Good times in the cold!

Hey all, this week here in Wisconsin was pretty cold. Okay it was a little more than pretty cold, but it still hasn't been as bad as last year in Green Bay so no complaints. But we have a lot of snow now, last night it dropped another 3 or 4 inches and its still coming down. But its fun, I have come to enjoy the winter a little more than I ever thought I would! 

So recap of the week, Monday was a normal p day, had some good ball playing at the church and then we prepared for zone conference. We had to hunt down some tables, but other than that it was good lol! 

Tuesday we had zone conference and it was kinda odd. It was good, but just felt totally different than normal. I still can't figure out why, but it was weird. Then elder Olsen and I went to Dodgeville with elder Meline that night. 

Wednesday we were in Dodgeville for the whole day. So it was pretty stormy Tuesday into Wednesday so the drive was a little sketchy, and we rode with some other elders because the Dodgeville elders lost their car for a little bit, and that meant we were without a car for the first part of Wednesday. So then we walked to get the car Wednesday morning for a half hour through a foot and a half of snow. It was super fun! But anyway Dodgeville is a cool little town, and Elder Olsen served there towards the beginning of his mission, so we spent some time visiting his old friends and stuff. It was fun! Then we were able to do some service for this program called feeding friends, and we got to meet a few nice people! There was a young family that we met and got to talk to a little about the Gospel! 

Thursday I was back in my area, but elder Olsen was gone to Milwaukee for a baptism of someone he had taught over there before he came here. So it was back to the good ol days of just me and elder Lewis! It was fun! We did our weekly planning and met this really cool girl named Emily who had read the entire pamphlet we left her last week and had all sorts of questions for us! But it was good to have a discussion with her! So we are excited for her. 

Friday was a normal day, we basically had a lot of time with nothing planned. So we had some service set up in the morning and then we tracted in the 0 degree weather and people were real confused. They always say, "its really cold outside" and in my head I'm like "REALLY? TRY WALKING AROUND FOR AN HOUR!" But my reaction is usually just like, yeah it's a bit chilly 😂 people make me laugh on a daily basis, and we work until its plenty cold outside.... like -20 without considering the windchill. But I have stayed fairly warm so far, so hopefully that continues. 

Saturday we had a long drive over to this town called Johnson Creek to meet elder Olsen coming back from Milwaukee. Then we got to call every companionship in the zone to talk about recent converts so we can report to the stake president. It was lengthy.... but not too bad. Then we had a couple appointments. One of them with a sweet old lady named Jean Carter. She is super nice, and really wants to know the bible and know about God more. So hopefully we can help her! 

Sunday we had a great sacrament meeting. It was about "the peace the gospel brings", and it was awesome to hear the testimonies of members in the ward about how the gospel brings them peace.

Well basically that was our week, hope you all had a good one as well! If you ever have any doubts or fear remember that faith is the answer! You can always turn to God in prayer and your heavenly father will answer your prayers! Love ya!

Elder Reynolds 

Elder Reynolds with Elders Olsen and Meline

Elder Winborg and Elder Reynolds on Google Street

Famous BBQ in Dodgeville

It's finally winter!

Hey all,

This week it got real cold finally. Sadly it's not that great for me, but it is nice to see snow on the ground and it to feel like winter! Today we woke up early to go to seminary which was cancelled cause MLK day.... whoops. But anyway it was -16 degrees when we left the apartment. So that was exciting! But we are fine, it's not too bad when you get bundled up!  But I will say that it has been weird being in a trio again, it has been over a year since the last time I was working in one, and it's pretty fun! This week was pretty full of logistical things like transfers, but still a good week!

So Monday was p day, and it was fun because we had a combined zone sports with the other zone in Madison! There were a lot of missionaries there, and that made for a good time! We also had dinner! We visited Andy, and he is pretty cool, but it is gonna take some time to help him progress.

Tuesday, Tuesday... well it was one of those days where there just wasn't a whole lot going on... so we did a lot of finding! There was a portion of time where we knocked doors for probably 2 hours and there were 2 people that answered.... but one of them said we could come back!! So that was nice to have happen. We then had a dinner appointment with the Streubers and they made some real good home made pizza! The evening hours of the day are hard to find something good to do because it's dark and cold. So we spent some time stopping by people that had been met by the elders in the past and it was alright!

Wednesday the entire day was pretty much taken by transfers. We had to he at the church from 8 am to 2 pm.... and then Elder Olsen had some other things he had to do when he got here so we took care of that! Then we spent some time finding and had dinner!

Thursday we did some good work. But we also did our weekly/transfer planning so that took a good amount of time! I decided I want to start memorizing more scripture, so hopefully I can start doing some more of that! Then we had to go to the library for Elder Olsen! He is going home this transfer, so he gets to do this thing called "my plan" once a week where he prepares to go home. It's kinda weird to be honest, but its alright!

Friday we did some service at this place called Waunakee neighborhood connections. It was pretty nice, it was our first time going there to try and help, but it wasn't the greatest thing for missionaries of all time! Then we had this cool dinner at a place on campus!! So I got to go back for my old stomping grounds for a while! We had a pretty cool experience where this random lady asked me what my name was,  so I told her and she said "Elder? What does that mean?" I basically told her I dedicate my life right now to talking about Jesus Christ and she said "come back later and talk to me about Jesus" so we went and talked to her and she was hilarious. We had a great conversation but then she wasn't interested. Lame story, but she was so funny, I love people!

Saturday was a normal missionary work day! But nothing too crazy happened. Same with Sunday, and I realize this email is getting kinda long. But I do want to share one thing from Sunday. So sacrament meeting, there was a speaker and he said "the gospel is like vanilla ice cream" I thought that was pretty interesting! Basically he said we need the basics. He is an ice cream scientist kinda. He teaches a class all about ice cream at the university. Anyway, he said that without vanilla you can't do any other ice cream flavor. That's how the gospel is too, you need the basics to know how to do anything in the gospel!

Anyway, hope you all have a great week! Love ya all!

Elder Reynolds

Elder Lewis fixing his giraffe toy

Transfer Week!

So this week is transfers, exciting news is that I am staying here in Madison! But it is going to be interesting because I am in a trio now! Elder Lewis and I are staying together, but we are getting another companion named Elder Olsen! He goes home pretty soon, I think next transfer, so it will be fun to be around him! Other than that, there aren't a ton of changes in our area. The district stayed the same, and I'm excited for this next transfer!

The last week here was really long. We had some pretty crazy adventures. So there was a bit of an interesting day on Saturday. We have used a lot of miles for meetings and stuff this month, and so we decided that we should do a car fast. Well we do this car fast on Saturday and we have like no appointments. We have 2, but they are close so walking wouldn't be bad and we figured they would give us a little break from being out in the cold. Well..... both of those appointments cancelled, so we were walking around outside, almost non stop from 12 to 7.... it was rough! But at the end of the day we found someone pretty cool! Her name is Ilva, and she has heard a little about our church but not a ton, so we taught her the restoration! It was good for us to get inside for a few minutes. So that day was a little rough, but life goes on!

Earlier in the week, on Wednesday and Thursday we were on exchanges with the Elders that are in Plattville! They live about an hour and a half away so that made for a long drive to Dodgeville a couple times, but it was worth it. The church there is really small and they meet at a Masonic lodge! So I got to go inside for district council and that was neat! So Wednesday we drove back into our area, I was with Elder Conlin. He is a really good guy, and I enjoyed my time with him! We did a lot of finding and we were knocking inside an apartment building and we got let in to a girl named Aimee's apartment. It was kinda odd because she seemed super prepared. Then we went back later in the week and she had her sister and her husband there and they bashed us... so that was awkward. It was overall a good exchange with Elder Conlin!

That's the highlights of my week, there is a lot going on with transfers this week, so I'll be plenty busy. Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Reynolds

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Well its 2019! So that is pretty exciting and way different for me to think about. This summer I was still saying it was 2017 lol, but apparently time doesn't freeze while you are on a mission.... this week was great though! We had 2 exchanges and a big meeting on Friday so we were really busy! But we will start off with Monday!

Monday was pretty normal, we helped one of the members in our ward move in the middle of the day, and then went to the church and we had some good basketball going on! It was really fun!  Then it was New Years Eve so we went to Burger King for dinner and then back to our apartment because we were supposed to be in by 6. So I did a puzzle and enjoyed the night!

Tuesday we had district council and other than that it was a normal day of proselyting! Elder Lewis and I had some time to find people to teach and we got in a door or two! It was a good day, and we had a dinner with the Kearns and they are some good people!! They take good care of us! Tuesday night the assistants showed up to do an exchange with us, so that was fun!

On Wednesday I was with Elder Pinter, who was my last zone leader! He is a cool dude, and we went up to a small town at the top of our area. We had a lot of fun in this town called Lodi. And we saw like 5 bald eagles all at once so that was pretty neat! We talked to some good people but nothing super promising.. so then we had dinner and went back because Elder Pinter had to leave pretty early! It was a really fun day! I love Elder Pinter!

Thursday we had exchanges with the Hmong elders, and I was with Elder Giddings all day! It was really cool because we had known each other a year ago in Green Bay and hadn't seen each other since! So it was really cool to spend time with an old friend again! We had a ton of success too! We taught like 3 lessons and then found a bunch of new people! It was sweet!

Friday we had MLC, so all day was in a meeting and driving. Then we had dinner with the Hash's and they are a great family! Other than that it was pretty normal!

Saturday was probably one of the most awkward days of my entire mission. So we were just doing normal missionary work for most of the day. But weird things happened. For example, our appointment with the Tai family, the mom wasn't there but the kids were with their Grandma. So they called their mom and she said just do it without me. So it was us, a member and the two kids. Then Grandma was in the back but didn't come join us. So it made things really weird.... also we called someone by the wrong name and that was weird... but anyways, it was a good day, just really weird!

Sunday we had 2 hour church so that was odd. But it was good! Church felt short and I wanted a 3rd hour back! But I am sure that it was good for all of us, I for sure was focused the entire time! I hope you all enjoyed the experience as well! Then for our dinner we texted them to ask what time they wanted us to come over, and turns out that the text they sent us didn't come through. So we decided we would just eat at the apartment since we hadn't gotten a reply, and right as we were saying a prayer to break the fast the member called and was like, "are you close?" And we didn't know we were supposed to show up... so the awkward situations continue... but they were nice about it and it was all good!

I hope you all had a great week, and that it was a little less awkward than mine lol! To end on a high note, let me share a quick thought with you. Do you believe Christ? Or do you only believe in Christ? This is a concept I learned a while ago, but I love it. To truly believe Christ is to do more than just believe he died for you, it is to do what he taught. Believe what he said and act accordingly! I love Jesus Christ and the opportunity I have to testify of Him daily!

Elder Reynolds