Here Comes a New Year!

I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas!! The years just seem to come and go, I don't know how I've been out on my first full-time mission for so long. 

On Christmas Eve, my Zone and I went hiking up Flatirons and it was so fun! I realized that I need to do better work-outs in the mornings. Once everyone made it to the top of the mountain, we all sat on two giant rocks that were hanging off the cliff and read Luke 1 and 2. The Spirit was so strong and I loved being with some of my best friends! As we hiked down the mountain, half the time we just slid down because of how much ice was present. It was loads of fun. That night, a member took us out and we caroled her neighborhood with her. It was cool to see how many neighbors she had befriended.

Christmas Day was a blast! The call home was a struggle to get the wifi to work. After many attempts, we were finally able to work things out and I was able to talk to everyone.

I love and miss my family, but the phone call just felt like a regular conversation with them. It won't be too long until I get to bug them in person. We had Breakfast at one house, watched 7 Brides for 7 Brothers and ate a little lunch somewhere else, then we watched Trolls (not my choice), and the forth house we had dinner and played some games. I would say it was a well-filled Christmas season!

(Shane got married on the 29th in the Houston Temple. Sister Reynolds was there in spirit.)

This week we are teaching two new people. One of them is Terry. He is an older gentleman that loves cars and has two really expensive ones. We've taught him the Plan of Salvation and will continue giving him the lessons. On Friday night we were knocking on some doors and found Esmeralda. She is super cute and is a little younger with a 15 year old boy. She said that she knows she needs to be getting closer to God, and knows that we came over to her house for a reason. Saturday night, we also taught her the Plan of Salvation and will see where she goes. While leaving her place, we went to the parking lot to find that someone blocked our car in. The neighbors were mad that we took the spot where they usually park. We didn't so anything illegal, but they threatened to call the police. It was funny, and we almost did the same. 

We have been working on finding more people to teach and cleaning up some records that have been kept. It's been a super productive time as a missionary in the Boulder area! I can't wait to see what next year holds. There are exciting things that are about to happen here in Colorado, and I'm ready to be able to participate in those. I'll keep all of you updated as the time goes on!

Shout-outs;

-After Christmas dinner we played Skip-o

-We also played Nerf Gun wars

-Then we played a board game version of an escape room

Sister Reynolds :)

Absolutely Crazy week!

 Transfers were on Thursday, but we got Sister Couper Tuesday night. She is an amazing missionary, is from the Salt Lake Temple Square Mission, and is actually from Scotland. Her accent is gorgeous!

We had our transfer meal with all of the missionaries in the Stake. About 15 minutes before it started, the Elders gave us a call and asked me to give a training. According to them, I'm the STL again and they wanted to utilize me last minute. They're awesome some leaders and I'm thankful for them! After dinner, we went carrying in our Stake President's neighborhood. It was a little difficult going door to door with a ton of missionaries and their family, but we totally killed it! 

The members we live with are on a short two day trip, and they asked us to take care of their two tiny dogs. Of course, I was more than happy to have two new pets.

The Shitzu sleeps with the members, and offered them sleeping by us, and I gladly accepted. It's been a blast looking after them. Unfortunately, my other two companions aren't so happy and are pretty grossed out and just uncomfortable. They listen to me pretty well. All in all, let's just say we're practically besties! 

Last night we came home, and the fire alarm was just going off. The fire alarm downstairs had a dead battery, and wouldn't shut-up. We called our Zone Leaders and they convinced us that it wouldn't be a bad thing to go to the store on a Sunday and get a battery. The two dogs that we're watching were totally freaked out! I took them out back so they were away from the noise. A few minutes later, I opened the door, and saw them staring at me from a distance. I left them alone, and when I came back, they ran to the other side of the house. My heart went out to them, so us with our missionary tags took a fun trip to Walmart. 

They're seriously super cute though! We came home today and I took a short nap. While I was laying in bed, they came over and tried to jump on the bed. Since the other two sisters don't like them that much, they tried calling them to go to the kitchen, but they were too determined to come and lay by me. The little one shakes every time I leave her, they're just precious.

Randon things; Got blessed by this women, my companion was super light headed and sort of fainted, had a Christmas Party, my Zone listened to the idea of doing a white elephant gift exchange last week, another guy answered the door practically naked, went to a wonderful place called Sweet Cow, gained 5 new potentials, went to Firestone,

did a quick service with the old District, went to a Book of Mormon class, stopped-by a lot of people and knocked some doors around them, did a Flashmob in Boulder

and had practice in Arvada, a few kids spit on us and threw our stuff, and just have too many things to even express over an email. 

Well, have a wonderful Christmas for me please!! Hope you're all safe and sound and stay your beautiful selves!

Shout-outs;
-Jake, your twin slept with me. Copper, it wasn't the same without you. 

'Tis the Season

I just love December! I love the cold and the wonderful Spirit of Jesus Christ. Light The World is still going on. This week my companions and I did "Light the Community" this week by baking cookies and giving it to the police officers and fire fighters. It was pretty fun!

There were exchanges this week, and I had a blast. I was with this amazing sister that I'm over, and she's such a sweetheart. Sister Belnap is a missionary that I love for a trillion different reasons. We slept in the same apartment as this other companionship on exchanges, and it was a real party. We also did service with their Zone, and I for a fresh view of other missionaries I have yet top run into this far out here. 

 On Wednesday we went to the temple. It was a really spiritual and uplifting experience. "I love to see the temple,  I'm going there..." whenever I can. I was able to relax from some not so fun things going on in the world, and I'm very grateful. Sister Savage found me while in the temple, there are great things that are awaiting my arrival starting in Janurary, I'll keep ya'll posted! 

On Saturday our lovely 10 year old that we're teaching got baptized. Aiden is pretty cool, and he's also pretty crazy. We're working with members to better help all the needs he has. I'm so excited for him and what the gift of the Holy Ghost will do for him now and throughout the rest of his life. 

This week, and throughout most of this transfer, I've gotten myself into a lot of fights. In the place I live, the speed limit ranges from 35-60, and I follow the posted speed limit. On some roads, my little friend doesn't know the real speed limit, so I get yelled at pretty often. What do I do? My stubborn self fights back. No matter all my efforts, TIWI always seems to win. I love TIWI, but I've got places to go and be, and so

do the other cars around me. Usually, TIWI does keep me in-check, it's not nice to make me look bad when I'm really just following the street signs. 

A super exciting and fun thing that I'm just absolutely in love with is that my District is coming up with the outstanding musical number. We have another zone conference coming up in the next week, probably because Christmas is right around the corner, and they asked each District to do something. Some districts are only having a select few people participate, but all 8 of us are going all in on what we've got planned. As a theatre person, I'm right on-top of a lot/ basically most of the ideas. We have a piano, guitar, and flute player. There's three different languages involved. There's good movements and actions going on. It's a pretty fun melody we have. Overall, it's the best thing this mission will ever see. It's not that good, but reach out to me for the video!! We had a Christmas Party Saturday night, and the 5 Elders were invited, by the first counselor on the bishopric, and they asked us to perform something. Out of nowhere, we all grabbed our stuff, and performed in front of one of my wards. We weren't really prepared, but oh man, I loved every minute of it. 

Shout-outs;
♡I love random, unexpected things! This week, while I was with missionaries on my Zone, and the senior ones that work in the office. I got a small package from an unknown source. In the package was..... Santa.. coming down in a parachute... I doubt understand it, and I can't figure out who sent it, but the missionaries and I are just in love with it! Thank you so much from whoever it's from. For you, here's this shout out, and only one this week. I love ya!!

Sister Reynolds

Light the World

Hey everyone!! Participate in #LTW this month! Go to lighttheworld.org for more information. Tell me any cool experiences too, I'd love to hear from ya!

I'm going to be like some of my missionary friends and apologize for a short email because of lack of time. Nothing happened much this week though. 

This week; MLC (Missionary Leadership Council for all Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders) with Elder Taylor of the seventy. He is such a cool guy!! Enjoyed the Christmas lights and songs. Had a Zone Meeting. Oh, I was also a missionary, pretty fun stuff!

Shout-outs;

□Last P-Day I played Risk. I think my family taught me how to play when I was super young, thanks for that experience!

□We played it on a LOTR board. One of my buddies just loves that, and back when I was a fishy, my man showed me the LOTR backgrounds app.

□At our Zone meeting we had a bon-fire, I was so happy! Thanks for lighting the wood on fire in the backyard before I came back to Colorado. 

Thankful for my Mom!

As all missionaries probably do on their mass emails, I hope y'all had an amazing Thanksgiving!  Mine was pretty sweet! Our zone had a Turkey bowl, and it went down! Just kidding, we play sports all the time together, so it wasn't too wild. One of our Zone Leaders did make some amazing slushie root-beer that was sooo good! We also had about 3 different Thanksgiving meals, and in still stuffed from them. All in all, holidays are never boring as a missionary. 

As my subject says, I'm super grateful for my mom! Last week I asked her for a last- minute favor. That day, she sent something over to me. It arrived on Wednesday, and I was telling my Zone Leaders they had to go to the mission office early and get me the package. On Wednesday, we had District Meeting, and afterwards the Elders walked-out, and them came back in with my mail! When I interrogated them about why they went, that said they just wanted to really see what the thing my mom sent was. I love them! (The only reason why I'm not saying what it is, is because I want to surprise some of you with the skills I'm able to learn with this new toy). I really love you mom. I've been able to have fun with a new project, build closer relationships with my companions, and be able to connect with more members and people with interest. 

Shout-outs; 
◇One dinner, these members fed us and had a bird as their kid, to see if it'll prepared them for a real child. Their bird was able to sing to star wars, both the theme and the empire March. 

◇This week we had a Leadership meeting, a District Meeting, and a Zone meeting. At the end of each of our meetings, we would always sing a song in Spanish. I'm slacking on learning me Spanish, but singing helps!
◇For service, I decided to dress like a cowboy! While exploring, I found some boots and tried it on (2 sizes too small, but I pretended it fit).

◇The members we live with have been playing Farkle with us, it's been a blast!! (Don't worry, I've been winning, up until I got tired of beating people).

◇I had a soft pretzel when we went to Walmart today, will never forget the free ones I got. :)

◇I live with two dogs, one of them looks like Jake's twin! 

-Sister Reynolds :)

1250 Main Street

Broomfield. CO 80020

Bolder Boulder

I love this zone because my companion somehow got permission from Sister Savage to have Zone P-Day every week. Just about every week we play sports together, and last week it was a blast!

Since of the lack of time, and the lack of energy, my senior companion and I asked our greenie to send us her weekly email so we could copy it. The following is from her, with some of my editing;

"It has definitely been a week! We had Zone Conference this week and we had many missionaries that met at the church building for some training. It went from 9am to 5:30pm... We have been teaching about 20 people who are interested in the gospel of Jesus Christ! They are all so different but they all have one thing in common, which is their desire to grow closer to our Heavenly Father. All of them have such great faith and same with the members. I was reading the scriptures and ran across Doctrine & Covenants 4:3 which says "Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work." I think this is such a great missionary scripture but also a great scripture for those who want to follow God. If we have the desire to follow God and do all that we can to be with Him again, He will guide us in our life and use us to do His work. My companions and I taught Gospel Principles yesterday and taught about Family History work. It was so cool to see a lot of recent concerts tell us stories about how they were able to find relatives on family search that they wanted to bring to the Temple for baptisms. One lady was literally shouting for joy. Ha! 

This week has also been full of laughter. I felt so bad yesterday. We went to a family in our wards home for dinner and their son said something really funny and I couldn't stop laughing. So of course they asked me to say the prayer. In the middle of it my companion Sister Sasagi starts poking my side. (This isn't the first time this has happened) And I started laughing in the middle of the prayer! Sister Williams (the mom) opened her eyes, started laughing, and said re-do! So we started over ha!

This week we also found some new people to teach. They are so welcoming and we were able to set up appointments to meet with them. Its so cool how the Lord hastens His work.

Well I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving! I'm thankful for my family and their example to me and their testimonies of our Savior Jesus Christ. I'm thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ. That we have been given the tools such as the Book of Mormon, to grow closer to our Father in Heaven. I'm also thankful for my companions (and ward members) putting up with me and my laugh!"  -Sister Fraser

Shout-outs;

◇I still find sand in my tennis shoes. I'm ready to go back to a beach, sand castles this time!

◇We've been talking about Scotland a lot, and how one of my companions has a family history there.

◇While walking next to stores one day, the song Perfect was playing (but there was a weird beat/rap).

◇At Zone Conference, this one Elder played "Praise to the Man" on bagpipes. 5 months and then I'll be home 😉😉

◇I feel like it's on a daily basis that we talk about the military with people. 

I love you all!!!!

-Sister Reynolds

1250 Main Street

Broomfield, CO 80020

A grandmother with two kids

The last P-Day of the transfer we were with the Hermanas that were over us. Together we learned some self-defense from a girl named Rob. She's been through a lot of tough situations, so she has a ton of skills under her belt. Rob met us at the church building, and when she arrived I was chilling on-top of a later. At the end of her teaching us she said, pointing to me, "You... I wasn't worried about you... you had something in your eyes." So if any of you want to come after me, you better watch out! ;p

Transfers happened! They moved my out of the city :( My last two companions are training, so that means I've got a grandchild, that was pretty fast. I'm also training again, so now I've got two daughters. My new companions are Sister Sasangi and Sister Fraser. I love them!! Sister Sasangi and I came out together, so it's weird to see her going home this transfer. Sister Fraser is just the sweetest person ever. I do miss my older area, but I'll be back one day! :)

In this area we are with our zone a lot. So far, we had a sports night event, which, of course, I destroyed people at. Also, we had a big service where we helped this one family decorate their house with tooons of Christmas decorations. It was super fun to help out, and the owner put me in charge of people because she knew my theatre history. 

Yesterday we had snow fall and I couldn't be happier. It was SUPER pretty. It was also pretty cold. I'm trying to figure out how to saftely skid on purpose. I can't do it without being dangerous. We'll see what happens though. I promise I won't end up killing anyone. 

Shout-outs;

-Rob was deployed with the Marines at one point. We were talking to her about her time in the military, and there were many things where she said, "I can't tell you that, it's c;classified", it was pretty cool!

-I'm finally starting to like avocados. My taste buds have changed on my mission, and now I'm training myself how to like certain foods. The next thing on the list is learning how to handle spicy and eat seafood.