Mama Bear of Mount Vernon

Dear Outside world,

Does anybody even still read theses things besides Mom. Don't lie. I saw you scroll past this weekly update from Sister Reynolds. It's ok, all of these stories will be way more fun in person in 5 months anyway 😁 Just Kidding, I love you all ❤️

This week was one of those weeks where you could either sit inside and wait for rainbows, or be grateful and dance in the rain. (Both Figuratively and literally. It rained buckets of challenges and water all week) It was one of the weeks where you cry so hard you laugh and you laugh so hard you cry within the space of every hour. It was one of those weeks where when you read a soul crushing email on Sunday night, it doesn't even phase you at much because you've been through worse and back already this week. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, but just like Jesus will always win the war, the happy moments will always push the darkness away. So life is good ✌🏻️❤️🤓

Now that I have you all on the edge of your seats wondering, "What even happened in Mt Vernon this week?", I'll share the funny and spiritual highlights with you:

-This one's from last week because I forgot to include it in the weekly and it is too priceless to forget. Sister Pead convinced one of our investigators I was a lesbian. So, one of Sister Pead's nervous

habits is to ramble and talk. And when she gets into lessons, she gets nervous. Last week a member gave us a golden referral and agreed to come teach her with us once. When we got to the appointment, Anita, the lady we are teaching, had a huge list of questions about your typical taboo religious topics. Polygamy, abortion, suicide, etc. Sister Pead jumped on all of them and tried answering them nervously and quickly until Anita asked her final question. Anita was wondering

what our churches stance is  on Homosexuality, and marriage. I've had conversations with Sister Pead before about how I have studied this issue a lot. I've had gay and lesbian friends, I've had family members who are passionate about gay rights, I'm a fairly active political liberal person, and I taught a transgender person in Ohio , so I've had to do a lot of studying to really decide my beliefs about

homosexuality and their legal rights and such. It's been a lot of scripture reading, prayer, and faith. Sister Pead remembered this and immediately looked at me and explained to Anita that I had A LOT more experience with homosexuality and I would be able to answer her questions about that a lot better. Then Anita gave me this weird look, and smiled and said , "that's so cool that you are lesbian but you can still be a missionary." I smiled, then Sister Pead got even more nervous and dug herself an even bigger hole trying to convince Anita that I wasn't a lesbian and confused everyone even more. Finally she bowed out and I was able to explain that I was not a lesbian, but I helped her find resources that would help her understand  our stance and response to homosexuality. Gotta love when your companion talks for ya 😜

(BTW if any of you actually have questions on this I strongly encourage You to visit mormonsandgays.org it's an amazing website made by the church that describes every issue related to homosexuality and all of our responses. It has some inspiring stories as well ❤️)

-This week we were studying a book we get to help us stay on track as missionaries called "Adjusting to Missionary Life" and Sister Pead found this line in it "Remember this is the Lords work. He chooses the weak and simple to do it. He chose you." You're supposed to read that if you are feeling inadequate #thanksHeavenlyFather 

Even though it felt like a really strong backhanded compliment at the time, we laughed at it, and then we learned about humility. There is a section in Preach My Gospel on Humility and it says, "Humility is not a sign of weakness; it is a sign of spiritual strength. When you humbly trust Him and His power and mercy, you can have the assurance that His commandments are for your good. You are confident that you can do whatever the Lord requires of you if you rely on Him. You are also willing to trust His chosen servants and follow their counsel. Humility will help you as you strive to be obedient, to work hard, and serve selflessly." I love that they point out that admitting you can't, is a STRENGTH. I spent most of my life before my mission trying to prove to Heavenly Father I could do it by myself. I wanted to be strong and have him be proud of my work. In Ohio, I've learned that the strongest people are the ones who admit they have very little strength and keep going. So many people see admitting defeat as a weakness, but if you admit that you can't but Trust In God because he can, you will be one of the most powerful people on earth.  The purpose of this life is to admit you can't do it, trust in God, and do everything you can so he can help you. Also when we were in a training once a wise Elder said this, "You can be humble, or you can be humbled." Trust me folks, blessed are those

who chose to be humble. Being compelled to be humble will drop you SO fast. Go be humble everyone.

-We were eating at a members house and they started to tell us a story about how they had lost one of their friends in our congregation for 5 months. They explained she had disappeared, so they had started to try and trace her phone, look for her in hospitals, and in news papers. We immediately started laughing and they looked at us really weird. What they didn't know is that we had been to her house a week before and she had told us about how she had been in the hospital in Cincinnati

for 5 months last year and no one from the church had come to visit her. She was sure everyone from our congregation hated her. #communicationproblems It's a small world ladies and gentleman, if

you're going to disappear, let people know or we'll start FBI hacking you and track you down. Sometimes people make me laugh.

-We walked into this family's house to help them it's a few odd jobs and the husband announced that the sisters were here and his wife yelled from the other room, "Why? Are the Elders being lame?" Sister Pead and I laughed and said "Yes, the Elders are lame but what does that have to do with us watering your plants?" It turns out that she thought she had texted the elders and assumed they had sent us over instead. We just appreciated the fact that somebody else recognized that Sisters rule and Elders Drool. Just kidding Elders, we love you and your contributions to the work!

-We stopped and talked to a man named Jessy this week. He told us the first thing he thought when he saw us walking down the street was "hey there's Mormon Chicks out here too!" He then proceeded to tell a story about how he made one elder really angry a few years ago. He said he liked us better, Sisters 2:Elders 0. He was very open, but admitted he thought we were all wrong and he has decided he is basically Jewish and likes smoking so he is good where he is at.

-I got called Mama Bear of the Mt Vernon ward this week. All of the missionaries spoke in sacrament meeting to pump the ward up and I spoke last because Brother Groom, the first counselor in the

bishopric, had dubbed me the mama bear of the 6 missionaries serving in Mt Vernon. He said I do a good job of keeping them all in line. #mamabearforlife

-I got a Sunday nap. It was glorious, 45 minutes of heaven for Sister Pead and I instead of eating dinner ✌🏻️❤️💤

-we ate with the kiwi family in our congregation yesterday. Sister Stalnaker is from Auckland New Zealand and they were married in Perth Australia. They have adorable kids and it was fun to reminisce on my kiwi days.

-Sister Pead is still alive. I am alive and we are going strong.

-our car is dent and scratch free, sparkling clean, and waxed #whoevenwaxestheircarthesedays #1yearofdrivingdown

I'm going to leave you all with the scriptures of the week in

Job 5:17

17 Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty:

And

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.

If I have learned anything over my last 9 weeks it is that humility is learning to LOVE the lord and anything he throws at you. We are brought down low so that we can truly appreciate the breathtaking

scenery at the top of the mountain. We are chastened so we can be refined, and in the end what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. Humility is learning to say Come what may, and LOVING every second of it. I'm out here in Ohio because of love. My mum loved my dad enough to share the truth with him. My dad loved the Lord enough to make a life long commitment to him through baptism. They loved each other enough to be sealed for time and all eternity in the Temple a year later. They loved me enough to teach me the gospel and help me find the truth. My Heavenly Father loved me enough to send his his son Jesus Christ to pay the price for me. Christ loved me enough to pay that price. I love Jesus Christ enough to help Him find the lost sheep every single day. I am humbled that he chose me, and I am humbled that I get this opportunity to serve so many people for him. He chose you as well people! He loves you too!! Find a way to humble yourself this

week and you will be made stronger ✌🏻️❤️💪🏻