El Brazo del Pez‏

Greetings! I think "el brazo del pez" roughly translates to "the arm of the fish," which is how I like to refer to Salmon Arm in Spanish. We have a Spanish investigator named Victor, so I'm trying to put my high school Spanish class to use.

It's been an amazing week! We saw some great things happen across the mission because of #RealBCMormons. We also had a surprise Zone Conference with Elder Brent H. Nielson of the Quorum of the Seventy, who recently spoke in General Conference. It's been a really inspiring week. It often feels that the days are long but the weeks zoom by. 

I lost my flash drive last week, but I bought a new one and have it loaded up with tons of great music from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir andwww.lds.org/youth/music.

This week, the mission has officially ended Sister Districts. Previously, the Canada Vancouver Mission was one of the few missions where Elders and Sisters had different Districts, but with the declining number of missionaries in the area, Elders and Sisters have joint Districts. Here in Salmon Arm, our district doesn't contain any Sisters, so we've had a very easy transition with the change!

Elder Yue is also a great missionary! We've been having a great time serving in Salmon Arm.

In my reading this week, I came across Helaman 13:25-26:
25 And now when ye talk, ye say: If our days had been in the days of our fathers of old, we would not have slain the prophets; we would not have stoned them, and cast them out.
 26 Behold ye are worse than they; for as the Lord liveth, if a prophet come among you and declareth unto you the word of the Lord, which testifieth of your sins and iniquities, ye are angry with him, and cast him out and seek all manner of ways to destroy him; yea, you will say that he is a false prophet, and that he is a sinner, and of the devil, because he testifieth that your deeds are evil.

I was reminded of Matthew 23:29-32:
29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
 30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
 31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
 32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.

Both Jesus Christ and Samuel the Lamanite state that if we are not willing to accept those whom the Lord sends in our day, we cannot claim that we would have accepted those whom He sent anciently. Just some food for thought!
Have a great week!

-Elder Reynolds

Social Media Blitz‏

I hope that each and every one of you had a blessed Easter week!

My email today is focused on each and every one of you. More specifically, on something that each and every one of you can do this week to help the work here in British Columbia.

As some of you may be aware, the Book of Mormon musical is coming to Vancouver this week. Canda Vancouver Mission is going to ride on the wave of publicity that this is going to cause in BC. On Saturday, April 11, we are going to have members taking pictures of us in our daily work and posting them on various social media outlets with #RealBCMormons

Should you come across posts like this, (or better yet, if you are searching for them) please share, repost, and retweet so spread the publicity. We want people all across British Columbia (and the rest of the world) to see what real missionary life is like.

Thank you so much! You may even see pictures of me and Elder Yue!

#RealBCMormons

#BecauseHeLives

-Elder Reynolds

SALMON ARM

This map hangs on our wall‏

Family History Center

A zoomed out version of our area, with British Columbia for scale‏

Easter!

My dear friends and family, this week we celebrate the most transcendent of all events that has ever occurred in the course of human history. Without the events of this holy week, Christmas would be nothing more than a celebration of the Winter Solstice.

www.mormon.org/easter is a wonderful website this week! It has a short and powerful video about Easter, and if you scroll down you can read about the events that happened on each day of this week. I would definitely recommend it!

Elder Tillmann and I received our transfer call early this week! Elder Tillmann will be going to the Victoria 2nd ward on Victoria Island (literally the opposite end of the mission). I will be companions with Elder Yue. Elder Yue has been serving in Chinese work his entire mission, and in Salmon Arm he will begin his first English work. I may be able to pick up some more Mandarin! I've also been working with Elder Salazar and Elder Zamano in the district to pick up some more Spanish. British Columbia is extremely diverse!

Also, President Burt's father has recently passed away, but he is still working hard here in British Columbia so please keep him in your prayers!

 15 For behold, he surely must die that salvation may come; yea, it behooveth him and becometh expedient that he dieth, to bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, that thereby men may be brought into the presence of the Lord.

 16 Yea, behold, this death bringeth to pass the resurrection, and redeemeth all mankind from the first death—that spiritual death; for all mankind, by the fall of Adam being cut off from the presence of the Lord, are considered as dead, both as to things temporal and to things spiritual.

 17 But behold, the resurrection of Christ redeemeth mankind, yea, even all mankind, and bringeth them back into the presence of the Lord. 

-Helaman 14:15-17

Have a great week! -Elder Reynolds

Spring is in the Air!‏

Good day my friends! Spring has finally arrived, and its presence is very welcome here in Salmon Arm. I can finally put away the heavy coats. Now that the snow is all melted, the beauty of the region really begins to blossom. Also, I found out that Mount Ida, the tallest and most renowned mountain in the area, is a dormant volcano!

It's been an excellent week! We had a Zone Conference with President Burt on Friday, and I was able to reunite with some of the people I knew when I was in Willoughby, including my trainer, Elder Smith! It was great to see him again, because he goes home in May.

This week, we also had the opportunity to blitz the area with our zone leaders (meaning we had 2 companionships in one area for several hours), and over the weekend we were able to work with Elder and Sister Mortensen, some of our new senior missionaries. 

Sorry that I haven't been writing as much as some previous weeks; I just haven't been sure what to write! I've been learning a lot, and scripture study has become really entertaining, which may sound odd to some. In the Book of Mormon, I just read about the story of Ammon and how he defended King Lamoni's flocks; he is a great missionary example. In my Old Testament study, I just completed the book of Joshua. I love Joshua 1:9.

"Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest."

It would seem that we are commanded to be of good courage and strong! It's weird to think of that as a commandment, but it also comes with its own blessings!

This week, we are getting our apartment inspected, so we must make sure it is spotless today! Have a wonderful week!

-Elder Reynolds