All the new best friends ❤️

So, yeah. This morning I had to fix a vacuum that we are pretty sure contains the remnants of one year's worth of hair from previous sisters and it was as gross as you can imagine. But hey, clean floors in Urbana now 🙌🏻🙌🏻 As Sisters in Zion we clog up all of the vacuums 😬

ANYWAY, Hey guys! How is Everyone? Any exciting news I should know about? Is everyone still alive?

Awesome!

How is Urbana, you ask? Well it snowed this week ❄️😵 also it's raining today. But Heaven knows nothing can stop the fierce and bold Urbana sisters! Seriously it was an amazing week!! We had our first lesson with Jon and Judy, who ate up every second of the restoration. We taught them about Joseph Smith, helped them understand his experience in the Sacred Grove where he SAW GOD. They taught us a little bit about prayer. Judy says her favorite place to pray is in the bathroom 👌🏻 She has had so many answers to her prayers and she loved learning about Joseph Smith's answer to his prayer. They both loved the idea of the Book of Mormon and promised to read it! Jon even asked the Golden question: we've already been baptized and saved, why do we have to do it again? We taught him about Priesthood authority and he was amazed. He admitted he had asked every church that question but no one could explain to him the authority and he was so excited! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, literally no one ever takes that answer that well. And some times it confuses me because the priesthood makes so much sense when you contemplate it.

Also WE FOUND A FAMILY✌🏻️💃🏼❤️😇 I cannot express to you how much missionaries love to teach families. Our purpose is to invite individuals to come to Christ. But the best and only way to get the closest to Christ and Heavenly Father on this Earth and become like them in eternity is by bringing families closer to him. Our goal should not be Baptism,it should ALWAYS be the temple where we can be sealed on Earth and in Heaven FOREVER. WE CAN BE TOGETHER FOREVER! And it doesn't just have to be based on Faith or some flimsy hope, it is guaranteed by sacred priesthood power and authority. So yeah, we are trying to help Kelly and her three adorable Children get there. We knocked on her door on Easter and she literally ran outside to meet us. We showed her our video #Hallelujah and she loved it. She wasn't there for her second appointment, and we were devastated. But we knew she was prepared and last night we met with her family. It was the most joyful lesson I have ever been in. She ate very bit of the Restoration up and felt the spirit so strongly. As soon as we asked her to be baptized she replied with an enthusiastic YES and immediately wanted her kids to join with her! It was nice to feel the Love Heavenly Father has for her and her family ❤️

I made so many new friends this week. First we met Josh, he is 6 and lives with his Less Active Grandma. He was wearing Avengers pajamas so naturally I struck up a conversation with him while Sister Davis and Sister Lewis tried to get to know his Grandma. He noticed my Captain AmErica watch and he was wondering if I had ever seen Captain America. He proceeded to show me all of his super hero toys and movies. We also played Soccer. My favorite moment came at the end of the lesson, he had already expressed his love of praying and we decided to let him say a closing prayer. He was a little nervous so I got to help him say our prayer.

I also met Faith, who is 3, when we ate dinner with her less active mum. Immediately upon walking in the room she exclaimed, "Your Dresses are BEAUTIFUL" and ordered us to sit and play catch with her. During the course of the dinner she shared my chair, my spaghetti and my dessert with me. She told us all we were beautiful. She also danced for us and sang us her song. My favorite moment with Faith came at the end of the evening when we started talking about the Savior. We showed her a few different videos and she proceeded to tell us about how much Jesus Loves us and wants to help us. She was wild but every time she saw Jesus she was quiet.

Faith reminded me of my friend Macy (6). Macy is also a little crazy. She liked to do gymnastics and explain to me all of the trouble her older sisters got in every day. One lesson We were showing her a bible video of Christ walking on water and we paused it when he was in the middle of the ocean. We asked her if she knew what was going to happen. She explained that the man on the water was Jesus and when we pushed play again she saw that Peter jumped out of the boat as well. He began to sink so we paused it again. She smiled and said" he is sinking but Jesus will save him, any time we are sinking Jesus will reach down and save us!"

During Kelly's lesson My job was to keep her two youngest kids, Maddy and Jaden, occupied. We listened to the lesson periodically and talked about super heroes and puppies but as soon as Jaden(5) got ahold of my locket with the temple inside we he wanted to know what the big White House was. I showed him pictures of bigger temples on my iPad and explained about families to him. Then he had me explain the pictures of Jesus on the Restoration pamphlet to him! He was very quiet and loved the picture of Jesus holding a lamb. He said he loves hugs from Jesus ❤️

My spiritual thought comes from all my new friends I met this week. In the Book of Mormon, King Benjamin admonishes us to become like a child (Mosiah 3:19)

19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.

This week I was reminded what being child like can bring into our lives. Each of these children knew how to have fun, to laugh, to dance, to cry, to sing, but they were also incredibly in tune with the spirit. They knew they were from Heaven, and they felt his love whenever we reminded them. We need to get rid of our distractions, our pride, and all of our worries. We need to get back to our real divine nature and remember where we came from. In conference Elder Hallstrom reminded us of the significance of our belief in God the FATHER in the latest General conference. He Said,

"This doctrine is so basic, so oft stated, and so instinctively simple that it can seem to be ordinary, when in reality it is among the most extraordinary knowledge we can obtain. A correct understanding of our heavenly heritage is essential to exaltation. It is foundational to comprehending the glorious plan of salvation and to nurturing faith in the Firstborn of the Father, Jesus the Christ, and in His merciful Atonement. Further, it provides continual motivation for us to make and keep our indispensable eternal covenants."

I love my new friends and I am working hard to help their families be as spiritually in tune as they are. I hope and pray that we all can learn from my new best friends. Stay close to the spirit and enjoy the things that are most important in life. Hats off to the moms and dads who help the kids be awesome as well ✌🏻️

That's all I got for you today folks, Love ya❤️

✌🏻️Sister Reynolds✌🏻️

Pics of the week