Seek out THE ONE

~Leadership Council with the boys~

Elder Reynolds, Elder Mooney and Elder Wilson

Hello Everyone!
Wow this week was a rough one not going to lie...lots of heartbreak haha. It's weird like I said how we can make such profound relationships in very little time. But that also means all the more hurt when we have to leave them.

So we found an investigator about a month back and he seemed golden. He came to the activities in the church and was coming to church. He was reading in the Book of Mormon and praying but still hadn't received his answer. We had a real powerful lesson with him as we taught about how God responds to us. At the very end of the lesson, he completely let it out. He said "Guys, I appreciate what you are doing but I can't do this. I started talking about this religion to my buddies and they roasted me. They started telling me about all that you guys have to do and all the rules you have to follow (such as the Law of Chastity and the Word of Wisdom)." We then asked him if he received an answer and he responded "No." So a thought came to us that we were going to get answer THAT night. We taught him Moroni 10:3-5 and taught him the requisites and the costs of an answer. He said he would do it. So we prayed and it was a good prayer, but we could tell it wasn't heartfelt. It wasn't a real conversation with his real feelings attached. So after it ended we asked him if he felt something different, skeptically he responded "No." So we said alright we are going to pray again, but we really want you to express your feelings. We want you to talk to your Father as if He were here. So he said another prayer that was pretty heartfelt. I felt the spirit. So we waited a few minutes of silence and then asked him "Do you feel something different?" He said "No." I can testify of the reality of the gift of discernment. Both my companion and I knew that he had felt the spirit but was simply denying it. So my comp, with no fear, straight up told him the truth! haha And then I added on and said "Hey God answers in HIS way, in HIS time...We can't expect to have an angel appear before us. Maybe your answer is simply us telling you that this is the truth." Then it was quiet for a while and he really humbled himself and was like "Yes I know...I am expecting something big but I shouldn't. I just want to know like really know for sure." We then said yet ANOTHER prayer and man the spirit was super strong...there was no denying it, it seemed to be palpable. But then he was like "Yeah, I can't do this. There is no way I will be baptized in your church. In my church you can be saved and there aren't many rules like you guys'." It was super sad to hear that. After an experience like that I felt like Nephi telling his brothers that they just saw an angel so why are they denying it! We tried a bit more to explain a lot more but his heart was super hard. So we ended up leaving him, hoping that in some future moment other missionaries will be able to touch his heart. MAN!! It hurt....it hurt to see how much potential and how many blessings are waiting for him and having to leave him. #worstpartofmissionarywork
But then it made me think of the reason as to why we teach the restauracion (restoration), then the plan of salvation, and then the gospel of Jesus Christ AND THEN the commandments. It's because when we teach the HOW of gaining eternal life it seems like an impossible checklist to get done with no ending date nor hope nor light at the end of the tunnel. Just super hard things to do. But instead, we teach the blessings, we teach the WHY...and when they or we understand the WHY, the HOW seems to be a lot easier and a lot less stressful. Then the mind opens up and we begin to realize our potential and see the blessings and adquirir (acquire) more faith. Man I am super glad a perfect God has a perfect plan for us as imperfect as we are. I know we are in the truth. It's a lot...A LOT easier than we think. Once we throw off all the unneeded baggage we are constantly carrying around (pride), the road to eternal life is an enjoyable pain...haha I say that because I love lifting weights and feeling that pain because I know that what I'm really doing is getting better and getting stronger. Anyways...I love you all!!
Elder Reynolds
He shared an experience with us that he had this week:
This lady's name is Olivia Vargas. She is someone that I had no idea who existed on this earth and will honestly probably never see her again. To give some background, I was reading a conference talk awhile back and it said that we should pray everyday for at least one missionary experience, one opportunity to share the gospel. So I have been trying to do that everyday by praying that I will be able to find THE ONE. THE ONE that needs help today. Whether it be an investigator, my companion, other missionaries, a member, whoever it may be, I just want to be able to help THE ONE. So I've been looking for opportunities to seek out THE ONE amongst the 99. So we were contacting one day and this was a super poor part of our sector. Her house as at the verrrrry back. Like no one could ever possible find her unless looking for her. She was out chopping down weeds with her machete and so we went to help her. We started talking and presenting ourselves and then like after 10 minutes she finally said "I am a member of your church! I haven't gone in over 20 years because I have so many problems in my home and I am not worthy to go back." So she started telling us all her problems and started balling and telling us everything...we just listened. It was so spiritual and I just felt so much love. She is so so special to me. She then told us that she lives in a community and this was her only day here for like a few months and that she has been praying and praying and praying for something and then she looked at us and said "Thank you." We just said a little prayer with her and went on our way. As I looked back, she was waving and smiling her huge smile. So I went back and took a picture with her and man she has a special place in my heart. It was super cool to be able to minister to THE ONE. The work here is awesome!

Elder Reynolds and Olivia Vargas

Elder Reynolds, Elder Mooney and Elder Wilson

Elder Reynolds and his companion, Elder Peña

Getting the last of the Butterfingers...

Man, they are so good!!!

On splits...

and waking up pretty early...

to go work out haha!!!

Once we throw off all the unneeded baggage we are constantly carrying around (pride), the road to eternal life is an enjoyable pain...haha I say that because I love lifting weights and feeling that pain because I know that what I'm really doing is getting better and getting stronger. 

LIVE IN THE MOMENT!!

Round 2 of WORMS!!

Elder Reynolds and Elder Peña

Hello Everyone!
This was a superb week with Elder Peña! He is super cool. He pretty much knows English so it's nice to have a walking dictionary-translator with me the whole day if I want to know a word or something haha. He is from the Dominican Republic. Like always, we traveled a lot this week. Some interesting thing that happened to us was there was a big change as the other Elders in our ward got taken out and now there are Sisters...wahooo...haha just kidding. They are the best. They are real hard workers.

We also had to take a bed to Tena which was 2 hours away. It was super awkward carrying a bed around to the bus and then when we got there to Tena, they weren't there yet so we just camped out by the terminal with this random bed. I could only imagine what people were thinking! haha Now thinking about it, I wish I would've taken pictures because we straight up looked like hobos lol. We have to take a desk from Baños to Tena. So for sure, I'll be taking pictures of that adventure, but we got everything done! Well for now.

I learned something very very useful in my scripture study this week. "Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient is the day unto the evil thereof." I don't know if I interpret this scripture correctly but basically Jesus is saying LIVE IN THE MOMENT! Because tomorrow there's going to be a lot more that's going to go down...That has been my motto for this past week. Whenever a missionary ends the mission, it makes it that much harder for the other missionary to carry on. I think I touched on this last week but it really stuck this week. I found myself wishing away the days. Which I think every missionary or every person has found themselves doing at some point in their lives. But as we all know, even if we don't feel like it, cause I know it sure didn't, it's the worse thing we can do! Sometimes we want to live life seeing miles ahead in the future, or maybe even a few yards ahead or even a few feet! But I think an essential part of God's plan is obviously trusting and only being able to see a few inches in the future at a time. Not going to lie, I would loooove to see what's going to happen in these coming months and then what's going to happen after the mission...but what I can control and what my role is right now is to travel inch by inch in this path to eternal life. And sure enough like Jesus said LIVE IN THE MOMENT! haha Tomorrow is going to have its trials and its "stuff," so why do we worry so much about something we can't change? Easier said than done for sure...

We also had an amazing experience with an investigator this week. She has been investigating the church for about 3 1/2 months now. She has had a baptismal date once, but it fell. She had all the reasons and "symptoms" for us to drop her for a bit...but there was something that was telling us that we shouldn't. Finally...FINALLY, as Heavenly Father always comes through, we saw the light. It was a simple lesson as we entered the lesson at 8:35pm. Not having much time to teach. We didn't have a lesson plan.We were obviously wanting to talk about baptism but we have shared that topic about 20 times with her so we were sure it was something she understood haha. We simply shared John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." We asked a simple question "Before knowing the church, have you felt this peace that Jesus talks about?" She answered "No." Then we asked "When was the last time you have felt this peace?" She said "When I read the Book of Mormon. Despite my problems, my many many problems, whenever I read your book it seems as everything disappears for a small moment and I can escape from realty." We then asked "Would you like to feel this peace for the rest of your life, even when not readying the Book of Mormon?" Obviously her answer was "yes." And this is where for the first time in my mission, I know I am a little slow..that it clicked. My purpose as a missionary is to invite people to come unto Christ. To be honest I thought I could help people whether or not they came unto Christ and were baptized..which is true to a certain point but finally, FINALLY it clicked! The best way I know how to help people is inviting them to Christ...BEING BAPTIZED. It finally clicked!!!I opened my mouth and said "Sister, I can't tell you how much I care for you. I want the best for you. And the best thing I can offer you, believe it or not is the invitation to be baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. I could offer you a million dollars and I am sure that would solve the majority of your problems. But believe it or not, that would be nothing compared to what we offer as representatives of Jesus Christ." It was amazing. We handed her a calendar and boldly said "We want you to pick a date for your baptism, Sister." She did her usual laugh and tried to dodge it with questions and concerns but we remained completely silent...looking straight into her soul. For what it seemed like 30 minutes. But the spirit entered the room and in these 30 minutes (honestly probably 5 minutes) she faced her wall of faith and climbed it like a champ and picked the 11th of August to be baptized! And then the hardest thing about the baptismal invitation is you can't jump for joy and scream and go and hug the investigator. So we just sat there smiling trying to keep it cool haha. Man I love this work!!! This truly is the best way to help people. Hopefully other missionaries and all of you will realize this right now, so it may become something natural to bring up to our friends and families. I love you all. I want the absolute best for you. I wish I could hug you all. I love you! Keep on this path and never look back!
Elder Reynolds

Traveling ALONE to Quito for his last rabies shot!

Grateful for the members who feed us!

Round 2 of worms lol!

It was funny because they served it to us as if it was regular haha. It's actually a delicacy here!

Life Lesson...When Trials Come, Learn to Laugh!!

Elder Manwaring and Elder Reynolds

Baños Ecuador

Hello Everyone,
Well the hardest part of the mission is for sure the goodbyes. Thankfully it wasn't me saying goodbye to anyone! It was my companion, Elder Manwaring, who is going home. Not going to lie, it is pretty hard being with someone that is ending the mission. Not at all because he was trunky but you get so close to someone even though you know there is an expiration date. It's crazy how fast and how close you can make relationships here like with the people in Ecuador and with your companion. I sure have had so many that I miss and love. But that's life! I will be staying here in Puyo and my new companions name is Elder Peña and he is from the Dominican Republic. This week was obviously a lot of goodbyes and little going away parties for my companion. It hit me...why do we always wait to celebrate!! Why do we put off happiness??! Until the last moments when we are with those we love??? It was pretty crazy when I thought about it... Along with the parties came many...MANY opportunities to grow. So basically this email will be just talking about Thursday. Man that was a long day. On Thursday we had to go to Baños for a meeting and I was able to meet up with Elder...now Bro. Jacobs!!! He is from North Carolina and finished his mission last December. He was my trainer and the one who I spent my first 12 weeks with here in Ecuador! It was awesome!! A BIG shout-out to him and and his parents (Jeff and Lisa) for all that they did for me. They took us to lunch Wednesday in Puyo and then we met again on Thursday in Baños. On Thursday, they took us out to a restaurant and I was served my favorite plate...CHICKEN ALFREDO. That is one thing I really miss eating from the state!! Prayers are really answered lol!! They were so very kind and took the time to visit and treat us out. It was awesome to reunite with Elder/Bro. Jacobs! They also hand delivered a package from home!!!

Anyways, we got back to Puyo in the late afternoon and started to work. No joke...3 appointments in a row with kids. I'll explain that a little bit more. Now in the photos I sent I look pretty happy and content with all the kids...hahahaha. So the first lesson we go to is with a new investigator. So we start by explaining who we are and told them thank you so much for letting us in. They have a little girl, super cute and super playful. We started playing with her a little bit and so she thought "wow, these guys came to play with me! Cool!! Let me bring all my toys in the room" haha. So while she was gathering her toys, we started the lesson. For the next 45 minutes we took turns playing and explaining the gospel. Man what a lesson that was. We went to the next lesson which was with another new investigator and yep sure enough they have a boy from the age of the terrible 2's! Man I could not believe how much energy he had. All I could do was smile and think of the scripture when Christ said Let all the children come to me. I don't know what He did, but He sure did have a gift haha! Then the 3rd lesson...I can't lie, I was pretty drained. Just emotionally and physically. We came into a progressing investigators house with a kid crying his eyes out. I was starting to think that it was maybe our fault that they kids were crying or being obnoxious...haha. But that lesson was another super hard one as I felt as if I was trying to calm a raging sea but instead I think I was making the waves grow bigger. After all was said and done, we went back to the house completely exhausted. My companion said to me, "Elder, I don't want to have kids for a long time." hahahaha And then we start talking about how not only physically we were tried but emotionally. It was funny because earlier in the change we were telling each other about the craziest times when people didn't quite treat us the best. One in specific is when we were spit on and how it was pretty dang hard just to turn the other cheek...but then we came to the conclusion that if someone were to spit on us or call us ugly, we would probably just break down crying lol. We were so exhausted and so we went to bed pretty early that night. I have no idea why I told that story but it was something that has impacted me for the rest of my life lol. I am thankful for trials, especially when you have your companion there to laugh with. I hope everyone had a great week and can find time to laugh and of course have a great time. Love you!!!
Elder Reynolds

On Wednesday, they met up with Elder/Bro. Jacobs. He was on splits with this Elder, who spoke no English!

This was at their apartment!

During our Mother's Day skype, he asked Mom to compile a scrapbook of what the family has been up to while on his mission. He can't open and read it until November 20th...on his plane ride HOME!!

Corbin Jacobs...Elder Reynolds' trainer

~Dessert~

On Thursday, they met up for lunch in Baños at this restaurant and he had his favorite....

CHICKEN ALFREDO!!!!

During our Christmas skype, we had asked him what American food he missed, he said CHICKEN ALFREDO!!! Thank you Lisa and Jeff for everything!!!

Elder Reynolds spent the first 12 weeks in Ecuador with Elder Jacobs!

This is Elder Manwaring's last week in the mission!

Elder Reynolds travels frequently on these buses!

Anything to entertain a baby!

My tie must be tasty...this baby is usually crying all the time, but not when he's with Elder Reynolds lol!

K I D S

More K I D S

These kids are so cool!

Success lol

The Valencia family!!!

In the care package, there was American candy which he shared with the kids there! They were so excited to taste and learn how to say "FUN DIP"

Another Baptism in the books!!!!

The boys getting their P-day on!

The worst part of the mission....goodbyes