A week full of trials

Hello to all my family and friends-

So this last week was sad with the passing of Elder Page. I didn't know him but he was my companion's companion in the MTC.  We have just been trying to support each other during this tough time. We also had a funeral here in the mission this last week for a hermana that passed away. I did know her and was sad to hear of her passing. I am sure grateful for the Plan of Salvation and that I have the opportunity to teach it and to know that it is true!

So the family that we baptized last week is a family of 6 including the parents. The husband, wife and one of their children were able to be baptized! They have 3 more kids that the dad will be able to baptize when they are 8!! I was super happy for them and it was very spiritual at the baptism it was really great!  The father of the family has been taught by different missionaries since May and the family started in June. I got here in August and things just started to click for them! They are doing so well and they want to start working on their family history so its awesome!!

 We have dropped a lot of investigators this week and we are trying to find like crazy!

General Conference was great!! The things that stood out to me was Elder Ballard's talk about missionary work and also Elder Holland's talk. The other one of course was President Monson's talk! I think the biggest themes were missionary work in the Lords way with members and misisonaries working together. Also,  getting and staying married were the things that really stood out to me.

I haven't been able to get the pilot program going that I have been asked to do. Mostly because of the funeral that we had this week. Hopefully we can get it going this week.

I  love you all - thanks for the prayers!

Love, Elder Reisner    

Baptisms are amazing!

Dear family and friends-

Sorry that this e-mail is so late! I was able to go to the temple today (Tuesday). I did not get to see the new movie however. This last week was pretty stressful. The best part is that we had a baptism!! Also, they are having me start a pilot program for an English class, I am training and still District Leader.

The baptism for the family that we have been working with for awhile did go through at the very last minute!! It turned out that the mom had a problem that she needed to take care of. She is fine now and repented and the baptism was very spiritual of course!! The husband and wife asked me to baptize them! So that was an awesome experience! The best part was I didn't have to baptize them twice! It was really cool.

I watched General Conference in the Stake Center. Another family that we are working with came to church with us!

This week we taught and we found. I really liked General Conference! I'm really tired today and so I'm really short with my letter. But I'm super happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Love,

Elder Reisner

Serving and teaching

Dear family and friends-

 

This last week was really good! Monday we taught a new lady and our family that is getting ready to be baptized hopefully this weekend!! They are still doing really well and keep progressing! Then we tried to visit some other people and they weren't home.  

 

Tuesday we had to drop one of our investigators because he wasn't willing to read pray or go to church and then all of the rest of our appointments canceled. I was really hoping that wouldn't happen for Elder Nielsen already so I was sad about that.

 

On Wednesday it was alot better! We taught a new guy we met and we also had a chance to visit with our family as well. Then we went on splits with some members of our ward and visited this less active family that hasn't been to church in 6 months. The hermano comitted and promised to go to church! 

 

Thursday I taught district meeting the theme was we invite they committ we follow up. We ended up eating like 2 times and I almost threw up from eating so much food! It was worth it because we got some referrals! 

 

Friday we did weekly planning and we taught another family we have been working with for awhile. We may have to drop them becaus they didn't go to church again.  

 

Saturday we painted an investigator's garage and taught our new lady again. We also had another new family we were able to teach olga so it was a good day! 

 

Sunday the new lady that we have been working with went to church and so did our family that is ready to be baptized!! Then we stopped by a bunch of people's homes and taught a gentleman. I also went on exchanges with Elder Tovar and it was a good exchange. 

 

So this week we are focusing on our family that is preparing for baptism and finding and dropping the people who won't progress so it's exciting! 

 

I hope you all have a good week!

Love, Elder Reisner

Another great week of missionary work!

Hola!

So on Tuesday we had 32 new missionaries come to the Arcadia mission!! There were 13 new Spanish speaking elders! My new companion is Elder Nielsen from Seattle Washington. He is eager to learn and asks a lot of questions which is great!

(I asked Elder Reisner how much Spanish he is speaking) I speak Spanish a lot with other people. With my companions and other missionaries I speak mostly English but my companion has asked me to speak only Spanish with him. It's just a hard habit to break to speak in English with my companion but I can do it!

Our 16 year old investigator had a change of heart and so we haven't been teaching him anymore. The family that we are working with is doing well except their son is being more rebellious so they are having a hard time with him.

Yes, I got the Gift of Tongues package and I loved it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you!!!!!!!!!

This week we found some pretty cool people who said they'd get baptized! We met our bishop and ward mission leader and they are super cool! We had a meeting and we traveled on the train and the bus to get there. It was fun and we contacted some people it was super neat! We also have been able to teach more with members! It's a good change, I think it's been a really good week. This week we have no extra meetings so we'll get even more work done!!

I am super excited!

Love, Elder Reisner 

Back to Training!

Dear family and friends -

I am feeling fine now from my bike accident. I had to buy a new tire of course but we are back on track now! I did get transferred but I didn't if that makes any sense! The Montebello Ward got dissolved on Sunday and they combined it with another ward. Then they divided that ward and added some of the old Montebello Ward to San Gabriel. So, I am now in the Belvedere 2nd Ward and we finally have a bishop! I'm excited for the change!

I am still District Leader and I am training again as well. I LOVE training!! They tell us on Saturday night whether we are getting transferred or not. Then Monday morning we have to move. Now that we are in a biking only mission we move by bus or ask a member to help.

We talked with one of the families that we have been working with and they have definitely decided to get baptized October 6th! We are super excited!!!!!

It looks like for now you won't be having any company for General Conference but I will keep you posted about that.

I was able to get my temple recommend renewed this last week with President Becerra so that was awesome! We are supposed to be able to go in October and I can hardly wait to see the new movie at the temple!

This last week was crazy with the changes and with my companion leaving. Everyone in the ward was sad to see him go and of course I was too. He is being transferred to San Gabriel!

I don't have much time to e-mail today but lots of love to everyone!
Elder Reisner

Protection from the Lord

Dear family and friends, 

I went to the doctor on Saturday because I kinda fell off my bike... and hurt my leg real bad and had to get x-rays...... I was being a Reisner and was clumsy; hit a hole and fell down. I bruised myself up good and have road rash so it's not too bad.I just hurt real bad up by my hip and so we had to take a day off from the work this week.

I did get a rack for my bike this week to help me even myself out now that we need to carry shoulder bags. That wasn't what made me fall either! 

The family that we have been working with are doing well. We are going to see them and see if we can give them a date for baptism this coming Sunday. We don't want to drag them because a missionary was doing that before. So we are trying to be very careful and not pressure them. The 16 year old guy we have been working with is doing well too. It looks like he will be baptized September 29th! 

We also have a lot of other investigators who are progressing! There is a family of three we are working with and a sister that we are working with as well. The sister we are working with knows some investigators that I was working with in Rimgrove!! So I got permission for them to come over for a lesson but then the sister called and cancelled so I didn't get to see them. Maybe another time.

They called a meeting for this Sunday for the boundary changes finally. It is also the end of the transfer so we'll see what happens. I haven't gotten your package yet but I should be able to pick it up on Thursday.

Don't worry about me I am being taken care of by the Lord. I do appreciate everyone's prayers because I definitely could have been hurt a lot worse!

Love,

Elder Reisner

A biking only mission!

Hello to all my family and friends!

It has been another great week!! We were able to find a lot of people and we were able to teach a lot as well.

We had a Zone Conference and it was super cool! We are losing all the cars in the mission in two weeks!! We are also getting i-pads in the next few months. That will probably happen after I leave. We also talked about what evidence do we have that the investigator is progressing. Another thing we talked about is how we need to continue to be obedient.

We have a lot of things going on right now! I think the family we have been working with are going to get baptized super soon! So that's cool! We also have another baptism scheduled for the 29th of this month! He is a 16 year old boy. He is a cool kid but has some things that he needs to do before he can get baptized. His family is not interested at all right now but they fully support him so that is a good thing. He has come to church with us the last two Sundays so that is AWESOME! I am super excited that our investigators are progressing well!

I did end up buying a shoulder bag. It does make things a little difficult while riding a bike. My back is hurting a lot and so I need to buy a bike rack. It's all good though!

I love you all!

Love,

Elder Reisner