Week 100

It seems like Elder Rexinger is done writing e-mails. Suffice to say, he is doing well in Connell, WA. Last week, there were four investigators at church, so Dallin and his companion are working hard. He is trying hard to finish strong and make up some of the time he lost when he was transferred out of Connell to the mission office last year.

Thank you again for everyone's support and prayers during Dallin's mission. He had injuries to his foot and back that could have easily sent him home. Fortunately, the Lord had other plans, Dallin recovered, and was able to stay in the mission field. We are very happy for this and excited to welcome Elder Rexinger home in 16 days. Not that we are counting or anything?! He has grown and matured so much as a result of his missionary service, as well as the lives he has influenced that may never truly be known or appreciated. We hear often from members in his areas about how they appreciate Dallin's time with them.

Here are some current pics that were sent recently to at least keep the conversations going.

The Gospel is true. We are very blessed.

The Rexingers

Week 99

Hey Everyone, 

Sorry for the lack of emails this past little bit. It’s been a wild ride!  

I have been transferred to Connell, WA 1st Ward for my last transfer! I was originally in Connell back in February, but I had to get emergency transferred due to my herniated disc in my back. It was sad to say goodbye to all the awesome people in Hermiston, but I'm back to finish what I started back in February in Connell. 

For those that don't know, Connell is a small town of about 5,000 people. And, half the town is a part of the prison in Connell. It's a bunch of fun. I will be spending the last 6 weeks of my mission in the boonies! I spent almost a year in a town of 20,000 people. Six weeks in a town of about 2,500 people is good for 42 days. 

Anyway, we had some good progress going on in Hermiston when I left. We might have helped Daniel move out of our area, but he promised to come to church and give up all his hold backs! Some of the stuff he committed to give up, I know God will help him out. He has some mountains to climb, but I have faith in him. 

We were also working with a woman named Pam that started to read the Book of Mormon. She was a little hesitant at first, but was starting to get over her fears before I left. The Rangel family was hard to get in contact with, but they're super cool. They were always fine with us stopping by, even super late. I have hope for them in the future. The Stubbs are funny, but a long haul to be sure.

Christmas was super-awesome this year. I don't even really remember what happened last year, but for this year we visited members and lonely people. We've were also invited by a couple of families to eat meals with them. 

Happy New Year! See you all next month! 

Thank you for the prayers and support. The Gospel is true.

Elder Rexinger

Week 90?

Hello there everyone! 

Apologies for the lack of emails. I am the worst. I've just gotten worse and worse at it as time goes on. However, I'm here now. 

This week has been alright. Not too much has happened for a while in the realm of finding solid people to teach. However, this past Friday, we were able to find two new people that are part of a family that hasn't been to church for a long time. We had an initial contact with them when the mom, who's a member, sent us a text asking what time church started. We haven't seen her at church yet, but her heart is open to coming back to the Gospel. That makes it possible for us to make an impact with their family and help them come back/enter into the Gospel. 

Light the World is also coming in full swing! The brand new Nativity video called “The Christ Child” is released and is super spiritual and awesome. We've been trying to get the members excited for it and to use it as a missionary tool to invite people to watch it with them. We also invite them to a special December 22nd Sacrament meeting. It's been great getting people involved with it and getting them excited for it. 

Christmas is just around the corner and I'm so excited for it!

Thank you for the prayers and support. The Gospel is true.

Elder Rexinger

Week 88

Hey Everyone, 

Sorry I didn't send an email last week. The sad truth is I started to type one up, then we got busy and I said to myself, I'll finish that later......never did get back to it. I actually forgot about it entirely. 

Transfers happened this past Wednesday and I was called as a District Leader Trainer. I'm training a new missionary while being a District Leader. It's busy and super fun at the same time. My trainee is named Elder Aubrey. He's 6 foot 2 inches and is awesome! He's really dedicated to becoming a good missionary and he's super genuine and nice.

The area is doing really good. It hasn't been touched for a while, so it's good to be back! We had a lot of contacts, lessons and member appointments. I love the members here, they're the best. 

I can't really think of anything that happened specifically this past week, but last week we baptism in the YSA. 

Well, love you all, see ya! 

Thank you for the prayers and support.

Elder Rexinger

Week 87

Dear Friends and Family,

This week has been pretty good! We were able to have Stake Conference here in Hermiston, and I was able to meet another General Authority. Ever since I became a missionary, I've met quite a few. Some of those have actually been by accident. The first was Elder Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Others I have met are Elders Douglas Holmes, Devin Durrant, C. Scott Grow, Scott Whiting, Jörg Klebingat, and now J. Scott Dorius. I have a picture from when my companions and I met him and shook his hand. It was super cool. 

We were all at a baptism for a boy named Edwin that was being baptized in the Spanish Group here in Hermiston. There was a missionary there named Hermana Guymon. Elder Dorius had actually served with her dad on his mission. He stood up after Hermana Guymon had given a talk on the gift of the Holy Ghost and he revealed it. It was a super spiritual moment. He spoke of her dad and how he had passed away several years ago and shared his thoughts. It was SO spiritual.

In other news, we’re going to have a baptism tomorrow at 6 pm for someone named Sierra. She's been taught for a couple months now, and all of a sudden she's just like, "get me baptized as soon as possible." We've been doing our best to accommodate her! It was last Monday that she started moving forward super fast. A week and a day later, she's getting baptized! We've been going by every single day to teach her more and more. It's been super cool. Miracles have been popping up all over the place here in the WKM!

That's basically all that's been going on this week. 

See ya next week! The Gospel is true. 

Elder Rexinger

Halloween Pumpkin Carving

Baptism service with Elder J. Scott Dorius

Week 86

This week has been a happy and a sad one! My companion Elder Woods completed his mission and went home this past Saturday. 

President and Sister Rasmussen came down to Hermiston for Interviews and at the end instead of interviewing Elder Woods they just drove up to the Tri-Cities with him. He had his final interview up there in Kennewick. 

I went with the Zone Leaders that I've been living with for the past 2+ months. I didn't have to move apartments or anything, Elder Woods just.... Left. Now we cover 3 congregations. We're super busy to be sure! It'll be like this until November 6th.

We had to get some goodbye pictures with Elder Woods before he headed out. We took a couple of good ones in front of the Hermiston Water Tower. For those not paying attention, I have been eating healthier, exercising as directed by our leaders and losing a bunch of weight. I also learned that the other Elders have been messing with me while I've been asleep! I usually fall asleep before everyone else and I am a DEEP sleeper. 

Also, there was an emergency transfer!!! A missionary was transfered from Hermiston to Pasco for medical reasons. Elder Calvin was the one that took his place her in Hermiston! If anyone remembers, Elder Calvin and I are good friends. We were in Hermiston together last time, now we're back! I just think thats funny. 

Hopefully next week I will have more teaching and missionary work to report.

Thank you for the prayers and support. The Gospel is true.

Elder Rexinger

Elder Woods and I

The Hermiston Water Tower

Week 85

Dear Friends and Family,

This week has been pretty eventful to be sure. We were visited by a General Authority this past Thursday for Mission Conference. His name is Elder Klepingat.  He's from Germany and he prefaced his address to us (for 6 hours) with saying how he was from Germany and that he doesn't pull punches basically. He told us to "cowboy up." That was really funny to hear from him. All I could think of was Elder Uchtdorf rebuking the tar out of us with his accent. It was pretty funny.

He taught us a ton go good stuff, including him rebuking the whole mission about exercising. He told all of us to do cardio everyday but Sunday. Thankfully, I've been doing that already.

He also taught us about using the Book of Mormon in our teaching and street contacting. He then showed a really cooly way to memorize stuff. He called in a memory palace. I've been trying it out and it is awesome.

My companion Elder Woods goes home this upcoming Saturday, just a couple of days away. It's weird to think about. He's doing really good and not even getting trunky. Even down to the last week, he's being a champ. He'll actually go up to Tri-Cities on Friday when President Rasmussen comes for interviews to Hermiston. Thursday will be our last real day, and that's the day he plans on packing. This week will be weird. I'll probably stay with another companionship we've been living with and triple with them until the end of the transfer November 6th.

Nothing crazy has been happening with our people this week. Unfortunately, no one came to church yesterday that we're currently teaching. There was however, a daughter of a less-active, part-member family, that was there with an awesome active family named the Whites. We're not sure if the daughter is a member, so we might have had a non-member at church? We also have an awesome referral in the works. A couple of youth named Abigail and Aaron have a friend that is really interested in the church. They are working introducing us to him. We have some good things going on right now, all because of the members.

That's about it for the week. Thank you for the prayers and support. The Gospel is true.

Elder Rexinger

Elder Woods and I doing service and cleaning up a garage