Elder Kyle Reynolds: Always Love God First!

Baptism in Santo Domingo!

Elder Reynolds was honored to baptize this young man :)

Hello everyone!

This week was another great week to be a missionary. Most of all this week was a week of just pure work and it really went by fast. We have people on date for baptism and we are stoked for them! They are all about our age and I wish I could just shake them and tell them that this is what they have been searching for and this will bless their lives tremendously! haha But as my parents know, I was the exact same way... Darn immature Elder Reynolds haha

Unfortunately this week we had a rough time with some recent converts. They were struggling with lots of problems. As they told us all their problems I was so amazed at their faith. Mainly the faith of the father. It was a bit sad to see the marriage already fighting. Because the mother was totally against the church and blamed everything on the church. But the father remained true.. He was asking us for advice because she asked him, who do you love more...me or God? Wow for a 21 year old to answer that was hard... But as it says in Matthew 22 (I think) that the first and great commandment is to love the Lord thy God with all our heart might mind and strength... And every commandment is based on that.. We read that and he knew the decision he had to make.. Love God more.. even than our spouse. It was so amazing to see his faith in that scripture. And really after this week, we already see the blessings that came because he put God first. Their story is truly amazing because after 10 months of hard work by missionaries, they got married and had their baptism. But almost 2 weeks after their baptism, the father lost his job... It is so easy to question, Why is this happening when we are doing the will of God? Although it is really sad because of course we expect blessings when we make good decisions, but more than that we need to have the faith and the hope. The hope that blessings WILL come, maybe not when we expect them, but when we NEED them. It is interesting because obviously this family is in need of blessings, so why would Heavenly Father not bless him with a job? As we were talking I was learning so much about the plan of our Heavenly Father. How important it is to have the faith in the plan. That in the end everything will work out for our good. Obviously we couldn't tell them the reason as to why all this was happening, but that it was happening for a reason. And in these moments is when our faith increases or decreases. I always loved the phrase in sports, GUT CHECK. When it all comes down to pure will power. Not talent, not skill, purely the will of oneself. But it shows who we truly are in these moments. We are here as humans to be tested. But we have the rest of eternity to enjoy the consequences of our decisions. Always, always love God first...especially in the most difficult moments. He loves us and will always bless us with the best of blessings. I love you all!! Have a great week!

Elder Reynolds

As a District Leader, one of his responsibilities is to interview for baptisms. He never met this young man until his interview with him. He felt a strong connection with him. The young man had been meeting with the missionaries for 4 years and he said it was his time to be baptized! He then asked Elder Reynolds to baptize him! The people in Ecuador have been waiting for Elder Reynolds to serve there!!!