GOD BE WITH YOU TIL WE MEET AGAIN!

ELDER REYNOLDS IS COMING HOME!!!

Saying Good-bye to the people in Latacunga Ecuador

GOD BE WITH YOU TIL WE MEET AGAIN...

Mama Avila

Elder Reynolds traveled to the Mission office in Quito on Sunday, November 18

Luncheon by Mama Avila

Friday, November 16

S O  S A D  T O  L E A V E  E C U A D O R . . .

THE LAST MELON

Well..........Never really thought this day would come where I would be sending my last email. I thought Cotopaxi (one of Ecuador's most active volcano) would explode before this day came. But here we are! Alive and well! Even though I knew that this day would probably never come, I have been preparing this email since the first week I was here lol but nothing is coming to me... To this day I still feel so undeserving of the many blessings I have received despite my never ending weaknesses. I would definitely not recommend ending a mission to anyone. It is the worst time of your whole life. I was trying to tell my companion how I really felt but it's just something that you have to experience. Satan sure is real. A real force that hates every big or small amount of good. These weeks have been super hard to keep it together. I feel like a wreck with everything going on lol. I thought puberty and crazy hormones were suppose to end already but that sure is not the case here with Elder Reynolds. I feel somewhat the same ending as I did beginning my mission. Leaving a home and life I love and going to another country excited, scared, and nervous. Not really knowing what to expect on the other side but somewhat ready to take it on. I honestly do feel as if I am leaving my home. This crazy country and people that I have come to love is tearing my heart apart! Ending the Best 2 Years of my life--until now--is something that I can't explain in words. I love this guy who God has made me become. Coming on the mission was definitely the hardest decision of my life...With that said, I can't think of my life without the mission. It scares me to think that I almost didn't come. It scares me to think of all these people I have come to love, thinking of them still wondering, maybe searching for something they know they need but don't know what it is. It scares me that these experiences I have been able to have would have never came to pass in order to help me learn more. God is good. I am so thankful for Him putting me through the furnace of fire in these 2 years so that I am able to be ready to take on for what comes next. This mission is the hardest thing I have ever done. All the previous hardest things I have done--the college football practices, the weight of having to juggle school and work, all of it has no comparison to what a mission can offer. I have been taken to my lowest of lows and my highest of highs. Everything that I thought I couldn't do without, turns out I could go on! The mission really teaches you "a que fuente han de acudir" (to which source they have to go) for everything. The think I would say I prize the most in the mission is my personal relationship with my Heavenly Father and the trust He has given me. Something that has always hit me has been that God loves everyone, but He doesn't trust everyone. I have felt God's love more abundantly in my life in these 2 years than in any other time. It's the one of the most assuring feelings one can feel. But let me tell you, the ability to know that God trusts you is something out of this world. Letting Him know through your thoughts, actions and very being that if He needs an errand to run, He knows He can turn to you. That in my opinion is the best feeling out of them all. I have seen so many things on my mission that I will never be able to deny...come what may but the miracles I have seen here and the things I have felt I will never be able to deny the existence of a higher being or deny that I know these things are true. I still haven't seen anything with my physical eyes or felt anything with my physical touch...which I thought for sure I would be able to see or feel after serving Him for such a long time! But I am convinced that even with seeing, it still wouldn't be enough for me. I am so thankful for a God that knows me better than I do so that He can do what will be best for my good. I know I need God in every moment in my life. After 2 years of working with Him and gaining so much experience, I need Him. I need my main Man. The guy who will never fail me. I love how people can change. I love that doctrine that really people can change. What a blessing it is to see that and to also undergo that change. For those of you that knew me before the mission...yeah that guy won't be coming back next Tuesday hahaha jk. But I really just love change. Yesterday an ex Bishop got up to talk about faith and told a story about the Stake consejeros (counselors) wife and how she became a member. At the age of 14, she had been attending for about a year going on 2. She couldn't get baptized because her dad wouldn't give her permission. One day, near to her 15th birthday, she came to his house and was overly glad and said I AM GOING TO GET BAPTIZED! After a little bit more of digging into the details of how this miracle was able to happen, he found out that as a 15 year old...her only wish, all she wanted from her dad was this...the permission to be able to get baptized. She said "Papi, all I want this birthday is that I get baptized, I don't want anything else except baptism. Please." It made me reflect on what I have. I was baptized at the age of 8 and for sure took it for granted up until the time I went on a mission. All these blessings we have, absolutely everything we have as members of the church is priceless. When I heard that, I immediately felt I was hit by a train. At the age of 15 she knew what we or I had and the price and sacrifice that was to be paid. How incredible. I am so thankful for being in the truth. Even though it took me nearly 23 years to realize a little itty bitty portion of what we have, I am so glad for the patience of God in order to work until I could accept and be thankful for all of this. I am so glad for Joseph Smith and his example of not giving up. How easy it wouldn't been to deny all that had happened and been able to lead a normal life without the persecution of so many people. To not have had left his wife husband-less and kids fatherless. But no. Because he knew. He believed. And so do I! I know we are in the truth. There are so many blessings waiting for us. I know God is just waiting to bless us and may even be blessing us in ways we just don't recognize. Like I said before, I am so thankful for a God that does what He does because He knows and loves us more than we can comprehend. I know that we are in the truth. I know the Book of Mormon is the key to know if all this crazy stuff we talk about is true. And the best part is you don't have to ever wonder for yourself. We have the right and privilege to know for ourselves. I remember being so envious of everyone that got up and shared that they KNEW and when all my friends came home and sharing that they have been changed and they KNEW...I was so prideful to just judge them and roll my eyes and keep to myself knowing that no one can really know. But it is. It's real. All of it. It's unexplainable that you just have to experience by yourself. I know that there is a God and that He loves us beyond comprehension. I know that people can change through the atonement. In our lowest lows we can find peace. I love these people here in Ecuador. I love Ecuador. I am so happy to have had the opportunity to serve a mission. To have been called to serve and assigned to labor. I still remember that day more than 2 years ago when I opened up my call...the day I went to board the plane for the MTC...the day I got to the mission field...the first baptism...wow. What a ride. I love you all. Can't wait to see everyone when I get back! Thank you so much for your prayers in behalf of the missionaries. It's been a supreme privilege to have been able to be a full time missionary. I would recommend it to all. This is the life. I LOVE YOU!!
Elder Reynolds

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for it they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

Ether 12:27

Facing that Wall of Faith!!

2 more weeks...Endure to the End!

Hello Everyone!
It's so weird having everything that I never thought would occur...occur! Like the last zone conference that I would have and the last testimony I would give at zone conference, seeing some people for the last time...Not going to lie it doesn't feel quite real yet but it does feel like something huge is about to happen in my life! lol So in the mission we have a tradition of having the missionaries that are going home share their testimonies. It was pretty amazing. I feel like ever since I started the mission I have prepared for that final testimony lol but I still felt so inadequate and unlearned to be able to bear testimony of the things I have learned. Boy do I love being a missionary. Then afterwards, we were able to visit a few of the families in Ambato that I got close to when I was serving there. It was so nice to see them again. Now being able to fully communicate with them and express myself was a lot better than before haha. I seriously love the people here. They are awesome.

The Arias Family

This week was a pretty crazy one. We had one full day of work throughout the whole week due to meetings in different cities and zone conference. You want to know how to absolutely torture an ending missionary? You lock him in his house for a full weekend...UGH! (They had to stay indoors from Friday-Monday because of the fiesta Mama Negra that was going on in Latacunga. There's a lot of alcohol involved so rules are they have to stay in). I was commenting to my companion that it's so crazy that how when we are working, we long to just take a nap or a little rest in the house, and then when you actually do get the chance it's the worst thing ever! Weird how we want things that won't give us any satisfaction...Elder Cox and I got really close though. I love that missionary. He is one of my favorite companions. So humble and full of life. Another plus of staying in is the amount of studying we were able to put in! I have been reading in Doctrine & Covenants and I love it! It's crazy how much revelation Joseph Smith was able to receive. I love how every big or little thing he has questions about, he asks God. I know that God is willing and wanting to answer every big or little thing in our lives. In my opinion, we should have our own Doctrine & Covenants! lol With Elder Holland, I too love the rush of revelation. Like I said, I am always learning so much from everyone around me. This time it was from an investigator named Cristian. He is awesome. We have been teaching him for something like 2 months and is just a stud. I love him so much. Anyways, obviously we were focusing a lot on gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon and to see if the church is true. Not going to lie, he has A LOT of problems with a lot of commandments. But what I love about the way the lessons are lined up is that it focuses on gaining a testimony first and then teaching the commandments. Because it is true that if you look at it from an outward perspective, the church has a ton of rules...But once you know the "why" of it all...one wouldn't want to obey all the rules in order to gain all the blessings that come from knowing that this is the truth!!! Anyways, one day while we were walking, we got a random call from him and he was almost yelling but saying that he got the answer!!!! Man it was a joy to hear that. Especially that he called us!!! So now we are on to preparing him for baptism and we taught him about the law of tithing. I love his faith, but this one really tried his faith. He showed us his finances subtracting his debts and child support and everything else and was left with less than 10% of what his gross was, not to mention just money to let him eat. I use to hate teaching about tithing because I know they are people and that it's super difficult, seemingly impossible to do! But now I love it, I love seeing miracles happen. I absolutely love putting money on God and knowing with absolute surety that He will always pull through. As we read the promise of tithing it always hits me to the heart, PROBADME AHORA EN ESO...I LOVE THAT!! Try me I dare you!!! haha he then tried to go around it and find ways to be able to keep tithing without paying the full 10% but after a few lessons he and us realized that it was a yes or no. One of the most heartbreaking excuses he told us was he was saving up to buy his kid a nice toy and wanted to give him everything that he never had when he was a little toddler...It came to us the exact answer that the absolute best gift you could ever give your kid is that he knows that you are a man of God. That you keep the commandments and that's that. But if that wasn't enough the next lesson we planned something special...We called it the wall of faith. I told him about my experience and everything I had to go through coming on a mission and the testimony that I have that sooner or later in life we all have to face that wall of faith. There is no way around it...you just have to face it and go. It will be the absolute hardest, scariest, terrifying thing in your life but will be the most rewarding. And sure enough I can bear testimony of that truth. And boom, he is going to get baptized. Man I love the personal experiences we have so that we are able to help others. Even though at the moment it sucks going through, I love being able to empathize with people in order to know how to help them. I love this work! I love you all! Thank you for bearing with me and for those who do read my emails haha. I love you guys so much!
Elder Reynolds

Elder Reynolds

Dressing up for Halloween...they even switched clothes!!!

Elder Cox

H A L L O W E E N 2018

HALLOWEEN HOT DOGS! YEAH IT'S A THING

Baby breads lol

Adjusting to missionary life level 2 haha

Dead cows...

Saying good bye at Zone Conference.

Bishop's family

Ambato Ecuador

The guy who helped me make my scripture cases!