Happy Birthday Elder Reynolds!

Elder Reynolds' Birthday was December 13!

President and Sister Barlow celebrate the missionaries' birthdays each month :)

Hello everyone,
Please forgive me for not writing emails this week. I love everyone so much.
Elder Reynolds

Santo Domingo Zone

Skit time :)

Christmas Dinner with President and Sister Barlow

Thankful for President and Sister Barlow taking good care of these missionaries!

Welcome Kai Hunter Reynolds!

Born December 11, 2017 at 6:11 am

7 lbs 15 oz 22" long

Look at our Lives with an Eternal Perspective!

We are in a taxi reading about the destruction of the world...while we are trying to save the world!!

Elder Reynolds and Elder Villacorta

Hello Everyone!

Well to start off, this week was a hard week. haha I wonder how many times I say that... But the hard times are always the ones that count right!! Man not going to lie, it is hard to stay focused during this time of Christmas. To be honest, it doesn't even seem like Christmas haha There is no snow, its not really cold, day after day is just the same lol The missionary life in a nutshell! But the feeling is so awesome when the days that pass and looking back on each day, when laying in bed, knowing that you accomplished what Heavenly Father wants you to accomplish. I know that He has a task for each one of us each day. It is crazy that He trusts us as humans to carry on His great work. I feel very privileged and at times very intimidated to wear the nametag that is on my chest.

One cool experience that we had during this week, was we were having a bit of a rough time.. To be honest this day was just a day of trying to get through the hours from 2 to 5 when no one is home haha But then we got a call from a member saying that we need to go over to give a blessing to her neighbor. We went over there immediately and found her neighbor in so much pain because of the many surgeries she had. When we got there we of course introduced ourselves and started up a conversation. As we talked it was interesting to hear the course of their lives and how they ended up in this situation. We proceeded to give the blessing and then afterwards shared a message. More than anything, I was so impressed with the trust that these people have for us. The members and the non members. Just with a little bit of conversation it is amazing how the people recognize us as servants and messengers of God. I cant explain in words how they acted or what they said, but after just a few minutes of being complete strangers to each other, we were talking about events in their lives that were really close to their hearts. I love the role of the spirit in the work. I know that as we live worthily as missionaries and as members in general, we can have the gifts of the spirit to help us further the work of the Lord.

 

As everyone probably knows my companion is ending the mission this change. It is so intriguing to me the emotions that he has. As we talk day to day they change. There are mixed emotions and it is hard to sleep at night for him. I am thinking oh great what have I gotten myself into haha But it is interesting to me how the mission really changes a person. We talk about what he is going to do after and how his whole objective in life has totally changed. I can, slowly but surely, see my perspective of life change. It is amazing how when we look at our lives with an eternal perspective how life seems a bit easier. How everything in our paths are there for a reason. Trust in the trials we get. I love you all!! 

Elder Reynolds

B A N A N A S  :)

This Elder received a package,

while I got Book of Mormon's...still the same sensation haha!

Getting all the football he can!!!!!

A D V E N T U R E S

I N

S A N T O  D O M I N G O

E C U A D O R!!



M A K I N G

 

M E M O R I E S!

E L D E R S

O F

E C U A D O R!

Us at the Fair :-)

We celebrated Elder Lambert's birthday!!



One Down and One to Go!!!!!!!!

One year down, One year to go!!!

~Durango, Colorado Airport--December 6, 2016~

Hello Everyone!

This week was a pretty tough week. My companion and I really wanted to push ourselves to the limit this week.. and that is exactly what we did...in all aspects of our lives haha. We were just expecting to be pushed physically in this week with being more diligent and what not. But spiritually, emotionally, physically, and mentally we were pretty drained Sunday night. Thank goodness for pdays! 

It was interesting this week to see how the Lord plays a role in our lives. We have not been having much success with having our investigators progress. We don't have a problem with finding people to teach, it is just the fact that they have many obstacles in their lives that seem to be impossible to remove. It is mainly about marriage. Marriage is a bit expensive here and its not like they can just decide to do it one day. So we decided to dedicate our time to finding more investigators to teach hoping and having the faith that we will find those that are chosen. We received confirmation that this week was going to be a great week! We just both felt so motivated on Tuesday, but as the week progressed...that feeling changed a bit.  It was a bit depressing because in our agendas we didn't have much appointments, just a lot of time to be contacting. The ward is a bit young and it is hard to get references from them. We decided to take it upon ourselves to try and help them to see we are working hard before asking for their help. So we contacted this week for probably 20 hours...it was nuts. Lots of rejection puts a man a little bit down haha but thank goodness to the spirit and the great relationship Elder Villacorta and I have, we have been able to keep our spirits up. We had correlation with our mission leader and it was surprising to us that we did not have much to report. We went back to our house to do our weekly planning and talked it over and we felt the impression to really include the members this week. So here comes Sunday and it was literally hectic!!! We probably received 10 references from members and took out citas (appointments) with so many non members. It was amazing to see the Lord bless us. That even though we didn't find people through our own efforts, Heavenly Father saw that we were working, so He blessed us with the opportunity to find those who were chosen.

It is so amazing to see that Heavenly Father is in our lives. whether we recognize it or not. Some may say its a coincidence, but I don't believe in such thing. There is always a reason why something happens. I love the scripture in 2 Nephi 2 verse 24 (I think) is where it talks about how Heavenly Father knows exactly what is going to happen. We need to trust Him a bit more in order to grow a bit more. Segun (according) to our work,, He will bless us tremendously. I love this work and more than ever I know that the key to happiness is being MORE obedient, MORE faithful, MORE loving. Everything has to do with a little bit MORE. especially, ESPECIALLY in those times of great distress or need. I love you all! 

Elder Reynolds

December 6, 2016

We are so proud of our missionary!

He was SO happy and ready to go serve the people in Ecuador.

Love his smile as he hugs his momma!!





~Mexico MTC 2016~