8th Week!

Good Afternoon!

 This has been an interesting week and a really great one!! We have been teaching Carlos and he is an amazing investigator! We invited him to be baptized and he said yes!!! He also has been reading the Book of Mormon like crazy!! He read 17 Chapters starting in First Nephi from Thursday to Monday!! When all we asked him to do is read the first chapter!! He said he needs to finish before his baptism date and he actually went to church too!!! He has a date set for the 25th of March so hopefully everything will go well!!! Spanish is still coming good!! I love that I am learning a language it is so much fun! On Sunday we had the training brother brother.... I forgot his name :-) He talked about how we need to make sure that our investigator has a relationship with Heavenly Father as well as us missionaries.  On Tuesday we had Elder Craig A.Cardon of the Seventy who came to speak with us. He was such a great speaker he told us that we need to remember who we are! We are all literal sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father!  He also asked us to raise our hands if we were of the tribe of Ephraim and every elder and sister minus a handful were of that tribe! It really is amazing to see the elders and sisters of the tribe of Ephraim fulfilling their responsibility of preaching the word!! He also said that we should not have a divided heart while we serve and to put away all our distractions and serve the Lord with all our heart might mind and strength.  Marianna is getting baptized Saturday! She's solid and her parents are so close to approving of her choice to be baptized! We also had a really good lesson with BJ! He really understands now when he is feeling the spirit! Alex and David are other stories. They are progressing but its really hard! One of our investigators is too busy falconing and doesn't have time to read or do anything other than work.  However, now it's hatching time and in between the time the falcon eggs hatch he has been reading and going to church. He told us that he has a drinking problem and does not want to change.  I know that the Spirit can really change peoples lives so I will pray for him to have a desire to change.  Alex is progressing but it's really hard because he only believes in God and nothing really else.  But, he has been reading and praying but not going to church. We will continue to invite him and watch his testimony grow as he reads the Book of Mormon! :-) I went to this workshop we had yesterday and the teacher had a really good quote he said "Get close to Christ and stay there!" I invite all of you to do that! As we get closer to Christ our lives are blessed! I know as I have been studying and getting closer to Christ myself that my life has been 15 kabillion times better! Everything else in the MTC is pretty normal. I stopped playing basketball and now I run like 3 miles during gym instead. It's hard work but I love pushing myself and doing better! Not only at running but every other part of the MTC. I know I only have 12 days left here but I am going to work as hard as I can so I can be a good missionary in the field! Elder Cazier and I have a goal that we speak Spanish everywhere except for our residence hall. It is somewhat difficult but I know it will help!! Let's see in the Book of Mormon I am in Alma Chapter 37. My goal is to finish the Book of Mormon by the time I exit the MTC. My study in the Book of Mormon is so essential! I read in it before but now that I am really focusing on finishing it the Spirit is so strong! Like Joseph Smith says in the introduction the Book of Mormon will get you closer to God than any other book on this earth! I know that if you read the Book of Mormon you can obtain this blessing as well!

Con amor!

Love, Elder Reisner

Keep studying and learning

Dearest Friends and family!!

 This week has been especially good!! On Sunday for our fireside we had Alex Boye' come! For those of you who don't know who that is he sings in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, he is African-American and he is so funny! He talked about how we need to be good missionaries because he is a convert.  He always likes to talk about the sister missionaries that came to knock on his door.  He had some really good jokes too!  This week we have been progressing with our 5 investigators! Marianna is still solid as ever BJ isn't sure about baptism we just need to help him understand how and when he is feeling the spirit!  We had a member of the Seventy come on Tuesday. He gave a wonderful talk about how we need to be a Preach My Gospel missionary! He said how we are so blessed to have that now it is the ultimate missionary handbook! So, if you want to know how to be a missionary I would read that! Elder Livingston (not my companion) and I have been making up baptism songs like crazy! I think we'll make a company when we get home and sell all our amazing songs! haha!  I have been reading the Book of Mormon again it is so powerful! I feel like I always need to study that because it makes my day better! I am enjoying all the time to study and learn from the scriptures but now more than ever I am SUPER excited to go out to the field!!  It is so close I can taste it!  I am still progressing in Spanish!! Also, I am super excited because a week from Saturday I get my travel plans!!! I am ready to go to the field but I know I need to learn more Spanish! Oh and here's a shout out to my dad HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD I LOVE YOU!!! Anyway, back to the MTC I like learning and studying and becoming a better missionary I have really great teachers and I am so blessed to have them! I hope you all are doing well!

Love, Elder Reisner

Love The Book of Mormon!

Dear Family and Friends!!! 

What an amazing week it has been! Let me start with the most exciting news!! Elder Holland came to speak to us at the devotional this Tuesday!! It was so amazing!! He talked to us about how we need to mature as missionaries and how we need to use the Book of Mormon more! The Book of Mormon is super important it was translated before the church could be organized!  If we don't have a testimony of the Book of Mormon we can't get a testimony of Joseph Smith or anything else because it's the keystone of our religion. He also talked about how we need to be like the Holy Ghost be persuasive, bold, and all the other qualities the Spirit has. Then we can persuade the people that they need to do the things we are teaching.  When we are moved by the Spirit we are compelled to move! Also, Brother Myers spoke on Sunday he is in a branch presidency. He talked about how do you want to be remembered as a missionary and what do you have to give up to be that way? I decided that I want to be known as a hard working, caring, loving missionary. I need to sacrifice thinking about myself and concentrate on loving my companions and my investigators! Speaking of investigators we have 5 investigators now! We got three more this week, Alex, David, and Carlos.  Also, remember BJ who I said was hard to teach? We invited him to be baptized this last week and he said yes!! It was the best lesson that we have ever taught!! We were so happy!! Also, I think Carlos will be hard to teach. He likes to talk and it is very difficult to get in a lesson with him.  Oh, something else exciting! We went to the Doctor's office for Elder Cazier and we were waiting for the shuttle to come pick us up and take us back to the MTC.  This man came and sat down and we talked about life and stuff then I had this prompting to share a message with him. He said he was a member so I asked him if we could share a scripture with him and he said yes! Then I shared Mormon 10:3-5 and we talked about the Book of Mormon. Then I challenged him to take Moroni's challenge again and he said yes!! It was so great even though he was a member we were able to accomplish our purpose to invite others to come unto Christ! I love this work I am so glad everyday I can accomplish this purpose! Anyway, I hope all is well with you I love you all!!

Love, Elder Reisner

5 weeks gone in the M.T.C.

Dearest family and friends-

 I have some good news and some more good news!! BJ is finally progressing!! He read all of 3rd Nephi 11 and he is going to come to church on Sunday!! Also, I have been running lately and it's getting me into shape?!  I think anyway!  Marianna who is our other investigator has a baptismal date!! Also, President Brown gave us our fireside on Sunday! He talked about how we need to have desire and follow with exact obedience.  That talk pumped me up so much I really loved it!! Even just as good was the closing Hymn.  We sang Called to Serve but it was so special.  We started it out quietly like we were approaching the battlefield and then we got louder then we stood up and belted out the chorus and it was so powerful!! Also, I have learned this week that the Book of Mormon is most definitely an important asset to missionary work and to our whole religion. This knowledge came from the fireside by the seventy who visited us! It was so neat and I learned that I need to focus my studying specifically to the investigator what do they need? how can I help them? The Book of Mormon has all the answers and specific answers to those questions.  If we can read the Book of Mormon we can come closer to Christ because it has more references to Him in the Book of Mormon than the Bible.  Also, Spanish is still coming along great!! I love learning Spanish!! It's so weird to think however, that I will be speaking it all the time! Also, what is weird to think about is I am pretty much halfway done with my MTC stay! It seems like just yesterday that I got here! If it goes like this two years will seem like nothing! Anyway, that's my report for the week!  The Church is true and the Book of Mormon is blue!!!

Love, Elder Reisner

P.S. Remember that challenge I gave you? How is that coming along?

Another Week

This week has been a really good week!! I have gone from being MRSAful (merciful) to MRSAless (merciless) haha! Anyway, this week I have really gotten a lot more confidence with my Spanish and I feel like I am understanding a lot more and able to teach better as well!! I am learning so much!  I love my family and I learned that without love nothing is possible.  Like if I don't have love for my investigators then I am not doing my job as a missionary.

Another thing that I learned that I would like to share with you all is that you cannot do anything without prayer.  When you pour your heart out to our Heavenly Father He will help you with anything that you need. I learned that prayer is needed both before you do something and after you do something. Prayer helps your testimony grow and I know that it will inspire me to know what I need to do as a missionary!

During the devotional on Tuesday the Elder from the Seventy told a story of how an Elder prayed to be able to know where to go.  He prayed specifically and asked what street and what house to go to and the Spirit was able to guide him and his companion to be able to find a family.  However, he also told a story about how when you don't pray you may miss out on teaching.  He talked about how a man was ready to be converted in Costa Rica and the missionaries had to leave because of political issues. When the missionaries were able to come back he would see them and hope they would talk to him. Then one day the missionaries were right next door and the family was not home he thought they would come to his house and they didn't.  It wasn't until a member talked to him about the church 6 years later that he joined!! 

I love the M.T.C. because of the Spirit it is really amazing all the things that you can learn! Oh I almost forgot I heard the best talk by David A Bednar it was a recording from when he came for Christmas! He talked about the characteristics of Christ.  He said that we need to be constantly turning out the natural man like Christ.  He turned it out when he was on the cross, He asked our Father in Heaven to forgive the people and to have John take care of his mother. He also said that cookie monster reminds him of the natural man. "ME WANT COOKIE NOW!" "I WANT BAPTISMS NOW, I WANT INVESTIGATORS NOW!"  He talked about how we live in such a now generation. We need to care about other people and have patience like Christ did. He also challenged all of us to get a cheap copy of the Book of Mormon and go through and mark the characteristics of Christ.  I am going to take that challenge because I want to learn more about Christ. He gave the advice to us that we should have 100 copies of the Book of Mormon and label them with what we wanted to find in our study.  So, me being a missionary and inviting others to come unto Christ I want to give all of you who are reading this email I am sending a challenge.  I would like you to purchase a cheap paper back copy of the Book of Mormon and choose one thing you want to learn about and mark it up.  Can you do that? OK I am hearing a unanimous yes coming from you :-) I love this church and I love this gospel!

Love, Elder Reisner

 

Trials may come but blessings will come too

Well, unfortunately I have to start this letter with some bad news. I had MRSA again this past week but don't worry! I am on some antibiotics and I went to the Dr. and it has already cleared up! It hasn't stopped me from learning though! I am still learning Spanish and I am still able to teach!!

So, I know you'll all be disappointed with this but Ivan is actually a pretend investigator but the experience and everything I have learned from teaching him is real! We are now teaching two new investigators BJ and Mariana they are much harder to teach than Ivan.  BJ doesn't really know much and is catholic and doesn't know what he wants from the missionaries. Marianna doesn't know much either but she has been going to church for two months and wants to get baptized!  Her parents don't want her to have anything to do with the church.  These investigators may be tougher but I think BJ will come around and we will encourage Mariana to pray so that her parents can have a change of heart!! 

I am still loving the MTC! I have recently taken up playing basketball and have gotten ok-ish I think! I also had another amazing devotional on Tuesday!! It was from the first counselor in the Presiding Bishopric and his wife. He shared a really neat story about a girl who went to this Wednesday night activity that was a christian activity, and when the preacher found out that she was a Mormon, the preacher starting bashing the religion. She then had the strength to stand up for our church and bore her testimony and then walked out.  Because she was so bold in her testimony that evening two of the people that were at that meeting were baptized!! So the thing that he said after that is to be bold and share your testimony with everyone! Another story I heard from one of the members of our branch presidency was that a couple of missionaries were tracting and they ran into a gang member who threatened to kill them. They were bold and told him who they were and what they were doing. The gang member said that's a really neat thing you do you tell anyone if they try to mess with you that I told them to leave you alone!  It just goes to show you that the Holy Ghost can touch anyone!

I am so grateful for this opportunity I have to invite the Holy Ghost into peoples lives!! I know that if we all press on through our trials we can receive blessings. I know that I am getting MRSA because the devil does not want me out here. He doesn't want any more missionaries. When they wake up they make him mad! I want to make him mad! I want to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end!  I can promise you that if you pray to our Heavenly Father with real intent to help you overcome your trials, He will! That testimony I leave with you in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

Love, Elder Reisner

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