Eagles and Ducks

How are my favorite people ever?!?! 

 I really hope that you all have had an amazing week! mine has been busy and man I am tired but busy is good when you’re on a mission! This past week we had Zone Training which was awesome. Members of the missionary department had come to our mission and toured it and spent some time with the leaders in the mission. The Conference was based on what they had been taught. It was exactly what I needed! INSPIRED! We talked about prayer and why it is important to have meaningful prayer. We also talked about Doctrine and Covenants 4. We dissected it and it helped me to understand what it is that I quote every day! I am so grateful for the knowledge that we can gain as we follow the promptings we receive from the spirit!

Seattle Washington Temple

 We had interviews with president and Sister Rasmussen this week too! They are truly amazing people! i sure do love them and I KNOW that he is meant to be the leader of this mission. He has helped us a lot and he expects A lot from us which is always good. While in my interview I talked to him quite a bit about missionary work but then he got off subject and started talking about the plants that are all around Washington. we talked about it for about 5 min before someone knocked on the door and we realized we had been in the room for 15 min! haha! He is a funny guy!

our duck friend

 So at our cottage, we live right on the lake. We have acquired some new friends lately! We now have ducks and geese EVERYWHERE!! They are funny to watch. There are these 2 ducks that will come up to our porch and get right next to the door and wait until we open the door to give them bread. They are a bit too trusting if you ask me... stranger danger! (But being a missionary, that rule goes right out the window!!) Anyway, as we were observing the nature that exists around us one day, Thursday to be exact, we saw a bald eagle circling the water. Nothing good happens when one circles.... especially water. In a split second this eagle went down at the water and flying like mad trying to catch the ducks!! The duck dove under the water and missed the Eagle by milliseconds! it was insane!!!!!!! It was like watching National Geographic or something!! 

 So I wanted to share some random facts that I have learned in the past couple days, I thought they were cool..

 - In measures of time, one million is 12 days, one billion is 32 years and one trillion is 32,000 years.. BLOWS MY MIND! It makes me realize that I exaggerate a lot.. But ya’ll already know that. 

 -When Ramon noodles fall into the stove top thing, GET IT OUT ASAP! It’s a good thing we live right by a lake and have access to a lot of water.. All I will say on that one.

 -Members in the YSA ward believe that you’re a match maker and that is your first role as a missionary. HA I tell them it’s false. (Little do they know in my head I have matched them all! so I guess it’s true..)

 i apparently fell asleep while studying and trying to stay warm...
thanks sister Skousen for the pic! i look like a caterpillar

some wonderful man gave us free kettle corn! bless him!

 Anyway, I love you all and I’m so grateful for all of the support you show to me! i am so grateful to be here in Washington serving the Lord even when the days are hard! I learned today from our local chiropractor some food for thought. He talked about Pain and how it is a gift from God. It’s interesting to think of pain in that way, a Gift. But when you think about it more, you can realize that when we have pain we can recognize that something has to change. WE have to change. It isn’t always easy and sometimes we try to hide the pain of mask it but pain is good! We can learn and grow to become better and take better care of the bodies that God our Father has given us! I thought that was such a cool thought. Hopefully it makes sense to ya’ll! I love each of you so much! I hope you have an amazing week!

 Sister Reynolds

LAUREN WAS BAPTIZED!!

Buenos Dias!

Family and friends, HELLO!!!! I sure do love you all! It has been a super good week and there have been many miracles and b

lessings that i have seen here in Washington! For one, LAUREN GOT BAPTIZED!! I am SOOOO happy for her! She was beaming when she came out of the water. The spirit was so strong in that room! She bore her testimony at her baptism and told everyone how she came to know about the gospel and the missionaries. She said a little something like this, "So I started sitting in with my sisters lessons with one set of missionaries. Then the elders in Skyway found me. Then I went to my friends farewell talk in this YSA ward and the sisters said that they were stealing me from the elders." Everyone got a laugh out of that and i guess it is pretty much true! haha! :D I love her and I am grateful that we were able to 'steal her'. It truly is a privilege to help someone better understand the gospel and how it can influence their lives for the better.

 We had the chance to do lots of service this past week. We helped at the Bishops store house and the food bank. We also helped Brother Carter, our neighbor and owner of the cottage, with some yard work. It felt weird to be in Jeans so many times in a week! I might never want to wear anything but a dress/ skirt when I get home! (That isn't the whole truth... ;) 

 So Washington is doing some weird stuff with its weather. Some days, it’s raining and then the next day it is sunny! Today it started out sunny and now it is snowing. Help me please. I don’t understand how I should dress in the morning, for sun snow or rain. I basically keep a change of clothes in the car for anything that might happen! It’s crazy! It almost makes me miss the constant heat of Arizona... Almost.

 Nothing else really happened this week that needs to be mentioned really. We tracted, taught lessons and got rained on. That’s pretty much the usual but it still was a good week! I'll try to remember what happened throughout the week so i can give you better updates! i love you all and I hope that you’re week is amazing! Never forget that god loves you and that our Savior and Brother are there for us each and every day!

Love Sister Reynolds

Just a few pictures of us and Lauren! The group one is missing two of the missionaries who had taught her! She had quite a few!

Homeless men...

Hello everyone!

 I would like to start out this email by telling you about what I am seeing right now. It might help you understand what it is like to live in Kent Washington. So I’m at the library and these homeless men came in. two of them are just sleeping trying to stay warm i assume because it decided to snow again, and then their friend showed up. He walked in carrying a stereo and a huge bag of weed. This man is now jumping around and singing while hitting the table like it is a drum. His friends are looking like him like he is crazy and he just keeps laughing and telling him to sit down. Update, he is now tucking in his friend and trying to play music. I love the people here! They make me smile. These are the folks who keep things interesting!

 Any way, this has been a good week! We have seen lots of blessings and we have been able to teach lots of people and we hopefully will have some new investigators soon! I’ll give some updates on that later.

 Lauren is getting baptized on SATURDAY!!!!! I am so excited for her! She is super stoked to be a member and she is going to do amazing things in the gospel! I feel very blessed to have been able to be a part of her process of becoming a member of this church! God is amazing! 

 Another fun story about the people of Kent, Apparently, the Oscars were yesterday (who knew). We went finding and we knocked on this man’s door named mike. When he opened the door he was smoking and had a cocktail in his hand. He told us we were interrupting his Oscar time but if we wanted we could come in and watch it with him. We told him we couldn’t do that and he stopped us and said, in his slurred speech, " no really. It’s not that big of a deal. You can come in, I’ll make cocktails for ya’ll and ill even put on pants." he was quite hospitable but we had to decline. We said maybe next time and then he said in a very concerned voice " do you not understand the Oscars are only once a YEAR!? Again, I just love these people!

 The work is good and Washington is still Washington! I am enjoying it here and I’m very grateful to be serving! I recently read 3 Nephi 19. I would invite you all to read it! It is amazing to be able to read about our savior praying to our Father. It is truly powerful to hear him pleading for us, his disciples to have the spirit. I know that Christ is praying for us and that he smiles on us as we pray to our Father in Heaven! Thank you all for being such amazing examples to me! I love you!

Sister Reynolds

Picture this: It is a Sunday night

HELLO EVERYONE!!

 Picture this: It is a Sunday night. The transfer is over and we are waiting to receive a call telling us we are leaving or waiting for the text to say transfer calls are over. The stress was real. Well, mostly for sister Skousen. I was already in bed falling asleep and just wanted to find out it in the morning! Ha ha! There are 14 companionship's out of the 75 that are staying together; odds are slim that both of us would be staying. Anyway, it was 10:29 and still no news. 10:30, time for bed and not a “vibrate” or “ring”to be heard for miles. We assumed we were safe and in the morning we took matters into our own hands! Come to find out... WE ARE SAFE! The destroying angel has passed by me again! Woot woot!(that is probably blasphemy...) Any way, i get to stay here in James Hill and Sister Skousen is here with me too! I am so grateful to be here for another 6 weeks! i am especially grateful that i will be able to be here for our investigator Lauren's baptism!!! What a blessing!

 It was a pretty good week this past week! We had dinner at one of our member’s house, the Oxburrows. These people are characters. Bro. O is the Kent representative for us YSA and his wife helps with relief society in the ward. They have 2 birds, a cockatoo and an amazon parrot and a chocolate lab. Both birds are free roaming but the cockatoo is the only one that will fly around. It sat on the dinner table and ate dinner with us!!! These birds do tricks, say hello, and are potty trained. For the most part! What an experience it was! The bird kept flying to me and sitting on my shoulder and trying to hide itself in my scarf. I think I want one of these!

AMalak and Raneem! they are 2 girls who I got to teach a few times and they got baptized on Saturday!
I sure do love them! (they are Arabic)

 We went to the Missionary devotional on Sunday. These happen once a month and it is where the missionaries in the mission choir sing, recent converts bear their testimony and the restoration is taught through videos! I love going and this time we had the chance to go even though it was in Graham, about an hour from Kent. Lexi Angell in our ward drove us there and back! She is so sweet :) When we went, I was really hoping to see Sister Taylor and lo and behold, SHE WAS THERE!!! Man was I excited to see her! She is awesome :) the devotional itself was super good and the spirit was strong. I am so happy to be able to sing in the choir and help touch those hearts who are investigating the church through song! (Yes mom, I actually enjoyed being in the choir and singing :)) I am so grateful for the experience

 Well, I can’t think of much more to share. Washington is still raining and cold. The people are still as awesome as ever and James Hill will have to deal with me for another 6 weeks :) I love you all and hope you’re doing well. I invite you all to remember the blessings you have seen in this gospel and stay active in the church. It is a church of deliverance and it can and WILL deliver us out of our dark times! Read Joseph Smith History to see how he was able to receive the blessing of deliverance from Christ our savior! We can all have it in our lives!!

Love you!

Sister Reynolds

The bird! her name is gabby

What a blessing we have received today!!

HELLO!!

 What a blessing we have received today!! Here in Washington it is currently 61 degrees AND sunny! Oh my Lanta am I overjoyed! I am not even wearing a jacket, what a glorious thing!! We went from snowing to this! The world is probably ending but I will handle it well if this is what it will be like! :)

We had the chance to serve at the Kent food bank this past week. We met the cutest Iraqi women! They had just moved to Washington 2 months ago and they wanted to do volunteer work and they found the food bank! I told them that I spoke a little bit of Arabic, like a SMALL AMOUNT, and they got so excited! They spent a good 30 minutes trying to teach me how to say different words and then asking me how to say it in English! I learned how to say oats and some other foods that I can’t remember how to say now BUT, as I was leaving they kept saying this phrase and then finally in English they told me it meant "you are my daughter!" it was so sweet! I never wanted to leave! Hopefully they will be there this Wednesday too and we can continue on with our English/Arabic lessons :)

 Lauren, our amazing investigator is working hard and is getting super excited to be baptized. She meets with us 3 times a week and would meet more if she could! We just love her! She has such a desire to see a temple on the inside and i mentioned the Tuscan temple open house and then the next time we met she said she has been looking at flights to AZ to go to it! I LOVE HER! haha!! We are planning her baptismal program tonight which should be fun and then maybe going to FHE but we aren’t sure where it is at yet. We are bad at planning on P-days... I’ll get better!

The mission nurse and her husband are the cutest things in the world! their name is elder and Sister Draney. They are from Wyoming and live on a small farm! they go home in march. I am so sad! she tells me all the time that we are soul sisters and that she always wants to be my companion but doesn't know what she will do with elder Draney! i told her that i want to come visit her and her fam in Wyoming for the summer and work on her farm for her. she said she would have me anytime! i would be moving pipe though and that crap seems heavy!  just thought id let you know that was going to happen one day

 Today when we went grocery shopping, sister Skousen decided she wanted to get me flowers for Valentine’s Day! She is so sweet! She bought me tulips in all different colors! When we got home, the only thing i could find to put them in was a fish shaped pitcher that was in the back of our cabinet. I wish i had taken a picture of it! I’ll try to remember and send it next week! She is so kind to me!

 I am so grateful to be here in Washington! i love these people and i never want to leave. Transfers are next week and though it might be good to get a new change if I leave, I will be broken hearted if I have to leave the James Hill YSA ward :/ I know that God puts us in different situations to learn and grow though them so anything that we go through we can know that it is part of Gods plan! How comforting is that?! I love knowing that our trials are there to make us better people and I hope that through each of our life’s we can remember that! Our faith WILL grow if we take the opportunity to let it! I love you all so much! Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers! Happy Valentine’s Day

Love, Sister Reynolds

Washington has shut down

Family and Friends!

Washington has shut down. The world seems to be falling apart. Why is this happening? Because it snowed 4 inches. I had no idea that a surprise snowfall would put a halt to the life here but alas, that is the outcome! Yesterday stores were closed, the library was closed and basically Washington was deserted! IT WAS CRAZY! We had P-day yesterday but we were given the chance to email today when life resumed so that’s nice :) It was fun to play in though! Sister Skousen and I went out and played with our neighbors and their 3 kids! We went sledding down the hill next to our house and had a snowball fight! It was lots of fun so I guess there were some perks :) Our car was stuck in the driveway till 12 when the sun shone for a little and the snow started to turn to slush. We thought we were going to be stranded forever but God is good and faith is important to have in such circumstances!

It has been a crazy week! Our lessons have fallen through and we have had to drop a few investigators, BUT miracles still occur each and every day! Lauren, our investigator on date for March 4th is still doing so well! She bore her testimony with me this Sunday and told everyone that her motto was to be like Nephi! She is just amazing! She told everyone that they better be at her baptism.  I think we better get them all there :) I am so grateful for her! She has such a desire to go to the temple and I keep telling her that she should drive to AZ to see the Tuscan one before it’s dedicated. She is seriously thinking about it! Ha ha I am converting people to the best place ever! But I don’t know if that’s allowed so shhhh..... anyway, the work is work and yet I enjoy it! Some days are harder than others but I still like being here which is amazing! 

Quick story, we have had a battle between the office elders and us James hill sisters of who can put the strange angel thing in the picture in the most random place. (Basically sending it back and forth in different ways). the other day we got a box full of SUPER old candy from a mysterious person... we didn't know who for about 2 days till we opened the can of those cookie things and lo and behold, there it was. Peering up at us! Those sneaky moms are gunna get it good 😎

I didn’t leave much time for this email... my bad, but next week I’ll give a better sum up of my life! I will send pics this week though! Pictures are worth a thousand words right??

Love you all!

Sister Reynolds!

Sister Reynolds & Sister Skousen

Marhaba

Marhaba

I had to add this one.. MY ARABIC NAME TAG CAME IN

That topic thingy is Arabic for hi! But written how it sounds when you say it...  anyway, how are you all!?  I really hope you have all had an amazing week! It has been a little crazy here in Washington, mainly my companionship, but everything is going well! Sister Skousen and I have been trying to get to know each other better and figure out how we work together. Everything comes in time and i am grateful to be able to know her and learn from her!

We have an investigator named Lauren right now who is AMAZING! I’m not sure if I have talked about her before but here I go again! She is on date for March 4th and is chopping at the bit to have the day come already! She has been wanting this for a while, 8yrs old, but finally decided to do something about it! She is so willing to meet with us and she drives 30 min to and from her house to come meet with us! She is so ready for this commitment! She had us over for dinner yesterday and we had a lesson over steak and corn and diet coke, could you ask for more than that?  She keeps telling me that she will be quite mad if I get transferred in 2 weeks and I keep telling her to pray and tell God she needs me here... we will see how that one goes :) Anyway, the work is going well and we are being blessed each day!

our temple trip!

2 zones attending the Seattle Temple

Today we had the chance to go to the temple!!!!!!!!!!! I have been so excited about this I’m sure everyone in Washington knows about it! It had been way to long since I had been and it was amazing to be able to go into the house of the Lord and remember my promises with him and help people make the same promises! There is such an amazing spirit there that brings peace and hope to your life if you will let it. I would encourage you all to go to the temple as frequently as possible! Even if it is just to walk the grounds. Questions are answered there and your relationship with your father in heaven grows so much! I have come to know even more this past week that God is real and that he loves me and each of us. Jesus really is the Christ and the atonement is for us personally to use and be freed from sin and our sorrows! I am so grateful to all of you who have helped me gain this knowledge. I hope that each and every child of God will know that they are loved and cherished! He wants us to come home and by living this Gospel we will get there! I love you all so much! Have an amazing week!

Sister Reynolds

Best art i've seen! (Jesus loves you!)