Mormon Helping Hands

Dear family and friends,

I did have a pretty good week! This week we did an exchange and I had Elder Wight come to my area we had some really good lessons and it was good being with him. We also had some more lessons and an overall good week.

The highlight was definitely Saturday when we got to do Mormon Helping Hands service project for Arbor Day! It was fun and I got to see my peeps from Rimgrove :-) so I was really happy about that!  We helped the kids make projects and cleaned up a park and directed traffic for the event that they had at the park. It was a good day!

We also had an activity called busca la piedra preciosa. I'm not going to tell you what it is because I'm going to see if I can do it in our ward when I get back. It's a really spiritual activity that is super helpful for those people who can't go to the temple quite yet. It also helps those people who just need a spiritual boost!

I'm feeling better but Friday I did go to the doctor because I felt soo much pain! I thought I had an appendicitis but it turned out that I just had a blockage. So, we got that taken care of and the doctor said no spicy food for the weekend. Now I have to eat Activia yogurt to regulate my digestive system. I promise you that I am completely fine now so please don't worry! 

Elida is kind of progressing. She needs to understand the gospel better so we are kind of going through the lessons again so that she can understand more. Juan didn't come to church but the Carranza family did! I think they can be baptized here pretty quickly if we can get the 10 year old daughter to come to church! :- ) That's exciting of course!

We went to the temple today it was a good session and I'm really glad we got to go!

Have a good week everyone! 

Love, Elder Reisner

Have faith!

Hi to all my family and friends,

So my p-day is Tuesday today and next week it will be on Tuesday as well. I hope they can find out what's going on with Conner. I will definitely keep him in my prayers and look forward to next week. I hope that they will be able to figure out what is going on. 

This last week was really good! We were able to find a bunch of new investigators! Elida came to church with us again this week  We actually had a Zumba class on Saturday for all of our investigators and members to go to. We are doing good with our Insanity workouts!

We also had interviews with President Becerra yesterday. We are going to now baptize every month! We need to have the faith to do so which is something that I have been lacking. I have the faith to find and I know that I am going to find but I have always been unsure of whether they will get baptized or not. So we are now working as a mission to increase our faith to baptize every month! We have to think it and feel it in our hearts. He also told me that I'm doing good and he gave me a talk to read. He also answered some other questions that I had.

This week we had 2 investigators at church and one of them is from a part member family that we are going to start teaching today.  We also found this guy from Guatemala and he was going to church for 2 years in a row over there but never got baptized because his parents wouldn't let him. Now he is ready again and we are going to start teaching his family this week as well! Everything is really looking to go up which I am really excited for!!

An investigator that I was working with in Rimgrove is getting baptized! Her name is Ashley and she is getting baptized May 5! I hope that she invites me to come! President Becerra is talking about moving our boundaries to be roaming in two areas so that we can help the west area pick up in the ward. That will mean that I can have some contact still with members in Rimgrove so that will be cool if that happens!

I am doing great and no MRSA! Have a great week everyone!
Love, Elder Reisner 

Adjusting

Dear family and friends-

I am getting better from the infection or MRSA or whatever it was. I am going to try and eat some honey every day and see if that will help with the problem.

That is really good news about Conner. I am glad that he is doing well. Hopefully the physical therapy will go well for him.

So, everything is going good here! We started Zumba here last Wednesday and it was a great contacting opportunity!  Elida the Zumba instructor came to church on Sunday so that was really awesome!

I had the opportunity to do 2 of the 5 exchanges that I need to do. I got to go with Eder Mostert again that was fun! He was my companion when I first got to Rimgrove and I finished his training. Now he is a zone leader! I'm proud of him! In the mission we call the missionaries who we train our kids so I'm a proud dad haha!

We went to a Quincenera which is like a wedding reception except its for girls turning 15. It was kinda weird being there but the family that Elder Mostert and his companion are teaching were really happy that we were able to go.

Also, Juan our investigator read 8 chapters of the Book of Mormon in 2 days so that was really exciting! He didn't come to church though but we will get him there sooner rather than later! Of course we have also been doing a bunch of finding.

My clothes and shoes are good! The only thing I need is your love and support which I am getting! So I'm good :-)

I was also able to go to a baptism in Rimgrove because it was a family I helped Elder Mendoza teach. We had a good relationship with them. The mom and the daughter got baptized while I was in Rimgrove but the son got baptized yesterday! The ward told me they missed me and it's not the same without me which made me miss them so much!! I'm still adjusting to the members and style of the area here because it is a lot different. I know I can do that really soon. It will come with a little bit more time!

Have a great week everyone!
Love, Elder Reisner 

I love General Conference!!

Dear family and friends,

CONFERENCE WAS AWESOME!!!!!!! I loved it all especially the Priesthood Session and Sunday! Elder Holland's talk was really good, the talk about the couple from Guatemala was super funny "Honey make sure you shake everyone's hand!" It's super weird hearing marriage talks because well I'm getting a TINY bit closer to that availability point which is scary!! Also, President Monson when he said all the missionaries will be done in two years made me sad because I don't want to leave the mission. It's so awesome and I just keep learning and growing so much its not even funny! What I have decided to apply in my life from conference this time is that I need to work on my Christlike attributes to have more faith to find, to be able to seek counsel from the Lord to lead and to bear powerful testimony as a missionary! I'll apply the marriage talks in like 7 years! ;-)

I am excited to help Conner get ready to serve a mission. I should have 6 good months to work with him when I get home. (not that I want to think about coming home) I made that one of my personal goals to do everything I can to help Conner go on a mission!

I had some MRSA or another spider bite this last week. I put the honey on it and I am taking 2 prescriptions for it this time. Some Bactrim and something new so we'll see how that works. It's a prescription that lasts for 20 days. My new pad is a lot cleaner than the other one so I am hoping that will help with my MRSA as well.

The new area is going pretty well. One of our investigators went to a members house and watched conference with them. We also got to have a new missionary with us for a day. That was cool! We just were with him to get him some experience because so many new missionaries came that President didn't have time to interview them all before they got their new companions!

I am doing this workout it's called insanity! It's pretty tough but I have got to do it! We eat more in this area and drive a car so it's the only good exercise that I get! Only two of our zones are going to have cars so it is not for the whole mission. I wish that my zone was biking but that's ok.

I am just trying to do my best. I always want to look for where I can improve. That's where we can apply the Atonement. Our ideal can become real and then our ideal changes we work towards that and it goes on for eternity!  I am thankful to be a missionary, I want to serve my Heavenly Father as much as possible!

Love, Elder Reisner 

Transferred

Dear family and friends-

Well, I got transferred :-(. I'm in the El Monte ward now. I was really sad to leave Rimgrove but I'm still in the same stake. Which means that I will still see most of the people from the Rimgrove ward and the Gonzalez family have family here so they said they'd visit her once a week so I could still see them :-).  I got to say good-bye to most of the Rimgrove members that I know so I was happy about that! I got a card from one of the sisters and a newly baptized member before I went they were really special.

The talent show was SUPER stressful because at the last minute all the people were telling us that they had a talent and when were they going to go. But, there were a ton of non members and the youth raised a lot of money by selling nachos and cupcakes and drinks. So, it was an overall success and everyone liked our synchronized swimming act that we did! We also did a tie fashion show which was super funny! I should be getting a DVD of the talent show so I will have to send it to you!

This last week we were so busy with the talent show, setting things up and practicing our act we didn't have time for much else. We did teach the Gonzalez family though and they said that they will come to General Conference! So that's cool!

My new companion's name is Elder Chadwick. I've known him from before and he's taller than me so that's funny! We will have to try not to intimidate all our small Latino friends! I am still a District Leader. My district has 8 missionaries which is 3 less than usual and right now no sister missionaries.

We are teaching a Zumba instructor in this area so I will still get to keep up on my insanity work outs! I like Zumba, it's super fun! I am glad to get a good workout because I am in a driving area for now.

Are you excited for General Conference? I sure am!

 Love, Elder Reisner 

Synchronized Swimming, Zumba, what's next?

Dear family and friends,

 

I am feeling much better, I had a bad cold last week! It is so cool to hear about all my friends who are going on missions! (In the last 2 weeks there have been 12 calls that we know of!)

 

We had a good week! The Gonzalez family is doing really well! Natalia is really opening up and they said that we could do Noche de Hogar with them tonight!

 

This week was also a weird week. We have been preparing our act for the talent show. We are doing a synchronized swimming thing with blue cardboard for the water! It is going to be cool! I am going to take a video of it but you probably won't be able to see it unless I send you my memory card.  

 

We have been finding still and teaching of course this week as well. We are teaching a guy that has schizophrenia. That's interesting, he seems good though.

 

I'm still doing Zumba! You should do it, it's super fun and a great workout! Because of Zumba though there is a lady that wants to learn from us and two other ladies that came to our kickball/soccer activity that we have on Saturdays so that was really cool!! 

 

We also on Saturday practiced some more for our talent show thing. The Gonzalez's daughter is going to be in it with us and the mom is helping us with the choreography! So that's super cool! 

 

We also attended a baptism this week. It was super cool and we know the lady. The other elders in my district taught her. I taught her as well on exchanges/noche de hogares so I couldn't interview her. 

 

This week is the last week of the transfer so I'll let you know next week if I'm transferred or not!

Oh, I totally forgot to tell you that we had a mission conference last Thursday. We are going to be on a pilot program where we won't have cars anymore. Now we all will ride bikes, use the bus and walk. The sisters will have cars to use at night and the leaders will have cars to go to the doctor and go to meetings. Other than that nobody is using a car! Its kind of exciting! Also, with the new mission boundaries 16 English speaking missionaries have to get transferred to the Rancho Cucomonga Misson.

I also had a District Leader meeting where I learned how to have better District meetings and the importance of companionship study!!  

Love, Elder Reisner

Family Connections

Hi family and friends!

It was a really good week for us! We were able to basically go to the Gonzalez's house everyday. They are progressing just kind of slowly. We are having a bit of a hard time showing them that our church is the true church on the earth today. They are on their way because they are dedicated but not super dedicated yet. The hardest thing is their church is so small that they would have a hard time leaving it. Their daughter is  changing and learning more quickly and I think that will help them too!  

This week also we found new investigators! We are teaching a man who is deaf which brings a few challenges but an incredible spirit. We have just been so busy teaching and I did two exchanges this week one with the zone leaders and one with Elder Nielsen in my district. I biked so much with him because he has a big area and they share a car and they didn't have it that day. It was soooo HOT!!! Oh well it's all good!


So with the Gonzalez family Monday we had noche de hogar with them. Tuesday a lesson, Wednesday a tour of the church with the mom, Thursday a lesson with them, Friday Zumba with the mom and Saturday they came to our kickball activity! Sunday we went over and taught again haha they love us so much and its really helping them!

We have permission to keep doing Zumba unless we are not finding new investigators or people are not progressing.

The scriptures have helped me this week by realizing the eternal perspective of things. I learned more about the plan of salvation and how we have to constantly be doing good and better by correcting our wrong doings so that we can use the atonement to better ourselves. Something I've been pondering a lot is something President Becerra taught us. It is that the Sacrament is the ordinance that will save us in the end because right after you partake of the Sacrament worthily you are perfectly clean for that moment! Pretty cool huh?!

I have been struggling the past couple of weeks being a little discouraged but I have learned that as I forget myself more and just concentrate on others that's when the work picks up. The work is definitely picking up!

I love you all,
Elder Reisner