Merry Christmas

Hello!!

Well, just like that Christmas is over but its okay because it was such a good day! I’m so glad that it was on Sunday and that we were able to take the sacrament to think more about our Savior! How great is that!!??

I think one of the best parts, besides skyping home (i loved talking with you all! I’m so glad that everyone was there and that we were able to talk.... we were disobedient though! Ha ha we went 10 min over but repentance is real J), was being able to teach this woman we found named De'Yanna. (greatest way to spell that ever!) We had to go tracting last night and someone told us to go try her door. When we knocked she was super open with talking and then invited us in so we could share more. We taught her the restoration of the gospel and she LOVED it! She told us that she had the exact same feelings that Joseph Smith had about all the churches and which one was right! We told her that we pray about a date to invite people to be baptized and we invited her to baptism for January 21st.  She sat there thinking for a while and then said yes. Apparently it is the day her great grandma passed away and 2 of her nieces and nephews had been born!  She said it really was inspired from God and she was really excited to learn more. As we were about to leave, she got teary eyed and said that she had been struggling that day to know the meaning of Christmas and was trying hard to find her way back to Christ. We told her that we were lead to her door by the Holy Ghost and then we testified of God’s love for her. She told us how grateful she was for us and then we left. Miracles happen and this was one of them. It testified to me that our Father in Heaven has prepared his children to accept this gospel!

Other than Christmas, this week has been pretty much the same! We had another day of finding, or tracting. It was super cold but at least this time it didn’t snow!

We are finally moving today. Sadly, not to the mission home but to the land of Auburn. one would think that moving from point A to point B would be easy but no. it never is. The story begins this morning. We were told a few days ago that the Office Elders, the ones with the truck, would be coming at 9am to help move us out. all would be well in Zion if that actually happened. It was 10am and still no elders and the people who are remodeling our bathroom needed to get started. So we finally called them and they were moving other people at the time. So then we had to shove as much of our stuff as we could into Betsy, our Little Chevy Cruz. It all just got even more crazy but I won’t go into that. Suffice it to say, we look like we are living in our car, our suitcases are still in our kitchen at the cottage and we don’t have a key to our apartment. But i know that everything will be fine... or so i tell myself! Ha ha i just hope our little house gets fixed ASAP.

I hope that each of you have had an amazing Christmas! i love you all and appreciate you all so much! i pray that each of you will keep the spirit of Christmas with you throughout this next year! have an amazing week and never forget that Our Heavenly Father loves you!

Sister Reynolds

Merry Almost Christmas

Hello everyone!

It's almost Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAYAYAYA!! It is such a good time of the year! I’m so grateful that we get to celebrate Christ and serve as he did even more during this time! I hope that all of you have been having a good week and that you’re excited for this amazing Holiday! I miss not being in good ol' AZ but I will be having a semi white Christmas so it will be way fun to experience something new! 

The work here is going well! Bebeto is progressing and has been coming to church and our lessons with lots of questions but his heart seems to be opening to this gospel! I’m so grateful for him! I truly didn't know how excited you could get to see someone walk through the church doors! I hope that all of you look out for those who may not have been at church in a while and reach out! All they could need is an invite and when they DO come, go say hi! I know that the mission has changed my perspective on the importance of fellow shipping people and church attendance! 

 This week we had a Fabulous Federal Way Festival of Finding! We went out all day on Saturday from 10am-5pm and knocked doors. It took me a while to accept the fact that we would be doing that all day but once sister Taylor and i got into the grove of things all was well! We drove all over the place going into every part of our area, which is bigger than any other area. We drove 93.1 miles... that is not a good amount to drive in one day when you have to keep track of your miles and you are limited to how much you can drive in a month! But it was all worth it because we were able to share the gospel with a lot of people!! The day turned into the Frigid Fabulous Federal Way Festival of Finding though! It wasn't supposed to snow, just be in the 20's all day. We woke up to 19 degree weather and when we finally got out of the house to start the day it was about 25 and it was snowing.... my toes, fingers and nose almost fell off but it was a fun experience that I wouldst trade for anything!

We had a zone conference on Friday that took us back to the basics of missionary work. And I mean the basics. We talked about dress and grooming, what preach my gospel is and how to study from it. Surprisingly, it was a much needed topic of conversation! Ha ha! We then had Christmas lunch, ham and potatoes and such, and played a few games as a zone! we played one where we broke off into 6 different teams and had 5 min to write as many Christmas songs as we could on a piece of paper. we then went in a circle and had to sing, as a team, the first 2 stanzas of the song. If we repeated a song that someone else had sung or took longer than 10 seconds to start singing we were out of the game! it was way fun! You’ll never believe it but Sister Taylor and I sang a few of those songs by ourselves because no one else knew them. We basically sounded like the dream girls. No Biggy ;) also, our team won but who is to brag... not me :) ha ha! I love the visionaries in this mission! They are all so amazing and they teach me new things each time we have the chance to gather together! It is awesome!

It’s cold, it’s wet and the work is AMAZING!

It’s cold, it’s wet and the work is AMAZING! We have had some struggles with our investigators the last 2 transfers but things are turning around in the James Hill ward! Our investigator Bebeto is doing really good! He came to church this past Sunday and really liked it! Our ward has the best members and they are so good at fellow-shipping! He has asked us to pray for him so he doesn't have a change of heart like last time! I’m so grateful that the spirit is the teacher! Without him there is no way that we would be able to help him progress in the gospel. I feel very blessed to be the one who has the opportunity to help him. It is a testimony to me that hearts can change and that people are drawn to the good in the world, AKA Jesus Christ!

Wisam, our eternal investigator, is still coming to church and taking the lessons! He is doing well we just wish so badly that he can be baptized. One day things will change in his situation in Iraq and he will be able to become a member! Until then we are helping him strengthen his testimony each and every day! Sister Taylor and I don't know what we have done to be so blessed but we know that as we continue to be tuned instruments in Gods hand we will continue to reap the blessings!

I love the people here in Washington, as I have mentioned before, but some of them I have to work harder to love. haha!

We were on exchanges on Friday and I went to another area while sister Taylor stayed in James hill. Sister Gafa, my sister training leader, and I pulled up to a stop light and saw a homeless man who wanted some food so I gave him an apple and a mormon.org card. (Always be 'finding' number one rule) We rolled up the window and waited to go. Before we could drive away we heard a knock at the door and it was the homeless man. He gave us the apple and the card back and said ”I don’t agree with the “Moron” religion and I can’t eat anything from you... I’m not sure why he didn't just take the apple and throw away the card but

he must not of been that hungry. I prayed a lot for him and that I might have charity for him. I hope that one day he will just take the apple. There are many other incidences that I could tell about but it aint worth getting all riled up again! Ha ha! I really do love these people I promise

I am excited about Christmas! Everyone has their lights up and fun things are going on in our area! We have our ward talent show and Christmas dinner this Friday and we also have our Christmas zone conference and devotional! It’s gunna be great! I hope that everything in AZ or wherever you may be is going well! I love you all so much! I hope that you all look up the 'Light the World' initiative from the church and do all you can to serve people as Christ did! I love the opportunity this season brings to help people come unto Christ! Don’t forget that he loves you and wants to help you! He is our Savior and Redeemer. I’m so grateful I’m here on my mission sharing the gospel to his children! There is no other place I’d rather be right now! I love you and hope you have a wonderful service filled week :)

This corner of the house is off limits and it is extremely tempting! 

 

Sister Reynolds

1. We got to set up a nativity from my wonderful mama! Thanks it was super fun :)

2. This corner of the house is off limits and it is extremely tempting! 

It Snowed!

Family. Friends.

Snow outside my house

This is urgent. We have officially hit winter! I arose yesterday and did the usual get ready for the day. Then as I made my escapade to the kitchen I had the urge to open up our blinds so we could look at our beautiful lake and then to my surprise I saw it! SNOW! It was cascading down in little, huge, flurries! I got so excited I think I scared Sister Taylor a bit! I had to go outside, even though it was freezing! (Literally 😂) I went and ran in it, more like frolicked, and I looked like a small child who just received a huge gift or something! It was absolutely beautiful to see and it made me excited to think that we might have a white Christmas! I realize now, though, that tracting in the snow or ice isn’t as fun as one would think! This morning I slipped on the ice. I might break a hip by the time summer arrives! haha! We have to bring a blanket with us these days in the car! We named her Monique, MOMO for short! (Hopefully I can send you a pic of her. ha! 

Monique "Momo"

The work in our area is slow right now but we have been seeing little miracles! We have recommitted our former investigator Bebeto to baptism for December 31st! We are super excited to help him gain his own testimony of the restored gospel! I pray that he will continue to have an open heart and mind! He is super cool though! He moved here from Haiti about 10 years ago. He knew nothing about Christianity but he was introduced to it by someone and he has gained an amazing relationship with God and Jesus Christ! He is so ready, even if he doesn’t know it yet. :) We also got a random call from another former investigator named Chris! He likes to pop up randomly but he seems pretty interested this time so we hope that he will be able to commit to learn more! 

The people here are just as amazing! We have met some cool and interesting people! i have to tell you about this guy who shall remain nameless. We knocked on his door and said that we were representatives of Jesus Christ. The first thing he said was, oh him? let me tell you a little something about Jesus Christ. From that moment I knew we would be in for a treat! He continued, and told us that Jesus was half human half ancient alien. Supposedly there is a picture somewhere that proves that this is true. His mother Mary had a beam of light go into her and that is how he was created. this is also the reason he has such amazing powers and could do so many miracles.... at this point I was doing my best to not laugh in his face but we had to get him to stop for longer than a second to let him know we had an appointment and that he could look up more on the website. I feel like somewhere in his life he was lead in an incredibly wrong direction but I guess one day he will figure it out! 

We also had a man come up to us the other day and this is how he said hi, “greetings earthlings! I was taken up by aliens and put back down. I lived in a time of Bon Jovi the evil and I’ve seen much. Do you have a dollar so I might ride the transportation to a distant land?" what a man he was! Sadly we couldn’t help him much but we told him that God loved him and gave him a card! The people here are the best! haha! 

I’ve been thinking about what my favorite talk is. I don’t think I have one but because I asked you all I might as well give one. I have come to love Elder Bruce R McConkie's last conference talk. I cannot remember the name of it but is truly powerful! I would encourage you all to go read it! Hopefully you’ll be able to find it! I love you all so much and so does the Lord and never forget that! I’m grateful to each and every one of you! Always try to do your best and repent daily! I have found that repentance is one of the most amazing blessings that we have ever been given! Take advantage of it! I pray for you all and I’m grateful for your prayers! i love you! 

Sister Reynolds

Christmas light by our house.

The Massive Donut

Hello all!

I hope everyone has had a great week and that thanksgiving was super good and full of yummy food! We were fed to our brim and then some! haha! I don’t know if I will ever want another piece of pie again! The people in my ward are so kind to us! 

legendary donuts. best. donuts. shop. ever. this was the size of my face!

Good news, we had transfers and drum roll please..... SISTER TAYLOR AND I ARE STAYING TOGETHER!!!! yaaay! we both were super nervous Sunday night while we waited for the call. we had a few close calls but it was all good in the end! Sadly, Sister (Kaylan) Richardson got transferred out of Zone so I won’t see her as often but she is going to do amazing! Sister Taylor and I are super excited to spend Christmas together and to be in the James hill ward still! These people are truly amazing! i love them so much!

This past Sunday we received a text from our 1st councilor in the bishopric. He told us he needed a speaker because someone just called and said he wasn’t coming. I being the newbie had to plan and execute a talk on the Godhead in 30 min. I know that probably doesn’t sound to bad but I was FREAKING out! It is scary to teach something when you haven’t planned it in advance! All went well though. I didn't pass out or anything and i am here to tell the tale so overall I’ll give the experience a 7 out of 10! 

We had an amazing miracle this week! We were weekly planning and we had the thought to text one of our former investigators, the one from a while ago who i cried over 🙄... any who haha, he responded and said he missed talking with us and that we could come over! so yesterday we went and had out first lesson with him! He was so kind and said he has been reading the book of Mormon and that he thinks it might be true! The spirit was so strong! This truly was a tender mercy. we have been struggling with the work and we have tried to be better missionaries and we have reaped the reward you could say :) we are praying that he will continue to pray and ask if this is true, more on that later though.

Life here has been good over all. The days are staying in the 40's lately so that’s crazy and the rain is relentless but everything is good! I’m going to get accustomed to it one day and then when i come home ill shrivel up like a dead fish! It’s just the circle of life i guess! that you all for the conference talks! I am excited to re-read them all! I love you all so much!

Thank you for keeping me updated about your life! Have an amazing week!
Love sister Reynolds

                

                                       Sister Taylor and i have no idea
                                        how to drive in Seattle... it was a struggle in a half... 

Happy Thanksgiving

Hello everyone!

I hope that every one of you is excited for thanksgiving! I know I am! It’s going to be fun to spend it out here with my ward members! I may gain 100 pounds in one day but I guess that’s mission life right? I miss everyone around this time but I’m grateful for my call to serve here!

I'm not sure what I want to write about this week but maybe I’ll start with talking about Shane. We met Shane while contacting a few days back. He is in his 30's and right from the get go I knew Shane was going to be a funny man. He opened the door and he was brushing his teeth. We introduced ourselves and he started to talk with us and create a conversation, all while brushing his teeth. We told him we wanted to share a message and he said he would listen, still brushing his teeth. We told him we would wait while he finished his dental hygiene regime but he declined and said he was okay so we just started to teach him! We taught, he went and spit. He would talk about Kent and how he just moved here and then we would tie it into the lesson, then he would go spit. Then we would talk about his old job in the army, he would spit and then we would try to teach him some more. (I will have you know that a normal contact is not so jumbled nor does it last 'that' long). This process went on for 30 minutes. Each time he left to go spit, Sister Taylor and I would die laughing and try to compose ourselves! Overall he committed to meet with the elders and we made our dash out to the parking lot all while he still stood there brushing his teeth. I truly hope and pray that he never has any teeth decay for he takes such good care of them....

We had another meeting with an area of the seventy this week! His name is Elder Gay. He and his wife came and talked to us about missionary work and working with the members. From 10:30am to 5 pm we sat and listened. We learned a lot of super good things and revelation was definitely received! The only problem was that I could barely sit still. Any of you who have sat with me in any meeting should know that I struggle not to move and to focus. Thankfully no one told me to leave so that’s good :) He told us to be bold with the members and to those that we are teaching. He gave us some things that we could say and all; I will tell you is that I have yet to become as bold as he is wanting us to be! Hopefully I can learn to do it throughout my mission! 

 I am sorry that this is such a short letter! I wish I could write more but time is almost out!

Thank you so much for your emails! Next week, if you’re willing, would you all send me one of your favorite scriptures of conference talks? I would love that so much! Have a great week!

Love, Sister Reynolds

Crazy Traffic and...MOLD

Hello,

It has been a super-fast week! I don’t know if that was just here in Washington or if it happened all over the world.... who knows. Anyway, mission life is good! We have been able to teach a lot of people through finding and we committed 10 people to baptism. Not all of them are for us in the YSA but we still get to plant the seed of faith in people and give them the opportunity to learn more and become converted, which is AWESOME! This gospel is so amazing! I find new things every day and they are always a testimony builder! I find that every time I read the scriptures I am filled with the desire to share what I’ve learned and guess what!? I’ve been blessed to be able to do that! 

Sister Taylor and I right before we came home!

I would like to take a brief moment to discuss Washington traffic, or at least Kent/Renton traffic. The roads here are sort of weird and crazy and the people driving are sort of weird and crazy as well.  Sister Taylor and I, almost daily, will end up sitting in a line of cars for at least 20 min. I’m sure if our area was smaller we wouldn’t care so much because we could just walk but that is sadly not a possibility. The other day we were on our way to a lesson with an investigator and we had given ourselves 10 min to spare so we thought we would be okay. FALSE ADVERTISING! We were stuck, without moving, for 30 min because the railroad had a train stuck in the middle of the tracks. At first we were kinds frustrated but then we could only laugh about it. There were people honking and yelling and hitting their heads on the head rests of their cars. You would have thought we were in New York! haha! All I know is that big city life is definitely not for me haha! 

Sunset the other day! not the best picture but it was super cool!

Our wonderful cottage on the lake is having some issues at the moment. We have been exposed to what the world would call black mold. It has invaded our personal space and is slowly but surely eating away our bathroom. Have no fear though, our wonderful house people, those in charge of our living situations are on it! We have to have our bathroom remodeled and basically gutted! But that means that we have to vacate the premises as soon as the contractor comes through the door. Where will we go you might ask? Let me answer that for ya. We will be living with the mission president and his wife for a couple days or weeks however long it takes. I have yet to decide if this will be fun or not.  Their house is in maple valley so we will have to drive quite a ways but the thought of sitting on the couch at night while mingling with those who are in charge of us is kind of a funny thought! More news on that lovely experience to come! 

Cloudy Weather

The weather here has been super weird lately! We have a few days or downpour and then that thing called the sun comes out for a day or two! It is a strange place, Washington but I have fallen in love with it! I have become grateful for coats, scarfs, and gloves! Also weather proofing spray might be the greatest invention ever made. :) 

Thank you all for your emails this week! They have made my day! I hope that you all continue to have amazing days! I love you all so much! Don’t forget to read your scriptures and pray daily! 

Sister Reynolds

this is Gerard the spider! he is our watch spider for our little Betsy( our car)