Hey guys!
I am sure you heard about the terramoto (earthquake). It was quite an experience. Here in Guatemala City it was not too bad but it was weird. We were just sitting in the lobby reading the Book of Mormon and all the sudden the ground felt like it was going in circles. I was confused at first then I walked outside and the trees were swaying and cars were moving around. It was not bad enough that I had to sit down. It only lasted for about 30 seconds and then they started to evacuate us just in case. Our building is okay. Somebody told me that the church uses 4 times the rebar as the code mandates. I don't know if it is true but we are fine and I got a good taste of Central America. I
could actually pay attention to what was going on around me. It was an eye-opening experience but the people that were killed were in my mission in the city of San Marcos. I heard the damage there was pretty substantial. I am continually praying for the people in my mission who were effected.
We had our first day of tracting (knocking on doors) this week and I loved it! It was a great experience. One thing that surprised me is how receptive people are to the gospel message. They are truly an amazing people. In 2 1/2 hours we gave 4 Books of Mormon and they have to be very interested to give them a Book of Mormon. We had 4 good investigators and 8 referrals. They just dropped us off in this area about the size of our neighborhood. It was a small area and this was our first taste of how these people live. We saw some people who were lucky to have a tin roof and some who do not have any cement and we are still in Guatemala City. It is actually very hard for me to think about how blessed I am because they have nothing. I love these people already. And now I know what they were talking about on blogs when they said there are perros dogs everywhere. It's true. It is a bit weird and even the Latinos are scared of them so they make the gringos go first.
Anyway, we walked all the way down into this canyon and started taking to people. You don't have to knock doors because most people don't have doors. So we started talking to some people and I realized it did not sound like Espanol so I look at my Latino companion and he says "?Intiendo Qui che?" and I said "No, no intiendo Espanol." He said, "Do you understand Qui che?" I said, "No, I don't even understand Spanish?" How am I supposed to know Qui che when I can't even understand Spanish? He was from Mexico so he did not speak it either. So, we had to go back up to the city part of the town where there was Espanol. Let me just say Qui che looks and sounds so hard with how hard it is to learn Spanish. Qui che not being Latin based must be impossible but with the Lord nothing is impossible. It was a great experience and I will never forget it.
This week I had a very spiritual experience. I have been looking for an answer to some things in my life and my teacher showed us this video that just hit me like a ton of bricks. If you guys have a chance watch it. It is about missionary work but it applies to all people and situations. It's called something like Missionary Work and the Atonement or Through the Atonement. One sister said it was on YouTube. It has Bednar and Holland speaking and it is so powerful. Every recorded talk they have from the MTC is mind blowing. This week it was Elder Holland about missionary work and he is just doing what Holland does. The talk was given 4 hours after those missionaries died last year. It was very sad.
Well time is up.
Love you guys and I will talk to you next week.
Elder Reinhold
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