Excellent News!!

Wow! This week was great. We had a lesson with M-- and her family.  They are the people whom we have baptism dates with. This lesson was key as she was going to talk to her husband, who is in the United States, to ask him what he thinks about her getting baptized and if she has permission.  We prayed hard all week for her husband.  So after chopping wood in he morning for 5 hours, we scheduled an appointment to return in the afternoon. We returned and brought up the question and she said that she talked with her husband and he says she should do it.  My heart filled with gratitude because 9 times out of 10 people don't get baptized because of their spouse. She said to us, "Yes I am going to be baptized"... and her daughter A-- as well.  Her other daughter M-- and her son are still in the process of talking with her husband but she, as well, wants to be baptized this day. We also again had 7 people attend church with us.  Everything is going great her in Chiquilaja.  They will be baptized on Friday the 16th.  I am so thankful for the blessing we have seen in these past weeks.  M-- really is a great person who has had a really hard life.  I am so happy that she will have the opportunity to have the gospel in her life.  This week in church she was chewing out all of her neighbors for never sharing the gospel with her.  She really is a prepared daughter of our Heavenly Father. 

 

Last night, I am not going to lie, I ate the weirdest thing I have had in the mission so far.  There is something here that is really popular.  It is called ceviche.  Basically it is pico de gallo with fish, but the crowning characteristic of ceviche is that everything is raw including the fish.  It is a really dangerous food to eat here, so normally we don't eat it but last night we arrived for our regular dinner with the O-- family. They served us mashed potatoes with a mound of ceviche made with shrimp and the other ceviche was yes, bull testicles.   And remember that the crowning characteristic is that it is raw.  It was really chewy, but to my luck, the lemon and the onion overpowered the flavor of the meat.  Yes, I finished it all and had a second helping.  Great story for the kids when I get older. 

 

Well, here is the quote for this week. I don't really have a lot of commentary for this quote but it caught my eye as I was reading in True to the Faith.  "Gambling is motivated by a desire to get something for nothing; this desire is spiritually destructive."  True to the Faith 72.  This is very interesting.  You can connect this to the world and the socialist governments and how people want this from the government and want that the government pays for everything and then wonder why the world as a whole is very morally and spiritually damaged.  I pray that we will all learn how to be self-sufficient and learn to have a good work ethic and take pride in supporting ourselves.  

I want to testify to you guys that I know that our loving Heavenly Father, because of the love He has for us, has in our dispensation restored the Gospel of Jesus Christ so that we may return to live with Him someday.  I know that the Book of Mormon is a book written for us by the inhabitants of the Americas.  Joseph Smith was a prophet.  I know he was because of the fruits of his labor.  If you don't believe it or your testimony is struggling, kneel down.  Your Heavenly Father is waiting.  Ask him if these things are true.  I testify that we, as children of our Heavenly Father, will receive an answer.  It is a promise that we have.  I know that God and His Son live and that we will one day meet Him and see the marks in His hands and feet and we will have a perfect knowledge of His love for us.  And if we do all we can here in this life, we will be exalted with the words, "Well done my good and faithful servant." I hope that we all may grow closer to our Heavenly Father through obedience and diligent study of the scriptures.  This is my humble prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Elder Reinhold

Praying for Baptism, Being a Disciple of Christ, and Finally Playing Basketball...

Hey Family!

 

How are you guys?  Well this week was good and bad. The bad news is that we moved our baptismal dates to the 17th of August. The good news is is that we have dates with M-- and her daughter. This week we are going to try to present a baptism date to her other daughter and her son. We will see how it will go. We are praying hard and we know that this family is prepared for the gospel and I know that they will get baptized, I just don't know if it will be when I am here in Chiquilaja.  President told me that I will have changes this change. This change ends in 3 weeks so I pray that all goes well and that they will be baptized. They have assisted 3 weeks in a row now and love it. We are waiting on permission from their husbands. Good news today we switched it up as a Zone and played basketball and guess what. I Played!!! Man it felt good to be back. Smoked 'em too. Hit some fade away out of bounder 3's. My leg is doing pretty well, but we will see how I feel tomorrow.  Might be a little sore. Well all is going great. I am loving the mission a ton right now. Spanish is going well.  I have lots of friends in the mission and we are always having a ton of fun.

 

This week's quote is "Lesson number 1 for the establishment of Zion in the 21st Century. You never check you religion at the door. Not ever!!!" -Jeffrey R. Holland, Israel Israel God is Calling.  I sure hope that we do not have situations where we check our religion at the door. When you get in the car to drive to work don't check you religion at the door and listen to music that will take away the Spirit. You feel like you are a good member, you assist every week, you have a calling in the ward, but just once we need groceries and I am going to be gone tomorrow.  Just this once we will not keep the Sabbath day holy. Just don't do it. It's not worth it.  The small temptations are the easy temptations to overcome.  Luke 9:61 and 62 says, "And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, no man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." As for us we put our hand to the plough when we entered the waters of baptism and if we are looking back, which would be considered not sacrificing everything that you have, then you are not fit for the kingdom of God.  Don't fall in to the trap of checking your religion at the door and sacrificing your blessing and responsibility to be a disciple of Christ. I love this work and am grateful for every day that I have here in the mission. I love every one of you guys and want you guys to know that I am grateful to be a representative of Jesus Christ.  Love you and will talk to you next week.

Elder Reinhold

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.

Spanish Accent, Elder C, and Families to Teach.

Hey family.  How goes it?  First of all let me apologize for not sending pics again.  Next week I promise I will send a bunch.  The reason is that the computers we are using right now always give me a virus so if I send pictures it destroys my SD card.  Next week I will go to another Internet place to write.  We did not have the opportunity to listen to the missionary broadcast, but I have heard all about it.  I don't know if much will change here.  If missionaries have iPads everybody will start robbing the missionaries.  That is the reason we do not carry a lot of money so they learn after time that we don't have a lot of money.  Also I pray for the family of the missionary who died in the Reu mission this week.  He was doing service when it happened.  What an example of a Christ-like servant of our Heavenly Father.  It's also a warning that as missionaries we need to be careful.  Sorry about writing one day late. My comp had to go to the capital to sign his passport and did not get back until this morning and also I was deathly sick yesterday so we decided to write today instead.

 

Well I have not commented on the Spanish in a while.  But really the Spanish is coming along great.  Most people think that I have a lot more time in the mission than I actually do. It's not my vocabulary that is great.  I lack a lot of the basic vocabulary, but I think it is my ability to talk fast and with a good accent.  The other day we went with the other missionaries to a lunch for the birthday of a less active member.  We sat and talked at the table for 45 minutes or and hour and by the time we were done we started to talk about the United States and he was shocked because he thought I was from Argentina the whole time.  I don't know if that is a compliment or not because people in Argentina have a really weird accent.  But,  I can convince anybody that I am from Mexico and they believe me.  I have an ability to pick up accents really fast.  For example, there is an Elder in Chiquilaja that is from the coast of Guatemala. I started to pick up his accent in like 2 weeks but they don't stick for too long. Elder C--, my past companion, would always say that my accent is like Northern Mexico which is interesting because that is the kind of Spanish I have heard my whole life.  I am not really struggling with the Spanish now. I feel pretty confident in all situations. 

 

This week was also a fulfilling week for me ever since Elder C-- had changes and is in a different area he has told a lot of people that he misses being my companion a lot. This week I went to the office and talked to Sister Fairbourne (the couple that works in the office) and she told me that she has been writing Elder C-- consistently and says that I really did change his life a ton.  She said, "Your biggest convert in the mission could be Elder C--."  Not only does it talk about that in my patriarchal blessing but also I feel at times that my purpose in the mission is to help other missionaries.  Lots come to me for advice and I help where I can.  I am grateful for the opportunity to have an effect in peoples lives and be an instrument in the Lord's hands.  I have a book that I have all my companions and all the people I get to know in the mission write in.  It's like a journal yearbook type thing.  When I read what Elder C-- wrote I was crying because I realized that I was trusted to help Elder C-- not only by the Lord but by the president of the mission.  I can tell that the stuff that I taught him and the principles I taught him really have sunk in because in our zone meeting he always quotes me saying, "Elder Reinhold always does this or he always said this."  And If you read this Elder C-- - love you man. 

 

Well now for the quote of the week.  I feel this one is appropriate because the NBA finals finished up this week. "I have missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I have been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed.  I've failed over and over and over again in my life, and that's why I succeed." - Michael Jordan.  This is a great quote.  Love it.  Dad, remember Lebron is in the house and he has 2 titles.  Michael Jordan watch out. 

Well this week in Chiquilaja we also had some success.  There is a family from The States that is visiting their family who are members in our ward.  Not all of them speak Spanish so we are actually going to teach them in English which is going to be really weird. I am going to work with my comp so he can teach part of the lesson.  They are going to be here for 8 weeks.  We get to eat with them every Saturday.  One time I was asked by a family to offer the prayer for dinner in English it was actually kind of difficult.  I was stuttering and did not know what to say, so we will see how a lesson will go. 

 

The other week I mentioned that we found a really positive family that just dropped off the face of the earth.  Well we figured out why.  The lady who gave us the reference and was helping us with this family works in a bread shop.  The mom of the family that we were teaching came to the bread shop and asked the member that was helping us if she could have 10 quetzales of bread and she would pay her when she had the money.  Well she did not have the money so she was avoiding all of us.  Well the member that works in the bread shop was walking in the street and ran into the mom of the family.  The mom was very nervous and said I will pay for it soon, don't worry.  And the member said, "Your father paid for it," and the mom was thinking and asked, "How did my father pay for it?"  Then the member said your other father pointing to the heavens and that act of kindness come from a family of 9 that is living of an income of 33 quets a day.  They are struggling a lot.  It's like 4 dollars a day to feed 9 people and pay rent and everything.  We have helped this family as much as we can but it is hard to see.  So we are going to continue to teach this family.  This week we also found 2 people contacting that have never attended any church in their life.  That is a miracle down here.  I could not believe it for a while.  We are working hard and are finding people easily so we have hope for some baptisms here in the future.  Well, love you and always remember that you are in my prayers.  And reach out to someone who is in need.  Remember this family that is living off of 33 quets and always donating their clothes to people and always sharing the gospel.

 

Love you and talk to you next week.

Con amor,

Elder Reinhold

 

 

Notes from Mom: 

 

I am backing up the accent thing.  For a couple of months in high school he spoke most of the time in a Mexican accent.  This was mostly to try to bug us, but it was funny because he was really good at it!  It is getting put to good use.

 

Elder C,

Thank you for loving our boy, for making his birthday special, and for working together as a team.  We are all learning something or else this life would be pointless.  It sounds like President Bautista was inspired when he put you two together.  Best of luck for the remainder of your mission!

Love,

Sister Reinhold
(Elder Reinhold's Mom)