Best Week Ever!!

Buenas Tardes!! (good afternoon!)

This has been the most exciting week so far in the MTC!   I'll start with the most exciting thing on Tuesday we had a devotional and we had 2 Apostles!!! Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and Elder Russel M. Nelson!!! It was such a spiritual event! Elder Holland was first to speak he talked about how you were meant to have the companion that you have and I definitely feel that Elder Cazier is a good companion for me!! He didn't get to speak for very long but it was such a great talk!! Then it was Elder Nelson's turn to speak.  The reason there were two Apostles is that it was the 50th anniversary for the MTC!! I got here just in time for that and I feel so blessed for being able to be here at the MTC right now!! Elder Nelson spoke about the history of the MTC and had so many neat and inspiring stories about people.  One of the people that he spoke about was Joseph Smith Jr.'s brother Samuel Smith he was the first missionary and one of the most successful missionaries of all time!! He was able to baptize thousands of people and was able to serve multiple missions it was so excellent!  Elder Nelson also talked about how when he was at a Stake Conference he felt inspired to ask a sister to come up to the pulpit with him and he asked her how long have you been a member of the church? She responded about 30 years and he said who baptized you? She responded why Elder Nelson you were the one that baptized me! He was awe struck by that comment! Then he asked her how many people have come into the church since you've been baptized? She responded with 89 that is quite a number!! He said that was in 1997 it is now 2012 and he said he got a letter from her recently and she now said that 317 people are members of the church because of her being baptized!! It just shows that the church is true and even one person choosing to convert to the gospel can lead to much much more people coming to the full and everlasting gospel!! Well that was the most exciting thing now to the other exciting things!! I am finally understanding Spanish!! I can understand it really well but when I try to speak it I am not that good in that aspect yet but I have faith that I can learn this language and if I am obedient that I will be able to talk to people in Spanish! Now for an update on Ivan our investigator, he is progressing very well we asked him to be prepared to be baptized the 21st of February and he said that he would!!!! Also, we asked him to come to church on Sunday and he said that he would also do that!! I was so excited number one because he said yes to those questions and number 2 because I asked him those specific questions in Spanish!!!! I know that this is because Ivan feels the spirit because the spirit is the one who testified to him that this church is true!  If Elder Cazier and I weren't in tune with the spirit then this would not be able to happen.  I am grateful that Elder Cazier and I are able to have the spirit to be our constant companion. Also, this week we were able to go to the Provo Temple I am grateful that I get to go to the temple now especially when there is not a temple in the Arcadia mission. Also, I don't know if I said this or not but originally our district had 14 elders which is a huge district!! This week we split and now there are 6 elders in my district and 8 in the other which is good because now our small classroom doesn't feel so crowded!  Also, at the 50th anniversary devotional 5 buildings were re-dedicated! One of them was the Rey L. Pratt building which is the building that I am staying in it was so awe inspiring!! I love this gospel and missionary work!!!

Love, Elder Reisner