The girl to the left is Philippine and was called to serve in Hawaii!! Her name is Venice Aliac and she is the sweetest person on earth!! She will be such a fantastic missionary!!
Wow this week has been eventful!! To start off, I found out that if you don't have allergies before living in West Virginia...you'll get em'!! Props to all those who have to suffer from allergies because it is NOT fun. Because of how much it rains here there are so so sooo many trees and flowers! This year had the most pollen count in history! Yaayy...haha but I am surviving with lots of tissues and medicine!
We have been able to pick up 3 new friends to teach!! This super super nice couple, Jenny and Mitch, who are mostly just interested in what the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints believe in. When we first knocked into them we gave Jenny a Book of Mormon and told her to read some chapters, and when we came back she had read the chapter before and 3 chapters after! We were just expecting to stop in and maybe/hopefully teach the Restoration to them, but they invited us in and pounded us with lots and lots of questions!! And it was nice because it wasn't the usual, "Do you practice polygamy or do you believe in the Bible, or the Book of Mormon is the
Bible so let me tell you where you are wrong." They were very sincere with their questions, very polite and most of them were very deep doctrine questions. I could list them all but that would take about 1 1/2 hours...which is how long we were there! From teaching them the Restoration and answering all of their questions we had a very successful visit! We gave them more to read and they offered to even feed us!! They were just so kind and open to learning it was amazing. They are the definition of a Christian. It's sad to see and feel the hatred of people who think we aren't Christian believers and scorn us or condemn us....Which makes us question what they must believe in! We were along the border of the Elders area and ours and we had run into a man, who had very strong beliefs about us "mormons." We were cussed at and yelled at and told that we were going down the wrong path. As politely as we could we wished him well and tried moving on. Well weeks later, which was this past Saturday the Elders met this lady who had seen this exact interaction, and said, "Im not interested in learning or being converted, but I just wanted to tell you that I saw that whole thing happened, and it was a testimony to me that you all are truly Christians and handled that situation very Christlike. Thank you for what you do and keep doing it!" The Elders were so excited to share that with us and it was nice to hear that :) You never know when you are being watched!
So our second person we met by him randomly giving us a phone call. He asked if we could help him come closer to God. We talked to him for a good hour and were able to testify to him of our basic beliefs. He is so humble and willing to learn. He doesn't have a religious background but felt the need to come closer to God. I'm amazed at this man's faith!! He truly is meek and lowly in heart. We have been teaching him how to pray and to feel the Holy Ghost. It's incredible to see his faith grow in just 4 days! We have since called him again and followed up and have encouraged him to read the scriptures. He isn't quite ready to meet with us yet, but it's been so special to call and to testify. We can truly feel our Heavenly Father's love for him and when we tell him so, he is just amazed. He just doesn't know! Which saddens me but because I have this knowledge it makes me have more desires to share it. It also testifies of the mercy and love that God has for us, as well as Christ. God does work in mysterious ways! I love this work and I love this gospel!
We were also privileged to have Elder Renlund come talk to us missionaries!! It was focused on member missionary work and how we can improve our wards in moving the work forward. In the picture you see that I have a list of 30 different ways, very simple but EFFECTIVE (and Apostle approved :) ) ways to be a member missionary. I encourage you to pick one to work on and see what happens! I promise as you make the little time and effort to do one you will reap the rewards and feel more joy in your life! He also gave us 6 reasons why each of us should be involved in missionary work, which is also attached in the picture. It was such a blessing to have ideas given to us and to receive inspiration on why member missionaries are so important in the work. Sister Renlund used an analogy of chopsticks, gumdrops and a cup. One of the chopsticks is missionaries and the other chopstick is members. The cup is the temple and the gumdrops are our non-member friends, families or loved ones. The goal is to use one chopstick...so let's say the missionaries are trying to get the gumdrops in the cup, it's not that easy right? Even stabbing them was hard! Well let's try using just the members...same thing! But what happens when we use both?? It was way more effective and efficient. We need to use each other in this work! My favorite quote is by Elder Hainey, an Area Seventy, and he says "Scattered Israel gathers around Gathered Israel." We need to help one another to do so!! Let's let our other brothers and sisters come closer to their Heavenly Father!! I love you all! West Virginia is such a wonderful, beautiful place!!
Sister Reynolds
West Virginia is so beautiful!
30 Ways to be a Member Missionary!
Very simple, yet EFFECTIVE and Apostle approved :)
6 Reasons why each of us should be involved in Missionary Work!
It's GREEN everywhere!!
