Gold Mines, and Patience, and TRIO Life Oh My😊😁😐😶😨😀

Wow.

Yup.

That sums up life in the great Ohio Land kids.

It has been a marathon week full of mystery, good people, loving leaders, and so many crazy phone calls. It is transfer week and tomorrow Sister Davis and I will journey into the Columbus to pick up another lovely Sister. That's right, I get a trio for reals, not just for a hot second, for six whole weeks. I get another best friend, one more brain to put in ideas, one more mouth to feed, and one more bed to fit into our room. The sleep over parties and miracle working will be real this transfer folks. So yeah, that's been the long anticipated news of the week.

In other news, we have finally broken into one of the Gold Mines here in Urbana. We finally started working consistently with a less active member of our congregation who wants to come back to church. She was baptized as a teenager in Bellefontaine, a small town about 20 miles north of us, and has not been to church fro 3 years. She is so cute and has an adorable family. This adorable family includes a non member husband and 4 children. They have been so prepared and it's been cool to see the things that have happened to bring them into the gospel. We have amazing members of our congregation who have worked hard to befriend her and she is coming to church this Sunday for Easter! We are trying to work with her Husband so he will come with her as well. I'm excited to see how we can help them! We know it is a lot of pressure on her shoulders and a big step for her to take so prayers for Tami and Wayne would be appreciated this weekend.

The Spiritual thought this week comes from a lesson learned in Seminary and continued conversation and experiences in the mission field.

I remember in seminary when we talked about Job 23:10,

10 But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

We talked a lot about the process of a refiner's fire. About the heat and pressure that melt all of the crap off of the valuable GOLD. We talked so much about the gold! All the good things that we could amount to. We did NOT talk about all of the dross that comes off the gold. We didn't talk about how hard it is to remove it, or how gross it seems when you come to see all of it that needs to be removed. The mission field is a refiner's fire, or in the words of my mission president a pressure cooker. The closer we get to the purifying fire (Heavenly Father and the trials he sends us) the more dross we can see in ourselves. This transfer has been full of identifying weaknesses. I am quiet sometimes, I am afraid of men and their reactions to my message, I have no idea how to achieve a happy medium, I don't know everything, I cannot always help the people I love, sometimes I push/love people too hard and far, sometimes I don't push enough, I still have no clue who/when/really how to ask for help from the people who want to help me, I eat too much Nutella, Dr Pepper is my vice and soooooooo many more faults. It's easy to get consumed in the dross. BUT the more weaknesses we realize we have, the more things we can take to our Heavenly Father. (Ether 12:27)

27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

He promises to make them strengths if we humble ourselves. He promises to help us see the Gold!

That's what this season is all about. He Sent his son so we would have a way to overcome EVERYTHING. Whether it is death, or sin, or sadness, or cruelty He has promised

All that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

(PMG, Chapter 3, Lesson 2, pg 52)

All the dross we be gone and we will be more valuable than we could ever imagine because of Him. #Hallelujah #repentanceisreal I'm grateful for that knowledge and hope you feel that power in your life as well!

Well, I'm off. To clean, to ponder my existence,to ponder the addition of one more best friend, to search the scriptures for solutions to my people's problems, and to share the good news of the Savior with EVERYONE!

Love y'all,

✌🏻️Sister Reynolds✌🏻️

Pics of the last 6 weeks