Summer, spring, winter? All of the above

Well this week was wild! We had a really good time and have met some cool people over the course of the week! We experienced 3 of the 4 seasons this week, so that was pretty neat to see. But it was really fun to wake up every morning and not know exactly what to expect! We were able to teach our friends Josephine and her family as well as one of their friends, we met with Steve again and it's just been a good time!

Monday was a great day! We spent the day with the Spanish elders and played some basketball! It was super warm so we spent some of the day outside and that was nice! Then we got back to our apartment and had dinner and an appointment with Steve! We taught him about the word of wisdom and he seemed to think that it would be hard, but something he was willing to try! So that was good! It started dumping rain right before we got to Steve's, and he lives downtown so we kinda got wrecked by the rain on the way in!

Tuesday was a good day as well. We had district council and it was hilarious. We all were able to laugh around and have a good time, as well as feel the spirit. It was a good meeting! Then we went on exchanges with the mad 3 elders. I went with my good ol' mtc comp elder Ewell! I love that man.

So I was with him a good majority of the day on Wednesday as well. And we tried out some bikes that they had bought a couple weeks back and we ended up riding like 14 miles 😂 that's was a little rough not gonna lie,  but it was super fun! We got to visit some people that I taught back when I was in the 3rd ward! It was good to be with him!

Thursday we did our weekly planning and tried to visit quite a few people! It was a little bit rough. But we had a dinner appointment with the steels! And man they make some good food!! He made this broccoli, and wow it was delicious. I usually am not the biggest fan of broccoli, but he did some seasoning and added some cheese and I was thoroughly impressed. So that was a good end to the day! Then we had our correlation meeting with the ward peeps and it was short and sweet!

Friday we had another day with not a lot going on... So we decided to walk! Well turns out that it decided to be spring that day and rain for like 2 hours... Right when we were walking... So we got drenched!! But it was a good memory and we actually met a few people that told us we could come back!

Saturday we had a lot going on! We are trying to start getting a group of members and nonmembers together to play soccer, so we ended up being the only ones there in the morning so that was rough, hopefully we can get some people there this next week! Then we had some time to go and find and we followed up with some of the people we had met previously, nothing too exciting yet tho. Then we had a lesson with the refugees. So I always refer to them as that because their names are hard to spell and say lol. But they brought a new friend on Saturday and she said she wanted to get baptized (according to the people that could actually understand what's happening in there). So that was super cool!! Then we had a "noche de hispanidad" as a ward activity and the refugees stayed around for a little bit of that! It was super cool to see how the ward came and talked to them and it was good food and good times! They had tamales and all sorts of stuff. Sooo good!

Sunday was a great day at church! We were able to help Steve come, as well as one of the refugees, and then we met another person that was taught before that came! That was Surcuse, he is also from Africa! So then for second hour we taught him (Surcuse) the plan of Salvation and it was good!

Well that's it for my week and this is lengthy, so I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Reynolds

It's summer? Spring? Not sure anymore.

Hey everyone!

This week was really good, we kept ourselves busy and it was warm outside so that was just a blessing all around. We had zone conference, exchanges with 2 different companionships and did a lot of hard work!

On Monday we had a good p day! We spent some time in the morning doing laundry and the things we need to get done, and then we had lunch with my dad!! He was in town for business, so it was really cool to see him! Then we went over to the church and played some good sports! There were a ton of people there so it was really really good!

Tuesday we had zone conference, so that was pretty much out whole day. I felt super good about the way that our training went, and honestly felt like it was a super good meeting all around. I haven't loved all the zone conferences I've had on my mission, but this one was really good! Then I went with Elder Gibson down to Richland Center, this little town about an hour away for an exchange.

On Wednesday I spent most of the day on Richland Center. It was pretty fun to be out in this tiny town, there is a college there. So there's a little bit to do, but it's small in general. The college probably only has like 300 students or something like that! But yeah it was fun to be there. We were able to teach a really cool lesson to someone they have been trying to get in contact with for a while, so hopefully good things continue to happen there!

Thursday we had a good day in our area! We did our weekly planning, and had some time to get out and knock some doors. We had a lady answer the door and before we even finished telling her why we were there she invited us in, she said her and her family have been looking for a church! So that was cool, and she was out of town this weekend but we are planning on meeting with her again this coming week!

Friday we had a lot going on. We did some service at the food pantry in the morning and then we had a couple random referalls come from the Spanish sisters and one from the online system! So we tried to contact them and neither of them worked out. Then we had an appointment with our favorite people, the refugee family we are teaching! Awkwardly enough, this social worker showed up at the same time to meet with them, so next week we have a better appointment set, with some members coming that will be able to help us teach!

Saturday we had a good day! We ended up doing exchanges with the Spanish elders. They live right across the street from us, so I didn't go far, but I left to go over there and bus for the day! I was with Elder Roberts and it was a blast! We were in Madison together about 7 months ago so that was cool to have some memories!

Sunday was Easter! It was really good! We had an interesting church service... There were some brass instruments involved and that was kinda neat! Not sure how okay that is.... But it was interesting! There were some really good speakers though. So that made for an amazing meeting! We had the family of refugees come, and that was good for them to be there!

And that was pretty much my week. I hope you all had a good week! Remember the power and life that Christ brings into our lives through his resurrection. "Hope lives, because he lives"

Elder Reynolds

Transfer Week! Elder Hacker

Hey all! This week was a party, I got my new comp elder Hacker, and he is from St George and loves soccer as much as I do so we have been having a good time together! We have got to play in the morning for our exercise time and it is so nice to get outside and get a touch on the ball again, it's great! But it was sad to say goodbye to elder Isaacson and Blackburn, they seem to be enjoying their time in the new areas!

So Monday was fun, we went to a park for a barbecue with the zone for our last p day all together. It was super fun, and it was amazing weather! We had some hot dogs and played all the sports you could at this park. Soccer, football, basketball, tennis! It was a good time!

Tuesday we pretty much had to spend a good portion of the day cleaning and packing, but we were able to teach a lesson to a new family! Some of them speak French, some speak Swahilli, and most of them understand English. They are from Uganda, and they have already been to church 2 times! They let us in to teach them finally and we had a translator, one of the siblings help us teach. So that was pretty cool! 

Wednesday we had transfers. So that consisted of driving people to the church, waiting for my new companion for a loooooooonnng time, and then driving back home to help him unpack. We had a really good lesson with our man Steve, and he said his whole family wants to start coming to church! Then we had soccer and dinner and it was rally good!

Thursday we had weekly planning and figuring out what we were going to do for this transfer. So that took us a good while, and then we had some time to go out and do missionary work. So we stopped by a couple of people we have met in the last little while and it was dead. Nobody answered the door, so that's annoying, but life happens. 

Friday we met with the refugee family again, and this time we brought a member who speaks French! It was really cool to see how much help that was. For the family members that understood French, they got so much more out of it, it was awesome. They said they would come to church this week so that was super cool, and we are really excited for them!

Saturday was my birthday, so you already know it was a party! We woke up a little early so we could get some good soccer in, and then we went on ahead and had a pretty normal day of work. There were a couple appointments in the morning and they fell through, and so that was lame. But then we had our studies and lunch! Then we did a little bit of finding, a member of the ward suggested that we knock the doors on their street because someone had just passed away. Hopefully we were able to do some good while being there, but not a ton of people were home. Then we had a dinner, and they had cake so that was nice of them! And we had calls and that was the night, then we got surprised with a pizza delivery thanks mom (;

Sunday was great! Sadly Steve wasn't able to make it because he had to go to work, hopefully next week. But the family of refugees were all able to come! They seem to really enjoy church and all the people that they have met love them! It is really cool, so hopefully they can keep coming and learning! We planned our zone conference training, had a bomb lasagna dinner from a member. Oh, we had to go up and give short talks today! One of the members bailed so we were the last minute call up. There were 4 of us that went up there so it wasn't too bad, but it was fun to get up and share my testimony with the ward.

IT'S EASTER NEXT WEEK! THIS WAS THE LAST WEEK OF CHRIST'S MORTAL LIFE. Try this week to remember Him for something a little more than you do most weeks. Commit to follow Him in a new, better way. It will change your week. Love you all, Happy Easter! 

Elder Reynolds! 

Elders Issacson, Reynolds and Blackburn

Stuck in Madison!

Well transfers are here and I'm staying once again! Madison has pulled me in and there is no way I'm leaving this place! If I get transferred next time I will probably be headed to the other Madison ward that I haven't been to yet! Honestly I love it here though, so no complaints! Sadly both my companions are leaving. So that is pretty annoying, but my new comp is a great guy! So that's the big news this week, nothing else too exciting off the top of my head.

So on Monday we had p day, and the stake center was closed so we chilled with our district at our building. Played some basketball and had a good time!

Tuesday we had our last district council of the transfer, and it was a good one! We talked about how we can do a better job finding, and that was super good and motivating for me! We also had an appointment with Steve! It was a little bit rough because we talked to him about probation and how you can't be baptized until after that period of time is over. He is on probation until 2021, so it will be a while. I was surprised with his attitude towards it, and he is hoping to still come and prepare himself for that time in a couple years. He was asking us what he had to do to be baptized, and it was sad to see his reaction when now he can't for a little while.

Wednesday we went to Dodgeville, like an hour away. And we visited their district council and then had exchanges with the elders from Platteville, which is like another hour away. So I went to Platteville for the first time! It was a cool little college town, and we talked to some college kids while playing basketball with them! That was fun!

Thursday we went and helped a member out, and met some of his friends. We were at a really cool piece of land this member owns, and he had some friends over helping him as well that we were able to talk to! It was a good place, and good times! We then drove back to Dodgeville to meet up with my comps. When we got back together we had a return appointment for someone that I had never met, and it was hilarious. This guy comes out and asks elder Blackburn to share a message with him. So he starts to talk about the restoration and points to the pamphlet that he had in his hand. The guy then cuts him off and says, do it without the book. Well we hadn't even opened the book.... So elder Blackburn starts saying stuff again and this guy just won't stop interrupting him. It was really funny, now that I type it, it sounds lame, but it was funny I promise 😂

Friday we had MLC so we were in Oshkosh pretty much the entire day. We stopped on the way back at a place called the Wild Good Cafe. I had a sandwich called the honker, and it was one of the best sandwiches I have ever had. But yeah it was a little place in the middle of nowhere and there were a ton of old people that stared at us the whole time we were there. Classic Wisconsin diner tho, and it was good!

Saturday we had a pretty normal day, except for conference!! So in reality we didn't have a whole lot of time to do anything else. It was some amazing sessions of conference though! I loved so many of the talks given. I think that this has been my fav conference of my life that I remember. The spirit was strong in every talk given. I loved all of it. That goes for Sunday as well. It was a good time!

I'll encourage you all to listen to Elder Uchtdorf's talk about missionary work again because that is exactly what we try to teach people to do every time we go to their house! He nailed it on the head in my opinion. So read it, then listen to the spirit tell you what you can do, and then do it! It will bless your life immensely! Love you all, have a great week!

Elder Reynolds

Sisters Copeland & Schram
Elders Bean, Gates, Chapman & Desmond (campus/Spanish)
Elders Blackburn, Isaacson, and Elder Bryce Reynolds 

Elder Bryce Reynolds at Epic

Elder Bryce Reynolds at Eagle Heights/campus housing

Spring? Are you there?

Hello all!

This week flew right on by here in Madison! We had a whole lot of busy stuff going on. So it was fun! We were able to teach Steve and he came to church with two of his kids, it was the best part of the week for sure to see them come!

Monday we had a super fun p day. We did our normal morning routine where we went shopping and did our laundry. We basically had the rest of the day to go and hang out at the church. So we played some basketball, volleyball, and then just kinda chilled. It was nice to go and just have a day to relax. Sometimes I just forget that it's okay to relax and over work myself, so it was a good day! 

Tuesday we had our interviews with President Williams and we had an exchange with the assistants. They both came and worked in out area. And I was with Elder Wilcox. He is a really good dude and we had a good time! We were able to teach Steve and had a member come along with us. Steve is probably to coolest guy I have ever taught. He just has so much desire to change his life and become better. We taught him about the plan of Salvation and he loved it. We are hyped! So Tuesday was overall a really good day! 

Wednesday we didn't so a whole lot. So elder Blackburn had a stomach bug that made it painful for him to do much. He's feeling better now, but he needed some rest on Wednesday. We went to the couple return appointments we had set up, and that was all. It was weird to sit around all day and not have a lot to do... 

Thursday we were able to get out and have a good time working. Then we had a really fun dinner appointment where we ran around in the backyard and ate outside! It was a little cold... But it still made it feel like Spring! It was fun! Then we had our correlation meeting and did an exchange with the Mad 3 elders and I got to go back to my old stompin grounds in the 3rd ward!

Friday I was in the 3rd ward all day and it was a blast! I got to see a couple of the people I was working with while I was there. And we did some service and then had a good dinner at this restaurant called Jason's deli. 10/10 would recommend! It is delicious, kinda like zupas, but has free ice cream so better! 

Saturday was a little bit crazy! We had a lot of time that we had to call our zone. We have this meeting with the stake president where we have to know all about the recent converts in the wards so we just called all the zone to talk about them. Then we had our studies and a couple appointments that fell through so we did some finding. We had a dinner appointment and that was good! It is really fun to be in this ward because a lot of the members are grad students and have some little kids that are hilarious to play with!

Sunday we had a really good Sacrament meeting and Steve and 2 of his kids came! Steve said he really liked it, and his kids seemed to enjoy it too! One of his kids wouldn't go to class because he was scared so while we were in class, one of my comps was coloring and playing tic tac toe with him, it was pretty cool!

Well that's a recap of my week! Little bit of a spiritual thought for you all, I was reading the beginning of the Book of Mormon, and I was reading about Nephi building the boat. He says "I went to the mount oft to pray". I think sometimes I think that he prayed once and got the blueprints and had it all, but he had to take it one step at a time and go to God after all the steps. So if we want to accomplish something in life, remember God will help, it will probably just be one step at a time! But he will help!

Love you all, have a great week! 
Elder Reynolds