So.
Well,
Ummmmmmmmm.
Yeah.
This was an inspiring week. My general state of being can be described by Alma 27:17-18
17 Now the joy of Ammon was so great even that he was full; yea, he was swallowed up in the joy of his God, even to the exhausting of his strength; and he fell again to the earth.
18 Now was not this exceeding joy? Behold, this is joy which none receiveth save it be the truly penitent and humble seeker of happiness.
This week has been a testament that true peace and happiness in this life come from consecration and hard work in whatever calling the Lord has given you. We worked hard, shared our testimonies, built the faith of others, and we are so happy!!
We heard and saw so much evidence that we are not alone in Urbana. This is the Lord's work and it will not be frustrated by men. We taught some really amazing lessons this week. We have been working hard to help Rita understand the Book of Mormon. It's hard because she has to listen to it, so she cannot get as involved as she could with the words static on a page in front of her. We taught her about the plan of salvation and it was so a,aging to see the spirit work with her and help her understand it. I love when the words "I've never heard that, but it just makes sense." Come out of our investigators' mouths. Rita said it after learning about the pre mortal life. We also picked up another fantastic investigator. Anita Newman is dating a less active member who plans to move here to Urbana in July. Her Boyfriend, Brad, is very excited about missionary work and is trying
to convert her mercilessly. Except he seems to have forgotten everything he learned as a missionary, because his version of simple teaching is teaching her about how God became a God. She is doing
well, agreed to read the Book of Mormon, and has had a crazy problem of running into every active member in Urbana spontaneously this weekend. She even drove through a tiny town exactly as we were tracting through it and stopped to say hi to us. The ward members have answered her questions, had a talk with Brad who cooled it on the deep doctrine, and even though we were skeptical about establishing daily contact (she's kind of a loner and doesn't like to be pushed/bothered constantly) Heavenly Father has helped us establish that in a way more non threatening natural way! We also had a miracle appointment win the most stubborn less actives in Urbana history, the Burns. We have set up Sunday evenings to come read the Book of Mormon with them, and we started it yesterday. They loved it, and we had so much fun reminding them of their own conversions and experiences with
the Book of Mormon. We know reading the Book of Mormon will help them soften their hearts to coming back to church, and the temple! This week has been fun personally as well. I've learned so much about teaching by the spirit, and using the Book of Mormon. In our lessons, my anxiety about how they are going to receive the material we share has been replaced by trust in the promise that my mouth will be filled and they will have the opportunity to feel the spirit who will teach them truth. I have been in the Book of Mormon constantly and try to use it in every contact to show whoever we are talking to that it answers any questions of the soul. I love it and my life goal is to be able to testify of it as powerfully as Elder Holland testifies of it when he says,
"For 179 years this book has been examined and attacked, denied and deconstructed, targeted and torn apart like perhaps no other book in modern religious history--perhaps like no other book in any religious history. And still it stands. Failed theories about its origins have been born and parroted and have died--from Ethan Smith to Solomon Spaulding to deranged paranoid to cunning genius. None of these frankly pathetic answers for this book has ever withstood examination because there is no other answer than the one Joseph gave as its young unlearned translator. In this I stand with my own great-grandfather, who said simply enough, “No wicked man could write such a book as this; and no good man would write it, unless it were true and he were commanded of God to do so.” I Testify that one cannot come to full faith in this latter-day work--and thereby find the fullest measure of peace and comfort in these, our times--until he or she embraces the divinity of the Book of Mormon and the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom it testifies. If anyone is foolish enough or misled enough to reject 531 pages of a heretofore unknown text teeming with literary and Semitic complexity without
honestly attempting to account for the origin of those pages--especially without accounting for their powerful witness of Jesus Christ and the profound spiritual impact that witness has had on
what is now tens of millions of readers--if that is the case, then such a person, elect or otherwise, has been deceived; and if he or she leaves this Church, it must be done by crawling over or under or
around the Book of Mormon to make that exit. In that sense the book is what Christ Himself was said to be: “a stone of stumbling, … a rock of offence,” a barrier in the path of one who wishes not to believe in this work. Witnesses, even witnesses who were for a time hostile to Joseph, testified to their death that they had seen an angel and had handled the plates. “They have been shown unto us by the power of God, and not of man,” they declared. “Wherefore we know of a surety that the work is true.” Now, I did not sail with the brother of Jared in crossing an ocean,settling in a new world. I did not hear King Benjamin speak his angelically delivered sermon. I did not proselyte with Alma and Amulek nor witness the fiery death of innocent believers. I was not among the Nephite crowd who touched the wounds of the resurrected Lord, nor did I weep with Mormon and Moroni over the destruction of an entire civilization. But my testimony of this record and the peace it brings
to the human heart is as binding and unequivocal as was theirs. Like them, “[I] give [my name] unto the world, to witness unto the world that which [I] have seen.” And like them, “[I] lie not, God bearing witness of it.” I ask that my testimony of the Book of Mormon and all that it implies,
given today under my own oath and office, be recorded by men on earth and angels in heaven. I hope I have a few years left in my “last days,” but whether I do or do not, I want it absolutely clear when I
stand before the judgment bar of God that I declared to the world, in the most straightforward language I could summon, that the Book of Mormon is true, that it came forth the way Joseph said it came forth and was given to bring happiness and hope to the faithful in the travail of the latter days."
-Safety For the Soul (Jeffrey R Holland, Safety For the Soul)
Final Updates: I am leaving Urbana, and lots of craziness is happening. I will be training a new missionary, and I will be opening up a new area where Sisters haven't been in a long time. I am
sad to go, we have so many AMAZING things happening here in Urbana, and I will miss Sister Lewis SO MUCH. BUT I am excited for the adventures to come!
Sister Reynolds
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Love this Kid
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Final District Selfie with the mini missionaries
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Pics from our Mini Zone Conference
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Heaven On Earth ❤️
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When Monday isn't a Preparation Day
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