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