John 11:35‏

(The Desert, part 5)
I pull the man back on his feet and wipe the sweat off my brow
Then turn my gaze heavenward and ask "What do we do now?"
I'm answered by a call from a pair of strangers in the distance;
My companion and I work toward them with renewed persistence.
By and by, we reach them, an odd group, the four of us.
United in our loneliness in a situation treacherous.
(Part 6 next week)

The goal is to finish the story within the next 3 weeks. Stay tuned!

What a fantastic week it has been in the service of my God! Due to time constraints, I relate only the most important highlights.

This past Friday, Elder Driscoll and I were privileged to attend MLC (Mission Leadership Council), where we received training from President and Sister Burt regarding the work in our mission. It was a blessing to again see Elder Kelly and Elder Asi, but the highlight of the meeting was undoubtedly the Spirit that we felt confirm to us that the things we discussed were inspired. There's a lot of changes that are coming to the mission, and we feel the pressure to convey all of these things to the Prince George zone this upcoming Friday in zone meeting. The Spirit that we felt in MLC can be second only to the Spirit of the temple, and I am not ashamed to say that I wept often in that meeting.

Later, Elder Driscoll and I were sitting at the airport terminal waiting for our plane to arrive. I got up to get a snack from the vending machine and silently prayed for a chance to share the gospel. As I purchased my snack, I heard a man behind me say the word "genealogy." It turns out there were two men talking about family history, so I turned around and walked up to them and asked "Are you talking about genealogy?" One of the men said "Yes we are! What's your interest in genealogy?" I sat with them, and we had a very pleasant chat about family history and why it's important in our church. At the end of the conversation, I gave one of the men a mormon.org card with "familysearch.org" written on the back. It's amazing how prayers to share the gospel are answered!

The long nights of travel and strong Spirit of this weekend left our bodies pretty drained, but on Saturday we exchanged with the some other Elders. I've gained a stronger testimony of the importance of exchanges, because I could literally feel the Lord giving me the strength and energy to work enthusiastically and diligently on the exchange; I could feel that the Lord needed this to be a nature-changing exchange. We worked hard as we parked our car; we talked with everybody, jogged down the streets to catch our appointments, and kept without our comfort zone. Throughout the exchange, the Elder I was with expressed to me his desire to increase his optimism and develop more Christ-like humility. As we discussed more during our exchange review, he opened up more and said he just has a lot of questions about what his place is and developing more self-esteem. I could feel the Spirit guide my words as I invited us to kneel together and have him pray to know if he was a son of God. So we knelt, and his prayer was filled with sincerity, intent, and faith, and the room was filled with such a strong Spirit, that I could not help but shed a tear. He had a testimony that God was his Father, but I witnessed his first steps of his conversion in knowing his identity.


Happy Birthday to my old man, who celebrates his birthday on February 12th! One year older and wiser too. Well... maybe just one year older.


-Elder Reynolds