and use the Atonement of Jesus Christ! I love you all! Have a great week!

Sister Reynolds

Its almost Christmas

Merry Christmas!

 7 days till the greatest holiday! i love this time so much! i am so thankful for the time we have this season to think of Christ and find ways to keep Christ in Christmas! I have seen a lot of tender mercies this season and i feel like i have come to better understand my Savior and the role He plays in my life! I love Him. I am so thankful for my Heavenly Father and His willingness to give us the greatest gift of all! His beloved Son.

 We had a Christmas devotional on Thursday which was amazing. in the beginning of the meeting we recited the Living Christ together, we had been challenged to memorize it over the past 2 months. The spirit was so strong as we started to testify that Jesus is the Christ. That he lives and He died for us. I am so Grateful for Him. I am thankful that i have been called to his work here in Washington! it has truly been the best experiences i have had! I love knowing that other people are being given the chance, all around the world, to learn of their savior and know that there is hope!

 Our investigator Zach came to church yesterday for the first time! He has been progressing well and i can see how the Lord has guided him here. After church we got a text that said, " I just wanted to say thank you for not only taking the time to teach me but to help me on this spiritual journey." I am so grateful for the chance to teach others about the truth of the restored Gospel! He is an amazing guy and the ward has truly reached out to him in love and friendship. basically my heart is quite full looking back on the week! 

 Sister Espinoza and I are doing well and! loving having both wards now! it is kinda confusing but we are getting there. Everyone that we have met has been amazing! We had dinner at a member of the stake presidencies house yesterday and it was a lot of fun! they had almost all their kids over for Sunday dinner and their grand kids were running around playing. It made me feel like i was right at home! :) I am really enjoying being here. I love these people and Washington is like home!

 I wanted to share with you a favorite verse in the hymn Away in a Manger,

Be near me, Lord Jesus; I ask thee to stay
Close by me forever, and love me, I pray.
Bless all the dear children in thy tender care,
And fit us for heaven to live with thee there.

I Love these words. Away in a manger was originally a lullaby and i love the plea for the lord to be near us, to stay close by us and to help us become the way we need to in order to be in Heaven with Him. I know Jesus Christ wants us to be with him and i know that if we will let him, He will always stay near us. 

 I wont be able to email till the new year but just know that i love you all. Thank you for your love and support over this past year! my heart is full of gratitude for each of you! I hope you know i love you all! I know my savior lives! he loves us and will always stand by us in our times of need!

 Dont forget to #lighttheworld!!

Merry Christmas!

Sister Reynolds

1-2.

a member in our ward let us use her Christmas tree!! 🎄

3. During our move to our new apartment.. our car was STUFFED to the brim!!

Its been a good week!

Hello!

Pre thanksgiving dinner...
i think she likes me.. haha!

I just wanted to say thank you for all of your prayers and emails! I love you all so much and I hope your Thanksgiving was a good one!

It has been a good week! We have seen lots of miracles and as a mission we have been able to see 14 of our brothers and sisters enter into the waters of baptism! A true miracle!! We have been doing a mission fast for the last few weeks. Every day a different companionship in the mission is fasting to see miracles throughout their area and the whole mission! FASTING WORKS MY FRIENDS! We have our day to fast this coming Thursday and we are so excited! We set a goal to find a family who is prepared for the message of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and we are excited to working hard to achieve this goal!

Funny story of the week:

 the cat in our car 😂

 So, sister Espinoza and I were checking on some ward list names trying to get to know the members better. It so happened that it was raining like crazy and it was dark even though it was 6pm. Daylight savings is so confusing to me. Anyway, we got out of the car and we heard this cat noise that was incredibly loud. A small cat came out of nowhere and scared sister Espinoza so bad. The poor thing was SOAKED! We went to the home and no one was there so as we were walking back we kept hearing the meowing and so I told my comp to make sure the cat didn’t get ran over because it sounded like it was under the car. So she opened the door and then backed away real fast and said, "ummm sister..." I look inside the car and lo and behold the cat had jumped into our car and was making itself right at home! Sister Espinoza refused to grab it so I tried for about 5 minutes to grab this cat as it was running around like a wild banshee. I also looked like a crazy person waving my arms and running around the car trying to get this creature out! FINALLY, we were able to get the cat out by opening all the doors and scaring the living daylights out of it. I felt so bad. it just wanted to be warm. If the white handbook didn’t specifically say "NO PETS OF ANY KIND" I would have a new pet :) haha! Fun times on the mission.. Hopefully the vehicle coordinator doesn't find out that animals are crawling in our car.. :) 

Being sent home with thanksgiving is the best :)
 i love the Poulsens!!

 We were given the challenge to share the light the world calendars with all our ward members from our ward mission leader brother Poulsen. So, we have been spending lots of time with the members trying to help them know that every person, no matter their place in life, can light the world and serve those around them! I love the members of this ward! They have such a sweet spirit about them and I feel so grateful to help them know that they can all share the gospel. Members are the best missionaries. Without them the work doesn’t happen as well. This ward has such a desire to do missionary work and it makes my heart full of joy! Everyone that we are working with right now has had some sort of contact with a member and the member has introduced them to the gospel in one way or the other. Some of them just asked us to go by their neighbors and others invited them into their homes when we were there. This has been a testimony builder to me that everyone can and needs to be a missionary. We light the world with the saviors love when we share what we believe in word or action! I invite you all to see how you can do the same~! I promise you will see blessings as you do that! 

I love you all so much! i hope you have an amazing week! 

Sister Reynolds

CHRISTMAS IS COMING!!!