December 25th

Dearest, wonderful family,

I have two apologies to make – First, I'm sorry I didn't get an email off this week. We had to clean the temple (well, we were blessed with the opportunity to clean the temple) but that limited our emailing time, so I didn't get one sent off.

My second apology is that I haven't been able to write back individually to each of you and thank you so, so much for your letters. I don't know if I've ever appreciated letters so much before. And don't worry about upsetting anyone by sending too many letters – all our district is getting a lot of mail now,  so n o one cares (in fact, my companion, Elder Bishop, received six packages in the last five days!)

Christmas has been awesome. Last night, Christmas Eve, Elder Bednar came with his wife, son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter and gave us a Christmas Eve fireside. Today Elder Holland came and spoke. It has been so spiritually uplifting, and so focused on Christ without being distracted by any of the superfluous parts. The spirit has been so sweet and so strong; I wish everyone could spend one Christmas in the MTC.

Thank you so much for the awesome gifts (I'm writing this with my space pen right  now, in my BYU pajamas, and I love all the awesome missionary accessories!)

This morning we woke up at 6:30 s usual and then met in Elder Sais and Brassell's room and we read Luke 2 and opened our presents. It wasn't like home – there wasn't a tree, you weren't there – but in its own way, it was sweet.

When I went to bed last night, I was filled with so much peace and happiness. (Sorry this letter isn't chronological – it will jump with my thoughts.) I don't ever remember a Christmas Eve where I was more happy. I think I felt like Nephi must have in 1 Nephi 2 when the Lord said, 'Blessed art thou, Nephi, because of thy faith."

It was awesome. I've wanted my service this Christmas to be my gift to the Savior, even though its insignificant, it is something I can give, and I felt yesterday the peace that my effort wasn't wasted – that it had been accepted – and that was nice to know.

Today in Elder Holland's Morningside, he and Sister Holland brought their grandchildren (or some of them). Sister Holland said it was so we could feel like we had our brother, sister, niece or nephew with us here. I thought that was great that an Apostle would do everything he could to help us feel at home on Christmas. He cared about us so much.

Elder Holland spoke on t he first Christmas and also on the 12 days of Christmas (the twelve days following Christmas and he gave us an attribute or name of Christ to study on each of the next 12 days. The list is:

1.     The Great Stone of Israel 2. Messenger of the Covenant  3. Advocate  4. Intercessor  5. Mediator  6. The True Light  7. A Faithful Witness  8. A Strength and Refuge  9. True Vine  10. The Lamb 11. The Morning Star, and 12. The High Priest of Good Things to Come

He said that s Missionaries, we should live to fit these titles. It will be fun to study them and look for how I can be an advocate, a lamb, a morning star, and so forth.

Elder Bednar, last night spoke on the symbolism of trees, lights, and shepherds. Elder Bednar is quite the scriptorian and it was awesome to discover new insights. Here's what we found:

Trees represent Christ. And as we plant the word in our hears it grows and becomes in us a tree – like unto Christ – we become like Him. 1 Nephi 8:9-12; Alma 32:28-43, and 1 Ne 11: 1-16

Lights – Christ is the light that saves us just as the day – night – day without darkness saved t he Nephites who believed. Helaman 14: 2-3, 3 Ne 11: 7-11; and 3 Ne 1: 4-9

Shepherds – He said the shepherds were guarding the temple flocks and that's why t eh angels appeared to them (he quoted Bruce R. McConkie). We should live worthy of the temple and we'll be worthy of revelation.

Thank you again for being the best family ever. I hope all the family and extended family will know of my love.

Sincerely,

 

Elder Reynolds

December 16th

Hi, Family,

I'm trying to write as we wait for our laundry. Do you know how hard it is to write in a laundry room full of talking missionaries – there are so many distracting conversations.

Learning Spanish is tough – I'm glad I did all the studying I did before, but there is still so  much to learn!

Saturday, Sunday and Monday Elder Bishop and I decided to have an "ayuno de ingles". We couldn't speak English unless we were talking to someone who didn't speak Spanish. It was tough, but a lot of fun. One of my favorite things to do is to go up to missionaries with a Jesu Cristo tag and ask them in Spanish where they are from and where t hey are going. I've learned a lot, but have a lot more to do.

Know that I'm well and that the Lord  is taking care of me.

I love you all tons! Sincerely,

Elder Reynolds

First 'real' e-mail!

There are so many blessings, I don't know where to begin...

The Food at the MTC is great...well, pretty good at least...My companion put it best: "the food is always awesome, but never hot." That is true, but we do get to eat all we want every meal; so that means going back for seconds, thirds, fourths, etc. I'm going to send the family some pictures, but I hope you can recognize me--that I haven't put on too much weight--last time I checked I'd gained two pounds (I know that you happy Mom).

I'm trying to do a good work out schedule at the mtc gym with Elder Seis, so I don't leave looking like a snowman or a sumo wrestler, which brings me to another blessing, My district.

There are 7 missionaries in my district, 6 elders and 1 sister: Elder Peterson (the District Leader), Elder Bateman, Elder Seis, Elder Brassell, Myself, my companion Elder Bishop, and sister Hoye. We are District 48-A, all that means is our branch is number 48 and we're district A. We're the only intermediate branch I'm aware of, oh wait, that's not true, there are a couple more, but most of the districts are fluent speakers (the ones who are only here for three weeks), it's nice to have them around to hear them speak "real Spanish" o, "espanol en verdad".

All of our District is awesome, we all get along fairly well, and we're all excited to learn the gospel and learn Espanol. Elder Seis reminds me a little bit of Elder Steel from Nauvoo, quiet but sincere, and Elder Brassell reminds me of Elder Calhoun from the Best Two Years. He's skinny, talks with a southern drawl, and when he wears glasses, he reminds me a lot of elder Calhoun. It's pretty awesome.

Last week my companion and I taught our first lesson in the Teachers Resource center with an "investigator". I was so nervous, especially when Kathi didn't speak English very well, Elder Bishop and I prayed as hard as we could, and we were so blessed. Even though we weren't very polished, the spirit was powerful, one of the most powerful times of my life, and I knew that all the gospel was true, so true.

That lesson was such a great blessing for me, the first week was pretty tough, pretty rough, but ever since that lesson it's felt like I'm on fire--I'm just so excited to learn Spanish and the gospel. It's been awesome! Kind of like Hebrew Week at GWC.

Another blessing is that I'm adjusting to the beds, the MTC beds are hard, and for the first week I had a hard time sleeping, but last night I only woke up once.

My computer time is almost up, so I'll wrap up.

I feel so blessed to be here. I'm having the time of my life, and I'll keep you all in my prayers!

Thanks for the prayers!

Sincerely,

Elder Reynolds