My First Transfer!

 So far my new area in Greenville is great! As the name states, it's green! Lots of trees and grass etc. It is very rural and spread out and there's not a city like Hudson so there's a lot of tracting work to be done but I will be able to manage, tracting isn't all that bad!

The District

Before I talk about Greenville let me talk about my last few days in Hudson!

Elder Reyne and his Mission President, his wife and the Elders in his District

Performing Service

So a member of our called us and asked if we could help him put in a pool liner in the pool at his hotel/lodge. So I got to be in a pool on my mission!! Don't worry no water was involved so I didn't break any rules. It was super fun! Umm yeah pretty much all that went on other then packing and cleaning.

Service

Waterfall Near the Hudson River

On to Greenville!! So we have done a lot of service so far which has been super fun On Wednesday we just tracted after I unpacked. Thursday we did a little bit of tracting then we did our weekly planning. We were about halfway done when a member called us and asked for our help to move a washer and dryer into their house. After that we had a lesson with the Vulcanos; a recent convert and her husband who will be getting baptized soon. Then we had dinner at a less active families house (the Brittons), they feed us twice a week and their less active daughter and her family (the Graffs) feeds us twice a weeks as well. They are both awesome families I don't know why they struggle to come to church they don't live that far away. Their house holds are pretty crazy though, but fun!

 On Friday we painted Brother Anastasios apartment that he owns and rents out. He's less active too but he is the coolest!! He had an insurance guy come to his house before we painted, so we had to wait a while, but he owns a flippin' pin ball machine!! So we played that until he was ready to leave. After we painted we ate at a members house ( his name escapes me). We had potato pancakes which I've never had before. Then we ate pizza at the Salvios ( another less active) house and we played with a frizzbee with her sons who are awesome. Saturday we worked with the senior couple, the Jensens, and visited a few people. Then we ate dinner at the Rowzee house, then did some service for an investigator. He moved to the apartment right above his old one so we just had to moved furniture and stuff. Then on sunday after church we ate lunch at the Jensens and visited a less active with them.

So it was a very eventful week!!

Loves yas!!

         Elder Reyne

6 Months in the Field, WHAT?!?!‏

Can you believe that I have been out for 6 months? It goes by so fast! Things are going good in here in the Hudson area, spring is here and the flowers are starting to bloom, and no one even plants them or even waters their lawn, the moisture here is so much that it is very rare to find a water hose because no one needs one. 

So this past week was really good! We were able to go out with some members and visit a few less actives which was nice because they hardly go out with us, but they are doing better, this branch is super awesome I love it! We did an exchange with the Elders in Greenville and we checked a bunch of former and potential investigators but nothing came from any of it, it was sad but not everyone is ready to hear the gospel, even though they should be. We haven't been able to meet with our investigator family the Guldensterns for about 5 week, I don't think they want us to come by again, we even showed up randomly and no one answered even though we knew they were home. I hope we didn't offend them =(. But other than that things are going good. This Saturday I will find out if I am leaving or staying in the Hudson area so I will let you all know when it happens! 

Miracle of the week. Last Monday when we were doing laundry I was short 1 quarter for drying my clothes. I was kind of worried because my clothes would not have been dry enough with only 2 quarters (each quarter gives 6 minutes of drying) So I though to myself, "I know this doesn't matter a whole lot but the Lord will provide for me, either another quarter will pop up or my clothes will be dry enough" so trusting in the Lord I put my 1st quarter in, and when I did, out popped another quarter!!! It was so amazing, I couldn't believe it! But for something as small as 1 quarter, the Lord will provided for me in a time of need! My testimony of miracles totally grew and how if something is important to us it's important to Him. This church is so true I know it and love it!!

Love you!!!!!!

        Elder Reyne

April showers bring....well you know

So it's been raining quite a bit but it's not bad, that all for weather on to the week!!

So last week there was no power in the little town I live in, and it went out literally as we we sat down to email, well there was enough power for lights (barely) but not enough for internet it was lame! So that's why there was no email last week.

But the week before was great not much happened but I don't really remember so I guess it's not worth mentioning. 

So this week was awesome we picked up another new investigator that a member of ours has been working with and this past Tuesday she invited her (Dawn) to a bible study class 3 of out members started 2 weeks ago. Dawn lost her dog and has been having a hard time so the member, Loretta, told her we could give her a blessing of comfort so we did it was a great way to get her to know that we are here to help her. She's really faithful and reliant on God and wants to be spiritually fed and hasn't felt like any other church has been able to feed her as spiritually as she wants.Well, she came to the right place!!! I know she will come to find that this is the true church soon. 

We also had stake conference which was awesome, our stake president is so funny! I can't remember what he said leading up to this but at one point he said " the spirit is telling me one thing, my wife is telling another thing, and they both are usually saying the same thing, so I should just start to listen to my wife more!" Haha it was so awesome. He's Italian and bald so if you gave him a pin stripe suit and a hat he totally looks like he could be in the Italian mob. Anyway that was pretty much it.

Funny story from 2 weeks ago. So we went and checked a name that we resently found in an area book and when we knocked on the door the husband answered and we asked for Jennifer and if she would want to meet with us. The husband said " Jennifer do you want to meet with some missionaries?" We hear from the other room "No thanks, I already found Jesus" Then the husband said "Well there ya have it" So we turned and walked away, as we turned we hear "Wait a minute" So we turned back and Jennifer came out holding a stuffed bunny. She gave it to us and said "Happy Easter!" So we took it and left. It was so random but super funny!!

Anyway I love all of you!!! Hope you had a wonderful Easter and gained a greater testimony of the Resurrection!

Loves yas!

     Elder Reyne!

New investigator!‏

Our prayers have been answered, we have a new investigator! Well she's not 100% new, she met with missionaries for 3 years, the missionaries that were here a year ago dropped her because she needed time to figure things out, but finally we have someone else to teach!

So usually my companion does the planning each night and I agree or give some input, which am I am totally fine with because I'm really bad at planning. But one night as we were about to plan, Elder Mcpherson stops and says " I feel impressed you let you plan the whole day tomorrow (thursday)". And of course I complained and didn't want to because I'm not confident with my plans. So begrudgingly I planned the day in an area we don't visit very often (because we don't have any set plans with people there and no active members live there) while he sat completely quite. So thursday morning I made a list of some people that we haven't visited or didn't think twice about in the area book. After I made the list we left for the day. The first guy we planned to see is a less active who served a mission but fell away shortly after and lives with him girlfriend whos a former Jehovahs Witness. When we past by the house we noticed that most of the apartments were vacant or being reconstructed. Out of about 10 houses 3 of them were not vacant and one happened to be his house! When we knocked I figured no one would answer because that seems to happen with every house we check but he answered the door and let us in because he knows what it's like to be a missionary. Unfortunately his girlfriend was not home so we shared a message with him and left. We then added him to our less active teaching pool. Then we checked another name that I never noticed in one of the area books before. So we knocked on the door and an older man came to the door, and again I thought to myself that he would shoo us away, but very politely we invited us in! He and his wife had met a few times with missionaries so they knew who we were and they really respect us and our religion. He offered us some tea to drink but we told them we don't drink tea and he was surprised and felt bad that it was considered a sin, so we taught them about the word of wisdom. We didn't set up a specific return appointment (I have no idea why!?!) but they said we could stop by any time we were in the area. This was just the tip of the week.

 So on Friday we planned to visit our investigator family who has been avoiding us lately (I don't know why) and not responding when we text them to set up appointments, when a few months ago they would answer right away. Anyway, we still had a few hours left in the day and I had a name pop up in my head that I put on the list I made Thursday who wasn't even in the area we planned on being in that. And miraculously she lived about 5 miles away from our investigator family. So as we headed over I just had the feeling that this name would work out. So we got there and knock on the door and a man answers the door and I think to myself "dang it she must have moved!" but I asked for her anyway and she came to the door and invited us in!! She is an awesome lady, she is VERY spiritual and very musically oriented ( like Abner). So we basically got to know her and she us, and man that lady can talk (most of New York can talk for days but still)!

 It was such and awesome experience to be lead by the spirit to 3 people within 2 days when the previous 5 months we have had ZERO success with finding more people to teach. The Lord is definitely aware of us and it was such a testimony builder to me that we HAVE to listen to the still small voice and when we do the Lord tremendously blesses us!

I love all of you and am sincerely grateful for all of your prayers

  Love!!

            Elder Reyne

Conference!!!‏

So General Conference was super amazing!!!! It was so awesome, my testimony of this gospel has grown so much since I started my mission. It's sweet how as a missionary you are more in tune with the spirit and get so much more out of conference I know all you missionaries can attest to that. 

Well I don't have much time, but not much exciting happened this past week anyway other than general conference. I hope you all enjoyed general conference. I know that Thomas S. Monson is indeed a true prophet of God and that he guides the church in these latter days. I know that Joseph Smith restored the church back to the earth and that he, through the power of Christ and the Holy Ghost, translated the Book of Mormon and that it is the truest book on this earth. I have a pure knowledge that this Church is true and that we can all return to live with our Father in Heaven again. I love this church and gospel so much, it brings me a joy that I simply cannot express with words.

May the Lord bless you all as you strive to live like Him. I know that it is not easy at times but it is possible. 

With love that can't be expressed

      Elder Reyne

Another Transfer in the Hudson Area‏

Like the title implies, I will be staying for at least one more transfer in the Hudson area. This will be my 4th transfer here and by the end I will have been here for 6 months which is crazy!

So this week we were not able to go out as much as we would have liked because my companion has been sick with a sinus infection of some sort and his throat is sore so I most of the talking. So he will usually rest until afternoon and then we will go out and work, but he hates it because he can't stand not working, which is good but I keep telling him that he needs to take it easy so he will recover faster. When we have been able to go out though we have just been tracting more. I'm not going to lie it's pretty dang frustrating doing all this tracting and not have a single new investigator since I started my mission just under 4 months ago! BUT, I always stay positive and take this as a lesson that the Lord needs me to work hard and that I probably need to humble myself. Anyway, now that it's starting to warm up (slowly but surely) hopefully more people will be outside so we can contact that way. 

I hope you other missionaries are finding more success with tracting and what not, than I am. I love each of you and can feel your prayers each day! 

Love ya!

        Elder Reyne!

Picture Update

Some More Tractin'!‏

Sooooo basically we tracted again all week. On Wednesday we tracted (and checked former and potential investigators) from 12 until 7:30, it was a loooong day. Especially since it rained and hailed most the day, but it was great to be out and working all day! But on Saturday we were knocking doors and this lady answered and was ACTUALLY interested in our message. Well she kind of was, she said she wasn't sure if she was but she seemed like she was, so we gave her a Book of Mormon and we will stop by again next Friday. But me and my companion looked at each other afterward and were like "Well that never happens!" Ha ha, but seriously that like never happens here, most people just say they are catholic or that they are not interested. This one guy just opened the door, wiggled his index finger at us and closed the door, it was funny!

Well I know that If we keep trying hard the Lord will give us some people to teach!

Loves Yas!

     Elder Reyne

Tracting here, there, and everywhere!‏

So we tracted a lot this week as the title implies. On Tuesday the sun was out and it was 50 degrees I couldn't believe it! We tracted most of the day but had no success. Wednesday it was raining the whole day and still had no success in finding any new investigators. We were, however, able to hand out a Book of Mormon to a college aged guy. Hopefully he will call us and want to meet with us soon.Thursday it was still raining on the way up to zone meeting, and because it's up north, there was snow on the way up. Well, being that I'm from a place in California where it NEVER snows, I've never actually driven in snow, so it was really scary, but thankfully my companion is from Idaho and helped me along the way (the Lord helped too no doubt). We tracted a little on Sunday but the wind made it too cold so we saw some less actives. 

So it was a pretty uneventful week but the members are starting to feed us more( from once every other week to almost twice a week) which is awesome! I know that that is the Lord, blessing us for our efforts to find people to teach.

Loves yas!

    Elder Reyne!