LDS means Let's Do Something

Well this week there wasn't a whole lot of stuff that happened. The big thing I can think of is something that happened with one of our investigators. He was on baptismal date for this last weekend, but we knew it was too soon for him so we were going to try and reset it. But we went to the lesson with him and he told us that he hadn't read the Book of Mormon that we had asked him to, so we decided to read it together. After we read the chapter that we had assigned him he told us that it seemed like he was reading a fairy tale. So he is no longer on date to get baptized, but we encouraged him to really read and pray to find truth, and to see if what we had taught him was true. Basically we all ended up bearing our testimony on the Book of Mormon, and hoping that he would read for himself and set an appointment with him for this week. Hopefully he has read a little more and is thinking a little more and making it to the point that he knows for himself. So that was a little rough, but the week goes on, and there were some good things. One of our other investigators has no Christian background at all, so we are trying to give her some basics before we get into it too much. And we had the chance to just read some of the Book of Mormon with her yesterday, and she seemed to believe that what it was saying is true. It is really cool because she is a Native American, and her stories from the tribe and stuff relate a little bit to the Book of Mormon. Her son has a copy of the children's Book of Mormon, and he really enjoys reading it.
It has started to get a lot colder, and I have started to wear a jacket or sweater almost every day. The high is usually in the 40's, but it doesn't seem too bad yet, winter is going to be really cold. I think sometimes the members and people exaggerate it to make us scared, but then sometimes I think it is really that cold... So I don't know for sure.
But two cool things that happened yesterday at church. One, there was a musical number done by the women of the choir and 3 little primary girls. They sang a combination of I feel my Saviors love, and I know that my Redeemer lives. It was awesome. And number 2, we have to act and do our part first, and then the Savior can help us. So LDS, means Lets Do Something. Our third hour was combined for a 5th Sunday, and that was the message that one of the members taught. I thought it was pretty cool!
Hope you all have a great week, Love you all!

Elder Reynolds

Ward Halloween Activity -Elder Reynolds, Nielson and Thies

Zone Conference/ Lambeau Tour

This week was awesome! We had a lot going on and stayed really busy everyday! To start off we toured Lambeau Field on last Monday and it was sick!! We got to go clear to the top, which is the highest point you can stand in all of Green Bay, and also down into the field. We walked through the tunnel the players came out! It was a pretty cool tour, lots of history around it too, so I will send some of the pictures I took! It was super cool, best P Day yet! So in one of the pictures you will see the weird looking things on the grass, that is the artificial sun they use to keep the grass alive for the whole year. So it is pretty weird. But the field looked amazing, I just wanted to play soccer on it in all honesty... Haha. But it was nice!!

Then we had Zone Conference on Friday! It was a super good experience! We had some really good trainings on the worth of souls, and how we can better use the Book of Mormon in our missionary work. It is amazing how the Book of Mormon truly can answer any question that we have. Whether it is by a story or a direct answer it has something for every question we can ask. My goal is to get familiar enough with it that I will be able to answer any question that people have using it on the spot. That will probably take me my entire mission but that is what I am striving to do! That is what the Zone Leaders gave a training on, and President gave a training on the worth of a soul. Every soul is great in the eyes of God, and we should all be looking at souls like they are. He told us about the definition for a worth of a soul that was given in a seminar or something a long time ago, "The worth of a soul is its capacity to become as God." We all have the potential to become like God, and we need to be able to look at it like we are! I really liked that!

Something else that happened this week, we had a referral from the Spanish elders, and we went and stopped by. It wasn't the person we thought was going to be there, but we got to sit down and teach the guy that answered right there. He was super friendly and didn't come to church, but we are planning on meeting with him tomorrow, so that will be good! Miracles happen in small ways every day! It is fun to be a part of the work and get to see them daily! 

I hope you have a great week! I love you all!

Elder Reynolds 😎

New Companions, same area

This week has been super cool! We haven't had a whole lot to do... But we have been finding a lot of people we can start teaching! It is nice to not be in a zone leader companionship anymore because we have a lot more time to do work instead of all of the things zone leaders have to do. So I have enjoyed this week. Neither of my new companions have been in Green Bay before so I am the only one who really knows what is going on. It is kinda scary, but I am getting used to it. I just have to write a whole lot of things down so I remember what I am needing to be doing. The members are pulling through for us! We have 5 dinner appointments this week! I love the members in the GB 1st ward. They are all very nice and love having us over for dinner.

So a couple of funny stories happened this week. First, we were knocking on doors and we started talking to this guy who was very religious but not LDS. He said, "I love sharing my testimony" So we asked to hear it, and he said how much time do you have? So we said an hour.... He talked for probably 20 minutes on his doorstep, and told us about how he had all of these miraculous experiences and had seen angels and stuff like that. I couldn't decide if I wanted to believe him or not, haha, But it was super funny. And then number 2, last night we were stopping by some random less active members because knocking on people's doors after about 7:30 isn't very effective unless they know who you are. Anyway, this guy was a complete apostate. He knew all the reasons why the church is wrong and all sorts of things that I had never even heard about. It was interesting to see how much a belief in someone can change, because at one point and time he was a solid member of the church. Now he doesn't even think that any of it is true. It is amazing that someone's beliefs can go in a full 180 like that. It was fun to talk to him and hear what all he had to say, but we probably won't go back, he doesn't have any desire to know what is right, sad....

Update on investigators, we are hoping to have a baptism next weekend. The 28th of October! If not by then, then it will be the 4th of November. But it is a guy named Brandon we met on campus. He understands everything we teach him and is pretty much already a Mormon. So I am excited for him. We also got the chance to give an investigator a blessing. Her son went to the hospital for an emergency surgery on his appendix. So we were able to go and talk with her there and see how it was going and give her a blessing of comfort. I got to say the blessing and wow that is powerful. There is a peace that comes over the entire room as you say the words coming from God. I love it. Her and her son have been investigating since I got here. But she has no Christian background at all, so it is a little bit difficult to teach her.
We also have a girl on campus who is on date for the 11th of November. Her name is Sarah. We will see as that gets closer how committed she is to it. She seems very indecisive, but also interested. Her entire family was baptized except for her, so she knows like everything we need  to teach her. She needs to come to church tho.

Spiritual Thought: Alma 36:3 "And now, O my son Helaman, behold, thou art in thy youth, and therefore, I beseech of thee that thou wilt hear my words and learn of me; for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day." When we put all of our trust in God he can help us and make everything better! Put your trust in him and do as he asks and you will see the blessings that come from him!

I love you all! Hope you have a great week!
Elder Reynolds😎

Elders Manesse, VanOrden and Reynolds

Elder Reynolds, Elder Poulsen(Spanish elder), Elder VanOrden

Elder Thies and Elder Reynolds

Elder Reynolds, Elder Thies, Elder Nielson

Elder Reynolds

Elder VanOrden

Transfer Week!!

Well this week is transfer week! I will be staying in the Green Bay 1st ward! But I will have a different address. It is super weird because one of the Hmong elders in the 2nd ward is going zone leader. So Elder Van Orden is moving to the second ward, but probably not moving apartments. I don't know the address yet, but I am hoping to figure it out at sometime today. If you send my mail to the other address it will still work, I will just have to get it from Elder Van Orden when we see each other. But I will still be in a trio for another transfer at least. One of my new companions will be the district leader, his name is Elder Thies. My other new companion's name is Elder Nielson. I think he came into the field the same day as me, so Elder Thies will finish training both of us! I am excited to see what happens! 

So that is the most exciting thing that has happened this week! But other than that not a whole lot of crazy things happened. One of our more solid investigators on campus decided she didn't want to meet with us anymore, but that she was happy in her own faith, so that was a little bit hard. And then we started teaching this guy named Travis. He actually lives in 2nd ward boundaries so Elder Van Orden is going to keep teaching him. But last Saturday before priesthood session of conference we were in the church meeting with our ward mission leader. We had just finished our meeting and were getting up to go pick up the Spanish Elders and Travis walked in and asked if he could have a copy of the Book of Mormon. It was super crazy, but he is going to be a super solid investigator and probably get baptized! So hopefully I get to go to that, because we have taught him 2 lessons! I am super excited for that! He also came to church this week, and he told us he knows that the Book of Mormon is true, and that he feels the Holy Ghost when he reads it. It was amazing to hear a testimony of the Book of Mormon from someone who wasn't even a member of the church. He is awesome! The rest of the week wasn't super eventful.

On Friday my companions had to go to Oshkosh for a meeting that I wasn't supposed to be in. So I stayed in Green Bay with the Hmong elders. And all the new Hmong elders got here last week, so they were in a trio and then they got me. So we had 4 missionaries walking around and knocking on doors. We split into 2 companionships for a little bit of the day, and that wasn't terrible, but it was still weird because we only had 1 car and phone. But Friday was a pretty fun day with some other Elders! One of the pictures is me Elder Blackburn and Elder Giddings (the new hmong elder). 

Spiritual Thought: This General Conference we had a couple people talk about the Book of Mormon and what it can do for us. I know that the book is true, but as President Nelson would say, "That is not enough" We must take more time each day to read and study the Book of Mormon. I know that as we do that we can gain that solid testimony that it is true and that we receive all the blessings that come from it. Listen to the talks by President Nelson, and Tad R. Callister if you didn't get a chance to. They are amazing! 

Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Reynolds 😎

(email:  bryce.reynolds@myldsmail.net)

Elder Reynolds, Blackburn and Giddings

Elders Reynolds Manesse and VanOrden

Elder VanOrden-notice the quotes on the board from Elder Reynolds

                                       

General Conference!!

This week was crazy! We went to Milwaukee for exchanges with the Assistants on Wednesday and Thursday. But before that we had a lesson with a girl on campus who is on date for the 28th of October. She belongs to a weird religion and is worried about what her family will say if she leaves. I am pretty sure that she knows that the Book of Mormon is true, and she wants to be baptized but she is having a hard time getting the courage to tell her parents. I am excited for her though! I am thinking she will tell her parents and get baptized, so it is looking good. It is hard to teach people because it feels like we are only in our area like 3 days of the week. We have 2 exchanges almost every week, but usually someone is in our area so we can make it work. Sometimes you just don't meet all the investigators until they have kept a couple lessons.
 Milwaukee was really cool, it is fun to get out to a different place, especially when you are working with the best missionaries! I actually wasn't supposed to go, the zone leaders were supposed to leave me with someone else, but it was really good for me! But Elder Hill(AP) and Elder Van Orden both love sushi, so we went to a sushi place for lunch while we were in Milwaukee. I have actually never had sushi before so I was really nervous. Luckily that isn't all they had, but I got some orange chicken and sushi. The sushi was way better than I ever expected it to be! I was always afraid to even try it. So moral of the story is, don't be afraid to try new things! It was super cool! Milwaukee was a party, but it is good to come back to Green Bay, I really love it here. When we got back to Green Bay, we went right up to campus, and that was super cool! We contacted people there for like 45 min and set up 3 return appointments! Campus has been the best place to find people! I am excited to see what comes from these appointments!

General conference was amazing. If you didn't get to listen to all of the sessions, DO IT!!! Everything in there was amazing. A lot of talking about sustaining leaders and not judging based on the worlds ways, but trying to have an eternal perspective. Also the Book of Mormon is so important. Elder Callister and Pres. Nelson both gave amazing talks on the Book of Mormon. There is no doubt in my mind that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. It helps us come closer to him and Jesus Christ. There is nothing else that can bring us as close to Christ as does the Book of Mormon. READ IT EVERY DAY! I love that we are encouraged to read it so much. As missionaries we have set time to study each day, but I know that we need it. Without the Book of Mormon, I wouldn't be serving a mission, and nothing else could have built my testimony like it did, and still does. So that is my challenge to each of you, read the Book of Mormon for at least 10 min a day, more if possible.

I love you all, thanks for all the support.
Elder Reynolds

District Picture