Bridgeport, CT, WEEK 1

 What a crazy week this was! Last pday was full of lots of packing and lots of goodbyes. 

Tuesday we headed out of Bermuda and a senior couple picked us up and took us to Brooklyn. We then stayed there over night and woke up at 5 in the morning to make it to Manhattan for a leadership meeting, and dragged all our luggage on the subways which was fun haha. Then we had our mission tour with Elder Sean Douglas and his wife. It was amazing! He talked a lot about how we are here to build the church, and change not only people but change generations. As well as not only seeing people in Baptism white, but in Temple white. 

Then we had one day in our area and the next day we traveled back to Manhattan for another leadership meeting with Elder Douglas. My new companion is Sister Stout and things have been awesome with her so far! I'm excited for this transfer! 

We also had two amazing friends get baptized this weekend. One was Keegan who's 9 and our friend Brenda. They both were so ready and even though I just got into the area I was grateful to be a part of their special days! 

Something I have been studying on my own and for the mission tour, a lot lately, is covenants and how important they really are. They are what yoke us to our Savior Jesus Christ and help us to make it back to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ one day. I am so grateful for the covenants that I have made at baptism and in the temple. I invite all of you to think about the covenants you have made and why you are grateful you've made them, and if you haven't made them I invite you to look into it, I PROMISE they will change your life! 

Love you all and hope you have a wonderful week! 

Sister Reynolds(: 

**Pictures:

1. Getting caught in a crazy storm! 

2. Flying out of Bermuda 

3. Us with all the luggage on the subway! 

Bridgeport, CT-Here I Come!

This week was bitter sweet... my last week in Bermuda. On Saturday night I found I out I will be transferred to Connecticut and will be an STL (sister trainer leader) again! I'm sad to be leaving Bermuda, but am excited for something new. I will be going to my trainees area and she'll be headed to Japan so that's exciting! I'm so grateful for the time I got to spend here in Bermuda, it truly is like no where else in the world. It as well as my past areas will always be holy ground and I'll cherish the experiences I've had forever. I think I'm gonna be stuck saying "Good morning", "Good Afternoon", "Good Evening" and all the other Bermuda slang forever😂

This past week we were able to go to a beach and we built a sand castle with the elders and one of our recent converts! It was a good time as pdays always are here in Bermuda! 

We were able to put our friend Pj on baptismal date! Alex our recent convert joined our lesson and invited him to church and he is planning to baptize our friend when the time comes! 

We also were able to meet some really cool Sisters while we were knocking. We had knocked their neighbors door right before and he mentioned that it wouldn't even be worth our time to knock on the door. But of course we knocked on their door anyway 😅 it turned out to be a 19 and 30 year old, who are both sisters and super cool! We almost put them on date on the door step but ended up waiting until our second lesson with them. They weren't able to make it to church, but I'm super excited for them to work toward baptism and am so grateful we knocked on their door! 

The same day we found the two sisters I was getting kind of over finding guys that just wanted to flirt with us, but all the people we found that day were women, so that was a blessing!! 

I also am now 21!! Thank you all for the birthday wishes!! ❤ we had service that day and they brought us cupcakes and our sweet neighbor gave us some muffins and donuts and got me a nice gift. It was the best mission bday I could have ever asked for! 

On Sunday we were able to go over to a members house and they fed us cod fish and potatoes which is a big delicacy here in Bermuda. It wasn't too bad! 

I again am so grateful for Bermuda and the things I learned here. The Gospel become more true here than ever. I leaned more on my Savior and came to know Him more than ever. I prayed to our Heavenly deeper than ever. And I came to know The Book of Mormon was true more than ever. My faith also was tested more than before, but is even stronger now! ❤ 

I love you all and hope you have the best week! Check y'all in Bridgeport next week! (: (a little Bermuda slang for you lot, they say "check ya later" and "you lot" super often 😅) 

Sister Reynolds 

**Pictures!: 

1. Birthday pictures!! 

2. Another fish sandwich! 

3. Knocking in the pouring rain! 

4. The Sand castle we built!

5. Bermuda cherries! 

                                              

1 more week of Bermie😥

This last pday we were able to go to another cave! We also went and walked around a place called Coney Island and got some good food at pickled onion! A good time as always! I may have slipped on some of the rocks out by the water and got a gnarly scrape on my arm, and everyone thought I crashed on a bike. It's healing well though!

Also our recent convert friend Alex was able to speak in church on Sunday and he did super good! He spoke about the covenant path and the changes he has been able to see in his life because he chose to get baptized. 

There were a few events this week in Bermuda that we were able to contact at. One was relay for life and the other was Sail GP, which is a sailing competition they do here. It was nice to be able to switch up our finding a little bit! 

This week felt like it was full of a getting bashed a lot again, but we were able to put our friend Ajani on date so please pray for him to have strength to overcome the word of wisdom and come to church!! 

This is my last week in Bermuda before I'm back in New York, so I'm just enjoying the time I have left to serve the amazing people here in Bermuda!!

I am truly so grateful for our Savior, Jesus Christ. So many people out there either don't believe in or haven't even heard of Him. I don't know what my life would be like without our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Without them we are nothing and I'm so grateful that because of them I can become something! 

Hope you all have the best week!! 

Sister Reynolds(: 

**Pictures:

Venetia got Baptized!

What a good week! Last pday we were able to go back out to dockyard for the 3rd time, but there are cruise ships all the time now so just like when we went to St. George's there were a lot more things open. We also were able to eat another fish sandwich haha(all we ever eat when we eat out) from a place called Woody's. It's the best one we have had yet! 

Also!! Thank you for all of your prayers. Our friend Venetia was able to be baptized on Sunday. We thought it was going to rain, but the weather turned out beautiful. We are super happy for her! 

We were able to meet lots of cool people this week, but right now we don't have anyone that's progressing a lot. Just still finding and teaching lots! We were able to meet someone this week though who felt like we were at his door for a reason and we are excited to help him receive more of the Gospel in his life. We also met a girl who was super open with us and told us a lot of her life story. It was cool to see just how much the Lord has been preparing her, so hopefully we can meet with her again soon! Please pray that she will be able to get Sundays off.  

I had the opportunity to speak on Sunday! I spoke about the joy of sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for the amazing opportunity I have to share the Gospel with everyone each and everyday. In my talk I shared this quote by Neil L. Anderson which says, "if you're not a full-time missionary with a missionary badge pinned on your coat, now is the time to paint one on your heart-painted, as Paul said, 'not with ink, but the spirit of the living God'". I invite all of you do to the same and I know you will find SO much joy in doing so! 

Love you all and hope you have the best week! 

Sister Reynolds(:

**Pictures!:

Personal Testimony! 💪

It was a wonderful week as always! Last pday we went to a place called Abbotts cliff, which is just a lookout spot so nothing too exciting, but it was really pretty! And then we just enjoyed being out by the water! 

We were able to talk with a lot of amazing families this week! And the family from Barbados were able to come to church with us on Sunday so that was awesome! It truly has made the Gospel even more real to see how it can help these families have eternal families! 

Our friend Venitia also was able to come to church with us just this past Sunday and will hopefully be getting baptized this Sunday, if not sometime soon! We are super excited for her and this next step. If you all could continue to pray for her that would be amazing!

We also were able to meet this sweet lady the other day who has lost a lot of family over the last couple of years and we were able to teach her more about The Plan of Salvation which was super sweet. I am so grateful for The Plan of Salvation myself and that we have the knowledge of where we will go after we die and what we have to look forward to. 

There was a lady we met this week as well who did not want to meet with us and was not interested at all, and we wanted her to be able to watch one of the churches videos and she wouldn't give us her number. So I wrote the whole link to the video on a pass along card because we knew how much it truly would bless her. I'll attach the video and invite all of you to watch it if you haven't before(:  

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media/video/2020-12-0130-jesus-is-real-calyanns-experience-with-the-book-of-mormon?lang=eng

I also was able to eat some fresh bananas from by our apartment and a member fed us this week, so we are eating good here in Bermuda haha 

This week as we shared the Gospel we ran into lots of Seventh Day Adventists and people who just wanted to bash us. It helped me realize and remember just how important our personal testimonies are. I invite you all to continue to grow your testimony of the Gospel, and if your testimony feels weak share it with someone. The best way to build and strengthen our testimonies are to share them(: 

Love you all and hope you have the best week!