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