Elder Jakob Reinhold: Teaching and trying to heal.

Hey guys,

Thank you so much for all the support and emails. By the way, the best way to write me is by email now and I have more time to email in the field, so it is way better. Well this week has been good and hard. First I will start with the hard. My leg has gotten worse and I think that what I have heard from the other missionaries is that I might spend time in the mission office which kind of stinks because I just want to work and do what missionaries are supposed to do, but now the one time in my life when I need my leg it decides to go bad on me. Today I am going to talk to the doctors and I will let you know, but don't worry it will all be fine and sorry if my English starts to get bad because I am getting to the point where I cannot remember some words in English. I am just continually thinking of my Savior and what He has done for me and it gives me strength. In my favorite video it says that we must be prepared to walk something of what the Savior walked. How do we expect to have a lasting and moving testimony if we have never shed one tear of sorrow like the Savior? Something along those lines, and I have shed a lot of tears since I have been here - good and bad tears. When I don't think of my leg I have the best times talking with people. I love it, and I know that this leg is just a trial and it says in the scriptures it isn't that you endure the trial its how you endure it. If you endure it well then we shall have the Spirit or something like that. I know that I have a lot to do before I can leave this place and I know that I have a part to do here. When I saw my president without knowing me he said I have the gift of discernment and "I can tell that you will contribute greatly to this work and that we need you." I have not fulfilled anything yet but we will see.

Anyways...to the good, I had a great experience with one of our investigadores his name is J---. He is a really tough investigador. He does not believe in the Bible, which down here is like a crime. When we taught him the first lesson he had questions about all the black eyes of the Church. It's like he had been a member his whole life and had questions. It was difficult, but for our second lesson we watched The Testament. It's about Jesus coming to the Americas and His miracles. At the end J--- was crying and the Spirit was so strong, so with my little Spanish I shared my testimony. I never cry when I share my testimony, but I did this time. I told him that I knew the Book of Mormon was true and that is why I am on a mission and he felt the Spirit even stronger and so did I. Then we asked him to read the Book of Mormon and he was highlighting what he was going to read. He took interest in it and I walked out of there and said a prayer and thanked God for that lesson. Lessons like those are what change people's lives. In that lesson I also learned that Spanish is secondary and the Spirit is first. We barely said any words and the Spirit did all the work. So this week we will follow up if I am not in the office ha ha. This week on Thursday our ward is having a Christmas party so we are inviting all the people we can. We are visiting a lot of less active members this week and it has gone well. One thing I have learned about this mission is that it is hard. The name of our zone is Zaculeu. Our theme is "Realizemos cosas dificiles." I don't know how to spell it, but it means we realize things are hard. It is true but it is a great experience. This mission is low baptizing. In our ward last year they had 8 baptisms. Five were by my companion and they did it in 1 1/2 months so only 3 before that, but it is good. I think they just needed some real Elders in there. Anyways, no matter what happens with my leg, I know that I have the Lord's help and that's all I need.

Next week we get to go to the ruins in our zone.

Love you guys and talk to you next week.

Elder Reinhold

P.S. The only thing that is keeping me sane here is in the MTC I bought Church history movies in English. I watch them every night.

Answers to Questions:

How is your bed? My bed is decent.

What do the Mayan people think about the whole Mayan Apocalypse? I don't really hear anything about the world ending. I think it is something that The States just made big.

Are you sick? No, I am not sick. I am healthy. I have lost weight but my leg is not too great. It's okay. It just needs time to heal, but I love it here. It is pretty cool and cold haha.