Plugging Along....

Walking.....

Hey family!  

This week was another good week.  We had 7 attend church and we have a baptismal date for the 3rd of August with M--. She is so prepared to be a member of the Church. She asked us, "Where can I buy all the books that we use in the Church?" We went to Cantel to do service for her and she said I will pay for this time and you guys pay for us tomorrow when we go to church.  How we found this prepared family was we were contacting and we determined we had contacted for a long time and decided to go to visit a member. We were walking down an alley way and we walked past 2 woman sitting outside of their house talking. We passed by saying "good afternoon" like normal.  As we were about 40 feet past them I received a impression saying you have to go back to talk with them so not denying my impression we went back and shared the restoration. Now they have attended church twice and are people who have truly been prepared by the Lord. We are going to present baptism dates with some other members of the family.

 

This is Cantel.

Now for the quote of the week. "Would it not be wiser to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal. We certainly cannot do this with  a dragging our feet, staring at our watch, complaining as we go approach to discipleship." -Dieter F. Uchtdorf.  This quote is great on helping us discern our priorities. 

Well sorry family I don't have a lot of time this week, but I will keep you updated next week and I promise to write a little bit more next week.

Elder Reinhold

This is jocon - one of the traditional dishes.

Working Hard All the Way Around...

I'm working in the corn fields.  By the way, it's hard work.

Yea, verily, verily, I say unto you, that the field is white already to harvest; wherefore, thrust in your sickles, and reap with all your might, mind, and strength.  D&C 33:7

Hey family.  How is it going?  

This is Chiquilaja right now.  Elder Telford is training a gringo.

This week we received a new missionary in Chiquilaja.  He is a gringo and is brand new.  He can not really speak any Spanish. That means the other companionship is pure gringos but they will do well. 

This week was good not only because I worked harder than I ever have in the mission but also because we had 8 people go to church with us. Yes 8.  Everybody was like, "Well normally you don't have a lot of people in church..." but they came through. 

Chopping wood for members.

This week was tiring.  We woke up early to go to work in the corn fields and to chop wood and after 4 hours of that - man it can take it out of you!  But as a result 8 people came to church. The people that came to church were a 16 year old that a year and a half ago had his baptism interview but his older brother said he could not get baptized.  Right now he said he could get permission so we will see what happens. Also we had M--, A--, Sh--, M-- and their kids assist with us. They all loved church and we are going to try to present baptismal dates to them. It ended up really well.

This week the quote is, "That which we persist in doing becomes easier to do, not that the nature of the thing has changed, but our capacity to do it has increased." - Ralph Waldo Emerson.

  

I love this quote.  We all need to work at stuff to become better at it.  For example, public speaking. If you speak in public more the easier it becomes. This is a general rule in life.  

Sorry I don't have a lot of time today but I love you guys and stay strong

Elder Reinhold

Elder Hansen, the old AP went home.  He was a good friend.

Update on Family We are Working With and Good-bye Elder Dos Santos.

Elder Dos Santos from Brazil and I.  He is the other elder here in Chiquilaja. 
He has changes but I have had the opportunity to spend 4 and a half months with him.

Hey family! This week was an okay week we had some good lessons and received some good references but on the downside no one was able to come with us to church. But hopefully this next week we will have some people in church with us. The family that we are still working with the youngest son came to church last week and wants to go to everything and he loves going to church and he has friends in the ward so right now we are seeing if we should start with him and his brother who also wants to go to church. The mom of the family wants to listen but is really busy right now and is hardly in the house so we are having trouble finding her when she has time for us to share a message. One member asked us for a Book of Mormon this week so of course we asked why she needed a Book of Mormon and she said she has a friend that is really interested in the church so we are going to follow that reference and hopefully have an appointment this Sunday.

Our Chapel, then the Big Catholic Church

and the temple in the background.  Cool pic.

The quote for this week is a great one.

"The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums." 

- President Ezra Taft Benson. 

This quote is great because that is what the world does. The government is always building these neighborhoods and helping kids get out of the projects, When really maybe all they need is the gospel. Only if all the world knew that that is the solution to everything. 

Something very interesting is going on here in Xela with the Church. There is a huge petition going around all the chapels and wards and all the members are signing this paper to stop project Santa Fe I think it is. There is a group of people that are trying to build a huge apartment building in front of the temple. The guy who is building it is actually the ex-husband of a member of our ward. He received a huge amount of money recently. He was fired from his job as a national judge and when someone is fired from a position like that the government has to pay them their entire contract so he received a lot of money and then on top of that he sued the government for what they did and he won so he received more money and he has his job back. So he is going to build this huge building in front of the temple. Many of the members are really trying to stop it. We will see what happens. It is really sad because Xela is so beautiful because it has no big buildings, and the first will block the temple. I did sign the petition. Well love you guys so much and hope all is well and that things cool off there in Utah.

Con Amor,
Elder Reinhold

Feeling Better, Charity, and Learning About Obedience.

Elder Reinhold with his companion, Elder C.

Well this week was kind of a bummer but finished out good. We were very sick almost the entire week. When we were finally feeling good enough to really dig down and muddy up our shoes we visited our investigators that are really positive and we were so happy.  They are all positive. The family From El Salvador that we thought disappeared off the earth, one of the kids assisted this week and we have a promise from his brother to assist the next week and I think that his mom is going to assist as well.  

This week I had a really cool experience. We were doing weekly planning and normally we pray for all of our investigators but this week I decided to pray for every investigator individually.  As I prayed for the family from El Salvador, 1 Corinthians 13 came to my head really fast and so I was thinking and asking myself 13 what like what verse but nothing came so I ran for my Bible and read the chapter heading and it says Paul extols the high status of charity.  Charity, a pure love, excels and exceeds almost all else.  A bit of background: this family has nothing and is in dire need. When we leave the 10 year old asks us for a couple of quets to buy some bread because the parents are out looking for work and the kids have not eaten in 2 days. It just rips your heart in two. So after reading this chapter heading I am thinking we need to serve them but we need to get the ward involved.  I then read verse 1 and 2.  "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass of a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains and have not charity, I am nothing.  I just got machetied by God. "Macheting" here is like chewing out, criticizing... kind of like that.  So I learned a lot and am taking another approach with reaching and serving this family. 

The quote for this week is a great one if you truly understand the gospel and its purposes.  If I even understand the gospel and its purposes. haha. "We are not obedient because we are blind, we are obedient because we can see." Boyd K. Packer. True saints are not trying to be obedient so people think good of them or because they were raised to be really obedient, they are obedient because they can really see the blessings that it brings.  One saying in the mission is "Obedience brings blessings, obedience with exactness brings miracles."  I really do have a testimony of this.  I want to tell you guys that I know with all my heart that Christ lives and that he restored his gospel through the prophet Joseph Smith.  I know that Christ is the head of this church and that only through this gospel and through certain covenants can we return to the presence of our Heavenly Father and live with our families for eternity.  If you are reading this and are thinking that you would love to live with your family forever ask one of your friends that is a member of the church what it means to them to know with a unshakable testimony that they are going to live with their family, not only in this life but the one to come as well. I love you guys and thank you for all the support that you guys always give me.

Elder Reinhold

P.S.  In a separate email. "Love you guys so much and I am having the time of my life and I can not believe that I almost have 9 months in the mission.  Where is it going?"

Going paint balling on preparation day.