Elder Kyle Reynolds: An Amazing Weekend...General Conference!!

Group of Elders who gathered for a meal after a Saturday session of General Conference!

Helllooo Everyone!!!!!

Man what an amazing week it has been!! Or should I say an amazing weekend! How privileged are we that we get to listen to a living prophet. I loved his determination. You could see it in his eyes. Even though the troubles of old age made it difficult, he still wanted to address us. That is just so amazing to me. How sweet and simple were his words too?! Simply about reading the Book of Mormon. The more I study talks about missionary work, the more I realize how important the Book of Mormon is in conversion. I love how he said to do whatever is necessary to obtain a testimony of the Book of Mormon (among other things too). Really the Book of Mormon is what makes our religion different. What makes our religion true. That we do have modern day revelation. If you think about it, why would a loving God stop revelation? Why would a loving God not continue to bless his people with the great gift of having a living prophet? The Gospel really is so simplistic in all its teachings. In General Conference there is always an underlying topic of every talk that reverts back to reading, pondering, and praying, and then acting on the answer. That is really it! There is no secret formula to happiness. Or a secret....lose fat and get fit in a day pill... Its a process. Eternal happiness is not a destination, its a process. I find it awesome that there is no end to anything. That we will always be progressing towards something. Man I could go on and on about General Conference. There was so many great talks and the spirit was so strong! Even though none of our investigators came...I still enjoyed General Conference. We were bummed that no one came that we were hoping for, but all the members were there and we had the opportunity to talk to a lot of them after and it was so great to hear what they learned! It really taught me that our job isn't to just find and baptize, it is to strengthen all. To invite all to come unto Christ.

So one of the investigators we were hoping for is Gustavo. He just moved here from Venezuela. I think I told a little bit about him in my other letter. Anyways, we were able to talk to him Sunday night after conference. Man how we get to his house is pretty ridiculous... So we live in a sector with tons of hills. I would say you can compare it to San Francisco. But a little steeper... So how we get to his house is we have to walk about 40 minutes from our house, then get into a cab and it takes us up this HUGE hill and drops us off and we walk for another 5 minutes or so... So yeah its a looong ways away. But we showed up and this other guy was there and we started talking to him. Turns out, he knows English! He is from Venezuela but he was in the USA for about a year and learned English! I felt like Elder Calhoon in the movie "The Best 2 years" when they meet Kyle the investigator and he says "Oh sorry I dont speak Dutch"... And then the Elder is like "Heyyy Me neither!!" hahaha So we started talking in English getting to know him a little bit more. And I must say, it was the absolute weirdest thing. I could not teach worth a dang in English. It was even harder than teaching in Spanish!!!! Even though I can't speak Spanish fluently, it was crazy because I kept on wanting to speak in Spanish because it was so hard to teach in English! Elder Jacobs was looking at me like I was having a seizure... hahaha!! So that was pretty cool that I am starting to forget English...ha Just kidding, English is still in my brain! Elder Jacobs and I try to talk all in Spanish now to each other but sometimes I just want to speak in English because my brain hurts. So pretty much instead of being bilingual, I am going to be ninguna (nothing)-lingual! haha So that was a weird but cool experience for me this week. Gustavo has a problem with the Word of Wisdom so we had to push his baptismal date back. That bummed me out because I might not be in the sector. Changes (transfers) are this coming. I don't know whether I want to stay or go somewhere else. Of course going somewhere else is always intriguing, but I am starting to actually make friends instead of just acquaintances in this sector! So wherever the Lord decides to send me, I am totally okay with! Like Elder Bednar said, I am called to serve!!!!! I am not called to a specific country.

So I'll fill you in a little about what we did for General Conference. We had to travel to the stake center and all the gringo missionaries got to watch it in English! It was pretty awesome. Pretty hilarious too. Because we got there about 5 minutes before it was about to start and we were looking all over the chapel to see where the gringo room was. Then we opened this door and you just see a whole bunch of white guys staring at you huddled around a little computer screen. haha Ohhh man that was a tight room. No big windows either...So you bet that it smelt like farts and doterra oil. ha This guy had some doterra oils and before Conference started we would dare each other to put certain oils on their tongue hahaha But we did figure out a trick to make our testimonies more powerful, we would put peppermint oil under our eyes! hahahaha just kidding. No, we had Conference to strengthen our testimonies. But yes some missionaries did try that and yes it was funny..... Oh man the mission is so fun. Men are that they might have joy!!

One thing I want to end with is a little bit of motivation. In President Eyring's talk it said that if you are ever overwhelmed that it is good! Because you are realizing the amount of trust Heavenly Father is putting on you. That Heavenly Father trusts you and believes in you that much to challenge you all for the benefit of you growing. It made me think of a quote that we had in our football weight room, it said, "If you treat a man as he is, He will stay as he is. But if you treat a man as he can become, he will become that man." Really that is what Heavenly Father is trying to do with us! He knows our potential, and so he treats us the way He wants us to become. How loving is that. Since we are trying to become something we have never been, we have to do things we have never done. This life is hard, and the only easy day was yesterday.... But we have to keep going. We aren't quitters! We promised our Heavenly Father at baptism we would endure to the end and bring all we can with us. Now is the time to show that. Like my dad always constantly said, The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the next best time is NOW!. I absolutely love this Gospel. The motivation that we can gain from it is incredible. I know Heavenly Father is waiting to bless us and perform miracles if we but show a little faith. Even a little desire, let that desire work in you. I love you all!!!

Elder Reynolds