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

TRANSFERS!

Well this week felt pretty long! A lot of really good stuff happened, but also a lot of really sad things happened. And to top it all off I am getting transferred 😭😭 I am going to Port Washington branch! It is just north of Milwaukee and my new companion is Elder Mecham! I don't know a ton about the guy, but I am excited to work with him!
I am really going to miss serving here in Madison in the YSA ward and all the great people I got to meet! Also, I am going to miss the great missionaries I have been blessed to serve around, but the great thing about a mission is that you have a new start to do the exact same thing again! I am grateful for the experiences that I have had, and look forward to having more great ones as the time continues to fly by!

So last Monday we had our p day, which we just chilled at the institute building with the district and played some ping pong and pool! That was pretty fun, and then FHE was cancelled so that night we had some finding and then pretty much called it a night!

Then Tuesday we had a normal day of work! We had a ton of time to find in the morning, so we decided to take a bus and try a different area than normal! It turned out working really well! The main reason we went was for this girl named Sol, and she came to church this week!! So that was really good to see! Then we also had an awesome lesson with Brennan, and he is sooo close! He loves the gospel and everything we teach him, but he is afraid of commitment... so we are working with him for that!

Wednesday we had district council and then I had one of my favorite exchanges of all time with Elder Roberts! He is the funniest guy to be around, and we had a good time working hard in the rain... the rain ruins missionary work in this area because nobody wants to stand in the rain longer than they have to, and you get to stop them and try to keep them paying attention. So that was a struggle, but turned out alright!

Thursday was also a good day, it was weird because there was no institute... so that meant we didn't have a class at the end of the day and we got more time to find! It was really cool! Then at like 10:20 PM we get a phone call from some random sisters in new Zealand, so we were confused. But then we talked to them for a little bit and we figured out there was this guy in the hospital that wanted us to come and visit, and he's not a member!

So first things first on Friday we head over to the hospital and meet this guy named Zach that invited us. Turns out they are in the psych ward, so we had to leave like all of our stuff outside. Then we go in and he says, "I wanted this a little bit for me, but mostly for Alesha" so I'm like okay who is that? Turns out Alesha is a member that I had met in Green Bay! We had tried teaching her family up there, but then I got transferred and nobody knows what happened after that, until now! So we were able to catch up, obviously not that good of a time since she is here... but good to see a familiar face! So then we taught Brennan again and it was awesome! He is so willing to learn, I love it!

Saturday was a pretty normal day, except we had an appointment with a guy named Newton! He is from China has very little background on God or Jesus Christ or anything like that! So it was fun to answer his complex questions! He is a math PhD student, so he is brilliant, but it's crazy to try and understand what he asks! And his English is good, but still a little hard to understand. So turned out to be a good lesson, and then we had correlation and dinner and that was pretty much the night!

Sunday morning I found out I was leaving and so the rest of the day was just joking with the members and saying see you later! But it was a great church meeting, and Brennan came for the first 2 hours so that was really good! Then we had a potluck that night and it was delicious!

Spiritual thought!
Read conference talks!!! They will bless your life so much! I love Elder Rasband's talk from Saturday morning, he talked about how we need not fear when we are doing what the lord asks!

Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Reynolds

General Conference!

This week was fantastic! It feels like it has been about 2 days since I last emailed because of the Tuesday thing last week! But I will try to keep you all updated with everything! But let's first talk about general conference! I have never in my life felt the confirmation of the spirit as powerfully as I did when President Nelson spoke to us, he is a prophet of God and the words that he spoke this weekend are true! I love that we have the spirit to help us discover truth, and I hope that you all know that you can receive answers through the Spirit! I know that I was able to receive them as I watched conference, and I know that if we take the prophets counsel to go back and re read and listen to the talks given, we can find answers again to help us in our daily lives!

So now let's rewind to Tuesday! It was a pretty normal p day! We went to this place called burgrito! They make a hamburger into a burrito and it's pretty good! There is only one in the state of Wisconsin and it is closed on Mondays so we decided to go since we had p day on Tuesday! Then we just chilled at the institute building and played pool and ping pong the rest of the day! Good times!

Wednesday was a good day! We had a lesson with Brennan and we were able to teach him the Gospel of Jesus Christ! He is still trying to find out for himself how to get answers, sadly he didn't watch conference to help, but we should be meeting with him shortly to talk about it some more! Then we had exchanges Wednesday night and I went to the zone leaders area with Elder Cox, who I have now been on like 4 or 5 exchanges with! So that's a lot, and there is so much I have learned from him! But it is always good to be around him! We were able to teach a lesson that night to Mirco, this really cool dude that might come to institute!

Thursday we ended up on exchanges for longer than expected because of the ways schedules worked out. Elder Cox played some organ at a funeral that neither of us knew about until the day of. Then we did some finding and exchanged back! That's pretty much all I remember about Thursday!

Friday we had the zone leaders car because they car pooled to a meeting with some other elders and that was great for us! We had a service opportunity in the morning and the car cut our travel time in half, and then we gave the car to the other set of elders because we realized that all we would be doing the rest of the day was weekly planning! So we went back and did our weekly planning and a little bit of contacting people, and then we get a message from Son so that started a rollercoaster of searching through the journal of discourses to read something he didn't like... sometimes I don't know where he gets this stuff from!  But it was pretty easy to handle, so that fire got put out! And Son watched conference, so that was a good thing!

Saturday we pretty much watched conference, did our studies and then had a little bit of time that we thought we were going to be able to find, but turns out that we had to do calls so that was the rest of the day haha!

Sunday was pretty much the same thing! Our ward had an activity before conference where we made pumpkin spice pancakes, and I didn't think I would like them but they were really really good! It was awesome, but we rode with some members and for some reason we all had heard that it started at 9:15 so we got there at 9:30 and there was no one there... so turns out it was at 10, so we ended up playing at a park for about 30 minutes before we went over to the house! It was awesome! I have some fun pictures!  Then we were able to enjoy conference with all the members at the church and even one of the members invited a new friend and he came and we taught him the first lesson! So we are excited that we have a new person to teach too!

So that sums up my week! There is a lot of cool stuff happening! Transfers are next week and there will probably be some switch up with our companionship! But I hope you all got the chance to watch some conference and get some answers! If not do it this week! Stay blessed!

Elder Reynolds

P Day got moved!

Hey all!

First of all sorry I didn't send an email yesterday, mostly sorry I forgot to mention I wouldn't be in my emails last week.. my bad! But we are here, I'm alive, and all is well! The reason we weren't able to have p day yesterday is because we had our interviews with president William's! I love the days that we are able to do that, it's the best! So we moved our p day to today because we had those meetings yesterday! So the week has felt really long with that extra day before p day but it has also been really good! The work in our area is starting to pick up we are finding more people to teach!

So I will start with a fun story that happened on exchanges! So we get to do exchanges with the Spanish elders who also don't have a car so that makes things pretty interesting. But I was in their area with Elder Rollo and we were in the same area that we had worked in last time we had an exchange, so I felt like we should go and talk to this lady that we had met while I was there last time. So we go and knock on this door and her 18 year old daughter came out and was super nice and said they could come back and teach her too! So now the whole family will probably be taught and that will be sweet for those elders! So that was Wednesday, so I'll rewind to Monday! I forgot that we actually had 2 exchanges this week, so after p day last Monday and then after district council on Wednesday! So basically Elder Winborg and I didn't work together in our area until Thursday afternoon! So that was pretty crazy, but also pretty fun! On Tuesday in our area, I was with Elder Thacker and we got the privilege of teaching Brennan! He is so excited about the Gospel I love it! We told him about the plan of salvation and he really liked the concept of it and said it felt more like a God that loved him and wanted a better life for him! I think that is exactly what the plan of salvation should teach all of us! Anyway that was an awesome lesson!

So it's been rainy all week which makes life pretty difficult for us because we have very little opportunities to talk to people on the street because people don't like the rain! So we tried a few different things but it was good! We had our district council on Wednesday and that was great as ever! Then that was the day I was with Elder Rollo, and then we got back to our area together on Thursday and we had a good time since then! We had institute Thursday night and then we met with a member to help her do missionary work after that and it was pretty much the day!

Friday we had service at the food pantry in the morning, where we actually got someone that was interested in having the missionaries come over! Sadly she wasn't ysa so we sent her over to the other elders but she's awesome! Then we had our studies still, had a short amount of time to find and then had a game night at the institute with the ward! It was sweet, because 2 non members came!! We were able to talk to Son some more even though he won't set up an appointment with us, so that was super beneficial!

Saturday was really interesting, if you follow me on Facebook you probably noticed we had a little stand at the Farmers Market here in Madison! It was worth trying but really it wasn't that successful.. we were able to hand out a few cards and stuff and then one person even wanted the Book of Mormon!  So that was really good! We have so many ways to find people here in Madison, and that was a new idea we had! It was worth a shot but it didn't go quite as well as I thought it would haha! Funny story of the week though, while we were there these weird "missionaries" from all over the place walked up to us. There were 4 of them and they talked to us for a little while and you could tell they weren't actually interested in the Book of Mormon or anything we had to offer, they just wanted to talk about God! But after our conversation ended they asked if they could pray with us, and so they start praying and it wasn't super weird, and then the guy saying the prayer blesses Elder Winborg to have visions and dreams and all sorts of crazy stuff like that.... I was kinda scared for my comp that night, but all went well!

Sunday we had a great sacrament meeting where 2 no members came to that as well! The two people that spoke in our ward are both super good member missionaries and invited people to come and listen to them talk and so they came! We also had a new ward mission leader called and he is super ready to do the work and get stuff done, I am excited for that! Also we learned about how important general conference is! It was a super good Sunday!

Lastly we had interviews yesterday, which took a long time because we had to bus over to the other church! But it was sooo good to be with president and sister Williams and learn from them!

For my spiritual thought I just want to tell you to get hyped for General Conference! President Nelson last year told us we all need to be prepared to receive revelation and I think that means that we are going to get some more revelation here at conference! I am super excited for the chance to hear our prophet and apostles speak to us! Please prepare yourselves and invite someone else that wouldn't usually watch it to watch it with you!

Love
Elder Reynolds