Happy New Year!

Hey everyone, I hope all is well for each of you! This week here in the Madison area was pretty good! We had a lot going on with Christmas eve and then Christmas and all sorts of stuff going on! But it was good! On Tuesday we went over to some members homes for Christmas and that was super fun! The first members we went to were the Fackrells, and they had some good stuff they had gotten for Christmas that they allowed us to be a part of! So after we skyped home with them we had some competitions with the new toys they got. For example, they got this massive nerf bow and arrow and we competed to see who could shoot it the farthest! We also had a competition to see who could ride the new scooters the fastest (I won that one) but sadly I wasn't good enough with the bow and arrow to win that one. But it was such a good time! Then we went to the Rankins for dinner and we had some real delicious steaks! We also played some ping pong with them and it was really fun!  Oh, we also had a zone party, and everyone brought a ton of sweets and junk food... somehow we ended up being the ones to bring it home.. not good for us!

Wednesday was pretty normal, we did our weekly planning and the day felt pretty long, but then we also found a few people that could be interested in the future! So it was also like way warmer than it should have been and all the snow (so not very much) melted!

Thursday we thought we had interviews with president William's so we got ready for those in the morning and all that fun stuff, the we go to pick up the other elders and they were like really confused as to why we were picking them up.... well long story short we missed the message that said it was moved to Friday... so we went back to our area and did some good ol missionary work in the RAIN! yes it was raining in December... that means it's too warm and it's going to get cold way too fast! But oh well, it is about time!

Friday we had interviews and it snowed! There is actually a little bit of snow on the ground, and it's only supposed to snow more today and tomorrow so I'm excited! But interviews were good, president Williams always says the right things!

Saturday I had the blessing to be with Elder Purvis and we had a full day planned. Then during our first appointment at 11, 2 of our other appointments texted us and cancelled... so that was kinda rough, but we had 2 super good appointments! One of them was with the Tai family! They are doing so well, last week the 8 year old daughter threw out all their tea after we taught them the Word of Wisdom, it was awesome to see! I really enjoyed the day with Elder Purvis, it was a blast! We also met this cool couple tracting that hopefully we can get back in with and start teaching!

Sunday was the last 3 hour block I'll ever go to!! That was neat, and it was really good too! Like everything that was spoken seemed to be directed at me in Sacrament meeting, so that was good. Then we had some good lessons and it was just good!

Well I hope you all have a happy new year! And I hope that you have some resolutions to make your life even better than it already is!

Elder Reynolds

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

This week was another good one here in Madison! I was out of my area for 2 days on exchanges with Hmong and with another set of English elders that bussed around Madison! So that was fun, and reminded me of my time spent in downtown madiosn a few months ago! But we had some really good things happen, and then on Saturday everything we thought was gonna be good went downhill real fast. So that was rough, but all the people that cancelled, are now rescheduled! So that is good that they didn't just drop us. Christmas eve was a good day! We went to this massive blood drive and a bunch of missionaries did service there and it was really fun! Then we had dinner at the cheesecake factory with some awesome members!! That was pretty much the highlights of the week! I hope you all have a Merry Christmas! Remember why we celebrate! Love

Elder Reynolds

Fackrell Family - Christmas Day pic and family who had Elder Reynolds and
 Elder Lewis over for fun and games and the Christmas Day Facetime.

text pic from the Mouille family - Madison 3rd Ward

ANDRA CAME TO CHURCH!

Well, if you didn't notice by the title of this email, we had a really cool experience yesterday with Andra coming to church. She is from Ghana and is crazy busy, but so humble and willing to learn of the gospel. Well we went over in Saturday night to teach them and the first thing she told us was that she got work off so she could come to church!  I was soooooo happy! It was great when she came too! All the members were so welcoming to her, and when she got up in the 3rd hour combined class to introduce herself she talked about how she is on a spiritual journey towards baptism! I was so hyped! Anyway, I'll tell you about the rest of my week now too!

So Monday was the average p day in Madison, which means a whole bunch of missionaries go to the church and play basketball. So that was fun! Then we did some setting up and prepping for zone conference on Tuesday! And that was pretty much the day! Oh, we also go to seminary on Monday mornings now, so that is a little bit of an early start. But its good!

Tuesday was zone conference. It was a spirit filled meeting! I really loved the trainings given, as we talked about going back to the basics of missionary work. We had trainings about using the Book of Mormon, Preach My Gospel, and then how we can be a little better each day. It was all good!

Wednesday I was with Elder Smith in exchanges. We were working in our area, that I had been in for one week at that time, and so I am still trying to figure out a lot.... so it was an interesting day, we did a good amount of finding, and had a dinner! We also had a few potential lessons but none of them held so that was kinda annoying.

Thursday was a normal Thursday, that means we weekly plan! Then we had an appointment with a returning member, and she forgot about it so that was kinda awkward. But we went in and talked to her about light the world! It was good!

Friday a bunch of appointments we had fell through.... so it was a little rough. But turned out to be better than some other days I have had! So we went tracting and it was pretty eventful. We met a really old lady that was nice at first and let us in, and then about half way into our conversation she started throwing our religion under the bus, so we bounced outta there pretty fast!

Saturday the highlight was for sure the lesson with the Tai family! We show up and the first thing she says to us is, I didn't read the BoM, but I am going to be at church tomorrow! So it was kinda a happy sad, but it was really cool for her to have made the sacrifices to get to church! I was excited!

Sunday we had church and it was a perfect sacrament meeting for the Tais! We had just taught the word of wisdom and then the whole meeting was about Commandments! Like literally I felt like one of the talks was directed specifically for them. It was so cool. Then the rest of the day was good. We had our studies, dinner, and then a little bit of time to follow up with some people that used to he taught.

So overall it was a good week here in Madison! I hope you all have a great week and a Merry Christmas!! Remember to light your family this week! If you haven't watched the video for week 3 of light the world you totally should. It's my favorite one!

Elder Reynolds

Elder Smith and Elder Reynolds on exchanges

Madison 3rd Ward

Well this week has been a pretty good week, it ended up feeling pretty long and we had a bunch of meetings and stuff going on. Turned into a really good few days here though! So the beginning of the week I was still over in Port Washington, and that was so hard to leave them. There are so many families and people in every area that I love, but Port Washington has a special place in my heart!

So Monday we spent the whole day down in Milwaukee with the zone leaders and the whole zone got together at the stake center to play sports and have a good time! It turned into a pretty fun P day! Then we got back to Port Washington and I started packing all my stuff... so that was pretty eventful, but not too bad.

On Tuesday we went and said goodbye to a lot of my favorite people. It was pretty sad to have only been there for 7 weeks. I had gotten to the point where I knew the area and was expecting to stay, so I was enjoying building relationships and suddenly it was gone. But anyway, we did some goodbyes, went and talked to Erv one last time, had a good dinner appointment and called it a night! I had to finish packing a decent amount of stuff....

Wednesday was transfer day! We had to leave about 8 am to get down to Milwaukee and be at the church on time for me to leave. I had to ride the transfer system for the first time in my entire mission! So basically from every zone a car leaves and brings all the people from that zone to Neenah, and then we all transfer our stuff to the car going back to our zone, and leave. So I rode up there, and then got to Madison around 2:30 or 3. Then we had to stay around at the church and wait for some other missionaries to get back to Madison that were driving directly from Milwaukee. So we didn't end up leaving the church until about 4, then we had to take stuff to the sisters and some other elders because it wouldn't fit in their cars and we had some extra space. So we went there and then to our dinner appointment and I recognized the guy who answered the door! It was pretty crazy, because I had met him when I was on campus, he works at the university. So that was kinda cool to see a face I knew right then! That was pretty much the day.

Thursday was a decent day as well. We had a lot of planning to do for our upcoming transfer, we have 7 exchanges in weeks,  which makes things pretty busy! But it will be good for us! Then we also went and tried to visit a few different people.  We also had a lunch and a dinner appointment and they both took us out. So I'm about to get real fat in this area. But it was good to get to see and know some members right off the bat!

Friday we spent the whole day in Oshkosh for MLC, mission leadership council, and that was pretty much it. It was a good meeting, spirit filled and motivating! Oh, we also had something pretty crazy happen when we got back. So the sisters call us and they are like, can you come give this guy a blessing, he is thinking about suicide. So we rushed over there and gave him a blessing. Hes not a member so that was pretty different. I have given few blessings to nonmembers, and it is always a special experience when you get to!

Saturday we had an appointment fall through in the afternoon, but then had a really cool lesson with the Tai family! They are from Ghana, and super prepared and ready for the gospel. The mom told us she was her ready to get baptized yet because she wanted to make sure she had time to serve after she committed. It was weird to me that she felt she wouldn't have time enough to serve. I mean she doesn't have any spare time, she is a single mom, who works two jobs and is going to school... so the fact that we get time to teach her is awesome! But anyway she is soo close, I'm excited about that family! Then we had a dinner appointment and that was pretty much it!

Sunday we had church and stuff in the morning, and then didn't even get time to do our studies and we had an appointment in Waunakee! It's like 10 minutes away from our apartment, but it's a super nice city! So that fell through and we had about an hour before dinner, so we went by a few people that missionaries had met before out there, and also met the Port family! They have been taught by a lot of missionaries, and everyone in the ward knows them and wants them to be baptized. But we were able to meet them and that was good for me! Then we had an awesome dinner with the Fackrells! It was a good time!

So it was a good week, despite leaving some of the coolest people of all time in Port Washington, I am excited to be in Madison and make some stuff happen!

Spiritual thought:  "the Lord uses the unlikely to accomplish the impossible"  -sacrament speaker.

That's all, hope you have a wonderful week! #LightTheWorld 

Elder Reynolds

7 Weeks Already?

Well this was a good week here in Port Washington, but honestly put me through a roller coaster of emotions. I will explain as we go through this, but in short I am getting transferred back to another area in Madison after only being here in Port for about 7 weeks... So I am pretty sad to go, its rough for me. But good things are ahead in Madison!

So to start off the week last Monday was an excellent P day! We were able to go down to Milwaukee and play some basketball with the zone as well as some card games, and lets just say I was on the top of my game at Scum! But it was fun, good times with some other missionaries! Then we had exchanges with the Hmong elders, so I was staying in Milwaukee! I was with Elder Green, who I have been on exchanges with before, and it was a good time!

So Tuesday I was with Elder Green for the whole day, and we were able to go and talk to a few Hmong people, and then we ended up going to the airport to pick up one of the new Hmong missionaries. They come in a week before transfers and I happened to be with the Hmong elders who were his companions for the last week so we got to go to the airport! That was a little bit of a weird experience! Then we had a super good dinner at Bel Air, a taco place, and called it a day!

Wednesday we had interviews with President Williams and since our district is so big that basically meant that we were there for the entire day.. so that kinda sucked, but it was good to spend some time with President and Sister Williams. This is also when the roller coaster starts happening. So President told me in my interview that he was looking at transfers and thinking that Elder Mecham and I would be staying together in Port for another transfer. He also told Elder Mecham that and so we are pretty excited about that!

Thursday was a pretty normal proselyting day, we did our weekly planning and some knocking. We also stopped by some old potentials and stuff like that. It was a good day of work, and then we had dinner with a family up in the top of our area, so we had to take some time to get there and back, and do some work on the way since we don't get up there too much. Then we got back and it was pretty much 9.... so that was the day.

Friday we had a really good day! Well kinda. Our service plans got cancelled, so that made for a couple more hours of finding. But we had calls with the district and then we went and visited Erv! He is so kind and willing to serve its amazing. Especially thinking that he ins't a member of the church. So basically we were there for 2 hours, because he invited us over for a lesson, and then after that we had some members come over for a dinner that Erv had prepared. So that was a fun time!

Saturday, back to the roller coaster week. So I was feeling good that we got to stay for longer and all these good things are starting to happen. We have this awesome plan for the parade today, everything seems to be going good. Well then the parade gets cancelled and that was a real bummer, there was so much opportunity there, and then it was gone with a single text message.... so that was lame. So my week got a little less fun then.

Sunday rolls around and we are supposed to find out who is leaving now around 7 am. Well we get the text and neither of us are leaving, so then like 2 seconds later we get another text from the zl's that says, disregard that. So we don't know who is leaving at this point. Then during church we get the next one, and MY NAME IS ON THE TEXT!!! Oh I was so bothered. So I am leaving Port Washington after only 7 weeks with Elder Mecham, and he has been here for almost 5 months... so I feel weird, but I am going back to Madison, a different ward, but same city pretty much!

So that was the week.... It was up and down, and now I am super sad to be leaving, but I guess the Lord has a plan for me in Madison and I will need to be there! I hope that all is well where you all are! Have a great week! Remember to #LightTheWorld

Elder Reynolds
3405 Marino Ct #5
Middleton, WI  53562

The Zone

Port Washington, WI at night-December

The Schumtzlers

Christmas? Already?

Well folks, it has been another good week here in the good ol Port Washington branch. We had a lot going on that made this week seem like it lasted for no time at all. But at the same time it kinda felt slow by the end of it. It is starting to get dark here at like 4 or 4:30... so that doesn't help the work out too much. But it has still been good! This week we started off with staying in Milwaukee Monday night, and then most of the day Tuesday for an exchange with Elder Ewell, my MTC companion!! It was a super good time in downtown Milwaukee, I don't get to see that place too often, but I got to see a little bit of it this week! We had district council and then Elder Ewell and I went and visited some people with a member of their ward, and we met this really nice recent convert that has been struggling a little bit. We were able to talk with her for quite a while and share a short message at the end, and then she said that she wanted to make her way back to church, and that made me pretty excited! So then on Tuesday night we had a dinner up in Port so we had to fly back up there and had an awesome dinner appointment and then went to the church to help get ready for the parade that will be this Saturday. We taped like 900 candy canes to #LightTheWorld cards and that took way less time than I expected, we had it done in like 30 minutes with the youth! I am super hyped for the parade this next Saturday, but it blows my mind that it will be December already too, so that is crazy.

Then Wednesday we had a pretty good day, it was pretty long though. We had a good walk to the downtown area, and talked to some pretty cool fisherman about the Gospel and then we went to get an oil change.... which really sucks up your time pretty quick. This one was a little longer than normal and Elder Mecham zonked hard in the waiting room... it was pretty funny! Then we had a dinner at a restaurant with a member of the branch and it was some delicious food!

Thursday we had Thanksgiving!! It was a good day. So we woke up and went to the church for the Turkey Bowl that turned out to be us and one other member, lol, but we still had a good time with him throwing the ball around. Then we went home and got dressed and it was time to go to our meal appointment, that was at a nonmembers house! We were there with the family from the branch and this family that they are friends with. So then we had a really good dinner, and stayed around for a few hours and played some pretty fun board games! Honestly some of the best times playing games with them, it was really fun!

Friday was another pretty normal day, we had a lesson with Erv, and that was pretty good! He is doing well, and he wants to keep reading more of the Book of Mormon. So we were reading 3 pages a day, and he said he wanted to do more, so now it is up to 5 pages a day... that puts us into 2 Nephi in less than a week... so it will be fast pace reading with him.

Saturday we helped move a member out of their storage unit. This is a really old couple and they have a lot of stuff.... we moved 2 storage units of stuff into a semi trailer with a few members, and there is another semi trailer at their house... it was a lot of stuff that still needs to be packed, so we will probably end up helping some more with that!

Sunday was a pretty normal Sunday for us here, we actually went out as a branch after church to help this same family pack some stuff up, and we were only there for a short time because a lot of people went. That was just putting it in boxes, not moving things into the trailer yet, so there is a lot still to be done..

Well it blows my mind that it is already that time of year where we get to celebrate Christ's birth again, but I love this time of the year! I hope you all can remember the reason for the season and enjoy the chance to worship Jesus Christ! Remember how much he loves you and wants you to be happy! Love you all!

Elder Reynolds

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hey friends and family!

This week here in Wisconsin was pretty good, but also pretty dang cold! The winter is fast approaching and I am not sure if you can ever be ready for it to be this cold. But I have stayed warm, and continue to find happiness in the work! This week we definitely started to see some things pick up, we were able to have a man named Erv come to church, he has been taught a lot by missionaries in the past, but seems to have a strong desire to continue to learn. We also were able to come up with some cool object lessons for members, who have been super awesome to us! I also went on exchanges with Elder Chue, he is a Hmong elder!

So Monday last week was pretty fun, we did the usual zone sports, and then we did this weird thing where I went down to the Hmong area for the night with Elder Berrett and we were able to have a good time doing the work. Then when we got back that night we played a ton of ping pong. These Elders straight up got a free ping pong table and put it in there apartment and we had a good time playing. So that was pretty much the day on Monday, we balled up during the day.

Tuesday was another pretty good day, we had district council in the morning and then we had the exchange with the Hmong Elders. So I brought Elder Chue up to Port Washington and we had a dinner appointment and were able to do quite a bit of tracting. It was actually pretty successful! We were able to talk to a lot more people than the average day, and then we actually got into a few houses as well. We also got bashed by this guy that works for the christian radio station based out of Milwaukee, so that was kinda neat! But in reality it was good times!

Wednesday we did some more finding in the early hours of the day and then drove down to Milwaukee to meet up with our companions, and then Elder Mecham and I came back up to Port. We had a lesson with this man named Jordan. He is handicap, and can't walk. But he is friends with some members and that is how missionaries first met him. So he is studying to be a pastor somewhere, and he doesn't want to change what he believes... but we were able to have a good discussion with him, and he is really nice about the way he does things! Didn't want to bash us at all, just a genuine guy! Then we went home and had dinner and it was good!

Thursday we did a lot of walking and it wasn't super warm, but it was alright. So we drove to downtown and did a little bit of talking to the fisherman there, and then we walked to a couple potentials that we didn't think were too far, but we took a road that made you loop all the way around to get across a bridge so it ended up being a lot longer than expected.... but it was good! Then we had our weekly planning and did some work out in the boonie towns of our area and had an awesome dinner with a family that lives out there a little ways! We then came back to the church and we did some work on the float that will be in the Christmas parade on Dec 1st! I am super excited for that to happen! The branch will all be on the float and hand out Light the World cards with some candy canes, it is sweet!!

Friday was a good day! We were hoping that we could meet with one of the families in the branch and one of their friends wanted to ask us questions. But she ended up having to babysit so the members still fed us! She made homemade pizza and it was super super good!! Oh we also taught our main man Erv on Friday. He has a solid testimony of the Book of Mormon.... but he has to wait until 2020 to get baptized because he is on probation, so that is kinda sad! But honestly it was a super good discussion with him!

Then Saturday and Sunday were the classic weekend here in Port! Saturday we had our correlation meeting with the branch mission leader and then did some more knocking doors and then had dinner with the same family that we had it with on Thursday! They asked me what my fav food was on Thursday and I said tacos, so they were like "we are having those on Saturday you should come" Wasn't gonna turn down free food, so we were able to go over there again and it was awesome! Sunday was a good day at church! Erv came, and that was awesome! Then we had dinner with the same people as Friday... man these two families sacrifice a lot for us and I appreciate it so much! So it was a good week!

Here is a thought from church this last week!
One of the speakers talked about a talk that Elder Rasband gave as his first General Conference address. It was in October 2015 and it is a super good talk! But the jist of it is that we must learn to see people through God's eyes.  I love that as a missionary I have had to learn that principle. It doesn't matter what people look like, how bad they might seem, how sketchy they might be, etc. It matters that they are a child of God and they have the potential to do even better than we are doing right now! Never forget that you are a child of God!
Hope y'all have a great week!

Elder Reynolds

Snow has come......

Hello all!

This week here in Port Washington was a pretty normal one! But we also had some pretty cool things go down! So first of all we can talk about the weather, it got cold real quick this week.... it was kinda sad. It was fine until Friday morning when we woke up to a couple inches of snow... that made life pretty rough. But it was good for us to get out and work even with the crappy weather! We saw some good stuff from it too!

So last Monday we did a weird exchange with the Hmong elders where I was with Elder Carlson in our area from Monday night to Wednesday morning. So it was longer than normal but it turned out to be really good for us! Elder Carlson is a hmong elder, and so that's always crazy. But he is a super cool kid, and I enjoy working with him. So Tuesday we were able to make some time and go knock doors and it turned out to be successful! We met a kid named Eric who we will probably end up referring down to the YSA ward in Milwaukee, but he seemed super cool and we are working on getting an appointment with him!

Then on Wednesday we had district council and then Elder Mecham came back up to Port with me. It was a pretty slow day, and then we ended up doing some knocking and stopping by some older potentials, but it was dark and nobody likes you at the door step so it was rough. But we ended up meeting a family and getting there phone number so we are pretty excited for them!

Then Thursday we had another good day! We did some rake contacting and the good ol weekly planning! We then heard from the members that own the rakes we have been using and they said they would like them back so they could get rid of the leaves before the snow came..... I was so mad that the snow was going to come, but we were able to go and help them clean up their yard, and meet one of their nonmember friends! So we are pretty excited for that situation, we are able to do a lot of work with them and it is the bomb! So we finished that, and then we had dinner and that was pretty much the rest of the night, days seem to go by super fast here so that is good!

Friday we had calls, we played some bowling with the people at the senior center and had a good time there. They have a ramp that they push it down, but then we had to give the ball back and set up the pins, and wow that wasn't super hard, buy my back was hurtin the rest of the day from bending down so much haha! It was really good though, we love to go and serve them, they keep it pretty entertaining too! The member who had signed up to feed us had some other stuff going on and so they quickly brought us Noodles and Co, and that was a good dinner. So it was sad because we didn't get to sit down with them, but good food!! Then we also got in with a guy named Erv, he has been trying to get baptized for the last couple of years, but he can't because he is on probation. So missionaries have been meeting with him for a long time with very little success, but he knows it is all true he said, so that is good! We are hoping to start meeting with him at least every other week!

Saturday was pretty rough. Elder Mecham woke up and he wasn't feeling too great, he thinks he ate some bad chicken on Friday. So basically we did the things we had set for, but then Elder Mecham needed to rest, so we kinda just chilled between our appointments. It was hard not to be doing anything.... but he got feeling better by Sunday morning so that was good! So we had a correlation meeting with our Branch mission leader, and a dinner appointment with a family. So before dinner we did a little bit of work, and then afterwards we took it easy.

Then on Sunday we had church, and then we had studies, then I got to call the district to get their numbers. It was pretty good, then we went and followed up with some people and did some knocking before we went over to dinner. We got to our dinner and they were telling us the score of the Packer game... so we realized that we probably shouldn't have been doing too much for the last hour, but luckily we didn't get yelled at!

That was pretty much the week. Here is a short spiritual thought for ya:
Elder Rasband shared in this last conference that God does not want us to just become trained pets that don't chew on His shoes in the Celestial living room, but he wants us to have a desire to choose and do what is right no matter the situation. I know that we can develop that, it won't come quickly or easily, but by following the promptings of the Holy Ghost we have the chance to grow and learn to do what God would have us do each and every day!

Hope you all have a marvelous week!

Elder Reynolds
1580 W Portview Dr. #5
Port Washington, WI 53074

We found the flag thing on a door step haha

Baptism Interviews!!

Hey all,

This week has been super weird! We haven't had nearly as much time as I would want to proselyte because we have meetings and exchanges, and so it has taken up some time that I would rather be teaching or finding. There is a lot of really good things starting to happen, and I am excited to be here in the Port Washington branch! We have some members that are just amazing, and it makes for a good time! We have been able to borrow some rakes from some members and take them door to door and try to find people by serving them! It was awesome to see how much more wiling people were to listen to us when we had rakes instead of just our weird outfits(; But overall it has been a good week, Tuesday was zone conference and we talked about a LOT of stuff! But it was really uplifting and motivating for me! There was a lot of talk about how we can help the mission reach the goal of 200 baptisms this year, so that was good, and we all have the goal to baptize someone by the end of the year! I am excited to try and achieve that!

Then we left and I went with Elder Mckonkie, who is the great grandson of Bruce R. Mckonkie, so that was fun! He is in "the hood" if you will.. The ward is Parkway, and it covers the majority of the sketchy parts of Milwaukee so they see some pretty weird stuff, but luckily we had something to do at night, so it wasn't too bad! We were able to help someone move and then have a dinner appointment with an awesome member! So then the next morning and until about 4, and we had a ton of appointments! So it was the busiest day of my mission for sure, but it was super good. We were able to have a car with us, and that made it a lot easier!

Thursday we had a super cool visit with this guy that lived in the middle of nowhere. So we try to go out with members to visit people 2 times a week, and we usually get one of the two, so this week was Thursday. We meet up with Bro. Earl and we drove for like 30 minutes to get to this house in the middle of the country. But he is this 70 year old Marine vet, and it was super cool to talk to him. We hope to be able to visit him again but we will see what happens. He hasn't been to church in probably like 30 years... but everyone is worth a shot!

Friday, we had calls that take two hours, and then we had the rakes so we went and did a lot of raking for random strangers and that was honestly pretty fun! It is way more effective to the people that are home and need it than trying to tract the entire city.. We really enjoyed that, so we did it for a few hours, and then we had dinner and Elder Mecham made some really bomb wings. It was delicious.

Saturday was another day of raking and then we also had to drive down to Milwaukee so I could do some baptismal interviews and it was awesome! They are some of my favorite things to do as a missionary!! I got to do 3, and they are all some younger kids being taught in our areas. They are part member families, so since they are kids it becomes a little bit weird! But honestly still one of my favorite things to do.

Sunday was super good, we had a regional conference! Elder Holland was presiding and he talked about Missionary work and gathering scattered Israel. So that was pretty much the coolest thing ever. Anytime an apostle encourages someone to do missionary work I get pretty excited! So then we did a lesson with some of my favorite people in the branch and it was awesome!! They have a lot of kids that all want to share the gospel with their friends and we look forward to how they are blessed for their efforts!

Well that is the sum of the week, thank you for all your love and support!

Elder Reynolds

Port Washington or Milwaukee?

So this week was super hectic for me because of exchanges and then we had stake conference this weekend. So we came to Milwaukee on P day last week, then had district meeting in Milwaukee and I stayed down there for that exchange. Then on the next day we had an exchange with the Hmong elders where I stayed in Port! So Wednesday night and Thursday I was finally working in my own area again. Then on Saturday we had stake conference so we were in Milwaukee for that, and Sunday it was broadcast up to us so we were able to stay up in our area for a little while longer! That was my week in a nutshell, basically we had a lot of administrative stuff to take care of and it made it harder to make the time to find people to teach! Right now our area has nobody that is being taught.... it is really hard for me, but its good. The branch here is super supportive and helpful in all that we do and I really enjoy that, but it has been hard because we don't have a lot of success on our own finding and teaching! There is a lot of people that are nice, but they just never seem to be interested in the Gospel of Jesus Christ! So we keep working and trying.

Monday was really fun last week, we did a lot of playing basketball, and some missionaries carved pumpkins up on the stage but that was pretty much all that we ended up doing. Then on Tuesday we had district meeting and I stayed in Milwaukee for the exchange with Elder Pinter! He is a really good dude, and we had a good time finding some people in the city! I have never worked near Milwaukee before this and there were so many people around it was crazy! Not super bad for us, but it was fun! There are a lot of poor people that are really nice, but hard to get back in with. So they have a lot of people that they continually try by, and it made for a good day!

Then on Wednesday I went back to my area with Elder Berrett who I have done a couple exchanges with before and it was super good to work with him again! I had no clue what was going on because I hadn't worked in my area at all in the last 24 hours, and then I was going there with someone who has never served there at all... so it was rough, but we figured things out! Thursday afternoon while I was with Elder Berrett we ran into a man that his grandpa had freed from a prisoner of war camp in WW2, so that was really  neat! Elder Berrett knew he lived in Port and wanted to see if he could contact him and he was able to, so that was awesome! Then we went and met up with Elder Mecham and his comp for the day, so now I was finally back with my companion in my area... that was a few weird days!

Friday we had some service at an old folks home, we had calls, and then we had the branch Halloween party!! It was a really good day! We dressed up like a farmer and a cow and it was super fun! The family that we are hoping to start teaching their son was there, as well as a few people that usually don't come to events! So it was good for us to be there and meet all of them!

Saturday and Sunday were highlighted by Stake Conference. We had a visiting general authority 70! Elder Donald Hallstrom, and he reminded me a lot of elder Holland in the way that he acted and spoke. But he gave some really good talks about becoming truly converted and helping others do the same, I absolutely loved it!

So a quick thought about being converted, he said something along the lines of: Our conversion is a process that is based on our actions. We have to act to be truly converted to the Lord. Obviously as a missionary I want to help people to become converted, but that makes me need it even more for myself. There is nothing you can teach unless you are in the process of conversion! So think to yourself, "What can I do to become more fully converted to the Lord? What should I stop doing? What should I start doing?" I promise if you do this, and then do what the spirit prompts you to do, you will find more happiness and peace!

Hope you all have a great week!
Elder Reynolds

Port Washington!

Hello all!

This week has been really good! The first couple days we were able to say goodbye to some members in the YSA ward over in Madison. It was rough to leave that area, but it has been a really good change for me! My new comp elder Mecham is from Oregon! He is hilarious, and we have gotten along pretty well so far! So Monday turned out to be kinda lame. So we thought about going to a corn maze, decided that we didn't want to and we would play sports, but then the whole zone decided to go to the corn maze so that kinda screwed us over! But it turned out to be pretty good still. We got to play a little bit of sports and then we had some good times playing! I played basketball the best that I have in a really long time!

Then Tuesday we ended up having a dinner with Joseph and Son at some little hole in the wall Vietnamese restaurant called Nams Noodles. It was pretty good for my last dinner in Madison! Then I had the great adventure of packing on Tuesday night.. I always think I have tons of room, and then I don't, so it makes for a fun time repacking things the second or third time! But in all reality it wasn't too bad and I got it packed up!

Wednesday was pretty crazy honestly! We drove to Milwaukee and then we had to wait at the church for like 3 hours... so that was rough. Then we were on our way back and we get a phone call that we need to help someone move, and that was interesting. We left right as we got back to the apartment and got back at 9... so it was a pretty long move, and all we did was put the stuff into storage! But they have a 12 year old kid who isn't baptized and might want to be in the next couple months so we are really excited! Then a member took us to dinner after the move so that turned out to be a really good day!

Thursday was pretty normal for a Thursday here in this area. We have this pier in our area that a ton of people fish at, and it has been one of the ways that Elder Mecham and his last companion have found people is by talking to them on the pier while they fish. So in the morning we went down there and tried to do some of that sort of contacting and it went alright! We met this really nice guy who was from Germany and had moved here a few years ago. He was nice, but as soon as we started to try and bring up the gospel it didn't turn out so great. Then we walked back, and we walked a ton. The pier is probably like 30 minutes away, but we have been doing a car fast kinda to save miles. It turned out to be really good, because now I know the area pretty well, or at least the downtown part of our area.

Friday we ended up with a lot of things going on. We thought we were going to have service in the morning, and then that fell through, so we ended up with a lot of time to find. So we went down to the pier again and that ended up to be a not so great idea. There was a storm that made it so nobody was there, so we ended up pretty much turning around and walking back... It was pretty sad! Then we had calls... and oh my goodness. We have a huge district, so that means I have to call all of them, so we ended up with 2 hours of calls in a single day. That is way too long for me to sit in one place on the phone, but such is life. It turned out to be good, but then we had a dinner appointment clear up in Random Lake, and yes, there is a random lake there... and yes, it is super in the middle of nowhere. But the members were super nice and the family we helped move in was there as well! I loved that!

Saturday we were able to teach Jawan, and that made the day turn out way better than it looked like at the beginning. Jawan was someone we found while knocking doors on Thursday and he had told us to come back on the weekend! We didn't think he would actually hold his appointment but he did!! So we were really excited for that to work out! He didn't have the chance to come to church this week, but we are planning to meet with him again this coming week! There is a lot of good work starting here.

Sunday was a pretty normal Sunday with our church and studies and then we had a dinner appointment that was really far away again so we ended up hitting some potentials on the way up there so we could get some work done! It turned out to be really good because we found this guy named Alex, who wasn't on there already, but lived at the same address of someone who had been interested before! Anyway he said we could come back! So I am pretty excited for the work here in this area!

So a little bit about my new area. Port Washington, Wisconsin!! It is about a 45 minute drive north of Milwaukee. So everyone in the mission is like how is Milwaukee?? And I'm like, I'm not even in Milwaukee. But turns out that this place is really pretty sweet! I don't know the population but it is small! There is only a branch, not a ward. So this is branch number 2 for me on my mission. But there are probably 3 or 4 surrounding towns that we have the potential to work in. The biggest one is called Grafton, and it is actually bigger than Port Washington! But the branch here has only been around for like 15 years, and the building we meet in only has been there for like 8 years! So the church is young here in this area!

Well I hope you all have a great week! Love ya!

Elder Reynolds