Mother's Day Phone Call and Testimony of Scripture Study.

Hey family and friends!

This week I don't have much to talk about. I kind of talked about everything when I had the chance to talk to my family on Saturday. This week was good.  We were a little bit sick so it was kind of unproductive. We were soaking wet from the rain then we rode in the back of a truck for like 15 minutes and it was freezing, so we got sick. I normally work when I am not feeling well but on Thursday I tried and thought I was going to pass out. But we are better now - back up and going.

The quote for this week is one of my favorites. "It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark." -Howard Ruff. Be ready when times of trouble come - not only physically but spiritually.

This week I figured out something in my own life. I do my personal study every morning but since I entered the field after the office, I have been focused on things like the lessons and Spanish...which yes you need to study those things, but I was neglecting to study the scriptures. Yesterday I read where I left off in the Book of Mormon and I was on a spiritual high. I felt great! If it has been a long time since you have read the Book of Mormon, dust it off and read. Its amazing what your daily scripture study does. Show me in our covenants where it says we can take the easy way out. Yes sometimes it is not convenient, sometimes we have to run so we are not late for work. When was it ever convenient for the Savior? Jeffrey R. Holland puts it best when he says, "There is no guarantee of convenience written into our Christian covenant." If you're not willing to make sacrifices you have to sacrifice becoming a disciple of Christ. After fasting 40 days Lucifer says to turn the stones to bread. How easy would it have been for Jesus to do it? He would have probably eaten in an hour when he got back to the city, but he did not fall into the trap of convenience. Our Savior was the ultimate example of diligence and obedience.

I want to share my testimony that I know that this is the true church and we will have to make sacrifices in this life but that we will learn eternal principles when we do it. I am eternally grateful for the opportunity that I have to be here serving the descendants of Lehi. If you are having trials in your life, take the time to read D&C 121, 122, and 123. They are my favorite sections.  I love 122:6 where it says that all things shall give you experience. Remember to give thanks to the Lord often and live in a way that you can stand at the judgment bar and say and tell Him that you truly loved Him and tried to be like Him, but not only when it was convenient.

I love you guys and pray for you guys all the time. Talk to you next week.

Con amor,

Elder Reinhold.

Hi everyone.  Jakob asked that we type up some of the things we talked about last Saturday on the phone.  

Leg:  He says he can't walk down the stairs normally yet.  He used to have to fling his leg to get it to move but can now hold it up a little.  The muscles on the inside and outside are still emaciated and he is looking for physical therapy type exercises if anyone knows of any.  He can't really look them up.  When we asked him when he thought it might be better based on how it has been healing, he said maybe 10 months!  Okay, so he wasn't kidding when he said it is healing really slowly.  He also mentioned that when they were ready to transfer him out of the office, the Church's area doctor suggested again that he go home and his mission president brought it up for the third time.  That is when Jake said they would have to send him home in a casket.

He also mentioned what a blessing the leg injury has been for him and for others he has talked to.  He said that because it came right down to going home he had to really decide how bad he wanted to be there.  He has had opportunities to share this experience and his determination to serve the Lord in Guatemala with other missionaries experiencing difficulties. He mentioned that there is an elder in his mission from Heber who is a zone leader.  He has cerebral palsy.  Jake can relate a little bit.

He referenced the song All Great Men.  (Lyric: Be strong enough to stand like all great men.) He talked about things that break you and said he is "truly, truly grateful" because it has helped him relate and teach and he's not worried about it.

Stomach:  As you all know, Central and Latin American missions can be rough on the stomach.  Yes, we are comforted by the fact that the Church de-worms you before you go home.....I think there is some comfort there.  He said that his stomach has been bad ever since he has been in this area.  He says that every Wednesday and Thursday they are both sick and attributes that to a place they are eating that they cannot avoid.  So, he is down 40 pounds so far.  We sent him with pants that were too small for the occasion and so he has some that fit perfectly.  

When we talked to him he thought he had strep throat.  He gets it once or twice a year.  He was going to wait a day to call the nurses, but said that the Church is great about doctors appointments and things so he should be feeling better by now.  

Jake's uncle was here when we were talking to him and he asked about his toenails.  I guess ingrown toenails are a big problem.  He was enlightened to the fact and the remedies before he left.  It is from the humidity, but mostly from walking so much.  Nobody worry...the toenails are fine!

Food:  Jakob said, "In Guatemala your food standard drops - McDonald's is a dream!!"  He says they have "restaurants" where it is a bike on the front and a restaurant on the back.  Hmm.  I might call that a food cart.    He says Taco Bell is super popular.  He says there are hundreds of people in line, but there isn't one on his side of the city now.  He said he's been advised by the locals to have 2 or 3 days worth of food for when it is raining.  He said the roads are like rivers and you can't get to the store.

He said in his first area they never ate breakfast but now he does.  He usually has eggs, but they take too much time, or cereal, but mostly oatmeal with bananas in it or something.  He says if he needs something extra he'll have a soup packet.  He says they eat lunch at 2 or 3 and the people rarely eat dinner.  If they do it is at 8 or 9pm.  He says their salads are onions and cucumbers and sometimes tomatoes with lime.  Sometimes for dinner they eat a fried egg, sausage, slice of cheese, in a tortilla. He says that the Mayan people don't eat any spice.  He also said that he can't eat anything without spice now.  He even puts chili peppers on his pizza.  He talked about a pepper called a chile pero that is the size of a pea.  He paid an elder 20 quetz to eat it.  He said he is learning tricks.  He has learned to make cakes in the microwave since they don't have an oven. 

Housing:  He said that his place right now is great. He also said his mission president made improvements with the water and power situation.  He said they can expect hot water and he doesn't have to take what they call a Momos shower.  This is the bucket with water heated on the stove.  He said that even the native people do not drink the tap water.  He said his rent is $100 per month with lights and power.  It is good sized.  They have another set of missionaries 5 or 6 houses down.  He says the landlord lives near them somewhere and she always feeds them, which is nice.  He said that the members are really good about taking care of the missionaries in his current area.  He looked on the old list before mission expenses were standardized and his mission was the least expensive or next to the least of all missions.  He also mentioned that when the power in the city goes out, they aren't allowed to be out.  He says even the dogs go crazy when the power is out.  He said he does use his dog whistle repeller and it works!  He also says that the dogs are trained to run if you act like you are going to pick up a rock.  He said the dogs have gang fights and that Toby would wag his tail and get wrecked.  He said that it is an insult to call a person anything animal related and that they learned this the hard way.

Jake says he doesn't even know his address.  People don't really have them they just have zones.

Mission: He said the mission president called and said he'd be training in that area in two weeks.  Which means with the 3 months he's been there he'll be there 6 months total since he will train for 3 months.  He says he assumes he will train a Latino companion which is best since they already speak the language.  Training a gringo would be much harder. 

He says in the mission right now they have 25 temporaries - missionaries waiting for visas I think.  He says that when they split the mission he'll stay because he isn't in the city that will go into the Coban mission and he assumes they will take the missionaries that are already there.  He said the growth has been amazing.  He mentioned again when he was helping in the office that they were going to get 25 new missionaries and then a few days before were told they would get 50.  They went to a bed factory and bought 30 beds and then to the market to buy 180 blankets.  They were working until midnight trying to get ready for so many missionaries.  He also mentioned that the Fairbornes are the best!!

He mentioned that of his first 4 companions 2 are home and one is close to needing to go home.  And then there was his own situation.  He also mentioned Elder Mauter who had to go home because of a rib injury.  He said Elder Mauter's family sent him a package, which was very cool!  He says his group in the mission right now is really solid.  While we are talking about friends he says he really wants to hear from Zach Willes.  He's calling him out!!  If you know Zach pass along the message please.  Apparently, he is missed!

Being a Missionary in Guatemala:  We asked him what surprised him.  He said he was surprised at how his ability to work doesn't just hinge on his desire to, that there are many things that contribute to that.  He was surprised by how many people have family working in the US legally on work visas.  He says there are unfinished houses down there from when the economy went bad.  He said the people are surprisingly religious.  He also said that the make up of the wards/congregations involve a lot of part member families and there is a struggle for leadership.  He also has been surprised by electrical boxes/transformers that just blow up.  Once it was right over children playing at a school and another when they were walking by.  People just do their own electrical work or illegally splice into the lines.  He said he was surprised by how mixed the culture is in Xela - they still teach Quiche in the schools.  

He says he loves getting letters and his favorite treat in packages is beef jerky because you can't get it down there.  He says they really only eat chicken.

Jakob sounded great and we were glad to hear from him and glad that he is choosing to stay.  We are really proud of him and love him dearly!  It is a long stretch to Christmas.....

   

Rain, yogurt, bikes...and 2 more people!!

This is Cantel.  We went and helped the elders in Cantel contact for a while.

Hey family,

This week was a little bit better. We had one of our investigators go to church. We found him this week. His name is J--. He is 17 years old and is really cool. This week we will start talking to him about baptism. We also found another person that we are teaching. His name is J--. He is the husband of a less active member and they just had a baby, so his heart was touched when we talked about the the Plan of Salvation.  I will let you guys know next week how it went.

Cuttin' some hair.

This week for some reason we encountered some opposition in our area. Here in Central America there are not many people who hate the Church, but we were standing waiting for a bus and someone threw a yogurt drink at us. I ducked and it barely missed my head, but I did get yogurt on me. Then last night we were waiting by the church and some guy came up to us and picked up his bike and was going to throw it at us. He was yelling at us and calling us names. I thought we were going to have to run or do something. You would think he was drunk, but he wasn't. Well I will talk to you guys next week. It is raining like crazy outside so I don't know how we are going to get home.

Con amor,

Elder Reinhold

So the blog editor (aka Mom) is going to keep with the quote tradition. Jake inadvertently sent one he already used, but needed to leave the Internet cafe, so I suggested I share his favorite scripture that is on the right of his blog found in Ether, chapter 12 verse 27. " And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." 

I think it is true that it takes a certain orientation towards God to know the truth of who we are. All realization through pure intellect lacks something elemental and often the truth about ourselves and our experiences goes unrealized.  What we usually see is polar opposite to what we access when we see through a spiritual perspective. It is easiest to focus on what we call the 'natural man' and the accompanying natural desires and perceptions, but we are clearly enlightened by Jesus through statements like "blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." 

What I find interesting is that the Lord says he gives unto men weakness. Whether He gives it specifically to each individual or whether it is inherent in this earth experience, the fact is that it is part of the plan.  Without weakness would there be growth or would there be a drive for spiritual connection?  When we do humble ourselves we turn to God because we think we don't know enough, cannot survive, succeed, or continue; we look to a power greater than ourselves.  Many think that not having the answers, the fortitude, the talent or skill is weakness.  Real weakness is when we need to deny the truth of our experience and of who and what we are in order to feel like we are okay  or maybe somewhere near the top of the human food chain.  In our insecurity we cling to our independence and buy ourselves alienation.   It is only when we tap into that spiritual source that we can know the truth of this existance, of who we are, and of what it means to be strong and to feel supported spiritually by a God who wants to teach and lift us through our struggles. 

I know that missions are difficult and Jakob has shared many quotes with us about adversity and staying strong. This scripture is no different, but is a beautiful promise of spiritual guidance and nurturance to those who know where to turn when they are wise enough to recognize that they have been 'given' weakness.

We are very excited to talk to Jakob this week. It will be the best Mother's Day gift I could ever want. Stay tuned for a summary of the phone call....

This one is for you, Dad.  Look what I found.  I missed home.

Thoughts on Adversity...

This is half of Xela.

Hey family! How is it up in the states? Everything down here is good. But man, I didn't realize what they meant by rain when they said "rain." No, it has not rained yet but one of the members was describing it to us and had some pictures. No wonder it is called the land of the eternal spring. She showed us a picture of the street that we live on. It was like 4 feet deep raging water and there was one of those huge tourist buses trying to go upstream. The water was about halfway up the side of the bus. I thought that if I bought a good jacket and some good boots I could power through it, but needless to say I don't think that anything other than a raft will help us. It is supposed to start any day now so I am ready as I will ever be.
 

This week was kind of a bummer. You guys probably remember when I said that we were going to baptize an ex-pastor and they were really positive. Well the pastor of his church took president Hinkley's advice and gave him responsibility. President Hinkley said every new member needs a friend and a calling. Well the other pastor gave him a pulpit and helped him convert his one room house into a church. So we officially dropped them as investigators. It was very sad for us but it will not hold us back.
 

This week's quote is actually 2 quotes. "Adversity introduces a man to himself." -Unknown and "There is no education like adversity." -Disraeli. Why do we have adversity? Because it is what makes us great. The people who are most successful are successful because they have failed many times in their lives. But can we let it drag us down or do we need to stand back up and try again or not let it bug you you need to look at failure as an opportunity? For example, Thomas Edison said something like, "I have not failed. I've just found 10000 ways that won't work." I want to share another story about Thomas Edison.
 

"Thomas Edison devoted 10 years and all of his money to developing the nickle Alkaline storage battery at a time when he was almost penniless. Through that period of time his small film and record company was supporting the storage battery effort. Then one night the terrible cry of fire echoed throughout the film plant, spontaneous combustion had ignited some chemicals and within moments all of the packing compounds, the celluloid for the record film, and other flammable goods had gone up with a roar. Fire companies from 8 towns arrived but the fire and heat was so intense and the water pressure so low that hoses had no effect. Edison was 67 years old. That is no age to begin anew. His daughter was frantic wondering if he was safe, wondering if his spirits were broken, wondering how he would handle a crisis such as this at his age. She saw him running toward her. He spoke first. He said, "Where's your mother? Go get her. Tell her to get her friends. They'll never see another fire like this as long as they live." At 5:30 the next morning, with the fire barely under control, he called his employees together and announced, "We're rebuilding." One man was told to lease all the machine shops in the area, another to obtain a wrecking crane from the Eire railroad company. Then almost as an after thought he said, "Oh by the way, does anybody know where you can get some money?" Virtually everything you now recognize as a Thomas Edison contribution to your life came after that disaster. (Phonograph, carbon telephone, battery, light bulb.)" - Jeffery R. Holland.
 

I love the part it says at the end about how all great inventions came after this incident. So, how can we be resilient? In the mission I chose to write out a paragraph that helps me remember the Savior and that He is always with me. This is what I wrote. "My son, peace be unto thy soul: thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; Thou art not yet as Job. (D&C 121) And if thou be cast into the deep, if the billowing surge conspire against thee, if fierce winds become thine enemy, if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way, and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou my son, that all these things shall give thee experience and shall be for thy good. And then if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high, thou shalt triumph over all they foes. (D&C 122) ...Ye may not be tempted above that which ye can bear, and thus be led by the Holy Spirit. (Alma 13:28) ...ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions, that he may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls. (Alma 17:11) The Son of Man hath experienced, endured and descended below all things to sustain, support and carry us through all things. When the day comes that ye shall wet his feet with thy tears ye shall know that thine afflictions were consecrated for thy gain. Ye shall have an absolute knowledge that God lives for ye became acquainted with Him through thine extremities and that price ye paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay. (?)"
 

We are going to have trials. It is part of life but we need to have a plan for when they come. I have a testimony that trials are just a small part of our life and we need to focus on the other great parts. If you ever feel bad or like you have a hard life go and read D&C 122 about Joseph Smith and his trials. You will not feel bad for yourself anymore.
 

Sorry I didn't get to write that much today.
 

Love all of you guys,

Elder Reinhold

Happy Birthday in Chiqui!

Me in the corn field.  This looks like a lot of service to me....

Hole my comp burned in my shirt.

Had to take a picture.
 It was only the second plane I have seen.

Hey! Well my birthday so far has been really good. I have had a good day. First I want to tell everybody thank you for the letters that are coming to me. I cannot read them fast enough today. Since I don't have time to write all of them back personally I want to thank you guys so much and thank you so much for the packages!

This morning at 6:15am I woke up to the happy birthday song blaring in our house. It's a good thing too or else I probably would have forgotten that it was my birthday. I started to wash some of my shirts on the roof of our house and it is a tradition to do firecrackers for your birthday. So I am casually washing my clothes and a string of firecrackers started going off right behind me. I was like, "What the heck!" They were pretty close to me. My comp lit firecrackers and ran. The funny thing is that one of my shirts that was hanging up to dry got a hole blasted right through it. So we were laughing so hard. But good thing I received 2 shirts in the package I got today. Revelation or inspiration.

Then my comp was like, "Are you ready? We are going to breakfast." I was like okay. He took me to a really nice restaurant (by missionary standards) and the food was really good.

There was also a really cool doll place where they make dolls but they make them for every region of Guatemala with all the different cortes and all the different native stuff. I took some pictures. When I am done with the mission I want to buy dolls from all of my areas. That would be cool. After breakfast we went to the demo, which is the huge market and I bought a watch that is really cool. It was like the equivalent of 8 dollars. I like it a lot. That is the good thing about here in Central America - all the cheap markets.

Cool picture that is in the Mission home.

This was the bathroom I used.
The ceiling was about 4 feet tall.  It was tight!

Well this week was a bit frustrating. We were supposed to have a baptism but a pastor came and talked to our investigators and said you can't do this and that...so we will keep working with them. The quote for this week is... 

"Success is doing the common things uncommonly well."

For example: planning. When Elder Martino was here, he promised that if you apply the planning taught in preach my gospel you will make 100,000 dollars more in your life. Soo... if you do the uncommon things with diligence you will be better off in more ways than one. This is with the gospel too. If you do the common things like read your scriptures and pray you cannot fall.

Well I am sorry I don't have a lot of time today but I will prepare something for next week's letter.

I love you guys so much and I will be talking with you guys in like 15 days or something. Thanks for all the support and my birthday was a once in a lifetime birthday here in Chiquilaja.

Con amor,

Elder Reinhold

On our p-day we made a campfire and had smores on our roof.  Fun! 

Staying in Chiqui and Zone Barbecue.

This is our church in Chiqui.

Hey family!

First of all I want to say, "Happy Birthday Ethan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love you so much and hope you had a good birthday."

This is where you buy meat and yes, there are just a bunch of carcasses hanging in the back.

This week was good. We have been busy making all the food for our zone BBQ. We did all the food and we were up late cooking last night, and no, that does not mean you can wake up later so I am pretty tired right now.

This is the food we cooked.  It was actually pretty good!

Well the quote for this week is one of my favorites. "Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyways." 

-John Wayne. 

This quote is cool. It really is just saying you might not have ideal situations in your life but just buckle up and buckle down and work through them.

For p-day we went to Baul for a BBQ.  This is a statue there that is cool.

Well this week was good, like I said. We did not get as much done with all the cooking and shopping. But this week we were able to talk to our investigator L-- and ask her why she does not want to be baptized. It is a bit frustrating for us because she wants to and she received an answer to her prayers, but it turns out the husband of the family that she is working with starting telling her why she should not get baptized, but we are explaining that it is a covenant between her and God not her and her family or her friends, so we will continue to work with her. With our other couple that wants to be baptized, we are not sure if we are going to do it this week or possible move it to the next week but I will keep you updated.

An investigator trying the violin.

Us in a canyon in Chiquilaja.

This week is change week (transfers) and neither my comp or I have changes, so I will be with Elder C-- for another change. I have a feeling we are going to do some good work. We laid out a plan for doing some serious work here in Chiquilaja. I just want you guys to know that good things come from adversity. That is one thing that I have a very strong testimony of. I want you guys to know that all missionaries are called by revelation and that if you are willing to put your time in the Lord's hands He is going to utilize you. One thing I have found is that there are a lot of average missionaries and not very many great missionaries. I was very surprised when I came to the field that lots of people don't want to be here and even will try to hurt themselves to go home honorably. I pleaded with my mission president to let me stay. I told some Elders the story about my leg today and I was crying because I was so grateful to be here. I want you guys to know if they are going to send me home, they are going to have to do it in a casket.

Love,

Elder Reinhold

Conference and conversions...

Laundry.  I am learning how to use the Pila.

Hey family!

Beautiful Sky.

How was your week? My week here was good. Conference was great, wasn't it? First of all, let me start out and say when they said, "Cedar City Temple" I was so happy. Everybody was probably like what the heck is this elder doing. It's because I have thought a lot about my 45 minute drive to go to the temple when I return from my mission. I want to try to go a couple times a week. That will be a great blessing to the people of Cedar City. And also, I can't tell you how much I love Holland as a speaker. All I want to do is listen to his words. His mix between having the Spirit and his education in literature and writing...he is such a moving speaker. Also, did you see Elder Falabella? He is from here in Guatemala and he was the general authority that came to this mission before the Elder Martino conference that we had. I have seen the notes from his conferences. He is amazing.

The quote for this week is, "The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary." -Vidal Sasson.  I love this quote because this is exactly how the mission is. If you want to have baptisms you stay out the whole day and work. When it's raining like a waterfall, you work and contact because you need to show the Lord your willingness to act in diligence. Then the blessings come. 

Burning my tie for the 6 month mark.

This week has been a manifestation of that quote. This week we have 3 baptismal dates with L--, and M--, his wife. He has been a registered pastor in the evangelical church for years and years. Yes, if all goes as we are hoping, we are going to baptize a pastor and his wife. They came to conference with us and after the conference said that they want to be part of our church and they want to come to church next week, so they are pretty positive. They are great people. Also L-- is still positive. She has been to church so we are going to work with her as well. 

Sorry guys, I don't have a lot of time this week, but love you guys. More importantly God loves you!

Elder Reinhold

We asked Jakob a couple of questions that he replied to separately.

.

We noticed a charge on his debit card to Wendy's and we didn't realize they had them down there. Jake said, "Um yes, there is a Wendy's there in Xela but it is expensive. Okay, it's the same price as it is in the States, which is expensive. It's really good though. Now that I am back in the field I am back to the usual. Ninety percent of our meals are pepian and jocom which are native Mayan dishes. It is rice with a sauce and if they can afford it with chicken. I would say that 60 percent of my diet is rice. But they are actually pretty good. You guys should make it there sometimes so you know what I eat. The difference between the two dishes is just the sauce. Jocom is like a green sauce and pepian is like a reddish brown sauce. When we eat in the house, I eat more variety. A couple here in our mission with experience said that they think that this mission for Americans is not so good as far as food goes...like getting sick, nutrients, etc.  But I am not picky. And yes, I have been sick. I managed to gain 10 pounds in the office with a lot of tortillas but I am back down because I have been sick the past like 3 days."

Jake is not a picky eater, but he was worried about having to eat one of probably three foods he really disliked - avocados.  It is a staple in their diet.  We asked him about that.  He said, "Yes they eat avacados, but I like them. I bought some the other day. The grass is greener where you water it!!!" Well, this is great news since his mom is from "the avocado capitol of the world."

He added, "This is not really related, but just found a group that I want to see when I get back home. Don't worry, it is mission appropriate. They sing all about the Church, but look them up - Nashville Tribute Band. They are really good." I think that when they finish mapping the human genome, they are going to find the gene for "country boy" because it is in his blood. A group that sings Church country music is something to be excited about especially since he can listen to it while on the mission.

Here are some songs by Nashville Tribute Band that are missionary related:

I Was Born

Children Go

Children Go - Lip sync by two funny missionaries.

Finding more people to teach in Chiqui.

My companion helping an older woman back to her house.  She set an appointment with us.

Hey Family! This week was crazy and a bit weird. First of all, I had no idea that it was Easter. Sad isn't it? Sometimes you are just focused on the work and you don't have time to stop and think what holiday is next, then an elder next to me just informed me that it is April fools too. I forgot. 

Catholic Procession.

This week was Santa Semana (Holy Week) and or course, everyone heads for the coast and visits family so nobody is in their house.  If they are they have family over. It was difficult to work so we did a lot of service and we contacted a lot. Surprisingly, we picked up a lot of investigators. We actually made it into the monthly mission newsletter as number one companionship for new investigators. So if all goes as planned, we should put out some serious baptisms!  Maybe, if we follow up well and work hard.

A cute house of some investigators.

This week we had to drop an investigator named B-- because she moved. She was really positive so that was a bit sad, but we have 7 progressing investigators. We have M--, she is progressing but her husband is not as positive as she is. He said that she is reading the Book of Mormon and praying and everything. They are just the nicest people I have ever met. Every time we pass by their house we knock and say, " Hola! Como estan?" (Hey! How are you?) They always with no hesitation say, "Come in." We also found a family that owns a tortillaria - a tortilla shop, and they are positive. They are progressing and want to come to church but both work on Sundays. They are a great family and speak mostly Quiche so we have learned a little bit. M-- and E-- are a couple that own our house and live right below us. They are great as well. She will bring us food sometimes and always gives us stuff for really cheap from her tienda. She is always there but her husband drives a bus here in Chiqui so sometimes we get free bus rides too. Also, we have another investigator named L--. She came to church this week and is really positive. She was hired by a member family to clean and do housework. She lives there but she is really shy. She is from a little aldeah in Momos named Pueblo Viejo. I have been there a couple of times from my experiences in the office, so I was able to relate to her a little bit. Those are the people we are working with and we have a bunch of new investigators so it is time to challenge them. 

This is the church in Chiquilaja.

 

This week the quote I want to share is a good one. Well they are always good. 

"Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out."

-John Wooden.

 

This quote is cool. Adapt to the hard times and make the best out of it.

This week I read in the book by the church, Our Heritage. This story really hit me hard about complaining in the church and murmuring. This story is just like Nephi and his brothers.

A man who crossed the plains in the Martin handcart company lived in Utah for many years. One day he was in a group of people who began sharply criticizing the Church leaders for ever allowing the Saints to cross the plains with no more supplies or protection than a handcart company provided. The old man listened until he could stand no more; then he arose and said with great emotion:

"I was in that company and my wife was in it....We suffered beyond anything you can imagine and many died of exposure and starvation, but did you ever hear a survivor of that company utter a word of criticism? [We] came through with the absolute knowledge that God lives for we became acquainted with him in our extremities.

I have pulled my handcart when I was so weak and weary from illness and lack of food that I could hardly put one foot ahead of the other. I have looked ahead and seen a patch of sand or a hill slope and I have said, I can go only that far and there I must give up, for I cannot pull the load through it....I have gone on to that sand and when I reached it, the cart began pushing me. I have looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart, but my eyes saw no one. I knew then that the angels of God were there.

Was I sorry that I chose to come by handcart? No. Neither then nor any minute of my life since. The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay, and I am thankful that I was privileged to come in the Martin Handcart Company."

Physical therapy in Guatemala.  Yes, I do use it often.

This man had a great attitude. These are the kind of people that this church is built on and that carry the Church. Well, the leg is doing well. It is healing, just slowly as ever. It might take a while, but it is going. I want all of you guys to know that I love each and every one of you and my mission is going by way too fast. I am sad that it is going by. In two days I will have 6 months in the mission. I don't want my mission to ever end and it won't. Listen to the talk by Holland. The First Great Commandment. Just because you take off your missionary badge, does not mean that you are not a missionary anymore or not a representative of Christ. Every member is a missionary.

Well got to go.

With love,

Elder Reinhold