Transfer Week!

So this week was pretty good! I haven't done a good job keeping track of what we have done so it might be a little all over the place. But it was still a really good week! So to start with the big news, I am getting transferred! I'm super sad to be leaving, but that is what it is. I really have loved this area and all the people in it. There is so much good to be done and I wish I could stay longer, which is kinda weird cause usually I want change. But life happens and it's up to the Lord so wherever he will have me go I will go. I'll be headed to Madison Campus!! This is an area that almost everyone in the mission thinks would be fun to go to! There is a lot of cool stories I have heard about the place. So I am pretty excited to head to a big city and get to work! My new companion will be another greenie from the MTC. This will be the third time I have picked up a trainee so I am pretty excited again! But I don't know his name yet, so that is weird!

So other than that this week was really fun! We had our last district council of the transfer and then we had exchanges with the Appleton 1 elders. So I was able to do some work with Elder Pisciotta for a day and that was really fun! He is a great kid and we really enjoyed the work we were able to do. So I'll try to go through this day by day.

Monday last week was pretty normal for a p day. We went down to Neenah and played some sports and then we had dinner a little early so we didn't get to play around for too long but it was still fun! Other than that we just did the normal stuff!

Tuesday we had a super long district council to start the day off, and then we did quite a bit of finding. We didn't have a ton of success but we found a couple of really nice people that were willing to have us come back, but I guess I won't ever see if they go anywhere cause I am leaving... So that's kinda weird to think about.

Wednesday. We started our day different because someone wanted us to come to teach them at 10, so we did our comp study first so we could be prepared for that, and then that ended up falling through so it was kinda awkward and we just ended up coming back for personal study right after haha. And then we did a little bit of walking to try and visit some people, also we are running kinda low on miles. But we had to drive clear out to the middle of nowhere for our dinner appointment so we needed to save some miles! But it was an awesome dinner and we got to visit some other people that we usually don't while we were out there.

Thursday. Today we were on exchanges for most of the day. I was with elder Pisciotta and it was super fun! We had a lot of time to find people and so we did a lot of knocking, and it was super fun! Honestly it went by super fast so that was really cool! Then we had our dinner with the McGinns who are super cool and that was fun stuff. I had jumbulia for the first time and that was really good! And then we basically exchanged back right after that kinda early because Elder Pisciottas comp had a super bad migraine so they were in the apartment. So we went to rescue Elder Raymer from the boredom in the apartment and give him some fresh air at the end of the day. So that made for a good day!

Friday. We had a pretty long day. We had to do calls, and then we had to weekly plan too so that was pretty lame. It cause for like 5 hours in the apartment... So that was a long time. Then we were able to get out and teach a lesson and then we had a few other people to stop by and that was pretty much the day. It's not fun to have to sit in the apartment for that long!

Saturday was pretty rough. We had a couple of appointments fall through. But we were able to meet a cool family in the ward that I hadn't met before to teach them quest. So that was really cool. But that was pretty much all the good that happened. We also walked to a person's house at like 8:30 and we are pretty sure we saw a drug deal going down... That was pretty awkward.

Sunday was super fun. We found out I was leaving for sure in the morning so it was my last Sunday in Appleton. It was kinda rough because there is so much other stuff going on, but also I want to say goodbye to all the members that I have made friends with, so it's hard. But we were able to do a little bit of both today. It was a good mixture of missionary work and saying goodbye to members. I really hope I get to come back at some point!

So for a spiritual thought. This scripture has been on my mind a lot recently and I think it's really cool. Matthew 16:25 "Whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and who soever will lose his life for my sake shall find it"
I find it really cool that as we make the time and sacrifice for the Lord he is able to help us so much more! I know that he is there and wanting to help us, and as we take the time to obey his commandments and serve others he will bless us so much more than we can imagine!

I hope you all have a great week!
Elder Reynolds

Hmong girls and exchanges!

This week was definitely a good one! We started out on Monday with a fantastic P day! We had a good time playing sports in Appleton again and then we had a bomb dinner with a recent convert family! It is so cool to see their progress and testimonies build!

Tuesday - well today we had District Council. We have been studying the new update to preach my gospel and learning about it. It is kind of boring to just read through preach my gospel for the district Council, so I decided to play jeopardy to make things more entertaining. It actually went really well, and everybody liked it a lot! Then later today we had exchanges with the zone leaders. Elder Cox came to our area with me, and we had a good time.

Wednesday- all day today I was with other Cox. Well until like 7. Most of the day was spent trying to find more people to teach, and actually went pretty well! We were able to find a few people who invited us to come back! Then we also taught a lesson on tender mercies, which I really loved. If you get the chance read elder Bednar's talk about them, it's from 2005 and it's called the tender mercies of the Lord. It is super cool!

Thursday- today basically consisted of finding and weekly planning. A lot of it was taken by that, then at the end of the day we were finally able to teach the Stoltz family! Sadly... The kids were not as ready as we had been told, but they are still willing to learn and their mom would love to see them join the church so it's cool to be able to teach them!

Friday- so today I was in the Hmong area again. It was super fun to be with elder rich and to learn to speak a little bit of Hmong. I tried to learn a door approach, but that did not work out very well. I just sounded like an idiot trying to sing a foreign language... And I thought it was easy... But then later in the day we met four Hmong girls that are going to be seniors in high school. We weren't sure if they were meeting with us because they were interested in the gospel, or in us... but they told us we could come back, and Hmong people usually don't do that so we were excited, but also scared because they were four high schoolers.. so we had a good discussion with them outside about what they believe and all sorts of weird stuff. The funniest thing about it was that one of them goes "do you have girlfriends?" So that was pretty weird... But I will say, I am glad that I don't have to worry about them being interested or just flirting. Elder Rich can handle that 😉

Saturday - today was bomb! We were able to get back in with two of the people we have been wanting to get in with and teach them! We also were surprised when one of them promised us and told us he would be to church. So miracles do happen in Appleton!

Sunday - well today was pretty good, but nobody that told us they would come to church did... So we were pretty sad. It was still a good meeting, and spirit was very strong! We had a super fun dinner appointment, and then went to teach some members how they can better do missionary work! It was really fun, and a great overall week!

Spiritual thought:
This week, I have been studying a lot about tender mercies! As I said before, Elder Bednar gave a super cool talk about it and I also like 1 Nephi 1:20. Nephi tells us that the tender mercies of the Lord will be over all the Lord's children, and he'll give us the power of deliverance! I usually don't think of tender mercies giving us that kind of power, but I know that it is true and that the Lord is willing to bless us and does bless us! We will see it more when we are aware of it!

Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Reynolds

Lots of Finding, Knocking Doors and Followup

Monday! So today was a pretty good day! We went down to Neenah and played sports! It was really fun, and one of the sisters in our district made a tie and ended up giving it to me so that was pretty cool! P day is always a blast!


Tuesday- Today we did a lot of walking again! There is nothing wrong with that, but sometimes it gets pretty tiring! Although today we were able to find a couple of cool people while we were walking that we usually wouldn't have talked to! There was a lady walking towards us on the street and I had some cards in my pocket and I didn't know what to say so I just asked her "have you heard of Mormons before?" So it was kind of awkward, but it was really funny because she had dated a Mormon! Good times good times.

Wednesday - Today we had interviews with President Williams! He is an awesome man and then after interviews we had District meeting. It was all about the changes to preach my gospel which are pretty neat. We also had an appointment with a family, we took one of the youth to it, but it ended up falling through... so that was sad, but then the priest we had with us took us out to ice cream! So that was a blessing!

Thursday- Today was pretty fun! We did our weekly planning first thing in the morning, and that is never fun. But then we were able to go help a part-member family move some wood! They live right next to the river so we had to hike all these sticks and branches up a steep hill! It had rained that morning so it was a little bit sketchy but that makes it all the more fun. We also taught a lesson to Troy and Crystal again, and hopefully they will start to come to church!

Friday- Today consisted of a lot of finding and some follow up! We were able to get in contact with a couple of people, one of them that let us teach her on the doorstep! She is going to be out of town for 2 weeks, but after that said she would come to church! Today was crazy weather! We had rain in the morning, then it got really hot and humid, and then the sunset was gorgeous! So it was a pretty cool day.

Saturday - We did a whole lot of knocking doors today! And about halfway through the day we met 3 really cool people within like 30 minutes! One of them, before we even said anything asked us "do you want to come inside?" And let me tell you, you don't have to ask me twice to come inside! Especially when it's 90° outside! He didn't have time right then, but we are going back to teach him and a couple of his neighbor's this coming week!

Sunday - So a couple of cool things happened this week in our district! One of them was in our Ward, an 11 year old girl came to church and wanted to be baptized! It's kind of sad because she lives in the Neenah Ward boundaries, but it was still really cool to see someone want the gospel in their life! Hopefully I will get to interview her for baptism when she is ready! Also one of the other sets of elders was teaching this guy a long time ago, and today he came to church and it's going to be baptized in the next couple of weeks! He was really ready but then had some health issues, so now he is getting better and is ready!

I hope you all have a wonderful week, the Lord provides blessings to us when we do as he asks. This week also helped me to build a testimony of praying and seeing the results.  We have had a lot of cool things happen that make every hard day worth it! If you ever doubt that the Lord answers prayers, look a little harder for the way He is doing it, because it is always there! Love ya all, have a good one!

Elder Reynolds

Zone Conference - playing the Harmonica

Monday- today was a pretty fun day! We had p day and then the rest of the night was doing some follow-up with some potentials. We played sports in Appleton on the carpet, which kind of sucked. But then we got to go to dinner with this kid in the Appleton first Ward. He took us to Texas Roadhouse! So that was really good.

Tuesday- well today was the 3rd of July, and the big firework show in Appleton was tonight! So our day was a little rough because nobody was home. We did some knocking in the afternoon with very little success, and then had a couple of BBQs we were invited to. One of them, half of the ward was at. And other one was with a part member family! So we basically had to dinners, and I ate a lot. It was not healthy, but it was good!

Wednesday- Well it was hot today! Like 95 with 95 percent humidity.  So we started the day out by trying to contact people on the streets. The Main Street, College Ave had absolutely nobody on it... So it was pretty rough. And we walked around and I was sweating like crazy. We decided that it would be best to do our weekly planning today so we didn't have to try and bother people. Then we practiced our musical number for zone conference and had dinner! It was a pretty good holiday.

Thursday- today we had zone conference! Elder Raymer and I played come come ye Saints on the harmonica! It was pretty dope! So then we went to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner and that was pretty good! And even better, I got to go on exchanges afterwards with Elder Jeffs in Appleton 1. So it turned out to be a great day!

Friday - Today, Elder Jeffs and I biked around all day long. Gladly, it wasn't as hot as it was on Wednesday, but it was still pretty warm. We were able to contact a few people and teach a couple of lessons! One of them to a guy who was drunk and hilarious! My butt is pretty sore... Bike seats are the most uncomfortable thing of all time.

Saturday - Today I was back with elder Raymer! We had some good times. Lots of knocking doors, and visiting people! We were able to set up a few appointments for next week! All day today we were walking, so we probably walked almost 10 miles. It was really fun though!

Sunday- Well today we woke up and went to ward council and then church. After church we had lunch. Then we went out to little Chute! There are a ton of people out there that we are working with right now. So we were able to visit them, and set up appointments with them for next week. We are excited!

Spiritual thought-
Here's a little something I found interesting this last week. During sacrament meeting I was reading the words to the him I know that my Redeemer lives and a line struck me. It was the line in the second verse that says he lives to silence on my fears, he lives to wipe away my tears. I think that describes how Christ feels about us perfectly. He is there to help us when we are afraid, and to comfort us when we are frightened, saddened, or just need help! I know that He lives and loves each of us!

Elder Reynolds

Found a Fairway business -  same company my dad works for

95 degrees and 95 % Humidity and it shows

Bike day with Elder Jeffs (exchanges)

Happy 4th of July!!

So this week I'm going to try something new again with this group email, I am going to start writing each day some stuff about that day so I don't have to write as much later on. Kind of like a journal entry.

So we will start with Monday. Today was a pretty good day, we had a blast for P day because some elders from farther away in Sheboygan came over for sports and most of the day. We played some really good basketball and had a blast overall! But it was really fun and we were able to visit some people afterwards. One of them was actually really cool and open to having us come back and teach more!

Tuesday- so today was a pretty solid day. We did studies and then went to District meeting. District meeting was all about the goals for the month of July, which we set a little higher than last month. We all decided that we need to pray for them  so we can see them happen. It was really good and the we have some really good ideas as to how we can apply what we talked about. So then after District meeting we had lunch and started going to visit people. We tried by a few people and it seems like nobody was going to be home, so we did some knocking and still nobody was home or interested. So it was a little rough, but then we had a really cool dinner with the Danes family! Their son just got home from a mission and cooked some rice stuff called couscous that he picked up while he was on his mission. And it was really good! So a little bit earlier in the day something funny happened, we were standing on the street because a member was walking by so we were talking to him. And this lady yelled from the car and we are pretty sure she said you are hot as heck... But you can imagine she didn't say heck. It was pretty funny!

Wednesday - so today I have been on exchanges with elder Parker all day! He is really cool dude and he speaks that weird language called Hmong! So I didn't really understand a whole lot of what happened all day, but we were able to teach one lesson in English and it was pretty good. We were teaching a guy named Lee and he was super depressed at the beginning of our visit. But as we started to talk to him we were able to see his attitude change and he opened up to us! So I didn't eat any Gross food this time, but it was still really fun! We did a lot of finding and we actually found someone for our area that I am excited for!

Thursday- another good day you in Appleton. We started out by doing our studies. I have now started a side-by-side study of the old preach my gospel and the new one that is on Gospel Library! It has been really cool to see how much emphasis the first presidency and apostles are putting on using the name Jesus Christ! Also we no longer have investigators they are people being taught. So it's a little different but not that big of a change. So the rest of the day was a little rough, we had weekly planning and that's never the funnest... And then we went out to Little Chute and again not too many people were home. So we did a little bit of knocking and this lady went on and told us a story about her driftwood, we thought it was. But turns out it was a stump from some family thing. Then we went to the Weber's for dinner! And it was super cool. They are doing some awesome Missionary work and also cooked us some bomb food. Elder Raymer likes to draw penguins and is now going to draw the Weber's sons as penguins, and I think it will be cool. But it was a good day!

Friday - so today it was about 90° with 90% humidity... So that was great, not. It's crazy how much you can sweat... But we woke up early this morning to go play basketball in Neenah because a bunch of missionaries were here for MLC. So that was fun, and then we came back and we studied and had to call all of the district. And then we were able to go by a few potentials and meet with one of them again, her name is Leah and she is super cool! She really wants to come to church! So then we went to dinner and had some weird chicken peanut butter, but it was also spicy. So it was unique, but pretty good! Then we went and helped people move, it was a part member family, who is really nice. But might not have a ton of desire to come back to church or get baptized. So we did a lot of hard work and got pretty sweaty, but it was fun!

Saturday- so I thought yesterday was hot but then today happened. Literally standing outside I would start sweating in like 5 seconds without doing anything. So it's been a little weird, but today we ended up helping two people move! So we got a call late last night from some elders in Green Bay, that told us some non members were moving to Appleton and wanted us to help them. So of course we were all for it, and then we found out it started at 6 a.m.... It's earlier than we normally wake up. So we did it, and it actually went super well! But we were tired... So then after the move we had some time to do normal work until the afternoon when we finished the move from yesterday, and it was so hot. I'm pretty sure I sweat like a gallon of stuff out of my body. Hopefully it's helping me lose weight haha. But after the move we had dinner and put names in the area book so that was fun! Another good day.

Sunday- today was a pretty cool Sunday, we were hoping Leah would be able to come to church but she told us that she won't to be able to make it. Also penny told us she couldn't make it... So we were kind of sad. But we were still able to have two investigators at church and we are meeting with them on Tuesday! Their mom is a recent convert and they are super cool and pretty promising. So then after church today we came back and did studies and then went to try to find people and do some finding. Not many people were home, I'm not sure where everyone is all the time because I swear know one is ever home. So then we had dinner with the Ekins and did area book again, and that was pretty much the day. It was good, but I am drained because of yesterday.

So that was the week, it was really good and the area is starting to grow with people to teach! Elder Raymer and I are excited to continue to work here. Here is a spiritual thought for y'all:
So at church on Sunday in class we talked about how being idle is not good. I have found it very true that temptation does not come to someone who is focused on doing the work of them Lord. When we are focused on doing something, we are able to withstand the temptations that do come. As a missionary you are always doing something, and it helps you to avoid and forget the temptation. I know that if we stay focused on doing something that the Lord would have us do we will be able to overcome the temptations in our lives.

I hope you all have a fantastic week. Enjoy the 4th of July, I am grateful for the opportunity we have to live in such a wonderful country and have the freedoms that we do! Always remember that others in the world do not have that same privilege that we do!

Elder Reynolds