Elder Kyle Reynolds: Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel

It rains A LOT in Ecuador!!

Hello Everyone!!
So this week was one of those hard weeks that I think every person I talk to about a mission talks about... But I am alive and the gospel is still true! So esta bien! (it’s ok/fine) We have been having a lot of success on the streets with talking to people and setting up appointments. I think it is partially because the people feel bad for me cause I literally don’t know any Spanish haha. But I will take it! So I found out the easy part of missionary work is talking to people in the streets... I thought that was the hard part!! The hard part is getting people to keep their appointments! The phrase I hear most out here is, estoy occupado. Which means I am busy go away don’t bother me. But I have learned to have fun with it and instead of letting them go asking them why don’t they have time for Jesus? haha that seems to work a lot more than just saying we have a message to share with them and their family. I know it is only the second week but I am pretty tired of walking! ha We have the most hills in the whole mission I found out. Hopefully my calves can get big!! As you guys know I love working out.
It is a big stress reliever for me. So since we only have 30 minutes of it in the morning it has been a struggle. It’s okay though because all the walking has been keeping me in pretty good shape. We have like over 15 new investigators but it is hard to get 2nd lessons from them because of time slots.. But we are hoping we can get them all on baptismal dates! The thing that holds most of them back is marriage.. So hopefully we can become match makers and get them all married!!

We had a missionary conference this week, I think it is worldwide, anyways they jumbled up the missionary schedule a bit. The main thing is that they shortened the study time! When I heard that, (or when my companion told me because it was broadcasted in Spanish), I was devastated!! I love my personal study time! So now we get out of the house earlier so that is why the walking is killing me. And what doesn’t help is that this week has been pretty bad rain! It usually rains or sprinkles a little bit everyday but it has been raining pretty bad! My shoes are holding up pretty good but when I get home every night I am always a little damp. If you don’t know this about me it is that I hate being damp! ha I would rather be sopping wet than damp. It’s like the rain teases you just enough to bother you but not enough to pull out an umbrella. Lol all you can really do is laugh about it. When the times are tough and the circumstances aren’t quite what we want, sometimes you just got to laugh it out. So even though this week was majorly hard, I did laugh a lot with my companion. We are getting along pretty good now that I learned to not stress too much and to talk. It has been weird because for the past 2 weeks I have literally not been able to talk to anyone except my companion. It is a different kind of difficult now with Spanish. At first it was I couldn’t understand or talk. Now it is I can understand or get the gist of what they are saying but I can’t reply... Ugh so frustrating! But
everything in life that is worth something, there is a price to pay. I know Spanish will come, but I think Heavenly Father wants me to learn patience and diligence first before Spanish comes. The big guy upstairs is always looking out for what’s best for us. Life is difficult. Honestly when I came out on a mission I was psyched because I didn’t have to worry about anything! Or so I thought... No rent, no homework, no problem! But I learned it is sooooo not what I thought. It is hard work, like Elder Holland says, Salvation is not a cheap thing. (He says it more profoundly and more intelligently but that is basically what he means lol) We had meetings with President Christensen this week and I told him how I was struggling this week and he just smiled and said "Keep at it Elder Reynolds, you are doing the right thing." Then he proceeded to tell me about Jesus` Mission and how when He started His mission, He knew what the outcome would be... He knew that no matter how hard He worked and no matter how strictly obedient He was, the people were still going to reject Him and crucify Him... Man that made me stop in my tracks and stop thinking woe is me!! God loves us so much. He is always there for us. Always. Even when we sin. That is what is the most crazy to me!! That is the time He most wants us to come to Him!! When we are in the lowest of lows.. Because He knows
exactly how to get us back on our feet. How lucky are we to have so many opportunities to try to be exalted.

Alright so funny story of the week! Not the funniest story but I work with what material I have.. So I have been trying to talk more Spanish each day. It really, really sucks when my companion has to go to the bathroom in a members house because then it is usually just silent between me and the members. So he was in the bathroom and I decided to strike up a conversation. Then all the sudden I heard a laugh from the bathroom from my companion and I guess it was because I said I had 2 tables in the mission not 2 months in the mission. haha that is why they looked at me like... ummm okay Elder that is great you have two tables in the mission.... pfff. Now every time they see me they treat me like I am a little kid haha. Also at ward night that is how I felt!! The whole ward...no joke was talking to me and I was the center of attention and they would ask me something and I would have this blank look on my face and they would just start laughing like there was no tomorrow. I kind of compare that experience to when you are all looking at a baby or puppy and just see how helpless it is and laugh. ha At least they like me!!

The food is alright. You always have soup and then rice and chicken. Man and cilantro! I hate cilantro!!! haha but oh well. We get fed once a day. I guess dinner isn't popular here so I have been starving. I bought some protein which was expensive but I need something because we leave at 12:00 and don't get back until 9:30. I don't want to eat unhealthy, and of course there are NO granola bars here!!! haha so I am struggling.

So yeah this week was kind of a downer but it was fun. This week is what makes the good weeks good. Today when we were coming to email it started hailing and the roads looked like rivers. We couldn’t use our umbrellas because they would break. So we had to run for about 5 minutes through hail! It must’ve been a pretty funny sight seeing 2 white guys laughing and running through the rain. But that was one of the moments where you just laugh like I said. I hope we can all take a step back and just laugh!! The best therapy there is. I love you guys!! Have a great week!!!!!

Elder Reynolds