Since no letter today enjoy some pictures!

Remember awhile ago when he was caught in the rain?

Alvarado family

Soaking wet!

Reyes' I went to the the temple with them!

Hno Alvarado

Schleske family

Hnas Flores y Marquez

Patty and Sergio on the left and the De Los Santos family

Hermano Lopez and his fiance' Hermana Marquez

Reyes family I love them so much!

The golden contact, the great investigators and the end of the transfer

Dear family and friends,

 

The transfer just ended and I am staying here in Rimgrove. I am really happy about that because I did not want to leave! We have been having a lot more success and have been finally finding people who will progress and be baptized! I am keeping my same companion and also remaining District Leader. Transfers will be in 5 weeks this time instead of 9 and so it will be interesting to see what happens then!

 

I'll start off with the golden contact we had this guy was unreal! We were waiting to cross the street on our bikes when this one guy makes an illegal U-turn to come and talk to us(we found this out later). Then he says I don't know why but something told me that I have to come and talk to you guys. We asked him if he knew who we were and he said yeah your the Mormons. Then he asked so what are you all about? Then we told him a little bit about the restoration. He said well that's cool so when can we study? Of course we said when can you? He said well before 2 tomorrow but I see your name tags are in Spanish so are you teaching English to people who speak Spanish or work in a Spanish congregation? We said yeah we work with a Spanish congregation and he said well I don't speak a lick of Spanish. We were a little bummed but we told him that we had friends who worked in an English congregation and we would contact them and they could set up a time. He said cool, then he asked us you wouldn't have a Book of Mormon on you would you? We said yes and we had ONE in English! We gave it to him and he said that he would start reading it. So then we got his information and we were on our way. Then he texts us like 5 minutes later and asks if he can meet with the English elders that night! We gave him their number and he sets up an appointment with them for 8 o'clock that night. We met him at 5. Then the English elders told us that in that space of 3 hours that he had read all the way up to 3rd Nephi!! It was crazy!! Also, he had already prayed about it and was considering baptism! So that was really cool! 

 

The other cool things that happened is we have 2 new investigators. A sister and a brother (not from the same family) they have great potential! The sister is 13 and is a foster child of one of the members. She hasn't been baptized so we are working with her and she has a desire to be baptized. The brother just moved in with some other members and he has desires to be baptized as well. The first lesson we had with the brother was probably the best lesson we had the whole transfer! The spirit was so strong and it was just over all good! 

 

So with those things happening it was a great week and we are looking forward to having another successful transfer!

 

Les Quiero mucho!

Love, Elder Reisner

New Years, Three Kings Day and Progression

Dear Familia y amigos, 

 

This last week was super great! We did a lot of things. These two priests in our ward are super excited to do splits with us! We were able to do that for two days and had a lot of success by double working the area! We also re-found Angel and he is reading everyday because his mom makes him read from the Book of Mormon. They are in Alma he also went to church!! So we are going to continue to work with him and help him and his mom get baptized! Also, we met a guy who is living with a member and has really good potential of getting baptized and has even came to church! We are still finding and it seems like the people that we are finding are more willing to progress which is super awesome! Also, I did an exchange with Elder Eddington that was cool he really helped me to see a different way to do missionary work.  We also started teaching this guy in a part member family that had questions and he went to church as well!! So everything is on the up and up and its really exciting to see the area picking up again! We are working to get referrals and to just keep talking with people and helping all of them! Anyways, se cuidan!

 

Love, Elder Reisner

Christmas

Dear family and friends,

 

This last week was really good! We got a lot of things done and we were able to learn a lot of things. 

We had to drop a lot of our investigators and start over because they weren't progressing also I did two exchanges and had the opportunity to talk with my family! Also, we were able to receive a ton of referrals from members and we ate a ton of tamales!  We are almost done with this transfer and of course changes are on the horizon. As we head into the new year my goal is to be even more dedicated to the gospel to be even more hard working and to not be distracted. I want to truly grow and progress in the gospel and I invite all of you to do the same. When we are able to do this then we realize the important things of life and why we are here and who we should be serving. 

I love you all Happy New Year!

 

Love, Elder Reisner

Christmas party week!

Dearest family and friends,

 

This last week nothing too exciting happened just our mission Christmas party. There were a lot of great talents and I actually participated!

 

The work is going really good! We are finding new investigators and lots of good things are happening. We are finding new things to do to find and teach and it's working great! We aren't having anyone that is really progressing, but we will keep our efforts strong to keep finding people!

 

We also had our ward Christmas party where we dressed up as the three wise men and pastores (shepherds) and we danced to some really catchy Spanish Christmas songs!

 

Then on Sunday I got asked to speak at the last minute about how the mission has changed my life. I took a minute to think about that and it really has changed my life for the better! I know that I am much more patient and loving and more humble and a lot of things. I can definitely still improve but I am noticing that I am progressing in the gospel and it is very exciting to see! Umm really other than that nothing really happened just still doing the Lord's work and I'm happy to do it! I hope all of you are doing well and are having a great Christmas season! 

 

I love you all!

Love, Elder Reisner

The ninos the navidad and the new companion

Dear family and friends,

 

Well this last week was really great! We started with a really good noche de hogar with the Gonzalez family. The other elders are actually teaching them but Elder Mendoza was waiting for his new companion from the MTC so the three of us taught together. It was really good and the mom actually told us last Sunday that it was a good noche de hogar so that was cool! 

Tuesday, we got Elder Mendoza's new companion and met members so that Elder Markham could get to know them better.

Wednesday, we taught a bunch and we found these 4 ninos who are the non-member grandkids of an hermana in our ward. We showed them an object lesson about faith and they were hooked! It was really cool and they wanted us to come over every day! haha! 

Then we are practicing to be in the Christmas program in the ward. We are going to be shepherds and the three kings.

Thursday, was a really great zone meeting. We learned that we have been teaching the wrong way. We need to focus on the atonement and on baptism every lesson. We need to help people feel Godly sorrow so they can feel the need and know the why to get baptized. That was really inspired. Then we taught some more and put that into practice and it worked really well! 

Friday, we taught the ninos again. They waited for us to come which was pretty great! Then we did splits with some of the young men in our ward.

That's what happened to me this last week. It was really good and we are using what we learned and applying it. It is working really well; it is really showing people the why and making it so that we really teach people a principle and not just a lesson which is really cool.  

Well, I love you all and I hope your having a good Christmas time!

 

Love, Elder Reisner

 

Elder Reisner is feeling much better! He injured his rotator cuff and is doing some exercises to recuperate. Thank you all for the many prayers offered! 

Missionary Miracles

Dear Family and Friends,

 

This week was good. The highlights are that we found four really good new investigators! One actually came to us when we were teaching a recent convert and he went to our sports night that we had. There were 3 recent converts and our investigator who came from our area so that was really great! 

I went on two exchanges this last week with Elder Eddington and Elder Knight. These were really good and I learned a lot from both of them. 

On Saturday we were heavily involved as crowd control in a Christmas parade. That was fun and there were a lot of cool floats and things in the parade. My camera broke so I wasn't able to take any pictures at the parade. 

Also, we went to a despedida (farewell) for all the missionaries that are going home. I was able to go because I was finished training Elder Mostert and one of our elders in the district was going home. That was a really powerful experience and we felt the spirit very strongly! 

This last week was transfers and I am staying in my area but Elder Mostert left so I was very sad about that. My new companion seems good his name is Elder Markam I am sure we will get along great. Well I hope all is well with you sorry this is so short but I ran out of time! 

I love you all!

Love, Elder Reisner

 

As a missionary mom and with my Priesthood holders permission I wanted to share more about Elder Reisner's week and really why his letter was so short this time. On Wednesday he fell off of his bike and he thought that he broke something in his arm. He and his companion had an appointment with an investigator so he took some deep breaths and they walked the rest of the way there. After the appointment they stopped at a members home so he could clean himself up and call Sister Becerra (Mission President's wife). She called Dr. Peterson who is a counselor in the mission presidency in Arcadia. Of course the doctor called Elder Reisner right back and had him do a few things with his arm everything was super painful so he thought for sure that something was broken. Dr. Peterson told him he could either go to the E.R. or do a Boy Scout fix and wait for the next day to go to an Instacare. He elected for the Boy Scout fix and waiting for the next day. The Instacare x-rays showed that he had dis-located his shoulder and broke his collar bone. He was then referred to an orthopedic doctor to get everything fixed and back in place. Friday when he went to see the orthopedic doctor he said that he didn't break anything! He even took more and different x-rays but he could see no break!! Elder Reisner joked that he was jealous of his dad and Conner going to the Emergency Room and so he just wanted a turn in California! Of course he is still in a lot of pain and won't be able to ride his bike for a few weeks, but what a miracle!!

He said that 2 days later and I am not sure exactly 2 days later from what day but it all happened this last week, he was bit by a dog! It was a pitbull and it bit him on his hand. The owner was outside and so Elder Reisner asked him if the dog had rabies. They said no and were quite rude about it when it was their dog who bit him! (go figure)

I chose to share these experiences with you because our missionary and all of them are truly blessed. Both of these experiences could have turned out so differently but he is being watched over and protected. He ended his letter to us with "I am not sad or anything or discouraged. Don't worry about me I will be just fine! I know that trials are for our growth and for us to learn." 

Keep praying for all of our missionaries!