Missionaries Leave, Blue Angels Arrive....

September 29, 2014

Aloha my bruddas!

This week has been a scramble because Elder H-- and I have inherited the half of the ward that was Elder K--'s and Elder H--'s. This is because Elder K-- got emergency transferred to the Honolulu Zone. One of the missionaries over there that spoke Chuukese got sent home so and K-- speaks Chuukese so they sent him over there. So now it is just H-- and I in this ward. So I kind of got mini-whitewashed into the area.

We found this inactive guy who loves the missionaries and he teaches Muay-Thai so we are now going to his dojo twice a week with a few of his friends who are members in order to slowly bring him back to activity. Oh by the way, Muay thai is super fun! Also this week I had to move pads...again. But guess what? I am moving back to the pad that I moved out of the first time. And I we got Elder K--'s and H--'s bikes. In my mission they provide the bikes because you wouldn't be able to take your bike if you got transferred to a different island. So now I have a car and bikes :) 

The Blue Angels are in Honolulu right now so they have been flying over Ewa Beach all week. It was super funny because we are helping D-- memorize the sacrament prayers and we meet at the church, well the Blue Angel's "build-up" path is literally right over the church building because the show was over Pearl Harbor.  So as the three of us were walking out we watched them fly over for a few minutes and every single time that they flew over D-- dropped to the ground and when he was getting up he was laughing and said "Oh man, I thought that they were going to hit me in the head". Man that guy is a classic! Unfortunately there was no lesson with J-- this week again (thanks to the Blue Angels.) And no lesson with S-- or B-- this week. Oh yeah also this morning we got to watch Meet the Mormons.  It is super cool. We watched it with two other zones. It was funny to see a line of Corollas at the Stake center.

Got more news on Ipads this week, the date that we should get them is now February. It has now been pushed back more then a year past the original date that they said, which was December 1st, 2013.

Ok I got to go.

Love,

Elder Reinhold

Trio and Temple...

The picture is of my zone at the temple, admittedly not the best picture
 of us all but it is the only one that I have.

September 23, 2014

So This email is late...yes, but it is because we had to switch the p-days for our whole zone because we went to the temple this morning.

Nothing too crazy when it comes to our current investigators. There was one very weird incident with a lady in our ward. So we get a voice mail out of nowhere, turns out it is this lady's daughter that was visiting, she told us that we need to go over and re-teach her mom the missionary lessons and correct some...incorrect...doctrines and practices she does. I don't feel comfortable describing them... lets just say that when we were there I could feel my spirit "fighting" something else that resides in that house...Anywho! So we will be going over there every Saturday to talk to her and teach her. Sadly, B-- is on the mainland for a visit with a doctor to help he get a prosthetic leg that will actually be helpful and not just hurt her. 

We didn't have a lesson this week with J-- because he had to cancel, again. But he did say that he has been writing down tons of questions that he wants us to help with and he has been reading the Book of Mormon and has already found the majority of the answers by himself just by reading! That book has all the answers that you will ever need! Well maybe not every single one, no matter how much you read it, it won't solve your math homework for you. We did have a lesson this week with C-- and A-- this Saturday where we dealt with the concept of grace.

This week has been rough for the missionaries assigned to the Ewa Beach 2nd Ward. This week Elder H-- had to go home unexpectedly for medical reasons. We are all super bummed out. President Warner and Salt Lake expect it to be a quick fix and for him to be back within a month although he won't probably won't be put back in Ewa Beach. So until next transfer the Ewa Beach 2nd ward has a trio of missionaries instead of two sets. So I get to kick it not only with Elder Hineman (who knows his stuff) but also with Elder Kichiro! Super weird because we are merging our two halves of the ward into one, so I have lots of new people to meet.

With the power of three we are doing great! We have contacted a lot of less active people including this Samoan guy named S-- who wants us to teach his kids the missionary discussions, they are like 9, 10, and 12 years old. but he is divorced so he only has them on the weekend.  Not only are we pumped to teach the kids but S-- is also obviously pumped to get the ball rolling on this so hopefully it will bring him back to activity. It will be interesting because his girlfriend is a Jehovah's Witness.

For the spiritual thought from me I would like to turn your attention to the Book of Acts chapter 6 verses 38-39. Peter and John are on trial to determine if they should be put to death for "speaking blasphemy" in which a man named Gamaliel spoke on there defense, he said "Now I say unto you refrain from these men, and let them alone; for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply you be found even to fight against God" So what he is saying it true. This work is of God and it can not be stopped by man!

Elder Reinhold

Service and Swells....

September 15, 2014


Not really much to say this week, I have done service almost everyday. Most of the service is for our investigator B--. Her dad is moving back into where she lives, which use to be his house before he went to an assisted living home, so basically a ton of responsibility has been given to her and she only has one leg so she can't really do everything that she has to. We have been moving a bunch of boxes and furniture for her because her father wants to be able to fit everything that he is bringing back. She is super thankful all the time and is asking "How do I donate to the mission?" but we tell her that we do this for free. She really wants to have more lessons with us and is just trying to get her dad settled.

We had a surprising amount of lessons this week that we actually had a solid time for us to come over, normally we don't have any. But there was a big Southwest swell this week so the waves have been good all weeks which means that all but one of our lesson fell through because everyone was surfing. The surfers would say that my week was "blown out."

No lesson with J-- this week either because he had a doctors appointment on Sunday, which is like the only time that he can meet with us. Last lesson that we had with him we challenged him to write down any and all questions that he had about not just The LDS Church but also about God or Christianity. He told us that he has had questions since basically birth that he hasn't had answered so our next lesson will be interesting. Definitely bringing along the Ward Mission Leader as he knows the gospel backwards, sideways, and blindfolded.

Also last Sunday D-- C-- gave a talk in sacrament meeting, just a recap on D--, he is a 23 year old guy with some mental challenges who's whole life revolves around Elvis Presley, WWE, and Jesus Christ. Now back to the story, so D-- has asked the bishop every week since he got baptized if he could give a talk and this week he was able to but not without the help of the missionaries because David can't read or write. So guess who he picked to be up there with him on Sunday and whisper the talk into his ear? Elder Hineman! The one Elder of the four of us who's name he doesn't even know, he just calls him "the Missionary". Anywho, he gave a great talk.

Until next week,

Elder Reinhold

More Steps Forward than Back....

September 8,2014

Aloha!

So today is Elder Hineman's birthday! He is turning 21.  It is crazy because he only has six months left! This week we have also have Elder Hill's and Elder Kichiro's Birthday.

Elder Hineman and I trying to pull off
the "sitcom advertisement" pose.

Before I talk about my investigators and stuff I am going to tell you about the SICK hike that I went on today. It is the only hike in our zone and it leads to a waterfall. I was so sweaty by the time we got back that my whole shirt was soaked, that's because the hike is 75% uphill, 20% downhill, and 5% flat (and yes that math is possible) and also when is was a slope it was a 50 degree slope but it was still super fun!

My zone except Hill, Kichiro, Bergstrum (Yes, from Alta), and Lavae.

This week we have made steps forward and steps backwards with the work, but luckily we have made more steps forward then back. B-- said she wants to be baptized! We don't know if she can at the next date because her leg is having problems healing fully so we will have to see. We also got an actual lesson in with J-- where we was focused the whole time. I could tell that he is super interested, by the end of the lesson he was sitting on the edge of his seat listening to us. This lesson was different because we had a member with us. All you people at home, you should go with the missionaries to lessons you will be a huge help.

Ok I got to go. All you members of the church who will read this should read Mosiah chapter 18, it talks all about what you covenanted to when you were baptized.

From the Ewa Beach Public Library in Hawaii, 

Elder Reinhold

Staying in Ewa Beach and Finding Folks....

September 2, 2014


Aloha My fellow children of Heavenly Father!

So it was an interesting week in Ewa. Lets start off with a lesson that I had on Tuesday. We had dinner with some members and they said they were inviting their non-member friend named B--.  She only has one leg and I will say that for what she has been through she is the most optimistic person that I have ever met in my life. She told us that she has lost literally everything that she owns 7 times in her life. I have never seen her not smiling. Also the lesson went great! Every time that we finished explaining something she would say something like "Oh my goodness I have never fully understood what a prophet does, mostly because in my church I have never been able to think about it." And stuff like, "Wow.  Now that I think about it, all of the churches change things without even attempting to claim proper authority." Also, when we handed her a Book of Mormon she giggled like a little girl and said "I might even read this while I drive home, just kidding that isn't safe at all."

Also this week was transfer week. You are probably like,"What it seemed like only last week he was having transfers."  Well so many people are going home a few weeks early because of college that they just decided to have a four week transfer instead, and as a result, this transfer is going to be a seven week transfer. I am staying in Ewa Beach with Elder Hineman!

So we had this guy who's name is J--, who we met while tracting, who wanted us to come back and teach him a lesson but when we got to his house we found out that he was there for just the summer with his girlfriend. The sister of the said girlfriend answered the door and guess what? She wants to have us come back! Ha! J-- thought that he could trick us but the good guys always win!

Also this week there has been a sickness going around our district...again...so we have all been kind of off lately.  Well I was feeling super tired and I noticed some houses I have never noticed before. The only was to describe where they were hidden was that there is this walkway between where the street ends and where the houses end, so the houses don't end where the street does. Well I have never noticed this before and apparently there is only one place where it does that. So there are only four of these "hidden houses" and of that group 25% of them told us to come back! That is a pretty good percentage! Also while in this...state of mind... I found a street that I had never seen before even though it is in the middle of the area and we finally got to tract it on Saturday because we tried to find it again a few times but we just couldn't. For this reason it is now called...[insert dramatic music] The Narnia Street!

Ok I got to go but you all should read 3 Nephi 18:24 and do as the Lord commands.  Lift the light high.

From the Islands of Hawai'i...

Love,

Elder Carlos

Zone Conference....

August 25, 2014

Whazzup! I mean Aloha (forgot that I was in Hawaii for a second)

So lets hop right into it! SO Monday, the usual boring P-day - nothing to do in Waipahu on P-Day.

But Tuesday! Oh Ho wait till you hear about Tuesday!........It was also kind of boring, it was zone conference so I got to sit in a chair for 8 hours Hooray,not really though. But good news! When we did the part where we talk about the numbers for the whole mission we discovered that our mission is doing twice as well in everything compared to the average of our area which covers the NW USA and the Pacific. So two certain Elders (you know who you are) can...well you know.

Wednesday we tried to find new investigators all day and per usual, no one was home and the few that were home didn't want the gift of Eternal Life, WHAT THE HECK! IT IS FREE HAPPINESS! TAKE IT!!!

Thursday we had tons of lessons scheduled but the stars aligned against us and literally every single one was unable to meet! T-- is having a surgery earlier then expected, R-- is just kind of...gone... he just disappeared, J-- broke his hand and arm. but we did get Baskin Robins that day so that was nice.

Friday we had a super long lesson with a less active named M--, other then that it was a day of finding.

We had choke baptisms on Saturday for our district. 5 in all, I got to talk in the service during the time that they were drying off and stuff. It was awkward!!!

Sunday, so there is this big fire going on in the hills by us and during the sacrament closing prayer they prayed for rain to help stop it and right when we said "amen" it started to pour!!!! super cool!!!!

K got to go till next week,

Elder Reinhold

Teaching, Singing and Recovering....

The Filipino Magic.  Yes there is a human in there.

August 18, 2014

Aloha my mainland peeps! (except Curtis),

This week has been full of weird stuff. First let me tell you about V-- a man who can only speak Hawaiian Pidgin, all I can do is just nod my head and say "yeah". He is all like "OOOO luke iz da tags!" which means "OOOO look it's the missionaries". I don't even...

Also this week my whole district and the ZLs have been fighting off this sickness that has been going around, honestly we don't even know what it is but we know that it stinks to get it. We had to pull out the every medical tool that our 19-20 year old minds had to fight it. In the end we had to retreat to some "Filipino Magic" (as our Filipino ZL calls it) basically you get a big pot and line the inside with Vicks then you fill it with water and bring it to a boil. Then you take that and put it at the feet of the sick person (who is sitting in a chair) then you pile blanket after blanket on top of them and they sweat it out. If I had to describe what it is like I would call it "A one way ticket to an asylum if you are in there for more then 10 minutes".

We had a bummer this week. so we found this guy (J--) while tracting and we set up a lesson for Sunday and we went to his house and no one was there. We are going to stop by again this Sunday. 

R-- has basically dropped of the face of the planet, we went to his house to try and set up a lesson time with him and when we asked "Do you know where R-- is?" We were told, "No one knows where Reno is! I only see him for 30 seconds in the morning and 30 seconds at night!"

So my district (and some of the ?Marshalles? Elders) got an assignment dropped on us on Friday that we need to do some sort of entertainment for this big ward dinner thing that was being held because yesterday was ward conference. The ward conference was on Saturday....my mission has a motto that some elders put to music a few years ago and we listen to it in the car so we are like "Lets sing that!" so that is what we did. There is a video floating around somewhere of us singing it but I still need to find it.

Lessons with some other investigators are...interesting. The wife has grown more and more oppositional to what we are sharing, the husband is on the edge of his seat every time we are over there and is listening to everything we say, but he won't pray about it. Prayer is so important to understanding the will of God. I think that he is scared to get a confirmation because he knows that he won't be able to deny it. Oh well, only time will tell.

Last night we had this great conference with all the missionaries on O'ahu in Laie, and the person who spoke was Vai Sikahema he is super funny and spiritual and has a load of stories. Also not the mention that afterwards was a big get together where I got to see Elders Schnell, Birch, and Nagtuvi. who were all in my district in the MTC!

Anywho I got to go.

From,

Elder Reinhold

Preparing for the Hurricane....

August 11, 2014

This week was...different. We did a lot of service this week in preparation for the hurricanes for members and non-members alike. So last Monday was boring because the mission pres had us prepare for the storms, which was a bummer because we were going to go fishing. Oh well! So we boarded up things and put tape on windows at member's homes and our pad during the day. I am pretty sure that I have the best 72 hour kit in the whole mission cause it was provided almost entirely by members. It is one of those army backpacks, not like a rucksack, but still pretty big and it is filled with ?packets? of emergency water (the only way I can describe them is that they are big 1'x1/2' ketchup packets that are filled with purified water, but it fells like they are more of a gel. It's just a big old mystery), it also has like 5 MRE's, which are the things that they give to soldiers when they are going to be in a battle for days. MRE's are the coolest things! We opened one at the members and they cook themselves when you open them! Anywho, we are ultra prepared for anything. This one member gave us a field first-aid kit,which is what they give to the medics for battle, and a flash bang! I don't know if he is allowed to have that or not but we declined to take the flash bang. Oh I should probably explain why I am getting so much military stuff. So my area is right next to Pearl Harbor and like 50% of my ward works for the military and they can just buy these things at the base (well maybe not the flash bang).

So a lot of our investigators just left this week...they didn't want anything to do with approaching hurricanes (or they just needed a reason for a vacation :P) so we did a lot of finding Monday-Wednesday with almost no results. It was just one unanswered door after the next, I guess everyone else had the same idea as my investigators, which is understandable because my area is right on the coast and only protected by like 2 feet of rocks.

Thursday was tiring though. As we were getting ready for the day at like 9am (at this point the first storm was getting a lot stronger then they thought it was going to be) our bishop called and was like "Soooo...a lot of our ward is unprepared for the storm  so we are going to need some help getting them to the stake center or somewhere safe" We were like "Shoots! We didn't have any set lessons today anyway". So all day we just helped people get to a safer place all day. Oh also during morning basketball I got a black eye.

So on Friday we had to stay in my pad all day because the mission president had us. Why? because the storm hit on Friday and it was so....LAME!!! It just rained a ton and was kind of windy, but they still had us stay in our pad. It was sooooo boring, but we did have the rest of our district and some others in my pad in case of flooding, because it is the only pad in the zone that is on the second story.

Saturday was uneventful also except that we had a lesson with C & A. It was ok. We will see how that ends up. That day our ZL calls us up and is like "Hey there is a sister in the Tongan ward that needs a musical number for her farewell." Guess who got to do it? The Wiapahu Zone!!! We practiced it.

So Sunday rolls around and we sang the song we practiced.  The song is Oh Lord my Redeemer by Toa, super cool song. All the members said they loved it but they may have just have been being nice to us because we are missionaries...Going to a Tongan ward was cool because they all were speaking Tongan but then they would just switch randomly to English, and they are all super swaggin' singers. The hymns almost brought a tear to my eye.

#Ewa4ever

From,

Elder Reinhold

***We got an email from the Mission Secretary telling us their emergency plan and how prepared they are.  As a Mormon, I didn't have to worry about under-preparation.  It is against our religion. :)  Incidentally, they reported that the worst thing that happened was temporary boredom as they were waiting things out in their locations.

 

New Companion and Trainer...

August 4, 2014

Aloha!

So today is my 2 month mark. It seems like yesterday I walked into the MTC but now 1/12 of my mission is gone! What?!? That's crazy!

So this week was transfers and I got a new trainer. His name is Elder H--. He is from Mesa, Arizona. He seems like a cool guy. In my district now 50% of the missionaries are currently being trained (including me).

Really not that much went on this week besides transfers, just a lot of final visits for Elder P-- and a lot of introduction visits for Elder H--. this week we don't have that many lessons lined up so you know what that means....TRACTING HOORAY (Not really though) 

So this week I have been having lot of people who assume that faith can't really have a physical impact on their lives.  Well just look at Moses 7:13 .

From,

Elder Reinhold

A Baptism! Temple Visit and Other Good News and Things....

Add caption

July 28,2014

This week has been super busy and really inconsistent. First Elder Peterson got sick on Tuesday so I basically did nothing,which was super lame!

On Wednesday we had our first lesson with T--. Her situation is interesting. She is very firm in her faith and is willing to listen to everything that we have to say but she has, what she describes as "a wall" as to why the Book of Mormon exists like what is it's purpose. So we will figure out that whole thing tomorrow when we go back. For her we do have this awesome couple as fellowshippers, The K--'s, They are musicians and they both have super awesome testimonies!

Waipahu.  My whole zone at the temple.

Thursday we got to go to the temple. We get to go four times a year (If you are on one of the two islands that has a temple.) When we got back we got to teach J-- a lesson. That was the first time that he has actually let us in, usually we just talk at the door. It was a big Q&A session because he wants to clarify somethings that he has heard about us before he will investigate the church officially.

Friday we didn't get a whole lot of missionary work done but we got a ton of stuff done. We had to take our car to the body shop, and we went on a hike with the same less-active person as the other hike, and guess what he was at church last Sunday! Heck yeah! The hike was super sick! It was a hike up to some old WW2 pillboxes that would look out over the ocean and watch for planes. 

Elder Kichero and I.

Elder Gleave and I.

Also found out that day that my comp is getting transferred. So I get to have two trainers on my mission. We also did a finding activity at the park. Every night at the park there is like 50 people that play basketball so instead of trying to bug people on Friday night and get shut down every time, my district went and played basketball with our tags on. And ya know what our district got two new investigators that night!

So on Saturday morning J-- got baptized! It was a re-baptism but it still counts! And it is official! I am staying in Ewa Beach for the next transfer (big surprise) but the next transfer is only 4 weeks for some reason.

So Elder Gleave, Peterson, and Morgan are leaving our district, and two of the new guys are going to be fresh off the plane.

Eating balut....
Part of the experience, is the cultural experience.

1/12 Done! Time Flies!

July 21, 2014

I just realized something. My mission is almost 1/12 done. I JUST GOT HERE!!! I guess that time flies when you are doing good in the world.

This email is going to be really, really short this week because we have to write a long report for the mission pres concerning an emergency transfer that I was involved in. (Don't worry. I am all good.) 

So basically my week has been tracting, tracting, tracting again, but this week we decided that the members need to start helping us so we can teach some people. So now we are teaching this guy (R--) that has taken the lessons before but the missionaries didn't keep any records of his teaching so when two Elders whitewashed in they had no idea he even existed. But now he is good friends with our Ward mission leader and we are teaching him again and keeps telling us that "we teach too slow and that he needs to know more now!"

Also I felt inspired that we should visit some of the former investigators in our area book and we found another investigator that was forgotten about due to poor record keeping, all that we had to go off of was a name and a street, but we found her and she said that she wanted to have a lesson right now but she had to go to work in like ten minutes. It turns out that she was taught everything that was needed to get baptized and was just working over some hurdles with the WoW that she now has under control, but once again the record of her lessons weren't kept, and the Elders that whitewashed in just overlooked her.

So things are very slowly progressing in Ewa Beach.

Love,

Elder Reinhold

Walking Through the Desert....

July 14, 2014

So this week we haven't gotten any new investigators, well there are a few that are new to me. R-- is one of them and his wife is LDS but I guess he has been taking the lessons for like two months or something. Anyways he is super into it so we will see where that goes.

So the stars aligned and every one of my investigators were out of town, so this week has been finding, finding, and more finding. We don't have any "official" new investigators, but I have handed out tons of BoMs and pamphlets so hopefully our efforts with bare some fruits.

This week has been tough physically because I have been sick all week but I can't stop just because I feel under the weather a little bit. 

This week my comp hit his one year mark so we burnt a shirt! We did it at "The spot" so it was super cool (sorry no pics, my camera is still broken)

I did a ton of service this week. It totaled up to 9 hours. So on Thursday, we helped move out a house and after we saw these kids throwing rocks and stuff into a tree so naturally we checked it out. turns out that it was a massive mango tree! so we knocked some off and got to eat mangos right off the tree.

Sorry for the short letter but I don't have a lot of time today.

From

Elder Reinhold

***This boy has always been crazy about mangos.  So the mango tree was probably pretty exciting! 

Lots of Tracting!

June 7, 2014

Aloha!

 

Well this week was not easy. I didn't teach a single lesson and I didn't get any new investigators. Also my camera is broken.

 

This email isn't going to be as long as the others.

 

So this week has been pretty much the same everyday except for a few times. It has mostly been just tracting and finding, but I did get to drop off a missionary (Elder Humphreys) at the airport because the mission president was busy all day. It was an interesting experience sending a missionary home when I have only been out a month.

 

On the 4th of July we had a "P-Day" after 5pm because in the past there has been an unusual amount of freak accidents involving missionaries on the 4th of July, and our mission president doesn't want us trying to teach during a holiday.  Apparently we get a ton of space concerning holidays. Like on Halloween we spend all night in the stake center and we play games and I have heard rumors that on Christmas instead of teaching and annoying people that day (cause they are with their families) we get to have an extra p-day and we get to watch a movie!  Last year it was How to Train your Dragon. So, we went up to this stake center that is on a hill and played volleyball and we could see the fireworks from there too. But they have placed super strict bans on fireworks here so it was kind of lame.

 

This Wednesday I got a "mini-missionary" which is when someone who is preparing for a mission spends like 3 or 4 days with a companionship. Sometimes we'd look around and he was gone.  Nice guy, but we dropped him off yesterday.

 

This church is true, and I know that it blesses families and us individually.

That is all for now.

 

From,

Elder Reinhold #3 :P

 

An Unplanned Week....

June 30, 2014

Aloha!

About to eat poi.

So this week has been super crazy and busy. So on Tuesday we had our zone interviews with the mission president. So he got there late, and it threw off the rest of what we had planned, so we decide to spend the day tracting and visiting investigators that we haven’t heard from in a while. So we tracted for three solid hours, and only four people opened the door, and of those four only one of them didn't close the door on us when they found out who we are. But even that one person who was kind didn't want to take the lessons. Elder Humphrey has a heart problem and the only way to combat it is by exercising twice a day so we needed to get some sort of exercise for him so we played rugby in the park (two-hand touch). On our way back we get a call from the bishop and he has a referral of a lady who is pregnant with twins and needs help paying her rent form the church, but that is only available for members. We will be teaching her.

             

Wednesday, I met some dude while we were parked in the church parking lot. His name is “Chaplin”, He has PTSD and was wearing a long sleeve leather jacket and jeans on by far the hottest and most humid day since I've been here.  Apparently he has a long family history of war ministers.  (Idk what they are actually called, they are the people who are soldiers, but represent a religion.)  Also we had lunch with the P-- family…I ate some interesting stuff. I ate Poi, it was brown and thick, yuck! Also I blessed someone for the first time with oil; it was Sister P--’s son (Little D--). He has an infection on his lip. Big D-- was there also (he is the D-- I told you about last week). He is still super awesome.

Elder Peterson and I got a referral from Mormon.org.  Someone named Susana requested a bible but she wasn't expecting us to hand deliver it. She has been searching for good in the world and she looked up the Mormons on the internet right off the bat! So I taught my first lesson on the restoration! And she wants us to come back but she has to check with her husband if it is alright.

                

On Thursday we didn't get much done. We had to take our car in to get the brakes checked and while we were there we met like RMs. But the big thing is that Elder Peterson got a bloody nose and it just wouldn't stop! He lost so much blood! He was super delirious. So I offered to drive (even though I'm not approved to drive yet, but it was the only other way to get home) but he said "No I am perfectly the bestest to drive the car"....Pretty much in the top three scariest car rides of my life. When we got back to our pad I made him eat some food that was super high in iron (cause I thought that's what helps the body make blood :P I'm still not sure on that fact), and we chilled in the pad while he slept. The zone leaders came over and "relieved me of my post" so that I could go out with the trio of missionaries that cover the other half of the ward (I actually need to correct something that I said in my last email. Elders Humphrey, Kichiro, and Gleaves are actually the Eva Beach 2nd as well.) So the four of us split up and went tracting with no results. After that I went back to the pad and watched him sleep for a long time while I read the entire "Our Search For Happiness".

On Friday I did something that no missionary has done before!!! Tracting...for a full two hours. But before that I had my first district meeting. It was basically a party but we learned how to more simply teach doctrine, so when we are at the door of someones house we can give a simple version of the gospel. we played tons of games to "practice" this skill, that included taboo and sureraids ( I don't know how to spell it! Don't Judge me!) anywho! back to tracting! While tracting I met a Jehovah's Witness and a Muslim, the JW was not very friendly and the Muslim was super nice. I also got a death threat today while we were walking from our car to where we were having dinner the first car that yelled at us said the worst possible expletive, but the second car to yell at us said "I'm gonna kill you Mormons!". He was just talking big because Elder H-- yelled back "I'd like to see you try!" and we haven't heard form him since.

Saturday started with a ward party at the beach although we were confined to this little tiny grass area for the whole thing. Also got my first baptism commitment form a dude named J--, but it is because his records got lost and he needs to be re-baptized before he can go on a mission, so it doesn't really count. I also taught the S--s on Saturday, C-- works for the military doing Intel stuff and he used the old "if I told you, I would have to kill you" line on me when I asked for specifics. Anyways C-- and A-- are super cool and super interested in the church. but unfortunately they are going on vacation for two weeks soooo. I told C-- to look up Patterns of Light online, because he has been expecting a sudden revelation that this church is true, but that isn't how it works every time.

Not much to report on for Sunday other then the fact that not a single one of our investigators showed up to church.

During my studies this week I came to realize all the little acts of God's hand in history that made it possible for the restoration to come about. If you have time you all should do some research on that. It is super sick!

Love,

Elder Reinhold

***I love the chaplain and the "sureraids".

   

First week in Ewa Beach!

June 23, 2014

My first week has been very interesting.

So I got to transfers, got all that done blah blah blah. My zone is just west of Pearl Harbor and is called the Wuipahu Zone. My area is Ewa Beach 2nd (When a W is between two vowels it makes a V sound. So it is pronounced E-va Beach, with the first "a" being said like it is in the word "Ever"). We cover one half of a ward that has 375+ people in it! The city of Ewa Beach reminds me of St. George because it is on the dry side of the island. The part of the ward I cover is full of super nice houses on one half (New Ewa) and then dips down into an area of really old houses (Old Ewa). Something that I realized about Old Ewa is that they don't care what the outside of their house looks like, but the insides are nice.  They have hardwood floors, granite counter tops, and big screens.  New Ewa looks a ton like Draper but with smaller houses. There is one street that has like no palm trees at all and it looks like it belongs in Draper.

My comp's name is Elder P--. He is a super cool guy and he is the perfect balance of obedience and fun. He is from the wide open state of Wyoming. He is also a real cowboy. I don't know what else to say about him besides he is overall pretty quiet.

So for the first day we just went around introducing me to ward members and leaders, but later that night we went ministering with some ward members aaaannnndddd I went on a split with two brothers. During my split we didn't get anything done because no one was home at all the places we went.

The next day started out with me looking at my area book and getting down because we have no investigators, no progressing investigators, and no potential investigators. So we decided to go tracting and we found someone who was interested!  His name is Keith...but he is a pastor for a church in town....and now he won't answer our calls. We are pretty sure he was just trying to convert us on his doorstep. It's whatever. Later that night though we visited a less active member who hasn't been to church in like 4 years. He said that any other night he wouldn't have opened the door but over the last month-ish he has been wrestling with himself over his faith and has read the first two books of Nephi like 3 or 4 times in the last few weeks! And he said that is was time for him to go back to church, so that was pretty dope!

So on Friday I get to met Sister Patton. She is the nicest older Filipino lady you'll ever meet! ...and she has two sons who love videos games so I connected with them almost instantly, they invited me to play with them while my comp and the rest of our district talked with her but I had to decline. I also tried sushi for the first time today and all I have to say is...meh. We did more tracting and found T--. He just moved to Ewa. (Like 50% of the people who live here work for the military.)  He gave us his number but he won't answer our calls either. I've noticed that the military are very showy around here, like above average for a place near a military base. Heck, the first thing I saw when I landed were a dozen F-22 Raptors on the civilian runway! ... and I see them do simulated dogfights over the ocean all the time.

On Saturday I got to met D--. He is great. Oh D--...how to describe you...he is mentally challenged but not enough to cause him to not be able to be self sufficient. His whole world revolves around Jesus Christ, WWE, and Elvis. The first time that I saw him everyone in the car was like "Whoa, he is wearing normal clothes!" I guess normally he wears an Elvis jumpsuit. (He says he will only be taught if the whole district is there.) Oh, I haven't told you about my district. There are two companionships with five missionaries total. The fifth is Elder Humphreys, he is leaving mid transfer so we have a trio until next Wednesday. The other two are Elders Kachiro and Gleaves, they cover the other half of our ward. They are the Ewa Beach 1st.

Sunday during the day was kind of boring, because it was stake conference. But when night time came around things got interesting. So at like 8:30 pm we are standing on the balcony of the Ewa Beach 1st's pad (The zone leaders live there too and we were waiting for them to get there so we could do the weekly numbers report.) We see an iphone chilling on the base of a lamp post, so we go grab it and ask the neighbors underneath them if it was theirs but it wasn't. So we then called a number in the phone that was titled "Mom ah nuna". It turns out it was her daughter's phone and that it had been stolen like a week ago. So we agree to meet at a Food Land parking lot and give it back to her. So we get there and there is a cop and the lady waiting for us. While we are talking to the cop giving him a report and all, she is looking through her phone and checking if the pictures of her kids are still there (which they were), she finds multiple selfies of one of the Ewa Beach 1st's neighbors...I guess these guys are known to just work on their mopeds and do drugs all day. Something that I forgot to mention was that we found a painters pen next to the phone when we first found it (which for those who don't know is the best type of pen to get high off of by sniffing it, according to the cop). For the report the cop needed the missionaries address but they don't have it memorized so he offered to drive them home (because we are the companionship that has the car). I didn't know that he had offered them that, so I was really confused about what was happening. So they all got to ride in the back of a police car home.

So yesterday I got to go to the Polynesian Cultural Center. It was so sick! And while I was there I got myself an Ukulele!

So I'm just trucking on.

Love,

Elder Reinhold

P.S. Camera is having issues.  Hopefully pictures next week.

He arrived in Honolulu!

June 18, 2014

We recieved a quick note from the mission offices that said Kyler arrived and everything was going well.

In the letter from President Warner was the following:

"Weekly encouragement from home will certainly help inspire greater missionary effort. Mail to your son should be sent by U.S. mail to:

Missionary Name (First, Middle Initial, and Last)
Hawaii Honolulu Mission
1500 South Beretania Street, Suite #416
Honolulu, Hawaii 96826

(U.S. mail can be forwarded without cost). The other services (Federal Express, DHL, UPS) do charge to forward mail which we collect from the missionary."

PLEASE WRITE!!

Here are some photos they sent.

Only email from the MTC....

June 10, 2014

Blue Steel at the map.

So this week has been the craziest roller coaster I have ever been on. Yet at the same time I have never felt so calm. Right after I turned and walked away from my family at the curb of the MTC I felt the Spirit flow over me and it hasn't left since then.

So on the first day I was rather concerned because when I got to where my district was guess whose comp didn't show up? MINE! but its all good because he is here now. The reason he was late was because when I was reporting to the MTC he was being handed his diploma.

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My district is so much fun! We are the only district I have seen that is all Elders. There are seven of us total. Elders Schnell, Ngavtuvai (pronounced Not-to-Vi), Birch (one of my roommates), Clark (Elder Birch's Comp), Cayas, And Speakman (my Comp). My comp is an Idaho boy, who is quiet and shy. I don't really know what else to say about him. At first we were all really quiet and shy (expect for elder Ngatuvai, he is a Poly and he is always loud and fun), but now we are all warming up and the personalities are starting to show. We are the best district! My zone has only three districts. One of the other districts leaves tomorrow for Toronto, and in their place we get two new districts. One of the Elders in the district that is leaving is Elder Maurer (More-A), he is a riot every time he walks in the room you can expect to laugh. He has the sickest accent because he is from New Zealand. We all play volleyball during our gym time when he is doing really well, we call him Elder Mordor, cause he is ON FIRE!!!! The third district we have is only six people. There are four sisters and two elders. The two elders in that district are going with us to Hawaii, Elder Smith and Elder Caldwell! There are two sisters that I never ever see except for the meals, I don't even know their names. But the other two sisters are that district are Sisters Weaver and Howes. Sister Howes is pretty much insane...funny insane!

I am learning so much here, it is crazy. I can't even begin to explain, but I will tell you about the TRC (Teaching Resource Center). I is basically a building where they have a bunch of real investigators in mock living rooms, and we go in and teach them. I taught my first one YESTERDAY, but this isn't even the first lesson I taught! I taught my first one on Friday morning, but it was to one of my teachers who was portraying someone they actually taught on their mission.

There are rumors flying around that a General Authority is coming to talk to us tonight...We shall see.

So we leave next Monday for Hawaii. So that is exciting, but we only get 12 days of training.

Sorry to the Blazers, I won't be able to write you a mass email today.

From Elder K. Reinhold




Cafeteria...

P-day (preparatation day)...
Laundry, emails, volleyball...

Hanging out... 

Selfies...

Group selfie...

And of course, a temple, Blue Steel selfie...

Trip to the temple...

Happy bunch...

Photo bombed!

If I am guessing right, I think instead of stopping to smell the roses, he is stopping to smell the trees...

Missionaries ride Frontrunner to the airport now.  These pictures don't look significant, but they are taken as he is driving past Draper.  This will be the last time he sees this place until 2016.

There is Draper and the Draper Temple.

Kyler pretty grew up behind that electrical pole on the other side of the bluff.