Hasta Ver!

Well, this is it, folks! 

I'll end with the biggest learning ( I think, that's actually really hard to decide on) from these last 18 months:

It's not about you.

the end.

Life just isn't about us! Literally, all we can do if we want to be happy is strive to be the best servant to the Lord that we possibly can be, and that comes by selfless service. All. of. the. time. I've had the privilege of being able to serve for 18 months in a manner slightly more obvious than others, but I know all of you have had those same selflessly serving moments in your own spheres of influence. I've thought about what things might be scary in coming home, but I realized the other day that none of those things are actually scary if I'm focusing on other people instead of on myself. Is it scary to go make friends? yes, if I'm focused on me. But If I just want to be a blessing? Not scary at all. it's like a magic potion to expel all fear and enmity. 

I LOVE the scriptures in the New Testament, where Christ says that if we are to be great leaders, we have to be the greatest servants, and that we are His Friends if we know him and follow what he does, and that "greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for them." I love my Savior, and am so incredibly grateful for the opportunity I have had to serve and represent Him. 

I'm actually very peaceful about the transition into this next part of my life. I've had some really sweet experiences recently that have helped me really feel of God's love and appreciation, and have helped me see that this is all just preparation to keep being a servant in new areas of building the kingdom.

I love you all!!! 

--

Hermana Reynolds

New Mission President!

Well, it feels like about a month's worth of happenings happened since last PDay... but I'll share just a few things.

President Maluenda left on Tuesday Morning, and President Torres jumped right into the thick of things and had an interview with every single missionary before the end of the week. It's incredible to see how the Lord has prepared and selected His servants so very carefully - President Torres is EXACTLY what the TMM needs right now. He's 37 and is one of the hardest workers ever. He has an incredible vision, and the vision of the missionaries has already grown a lot. It's pretty exciting to watch! 

Both Sister and President Torres come from Honduras and are learning English. Evidently when they received their mission call it said that they would be called to a mission that spoke "hispana" (I think that's kind of a generic term for 'a spanish language? not really sure) and so when they got called to Texas they were pretty surprised. I don't think I understood until now that this is the ONLY mission in the USA that is a "Spanish Speaking mission only" and nobody is called to speak other languages here. Pretty cool. 

Anyway, things are still pretty magical working with the YSA and with the new mission president. Only good things to report :) 

On a spiritual note, I've been thinking a lot about repentance lately. It's been pretty easy, as it's the end of this beautiful adventure, to feel like I haven't done enough, or that any lack of success has been because I'm just not quite good enough and that it's just too late. However, I've realized that that's exactly what repentance is for. No, I am not perfect. Get over it. ha ha. I've definitely made a lot of mistakes, and I haven't been the "perfect missionary," but I've learned and grown a ton and I've been pretty dang obedient and I have helped lots of people, so in the end it's okay. And the good news is is that with every day I can repent and keep learning and the Atonement covers anything that isn't perfect. So, it's okay that it's the end and that I'm still  not perfect. If I was I'd get translated and you wouldn't see me next week, and I'm pretty sure that'd be at least a little bit of a disappointment. ;) But for reals, repentance. it's amazing. I'm still figuring it out. 

Well, much love!

Hasta next week

--

Hermana Reynolds

Pictures

I painted these pictures for President Maluenda as a farewell gift - he leaves tomorrow, and President Torres arrives tonight. They're all scenes from the mission. 

--

Hermana Reynolds

why working in the YSA is the best thing ever.

This principle will be illustrated through a story.

Characters: 

Frank. Our Branch Mission Leader. Very enthusiastic about his calling and willing to do anything to help the work progress. (called us last night saying "Sisters! I came up with a new finding tactic so that I can help you find new investigators that will progress!) = Golden. 

Michael. Recent Convert. Wants to study Preach My Gospel when he meets with us so that he knows how to teach the gospel to his family and friends. = Golden. 

Arnold. Roommate of Michael. Just broke up with his Girlfriend, and decided that he needs to "repent and get closer to Jesus. Also Golden. Owns a pet Bunny named Snow. It lives in his bathroom. Illegally. He's very cool. 

About three weeks ago, Michael invites Arnold to come to institute, since he's going through a rough time, and he comes! Then comes again the next week. So, we ask Michael to invite Arnold to come to church, and he comes. We set up an appointment, and then later are texting him to see how he liked church and he says "I liked it! I just want a bible or something so that I can follow along during the lessons." Done.

We were on exchanges for the two lessons, but evidently they went super well and he is super willing to learn. We have a lesson on Friday, and read in the Book of Mormon with him; first nephi, chapter 2. "so how can this apply in your life?" "well, I just stopped drinking and things, and I still have my roommates and friends who don't understand that and want me to drink and things, so that's kind of like my Jerusalem that I have to leave, and I shouldn't murmur like Laman and Lemuel." Promises to come to church. 

Sunday: Michael comes to church, but said that he knocked on Arnold's door and didn't get any response so he must have been sleeping. We get in contact with Arnold later and then set up a lesson for that night. We decide to teach the Plan of Salvation.

We start the lesson, and get to the Atonement, and then explain what it was and how it covers our sins. "Does that make sense, Arnold?" "Yeah... I actually really needed this.. because I just feel frustrated in trying to get closer to Jesus... because.... last night... I sinned... I don't even know if I should tell you......" 

He then proceeds to tell us how the night before, he was really tired and couldn't sleep, and he kept hearing his bunny, so he finally went in there and it had made a huge mess. He was frustrated, so started cleaning it up and threw the bunny in its cage. He returns to bed, but feels bad for how mad he was. He keeps hearing it, so goes back in and then realizes that he'd hurt the bunny when he threw it, and it can't walk. So he cradles it in his arms, and tries to hep it, but eventually "has to put it out of it's pain." 

"so that's why I didn't come to church - I didn't think God would want me there after what I had done. I heard Michael knocking, but just couldn't face it and knew God was mad," he explains while shedding a few tears.

Michael then testifies that repentance is real, and that the atonement covers ALL mistakes, even those including the death of bunnies, and then offers to finish teaching the rest of the Plan of Salvation to Arnold since we have to leave.

This is why the YSA is the best.

I'm sorry that Frank didn't get more involved in this story, but he's golden enough to be mentioned as a main character. 

Until next week,

Hermana Reynolds

this week's thoughts...

becoming in tune - 

Hi Family! So something that has been on my mind this week is the concept of becoming "in tune," and becoming "an instrument" in God's hands. So, here are some random thoughts that have come to me this week :)

One: A poem I found in the Ensign, based on Mosiah 3:19

The natural man comes easily - 

so much effort to do and be otherwise.

The yielding stretches me beyond myself - 

and is painful.

Drawing out the saint within requires submission

to a greater power.

The enticings are subtle; and though I fall,

His Grace puts off the enemy - 

and I become His child.

Two: I use the Ukulele fairly often, and sometimes I'll leave it in the car, and on hot days it will go out of tune pretty quickly. Something about how the heat changes the tuning made me think about how when there are hard times, our natural reaction is often to freak out a little bit and, in turn, turn more to our instinctive reactions and less "in tune" with God's plan or to the promptings of the Spirit. So then it's His job to correct or "tune" us. And it DOES stretch us, and can require time to get us perfectly in tune. It's a process of constantly checking to see if we're in tune, and being willing to accept His desires for us.

Three: A quote by someone. Probably Neal A Maxwell..

Having our wills swallowed up by the will of the Father actually means an enhanced individuality, stretched and more capable of receiving "all that the Father hath." Besides, how could we be entrusted with His "all" until our wills are much more like His? Nor could his "All" be fully appreciated by the partially committed. Frankly, it is our prospective selves we betray by holding back whatever the "part." No need to ask then, "Lord, is it I?" Rather, let us inquire about our individual stumbling blocks, "Lord, is it this?" We may have known the answer for a long time, and may need resolve more than His response. The greatest happiness in God's generous plan is finally reserved for those who are willing to stretch and pay the cost of journeying to His regal realm. Brothers and Sisters, "come, let us renew, our journey pursue."

The end. 

I love you all.

--

Hermana Reynolds

The highlight of this week was that Sister Moore and I got to go visit Alan - the investigator that we got to work with a year ago and who got baptized, the one who can't speak or walk. It was a really neat experience to be able to go back and see how strong he is and how well he's doing. He has his certificates from when he was baptized and confirmed and received the Aaronic priesthood in his room where he can see them, and we talked to him about getting his Patriarchal blessing, so it's amazing to be able to see how far he's come. 

It's been a pretty crazy transfer! we're staying very busy and learning a lot. As far as a scriptural uplift, my ponderize scripture from last week was 1 Corinthians 13:12.. or 12:13? I don't remember. The one that says "now we see through a glass, darkly"? anyway, I've been thinking a lot about how we really don't see SO much, and how the little things we do every day may seem to not make a difference, or how the hard times where we just barely push through may seem so insignificant for how difficult it feels, but the good news is that one day we will see face to face and everything will make sense :)

Well I love you a lot!

Be good - have a great week!

--

Hermana Reynolds

Hello hello!

Well, there's a whole lot to say this week! It's been really interesting being back with Sister Moore, because we cover our same area as before in YSA so we see a lot of the same people and it's a really weird flashback! It's been really nice to be able to fall back into a rhythm quickly instead of having to find out how to work the dynamic of a new companionship, and we've been able to work really hard and see lots of miracles. 

Working with the YSA is such a dream come true. I had NO idea how magical it would be. People literally have called us telling us they were bringing their friends to church/institute/FHE and asked if we could befriend them - it's like the opposite of what I'm used to. Most of them are returned missionaries, and the fire is very strong and very real. It's amazing. 

Spiritual insight for the week. We went to visit a recent convert who was baptized a couple of months ago, and he's been really struggling to not want to go back to drinking, etc. He got his patriarchal blessing a week ago, and because of some miraculous circumstances I was there, and now he's my member. We were able to talk about some of the things that he had been promised if he stayed faithful, and then sister Moore and I taught him about the war in heaven and about what it means that he's here on earth with the Gospel and what he had to have done in the pre-earth life to deserve it all. We told him that he had to have been a strong warrior on God's side, and after we had talked for a bit he said "really? I had no idea - nobody ever taught me that." you could see that it really affected him, and he saw life a little differently.

Those are the coolest moments - when you get to help people understand :)

well, I love you all!

Until next week.

--

Hermana Reynolds

Changes!

Well, transfers turned out MUCH differently than any of us were expecting! Sister Hortal finally got to go train a greenie, and I got a new companion AND we got moved to a new area and more than half of the STLs got changed. Since the new mission president will only have 2 weeks before the next transfer, and since 85% of the leadership was going home next transfer, President Maluenda opted for changing out the "old" part of the leadership for younger missionaries to help with the transition, so we have almost completely new Zone Leaders and STLs and a lot of new District Leaders, too. My new companion is Sister Moore - my mission baby! We're excited to be back together :)

I'll be honest, it's been the most stressful three days of my entire life since Monday, but things are going well and I'm hanging in there - I know once we get over the first little hump of having no idea what we're doing it will be even better! We now cover the entire two zones of Mission and McAllen (if you look on google maps, it's the cities of Edinburg, Mcallen, Mission, over to Pharr and Weslaco etc) in YSA. we combined what used to be two areas into one, and we probably won't actually work in all of that area, but we're technically zoned to it! Pretty crazy.

This morning in personal study I was having a hard time focusing caused by all of the things on my mind, but the thought came into my head of "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding - in all thy ways acknowledge Him and he will direct thee for good" and I realized that honestly not knowing what I'm doing lets me be closer to God because I literally don't have anywhere else I can turn to. I think it's something that God's keeps reminding me of, because this is the fifth time I've whitewashed an area in my mission! 

Well I love you all! Have wonderful weeks :)

Love,

Hermana Reynolds

P.S. I don't know my new address - just use the mission office ( 200 W La Vista Ave) for now

Weekly Wanderings (and Wonderings)

We've had some fun developments this week! At the beginning of this transfer we had been sharing our house with a trio of sisters working in the Edinburg YSA branch, and then about 2 weeks into the transfer another sister in another area had to go home for health reasons, so one of the sisters from the Edinburg trio went over to be with her. then on Saturday, another companion here in Edinburg had to go home, so now the last companion is in a trio with us. So until Transfers it will be Me, Hortal, and Sister Perez :) It's been fun! 

Also, remember when President said we had to cut back on our trips with the APs to other zones? well, he completely cut that out now, so we're going to have to do 100% of our travelling by ourselves. Not a big deal, but we actually don't get unlimited mileage like we thought we would, so we'll have to be a bike area and then just use our car for far trips. Transfers happens next week, and as much as we'k love to stay together I'm pretty positive that we're not going to. I don't know if I'll leave or if Hortal will leave, or both, or what, but I'll let you know next week when I know :)

Okay, so here's the spiritual thought for the week:

I read this talk somewhere called "becoming Christ-Centered" by Steven R Covey. Sadly, I can't find it anymore. But, it changed a lot of my perspective and thoughts on life, and I"ve pondered it a lot since then. Basically the premise is that we all have parts of ourselves that are identified by other things - by our positions, our relationships, our leadership, etc. But that can become a problem if one of those things changes or gets taken away, because then our "identity" gets shaken. Also, it can cause us to compare a lot and be unhappy. So, the trick is to make it so that Christ is the only thing that defines us. It's a life-long process, and has a lot to do with listening to the promptings of the Holy Ghost, but I thought that was a really cool thought. I've caught myself many times since reading that comparing myself to others, and then realize that it doesn't matter and I just have to care about what Christ thinks! It's actually quite liberating. 

Anyway, I hope that made sense and gives you something to chew on mentally for this next week :)

love you all!

--

Hermana Reynolds

3 day!

first off, the shift key on this keyboard is not functioning very well, except for exclamation points. so don't judge any lack of proper capitalization in this email. 

we had "3 day" this week! it's a 3 day training (go figure) for all the leadership - zone leaders, district leaders, sister training leaders, and we receive trainings from president maluenda and his wife and the zone leaders and stls and aps all give trainings, too. it was very inspiring and i learned mucho.

here are a couple of the golden nuggets that i gained:

the importance of the book of mormon: president maluenda had us read from the first page before the intro, where it's the introduction taken from the end of the plates. in it it says that the book of mormon was writted by god through revelation and is for the convincing of everyone that jesus is the christ. he emphasized that we have to have a rock-solid testimony of the book of mormon, because that's what's going to keep us firm. he said that if we can learn to use the book of mormon for the basis of all our teaching, especially with our family, then it will be so much more powerful. he talked a lot about the importance of basing our families in the teachings of the book of mormon. he said "you will learn who you are from reading the book of mormon"

our divine identity: president maluenda shared alma 13, where it talks about the melchizedek priesthood, and read verse 3 where it says what qualified the holders of the melchizedek priesthood for that privilege. he said that the percentage of people who hold it is somewhere around 1.5 out of every 7,000 people. he also said that the women who have access to it are part of those people who in the pre-earth life had "exercised faith and had exceedingly good works" and because of that, all of us are here, holding or with access to the priesthood, and that's one of the biggest privileges ever. it's pretty astounding! i don't think any of us really understand who exactly we are. but that makes a big difference in my teaching, because I've been able to be with people and think "what if they were selected to have the priesthood and they just have to be taught?" and i'm able to be a little more diligent in my efforts to help them have the gospel.

well, i love you all!

until next week

--

Hermana Reynolds

Re: One Year Older and Wiser, Too?

Love your new red/purple hair Megan!

On Mon, May 9, 2016 at 10:55 AM, Roslyn Geertsen <roslyn.rr@gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks so much - love the pictures...love YOU!

On Mon, May 9, 2016 at 10:55 AM, Megan Reynolds <megan.reynolds@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Hi! I took time catching up on personal emails today, so this will be short. Mothers Day/Birthday were both magical - it was fun to Skype and see those of you who could make it!

hope all is well - here are a couple of pictures from yesterday :)

Love you!

--

Hermana Reynolds

--

Roslyn Romney Reynolds Geertsen
Mentor, Eternal Warriors/Mothers Who Know trainings, Preventing Addiction and Building Self-Mastery
Author, Solo -Getting It All Together When You Find Yourself Alone now available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and www.heartbreaktohealing.com
email roslyn.rr@gmail.com
www.roslynreynolds.com
(801)867-7031

Re: One Year Older and Wiser, Too?

Thanks so much - love the pictures...love YOU!

On Mon, May 9, 2016 at 10:55 AM, Megan Reynolds <megan.reynolds@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Hi! I took time catching up on personal emails today, so this will be short. Mothers Day/Birthday were both magical - it was fun to Skype and see those of you who could make it!

hope all is well - here are a couple of pictures from yesterday :)

Love you!

--

Hermana Reynolds

--

Roslyn Romney Reynolds Geertsen
Mentor, Eternal Warriors/Mothers Who Know trainings, Preventing Addiction and Building Self-Mastery
Author, Solo -Getting It All Together When You Find Yourself Alone now available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and www.heartbreaktohealing.com
email roslyn.rr@gmail.com
www.roslynreynolds.com
(801)867-7031

One Year Older and Wiser, Too?

Hi! I took time catching up on personal emails today, so this will be short. Mothers Day/Birthday were both magical - it was fun to Skype and see those of you who could make it!

hope all is well - here are a couple of pictures from yesterday :)

Love you!

--

Hermana Reynolds

Re: another week :)

These are beautiful!!!!

On Mon, May 2, 2016 at 11:00 AM, Megan Reynolds <megan.reynolds@myldsmail.net> wrote:

a few more :)

On Mon, May 2, 2016 at 11:58 AM, Megan Reynolds <megan.reynolds@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Hi! 

Nothing too new happened this week - we saw lots of miracles, I got to go back to Brownsville, and life is still good. I'll include some pictures, and then I'll include some of the transcript from when Holland was here - it's really good :) 

Love you!

M

"I'm really quite easy to get along with and I'm especially partial to missionaries but there is one thing I cannot live with. I'm warning you now. Im warning you now. There is one thing I can't live with. And that is a missionary I find who has forgotten, or dismissed, or walked away or was failing devotion, and belief, or commitment. But I can't live somehow, emotionally, with a return missionary who doesn't keep the faith, I would rather find somebody who never knew it. I would rather find somebody who never had it. As sad as I am about anybody who wouldn't go on a mission, I would rather find somebody who didn't serve a mission and was struggling or disbelieving, or unfaithful, but for a missionary to come and do what you do, and to say what you say, and feel what you feel about them, and it's all true. The gospel is true, and they're true, and you're true, and the lessons are true, and the scriptures are true, for you to come and have that, and say that, and do that, and believe it, and then to walk away, I can't live with that. So look I'm warning you now, if you're gonna go home and crash and burn, don't meet me. If you're walking down the street somebody better cross over. Because I go ballistic at that. I've gone ballistic in a missionary meeting where I thought the missionaries weren't getting anything out of the meeting.

We don't make any u turns in this church this isn't something that you do for a couple years and somehow you just check it of your list and then you're gonna go back to real life.. listen right now, listen, this is real life. This is closer to real life that you are ever going to come. Capital R capital L. This is the way the truth and the life. We are not the church that believes that you go out and have this moment this divine confrontation with the spirit of the Lord and power from heaven and then walk away from it. We do not move from the celestial kingdom to the telestial, this is the church that believes in eternal progression. And were on this angle and this route and this progression and you do different things you are gonna go home and you're gonna get married and you're going to have children and you're going to have great experiences, yes. But those will seem to be progressive steps in your exaltation and you cannot walk away and turn aside and forget and disregard and demean what got you there, what gave you the opportunity to even talk progression to even talk about the celestial kingdom a celestial experience. "

--

Hermana Reynolds

--

Hermana Reynolds

--

Roslyn Romney Reynolds Geertsen
Mentor, Eternal Warriors/Mothers Who Know trainings, Preventing Addiction and Building Self-Mastery
Author, Solo -Getting It All Together When You Find Yourself Alone now available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and www.heartbreaktohealing.com
email roslyn.rr@gmail.com
www.roslynreynolds.com
(801)867-7031

drumroll, please

Guess what happened yesterday?

We had two very special visitors come and see our mission: Elder Lynn G. Robbins of the Seventy, and....... Elder Holland! 

We've known for 2 weeks that he was going to come, but we weren't supposed to say anything to avoid publicity, etc. It was well anticipated, as you can imagine, and all of the missionaries and a few of the area leaders (stake presidents, former mission president, etc) were in attendance. It was overall a very surreal experience - the whole time it was weird to see him walking around, talking, hearing the oh-so-familiar voice, and have him be RIGHT THERE! Pretty incredible. 

We all took a group picture, so we were all arranged into our spots when he walked in, and then he and Elder Robbins shook each of our hands as we walked back into the Sacrament Meeting room. 

So, the technical details probably aren't all that interesting, but I'll share some highlights from what they both taught about. :)

Elder Robbins spoke first, and he talked about Christlike Attributes and about gratitude. He said that as we develop Christlike Attributes, we are able to change the question of "what would Jesus do?" to "What would jesus Be?" and as we focus more on becoming more like Christ instead of just deciding and acting as Christ would do, our responses naturally become like those of Christs. He also shared that the difference between Grateful and Thankful is that Gratitude brings with it a level of reciprocity (well, originally it was supposed to.. the meanings currently are more synonymous) and so when we read in the scriptures or think about gratitude, it means more than just giving thanks, but of returning the act of kindness with our own acts of kindness, and that's how it should be with Christlike attributes. 

Holland talked a lot about the Spirit - he said that we don't appreciate it nearly enough, and that when we really think about it, it's a  being of the godhead - he literally is equal in stature and standing and glory to God and Jesus Christ, and we don't appreciate that enough. He said if we really appreciated and wanted and understood the Spirit, we would have him with us more. 

Funny story - I lead the music and then was asked to give my testimony a little bit before Holland spoke  and then me and a few other missionaries sang Consider the Lilies, and then while he was talking, he stopped right in front of me. He was talking about how we have to do everything by the spirit, and we had just read in D&C 50 where it talks about how if it's not by the spirit it's not God's way, and then he said "and Sister Reynolds, no matter how nicely you might have lead the music or sung or given your testimony, you're just not enough! You're human and imperfect!" and then everyone laughed. Then when I got up to lead the last song, he stood back up and went to the pulpit and said "I just want to clarify - I wasn't saying that Sister Reynolds isn't a good singer! I was just saying that she's human and needs the spirit like we all do!" It was quite the shoutout ;)

After the meeting, Sister Maluenda had asked us to drive her home, so my companion and I followed them all out and we got to talk  with Elder Holland a little bit more. It was a really sweet experience - he held our hands in his, and told us how grateful he was that we're serving and said "I think you're probably the two best sister missionaries in the world... in fact, I'm quite sure of that." .. haha. 

It was incredible. There was so much that we learned, and now I've probably bored all of you a bit with the whole story, but it was too good to not share. :) Anyway, I hope you learned something from that whole jumbled mess! 

I love you all! 

Love, M 

--

Hermana Reynolds

:)

Spiritual Thought of the Week: Inspire

We were on our way home from an exchange in Laredo, and the Assistants did a little "comp study" with us in the car as we drove home. They asked us, "what do you want for your sisters that you serve?" so we gave some answers - for them to be successful, happy, to understand how to help others, etc. Then they said "what's President Maluenda's vision for us as missionaries?" and we remembered.. his vision is that we become great mothers/fathers/husbands/wives. Everything he does is so that we can become those people that the world needs. So we talked a little bit about how having the bigger picture can help us really inspire our sheep to grow to greater things, instead of just doing things because they know they should. It made a big difference! as we've had that in mind it's been a lot easier to understand what decision really is the best, and have the love to correct and help people grow to be better. and then, I realized that that's the trick of great leadership AFTER the mission (and this is where it applies to all of you) - our life here on earth is all just preparing us for the after-life, just like how the things I'm learning now are preparing me to be better after the mission, and that makes it worth helping others be better, because our decisions here make ALL the difference in where we'll end up. Pretty cool, right? It reminded me of a quote from 2 conferences ago, that said "permitamos que nuestro destino eterno sea el factor determinante de nuestras decisiones" - roughly translated, let us have our eternal destiny be the determining factor of our decisions.. Anyway, that's helped me a lot :) Hope it helps you!

Love you lots,

M

--

Hermana Reynolds

I'll share a funny story first:

So whenever we go to Sinton or Laredo for exchanges, we ride with the assistants and we usually stay for a few days. The APs keep foam mattresses in their house, and we usually will drive to their house and leave our car in their driveway, and then we'll help them load up the truck and we head out. Well, apparently the neighbor who is part of the home-owners association for that neighborhood sent a complaint to the mission office because it "appears to be inappropriate" since there are 2 elders and 2 sisters loading mattresses into cars and leaving together. So, now when we are going to leave we have to meet up at the church instead. ha ha. Oh, silly humans and their sketchy thoughts.. 

Anyway, for the spiritual boost now :)

This morning I was having some negative thoughts about some random things that I was wishing were a little better - mostly self-improvement things that I want to be over, ya know? But then I had this thought that said "why not just be grateful?" And I realized (kind of similarly to last week's thought) that there's a whole lot more to be grateful for than to be stressed about. I really am in one of the best places in life ever, and this is such a unique time, and I AM changing, and there are so many people to bless. So I focused my morning prayers on gratitude and centered my studies on things that would help me feel grateful to the Savior, and it was really cool. :)

That's all! Love you a lot!
Oh, one more story. I had Elote this week. For those who have seen Nacho Libre, it's that corn on a stick that's all covered in white stuff.. They sell it all over here (in loud ice-cream-truck-style vans, with really loud speakers), it's a super mexican thing, but I'd never had enough guts to try it. It wasn't worth repeating, but it was an adventure :) I'll send a picture next week.

Until later!

--

Hermana Reynolds

Conference Thoughts

Hi!

Man, Conference though, right? It was SO good. I received a lot of impressions and was a highly needed spiritual refresher :)

I think one of the talks that stuck out to me the most was Elder Renlund's - I think as a missionary it's really easy to think that if you're being obedient and working hard you'll see lots of "success" (defined however you will), but sometimes it's easy to get into the mindset of being entitled to those blessings. However, the REAL blessing comes simply by being a missionary (or just a member!) and being able to be forgiven of our everyday mistakes and weaknesses. I think sometimes I've forgotten just how much of a miracle that is - and it is! I am definitely a very different person than I was before my mission, and as I reflect on the things that have changed I am very humbled by that knowledge. So if you're feeling like life just isn't working out, remember that even if circumstances aren't perfect, you're different than you used to be and are becoming more exalted, and that's a pretty huge miracle in and of itself.

Love you all!

--

Hermana Reynolds

This week I've been thinking a lot about the importance of letting other people help you - what a novel idea, right? I think the longer I've been on my mission, it gets easier and easier to think I know how to do it all. Ha ha.

It makes me think of the story of Gideon in the bible, where he has  a really big army, and then God makes him cut it down because if he didn't the people wouldn't recognize that it was actually God who had saved them. I think a lot of times he sends us all the people so that we can depend on each other and together we can accomplish it, but the whole purpose is to depend on them and not to just assume they're there to watch us succeed singlehandedly. yeah? I'm still figuring it out, and it's a lot easier said than done. But the Women's Conference on Saturday reaffirmed it when they talked so much about how our whole purpose is to lift those around us and to serve. 

Well, sorry this is brief! I love you all, Have a great week.

--

Hermana Reynolds

Spring has Sprung!

This week we had Zone Conferences! We had our own, and then sister Hortal and I went to the conference for Corpus, and then tomorrow we're going to the one for Laredo. I think that's one of my most favorite things about this calling is being able to go to all of the different areas and hear the meetings lots of times - I think God knows that if I hear things 2 and 3 and 4 times I'll finally get it. :) 

The theme was a lot about love, and doing things for the right reason. President Maluenda talked a lot about where our focus is, and he shared the scripture in John about when the disciples are on the Sea of Tiberious, and how he asked Peter "lovest thou me?" 

There's a talk by Elder Holland that describes it really well (the first great commandment), but he said that it's so important to remember that even when he's not there (or we're not being guided through every step by leaders) that we have to choose where our treasure is. Peter didn't know what to do, so he went back to Fishing, and the Lord had to remind him that is he REALLY loved Christ, he would be taking care of his children, not fishing. It's pretty humbling that we get to be a part of "feeding His sheep!" I think it's making more and more sense to me, especially as it gets closer to an end. I'm SO grateful for every day and the opportunity to keep learning and serving :)

Love you all!

--

Hermana Reynolds

Happy Pi Day!

Spiritual thought for the day!

So, this will be a moment of admitting weakness. But those are good, right? So there's this super famous talk called "the 4th missionary" and every missionary and their dog reads it. It talks about the differences of why people serve and what we should aspire to do and how to serve, etc. It's really good. I'd read it a few times on the mission, and everybody talks about it, but I don't think it ever clicked. This last week we'd had a few struggles in different areas of life, and I'd been feeling overall a little frustrated at how things were turning out. It felt like we were working really hard, but nothing was working out. 

Anyway, after reading this talked it finally clicked - I'm not here (and none of us are "here" in life) to do our own forces and try and have them coordinate with God's will, but we're literally here to do WHAT he wants, WHEN he wants it. 

Sometimes it takes lots of humbling to figure these things out, ha ha. 

Anyway, that's the thought for this week. :)

Love you all!

--

Hermana Reynolds

Today in personal study I read in Ether chapters 7-10. It's one of those parts where they start out righteous and then go wicked and then go righteous and then wicked.. it's pretty frustrating. It's kind of funny to see how quickly they get prideful, but then once they realize that they actually DO need God (for example, when He sends a famine or poisonous serpents to kill them) they'll shape up. It's like reading about a group of spoiled little kids! Anyway, that's been a theme that's been on my mind a lot - being humble enough to always rely on the Lord, even when you've grown a lot. 

It's funny, there's this cycle of dependence I kind of feel like - He asks us to set goals or do things that are hard to do, but are for "His service" (fulfilling new callings, raising a family, etc) and so it's kind of like we're serving God, but in all reality we still need His help desperately to complete it, and then even though we're serving Him he's serving us, and then we grow up a little bit, but we still need His help, and then we get to use our newly acquired strength to serve in another way. And even though we're growing up, it's all through the mercy and grace of God. We just have to see that. 

Crazy, right? We're so dependent, but sometimes we just don't see it! I definitely don't always see it.

Anyway, the new transfer is here and nothing is changing :) We'll both be here for at least 6 more weeks - hopefully 18!! 

Love you all!

Love,

Hermana Reynolds

Leap Day!!!

I usually avoid talking about investigators, but we've had a couple really cool experiences that I think I'll share this week :)

We met this woman named Nina. She's probably in her 50's and is tall and Caucasian and has a very brilliant personality, and we had had a little contact with her but kept missing her or she'd be about to leave. I kept thinking that she just wasn't prepared and didn't have a lot of faith in her, but we finally got to sit down with her and she said that she'd been looking for a church and that she needed to get closer to Jesus. The next time we had a lesson, we were going to teach the restoration, which is where the wheat and the tares get divided a lot of the time - especially when they're familiar with religion. Anyway, we found out that she's been living with her boyfriend for 16 years and he's been emotionally abusive. She started crying when we talked about how much God loves her, and when we talked about Joseph Smith she said "well that makes a lot of sense, why wouldn't there be prophets now?" and when we talked about the Book of Mormon she said "I'd always wondered why God would only send prophets to half of the world!" She couldn't get her boyfriend to drive her to church yesterday and she had work, but she literally snuck away for 30 minutes and had her neighbor drop her off just to be able to come for a little bit. So cool!

Anyway, I love you all! Hope your weeks are the greatest ever :)

--

Hermana Reynolds

Another week :)

Updates:

A new sister missionary joined the mission mid-transfer, and she's now living in the same house as us as part of the other companionship. She's from South Africa and has a vibrant personality that's been fun to have around :)

Elder Lawrence E Corbridge came and talked to the whole mission. I'll write about the spiritual things I learned in a minute.. first I'll share a funny story :) I guess his visit was pretty last-minute, and so on Thursday night we were driving back home from Laredo with the Assistants and President called and told them that the missionaries in the Valley (McAllen, Mission, Brownsville) were going to have a meeting on Saturday. Then the next day President told them that he wanted a specific musical number (Consider the Lilies with Sister Moore, Me, Elder Myler and Elder Jensen), but two of the people who he wanted to perform are serving in Laredo, so then he said to have the whole mission come. It was a little crazy - people traveled 6 hours total for a 2 hour long meeting! But it was VERY worth it and really fun to see all of the mission :)

Elder Corbridge was following up from the special broadcast that happened last month called "Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts" and it was really good. I guess usually when he did the training he had about 5 hours, but he had to do it in 2, but it was still very insightful. 

A couple of learnings:

After the Musical Number, Elder Corbridge talked extensively about unity - he said "I love musical numbers like that because there's a miracle that happens when people make music together." He said that you have to sacrifice your desire to be the best and be better, but work together to blend with the others and make it work for the best. He said that an Orchestra is a prime example of that and that when everyone has to do their best but work together toward a cause, magic happens. He then had us read D&C 6:32 where it says "where two or three are gathered together in my name as touching one thing..." and said that when we work together, we have to "touch one thing" - meaning we need the same objective and work together in the spirit. 

He also said that a lot of times we think of there being 2 types of people - those who are prepared and those who are unprepared - but that actually there's 3rd group, and those are the people who, with understanding, can become prepared. That means that WE have to be really good teachers to give them the chance to accept the gospel. No pressure ;) but it was good to hear that and realize just how important our efforts are.

I hope you all have splendid weeks!

Love,

Hermana Reynolds

:)

Well, hello there!

This week, I learned a lot about communication. :) 

I realized that, thus far on my mission it's been pretty easy to work with my companions, but not to rely on them. I've kind of had this silent inward feeling that we work better when we just both use our strengths separately. I know, I know - that's prideful and silly, but I didn't realize that. So, I'm realizing that this whole strong companionship thing isn't just so that there are 2 strong people working side by side, but that we combine those strengths into an even stronger companionship by realizing that we CAN'T do it all on our own, and then relying on the other's strengths when we have weaknesses. 

As I'm typing this I'm realizing the spiritual parallel - we need to have that kind of relationship with Christ. We can't do everything on our own, but it's not enough to be strong and hope that he uplifts us and keeps us going, but that we rely on him. It makes me think of the bible dictionary definition of Faith that says that "Christ has revealed to us his perfect character, which enables us to put our trust in him without reservation." He has every perfect quality, and when we recognize that we don't and that we NEED that, he can help us and we work together and become stronger as we become one. 

Phew - revelation is cool. 

Here's a missionary moment or two to wrap up:

Musical numbers:

Surprise! I started singing in front of people (don't faint, mom). We've had lots of meetings recently and I decided to get over my fears and sing more for musical numbers. We had our 3 Day Leadership meeting this last week, and I got to do a couple of numbers. Anyway, I've discovered that I actually really like singing and it doesn't terrify me anymore. Our president LOVES music, so we always have musical numbers at every meeting and we have a lot of talent here - it's fun to see :)

Winter: ha ha. I don't think there's been a day below 55 degrees, and most of them have been in the 70's or 80's (knock on wood). this entire last week has felt like September or May in Utah - it hasn't been super humid and it's been BEAUTIFUL! 

Well, I love you all!

Love,

Hermana Reynolds

Thoughts of the week:

There's a quote by President Kimball (I think), quoted by Elder Christofferson in a CES devotional, that says "As we serve we become more substantive - indeed, it is easier to "find ourselves," because there is so much more of us to find.

I've been thinking a lot about that, especially in light of the whole realization we had about loving people more last week. I think a lot of times when I've thought about love, I tend to think inwardly. Thoughts like, "I DO feel loved by this person, but I DON'T feel loved by this person," etc. When really that doesn't matter! I think Kirk Duncan once said something about how we often look at situations and ask "do I belong?" but really we should look at them and think "what can I offer?" and once we change that mindset we forget about ourselves and are happier. President Malluenda often says something similar - he says that the difference between a good and a bad attitude comes down to the opportunities we see; a person with a good attitude will see any situation with a million different options and opportunities, but a person with a bad attitude will only see one or two, and feel miserable. 

So the invitation of the week is to not feel miserable :) 

I love you all! Have a very happy Valentine's day!

--

Hermana Reynolds

:)

Hello!

We had a pretty tranquil week, for the most part. this was the first week in 6 weeks that we've had a whole week in our area, so that was pretty weird. We've gotten into the routine of being out of our area and then just packing in work in a couple of days, so we have to work differently when we actually have time :)

I realized that I never really talk about the culture of McAllen/the valley, so today I'm going to share some of my favorite tidbits. 

1 - the birds. There are so. many. birds. They pepper the sky pretty consistently and the power lines are always dotted with them. You can hear them singing even when you're in the car.

2 - the skies. there's nothing bigger than the Texas skies, and they're amazing. 

3 - the Tex Mex. I was listening to conversations in a store the other day, and I realized that it's become very normal to hear English and Spanish mixed into the same sentence. It's pretty rare that people don't know a little bit of both languages, and they have a bunch of lingo that just doesn't exist (such as "troca, [instead of camioneta]" "ride [instead of llevar]" etc) that has been adapted from English words that are easier to say. It's funny. 

that's it for now.

Here's a quick spiritual thought..

This week we were struggling a little bit to feel like we were doing things right. We're doing things, but the results haven't been super evident. Finally, we realized that we just weren't loving enough. Moral of the story, just love people. focus on the atonement, and why Christ suffered and came, and then just share that love. 

Plus, it's valentine's day, so what a better time to focus on love?

Love you all!

--

Hermana Reynolds

weekly thoughts

Another transfer starts today! Sister Hortal and I are still here (no big surprise), and the only other things of note are that there's a new AP (since Elder Johnson is going home), so that'll be an adventure. Other than that, not too many interesting changes! There's a lot of new STLs and companionships, so we're excited to start working with them. Oh, something exciting is that Sister Moore (who I trained in Hidalgo) is an STL now, so I get to work with her again! Happy day.

This week's theme to study has been  losing yourself. It's a weird thing to thing about, because it's a big focus on the mission, but then you focus on it and it feels weird to focus on it because you're supposed to focus outward and not inward to lose yourself. Anyway, in trying to help other sisters and learn about it for myself, I learned a lot about changes of heart. I realized that in order to have a change of heart, you have to get your heart outside of yourself, and THEN Christ can change it. And we get it outside of ourselves by focusing completely on others. I don't know that I have any life-changing comments, but I found a really good talk called "the thoughts of our heart, or why do we do what we do" on speeches.byu.edu and I highly recommend reading it. It opened my eyes and helped me see a little bit more of how we as humans and members of the church work. 

Ultimately, I realized that losing yourself happens when you don't try to. When you just love others, it will come. That's it. Simple. :)

Anyway, I love you all!

Love,

m

One Year Older and Wiser, Too... In the mission

I can't even believe that it's already been a year! Time flies.

Spiritual thought: We had a number of exchanges in the "great white north" this week, and weren't in our area from Monday until Friday night. Upon arriving home, we had a little discussion with the APs about not being scared to admit weaknesses. ha ha. Definitely something I still struggle with. They suggested that we read Ether 12 that night and discuss what we learned the next day with them. In doing so I learned some really interesting things. 1) if we're seeing our weaknesses, that's a sign that we're coming unto Christ! He says "and if men will come unto me, I will show unto them their weakness." So, if you're feeling exposed to your weaknesses, it's a good thing. 2) In one of the verses, Christ says to Moroni something like "because you've seen your weaknesses, you will sit down in the place which I have prepared for you." And I realized that we HAVE to consistently acknowledge, the key is that we can't be immobilized by them. It's this beautiful, painful process of letting Him show us where we REALLY need to improve, and then using His grace to get there. Anyway, that helped me a lot this week :) Step by step we're getting there!

Missionary moment: Listening to the Spirit.

At the beginning of my mission, I thought I knew what it meant to listen to the Spirit, but then quickly realized that I had no idea. The things I had experienced beforehand were not even close to sufficient to really "rely on the spirit." It's one thing to feel like I shouldn't do something, but it's another to recognize complex promptings and act on them. It's been a consistent progress, but looking back I realized how much it's changed. A quick experience to illustrate - last night we had an hour left to work, and we didn't feel peaceful about our plans. It just felt like something was off. There was a group of apartments that kept coming into my hear, for no real reason. We had driven by them a few different times, but we didn't have any referrals or members or anything there. The image just kept coming to my hear, so we I finally voiced that and we went. After knocking a door that nobody answered, and then talking to a very uninterested woman who was smoking outside of her door, a woman rushed out of her house with her two kids. I stopped her and asked if we could give her a card, and she asked who we were and where we were from and when I told her she said "oh that big beautiful church over on Jackson with the palm trees? I went there a couple of times with my cousin and I really liked it!" She was running out, but we have an appointment to go back today. After she left, both my companion and I got this biggest sense of affirmation that that was what we had needed to do and that we could leave. It was a very humbling moment, to see how God helps us to become more receptive to be able to become better instruments in His hands. 

Well, that's it for today! Have a wonderful week 

--

Hermana Reynolds

thought of the week

This week, I thought I'd send what I learned yesterday in Sacrament meeting. 

It was ward conference, and the Stake President talked about the role of the Savior. He told a story about how he was on a beach that had these beautiful angel wing-shaped shells. He held them up for us to see, and they really were beautiful! He said they looked for the perfect ones, and picked them up until their hands were full. He then had a thought come to his mind of "what would the Savior be looking for if he were there on the beach?" and the answer came that the savior would be looking for the broken ones and then would use his power to heal them. I think a lot of times I do the same thing - I look for the perfect opportunities, friendships, etc, instead of looking for the opportunities to heal and help and improve. 

Also, today I was studying the Gospel of Christ, and I came across some cool thoughts. 1 - Christ came to set the example. We can know it's HIS church when they do what he did. 

2 - Christ came to save the sinners, and his Atonement covers those who don't ever get the chance to hear, and that's what grace really is, not just being "saved" by saying so..

3 - faith without works is dead. (James 2. It's a great chapter.) Christ came, but we have to believe and act on that, or nothing happens.

Anyway, that's all for this week :)

Love you all!

--

Hermana Reynolds

First Missionary Moments of 2016!

New Years: 

We had to be in early again (to avoid any hazardous situations due to intoxication and the like), so ended up having a kind of different day. We had gone up to Calallen (by Corpus Christie) for an exchange and got back in the afternoon, and then had a zone meeting with the other missionaries and then we got to watch the Polar Express together (every year on New Year's the missionaries get to watch a movie). I had anticipated that watching a movie would be strange, but it wasn't as different as I had anticipated. I guess a year isn't quite long enough to make movie-watching weird. :) There were lots of fireworks that night - none that we saw, but definitely a lot that we could hear. It was super loud. There's a town near Laredo called Zapata (that has a pretty  

Working in our area:

We have a "standard of excellence" for the mission (what a companionship should be able to accomplish in a week if they're working correctly) for the key indicators - lessons taught with a member present, new investigators found, etc. PMG explains it pretty well. As leadership, we're supposed to accomplish all of the goals for that Standard of Excellence to set the example, and this transfer we've learned a LOT about how merciful the Lord is when it comes to sacrifice. When I was in Laredo, we could accomplish all of our goals every week, even if we weren't there for a day. But now, we often aren't in our area for about half of the week (because of exchanges, etc), so we've had to re-learn how to plan and how to ask God for miracles so that we can work in other sisters' areas and still get everything done that we need to. There have been many miraculous days where we haven't been in our area all week, and then we'll find 5 new investigators in one day. I think more and more I'm just realizing that God can do anything he wants to do - we just have to be on the same page with Him :) 

That's it for this week! Love you all

--

Hermana Reynolds