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

Fulfilling Goals

Hi everyone!

Our week was super good! We had kind of a hard time finding this week. We only found 2 new investigators and we wanted 4 but that's OK.  We are also still working with our current investigators.

There is a family that is super close to baptism! We helped the mom realize that she is ready and that she knows that Joseph Smith is a prophet and the gospel has been restored. She said she would talk to her husband who is super ready and has been for awhile and they are going to choose a date to get baptized!!

We also gave a new baptismal date for another one of our investigators for the 29th! Then we found a cool new lady who's Christian for now... ;-)

I heard that they have a new movie at the temple! I really want to see it so it's a good thing we are going to go in October!! I am super excited can you tell?!

The experience that stood out to me the most this week is well I lost one of the keys to my bike lock and we were stranded. Then the hermanas missionaries helped us out so that was good.

In reading the scriptures this week I can't always remember everything I learned. This week all my studies are getting messed up so right now I can't think if anything stood out for me.

They are still working on the boundary changes in the ward we are living in. They said that it should happen soon so we will see.

So what I would suggest for you to do to help Conner get ready for his mission is you should watch the Preach My Gospel movies and teach things out of Preach My Gospel and out of The Book of Mormon. Also, be praying for and having missionary experiences that will help him. Think to yourselves what doctrine or principle better understood will help Conner serve a mission and the spirit and studies will do the rest!!

I have also decided that I am going to stay the full time on my mission. I won't be coming home early for school. I still don't have a release date yet but that's OK I don't even want to think about that!

Have a great week!
Love, Elder Reisner

Lots of teaching and learning

Dear family and friends,

(I asked Elder Reisner if he shared an apartment with more than his companion) So sometimes we live 4 of us in a pad but usually it is just two. I think they are trying very hard to not have 4 missionaries living together because it's very easy to get distracted. In Rimgrove we lived 4 of us together but here it's just me and my companion.

Church was good Sunday! There wasn't very many people there but our investigators came so that was super good! All of our investigators are doing well we had 3 go to church. We found some new investigators and also taught some of the ones we found last week. It was really a great week!!

I went on exchanges this week with Elder Febbo. I love to do exchanges because I always learn a lot of stuff. Our 3 investigators are supposed to get baptized this next week! We are going to do all that is possible so that we can help the Lord do His work! Then there is another investigator that has a baptismal date but he isn't coming to church so we'll see what we can do for him.

My favorite experience this last week is that we found new investigators and that we are happy! There isn't a day that stands out to me as any better than the rest every day is really good though! The scripture that impacted me the most this week is D&C 6:36. I need to trust in the Lord more so that we can do the work in the way that He wants us to do it.

Funny experience that we had this week well we went to Ross and this guy just comes up to us and asks us if we are elders and if he can get baptized!!! That's not really funny I would say pretty cool huh? The only bad thing is he doesn't live in our area.

My health is good, I haven't had MRSA in awhile. I think things are great in my new area and I really like my new companion.

I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Reisner