Events all over the place!!!

So this past week in Oneida was very eventful and a lot of things happened making for a very fun week!

So from Monday to Wednesday not much happened other than teaching a few lessons and contacting former and potential investigators. On Thursday we helped another church set up a free lunch that took place at a park. Little Caesers pizza sponsered the event so we got some free pizza which is always good.

Friday we helped an investigator couple decorate for their reception.

Saturday we helped a member move a couch into her house. Then we went to the investigator couples wedding which was wonderful. Then we went to the reception and had a fun time there. Then we went to a baptism that the nearby sister missionaries had at our building because they don't have a proper meeting house in their area. 

Sunday morning the investigator couple that got married the day before got baptized. Then we taught a lesson to this awesome older couple who are catholic but believe in the Godhead and NOT the trinity (crazy right). And that was pretty much our week! It was a lot of fun and a great way to show that missionaries are real people! 

I don't have time for a spiritual message but I hope you know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love you and are aware of you!!

Love you all!!

      Elder Reyne

Back In Action

Hello! Man it is so good to be back in New York after a very special, but sad 3 weeks.

 

The area I am in now is Oneida. I am in a trio with Elders Longwill and Hatanaka. They are so much fun and are hard workers. Being in a trio is so much more different than just a regular companionship. Like my first two areas I am in a branch again, but I love branches because you get to know the members really well and fast. We have a good amount of investigators to teach which is new for me because I'm used to knocking on doors all day. The members are really nice and friendly. There is a lot of things happening next week but I don't have time to share them today so next week I will let you all know how my week went!

 

Love ya!!

 

Elder Reyne

Fisher of Men and Fish

I caught some bass the other day!

Hello, hello!

So this last week was pretty tough and discouraging. I won't go into too much detail but we only taught 1 lesson and the other lessons we were going to teach fell through, which is always frustrating. But I always try to stay positive and hope for a better week!!

 Already this week is off to a good start! Just a few minutes ago this lady, who was using a computer next to us, gave us her name and phone number! It was totally out of the blue, I don't know if she really knows who we are or if she wants us to teach her or not but still that NEVER happens here (well not never but you know what I mean).

Elder Neus and I have been trying to work more with the members and less active members instead of tracting every day because that's pretty much the only way to find people to teach in this area and it's not very effective. It's hard to meet with the members though because everyone lives so far away and spread and we only have so many miles per month we can drive.

Well, other than that there's not much else to report. But my testimony of this church grows everyday and I feel the love my Father in Heaven and His Son have for me each and everyday. I know they are always there for me ready to lift me up when times get hard. This church IS true and I love it so much, it brings me so much joy and happiness that I can't express in words.

Love ya!!!

           Elder Reyne 

Not much really happened

Have you ever had one of those weeks where you look back and think, "what the heck did I do all week?" Well that's how it was this week. It wasn't a bad week it just feels like not a lot happened.

 But we were able to teach a few lessons and meet this super nice less active couple. They are hard to get ahold of so I'm glad we were able to meet with them. Sister Ludwig is super nice and bubbly and Brother Ludwig is awesome and has a sweet Duck Dynasty beard! When we knocked on the door no one answered. We knocked three times and there was no answer, so we go over to the other door (because like every house has two front door in upstate new York it's annoying and weird, I never know which one to knock on) and knock and we hear Sister Ludwig scream, because we made her jump from waking up from her nap, it was funny. So she let us in and fed us which we weren't expecting and we talked for a while and they are just super nice people, I don't know why they are less active, but we will change that =).

Then on Saturday we went this super sweet waterfall because we started proselyting early on Monday. I think it is the tallest waterfall or something.

Anyway, I hope that next week will be more eventful. I definitely felt the spirit at zone conference and learned a lot about repentance and obedience. I know we are able to obey all the commandments because why would God give them to us if we were not able to follow them? And I love the scripture in D&C about how the Lord has never given us a temporal law, they are all spiritual. Think about it, every commandment we follow helps our spirituality and when we brake them it results in a loss of the spirit. I just think it's sweet!

LOVE YA!!!!

             Elder Reyne

Miracles in Greenville!

I had a pretty awesome week! Lots of things happened and we have been praying for a miracle and our prayers were answered!

So first we got a new investigator who is pretty solid. Her name is Rachel, and at first she said that she was catholic and not interested, but we asked her if she knew about the Mormons and she thought that the Mormons out west practiced polygamy still, so we explained that there is branch off of the LDS faith that it not apart of the true church. And after a while of talking we took out a restoration pamphlet and taught the 1st lesson on her porch. We didn't ask her if we could come back, she asked US if we could come back I was super shocked because that like never happens!!

Another miracle that happened was that we didn't get eaten alive by some German shepherds. We knocked on this door, left an pass-along card and then walked away to leave when 2 German Shepherds start barking and running toward us from the back yard, that we didn't know were even there when we first walked up. So my companion Elder Neus books is back to the door and I'm all confused as to what was going on so I stumbled and fell over but was able to get back up before they got to us. So me and my comp. are cowering on the porch while the owner is calling them to go back to the back yard. The dogs didn't listen, but didn't come any closer to us. Then the lady goes to the front door takes the card, says "here's your card back" then calls the dogs in, so we cautiously walk away. It was pretty funny afterward but the lady was pretty rude, she didn't even apologize for her dogs that almost ate us. Oh well, welcome to upstate New York!

Other then that we just tracted and worked with the senior couple, but it was a super good week!

Love ya!!

Elder Reyne

June 30, 2014

The waterfall is under a bridge right next to our house

Catskill mountains

Bike Rides = No fun!

So my week was really awesome despite the title (I'll get to that in a bit).

We picked up a new investigator on Monday and he is pretty sweet. The senior couple met with a less active family and their less active daughter few weeks ago. After their visit they told us that the daughter has a 14 year old son and she wants him to learn about God and have good male role models in his life and she thought of the missionaries! So after a week or two of forgetting to call and set up an appointment with them, we called and set up an appointment to start teaching Shawn about God ( the missionary lessons). His mom told us that he has a learning disability and that it might take a while for him to learn and retain everything, so we had to teach very simply. So we taught the first lesson with using the new teaching method ( using the Restoration pamphlet) and he seemed to understand for the most part. We met with shawn and his mom Dawn again on Sunday and taught about the Book of Mormon and committed him to baptism and he said yes! But we will need to work with him more before he is ready.

Thursday we had our zone training meeting and like always the spirit is very strong and I always leave with a renewed desire to work hard and bring many people closer to Christ. After ZTM instead of leaving the stake center and coming back for priesthood leadership meeting we worked with other Elders in there area, it was great! The leadership meeting was good too. It was all about missionaries and members working together and our branch has trouble with that so hopefully our branch leadership will start having the rest of the branch help us.

So now for my bike riding tale of misery! So one day each month in the summer time our mission has what is called a car fast. It's the same as a fast from food only with the car and it's all day long. So Elder James and I decided to ride the bikes because I never have ridden a bike since I've been on my mission. Well let me just say, it was flippin' hard!!!! There are SOOO many hills here. Up and down, and up and down, and up, and up and UP. My legs were jelly!! We rode about 17 miles. I thought I would be fine but I'm used to riding in California where it's flat everywhere! No potentials or investigators came from that day but it was a testimony builder to me that we need to work hard in every aspect of missionary work.

Anyway. I hope your legs aren't killing you!

      

Love

      Elder Reyne! 

Festival Celebrating the countries freedom