San Juan Ostuncalco.

March 24, 2014

This is the exit.

Family...

Well this week was great. First of all I want to tell you guys where I am now serving. I am serving in San Juan Ostuncalco. It is about 30 minutes from Xela. It really is a great experience. First of all, I have hardly heard any Spanish this past week. In Ostuncalco they speak Mam. It is weird that they do not speak Spanish, I have tried to learn a little Mam but it is so hard. It has a lot of throat clicking and stuff. 

My companion is Elder M-- from Peru. I am suprised on how well we get along. It is one of the first companions that I have had that doesn't give me any kind of worries. He is a good missionary and great at baptizing. One of the best in the mission. 

This is one of our investigators making wipil.

San Juan is made up of a small city with a ton of villages all around it. It is a very poor place. As for the church, it is struggling a lot. It is a branch of about 50 and there are only 2 people that have the priesthood. The branch was bigger but because of some stuff that has happened, the branch is struggling. Right now nobody really likes the missionaries. The missionaries have not been the best here. This is the first time in the mission that I will not receive lunches from the members but we are going to work really hard to gain confidence from the members. 

Elder D-- and I.  The "OG's."

The branch president lives in Xela but drives there on Sundays to be the branch president. The good thing is that we have some baptisms that could happen but not until April. In San Juan they have some of the most beautiful trajes (traditional clothes) that I have seen. I am really excited to be here in San Juan. My goal is to baptize someone who could be a branch president in San Juan in maybe a year. The hunt is on. The zone is struggling a little bit. The zone of Esperanza baptized an average of 20 last year but last month they baptized 6 and this month we are going to finish with 3. That is the challenge for us right now: figuring out how to raise the zone.

This is the washing machine of the village of La Victoria.

Love you guys.

Elder Reinhold

These are called chuj.  This is how they bathe themselves.

Every Wednesday and Saturday they chuj. It is basically like a sauna. 
It is a tradition from way back. 

The sister is in there preparing the chuj because everybody goes
 in at 6 o'clock in the evening.

This is what most of the rivers look like.  They are full of trash.

Happy Baptism Day. Sad to Say Goodbye.

Three baptisms this week!

March 17, 2014

This week our zone ate at a restaurant all together.

Hey family...

This week was great but I am a little bit sad as well. This week we baptized three amazing, prepared people of the Lord. All went just as planned.  It was a truly amazing experience especially to watch Brother M-- change his life. M-- is from a very famous family here in Xela. They were the owners of half of Xela.   They are very wealthy.  He has been a drug addict and an alcoholic all of his life. He has only worked 2 years of his whole life and he is about 45 years old. He was left such huge amount of money and land that when he needs money he just sells part of his inheritance. This week he gave his testimony in sacrament meeting and I felt the spirit so strong. He told about how he always felt a gap in his life no matter how much money or materialistic things that he had and that it took his brother killing his dad for his money to whip him into shape and have the desire to change his life. He is truly a great person and I know he will have great callings in the church. That was the great part of this last week.

Building with a rock slide.

The bad part is that tomorrow I have changes. I have no idea where I am going!!!! They did tell me that I will still be a zone leader. I am sad because just as the zone is really starting to get better they drop this on me, but the Lord needs me in a different spot right now. I am so thankful to be in the mission and would not trade it for anything. I will keep working hard all the way until the end.

Con amor, 

Elder Reinhold

P.S.  A comical text while the missionaries were on divisions.  It translates something like, "Please hide my usb that is on the table by my bed and please don't tell Reinhold."  

Three Baptisms Next Week!

This is a marimba.  It is the national native music. 

March 10, 2014

Hey family and friends,

This week was a good week for us here in Centro. On Wednesday we are going to have 3 baptisms. We made invitations and they are so happy - all of them. You guys will see pictures this next week. 

This is Bendito Jaurez Park.

We were also in a trio for 2 days this week with a missionary coming from the Dominican Republic. It was so funny how he talks, but it was fun to have him for 2 days. Also there is a missionary Elder C--, who is here visiting.  He went home over 6 months ago but he took us to lunch and was visiting some members with us. 

This week was pretty uneventful.  We were mostly running around to get ready for the baptisms. Sorry I do not have a lot of time but I love you guys and I have to work harder because the clock is ticking for me in the mission.

Elder Reinhold

Talk in Stake Conference, Divisions, and Hoping for Baptisms.

Practicing for school.

March 2, 2014

Well this week was a really good week. First of all about the "talk". It was really good.  I saw a lot of people's faces in the group that were a little shocked by some of the stuff that I said.I told them that they all have their 5 eternal investigators that the missionaries have already visited but that they always give those references so the elders don't bug them. They were all laughing because they knew it was true. I also told them that they always say, "Oh but they are Catholic or Evangelicals."  I have never ever once baptized someone who has not told me that they are Catholic or Evangelical. That is our work, to help people find the truth and that usually means changing their church to be in a church that has the authority from God and the saving ordainances to give us salvation and exaltation. But it was really good. Lots of people told me that it was good. Even in the adult session they told the story that I told to talk about the missionary work. I shared the scriptures James 1 22-27. Sorry I cannot put a copy in my email because it was not a written talk. I took an outline up there but did not look at it once so it didn't really help me.

These eggs have confetti in them.
 It is tradition that for carnival, which is this
 Tuesday, to crack them on the heads of people.

This week was also good for the missionary work in our area. We met a man named M--.  He told us that he and his kids want to be baptized and is asking us when we can do the interview for his baptism. His baptism will be on the 15 and also we found a girl named A--. She is the daughter of a member who never had her child baptized. A-- is really smart and was begging her mom to let her get baptized and she said ok. We have to teach the lessons to her so that she can pass the baptism interview.  She is already active in the church and everything. She will also be on the 15th.

Something that I learned in my studies this week that was really interesting.  It is that when it says that Elias came to Joseph Smith to give him the keys for the temple, Elias is not really a specific person. It means a front-runner or restorer. The angel that came to him was Gabriel who is Noah. I did not know that Noah was the one who came to give the keys to Joseph. Its because he was the last one to have the keys from the Abrahamic covenant. It was something really interesting that I learned.

This is ceviche.  It is raw fish with lime juice and salsa.

This week was way fun also because I did divisions with Elder Y--. He is a great elder.  We were laughing the whole day in divisions. One thing that was so funny is that we saw a lady who was limping, but severely. (It was Pretty sad) Elder Y-- leaned over to me and said "Dude she is dougying? She ain't from Dallas but she can D TOWN dougie." I Then said "I cant tell if that is the Dougie the Stanky Leg or the Dos Step." Pardon the Spanglish. It was funny (but pretty sad, too). If we would have taken a video it would have gone viral so fast.

The zone right now is doing really well.  We are looking to meet our goal this month and baptize the most in all of the mission. I know that we can do it if we try and if we really work and pray to do it. Well thank you for all of the support that you give me and I will talk to you guys next week.

Con amor,

Elder Reinhold