Episode 30: Digging in Dresses!

"Jesus Christ is the LIGHT that dispels fear, provides assurance & direction, and engenders enduring PEACE and JOY"  ~David A. Bednar

Hello!
So you would kind of expect the work to be busy during this time, right? Well not for us, so this will be shorter BUT that is ok!! We have been able to work with the branch and sending out Christmas cards that Sister Piekarski and I have been making. It's been a blast and we are sending them all out this week! I am so pumped!!

We also had our ward Christmas party too!! We had a pretty good turnout!! One of our investigators came!! An 83 year old woman we just met when I got here to Spencer. She really enjoyed herself and is so excited for us to keep coming by. She loved all the different art work our church building has, which was interesting because to me it was our normal but she had never seen these pictures of Jesus before! So we gave her a tour of our small little building haha.

Way cool experience yesterday...
In sacrament meeting, we had some visitor speakers from Parkersburg again! Brother Knoght and Bishop Boning!! Bishop Boning gave a really neat talk about one of the differences in our beliefs to other churches. We believe that we are saved through Christ but that it's not a one thing and you're good. It's a day to day thing...know what that is called? ENDURING!! AH I love that! We are an enduring people. I saw a t-shirt once that said "I am my ancestors wildest dreams." Are we making those who sacrificed so much for the restoring of this gospel proud? Just a thought.

We had a really neat lesson with one of our friends after church and the Senior Missionaries, the Andersons joined us!! They actually use to live in Farmington! I'm not sure how long ago but they were there for 8 years and enjoyed it:) So we have been able to bond really nicely over that! But anyways, Elder Anderson shared a really inspiring testimony of Joseph Smith and his vision of the Father and the Son. It made me think of how President Nelson has encouraged us to study it and ponder his experiences and life. I have loved being able to testify of that First Vision and as a result we have a living modern day prophet...isn't that the coolest thing?? That our Heavenly Father loves us so much to give us prophets! Ah I love it! Our friend seemed to really like that and encouraged him to pray to know if he truly believed it happened. I have also taken that commitment to feel the spirit testify to me of its truthfulness.

So after that lesson we had passed by a couple who were digging and we decided to stop and ask if they needed help...not really expecting them to say yes BUT THEY DID! Oh it was so awesome! That is the first time a stranger has let us help! Haha and so here we are, Sister Piekarski and I...digging in dresses!!! They were trying to dig and level out a driveway to a house they were remodeling. I will have to get a picture next week to you guys to see our work! We helped dig about 2 hours and just talked to them. Hopefully we will see them at church next week! Not only did it feel good to serve and help someone but it felt great to get sweaty and get dirty! Haha I love this work!

So moral of the story, get a testimony of Joseph Smith, teach your children about him. If people ask to help you, let them!!!! Don't be selfish of providing them some happiness in serving!
I love you all and thank you for thoughts, cards and prayers!!!
Sister Reynolds

Ward Christmas Party

Yummy food

Pretty good turnout:)

We volunteered to bring dessert and jello!

Maple cookies:)

Matching socks:)

Crafting with our friend Vicki

You remember that squirrel I skinned???? Well this is what he looks like now!! This is Sister Wood and she is the one who made me a scripture case out of it!!

My mission scripture case!!

I will forever have the squirrel I skinned!

Had a migraine....

~CARDS~

My companion, Sister PIekarski!

Went on splits with another Sister:)

Video chat

December 26, 2019

Episode 29: Yup...stuck in Mud. Good job Sis

"keep trying, keep trusting, keep believing, keep growing"

~Jeffery R. Holland~

Hello!
I hope all of your Thanksgivings went well!! Mine...well here's a nice little story for y'all.
We were on our way to a Thanksgiving dinner appointment and they live deep in a hollar and we had no idea how to get there so we pulled out our handy dandy google maps! Everything is correct on there right?? Wrong. So we head out and (given I have had a really rough week...but we won't get into that) I am not the most patient person when it comes to directions...so we are heading way out into the middle of nowhere and we have no idea where we are going and the roads are bad...I mean BAD. It's been raining the past couple of days and there are puddles everywhere and ditches in the middle of the road! So fun, right? In a four-wheeler maybe!! Anyways we are about a quarter of a mile away and your dumb ignorant sister doesn't follow the smallest prompting to stop and turn around and we got stuck... I know. So we go the rest of the way on foot and honestly, there was a creek running along side this so called road and I honestly couldn't tell sometimes which was the road and which was the creek!! We get to our branch President's house (that is where we were eating) and they are an older couple, bless their hearts, and we tell them what happened and it was not a Happy Thanksgiving. Dinner was good but SO awkward. Got chewed out a bit for not knowing the way haha but water on a ducks back. So they drive back to where we are and it was a literal miracle their truck didn't get stuck either! I tell you with all of our faith and prayers, I know God helped us out of there! Just a miracle. It takes us about an hour and half to get us out and drive on back home. We damaged our dust plate thing. People out here call it like 3 different things so I have no idea what it's called but the piece of plastic that is constantly ripped off that covers the engine. You know the one?! Haha good. So our kind landlord works on cars for a living and fixes it up for us on Saturday.

So quite a week for me haha! I have had my faith tried and tried, my testimony tested and tested but I have been able to see more clearly Heavenly Father's plan for me. I now have faith stronger than before, hope that will last a lifetime and courage to overcome Satan's weak attempts to pull me away from my eternal destiny. I love this gospel and I know God is with us. I know Jesus Christ lives. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God and by seeing the tears on the plates, written by these prophets...these ever faithful men, you will see the love our Savior has for us. You will feel something different. You will feel God's everylasting power.
I love you all!
Sister Reynolds

Highlight of my week...doing service with our non-member friend:)

Our little Christmas tree in our apartment!

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We were in charge of decorating the Christmas tree at the church and they had no ornaments so we bought cheap ones at the Dollar store and it still looked bare, so I suggested we string popcorn!! My creative side is coming out on the mission!!!

"Challenges will come to you but as you trust in God they will strengthen your faith"

~Neil A. Anderson~