Well this week was just A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!

Dear Familia y Amigos, 

 

This last week was super duper good!! On Monday we had a potential scheduled that wasn't home but because he wasn't home we actually were able to teach a random guy named Tom and help him. He said he had drinking problems and wanted help so we said we were there to help him! He said he would talk to his wife and get back to us to tell us if he wanted to be taught or not.  Then we went to an investigator named Karen. She is ready to be baptized but the thing she is missing is going to church. She knows The Book of Mormon is true but she isn't as sure anymore because she hasn't been taught for 3 months by the missionaries.  Then we went over to some members house and scheduled a noche de hogar.

Tuesday we went by former investigators of the area that hadn't been taught for years. We went to this one little place and found 4 potential investigators!! Then we went finding and went by other formers that said to come back another day.  We then went to an area that I had only been to once and went by a man's home named Alvino. He said we could come back another day.  Then we went to Hermana Chavez's house and taught her parents they are pretty old. The lesson was mostly us listening to a story about a dog. haha Then we taught Juan he is doing good. He stopped coffee, he is reading every day and praying the only thing is he doesn't think that he is ready and he hasn't been coming to church! :-( We know he's ready we will just love him and try to help him and not force him to be baptized.

Wednesday we did finding and found some good potentials.  We also taught Carmen and Isaac they said they want to get baptized but they aren't married and don't have enough money to get the marriage license. We had correlation and then we did more finding and visits with the young men to the less actives of the ward.  

Thursday we taught Emmanuel he wanted to be baptized right then and there in the lesson! We told him he needed to prepare and he then committed himself to go to church and be baptized!!! Then we taught a youth in our ward and did some finding and ate with the Reyes family.  Then we taught Alvino he said that last time he was taught by missionaries he wasn't ready but this time he is ready and he wants to learn and know more! Then we checked by some members to talk with them.  

Friday was a good day! We had a lesson with Karen at 11 she said she would go to church and read and pray daily!  Then we had another lesson with a youth in our ward.  Then we did weekly planning.  Then we had a lesson with Silvia about the Plan of Salvation she reads all the time and learns a lot she is still thinking it all over though.  Then we had dinner with the Bishops family it was yummy Chiles Rellenos!! :-) Then we talked with Hermana Quack a less active in our ward.

Saturday we biked and we taught 2 less actives and found some really good potential investigators!

Sunday we had church and Elder Bowes got to speak.  We also had a lesson with Patty and Sergio they are investigators that live out of our mission and we just got permission from President Bacerra to start teaching them! We also taught Maria and a lady named Sonia.  Sonia has been prepared by the Lord to receive us! She already feels the feelings of the Spirit. She said this is a nice feeling I want my husband to feel this too! It was a great lesson!!!! Then we did some finding and we went by some less actives to invite them to a noche de hogar.  

 This week has been amazing and I'm glad that we are following the Spirit to find and teach those people that Heavenly Father has prepared for us. I am so glad I can be an instrument in His hands and be one of His servants and devote all my might mind and strength to serve Him. I thank you all for your love and support and prayers!!!

Que les vaya bien!

Love, Elder Reisner

Me encanta San Gabriel

Well hello again family and friends!

 This last week was another great one! 

Here's why - on Monday we had a great preparation day! We had carne asada for dinner and played with water balloons! We also had a noche de hogar and did some finding.

On Tuesday we had some lessons and we also had a meeting with our ward mission leader. He is so great he just returned from a mission himself  7 weeks ago! We also did some finding.

Wednesday was a great day we picked up three new investigators! Also, we taught 2 lessons and did it all in one hour! We did a pass off lesson and got 2 new investigators and then we had a lesson with a lady named Maria. She wanted to know about our church but didn't want to commit to anything which was sad. The third investigator was a former investigator named Karen she wants to get baptized but only by her cousin that lives in Utah.

Wednesday we taught some lessons and did some finding.

 Thursday we had District Meeting and then we found this New York pizza place in our area that we went to. It was SO GOOD! The owner said it was New York cuisine in the LA scene haha! We also had an exchange with the Zone Leaders Elder Lerma came to our area. He was in San Gabriel before and wanted to check in on some of his formers but they were not home. We also taught Arturro and we taught a less active and we talked with our ward mission leader.

Friday we had weekly planning and we had 3 lessons it was a good day.

Saturday we were supposed to have an activity but we didn't. We did have some lessons and some finding it was good. Then it was transfer calls so Elder Betty left and I'm staying here in San Gabriel. My new companion is Elder Bowes and he is from Manassas Virginia!

Sunday we just visited all the members so Elder Betty could say goodbye. We had 2 dinners - it's crazy how much we get fed these days by members!

Well that is all for this week I hope you all have a good week this coming week because I know that I sure will!

Love, Elder Reisner

 

 

Another week already?

Hello family and friends!
It seems like just yesterday when I wrote my last letter.  Time is flying by too fast which I don't want it to because I wish I could be on a mission forever!!
Monday we had a great zone activity with water balloons! We then had a great Noche de Hogar!!  It was about The Plan of Salvation and just talking about basic things it was great!
Tuesday we did some finding and taught Arturro he says he will read The Book of Mormon but he won't come to church.
Wednesday we had District Meeting and I went on exchanges with one of the missionaries in my zone named Elder Resabala.  He taught me a lot of stuff and we taught 4 lessons and had 2 dinner appointments.  I WAS STUFFED!! We had tortas at the first house (mexican sandwiches) with beans, salad and rice. At the second house we had chicken, beans, rice, tortillas and flan AND another pastry.  We were so full we thought we were going to throw up!!!  Then we taught a Preach My Gospel class at the church.  It had about 15people which in their branch that is a lot of people showing up for a class!!
Thursday we had lunch and talked to Hermano Mercado.  We also did a little bit of finding.  Then we had a lesson with a recent convert named Jasmine.  We also had a lesson with Marlene she is one of our investigators.  We had dinner at a less active members house that night.  Then we taught Juan.  We taught him about The Word of Wisdom and he said he would stop drinking coffee right away which was his only problem  with The Word of Wisdom.  So that was good!!  We also had interviews with President Becerra - I asked him how I could be more effective.  He asked me if I was obedient, if I studied well and if I tried my best.  I said yes and then he said "Your being effective Elder I'm not worried about that.  Elder Alworth (our District Leader) was impressed with your work ethic." Then he gave me ideas to do better finding because a lot of people aren't interested in our message.  He told me to ask the people who are not interested if we could leave their home with a blessing.  A lot more people may be interested in that and then you ask the people exactly what they need and specifically pray for their needs.  He also said to also leave a blessing on their home.  President Becerra told me they are going to feel something.  Then after the prayer you ask them how do they feel?  Ask them if they'd like to feel that again and then you come back and teach them.  You specifically teach their needs which they have already shared with you and you blessed them with.  It was sooo cool!!!  I am so glad President Becerra is my Mission President!!
Friday we helped some people move and then we did weekly planning.  Then we had a lesson planned but the lady wasn't interested.  So, I decided to put President Becerra's idea into play and we left a blessing on her and her home and she said we could come back! We'll see how that goes!  Then we checked on a former investigator and they said we could start teaching them again!  We also taught Silvia and it was a crazy lesson!  She has a lot of questions and hasn't read the Bible before and so she doesn't really understand the wording in The Book of Mormon.  We then taught some less actives and one of them asked us to bless their home so we did that as well.
Saturday we did some finding and some more finding.  Then we went to a Stake Activity because we had 2 investigators that were going too!  It was Broadway in the Este de Los Angeles (east LA) and that was fun!  They did little parts from different plays and all the wards participated except for our ward. :-/  It's because our  young men and young women didn't want to do it.
Sunday we had a meeting and our bishop said that because nobody did anything for the Broadway thing that we're going to have a ward talent show.  He said we need to have more fun in our ward and he wants the missionaries to do something for it!  We then did some finding and taught Maria and had dinner with some members.  I had carne de lengua which is TONGUE! It sounds gross but actually it tasted really good!!  Then we taught Juan - we invited him to be baptized for sure on the 24th of this month and he said YES!!!  It was soooo cool!  He is really ready - every time we ask him to do something he does it!  He has been prepared by the Lord and it is one of the Lord's tender mercies that we have the opportunity to teach him!
So yeah everything is going well this week is looking super great!  We have a lot of appointments already scheduled and we are teaching more than ever before!!
I love you all!!
Love, Elder Reisner  

An even better week in San Gabriel!!

Dearest family and friends, 

I thought last week was good but this last week has been even better! Monday we went hiking to a waterfall and then had a noche de hogar with a family.  Tuesday we had a pass off lesson because the other elders had an investigator they were teaching that they thought he lived in their area but he actually lives in our area! His name is Emmanuel and he was found by the English speaking elders. What happened is the English elders live in the same apartment complex and they just talked to him one day. They don't speak Spanish and he doesn't speak English. They got his information and sent the other elders over that could speak Spanish. Emmanuel said that the English elders came to talk to him and they spoke perfect Spanish!! What a miracle!! We're teaching him now and he has a baptism date set for July first!! We also talked with a member who was having a Pastor come over so we could talk to him about our church. He was scared of us so he left!  Wednesday we ate with members and we had a lesson with Arturro who is an older man that we are teaching.  We then had a meeting with our new ward mission leader Hermano Schleske. He is from Mexico and served a mission in Kentucky. He finished his mission about 5 weeks ago so he knows what he is doing and he is ready to help us make this area working even better than it is! Then Thursday we had district meeting and we talked about all the Christlike attributes. We talked about purifying ourselves by taking out all the things that distracted us from the spirit and fasting to find them. We want to fast to receive answers about the things that take away the spirit for 40 days. (note from mom - he is not fasting for 40 days just specifically fasting for some answers) I just started that but I know it will help a lot! Then I was on exchanges with Elder Alworth our new District leader. He taught me a lot of things and we were able to teach one of our investigators and one recent convert. We also contacted some people and one man just lost his wife. Elder Alworth said that our message has the peace that he needs and he just started to cry it was so neat! Then we also had a noche de hogar and taught some less actives and then we found some pretty sweet potential investigators that night!  Friday was the bestest day ever!!!! We had weekly planning and then we had 6 LESSONS IN A ROW!!!!!!!! 1 with a member and 5 others we didn't have time to do anything else! We almost had 7 but one canceled on us but we probably couldn't have taught them anyway because we were so busy! We also had 3 new investigators that day that we are now teaching! This one couple Fernando and Maria said that we are exactly what they need right now because they are having some problems and they know that our message can help them get through their problems!! Saturday we helped some members move they are sadly moving out of our area but staying in the ward. We then studied and tried contacting some potentials. Then we played soccer and we were hoping that Juan would show up but he didn't.  We then had to finish weekly planning because literally on Friday we had no time to finish! Then we went to Juan's house and taught him the Plan of Salvation. He understands everything and is a super humble guy and wants us to teach his mom he is reading and is coming to church. We really think that he will be ready for Baptism on the 17th of this month!!!!!!!!!! We then went and tried to see some old investigators and potentials and check on members to see if they were bringing their friends to church again.  Sunday we had a meeting then we went to go get Juan and we woke him up for church.  We also taught primary that was fun! Juan didn't come for Sacrament Meeting but he was there for the rest of it. Also Patty and Sergio were there as well!!! We then went to some potentials who were not home and then we had dinner with some members. Then we went and taught the man who was crying on Thursday. He appreciated our visit but he wants to think about things some more so we left him with a Plan of Salvation pamphlet then we went finding.  So, everything is going extremely well! I thank you for all your prayers and support!! I love you all and I hope that you have a great week!!!!

Love, Elder Reisner :-)