Saturday Session

                                

Stand as a Witness of Christ

So this is just going to be a sporadic letter with lots of little things I want to give an update on!

READY, SET, BULLET POINTS:

• David Archuleta is always here......maybe he has a secret mission on temple square?
• I have new Roomies, Sister Lui from Italy!!! SHE IS Hilarious! and Sister Mokalake from South Africa!
• CITY CREEK OPENED UP THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!! HELLO SODOM AND GOMORA! SOOOOOOO many people!!!!!! The place is Huge!!!! Such a big Mall!!!!! Makes down town Salt Lake have a different feel! We have already seen the blessings of it! So many People have come  through Temple Square as a result of this crazy mall! 
• The coming of summer brings a lot of people to the square. Some of those people are our beloved "Anti's" or as we like to call them - "Friends of other Faiths". We get prepped for dealing with these children of God....
• Did you know that there are actually groups of "Anti's" that come here with the sole purpose of making Sisters cry!  If they have made one Sister cry then they've reached their goal. But Man they are so sneaky. We get real good at asking certain questions at the beginning of tours to decipher if they are "anti's" or not.

CONFERENCE IS THIS WEEKEND!!!!!!! WOOT WOOT!!!!!! Lots of praying and fasting going on here!!!! So while every other member of the Church is intently listening to the words of our beloved Prophets, I will be WORKING, WORKING, WORKING!!! I am soooo Excited!!! We have a companionship goal of 70 Referrals in 2 days and a zone goal of 933!!! I don't know what the mission goal is but  hopefully I will be able to tell you the results next Monday!

This Week we had the young Womens Broadcast! It was soooo fun! There was so many YW groups here! Yesterday Sister Dalton made an appearance at "Music and the Spoken Word," and afterwards she stayed around on the Square as a ton of people gathered around her to try to get a picture or talk with her. Well, I went on with my business but I happened to be walking by right when she was meeting with this last group of Young Women. I thought I'd take the chance to say hi and I walked up to her and she gave me a hug and turned me to all the Young Women and said "See! This is what you all want to become! SOMEONE WHO STANDS AS A WITNESS OF JESUS CHRIST at all times!" It was a special moment, and meant a lot to me.

When I was younger I always thought I was one of God's favorites. I really did! And the reason I thought that was because I saw how much he would BLESS me in my daily life! Recently I have to be honest, I have not done too well in noticing the Lords hand in my daily life. I have felt that I have been it separated a bit from my Father in Heaven as I was focused too much on myself. But lately I have noticed how much of a difference it makes as we thank the Lord Constantly for our blessings!

This Last week S. Kleine and I happened upon our newly found friend Chris. He's just a normal, middle aged guy, here for some convention. Anyways we had the opportunity to teach and we happened to mention to him that underneath Temple Square  it is full of tunnels...........Well, at the end we gave him our email and number.

A few hours later we get this email from him saying, "Too bad you can't come eat at the "Roof" restaurant. The view up here is amazing.....too bad you Sisters are stuck in your underground lair!" We then replied with, " Brother Chris,  we are sorry we didn't tell you that we are actually nuns. We actually spend our meal breaks underground chanting."

Anyways, .that's the missionary work for me our here..........JK its way better than this but I just thought it was funny.

Anyways, the Lord has spoiled me this week! Life is Good! Hurrah For Israel!

-Sister Reynders

The "Regulars"

OH DISNEYLAND LOOKED LIKE SOOOOO MUCH FUN!! AWWW!!!! And Rob and Paige were there! And Rachel! How fun!! Count your many Blessings! We are a lucky family!

Here on Temple square we have what we call "regulars". These are the people that are here all the time. You feel bad for a lot of them, because they don't really know where to turn next in their lives so they come to temple square because the spirit is here. They are really stuck in the "doldrums"...not moving forward with their lives. It's kind of sad.

But there are "regulars" that are similar to the guy on "A Beautiful Mind" who continues to go to that college campus because it keeps him interacting with people in a safe place. So I thought I'd tell you about Bob. He is in a automatic wheel chair and zooms around every morning chatting with the Sisters. He is great, although you can hardly understand what he says. Anyways, Bob is a good friend of mine.  He says someday he is going to get married and attach a seat for his wife to his chair so she can drive around with him all day...hehe

This week has been interesting in our contacting on the square. I am constantly trying to contact with the spirit but it's weird sometimes. This week I felt really prompted to talk to this guy. He had recently had an "alma the younger" experience and needed guidance. The contact was really spirit filled and I felt that he was who we were to spend our time with.

 Anyways, long story short we met him again later in the week and things were ok with him. He was trying to be his best. But something felt a little off. We began asking questions and I eventually asked, "John do you have a calling in your ward?" and he looked up at me and said "I have a calling, I am to be a prophet"...It was so empty of the spirit I felt sick. I was praying about what to do. We knew something was off spiritually with him. Then a man came up out of the blue and looked directly me at me and said, "There are a lot of people that need to be helped in the Assembly Hall. I think you should go there.," and he left and walked out the gates. At that moment I said, "Sorry John, we need to leave now".  When we got to the assembly Hall no one was there. I just sat on the pew and prayed. It is interesting how God is so involved in a little sister missionary on Temple Square. I know that for some reason Heavenly Father wanted us out of that situation fast. I felt so terrible and empty when I talked to John, it felt scary, and I don't think I have felt that empty before.  When that other man came and told us we needed to help other people else where I seriously felt he was placed there to guide us missionaries at that time.

Anyways, random long story, to say that my testimony has increased so much that Heavenly Father is very much aware of me and what I am doing. 

Saw John Bytheway this week.  He was working with at a Youth Conference here. (Spoiled Utah youth..ppsshhh)  

The working is going well. I am working hard, and hoping people are coming closer to Christ!

If any of you are interested check out our new Temple Square Mission blog

slctemplesquaremission.blogspot.com

I also wanted to challenge all those who are reading to post this on their FaceBook. It's an easy way to be a missionary:)

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/invite-others?lang=eng

We are getting really excited about Conference and Can't wait to hear the prophet speak! I only get to go to one session:( haha its ok. During conference our schedule is on the Square from 7:30 a.m. to 10p.m!

Alight well I am going to go! I love you ALL!!!!!! Thanks to all who write me!!!!!!

Love, Sister Reynders

Celebrity Sightings

DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!!!!

SISTER REYNDERS SAW THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE THIS WEEK.......

• David A. Bednar
• David Archuleta (shook his hand...be jealous mother)
• And the Dwarf from 17 Miracles! Ya woo Ya!

This week has been one of the best weeks of the mission because we got to go to Christian's Baptism! Christian is a guy we taught during an "Elders" tour here on Temple square. We only taught him the first lesson, but still we were involved and we committed him to baptism with a date...it was awesome! And now he is a member.

I continue to have awesome experience after awesome experience but they are not things that I would  write in these emails. My journal is where I write these experiences.

Life is so good here! I just found out this morning that I am indeed staying with Sister K  for another transfer and I will not be moving. YA WOO YA! We are now the Youth Conference Coordinators and  I am very excited for that because we get to organize all the Youth conferences that come here and I get to be involved with the YOUTH!!!  The Lord loves me and knows me and knows I love the YOUTH!

Jessica Goddfrey and Jana Wilkerson and family came and saw me this week! It was soo fun! It is hard I don't really have time to just sit and chat but just being able to say hi for a few minutes is nice!

  

This Week BYU-I had all their Choirs coming to perform.  I knew in the back of my mind that there would be people that I would know.  I was so blessed because I had prepared lessons to share with college aged kids, and I ended up running into this guy who just had an "Alma the Younger" experience if you know what I mean.  We were able to talk with him for about an hour and all my preparation for the BYUI students I thought I'd see was really for this man. It's cool how the Lord Works.

This week I have truly tried to share a scripture in every contact I make! I am not just here to get referrals but to help who ever I come in contact with become close to Christ!

Anyway, all is well. Hurrah For Israel!

Love, Sister Reynders

A Day in the Life of a Temple Square Missionary

 

6:30 -  Buzz.....She crawls out of bed, grabs her tennis shoes and waits in the hall until someone going down to the basement to work out walks by. She goes with other Sisters because her companion works out at home. She runs laps inside the Apartment complex garage in her PJ's. While there, her fellow MTC friend, Sister K runs with her and they catch up on the previous days experiences.

7:00 - She does her hair and applies her makeup, usually putting on more eye makeup than wanted but feels she must look her best as a representative of the Lord. She indulges in eggs...now that she found out she can microwave them!

8:00 - Personal study....she feels it is not enough time to study the Temple Square script, Book of Mormon, Preach my gospel, the needs of those she's working with and all the other "12 week program" stuff she is supposed to study as a trainee.

 9:00 - Harmonizing is a must as she sings an opening hymn with her companion. It is the only time she will sing for the next 24 hours:) She secretly wants to be avoid "Role Playing" during companion study...but she endures it because she knows it is better to make her mistakes during  "role play" than on the square when someone's salvation may be at stake.

10:00 - Bundled up in a coat and scarf, she says a prayer and off she goes to the square! While on the square she holds only her BOM and planner. She goes to the West Gate, as it is the place she and her companion prayerfully scheduled to find people the night before. While there she laughs with her companion as they realized her skirt is see through!  They get to the West gate.....no one is there.  So they go to the next spot they planned to find people.....the Tabernacle.....no one is there...but there is a rehearsal of the bells that will be performed the next day. Next location is the map in the North Visitors center.............BING BING BING! There is a couple looking at the map of Jerusalem! SCORE!!!......Now the pesky Sister missionaries skillfully pounce on their new found prey. "You guys planning your next trip to Jerusalem?" she exclaims.  (She thinks...why the heck did I just say that!) They look a little taken aback by these Sister missionaries' abrupt approach but answer, "We wish we could go to Jerusalem," they say.  And she's off!  She has successfully made her first contact of the day! They continue to talk and find out the couple are to be married soon.  She feels like she should take them to the "Gods plan for families" presentation and they go. She teaches and testifies with her companion for a bit longer and tactfully ask for a referral, gets one, and then says good bye!

11:00  It is now time to stand at the DESK! Bum Bum BUM!!! She will now stand at the desk in the North Visitors center for 2 hours. Because it is winter she doesn't see a huge traffic flow, but for some reason every time a guest comes and asks if they can get a tour, there happens to be NO Sisters around to help them! So the search for Sisters begins. First call all the other desks and ask if they have Sisters available...Next text all the sisters on the Square...if that doesn't work, run to the closest "motors"(computer) room and take a Sister off their chat or phone assignment.

As long and dreary as the DESK assignment may feel sometimes it is there where she has had some of her most influential and spiritual experiences......There is a lot of lounging room in this area so a lot of people come in and just want to think.....SCORE.....She pounces again on one of these unsuspecting souls...and the next thing she knows she has just heard their life story. She is there to be a representative of Jesus Christ to this person at this exact moment.....what does she say? The whole time she is praying that revelation will come....it does...Mosiah 27: 28-29. Alma testifies of repentance, .....PERFECT! "Thanks Alma," she thinks in her head. She shares, testify teaches, and commits....and then he's got to go. "See ya," she says as she returns to her desk and prays that this unknown soul (she didn't even catch his name), takes these words to heart!

1:00 - LUNCH! Yeah. She walks home...makes something with the main ingredient being a corn tortilla...don't know why...but it always is.

2:00 - Second companion study, on the square...more role playing...studying script...(she has 2 companion study times in her first 12 weeks as she is a trainee.)

3:00 - TEXTING...she only has about 3 investigators to text.  Daily contact is so important so Satan doesn't have time to TAKE OVER! The text can be 10 words or less and she can't send more than one to each investigator. She prayerfully decides what needs to be said to each investigator. Usually a scripture is included.

4:00 - More "square time" like she had at 10 this morning.

5:00 - DINNER  She walks back home prepares a meal and walks back.

6:00 - More Square time.

7:00 - Motors time. She has appointments with investigators. She calls Juan and conferences her companion in. HE FASTED ON SUNDAY!!! YEAH!!!! He is having a hard time connecting with the missionaries in his area, but she knows it is important that he learns from the missionaries in his area, so she encourages him to trust them. They read with him from where he is at in the BOM. They commit him to read every day and continue to pray to know if these things are true. They kneel with their head sets on and say a  prayer. Juan says it in Spanish. He is a sweet man, and her heart is filled with love and joy for this man.

8:45 - She walk home with other fellow missionaries.

9:00 - Planning for the next day to do it all over again.

10:30 - She is showered and clean and has written in her journal, and she lays in bed struggling to fall asleep.

All is well here:) I don't really have anything to update on. Mom, your letter was the best this last week! I loved it! It was exactly what I needed!!! I love you family and I feel so grateful to have you! I have a testimony of eternal families and I am so grateful that these family relationships can continue into the next life.....AS LONG AS WE ALL KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS!!...So what do you say fam? ARE WE GONNA BE RIGHTEOUS TO THE END!!! YES!!! CAN WE DO IT? YES!!! Let's all hang out and have parties like on Thanksgiving and Christmas FOREVER!! YA WOO YA!!

Life is GOOD! Everyone else out there who reads this.....Sister Reynders would love to hear from you:)

Love you all!

Hurrah For Israel!

Sister Reynders