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

The Temple and Upcoming Talk in Stake Conference.

We took our investigators to see the temple.

February 24, 2014

Well this week was good for the zone and also good for us here in Centro. This week the zone had 4 baptisms.  That is good for one week. We, personally, did not have a baptism this week but are going to have one on the 8th for sure. This week we had 3 new investigators show up to church that we had never met and one says that he wants to be baptized but he has some addictions he has to get over.

This week I will be preparing a lot as well because I am going to talk in stake conference!!!!!!!!!! This will be the biggest group that I have given a talk in front of. I think that there will maybe be about 1500 people. It will be a good talk.  I have thought a lot about it and I am going to first talk about some experiences that I have had in the mission and after I am going to talk about James 1 where it talks about being a doer and not just a listener, taking advantage of ourselves. I call it Satan's biggest lie. Then I am going to challenge them to act apon all of the instructions that they have recieved this year from the prophet and the apostles.

We went hiking today.

Also some great news!!!!!! Martha's husband got back from the United States and got baptized. Right now they are all going to chuch and being great members. It is so great. Also it looks like there are 4 other people that live there that are going to get baptized. This week we did a lot of divisions to try to help the zone a little bit. Well we are kind of in a hurry this week... like always. Life is a bit crazy as Zone leader but I like it. It makes us work really hard. Pray for me so I can give a good talk in stake conference.

Elder Reinhold

Working Hard, Great Apostacy, and Poor English!

 

February 17, 2014

 

Well this week was pretty good. This week the zone did not have any baptisms, but the other stats were really good.  (This means everyone is working hard.)  That is a good sign that means this week and next week could be really good also.  As for us in our area, we are trying to work with the family C--. This week we went with President. We taught about the great apostasy and the need for a restoration. 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Apostasy

 

It was an amazing lesson the Spirit was so strong. President told us that our teaching was excellent. This week we are going to go to see the temple with the family. This week if the whole family isn't ready for baptism, we hope the 3 daughters will be.  

 

When I was with President my English was so bad. I was forgeting a ton of words. We will see how I do when I get back. I am so excited to hear where kyler is going to go on his mission. I will be waiting all week to see where.  (Update: It is still at least 3 weeks away.)  

Something that I am studying right now that is really cool and really interesting is the great apostasy.  Like when they started to change the doctrine, why they started to change it, and when did the church that Christ established really become apostatized.  Specifically, the changes in the Catholic church.  Also, it is a really interesting topic to really see what happened to all the Apostles. I will keep you guys updated on how it is going here. Love you guys with all of my heart.

Elder Reinhold

 

**Photos coming soon!

New Companion and Answer to Investigator's Prayer.

February 10, 2014

Hey family!

This week was great. The zone did great.  We are working great.  The only thing is that they are not doing too well is setting baptismal dates. My comp and I are going to do divisions to teach them and show them how to set dates.


Well my companion had changes. Elder A-- only lasted 1 month. But now I have a new companion. His name is Elder R--. He is a great elder.  He's super obedient and a hard worker. He was born in Guatemala but had been living in Honduras for half of his life. He has spent the last 7 months in Quiche as zone leader. I didn't even know that he existed...hahaha. But we are doing some good work here in Xela Centro.


This week president is going to work with us. I actually invited him to come and work with him. We are working with a family that is so prepared for the gospel but the husband is being a stickler. The mom has had some unbelievable experiences telling her that this is the truth. She has been reading the Book of Mormon and she read the promise that Moroni gave at the end of the Book of Mormon in Moroni 10:4. She said that she was washing clothes one day and she was thinking about the Book of Mormon.  The words of Moroni kept popping into her head "believe" "just believe" and she said that she felt someone next to her all dressed in white pointing to the Book of Mormon. WOW. She is so prepared and her daughters are going to church and the whole family goes to all the activities. This week we are going to go with president to visit them. Pray for us that we will be able to have the spirit with us. I am so thankful for the time that I have here in Guatemala preaching the gospel.

Elder Reinhold

**Photos coming!

Discerning the Spirit...

 

 

February 3, 2014

 

Well family, this week was good. Something that is a little bit interesting is that both of my companions have changes. Elder A-- was only with me for 1 month but he is needed somewhere else soooo.....but, we finished strong.

 

Well, an interesting thing happened to us this week. We preached in a church. It was not like a huge conferece or anything like that. The pastor tricked us. We were having a good day visiting the people and everything when we went to the appointment that we had with Ch--.  Ch-- is from the mountains of Columbia - from the temple of crystal lsodi Skdokw. We met him in the street one night and he started to explain the stars to us and explained the energy of Christ to us, he also explained how we should enter and exit the buses so that we do not pick up any of the bad energy. He did mention that we he knew that Jesus also visited the Americas. When he said that we were like, "Okay, we will pass by one day to share a message." Well, we arrived at his house and he let us in and when we entered there was a white board and about 25 people there to listen to his sermon. So he started to tell us how we are actually in the year 2020 and that 2014 actually marks the birth of Satan - 2020 years from the birth of Christ. When we entered I felt a really bad spirit. I even told my comps as we were walking to the appointment that I felt something was wrong with the appointment. When I was in the room my mind was like blocked from the lack of the Spirit. Then he asked us to talk about our church. My comp went up and started to talk and the spirit came back and everything was good after that but I learned a great lesson on how to recognize the Spirit and how to tell the difference between the Spirit of God and the spirit of Satan. Needless to say, he came to church this week as well.  The whole sacrament meeting consisted of us trying to contain Ch-- so that he did not share his testimony. We will see if he comes next week. Well I feel like I am getting sick so I am going to make it fast. It looks like we will have a baptism next week. I love you guys so much and cant wait to see you guys.

Elder Reinhold

**Photos coming!

Baptism and Chocolate....



E-- got baptized!!

 

January 27, 2014

 

 

This week was great. First of all we had a baptism!!! This girl had been waiting 3 years for permission from her mom. We finally talked her into giving permission to her daughter and it looks like she wants to be baptized as well. We will see. Right now I am in a trio with another elder that is waiting for his new companion to get here. He is pretty funny and we enjoy having him in the companionship. This week we had a meeting with the president and it was great. Elder Tejero the assistant gave a great talk on how to help struggling missionaries. Elder Tejero is a great guy.

Wow.  In this picture you can see that we are drinking hot chocolate. This was a reward for helping pack it up.  WOW. Swiss miss does not have a chance. The chocolate here is amazing. They are professionals here at making chocolate.

 

This week I was studying a lot about being a doer and not only a listener. There are some really cool scriptures about that. But I started to think about all the people in my life and I realized how important it is to be a doer or a worker. The Lord does not need listeners, he needs workers.  He needs shepherds that are willing to make their church visits, that are willing to get up and study, and are willing to act in situations where your character is on the line. I came to the conclusion that in the mission it does not matter your personal ability to teach or to talk because the best missionaries are doers. They find ways to have success when the area is tough or when they want to kill their companion. May we be the doer of the gospel and not the seasonal saint or convenient Christian that Satan wants us to be. This is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Elder Reinhold

 



This is my favorite part of our area.  It is so peaceful and beautiful.