Training it's AWESOME

Dear Family and Friends,

It was a great week in San Gabriel and a great week for missionary work!
Monday we had a noche de hogar and had some members bring some of their friends that were not members. It was really great and we did an activity and lesson on albedrio I mean agency! While this was happening I was with Elder Vance. We had to wait until Wednesday to get our companions (trainees). Tuesday we did some contacting and did our WalMart booth and gave the sisters the car.  So now every day I am riding the bike and we usually ride between 20-30 miles per day. We are still teaching lots of lessons and it's really good therapy. It makes you happy and keeps you awake! The WalMart booth was really good and we found some really prepared people but they didn't speak Spanish sadly. We did it at an hour where there were not very many Latinos so next time we will do it a lot better and know what to expect.  We also had some lessons that day.
Wednesday we had a meeting for the trainers and trainees. We started by being separated and they told us that the trainers are who they look for first when they are doing transfers. They look for the best of the best missionaries and who is obedient and can help these missionaries be ready to train by their 3rd transfer. They said the best kind of trainers are those who can have their trainees replace them and do a good job of training as well.  So that made me feel really good to know that! They also talked about the 12 weeks program and that we need to let our trainees help us with the work and then right before the meeting ended we got our companions. We picked up my companions bike and we went to work. We got rides all day Wednesday because my companion has to borrow a bike from the mission. He is from Mexico and it is too expensive to ship a bike internationally. The bike they gave him was bad so we just asked members all day for rides. We also walked a little bit and we had some lessons it was a good day.
Thursday we switched the bikes and had district meeting and the new bike worked and was a good bike. We also had some lessons and it was a good day overall.
Friday we had a 6 hour meeting for trainers and trainees. We talked about a lot of stuff like how we as trainers were called but we need to also be chosen and do the things to deserve that title. We also had a Q&A with President Becerra about how we could train better. President Becerra's son who just came home from a mission gave us some instruction too. It was a great meeting and I learned a lot of stuff! Then we biked and had some lessons it was another good day.
Saturday it was 105 degrees and hot! We did weekly planning and studying now we study for 3-4 hours a day and we taught a less active lesson.
Sunday was a good day. We had great church meetings and we had some lessons. We did some service and scheduled some more appointments to teach some new people. It was a good day! So we are doing really great over here and I am excited because my new companion Elder Carvajal (car va hall) is pre-trained. He is probably going to teach me more things than I will teach him but it is going to be great! Oh also something funny that President Becerra keeps saying when missionaries are disobedient. He says the Lamanite in me just wanted to go over there and bash him on the head! It is super funny! Anyways, I love you all and I hope your having a good week!

Love, Elder Reisner

 

G-Reat Times in San Gabriel!

Dear family and friends-

This last week was good again! So, we had some appointments on Monday and we invited our big family to read the Book of Mormon and they said yes!  So basically this week we have been teaching and we found some great investigators! One of them is Felicitas and she was a referral from one of the members. She has been going through a hard time but she wants to meet with us and she accepted an invitation to be baptized when she receives a testimony.  That was cool!
Also, we found these ladies Estella and Ericka and they were also prepared to hear the message and accept a baptismal invitation.  We also have found some great potentials to teach this week.
Tomorrow we have the opportunity to do the Walmart booth so we are going to see if we can find lots more investigators through doing that.  (They have permission from WalMart to set up a booth to contact people)
We also just finished the transfer and I am staying in San Gabriel so my work is not done here yet! (Elder Reisner's companion Elder Bowe's has been transferred.)
Something else that happened that was pretty cool is that we had a zone meeting and we talked about asking inspired questions and it really made me think and want to re-evaluate the way that I teach and ask questions.  I also read this talk by Elder Gene R. Cook and it was called qualifications for the work. In the talk it said we need to have more faith as missionaries and always have a goal to get in the house to share our message and be bold it was a great talk!
Well, this week we are looking to teach a lot and get some more baptismal dates so I am very excited!! Also, I have the opportunity this transfer to train a new missionary!!!! So I am really excited about that!!!! (Things are so busy and they have so many investigators to teach that they have assigned 2 more missionaries to the San Gabriel mission!  2 new sister missionaries should be arriving soon to help with the work!)
Well I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

Love, Elder Reisner

San Gabriel A lot of good things are happening still!

Dear Family and Friends,

Things are still going good here in San Gabriel and we had a lot of cool things happen this last week! We started off with finding the Latino's in the neighborhood we live in. We thought we only had Chinese neighbors but then we heard a helotero (basically a guy that sells helote and other latino foods). So we went to go figure out if he knew where the Latino's are. Sure enough he said this apartment complex is mostly Latino and a few other places on a street right behind where we live are Latino too! It was really cool! 

Then Tuesday we had interviews with President. It is always good to talk to President Becerra he has so many good things to say. He told me that there is definitely another set of missionaries coming in this next transfer! We also went contacting in a park and had a lesson with some less actives. 

Wednesday we went and we had a BUNCH of less active lessons and also investigator lessons it was a really good day of teaching!  

Thursday we had district meeting and we talked about how we need and can do better about being obedient.  We also had a lot of member present lessons which was really great!  

Friday we found a new investigator and we had a noche de hogar with the Ruiz family that went really well! We also taught a man who was visiting from Mexico and he said when he returns he'll call the number that we gave him to get missionaries to come teach him! It was just sad that we couldn't continue to teach him.  
Saturday we had to look at apartments because we need a place for the other set of missionaries to stay so we spent most of the day doing that.  We found some really nice apartments for them. We also had a lesson and tried to call and visit all our investigators so that they would come to church the next day.  

Sunday was a good day we were blessed with 7 investigators at church again! We also had a lesson with Patty and Sergio who are just so ready to be baptized they just need to get the divorce and the marriage. They also want to get sealed in the temple and they were the only ones out of their family that came to church. They were one of the earliest ones to church too! We also had correlation meeting and we had lessons with Juan.  

Yesterday we found some great potentials and we also had a great lesson with the Trejo family, they really opened up. Then we taught the huge family but only 6 of them were there that time with their sister who is a member so that was a pleasant surprise! Anyway, things are looking good here in San Gabriel and I hope things are going good for all of you too!

Love, Elder Reisner

Great week in San Gabriel!!

Dear family and friends,

This last week was a super great week and I learned a lot of things!  First we set up an appointment with Karen one of our investigators and went by a few other people's houses. Then we had a noche de hogar and we tried to invite the Trejo family but they were not able to go. Then we taught this HUGE family with like 14 people! It was super great! 

Tuesday we went and tried to find and get people to come to our English class and we had Hermano Reyes come but he was the only one. Then I had to go to the doctor.  (Elder Reisner has a case of MRSA) Then we had some lessons with Maritza, Juan, and the Perez family.  

Wednesday we basically were everybody's home teachers for the ward! Just because we did finding and had 3 lessons with some less active members of the ward.  However, something really cool happened on Wednesday we were tracting in an apartment complex and this guy was just visiting from Mexico. We were going to lend him a Book of Mormon and pick it back up but when he said he was just visiting and wouldn't be able to return it we just gave it to him. We started knocking on other doors and right after that he went and sat on the stairs and just started reading the Book of Mormon right then and there!! He looked really interested in what it had to say I hope he'll go and find missionaries in Mexico and learn more!  

Thursday we had district meeting and talked about having  more effective companionship study. It was really good and now Elder Bowes and I will have more effective companionship study.  Thursday also was the day to interview Patty and Sergio. So, President Becerra said he wanted to come out with us from 6-9 at night. Then he called and said he wouldn't make it until 7 so we taught our lesson at 6. We were going to have a different noche de hogar that night.  We invited Juan and the Trejo family but neither of them could make it.  President said he needed to go get gas and the Elders Quorum President was there and he told Elder Bowes to stay there with Hermano Lopez and for me to go with him!! It was pretty cool!! He asked me some questions and whether I thought  there could be another set of missionaries in our area because we have been having so much success.  He was telling me that this area hasn't had this much success in years!!  I told him yes for more missionaries as long as the area wasn't divided. There is a higher concentration of Latinos in other parts of the area so if it was divided one side would have more success then the other.  He also asked me about my companions I had and about my strengths and weaknesses.  We then drove back to the church and picked up Elder Bowes.  Then we went to interview Patty and Sergio at Hermano de los Santos' house. He interviewed Sergio first then called Patty in.  We thought they were married, they told us they were married but not really. Then Patty said to him I told you we should have been married a long time ago!  It was super funny.  President Becerra had to probe them for a bit before he found out that they weren't married. He told us elders you didn't do anything wrong in Latino culture they'll tell you 3 lies before they tell you the truth, I know because I am Latino!!  Then he was thinking of who could help Sergio get a divorce. ( I guess that's why he and Patty aren't married!)  I told him that I have a cousin in L.A. who's an attorney that could help us.  (Terry Higham)  President Becerra gave me permission to call him so I did and now he's helping us with the divorce.  

Friday we biked and we had a few lessons and it was a good day.  

Saturday we focused on getting everyone to church. We stopped by, called and did everything we could to have people come to church. It was really effective because we actually had 7 investigators at church!! We also taught Patty and Sergio they are ready to be baptized they just need to get married! Same with the Trejo family. They need to get married and come too church then they will be good to go! We are looking to have 8 baptisms in September! Patty, Sergio, Trejo family (4), Juan, and Karen! Things are going really well and this week also looks really good already! I hope you all are doing well and have a great week!

Love, Elder Reisner

August, The heat is going down but the work is up!!

Dear Family and Friends, 

This last week has been another good week! 

Monday we taught Karen and the Trejo family they were both good lessons. The Trejo family really are amazing people.  They have accepted a date to be baptized!!  (Elder Reisner didn't share the date with me though!) 

Tuesday we had a a really great opportunity. We got a call from an Hermana that is either less active or doesn't go to our ward and she told us that her nephew wanted a blessing from us. She said he wasn't a member so we thought ok we'll go and give him a blessing. Then we show up to the house and there's like 6 people there and they ask us if we would like to share a message and we're like well of course we do!! So we share a message about faith and how people need faith to be healed and then we gave him a blessing. Then we just asked can we come again and talk to you guys and they said yes! So 6 new investigators in one night! Which was good because that day we were knocking and trying to find all day with no luck!
Wednesday we taught a few lessons and just tried to find new investigators.  

Thursday was a good day! We had district meeting and then we had a district lunch because it was our district leader's last meeting.  Then we had correlation it was a good one!  Hermano Schleske needed our help because he has been having a hard time lately so we did what we could for him.  Then we had dinner with the Stake President and he called the other Stake President and we got permission to baptize Patty and Sergio! It was so exciting! Their baptism is scheduled for Sunday! Then we had a lesson with Juan and with a family. The lesson with Juan was really good! We told him he could be an example to his brothers and sisters and his whole family by being baptized and he was really excited about that!

Friday we had some lessons, biked and it was a good day! 

Saturday was a finding day and we worked with some less actives.  

Sunday we had Stake Conference and it was a really good one! We had the Temple President there and President Becerra and his wife speak it was a really good conference. The theme was la obra missional oh sorry translation missionary work! Anyway, President Becerra talked about how his grandfather joined the church and how much impact that had on his whole family.  Then Sister Becerra talked about having the members help us missionaries find. We also had 2 members of the Stake Presidency speak. One talked about having an eternal family and plan of salvation. President Esquerra talked about how he is a convert and how our example can help people want to know more about the gospel. The Temple President talked about how we need to do everything we can to be worthy of a temple recommend and be sealed in the temple.  His wife bore her testimony and the president translated it because she doesn't speak Spanish.  We also had some lessons on Sunday.  So it was a really good week and I learned a lot! I love you all!

Love, Elder Reisner

Another good week!

Dear family and friends,

This week has been another good week!  It has been really hot here over 100 degrees mostly but we still keep working!  

Monday we had a noche de hogar and we had it about faith. Elder Bowes taught a lesson and I did the activity. We had all these chairs scattered all over the gym and then we got some members and told them to walk through the chairs by faith. A lot of them were really apprehensive but they were able to do it! What we did is right as they start walking we move the chairs so they don't walk into them. Then they take the blindfold off and see the path.  I told them to look you can do hard things as long as you have faith! It was a really great noche de hogar! 

Tuesday we set up some new things so we can start finding better. We are going to start an English class so we can find more investigators. We will also teach the members of our ward English if they want to learn. We also got permission from Walmart to set up a booth in front of the store.  Then we can contact all the people that go to Walmart and give them cards, flyers, pamphlets, Book of Mormons and all the other stuff we have. We have been using these booths in the mission mostly at colleges but we thought since a lot of people go to Walmart why not try there?!

So we are still doing good and still having a lot of lessons!!!  Patty and Sergio want to get baptized and have a date set for the 26th of August! We are going to talk to President Esquerra (Stake President) to see if they can be baptized in our ward. They live outside our ward boundaries and so we need to get permission from our Stake President and their Stake President as well as the Bishop and President Becerra.  They really want to keep coming to this ward because they have their family in this ward.  They have been coming to our ward for 10 weeks straight!  

The Trejo family is a really great family! They went to church last Sunday and they are reading and praying. We have an appointment with them tonight and we are hoping to give them a baptismal date!

Maria is another investigator that came to church and wants to be baptized. She knows the Book of Mormon is true and she really liked church! We hope that these investigators will continue to progress!  

We also did better this week at finding because last week we didn't really find anyone new to teach. Anyway, I hope that all of you are doing well and that you all have a great week!

Love, Elder Reisner

San Gabriel is super great!!

Dear Family and Friends, 

This last week was another good week but let me tell you why.  Monday we had a noche de hogar with the Reyes family and it was great!  

Tuesday we taught some lessons and tried to find. We also had to pass off a really great investigator to the English elders because she doesn't speak Spanish so that was a little sad.  

Wednesday we taught and found and blessed a less active lady's home and family.  

Thursday we taught Juan and he is doing good but he is just so difficult at the same time!! He knows what he needs to do then he just doesn't do it! So, we may have to drop him which is sad but necessary. :-( 

Friday was crazy bike day! We biked between 20-30 miles!! We were able to contact some referrals and teach some but boy was I exhausted at the end of the day! 

Saturday was a good day!! We taught a bunch and we had a good meeting with our ward mission leader. Also, we have an investigator Silvia that we taught. She really wants to go to church but she has 12 sicknesses and spends the day with her family.  So for that she says she can't go to church on Sunday. We are going to have a noche de hogar and she said she could come to that. 

Sunday we had church and we taught some lessons and did some finding. We had a good lesson with Patty and Sergio and we really think they will be able to be baptized by the end of this month!! Also, we went to an investigators house. Her name is Maria and we thought we were going to have to drop her.  We actually  helped her to understand that she knows the Book of Mormon is true! She accepted the invitation to be baptized and to come to church the next Sunday which was completely unexpected!! We also are teaching a great family and they are coming to the noche de hogar and are reading the Book of Mormon. They are also going to church and accepted the invitation to be baptized!! So a lot of good things are happening in this area! Especially now that we are inviting everyone to be baptized!  It really helps us to know who is prepared to receive the gospel and who isn't. Then we can work effectively and really teach and baptize the people who are prepared to receive the gospel and really fulfill our purpose!  Anyway, it's really exciting!! I love you all and I hope you all have a great week!

Love, Elder Reisner