Epic!

So this week was really good! We had a lot of fun stuff going on and we had some really cool experiences that got me super hyped, so here we go.

Monday was pretty normal, we spent a little more time shopping than normal, but it was still a super fun day! We got to call our families and just have a good time with the other missionaries at the church!

Tuesday we had district council, and then I got to go on exchanges with my firstborn son in the wilderness (I trained him towards the beginning of my mission) Elder Record!! Man it was fun to catch up with him about the areas we served in together and all the people we taught! Good times! Then we did some work here in our own area and tried to get back in contact with some of the refugees we are working with. Sadly, but also good for them they are working now! So it makes it hard for us to get in to teach, but that's life.

Wednesday we had a normal day, I was with Elder Record the first half of it, and then that night we had a dinner appointment and then soccer! We keep inviting all the people we are teaching to come play soccer and they all say that they want to, but then they just bail and don't show, so that is annoying, but still we are getting a few people to come and it's a blast!

Thursday, the great weekly planning session!! So in zone conference we were all asked to do an in depth weekly planning session and make sure that we covered everything preach my gospel asks you to talk about. Well we did that, it just meant that weekly planning took forever!! But it was fine, and then we had some good time to find people and it went better than some days! We got a lot of potentials out of it! Then we had our correlation meeting and it was different because we got a new elders quorum presidency, which basically means it's all different.

Friday we had a good day full of finding and teaching! We had a few people to try and follow up with, and then we had dinner. Then we had a lesson with Diane, the greatest recent convert of all time. She gives us all sorts of stuff and has one of the biggest hearts I've ever seen. She also has a powerful testimony! So it was fun to meet with her!

Saturday was really fun! We had a lesson and then some time to find, and then some members had us over. So we had a good time getting to know them, and then we had this referral come in named Steve! Steve is amazing. He has read the book of Mormon before and believes that it is true. So he just got gifted to us. Such a blessing to work with people who are already prepared. We taught him and we have another appointment for Tuesday!

Sunday was a blast!! We went to church and that was for sure really good. Then we came back to our apartment for lunch, then we were leaving and we saw some guys playing basketball on the court in the park. We had an appointment but we said if they were still there when we got back that we would go play them and try to teach them. So we did!! And I have never played that much basketball in my shirt and tie before and it was honestly such a blast! We got to talk to them about what we do as missionaries and honestly we might start going over to one of their houses to teach them! It was awesome!

That was pretty much the week! I hope you all had a good week as well. Its getting warm and that is making missionary work a lot more enjoyable! Have a great week, love ya all!

Elder Reynolds 😎

These pictures are from a place called epic. They are a huge company that has a bunch of different buildings all with different themes. It's pretty epic😉😂

Weekly # I don't even know...

Hello friends and family! This week has flown on by, and I'm not even sure what happened so this will be interesting. But this was a really fun week, and we drove a few more miles than what I wish I had... But life goes on!

Monday we had a really fun p day! We went bowling and it was half off so that was a blessing! The rest of the day we pretty much just had a lot of time to play some sports. We played this new game called butter. It's basically a team based 3 point contest. Really hard to explain, but it was super fun!

Tuesday we had zone conference! So that means we were in charge, and we only forgot about 1 thing! So for me I felt pretty good about it. Luckily what we forgot wasn't a big deal! So zone conference was good, we learned a lot about the apostasy from President Williams! Let me tell you, the apostasy was real, and I am so glad that I am able to live in a time with the priesthood on the earth. I am also thankful for all the people during the apostasy that did so much to get the Bible to the common people and the sacrifices to try and follow Christ the best they could. They made an impact on the world, and without some of them we wouldn't be able to be where we are as a church today! Then after zone conference I went to Richland Center with Elder Moore! We had a good time and met some funny people, it was fun!

So Wednesday I was pretty much in Richland Center for the majority of the day. We did some tracting and actually had some success! We were able to get in and visit one of the people that we met, and set a couple of other return appointments! Then we drove to the middle of nowhere to try and meet a part member family, and that worked! It was super crazy how far away everything is out there. To put this in perspective, Richland Center is the biggest town in their area and it has 5000 people.... That's pretty small lol!

Thursday I was back in my area doing some proselytizing and it was a fun day! To start it off we had to help the Spanish elders find their keys... Which never happened... So we had to help them break in to their apartment! That was pretty fun lol. Then we basically had the whole day open to get out and find some people to teach. We met a cool guy named Mike who will hopefully come to soccer this week! We also had to do our weekly planning so that was a good chunk of time out of our day!

Friday we had exchanges with the Dodgeville elders. So we worked most of the day here in our area, and then we met up with them, which was like 45 minutes away. And then drive back, good times exchanging. I was with Elder Hill and Elder Isaacson this time. Elder Hill is brand new out of the mtc this transfer! So it was fun to be with him for a day!

So Saturday I guess was the day that we were able to work with Elder Hill! We tired to make it an effective day, but everyone in Madison decided that because it was Saturday before st Patty's day that they would not be home. We think they were all getting drunk, but it was rough to get people to answer the door! It was alright, because we had one person say we could come back!

Sunday was a good Sunday! We had ward conference, which for some reason in this stake means that we have a potluck after.... Not sure why we do that but I'm not complaining. We had some real good food! So that was good, than we tried to do some finding and nobody was home again... Super weird but it was rough.

Well that's about all of our week. I'll try to send some pictures but I'm not sure what I have this week! Hope you all have had a wonderful week, I know it's starting to feel a little more like spring here and that makes me happy! So hopefully that helps the work pick up a little bit! Here's something to think about.... If a man has been blind and deaf since he was born, what language would he think in?? Not sure if there is an answer, but curious if you all have some responses. Let me know, thanks!

Elder Reynolds

Elder Reynolds and Elder Record

Back to the old stomping grounds

This week was another good one here in Wisconsin! I realized that it was really cold here when the temperatures were up in the high 30s and I thought it was warm. Like I dont even feel like I need a coat if its above 35 haha! But it is supposed to keep getting warmer, and this Thursday is supposed to be in the 50s!!! That's gonna be a good day! 

So Monday was pretty normal for a p day! Its weird to be the one that has to pick other missionaries up to go shopping. We have 2 sets of missionaries in the area without a car, and only one with... so that makes it hard for us because we can't pick all of them up.. but we went and picked up the campus elders and then took them shopping with us! We now go shopping at the highest Walmart I have ever seen, it has it's own underground parking garage! Then the rest of the day we played sports and had a good time at the church with the zone! 

Tuesday we had our first district council of the transfer, and it was good! Then we had exchanges and I got to go back to the ysa ward! Well I only saw a couple of the members I knew, but it was awesome to go back and see them! We also walked the same old streets and contacted new people. We had a real good dinner at one of the members apartments and he made some good food!  

Wednesday I spent the first half of the day on campus, and the second half back in my area! Crazy story from campus, we met 2 different guys named Ethan in about an hour that both told us we could call or text them to talk to them more about our message! So that was pretty nuts. And then the rest of the day in our area was good as well, Kasim cancelled our appointment, so that was sad. So we went and tried to contact some old people and did some finding of our own! 

Thursday we did our weekly planning. We had pretty much the rest of the day to do some finding. And so it was really fun to get out and work! Sometimes a big open day like that motivates you. Especially when it is warmer outside!

Friday we had service at the food pantry, which is also a throwback to my campus days, because I used to do the same thing! Anyway, it was fun to get to do that, and then we had exchanges with the Spanish elders that night. I was with elder Gates! Hes a really good guy and a great missionary!

Saturday I was still in my area with Elder Gates and Issacson. We stayed in our area and worked a lot, but it started to rain and that put a bit of a bummer on things. But it was still a pretty good day! We were able to contact a referral that the Spanish elders had sent us before. 

Sunday was good! Not a ton to say about it honestly. We went to church and this member comes every week with a TON of food that is about to expire and this week they had a lot of Hawaiian sweet rolls... so we may or may not have grabbed 6 packages of those..... whoops! But they are delicious and totally worth weight I'll gain because of them 😂 

Anyway, that's my week! I hope you all are doing good! Keep living life. I love you all! 

Elder Reynolds 

Stuck in Madison

Hey everyone! This week was crazy! We had a ton going on and it was pretty stressful, but we made it. So anyway, to start off it is interesting to be in Madison for as long as I have and been in so many different areas in the same city. I meet at the same building as the YSA ward now and it creates a ton of fun! I get to see them there all the time!! So I have been able to catch up with some old friends in the last week! It's been fun! 

So to recap the week, Monday was an eventful day! We went to our normal p day church and played some basketball! We also had a ton of stuff to do. Since all three of us left we all had to pack, clean the apartment, and everything else we could! So that was the rest of our day... it was really weird to see elder Olsen pack up and get ready to go home! 

Tuesday we spent a good amount of time doing missionary work. We had a lesson with Emily, and she seems to have a desire to learn but not really to get baptized. So hopefully the new elders can help her to feel the spirit and see that changing her life will be good for her! Then we had one last meeting with our ward mission leader and gave him all the details and said adios! He is such a good guy! I'm going to miss Bro Tippetts a lot! But it was a good time. We said goodbye to a lot of really cool members! Then elder Olsen left Tuesday night and that was a little bit rough... saying goodbye is hard. But he lives in Idaho so I'm sure I'll see him again! It was a good night.  

Wednesday was transfers. So we packed the car and me and elder Lewis had to pick up the campus elders who were also both leaving so I got to reminisce a little about my time in that apartment while we were there! It was good times! Then we went to the church and I said goodbye to elder Lewis! That was also rough, but I get to see him pretty often! Then I got my new comps elder Blackburn and Issacson! It was an adventure of a day! 

Thursday we had a lot of time, that turned into no time because we had to set goals for our zone, plan for the transfer and the area, and then we had a lesson with a guy named Kasim! We are working with a lot of refugees from the Congo and Uganda! They are really nice, and some of them only speak French, but they still want to hear what we have to say! Kasim, the one we taught came to church as well so that was good! 

Friday we didn't do anything because we had MLC! So we drove to Oshkosh and then sat in a meeting for most of the day. Its about an hour and a half drive and we got back and had dinner and then did a little bit of calling people to set up appointments! 

Saturday we finally got to do a little bit of missionary work. But we also had this thing called MCM where we have to call every companionship in the zone for 15 minutes. Well we have 11 companionships, so that took a real long time! But now we have that out of the way so that's good and we can do work for the rest of the month! 

Sunday was annoying. It was good but it was a little rough. So we got a text late Saturday night after we went to bed that Kasim needed a ride to church. So we tried to get him a ride, but we had a meeting with the stake president at 7:45 am, so then we basically had to do everything to get him a ride before 7:30, and that made life interesting. We are all pretty new here so we didn't know who would be willing to pick him up, but we did a lot of calling and texting and eventually got him a ride. So then the rest of the day Sunday we got to do missionary work and go find some people. It felt good to go work for more than an hour! 

Well anyway. That was a long week, but we made it and this week should be much better. We only have 2 exchanges and all sorts of lessons with people I don't know 😬 it should be great! 

Spiritual thought for you this week. This comes from a talk by President Hinckley: 

"You can’t tell the character of an individual by the way he does his daily work. Watch him when his work is done. See where he goes. Note the companions he seeks, and the things he does when he may do as he pleases. Then you can tell his true character." 

Remember that you aren't who you are because of what you do when someone is watching, you are who you are because of what you do when only God knows what you are doing! Love y'all, have a great week! 

Elder Reynolds 

New Companions - Elders Blackburn and Issacson

Pics with Elders Lewis and Olsen

Kearns Family

Tippetts Family

Bryant Kearns

Bascoms Family