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".