Elder Bryce in Wisconsin: 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