First day in Arcadia, CA

So, we went to see Shane's parents and I forgot to bring my e-mail and password with me to post Elder Reisner's letters so surprise 2 posts today!!  I made it to Arcadia safe and sound!  It is a beautiful place - lots of palm trees and really neat architecture.  Anyway I am going to a really fruitful area and I am SUPER excited!  President Becerra says my Spanish is good already but don't worry I still have a long way to go before I am fluent!!  I love everything here already it's so great!!  Flight was good we ate some great Hispanic food it was yummy!!
Te amoa vosotroy
Elder Reisner

He has arrived!!

Dear Brother and Sister Reisner:

Sister Becerra and I had the opportunity to meet your son and spend some time with him on Tuesday. We are grateful for the faith and testimony that he has developed in your home in preparation for his mission. We have assigned him to a great companion and trainer and he was assigned to serve in the San Gabriel area of the mission. We know that his spiritual talents and sincerity will help him invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

We are grateful for the support and prayers that will be offered in his behalf. Please pray for his opportunity to baptize and confirm those who receive his message and commitments. We know that as our missionaries are given the opportunity to perform the ordinances they themselves are better converted and find the blessing of missionary work as they help establish the church wherever they serve.

We hope that he will receive consistent, inspiring letters from home. These letters are welcomed and if they are filled with the spiritual strength and testimony this will be of great benefit to him. We look forward to your sons spiritual development and his success while he is in the great California Arcadia Mission.

Sincerely,

President and Sister Becerra

Last post from the M.T.C.!!

Well it's my last week at the MTC but I am sprinting to the end! On Monday I only spoke Spanish as a goal.  I am working harder in gym and learning as much as possible! Sunday the fireside was with President Mciff of the MTC Presidency. He spoke on keeping healthy to be an effective missionary and you'll never guess who came to our devotional on Tuesday?! Guess! OK I'll tell you, it was Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles! He had a really inspiring talk. He talked about how important the Spirit is in teaching and that we need to pray for the Spirit. We need to do everything by the Spirit! He also talked about the Sacrament and that if we were baptized at age 8 and we're 19 right now we have heard the Sacrament prayers over 500 times! We should not take it for granted anytime. If we pay close attention to the Sacrament prayers Elder Oaks said we will be more prepared for the next week with the Spirit. Also, he talked about that in order to have the Spirit we need to love people with a Christlike love.  It was such a great devotional for my last one here!  I am still running about 3 miles a day. Also, with our investigators Marianna was "baptized" last Saturday! BJ is progressing well he understands the Spirit but he has some Word of Wisdom problems but will do his best to change! Also, Carlos has a baptism date for the 25th! He wants to read the whole Book of Mormon first. When we talked to him last he had read over 31 chapters in the Book of Mormon!! He is so golden the Spirit is always so strong in the lessons we teach with him! Also, our investigators David and Alex are progressing slowly but surely. I think we finally helped Alex to understand the feelings of the Spirit and David is a tough one. He reads a lot but he is mad with God and doesn't understand the Plan of Salvation and is also mad because of the death of some of his family members. I am so excited to preach to real investigators and to be doing the finding, teaching and preaching full time in California! We keep hearing and seeing things about field life and it seems so exciting!  I know that I need to be patient there are still things for me to learn at the MTC before I can be fully ready to go out into the field and speak Spanish.  There was an Elder here a few days ago that was assigned to my mission temporarily while he waited for his Visa to come through. He came back from my mission to get his visa for Mexico and he made me super excited to go! There are 6 million people in Arcadia and there is a lot of work to be done! Also, that the weather is so great and so is my Mission President! Well I don't have anything else for the week. I love you all!!!

Love, Elder Reisner

 Typical me face :)

 4 best missionary friends being dorks!!

 Having fun in the residence!!

 Dorks with all my Elder friends!!

 Elder Cazier

 This is me and some Hermanas Clomiga & Solomon they helped us with Spanish!

 Aww aren't we so cute?

 Me, Elder Cazier and Hermana Oslund She is so funny!

 Left to Right Elder Livingston, Elder Jamieson that's all he wrote!

 Me and Elder Bennion (from my Zone)

 MMM... Tasty :)

 Elder Bennion & I

 Model Shot

 I have a light saber!!

 Myspace picture w/ Elder Bennion

 Zone Leaders Elder Baugh & Elder Hunt

 Name Tag Picture

 Me & Elder Livingston pointing to our missions. He is going to Comayaguela, Honduras like Tyler T.

 Oh I have 2 light sabers yes this is pink!

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