Consecration Nation

Hello All,

Despite several kicks from the adversary while we were down, I am glad to report life is great in the Urbana land! We are alive, mostly not sick, the sun is shining, our bodies are functioning properly so we can preach the gospel, we got in a 20 minute Sunday Nap yesterday (if you add up the 10 minute naps we took at lunch and dinner), we taught 14 people lessons about the gospel of Jesus Christ this week and talked to so many more, and I got a box of Fruit Loops for breakfast this week ✌🏻️❤️😎 What more could you ask for?

The quote of the week comes from the modern day apostle Dallin H Oaks in October 2007,

"Some uses of individual and family time are better, and others are best. We have to forego some good things in order to choose others that are better or best because they develop faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and strengthen our families."

One of the hardest things about missionary life is making choices. Most of our choices at home are about choosing between Good and bad things. It's good to go exercise, and it's bad to watch Netflix for 8 hours a day. It's good to eat salad and it's bad to drink the 52 oz sodas. The closer you get to God, the more consecrated you are, the harder the choices get. Life is no longer about what's good, or even better. The challenge to being truly Christlike is to be doing the BEST things we can all of the time. For example, Imagine Dragons is Good music, it makes me feel happy and speaks to my soul, EFY(Mormon pop) music is better music, it teaches a spiritual message and still lets me dance, but hymns are the best music I could be listening to right now. They literally lift me up and help me keep my spirits high as I am reminded of how much Christ loves me. There are some days where all I want to do is be good, and even some days where I know I can be better, but the good days are when we give it all to him and choose the best way, His way. I realized this week

that Heavenly Father doesn't want us to just be good. He doesn't even want to stop at making us better, he sees the BEST in us and as we move beyond settling for good we can become our BEST! President Uchtdorf reminded us last conference,

"The joyous news of the gospel is this: because of the eternal plan of happiness provided by our loving Heavenly Father and through the infinite sacrifice of Jesus the Christ, we can not only be redeemed from our fallen state and restored to purity, but we can also transcend mortal imagination and become heirs of eternal life and partakers of God’s indescribable glory."

God will take us farther than we can even imagine if we just let go and give it all to him. Take some time to make the best choices this week. Don't settle for good, push yourself beyond better, and find the BEST!

✌🏻️Sister Reynolds✌🏻️

Pics of the Week