Visit From An Apostle -- Progressing Investigator

Well this coming week is Thanksgiving. It'll be the fourth Thanksgiving away from home in a row. The way the transfers fall if things were to go normally I would be flying home on Thanksgiving day of next year. I wonder if they will send us home early or late or something... but anyways I have way too long to worry about that so I won't.

     The weather has stayed pretty cool. Not too cold. I still wear short sleeves every day. It has been a nice change from sweating every day.

     We had a pretty good week. Our investigator named Mark had a baptismal interview on Thursday. He isn't 100% percent ready. He still has some concerns about prophets and the Book of Mormon. He finished the Book of Mormon the day of his interview. He is still reading and praying. We will baptize him in December.

     We also begun teaching a lady that has had multiple strokes leaving her right side paralyzed. She was raised Catholic, but is happy to meet with us. She really felt the spirit as we testified of the atonement. She made it to church on Sunday. She is a really nice lady. She talks and moves a lot slower than she actually is. I hope the ward will be good about fellowshipping.

     Last Tuesday we found out that Elder D Todd Christopherson would be in the mission and invited all of the missionaries to meet with him. We were all able to shake his hand, then he spoke to us, and then opened it up for a question and answer session. He told us how much the Lord would bless us for our service, and reminded us that he never is in debt to us. He also spoke on how we can know the Lord. He is a powerful teacher and I learned a lot while listening to him.

     The Church is still true here in Temple TX. Keep praying for us.

Love

Elder Rindlisbacher

One Year Mark -- Growth in Testimony and Patience

Well this Thursday it'll be November 18th, one year since I left home. Because I have only contributed enough money for about half of my mission I will be coming home....... Just Kidding. It is kind of interesting to try to think back to that day I left. Dad and Chase drove me to the airport. Uncle Matt R, and Grandma and Grandpa Tuft greeted me at the airport. They took me to lunch and we got to see Hope.

     It doesn't feel like that much time has passed by. I think I've grown quite a bit. I weigh in fifteen pounds heavier than when I left, but fit into all of the same clothes fine. I think some of my pants have gotten a little shorter, that or I've grown a little. I also feel way more confident. There really isn't much I can't accomplish. I feel like I am doing pretty good as a teacher. My testimony has grown. I think I've developed a little more patience... maybe. Anyways I know there isn't anything that I could be doing right now that would be better for me.

     The work here in Temple has slowed down dramatically. We are thinking of better ways to find people. I wish I could find a way to get the ward excited about inviting there friends. We have started tracting a different part of town and the people seem to be a bit more effective.

     The man named Mark that we've been visiting with since I've been here is getting really close. He has set a date for himself but still has some concerns about the Book of Mormon and modern prophets. It doesn't seem like he is praying very sincerely when he prays in front of us.  He just prays that my companion Elder Bevan, who is pretty quiet, will get a speaking engagement in the great city of Salt Lake. We continue to invite him to pray. He will be finishing the Book of Mormon this week. I think that he believes that it is true, but is just being stubborn. Will you please pray for him.

     Elder Bevan and I are getting along really well. We haven't had a disagreement this transfer. It has been really good. We are trying to think of ways that we can be a little more obedient and diligent so that the work will improve.

I love y'all.

Cooler Weather and Investigator Cooling Off as Well

Well we had transfer calls this last Saturday evening. It was a surprise. Nothing is changing for my companion and I. He is a little upset. This is his greenie area and he will be here for 6 months at the end of this transfer. I remember Richard being a little upset when he had to stay in Lamar for that long. I loved my greenie area and was ready to stay for another little bit.

     The weather has sure cooled down quite a bit. There is a weather service we are allowed to call and the other day it said it was 41 degrees at 9 in the morning. It heated up to about 65 that day. It has stayed around 70 for most of the week. It is nice to have it be a little warmer. It is a little harder to make it out the door for exercise in the mornings though.

     Planning on areas to tract is getting a little harder. We have knocked a lot of the doors that are near by our apartment. The streets of temple are pretty crowded and there aren't any side walks so we try to stay off of our bikes most of the time. It is a little easier to contact people while on foot anyway. I think we will spend more time on the bikes this transfer to save some time.

     We had a disappointment this week. We had a man named Clifford scheduled for baptism this last week. The day before his baptism we got a call from him. He had punched on an appointment the night before. He told us that his cousin got into an accident and he had to go take care of him so he was moving that day. He was moving to his uncle's house who is a pastor of another church. I'm pretty sure he didn't move. He has had a hard time giving up cigarettes and I think he is just embarrassed to tell us.

     Other than that we had a pretty good week. We found a few people that seem semi promising. I know that if we continue to work hard and be obedient we will be blessed.

I love y'all

Elder Rindlisbacher

Encouragement for us to share the gospel with our friends

     So I've been in Temple for about 5 weeks now. It is crazy how fast time flies here. It's been interesting because we've had general and stake conference. I've only attended out ward three times. I wish I knew the ward a little better because Elder Bevan will probably be transferred in about a week and a half.

     We had to push back the baptismal date we had with Clifford. He is scheduled to be baptised this coming Saturday. He has read and prayed like we've asked and feels that he knows it is true. He was raised Jehovah Whiteness, so he says there are a few beliefs that are a little hard to leave behind but he is excited to be baptised. We just need to keep him out of the pool hall where he used to hang out so he can stay away from cigarettes and coffee.

     We attended the ward Halloween party on Saturday. We had about 6 people we've been working with there. The ward did a very good job of making everyone feel comfortable. We had a part member family there and their infant won one of the costume contests.

     Last night (for Halloween) we were not allowed to go out. We got with our district and had a district meeting up in Waco. After the meeting we stayed at another missionaries apartment so we could participate in a P Day activity. After studies and things this morning we played some football and capture the flag. It was pretty fun. I really enjoy being in a more social environment than a companionship.

     Well the church is still true here in Temple TX. I love y'all. Pray for missionaries and don't be scared to open your mouth to friends. Teaching members friends is way more productive than knocking doors.

 

Love, Elder Rindlisbacher

 

PS Thanks for the pictures and the pictures to come. Rachel sure has grown. Especially her hair. .

 

President and Sister Thurston

Experiencing Some Success

     We had a pretty good week this week. Since I've been it Temple that finding has been pretty slow and it has been a tad bit frustrating. However we had a series of fortunate events this week that made it wonderful. Last Sunday after stake conference we had James, the young man we've been teaching, interviewed. He passed! It was a relief. We thought there might be some things that would hold him back for a bit. So on Wednesday evening after the mutual activity we gathered all of the young men and young women to watch James get baptized. It was a good service, nice and brief with lots of people in attendance. He asked that one of the Spanish missionaries, who was a marine before the mission, be the one who baptized him. It was good for him because he's only been out for 3 weeks in the field.
     At the beginning of the week we had two other baptismal dates set. We were able to see one of them and to solidify everything, since then we haven't been able to get in to contact with her. She works nights at the local WalMart, and has been in and out of the hospital with seizures. She is also planning on moving in the near future so we worry about her a bit.
     Our other baptismal date was really hard to get in contact with this week as well. He in the past has had a problem with smoking and drinking coffee. We thought he might be trying to avoid us. Then last night we dropped by his place. He wasn't home. We were driving away and I saw him a few streets down. We stopped and asked if we could meet with him. He agreed. We visited with him for a while about the role of the Holy Ghost. He let us know how he knew the Book of Mormon is true. So we set another baptismal date and set appointments for the rest of the week. He is getting baptized on Halloween.
     Also at church on Sunday we had 3 new people that we will be able to start teaching this week. One just had his wife pass away and she was a member of the church. The other is the wife of a less active return missionary. And the last is a friend of a recent convert. It is awesome to see the blessings flow.

Love,
Elder Rindlisbacher

A New Stake Created

     Well another week is past and gone. We had some history going on here. The Killeen Texas Stake was split this weekend. There is now a Killeen Texas State and a Waco Texas Stake. We had a wonderful stake conference and we were able to have a few of our investigators there. We had Elder Malm of the First Quorum of the Seventy visiting. He was a very powerful speaker, and he had a fun accent. I guess he is from Sweden.
    The messages were great, but a lot of the meeting was dedicated to business. Dividing the stake and lots of testimonies from the old and new stake presidencies.
     After stake conference our mission president interviewed the young man we have been working with. He passed and will be baptized this Wednesday. I feel that he is prepared, but it will take some fellowshipping to keep him active.
     We saw a few tender mercies this week. It seems like this area isn't much for tracting. We seem to just run into a lot of retired Baptists that are happy to tell us they are satisfied with their religion. We got a phone call from a lady that we had seen my first night here and hadn't seen since. She had been out of town and also in the hospital. We were able to meet with her again and set a baptismal date. She is pretty excited. She also had a 10 year old son who is a lot less excited. He doesn't really talk to us. When you ask him a question or teach him something he doesn't agree with he just moans and wont look at us. It is pretty funny really. I think he'll come around.
     We were also invited by our bishop to go and teach a friend of his daughter. He is an older man. In the conversation I asked if he had felt he had ever had a prayer answered. His reply is "you're sitting there." He is searching for truth. It's awesome.
     My companion and I are getting along a little better. We just have differences in opinions a lot. Especially on how we should use our time. I'm trying very hard to love him and not cause contention. I'm trying to keep my joking to a minimum.
     Well the church is still true here in Texas. I'm loving life, even if it throws trials at me every now and again.

Love,
Elder Rindlisbacher

Learning to Get Along with My Companion

   Yes another week is gone. They just fly by. I'm still loving life and having a great time. Temple seems to be a good place. It is weird to think I've almost been here for two weeks. General Conference kept me from meeting the ward for an entire week, and then this coming Sunday we have stake conference. Before I know it another transfer will have flown by and I'll have a new companion. Things are moving crazy fast.

     Our area is a little rough. We cover the entire city of Temple and we're on bikes. I really don't think it'd be that big of deal, however there are not a lot of sidewalks and the streets we travel seem to be busy all of the time. We have been doing a lot of walking, which slows us down a bit. It also gives us a lot of street contacting opportunities.

     There is a huge hospital and a medical school in town. It seems like about a third of the people in the ward are either med students or residents. It is kind of fun having so many return missionaries to work with. They are good about feeding us and we have exchanges almost every night.

     We have a baptismal date with the 16 yer old kid that made it out to one session of conference. We also set a date with another individual that attended two sessions. The man that attended for all five sessions is a really good guy, but he is still stuck on some of his old Baptist doctrines.

     I'm not a district leader this transfer. I'm pretty grateful. That sure seemed to keep me super busy and on the phones every night. I'm follow up training Elder Bevan. I have to be careful with my words around him because he is easily offended. I was asking him questions and then playing devil's advocate just for the sake of conversation this weekend. Apparently he felt I was being really rude and didn't talk to me until I had apologized. I'm trying real hard to keep off his toes. I'm sure we'll get along great if I can keep from being a tease.

Love Y'all,

Elder Rindlisbacher

Star Valley Wyoming Companion

     The weeks just keep flying by. I'm in Temple TX and I am serving with Elder Bevan. He is from Star Valley WY, and he has been in the mission field for two transfers. I am his second companion. He seems to be a really cool guy. He is fairly quiet in the lessons. I'll have to push him a bit to be a bit more outgoing. He seems to have a pretty good grasp on the gospel. It should be a good transfer.

    The work seems to be going pretty well. Conference was great. We had three investigators attend. One of them attended all five sessions. His name is Mark. He is a guy that is a little down on his luck, but is very smart. He has a degree in accounting, but moved down here durring a recession and can't find any work. He was raised Southern Baptist and knows alot about the Bible. He has read about half of the Book of Mormon. He is a great guy with a few concerns. I hope we'll be able to help his with them. The members are very supportive. We've had rides for all of our investigators, and exchanges every night.

     I really enjoyed conference for myself. There seemed to be a lot of talks on gratitude and also revelation. I really enjoyed Elder Oaks talk. It always seems like there are talks specifically for me, and I noticed that some of the talks were perfect for our investigators.

     I'm loving life. The work is rollin' along.

Love,

Elder Rindlisbacher

PS: CONGRATZ RICHARD AND BRITTANY!!!!!! I'm excited for y'all I'll get a letter in the mail for ya today.

Moving to Temple

     Well we received our transfer calls this last Saturday, and I will be leaving the Fossil Ridge area. I have mixed feelings about leaving. I'm sad to leave some of the families. The ward is great and gives us a lot of support. There are some recent converts and less active members that I've grown fairly close to. I'm not too upset about leaving because I've knocked almost every door in the area in my short stay, and the work has slowed down quite a bit.

     I will be transferred to the Temple 1st area. It is in the Killean West zone. It is one of the farthest south areas in the mission. I'm excited to be headed back to a more country place. I hear the work is always pretty strong, despite the heavy southern baptist leaning down there.

    My companion will be Elder Bevan. I haven't talked to anyone who knows him, so I guess we'll find out Wednesday. I think he is probably a fairly young missionary.

     We had an eventful week. Last Monday Elder Walker had some weird chest pain. Tuesday we went to the doctors to check it out. The doctor said it was probably something to do with his esophagus, and scheduled him to have a camera shoved down his throat. On Friday we went to go get the camera shoved down his throat. The doctor said that he had some disease that meant that he had acid reflux, and also some scarring from previous surgeries that food gets hung up on. All in all he is fine. They said he just needs to adjust his diet a bit and to chew his food more.

     We had begun teaching the young man that is the boyfriend to a member of the ward. He was progressing well and everything, but then he broke up with his member girlfriend. We found out how pure his intentions were when we gave him a call to see if he still wanted to learn. When he found out who it was he hung up on us. It was a tad bit frustrating.

    I know that Walker and his new companion will be able to turn things around. It's the Lord's work and it must go on.

Anyways,

Love,

Elder Rindlisbacher

Training with an Audience

Well we've had another week. No injuries or illness to report, which is great. We had a fairly slow week. We had a district meeting last Wednesday that I had to train at. We had a surprise guest. It was President Sagers. It was a tad bit nerve racking to have him sitting in on my training, but I kept it together. I'm glad I had planned well before. He made a few comments that were very helpful. He is a great teacher. It was cool. I feel that I learned more teaching it than when I had been taught it. President told me I had done a great job after, which was a relief.

We couldn't seem to contact any of the people that we had planned to meet with this week. We were, however, able to start teaching a young man who really is trying to change his life. His girlfriend who is a member says that he carries his Book of Mormon around with him everywhere. It is great to have someone that is willing to keep commitments.

This comming Saturday is transfer calls. I have mixed feelings about it. I have been here for a while so I'm pretty sure I'll be moving on, but at the same time people often stay for a long time in this area. My only concern is that I've almost knocked all of the doors in our area, because it is so small. I love the members, and we are starting to see a little progress with some people. I guess in the end it doen't matter how I feel about it. What ever happens is the Lords will and I'm sure he knows what he's doing.

Love,

Elder Rindlisbacher

Baptisms and Food Poisening (or Overeating)

     Well the weekend is passed and gone. This Sunday we had the baptism for the niece and nephew of a member in the ward. It was neat seeing their understanding of the gospel even though they are only 10 and 8 years old. We had a good turn out, including the nonmember cousin in law that we are going to start teaching this week. The children's grandparents were in attendance. I recognized them from Arlington. I had done some service for them.

 

     Saturday was a very long day. I woke up and got ready and went to exercises. After exercise we went back to the apartment and got ready. I realised I wasn't feeling very well. I decided I would nap for a bit to see if I'd feel any better. After and hour nap we attended the baptism of a mother and son that I had interviewed for baptism. It was great, but my stomach hurt so bad. We got a ride home from my zone leaders and I asked for a blessing. I spent the rest of the day on the toilet and sleeping. I was exhausted. I didn't eat anything for the entire day. We had to call and cancel dinner with the stake president. His wife had him drop it off. She also sent Gatorade and Sprite to keep me hydrated and help my stomach. They are an amazing family. ( They also have a son serving in the Fresno mission, Elder Hadley) I think I brought the sick upon myself the night before at a pizza buffett a member took us to. I probably will eat less the next time I go there....

 

     Anyways I love y'all.

 

Elder Rindlisbacher

Teach By The Spirit and Change in Preparation Day

Well another week is past and gone, and it has been a very interesting week. There have been some changes in the mission, some big and some small. I'm excited for all of them. First change: Preperation day will be moved to Mondays. President Sagers has said that it is strongly encouraged in his handbook for it to be that way. I don't think that it will make a large differance. Mostly, I think it'll be a difference for y'all. Starting this comming Monday I will be emailing on Mondays.


The rest of the changes are being made world wide. They aren't big changes, but they are reemphisizing some things from Preach My Gospel. To bring about the change, there has been a four day training meeting for all Zone Leaders, District Leaders, and Trainers. President Sagers and his Assistants have been giving trainings. Then they demonstrate the principals they were teaching, then we practice, then we evaluate, and then we practice. It has been a real eye opening experience.

It seems like the emphasis is to focus more on people than statistics. They are helping us realize the importance of the spirit in people's conversion. Then they are teaching us how to help people to understand the role the spirit plays, and also to help them to recognize the spirit.

I think that the instruction we recieved will help us to have people truly become converted to the gospel. I think more people will be baptised because they actually believe instead of pressure from friends and missionaries. I'm really looking forward to using it more in my teaching. The only thing that worries me is I'm supposed to go and train my district on these new techniques.

Other than that, the work moves on. I still have a little scab from my bike accident, but my head is fine. No headaches and my black eye is gone.

Love,

Elder Rindlisbacher

Concussion

Well another week is gone. Wow the mission is flying. I'm continuing to love life. Not much has changed in the last week. A lot of the people we've been working with seem to just be standing still in terms of their spiritual progression. We are still working with the young niece and nephew of a family in the ward and really we're just doing a review for them so that they will be 100% ready for their baptism on the 12th. We also started teaching the boyfriend of one of the daughters of the family. I'm looking forward to helping him gain a testimony of the restored gospel, especially because they have plans of being married soon and I think it would be great to have a goal of the temple in a year. 

 

     Other than that I just have a story that made this and last week a bit more exciting. I mentioned last week that I had a bit of a spill on my bike last Monday. It made for a very interesting day. First off I'm doing great and I'm fully recovered and I thought I'd write after I was fully recovered so you didn't worry about me all week. So... We got done with planning last week and we were heading to go stop by a fellow that we had lent a copy of the Book of Mormon to. On the way down his street there was a bit of a hill and I just got some new tires and I decided I'd see how fast a could go without pedaling. At the bottom of the hill was a stop sign that I figured that I could just roll through because it was in the middle of a neighborhood then I saw a car. I still had a lot of room but I wanted to slow down so I wouldn't hit it. When I grabbed my brakes I started to feel my back end lift off the ground and then I don't remember anything for the next five minutes. The first thing I remember was I was sitting on the curb and I answered the phone. It was an ambulance service they said they had heard that there had been a bike accident and they were wondering if we needed to be picked up. I still was confused to what had happened so I let them know that we were fine. Then we called a member to pick us up and take us to the apartment. We called the missions presidents wife to let her know what had happened and she gave us some advice. I had a headache and some road rash so I thought I'd just have to rest a bit and then I started to vomit. We got picked up by our zone leaders and headed to the ER. They gave me a CT scan and then let me know that everything was still there. I just had a bruise on my head. Then they cleaned up my road rash and let me go home. I had a pretty good shiner last week and was a little tired and stiff, but now I'm fine. The road rash is almost healed up. Anyway.... I know that I'm doing the Lord's work. I was clicking along at a good rate and my helmet came off before I hit my face on the ground. I should be a lot more hurt than I was. I'm grateful for the protection that was given to me. I Love y'all.

 

Love,

Elder Rindlisbacher

 

PS: I can receive as many emails as I want. I can just only send one a week. It was great to hear from Blane.

Some Excited New Investigators -- Yea!!

                It's been interesting having a new companion. He is a great guy and seems to be a good missionary. We've had a little of a rough go and things kinda seem to be falling apart last week. Our investigator named Chris has chosen not to meet with us anymore and made that a for sure by moving into his girlfriend's house which is outside of our area. The investigator who promised to be at church wasn't there. Overall we were in a down spot on Sunday.

     Monday is our planning day. We had a good planning session and it seemed like we would have a pretty good week. However, on our way to stop by the home of someone to whom we had lent a Book of Mormon I took a little spill on my bike. That put a bit of a damper on the day, but Tuesday we started meeting with a part member family. We started teaching the niece and nephew of the Mascoro family. They are both very bright and are excited to learn. We taught them about the Book of Mormon and showed them the Restoration DVD. Caled, the nephew, asked, "When can I get baptized." We're excited and will be setting a baptismal date with them this evening. 

   The mission has made some changes recently. There are a lot fewer district leaders. Which means the the districts are bigger. I now have stewardship over two other companionships. I like the change because it makes the leadership seem a bit more meaningful. District meetings should be a little easier because I will be training 5 missionaries instead of 3.

     We have a pretty good week planned and we're focusing on finding. Hopefully something will work out.

Love,

Elder Rindlisbacher

A New Companion

Well yesterday was transfers. No real surprises. Elder Whittier had served in this area for six months so we knew he'd be going. He is headed to Flower Mound. It is a very rich area up in the Louisville Stake. He was a great companion. Not only did we work hard, but there wasn't a time when we weren't having fun.

     We had a weight loss challenge this last six weeks. We were both really good about what we were eating and working out well in the mornings, but we slacked pretty bad in the middle. This last week we tried really hard again. Especially in the last two days. We both almost fasted and then pushed ourselves hard the next morning and sweated it all out before weigh in. I won. I lost 15.2 pounds and he lost 12.6 pounds. We figured that i really lost about 10 pounds and then 5 pounds of water, and Whittier lost about 6 pounds and 7 pounds of water. We had a lot of fun. He owes me a ticket to Disneyland when we get home now. We're going to go on a double date.

     My new companion is Elder Walker. He is from Rexburg, ID. He is the youngest in his family. He has 4 sisters and he is an uncle to 8 nieces and nephews. He loved playing basketball and has an offer to play at Salt Lake Community College when he gets home. He seems to be a real fun loving guy and always has a smile on his face. He has been out for a year this week. Weird thing is I'm serving as senior companion and district leader still. President Sagers seems to have a bit of a different style when it comes to transfers. There were quite a few surprises.

     Other than that not a lot has changed. We are still working really hard on finding. There are a few people we're teaching and some are progressing well. We met again with a lady last week who was raised Baptist, but because of some unfortunate events chose to be an atheist. Last week she accepted the commitment to pray. I'm excited to see how it goes. The young man named Chris we're been working with after his two week vacation decided that he didn't want to be baptized and has avoided us completely. He had some anti thrown at him, but I think if we could sit down and chat we could answer any of the questions he had. I love this work, but I hate when people will tell lies or twist truths to scare people who we're teaching. We'll keep working and I know that if we're obedient and endure our trials well that we'll see success.

Love Elder Rindlisbacher

PS: Thanks for the letters this last week. I loved seeing the pictures.

Companion Healing

       It has been an interesting week. Most of the interest has been created by the weather, and Elder Whittier. It has been HOT. The heat is unrelenting. 100+ all week with a decent amount of humidity. It is uncomfortable to be outside. You can walk outside and start sweating. I wonder some times if any interest that we receive from people is for sympathy only.

     I mentioned that Elder Whittier had a little bit of a spill last week. Well it seems to concern everyone except for him. His bruise continued to grow for a couple of days and bled a bit. I think its starting to heal now. The bruise is turning yellow and gravity is making it sink. He stopped bleeding which makes me feel a bit better about it. Everyone we have shown the injury to freaks out and then somehow gets the number to the mission presidents wife to let her know how bad it is. She got a hold of mission medical and they think he just has a deep bruise and said it'll just take time. We had to take it a little easy for a bit.

     We spent one day in the apartment. After making a ton of phone calls to try to get things set up we decided to pass the time playing scrabble. It was pretty boring. We also played take two. I like that one a lot better.

     The work still seems to be a little slow, but I'm not too worried about it. As long as we continue to work hard and stay obedient I know it will turn around. We have a baptismal date for this Sunday, but we haven't been able to see him since he's been back from a two week vacation. I hope that everything is OK with him. We also had our one other semi promising investigator fall out of touch for a bit. I talked to him and got another appointment set up over the phone. Please pray for our investigators.

     Transfer calls are this Saturday. I will probably have a new companion. Elder Whittier has served in this area for 6 months, and that is rare for this mission. I'll miss him. It's been a really fun three months.

Love, Elder Rindlisbacher

Have fun with family. Tell my siblings it's been a while since I 've heard from them.

Companion's Bicycle Mishap and Lessons from New Mission President

Another week has flown by. It was fairly uneventful again. We are still struggling to find people to teach, which translates into a lot of tracting. We are also trying to be consistent at following up with the people that we've found and given Book of Mormons to. Every once in a while we will find someone that's interested, but tracting doesn't seem to be very effective. We keep on rollin along though.

     This week is hot. It is supposed to be over 100 degrees for over a week, and the humidity isn't relenting. Fast Sunday was pretty rough. A combination of not eating and being in the heat left me filling pretty sick that evening, but everything was better after a big glass of water and a good nights rest. I purchased a camelback a month or so ago when my old backpack broke and if I put Ice in it I can have cold water for 5 hours or so.

     On Tuesday evening we didn't have a member to come out with us. So we rode our bikes to our dinner appointment and then afterwards we planned on stopping by some people. The first person let us in and we had a good visit. However he essentially told us he had no plans on reading the Book of Mormon for now. Hopefully we planted a seed. After we left we were riding our bikes along, and my companions tire caught the lip of the concrete and he took a hard spill. One of his handlebars hit him in the hip. When we got back to the apartment it was pretty swollen and now it has a football size bruise around it. It might slow us down for a couple of days, but he doesn't seem to worried about it. We've talked to mission medical and it'll all work out. Elder Whittier sure is a trooper though.

     We had our first Zone conference with the new president yesterday. In preparation he had us do a lot of reading about the atonement. The zone conference was great. He is an amazing teacher. I think we were all uplifted and if we apply what he taught we will be better teachers and people. We also watched some video documentary that the church has put together called The District 2. They follow 4 companionships and then put a bunch of the clips together. It was filmed in the San Diago mission. Aside from it making me really miss California it was great. It kind of made us all take a step back and think about our teaching.

     I'm still learning a lot and working hard. It will be interesting to see what kind of person I am when I get home. I love y'all keep writing.

Love, 

Elder Rindlisbacher

Have fun at the reunion. Tell everyone that I love them and would love to hear from them. I'm happy to respond to any mail I get. :)~ 

    

Meeting a Family Who Moved from Fresno

     This week flew by. It is hard to think if anything exciting actually happened. We just worked and worked. Oh, I just thought of two things that were kind of exciting.

 

     First, the Hispanic young man that we've been teaching accepted a baptismal date for mid August. He however was not at church on Sunday. Hopefully his parents aren't keeping him from progressing. We helped them move two blocks North and the Spanish missionaries talked to his father a little.

 

     Also at church two Sudays ago I had a man walk up to me and say, "Elder Rindlisbacher? The Rindlisbacher? Where are you from?" Then I recognized him. It was Brother Palmer, Scotty's dad. I guess he goes by Scott now. They said that he is working and spent some time off at school, but wasn't planning on serving a mission. Sister Palmer gave me a hug before I could tell her she couldn't. It was an interesting experience. I can hardly remember them.

 

     Other than that, nothing is really going on. We have a pretty small teaching pool, and it seems like every time we find someone good to teach they get scared by Anti, or move. But the Lord's work will move on. I love y'all a lot.

 

Love, Elder Rindlisbacher

Investigator Inviting Friend

We had another fairly uneventful week. It has been really hot, and it doesn't seem to be letting up at all. Every once in a while a giant cloud will pass over and we just pray that it'll drop rain, but it doesn't. I'm not sure the water would help that much anyway. I think it would just half way evaporate and then it would be even more warm. But I hear in mid-August the weather starts to simmer down a bit, and that's not too far off. I think the bike will be a lot more enjoyable in the fall.

     We found a young man about a month ago, and we taught him twice last week. He keeps on saying things that makes since. He has been reading and praying. We just need to get him out to church. I think that he believes it is true. Hopefully his parents will allow him to be baptized if he chooses to. He is 16, and his parents are Catholic.

     We also got in touch last week with a man that had taken a Book of Mormon about 3 months ago. He invited us back another evening and when we got there he said "Is it ok if I invite my friend? He had some questions as well." We thought that for sure it was going to be a Bible bash. I'm not nervous about those, but they are a whole lot more unproductive. Luckily it wasn't. They had very sincere questions, and we were able to answer a lot of them with the Book of Mormon. Hopefully we can turn their curiosity into a desire to know.

     Last night we taught a lady that we've been working with. Her husband is completely opposed to her meeting with us, and it also sounds like he is abusive. She is trying to find work so that she can leave him with her son and live somewhere else. It is really sad. But she loves the Book of Mormon. We had a very spiritual lesson. There were tears everywhere. Hopefully we can continue to help her see the blessings that would come by following the Savior's example.

     We went to visit one of our eternal investigators named Alex. He is a 450 pound black man. He is a disabled veteran, some heart problem. He lives off of the government and has 9 big screen TVs in his house. We go over and usually just share a thought with him and challenge him to be baptized. He keeps telling us he is waiting on a calling from God. But anyways, when we were visiting him he was really feeling sick. He was heaving and almost threw up. So he asked us to run to the store for him and pick him up some medicine. We road our bikes about a mile to CVS and got the medicine. When we got back he said, "They must have been really busy."  We said, "Not really, but we were on bikes." He thought we had a car, so now he loves us. He sure is a funny guy. He is excited about the Lord.

     Other than that, nothing too exciting is happening. Please pray for our investigators: Matt Humble, Chris, Jeff, Jeff & Amy, Jorge, Caryl, and Alex. I love y'all.

Love Elder Rindlisbacher,

Thank y'all so much for the package. The cookies were a little destroyed, but they still taste good.

Hitting the Wall

Well another week down. You guys in your emails sounded like you were trying to counsel me about staying in the same area with the same companion for another transfer. That's silly. I'm soo excited about it. Elder Whittier is an amazing missionary. We'll probably be friends for life. we are seeing success here in the form of baptisms. I am really enjoying myself for the most part.

Things really are great, but I am at an interesting place in the mission. In three days I will have been out for 8 months. That is a long time and looking back at it, it truly has been a long time. Looking forward I see another 16 months which seems like a considerable amount of time and it worries me a bit. Some people call this point in time the wall. I am currently trying to decide how I will maneuver up, over, under, or around it. I haven't got it figured out yet, but I have not lost hope. Lesser men than I have finished their missions. I can definitely do it. It is just that every once in a while we will hear a Beatles song playing in a passing car and I will want it soo bad.

We had a pretty good week. We are working on getting our teaching pool back up right now. We are really only teaching 2 people that have a real desire to get baptized and sooner than later they will be and then who will we teach?  We we have been tracting (door to door work) a ton and praying harder.

We set a baptismal date with a young man we have been working with named Chris. He is the grandson of some members in the ward. He is excited. We just want to make sure that he has a solid testimony before he gets baptized. He is going on vacation for two weeks and then two Sundays later we will baptize him.

No matter the trials, the Lord's work will roll on. I'm happy to be a part of it.

Love,

Elder Rindlisbacher

P.S. Cassi, if you wreak my GEO I will be very sad. Make sure you know how to drive that manual before you leave this fall. Also remember to keep it well maintained every 4-5 thousand change the oil. I kinda really want it back when I get home. And no silly pink paint or anything.

Grateful for Blessings

     Well another 6 weeks has flown by. Last Saturday we got our transfer call. Both Elder Whittier and I will be staying in the Fossil Ridge ward. I think I'm a bit more excited than he is. He has served here for 4 and a half months and by the end of the transfer it will be 6. That's a quarter of the mission. After we got the call we had a talk about the few little things that we could do in order to make this next transfer a little better. Perfection is a process and we're not done yet.

     At the beginning of the transfer we baptized a young man by the name of X-Zavier. He had been staying with his grandparents who are recent converts. The day after his baptism he moved to his mom's for the summer and we weren't able to have him confirmed. This week his grandma let us know that he would be over that Saturday. So we took him and played basketball at the church and had a little chat. We invited him to church the next day, and asked if there was anything we could do to help him get there. He showed up and was confirmed. It was great. It felt great to know that the ordinance we had performed was complete.

     Last Friday I had a really neat experience. I was preparing my backpack for the day. I noticed I had my camera in it and I thought, "Great, I want to have a picture with the family that we are visiting." Then, I had the distinct feeling that I needed to take it out of my bag and keep it in the apartment for the day. We went and made our visits, and then we started heading home. We decided to wrap up some tracting (door to door work) that we had started earlier. Then it started to rain, and rain, and rain. It was probably the hardest rain I've seen, and we were 2 miles from the apartment. We hopped on our bikes and headed back. The passing cars splashed waves over our heads and at one point we were up to mid calf in the water while peddling. I had a blast. Upon arriving home I noticed that everything in my bag was soaked. It helped me realize that the Lord is protecting me. It was awesome.

     Our teaching pool has dried up quite a bit, but we have a few investigators that are progressing well. We are teaching the grandson of a member of the ward. This week we left him with a soft baptismal commitment that he agreed to. We are also working with the sister of a recent convert. This week we showed her The Restoration DVD. Afterward we asked her what she thought and she told us it was amazing. It was great.

     Elder Whittier and I also have a challenge going this transfer. We are seeing who can loose the most weight. We weighed in on Tuesday and we will weigh in every week until the transfer is over. Whoever has lost the most amount by the end of the transfer will get to keep the scale that we bought. Also the looser has to buy the winner a ticket to Disneyland when we get home. We are both excited. I think it will be fun.

     I love y'all keep on keepin on

Love

Elder Rindlisbacher

Answer to Brother Humble's Prayer

You are probably wondering why you didn't receive an email this week. Well here's the story. It is the morning of Prep-Day (Preparation Day). After a thorough cleaning of the apartment, we decided we'd get our emailing and shopping done first thing so we could go and play with our district. When we got downstairs and into our care we turned the key and "click" "click" "click" -- dead battery. After about an hour of runnin' around like a chicken with it's head cut off we got a jump and headed to the store. After arriving back at home we drove to the library which was conveniently closed until the fifth. So we were like, "No problem, we'll email from the apartment office."  When we got back we logged on. I got on first. No email yet, so I let Elder Whittier go. He wrapped it up pretty fast, and then people were waiting to use the computer. So we decided to try later. Later  rolled around and we went back to the office. After waiting for a guy, I hopped on. I typed in the URL and pressed enter. It loaded sooooo slow. After multiple attempts and about 15 minutes I decided it wasn't worth the stress it was causing. So, I resolved to write by hand this week.

This week was an awesome week. We had some really cool experiences, and got a new mission president.

We have very limited miles because we are in a bike area but have a car. It was the end of the month and we had almost no miles left so we rode bikes this week. Part of a hurricane hitting the coast sent some storms this way so the weather was crazy this week. It rained and poured on Monday and the rest of the week has been a mix of rain when the clouds are over us and hot when they aren't.

Last Friday we decided to go visit Brother Humble. He has one of the strongest testimonies I've ever heard. He is active in his calling, and participates in everything at church. Brother Humble is just not baptized. For years he has struggled with an addiction to cigarettes. Last week we had visited him while on exchange and talked to him about quitting. He has the desire, but is scared of failure and doesn't want a lot of help. We were going by Friday to drop off pictures of Christ's baptism to remind him of his goal. When we knocked on the door he answered. He looked surprised but excited to see us. he invited us in. After visiting for awhile he began to tear up. He explained to us that his daughter was having a rough time and needed a blessing. He didn't have home teachers right now and didn't know who to call. He decided to pray. He told us that he asked Heavenly Father to send priesthood holders. When he got off of his knees he heard a knock at the door. It was us. We gave his daughter a blessing and then him a blessing. Having such a direct confirmation that I'm doing the Lord's work was amazing.

Saturday was also great. We baptized a girl named Mikaylah. She is 14. We're now trying to teach her parents. They have testimonies, especially her mom, but they aren't married and aren't living the Word of Wisdom.

On Wednesday we had a Meet the President meeting. President Sagers and his family seem like great people. He has a 16 year old son and 19 year old daughter with him. He told us we were allowed to talk to his daughter but that was it! He spent 25 years working for CES (Church Education System) and is very well acquainted with the scriptures. President Thurston was very business oriented and number focused. It seems like President Sagers focus will be to make us all better teachers. I'm excited to get to know him better.

I love the Lord. I know I'm doing His work. I know the atonement is real and I love teaching people about it.

I love y'all very much.

Love,

Elder Rindlisbacher

P.S.  Whether you think you can or your can't, you're right.

A New Mission President

     You are probably wondering why you didn't receive an email this week. Well here's the story. It is the morning of Prep-Day (Preparation Day), and after a thorough cleaning of the apartment we decided we'd get our emailing and shopping done first thing so we could \go and play with our district. When we got down stairs and into our car we turned the key and "click" "click" "click" --- dead battery. After about an hour of running around like a chicken with it's head cut off we hot a jump and headed to the store. After arriving back at home we drove to the library which was conveniently closed until the fifth. So, we were like "no problem, we'll email from the apartment office." When we got back we logged on. I got on first. No email yet, so I let Elder Whittier go. He wrapped it up pretty fast, and then people were waiting to use the computer so we decided to try later. Later rolled around and we went back to the office. After waiting for a guy I hopped on. I typed in the URL and pressed enter. It loaded so slow. After multiple attempts and about 15 minutes I decided it wasn't worth the stress it was causing so I resolved to write by hand this week.
     This week was an awesome week. We had some really cool experiences, and got a new mission president.
     We have very limited miles because we are in a bike area in a car. It was the end of the month and we had almost no miles left so we rode bikes this week. Part of a hurricane hitting the coast sent some storms this way so the weather was crazy this week. It rained and poured on Monday and the rest of the week has been a mix of rain when the clouds are over us and really hot when they aren't.
      Last Friday we decided to go visit Brother Humble. He has one of the strongest testimonies I've ever heard. He is active in his calling, and participated in everything at church. Brother Humble is just not baptized. For years he has struggled with an addiction to cigarettes. Last week we had visited him while on exchange and talked to him about quitting. He has the desire, but is scared of failure and doesn't want a lot of help. We were going by Friday to drop off pictures of Chris's baptism to remind him of his goal. When we knocked on the door he answered. He looked surprised but excited to see us. He invited us in. After visiting for a while he began to tear up. He explained to us that his daughter was having a rough time and needed a blessing. He didn't have home teachers right now and didn't know who to call. He decided to pray. He told us that he asked Heavenly Father to send priesthood holders. When he got off of his knees he heard a knock at the door. It was us. We gave his daughter a blessing and then him a blessing. Having such a direct confirmation that I'm doing the Lord's work was amazing.
     Saturday was also great. We baptized a girl named Makaylah. She is 14. We're now trying to teach her parents. They have testimonies, especially her mom, but they aren't married and aren't living the Word of Wisdom.
      On Wednesday we had a Meet the President meeting. President Sagers and his family seem like great people. He has a 16 year old son and 19 year old daughter with him.  He told us we were allowed to talk to the daughter, but that was it!  He spent 25 years working for CES (Church Education System) and is very well acquainted with the scriptures. President Thurston was very business oriented and very number focused. It seems like President Sagers focus will be to make us all better teachers. I'm excited to get to know him better.
      I love the Lord. I know I'm doing his work. I know the atonement is real and I love teaching people about it.
     I love y'all very much.

Love,
Elder Rindlisbacher

P.S. Whether you think you can or you can't, you're right.

Officially 21

     I'm officailly 21. It's funny how if you tell anyone that it's your 21st birthday outside of the church they assume that you are going to be partying hard that night. I'm happy to say I still haven't drunk a drop of alchohol. I've seen the effects that it can have on some people and it's sad.

     My birthday felt like just about any other day. We had a zone huddle and then ate at Double Daves, a pizza buffett. Then we knocked doors, taught people and worked hard. I didn't tell anyone about it because I don't like the attention, so my companion was happy to tell everyone. I heard from grandma and grandpa and they sent me a tie.

     The work had slowed down there for a bit, but it is beginning to pick back up. A lot of the people we had been teaching had recieved anti from a couple of sources. We stopped by one of them, and he let us know that he was still interested. He said that he is trying really hard to stay sober right now and trying not to deal with too much else. I wish he understood the role the atonement could play in his life. He is doing well and we will probably stop by every couple of weeks to see if he is ready.

     We also started teaching a young man who is the grandson of a member in the ward. He is excited to learn. He loves to read and is willing to pray. I know that if he will do those two things with an open mind he will recieve an answer to his prays. I love how simple it is.

     We had the Assistants to the President come and visit us on Monday evening. We went and visited with a few of our investigators. I sometimes get frusterated at how number focused the AP's can be. They are great teachers but a lot of the time they will get in and scare away investigators by trying to set dates. Luckily they didn't scare anyone this time. They spent the night and then in the morning did studies with us. They had us role play with them and commented that we were the best companionship they had seen in their travels.

     Other than that nothing too new is going on.

I love y'all

Love Elder Rindlisbacher

A Father's Day Letter

Hey Dad,

Happy Fathers Day!!! Seeing that it is fathers day I thought it was your turn to get an email. Dad I'm so grateful for your example. Being out on my mission makes me realize how blessed I really am. Satan is attacking the family, but I have the best example to follow to be a great husband and father. I'm so grateful for everything you've taught me. I am grateful for all of those times you encouraged me to do what is best, even if I didn't listen all of the time. Thank you for allowing me to make decisions and learn for myself at times. Thank you for all of the support you gave me in all of my hobbies, even if they were a little nerdy at times :). Thank you for choosing the best lady ever to be a mom to be mine. Thank you for laughing even when it isn't funny. Thank you for the letters every week. I joke with my companions that your letters sound like something out of Preach My Gospel. I'm grateful for your diligent effort at studying and living the gospel. Thank you so much for being worthy to make covenants so that our family will be together for ever. I love you so much. I've met a lot of dads out here but none as good as you. Keep it up.

Love your son,

Elder Nathan Rindlisbacher

PS Let mom know you got the email this week. I'm only allowed to send one.

Disappointments with Investigators

Dear Family,

     Well we've had an interesting week full of highs and lows. I'm blessed with a very strong district. We are all young in the mission. My companion and the other companionship have all been out one transfer less than me. In a lot of ways they are better missionaries than I am. My companion, Elder Whittier, is a great teacher. The others have a super good work ethic. I'm excited to be around them and to learn from how they do things.

     Last Sunday we were calling to remind a few people about church. When we called one of our most solid investigators he let us know that he had gone to his church that morning and they told him some things about the Mormons that concerned him. He doesn't really want to meet with us again. We plan on swinging by in a week or so and trying to iron things out. I hate that other churches will twist truths to make them seem wrong or confusing. It was very frustrating.

     Yesterday we had our final zone conferance with President Thurston. He is one of the most powerfull speakers I have ever heard. The spirit was great and I realized some things that I could be doing a lot better. It is a little sad to see him go but I'm excited about meeting President Sagers.

     We got a call a couple of days before the Zone Conferance and they let us know that we would be recieving a car! They haven't told us how long we will have it but I'm glad that I wont be riding a bike anymore in this abnoxious heat and humidity. We also had our phone replaced. They also bring all of the mail from the office to the Zone Conferances and both me and Elder Whittier both got two pieces of mail! It was a great day.

     After the conferance we went back to the apartment, in our car!, and had a short break before we had dinner. After dinner we were picked up by our exchange and went to go visit with our investigator Cami. When we got to her house her husband met us outside and let us know that as a family they decided that they were going to start going to a non-denominational church up the street. By Cami's face you could tell it wasn't a family decision. She was progressing so well. Each lesson that we had had with her the spirit was in ubundance, and on two occasions she felt it so strong she was in tears. It is sad to watch someone's progression be slowed by someone they love. We still haven't decided how or if we will try to get back into contact with her.

     We decided that our area is falling apart and we need to do something about it. We are going to strive to be 100% obedient and not as light minded. It will be a struggle to let go of a little bit of pride and allow myself to change a bit, but I know it is the only way we will be blessed. Please pray for Cami and Shannon.

Love Elder Rindlisbacher

Fossil Ridge Area

Hey Family,

     I'm loving life! The fossil Ridge area is great. It is a lot more wealthy than the other area's I have been in. In my last area there where a lot of wealthy areas but we never spent any time in them we always tracted in the ghetto. I thought that was the best thing to do because the people there were more humble and willing to hear us out, but I'm realizing there needs to be a balance.

    The people here that will listen to you are golden. We found a man named Shannon the other day. He is a recovering alcoholic who is going through a bit of a rough time but he is a great father and he is open to the ideas we have been sharing with him. He has been reading from the Book of Mormon and has committed to come to church already.

     We baptised a 15 year old black kid named X-Zavier on Sunday. He is the last of his family to get baptised. It was awesome to see how happy he and his family were at the baptism. This area has been doing great. They had previously baptised 5 other members of his family and two other people before I got here. We also have three other baptismal dates set. Please pray that we will be able to get back into contact with some of our investigators.

     I'm enjoying the bike as long as I have water. A member let us borrow a GPS and we are going to keep track of how many miles we are riding every day, but I would guess that we do somewhere between 5 to 10 miles a day. All of the close areas to us have been tracted so we have to ride up hill to the last area that hasn't been tracted recently.

     P-days here are interesting. We have to rely on other Elders for our ride to and from places and today everyone is in a hurry so I love yall.

Love Elder Rindlisbacher

Keller, Texas

For information about Keller, Texas you can read at the following link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keller,_Texas

Have a great day!

Nathan's Dad

Transfer and Mission Leadership

Well I usually worry about not having enough to write about, but then something unexpected happens and then there is plenty. We had 22 missionaries going home this last transfer, and we didn't get quite as many so a lot of the areas including mine that had two sets of missionaries are back down to one. I am now serving in the Fossil Ridge area in Keller, Texas, in the Hurst Stake as a district leader. My new companion's name is Elder Whittier, and he is from Virginia. Oh and did I mention that I'm on a bike.

Fossil Ridge from what I have heard has been a great area lately. We currently have 5 dates set and the member support seems to be really good. From what I have seen it seems to be a pretty middle class/upper middle class place. There are a lot of homes about our size, except they all seem to be 10+ years newer.

I'm not sure about this whole leadership thing yet. So far all I have had to do is collect and report numbers from my district. I hear the only other real responsibility is to give trainings at district meeting. I think that leadership positions make you think about your focus and how good of an example for younger missionaries you are being.

Elder Whittier seems to be a great missionary. He has been out one less transfer than I have, and loves hard work. He grew up on a cattle ranch and his dad is a Vet at Virginia Tech. He likes country music but he has a good sense of humor, so I think we will get along great. He has been on a bike his entire mission so he is a bit faster than me right now, but I keep up alright. I am excited for this transfer.

After a long day riding around on a bike in 94 degrees and some humidity I slept very well. I am excited for this new experience, and super excited to be in an area where the focus isn't finding :)

I love y'all

Elder Rindlisbacher

Finding a New Investigator

Time is a bit shorter today. We had a pizza party that we won as a zone from a competition as the mission and then I got stuck playing a game of Risk. Don't worry, it was completely worth it. I won.

Thank you for all of the packages and letters this week. I got two of the packages yesterday, and the letters today. From the pictures it looks like the kids have already changed a bit since I left. Crazy. It is always great to get updates from people. And the shirts will be great. I was down to two short sleeve shirts and it has been in the low 90's with humidity. Gross.

The work is still a little slow. We are trying all sorts of things to find more people to teach. I think that this area might be going back down to one companionship next transfer, which is next week. The transfers are flying!!!

We don't have much of an area book in our apartment, so when I went on exchange last week and stayed in the others apartment in the evening I went through some old records and wrote down some names with their information. I got four names that sounded pretty promising. Two were bad phone numbers one was already being worked with by other missionaries, and I was able to set up an appointment with one. We went and visited her last night. After visiting for a while I asked her why she had stopped meeting with the missionaries. She said that one set of missionaries came and told her that they were both being transferred and left a number for her to reach the new missionaries. She tried calling the new number after she hadn't heard from the new missionaries and it was a bad number. She seems very interested and she has read a bit from the Book of Mormon.

I know that the Lord blesses us for our obedience and hard work. I will continue striving to be more obedient and more hardworking until the end.

Love, Elder Rindlisbacher

PS: Pride and Prejudice is way worse than Lord of the Rings.

Humidity

Not a whole lot has really changed or been going on. We are slowly seeing our teaching pool increase. Last Tuesday we were out with a member in the evening and we had our appointments fall through. I asked him if he could think of anyone that could benefit from a visit from the missionaries. He said he couldn't think of anyone from off the top of his head but he asked for the ward list. He chose a sister who the other missionaries had already visited but we agreed. She was a recent convert of just a couple of months. She has been fairly active, but has been under the weather recently. When we went to visit her she let us in and we shared a spiritual thought with her and her sister. We invited her sister out to church and we should be starting to teach her this up coming week.

Yesterday was a pretty rough day for me. It has been hot and humid. Humidity, I have discovered, means you are uncomfortable. We went tracting and we were knocking doors. When we returned to the car, my companion pointed out that I had a huge set stain that had picked up dirt off of my backpack and looked rather large and disgusting. We tracted a bit for an hour or so more and then did some stop byes. I decided we better go in so that I could change before dinner and our appointments in the evening. I changed my white shirt and it felt great to be dry and in the cool apartment again. Our exchange was a little late so I decided to update some things on our board we have in the room. After I finished updating the board I was trying to cap the marker and it slipped and marked about a four inch line on the front of my last clean short sleeve shirt. arghhhhhhhhhhhhh! Anyways I'll get over it, I just hope that it comes out in the wash.

I had the option of going to visit the new Dallas Cowboy stadium today. It cost $18 bucks so I decided not to. My companion is there so I am with my district, Elder Togogae and Misustin. Sometimes it is good to get a break from your companion.

I'm sorry I cut y'all off there at the end of our phone call. I realized that my time was seconds from being up and I had to go. I think Nicki was trying to ask me a question, and I'd love to answer it if she would send a letter and ask. I loved visiting with y'all and it sounds like everyone is doing great. Keep it up. I love y'all very much.

Love Elder Rindlisbacher

My Missionary Life

Texas is humid. It got up into the 80's yesterday I think and it felt like 100. It was pretty killer. Before dinner at a members I decided to change my shirt. We ate at the Black's house last night. Brother Black is a pediatric surgeon and lives in a very nice home, but he also lives across the street from an NBA player who plays for the Denver Nuggets. The NBA player's home is huge. From what I hear it is 18,000 sq ft. That is ridiculous.

Mom was asking for a break down of how a regular day goes, so here it is. We wake up at 6:25 and are out the door at 6:30 for 30 minutes of exercise. Then from 7-8 we have time to eat breakfast and shower and get dressed. At 8 o'clock we hit the books for an hour of personal study. Then at 9 we have a companion study, where we talk about what we studied during personal study, recite something, read from the white handbook, and then role play teaching situations. We head out the door at 10 and teach and find until 9 or 9:30pm except for an hour at lunch and dinner.

On preparation day, every Thursday, our morning routine is the same except that after studies we spend 30 minutes cleaning the apartment. Then we have from 10:30 until 6pm to take care of all of our preparations. We usually have some sort of physical activity, shop, laundry, email, write letters, and listen to music other than Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I am usually quite tired after a p-day.

I still don't know a ton of people in the ward, but the people I have met are really a great group. We cover a part of a place called Dalworthington Gardens witch is a super nice area. We also cover a place called Stop 6 which is super ghetto.

We haven't been teaching a ton yet, but it is slowly picking up. We are finding more and more people through tracting, but it feels really slow. I see the Lord blessing us as we strive to work harder and be obedient. President Thurston interviewed us this week and let me know that our area has enough work for one set of Elders, but sometimes not enough for two. I hope that isn't a hint that I will be transferred next transfer, but if that is the case it wont kill me.

The mail dry spell has ended. Aside from immediate family, it had been 8 weeks since I had gotten mail. I got an email from Kyle and it sounds like the weather is crazy where he is as well. He is getting snowed on right now. I'll take the heat over the cold any day.

Love, Elder Rindlisbacher

Sunday is Mothers Day!! I will call at 4pm my time, or 2pm for y'all I think. I am very excited to visit with y'all. Last phone call was not long after I had left, and there wasn't a ton to talk about. I will have no more than 40 minutes to visit with y'all and I plan on being obedient.

Information About Arlington Texas

Arlington (nickname Aggtown) is located east of Ft. Worth, about 20 miles from Dallas. It has a population of just over 374,000 people. 60% of the population is White, 18% Hispanic, 14% Black. Median household income is just over $52,000. 85% of those over the age of 25 graduated from high school. 30% are college graduates and 9% have advanced degrees.  About 51,000 of the residents are foreign born. 36% are Southern Baptist. 22% are Catholic. 13% are United Methodist.  11% are of German ancestry. 9% of English ancestry. 9% Irish ancestry.

Arlington is the home of the Texas Rangers major league baseball team and the Dallas Cowboys NFL football team. Six Flags is located in Arlington as well and boasts a roller coaster that is 255 feet high.

Serving as a Co-Senior

It's been another week. Before I know it the two years will have passed and I won't know where they've gone. I'm liking what I've seen of Arlington so far. It was Stake conference this last weekend, so I still haven't met a lot of the ward. It seems like an awesome ward though.

My companion and I are getting along great. We are serving as co-seniors, witch means that we are both experienced enough that President doesn't want either of us to feel less important and be called a junior companion. Elder Stuart is a very good obedient missionary. When he was growing up he had quite a few health issues, and his parents have taken it pretty easy on him. Sometimes he is a bit socially awkward, but he has a great heart. He is pretty reserved, so it is giving me an opportunity to grow a lot. I just do most of the talking. He is from a family of 4 children two of which were adopted. His parents have been very successful and they own a very large home.

We have two other Elders serving in our area as well. Elder Togogae and his Greenie (new missionary) Elder Misustin. It has been a lot of fun. We have been meeting up and knocking doors around each other so that we can keep track of what has and hasn't been done easier.

The work is a little slow at the moment, but we are working hard to get it turned around. We are only working with a few people, but the ones I've met seem semi-promising. We have an investigator named Frank who is a very active Roman Catholic. The missionaries found him a year ago, and they have met with him on and off for a long time. He is a very intelligent guy, and seems to know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that Joseph Smith is a prophet. He is having a hard time letting go of his deep Catholic roots. I hope that I'll know how we can help him best.

We visited Mike, the guy I met with last week. It was great. He had kept his commitments and had read from the Book of Mormon. He gave me a bit of a scare. He said he had done some research on the internet about Mormons, and said that he had to go get something. I thought for sure that he had run into some anti-Mormon material and was going to have some very deep doctrinal questions. But he had a paper where he had written down some of the things he had reasearched. I'm not sure if he is super interested, but he is at least very curious. If he continues to keep the commitments that we leave with him, I know that God will answer his prayers and he will know that the message we share is true.

I'm loving life. The mission is hard work, but I'm having a lot of fun while I am at it.

Love Elder Rindlisbacher

I love you all. Let my siblings know I would love to hear from them.

A Move to Arlington and a New Companion

It has been a good week. I was able to visit a lot of the people that I love in Gainesville before the transfer and I was still able to get quite a bit of work done before I left. We visited my investigator Kelly and taught her a lesson on the gospel path. She really enjoys meeting with us. I hope that she will continue to keep commitments and decide to be baptized. I know that she really could use a lot of the blessings that come along with baptism. She will make a great member.

I had slacked off pretty bad in journal writing, so I decided to write a quick summary of my time in Gainesville including a bunch of names and descriptions of people that I do not want to forget.

We traveled down to Hurst for our transfer meeting yesterday. Elder Cooper is training this transfer, so we were both able to head down. I know he'll be a great trainer. I learned a lot from him. He taught me to work hard, and how to turn an area around. When he first arrived we had only one person we were teaching, and that one person wasn't progressing. Now in Gainesville there are 5 or so people they are teaching and they each have a lot of potential. They will be baptising in the coming months. President Thurston gave us a training on joy in service, and then we were able to hear the departing missionaries testimonies. Among those going home this transfer was my trainer Elder Taulanga. Last transfer he and his companion Elder Birch served as zone leaders in Arlington. They worked very hard and had a lot of success. Another elder going home was Elder Swinie, I'm not sure that I spelled that correctly, but he is from Fresno and served in my zone for this last transfer. I think he is from East Stake. He was a very funny guy and has talked about sending me a double double from In 'n Out in the mail.

I've been called to serve in the Arlington 3rd ward for the next stretch. It seems to be a very good area. From what I hear, the poorest portion of the mission is in my area, but from what I 've seen so far it seems to be pretty diverse. We had dinner at a very big home in a gated community, and we tracted an area that reminded me of the area around the Fresno West stake center. However in the evening we went to an apartment complex on the other side of the tracks to teach a lesson. We taught a large black man by the name of Mike. He was very knowlegable of the bible and was very enthusiastic. I hope that he is baptised so that we can hear him speak during sacrament meeting. We taught a first and he said he will read and pray to know that the Book of Mormon is true, and if he recieves an answer in the affirmative he will be baptised.

I'm serving with an Elder Stuart. He's from Washington, Utah. I guess it is right outside of St. George. He's a small guy and reminds me quite a bit of Remington Hale. He is very obedient, and he has been out for about 15 months. We are serving as co-seniors.

In the process of being transfered I had my towel and pillow outside of my bag, because they wouldn't fit. I know they got into the van that took me to Arlington, but I think I left them in there when I transfered my things to our car. It wouldn't be a huge issue, if I had not put my binder with a bunch of personal info, pictures, letters, and addresses in it. I really hope it shows up.

Love, Elder Rindlisbacher

The Train Man

It's been another week already. Our teaching pool continues to grow and slowly people are starting to progress. It is a really good sign if someone has read since the last time you met with them, and an even better sign if they show up to church. For most of our investigators that hasn't been the case, but a few are starting to read. I hope that they will start coming to church and feel the spirit there.

 

General conference is great. I really enjoyed both of President Uchtdorf's talks on patience and charity. Those are two things that I could improve on. I also gained a better understanding of blessings of healing from Elder Oaks talk durring priesthood. I wish that every person that asked to receive a blessing would read that talk.

After general conference we went over to the Oakley's for dinner. Sister Oakley served a mission in Italy. She made us some lasagna. The Oakleys have 7 children. One is on a mission in Panama, and another is waiting for his mission call. After dinner we had a lesson with their friends Levi and Zach who are 16 and 19 respectively. We taught about the restoration and the Oakleys shared their testimony. The spirit was very strong, and we set return appointments with both of them.

 

Other than that nothing new is really going on. Yesterday while tracting, however, we met a mentally disabled gentleman sitting on his porch. Before I knew that he was disabled I said, "Hello, how are you?" To which he responded, "I like making model trains." He slid his binder toward us on the porch and Elder Cooper asked "What's in the binder?" Then the gentleman responded, "I'm glad you asked." Then he crawled over to the binder and opened it up. He showed us his train magazines, and then said, "Want to see something cool? It doesn't hurt." He then proceded to bend his middle finger all of the way back to his wrist. To top it all off he was wearing a train conductor's hat. We gave him a card and told him to have a nice day. It was probably the funniest thing that I've seen on my mission.

 

This Saturday is transfer calls and I will let you know where I will be for the next bit.

 

Anyways,

Elder Rindlisbacher