Week 7!

This week was great. It was definitely the coldest one, though. We have found a lot more people to teach, more than we have ever had. Elder Smith and I have been doing all that we can to be obedient to the commandments and rules that we have a missionaries and we have seen a ton of blessings from our efforts. I think my faith grows everyday. Everyday I´m more sure that what we are doing is true. As I realize that, it motivates me to work even harder. We have been teaching an 18-year-old named Matías. He is a really good guy and wants to do the right thing. His family members seem interested, too. That´s really important. I love teaching families. One of my biggest dreams in life is to have all my family accept the gospel and participate in all the blessings that are waiting there for them. My dad has already taken that step and I have faith that the work I do here will work miracles at home. This gospel is about families. It´s about blessing each and every member of the family and the family as a whole. It´s about living together forever. I have a strong testimony in the ability we have to have an eternal family. Giving that blessing to others is one of the greatest feelings I can imagine. Just to see people progress and experience all that I´ve experienced as a result of accepting the gospel reminds me why I´m here. We recently started teaching a woman named Maribel. She is the cousin of a member who just left for his mission in Peru this past week. She has five kids and is such a wonderful woman and mother. However, her husband has a drinking problem. She was telling us about it last night. She said that every night, he goes out and spends his money on alcohol, rather than spending time with his family. Many times, she told us, he comes home and yells at his family. Seeing her pain as she told us about all these things was really difficult. I know that we will do all that we can do to help her and her family build a better life. She deserves it and her children deserve it. No one should have to experience that. We saw a lot of miracles this week. For example, yesterday Elder Smith and I were walking home with about 10 minutes left in the day. We needed two more contacts to reach our weekly goal of 50. I told him that The Lord would put to people in our path on the way home. As we approached a corner, I had a strong feeling that they would be right around the corner. We turned the corner and there they were. It´s little things like that that really strengthen my faith. I know that we are never alone. We also taught a man named Cristian yesterday during church. He showed up to church to meet with us and tell us that he wanted to change his life (his history sounded exactly like mine) and that he wanted to be baptized. That was an experience that words can´t really convey. I´m just so blessed to be here as a tool in the Lord´s hands. Everyone should know that Micaela Morgan Wright is the most amazing, beautiful, intelligent, funny, and caring woman (besides my mother and grandmother, of course) on the planet and that I don´t deserve her, but for some reason she still sticks around. Also, I love my family very much and wouldn´t be here if it weren´t for them. Also, I was talking with Elder Smith this week and realized how blessed I am to know Dr. Bradbury, Dr. Sainsbury, and Cindy Lancaster. They have opened many doors for me and I´m truly grateful for all that they have done and do for me. Have a wonderful week, everyone!

Elder Reynolds