Elder Kyle Reynolds: Finding Joy and Peace in this Life!

Mis-sion-ary, (noun)

Someone who leaves their family for two years so that others may be with their families for Eternity.

Hello again!!

This week was another great one! We had a lot of service this week. Right now I actually feel like I have been working at my old job haha in construction (EZ Shade). We had service for 3 days of helping a member excavate some dirt and rocks then pour some concrete. Man..... another luxury we have in the united states is the big concrete trucks!! I remember Logan telling me about how they poured concrete in Africa and how I was like yeah that must have been extremely hard... And yep I can testify about what I said!! haha So to pour concrete or mix it we mixed in the concrete dust and some fine dirt and then some gravel. Then after that we would pour in water and use our shovels to mix it in... haha We didn't have to work out this week because man was that hard!! haha But it was interesting to see the different ways they improvise since they don't have all of the nice tools.

It was also a great week of teaching. We had a lot of citas (appointments) with our investigators and we feel like they were all good. As I am studying more in the New Testament and seeing how Jesus taught I am learning that he really had a strong personality! At least for me, I thought of Jesus Christ as this super kind and loving person that would please anyone so that they can be happy... But in reality the real charity or the real love is being completely obedient and expecting that of everyone else through example and encouragement. I don't know how many times Jesus said, O man of little faith to his apostles... But really it made me think that although He is the epitome of love, it is so much different than what we think of love and making people happy. .....I don't know if this is making any sense... ha But I am going to try and keep on explaining and hopefully some people will get it...... So to apply that in this week is I tried to be more direct in lessons. At first I felt like I was being completely mean and brutal!! But when my companion and I talked about how we felt during the lessons we agreed that being more direct we felt the spirit more. We felt the spirit guide us more in our teachings. We felt that our investigators finally got the point of what we were teaching. Man the things you learn along the way you wish that you learned them before so that you could go back and re-teach or redo all the things you now learned!! But I am super happy I learned this Christ like concept or attribute. To apply it into everyone's life, Mosiah 3:19... A promise to everyone! Yes the commandments are sometimes hard to keep. Maybe not for you guys but for me, yea it's hard. But the only way Heavenly Father can bless us is through our obedience. He cant bless us if we are disobedient...that is something He cannot do because wickedness never was happiness. Wickedness never ever brings something good. Being on the mission I have finally felt the powerful influence of the spirit. And sometimes when we do break a rule or aren't completely diligent, I feel the influence go away... and how sad I am!! But thanks to the Atonement! I can be forgiven every time!! I know it is hard, but estamos en la verdad (we are in the truth). There is no other way to find joy and peace in this life. I testify of that strongly. And because we are in the truth, life will never be the same. Like Elder Holland said, after an experience with the Savior, nothing will ever be the same again. We can't go back...... I love you all!! I hope someone is able to understand all these jumbled up words! haha keep at it! Never look back.

Elder Reynolds