Good morning people that I love!! How is everyone? Are the leaves changing yet? Anybody have any nice drives up the canyon? Anybody have any golden pics of the wren building or campus in fall that they want to shoot me?
I am beyond well. Every week I wake up and think life can't get any better. Heavenly Father chuckles and then rains down some more blessings. This week was no exceptions. There were ups and downs like there always are, but in the end the only things that matter are those small ways you can see God's hand in your life everyday. It's been an eventful 10 days and we have a lot to talk about but not a lot of time to get it all out so here we go...
First of all, it's transfer Preparation day. 😱😂😁😎💃🏼 its the beginning of the end and its scary and its unpredictable but it's also one of the most exciting times as a missionary. Tomorrow you could be in a whole new place with even more people to love and teach. Chances are I will get to spend my last few weeks here with Sister Nissalke but with God anything is possible so I am not holding my breath. I would LOVE to stay and you'll see why when you hear about all the miracles, but I also know God will have a good plan whatever it is! We shall see... #suspense
Here is the funny quote of the week
"If the Israelites crossed the Red Sea why didn't they get stuck in the mud?"
The Fredericktown elders were asked this question in one of their conversations with a former investigator. They said he had a lot of good questions but also a lot of questions like this #questionsofthesoul #butreally
Now we get to the miracles;
We had an awesome week with e work. We had four investigators at church this week. Our miracle family we found a few weeks ago came for the first time. Amanda brought her teenage daughter Lillian and their friend Cassy. We were able to give Amanda and Lillian a chapel tour on Saturday to ease Lillian's anxieties about the crowds and church services. She hasn't been to church services since she was a small girl and barely remembers those. We brought a young woman from the ward with us and she was able to help out a lot on the tour. She described the youth programs, and her experience with baptism. We extended the baptismal date of November 19 to Lillian. She said she wanted to try church and pray about everything first. She seems apprehensive but I know the spirit she felt Sunday will help her! It was a perfect Sunday for her to come, we had our primary program and it was so inspiring to listen to kids testify simply!
We also had Brother Weaver bring a friend of his back to church. Her name is Amy and she has had the discussions from missionaries in e past but never made it to baptism. Her life circumstances have humbled her and she is ready to try baptism now. We will be teaching and meeting with her at the Weavers home and they are so excited to help us!! She also has a friend named Mia in our ward. They decided to move in to Mia's new apartment together to save on rent so Amy could buy a car sooner. they invited us over for dinner last night and Amy made some amazing cheeseburgers. She also surprised us by teaching Mia's other friend Karen an impromptu Lesson on the restoration of the church. She has such a strong testimony and as soon as we said goodbye to Karen she turned to us and began talking about her baptism. She know it needs to be soon and she is so excited for it! Right now she is working on overcoming smoking, but she is so excited and we are beyond ecstatic to teach her! Teaching Karen was also an amazing experience, she has had a few bad experiences with religion, but has managed to find a lot of truth about God on her own. It is fun to be able to show her that she is not the only one who believes those things and show her where God teaches about things like where we came from or where we are going. That was one of the most delicious dinners ever and I walked out of the tiny apartment both spiritually and physically fed to the point of bursting with Joy, but Heavenly Father was not done filling our cups yet!
After a rousing meeting with the elders and our crazy ward mission leader we headed back out to contact a woman, Misty, who he elders found and drop off a Book of Mormon. We were supposed to go visit her at 6 PM but our miracle dinner ran over and the spirit yelled at me to stay at Mia's place to help Amy instead of abandoning ship to go meet Misty. It turned out to be inspired, she had been working late and wasn't home at 6 either. She had just gotten home from an evening walk and was relaxing on her porch when we drove up at 8:30. #inspiredtiming she immediately opened up to us and explained her religious background. She said she has always been interested in learning more about us and was very excited to come to church with her daughter. She was so happy to see us and after a long conversation about families and Christ she promised to read a pamphlet on the Plan of Salvation. She even admitted, usually I say I'll read theses things and then just throw them away but I actually want to read this one! She also asked if we cut our hair and used technology and only wore dresses so it was a fun time. She is excited to come to church this week and we are excited to help her experience the spiritual power of bringing her children to church!
One more spiritual nugget, We also started working with a man named Jeff. I have never met a man who needed the gospel more! And he knows it! I will be honest and say the first few appointments I dint know if he would progress. He has some serious debilitating mental problems that come from abuse, and has severe word of wisdom problems. Each time we visit and read the Book of Mormon with him he changes. We read Alma 36 with him on Saturday and he smiled when he got to verse 19-21 where Alma describes the joy he felt at the end of the repentance process. It's inspiring to see so much change in one person. He has strengthened my testimony of the atonement! We have amazing ward members that are working on helping him get to church this week despite his anxieties. It will definitely be an amazing miracle to see him grow in his faith even more. I'm just grateful to be a part of it.
There are so many good people here, so many awesome things happening, and it feels so good to put my missionary skills and brain to use every day! I love seeing the spirit work in people's lives and I love being a representative of Jesus Christ!
The spiritual thought this week comes from an overwhelming message on Sunday. In Sunday school we had the opportunity to learn about Service, and in Relief Society we learned about Charity. A few nights ago, my companion asked me what made me so happy. She hasn't been the most cheerful sister on the block and has been going through a lot, so she reached out and asked for help. As I was talking I realized that my happiness comes from seeing others happy and feeling the spiritual confirmation that comes from being Heavenly a father's hands on earth. On Sunday those feelings and thoughts were confined as I shared my thoughts on service and charity. Our Sunday school teacher asked us what came to mind when we thought of service and immediately a scripture came to mind from John 15.
13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Any time we are serving others we are laying down our lives for them and we see the blessings that can come from showing others the love of God. Laying down our lives can be as big as dropping everything at 2 in the morning for a friend, or as small as paying for someone's groceries. We can all lay down our own lives and be happy! Find a way to do that this week and I promise you will smile!
Transfer verdict: I am spending my last 6 weeks here in Mt Vernon 🙌🏻🙌🏻
It's a blessed day folks. See you all on the flipside!
✌🏻️Sister Reynolds✌🏻️
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