Week 48

Dear Family and Friends,

Christmas Eve is upon us, and I am excited to be a missionary this time of year. It is exciting because I am able to focus 100% on the reason for Christmas and not have to deal with the commercialized state it has become over the years. The birth of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer being celebrated is amazing. I've loved serving this Christmas season. I've only got one Christmas on my mission left after this.

I've been loving my mission. I can't believe it's almost half over. I actually hit my 11 month mark today. Christmas is tomorrow, New Years is 8 days away, and my birthday is 10 days away. Lots of big stuff going on this next little bit.

We got a new person on date this week! I wasn't there for it because we were on exchanges, but it is still awesome! We made a big push for having people at church for the special Sacrament Meeting, and we had 6 people come to church! It was awesome!

I hope everyone is ready for the new “Come, Follow Me” program next year? I'm excited for it. As long as we do it faithfully, I know for a fact our faith with strengthen and grow as our prophet, Russell M. Nelson has promised us.

Also, did anyone see the Christmas devotional? That was awesome. If you didn't have a chance to watch it, I would definitely recommend it.

Thank you for the prayers and support. I am super excited to see and talk with my family and cousins on Christmas Day.

The Gospel is true.

Elder Rexinger

Merry Christmas from Hermiston.

Week 47

Hello My Family and Friends,

Christmas is nearly upon us and I'm excited for it. Not only because I get to call my fantastic family, but also being able to remember our Savior’s birth this time of year is really special. I have the location for calling home all settled and figured out, just gotta find out a time.

I've been receiving some things as we get closer and closer to Christmas, but I've tucked them away under the little tree that we have in our apartment and I'm waiting until Christmas. We also made some of our own Christmas ornaments. It was awesome, it just involves a large tub of water, spray paint, and clear glass ornaments. It was part of a Butte Ward activity that we caught the tail end of when we showed up at the church for our weekly correlation meeting. It was fun, but you might want to wear a mask when you do it. Them fumes are bad for ya.

Anyways, we have been doing quite a bit of service this week. Twice this week we've been called in the morning time to help with this last second service project. For example, we helped someone move out of their house with a 15 minute heads up. We also helped move a piano, as well as clean some houses. We love it, and it's been helping Shanna out a lot with her house.

I love being a missionary. I love being able to help people. Sorry, but I forgot to take pictures this week, my bad. Next week for sure though!

Thank you for prayers and support. Merry Christmas.

Elder Rexinger

Week 46

Hello My Friends and Family,

Elder Skinner and I have been hard at work this week as we are every week. We did a lot of service indeed. We helped Shanna clean up her house as much as we could. We started with the back porch and after a while we started working on the interior. I organized the HECK out of her cupboards and vacuumed a ton of stuff. We also brought over some Greased Lightning to help out, we left it there and Shanna’s son Liam (who has had a history of NOT cleaning in the past) spends a lot of time cleaning because of how effective the cleaner really is. He says, "I just spray it and wipe and it comes off!" Greased Lightning is really awesome if you haven't heard of it, it's the best. It apparently makes cleaning fun. We're also gonna be heading over to Shanna’s again tomorrow to help paint the inside of her house. That is gonna be awesome because she really likes us. 

We did some more service helping Tara move out of her house. That was fun. We did some prep work with boxing up a bunch of stuff and different things like that. Then, we helped move the washer and dryer from downstairs, took the legs off the dinner table and moved it, moved the TV stand, moved some beds, etc. What's cool is that all the people we've been working with so far have all trusted us. They've basically all said "When you leave, I'm gonna cry" or, "I'm gonna miss you when you eventually leave."

I am glad to hear from them that we're appreciated, but we always gotta make sure they're converted to the Gospel, not to us. If they're converted to us, then we're hosed when we eventually leave them.

Everyone stay safe out there. I was disheartened when I looked at my email and saw that my little sister Elise was a passenger in a recent car accident that seriously injured one of her friends.

Thank you for the prayers and support.

Elder Rexinger

Hanging out at the North Pole

Zone Leader's Christmas Tree

Week 45

Hey Everybody,

Our people we are teaching have been doing alright this week. There haven't been too many developments there. Elder Skinner and I are gonna be out finding a lot in the next transfer. Oh yeah, speaking of transfers, Elder Skinner and I are staying together here in Hermiston, so I get to finish his training. Not a lot of people were transferred in the Zone. Our new Zone Leader is Elder Eberhard. He was in the West Rishland Zone while I was there and he's awesome. I can't wait to be serving with him again. 

We already found some new people, Nancy and her kids, Isaiah and Tina. There's pretty cool. They are really comfortable around us and Nancy really wants to learn about Jesus. We're looking forward to working with them. I'm looking forward to these next few weeks. Elder Skinner and I are gonna be out here in Hermiston doing our best to find, teach and baptize. 

In other news, last Monday during zone sports, I sprained my thumb. I was playing goalie in a game called Gator Ball. We were playing with a volleyball. It's not very heavy, so you can throw it really, really fast. I put my hand up to block a shot and hurt it. Someone in the ward, Dr. Alder, said it was more than a simple jammed thumb. I went and got myself a nice thumb brace. Everyone likes commenting on it. I was also told by the Mission Nurse that I might be banned from P-day sports because of how often I get injured. It's all good though.

That's all for this week.

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

Elder Rexinger

Getting ready for the day.

Decorating doors for a service project at a care home

Week 44

Hey my wonderful friends and family,

How's it going? How was Thanksgiving? Anyone go Black Friday Shopping? I miss Black Friday Shopping. A few times I went and helped my mom out with Black Friday. We waited for hours at Best Buy and Target. It's worth it though. While my Mom would be getting all her stuff, I'd just throw my own personal things in the cart. When we got up to the cashier, she'd usually just let it slide. I enjoyed it. :)

Thanksgiving consisted of 4 hours of eating and not too much else. It's been weird with how dark it gets when it's super early. It's pitch black outside at like 4:45 pm up here.

The transfer is almost over. It ends on December 5th, and I hope I stay here in Hermiston. I want to finish training Elder Skinner. The longest I've served in an area is 4 1/2 months. (3 transfers) Who knows how long I'll be here in Hermiston? The end of this transfer will be 3 months, so not too shabby.

The area has kinda reached a standstill. A lot of our people have been hard to get in contact with. We did meet this awesome lady named Nancy. She has met with missionaries in the past, but she has said that she likes us (myself and Elder Skinner) a lot. We were even invited to her daughter’s 18th birthday party. We haven't seen Jocilyn for a while. Billy got back from Pendleton, so we'll see what's going on with him soon. The Jons family have shut us down pretty much. Erich told us their family is too busy to meet with us right now. We're gonna be doing a lot of finding in the next coming days. I can't wait to see how it goes.

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

Elder Rexinger

The former Elder Zachary visited us.

Week 43

Hello Family and Friends,

This has been a really, really weird week. To start off, we had our Zone Conference on Friday. Big news-member dinners for Oregon, Washington, California, Hawaii, Alaska, and parts of Canada are going away. They don't exist anymore. (except on Saturdays and Sundays when invited, and Holidays!) Starting in December we're on our own for dinners. We are now designated to eat from 4-5 every weekday. It's gonna take some getting used to, but it'll be good I guess. Apparently the other missions that have tried this out reported that it's been working out really well even though the members still want to feed us. They're a little upset about it. It's gonna be weird to eat at 4. We'll just be out finding more people to teach.

Also, my District leader has been sent out to the mission office. He's been really sick and has been sent to the mission office like I was! His trainee Elder Harmon has been assigned to Elder Prosser, way out in the West Richland Stake (MY HOME aka first area!!!) It's just Elder Skinner and I in the apartment now. It's weird and cool at the same time. We are now in Elder Pulver’s district now, which is gonna be a party. He's so fun to be around once you get past his germ phobia. Looking forward to this week. We can't wait to get out there and kill it.

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving.

Elder Rexinger

Facebook Pic of the Hermiston Elders

Week 42

Dear Family and Friends,

I hope everyone had a good Veterans Day this week. It was a pretty good day for us. We did a lot of service that day. I'm thankful for all those who served and those who are currently serving our country. My loyalty goes to the Marine Corps for my Dad. Regardless, we're thankful for all of you.

This week has been pretty good. We put another person on date and he is super solid. He's 11 years old and wants to be baptized so bad it's not even funny. We can help him out with that. There has been some awesome stuff going on with the Mission. There is now a big push to work with members, get in their homes and get to know them more. From 8-9 pm, that's our member time. I'm looking forward to it, especially with the awesome stuff that's been happening with the members thus far.

President Hinckley once said something like, "When a member gives you a referral, there is an immediate support system." Sharing the Gospel can be difficult, but you don't have to be a set apart missionary to do it. You can do it through the small and simple things you do day by day, being an example to others, and when they have questions, don't be afraid to answer them!

"We are a missionary minded Church, with a God given mandate to proclaim the message of the restoration to all the world!"-President Thomas S. Monson.

I plead with you all to be the good in the world, be a bright light shining in the darkness of our world today. The Light of Christ is easy to see when you're looking for it. Have that light with you at all times, in all things, and in all places.

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

Elder Rexinger

Week 41

Hello Everyone,

My week has been really good. Training a new missionary is a lot easier than I thought it would be. I guess it depends on the trainee. I really lucked out with Elder Skinner. We've been helping out a lot of people. We have been doing a good amount of service for everyone, as well as teaching of course. We helped chop away at some roots of a Russian olive tree, helped paint a house, and helped uproot a couple rose bushes. I'm loving it.

We also had a good amount of lessons taught. We have been teaching on the streets and in any situation. You really can compare almost everything to the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Teaching is fun. We actually haven't run into too many mean people this week, just the normal couple of people that don't want to talk to us.

We have also been trying to share scriptures in the Book of Mormon to everyone that we talk to. It's been really fun to test my knowledge of the Book or Mormon and sharing scriptures that pertain to a specific situation. It is a bit easier than expected, but I am sure the Holy Ghost has been helping these things come to my remembrance.

How is everyone doing with President Nelson’s challenge to read the Book of Mormon before the end of the year? I've been trying my hardest. I was in Helaman when the challenge was given to us. I finished the book and have started over. I'm only in 1st Nephi 12 still, but I'll get there I swear!

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

Elder Rexinger

Behind the wheel at last!

P-day bowling

Week 40

Hello People,

I am having an absolute blast being a trainer so far. My trainee is named Elder Skinner. He is from Tomball, Texas, right outside of Houston. We've been together less than a week and it's been really cool being able to get to know him. He's really accepting of the rules and if I have to call him out for something (with love of course), he's super accepting of it and adjusts without any complaint or anything.

We're killing it out here in Hermiston, Oregon. We found 3 new people to teach. We are also helping all our current people progress to baptism. It's gonna be great! Throughout the week some crazy stuff happened. One of the people we're teaching named Jocilyn, is getting evicted from her apartment and her mom tried to burn the apartment down. Crazy stuff. Shanna's cat also swallowed something it shouldn't have, and she had to beg in front of Walmart to try and get the money needed to save her cat. Now that's REALLY crazy. Hermiston is an interesting place to be sure. Member missionary work is awesome by the way. We got the Michael twins being super missionary minded. We brought one of their friends to church and are helping another friend receive answers to questions she has about the gospel. Then, we got Annie that had her friend Destiny over to watch General Conference and is helping answer a bunch of questions she has. She is getting her all ready for us to step in.

What we've recently been sharing is 2 Nephi 2:16, "Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself. Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other." We kinda talk about how the world offers an enticement for evil and wrong doing and how it's our responsibility as members of the Church that have the knowledge of the restored Gospel to be an enticement for good. We can invite others to do sometimes small and simple things to grow their faith and grow to love the Gospel and see how it can help them in their lives. The youth in the Hermiston Ward are doing just that and I love it.

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

Elder Rexinger

Welcome to Elder Skinner and his first area in Hermiston, OR

Hermiston Zone Conference

Week 39

Hello everyone back home,

I am here in the wonderful Hermiston Public Library to tell you that I am going to be training next transfer! Elder Christiansen is getting shipped out to be a District Leader in Richland and I'm staying here in Hermiston. It won't be easy, but with the Lord all things are possible. I'm excited and honored that I have been trusted to train a brand new missionary. I have an exciting time ahead of me, and please pray for me in light of this great responsibility I have been given.

Other than that, things have been going really smoothly. We had an entire family of five at church this past Sunday and they absolutely loved it! They hope to start coming more often. Also, there have been some good things happening with the other people we're teaching. Jocilyn is telling people she can't help people out with anything on Sunday because she's gonna be coming to church. Billy and Mariah are opening up to us more and are really starting to trust us. Even their roommate that is of another religion is opening up to us. We're also gonna be teaching a couple people who formerly looked into the church. Great things are happening here.

I've also been working on memorizing lots and lots of scriptures, like the good old ones from seminary (totally should have memorized them long ago, sorry all my seminary teachers!) Increasing our knowledge of the scriptures allows us to gain a greater knowledge and testimony of God and Jesus Christ. We have this declaration from the Prophet Joseph Smith himself, "I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book."

Draw nearer to God, read the Book of Mormon and other works of scripture today to know of the goodness of God and his great mercies.

Thank you for the support and prayers.

Elder Rexinger

"Some light climbing" Dallin says, in proselytizing clothes. Typical Dallin

Week 38

Hello Family and Friends, 

This week has been pretty good. We found 5 new people to teach. It's been fun. We had a Zone Blitz. Myself and Elder Christiansen had Elder Bell, one of our Zone leaders tag along, and it was good. We had some great quality Gospel conversations that night. We also jogged the whole time rather than walk. We were in the mood for some finding and nothing was gonna keep us from talking to EVERYONE. We even knocked on car windows and talked to people like that. We ran into a witch, a woman who claimed she was a witch. She talked about how us Christians had burned a lot of her kind in the past. Yeah, she was crazy, so we left that place in a hurry. Super interesting, super funny. This world is full of all kinds I guess. We have a lot of people we're going to teach this week, Jons family tomorrow, Shanna tomorrow, Leroy on Wednesday, etc. We have a busy schedule ahead of us. I love it.

I've been trying to study about patience and charity from Preach my Gospel recently. With my current predicament with my truncky companion, I found Alma 36:27. It reads, "And I have been supported under trials and troubles of every kind, yea, and in all manner of afflictions; yea, God has delivered me from prison, and from all bonds, and from death; yea, and I do put my trust in him, and he will still deliver me." 

Turn to the Lord in your afflictions and he will raise you higher than you could ever lift yourself.

Thank you for all the prayers and support.

Elder Rexinger

Week 37

Dear Family and Friends,

This is a weird email because it hasn't been a full week (last week), so not a whole lot has happened besides General Conference, which was awesome.

This week has been full of heartbreaks honestly. We've had to stop teaching several people because they just haven't been contacted in forever! We haven't been able to contact them, so we're not entirely sure if they're avoiding us. Missionaries will try to contact them again in the future I'm sure. Until then, we're looking to teach repentance and baptize converts.

Speaking of that, we've been making some tremendous headway in the way of member missionary work. The Jons family is doing fantastic. We have the Weimer family helping us out with them a lot. Brother Weimer has been coming to lessons with us and one of the sons, Erich Jons, is good friends with Dylan Weimer. It's just a good situation all together.

Other than that, I'm good. My foot doesn't bug me at all. My little sister’s birthday was on the 4th. Happy Birthday Elise.

There's gonna be a temple in Yuba City and I'm pumped for that.

General Conference was the best. If you haven't watched it yet, do it. Conference is a great way to strengthen and guide us. Watching it has truly strengthened my testimony that President Russell M. Nelson is a true prophet of God. The true Church of Jesus Christ was restored through the prophet Joseph Smith. Russell M. Nelson is the Lords Prophet in this era of the world.

I love you all. Thank you for the prayers and support.

Elder Rexinger

More pics from the Zone Conf get together.

Missionary photo bomb!

Week 36

Sure enough, there were some technical difficulties last week with writing and sending Dallin’s e-mail on his phone. Here is his letter from last week.

Dear Family and Friends,

We were at the temple today, so our Pday got moved. Apparently, there was a mixup with the temple scheduling. We were initially planning on going to the temple October 17th rather than today, but the Yakima mission apparently booked that exact day as well. A little scrambling and our session was moved to today. Hence, the lack of warning about me not emailing on Monday this week. It was a little unexpected. But, it was awesome as the temple always is. We had our Zone Conference last Friday and it was amazing. It lasted 8 1/2 hours. Dang these meetings are long, but they're good.

We taught a lot of people. We taught Tai, Billy and Mariah, as well as Tiffany and Jocilyn.  We also did a lot of service, and we lit a bonfire! It was so cool. It's burn month in Hermiston, so we're helping get rid of all the extra wood and stuff that has been there for years.

I was thinking about just life in general and how it can be kinda tough sometimes (we're teaching a lot of poorer people) and my thoughts were brought to Psalm 119 verse 105. It reads, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." When we turn to the Lord, he guides us and helps us throughout our lives.”

The important part is to continually turn to him. The more often we reach out to him, the easier it will become to recognize His hand in your life helping to guide you.

The Gospel is true. Thank you for all your prayers and support.

Elder Rexinger

Dallin along with Pres. and Sis. White at the Zone Conf.

Week 35

Hello Family and Friends,

It has been an eventful week here is Hermiston. We've been teaching like crazy. It's honestly been so nice to get out and work rather than sitting in the office. While I enjoyed my time helping out the office missionaries, I like proselyting a bit more.

We've been teaching this one family named the Jons. Brother Jons is a less- active member that is actually really cool. We've been working with his step-kids Erich and Evelyn and his wife April. They're awesome and Erich came to church this Sunday.

We're also working with this one woman named Jocilyn. She has been meeting with missionaries because her grandmother was a member and has since passed on. Jocilyn feels like her grandmother is still helping her because of things that have happened in her life.

We had a lesson with another woman named Shandi last night and her cousin Shaddix, who just got baptized on Saturday. That was awesome.

We are also working with this single mother named Shanna and her 4 kids.

We are getting out there and killing it! I love being a missionary in the great WKM!

Love everyone! See ya! The Gospel is true.

Elder Rexinger

Cleaning the apartment.

Week 34

Hello Family and Friends,

This message is coming to you from here in Hermiston, Oregon! My cousin Elder Johnson (Kaden) is in Salem, Oregon too, just a bit to the west.

First off, I am once again companions with Elder Christiansen. We are going to be applying all the stuff I learned from the AP's and ZL’s. We are going to try to get the members here in Hermiston more involved, so we won’t just be walking around for hours "street contacting".

We spent our time this week trying to get in contact with previously taught people. A lot of people haven't been in contact with the missionaries for like three months. We also ran into some new people. It was pretty cool on Saturday. There were these 2 little girls named Emma and Addison. I'm really good with kids, so I talked to them and they led us around knocking on doors and set us up with a new investigator named Shandie. She's really excited for us to come teach her and her daughter. We knocked on the door and she asked who it was. I answered that we were with Emma and Addy, and she was super happy to see us. We did a little service for her and also set up a lesson with her. We also did some work with some less-actives, and that was awesome. Hopefully, we will have some more success to report next week.

Also, I met another General Authority, this one was at a Denny’s. His name is Elder C. Scott Grow.

I took some more pics and will try to send them via my phone.

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

Elder Rexinger

Dallin and the AP's with a local member

Leave it to Dallin to find a grenade on a mission.

Week 33

Dear Family and Friends,

The time has come yet again for transfer calls. It was a bit different from the past times because I was sitting right next to the Assistants as they made the calls to the different Zones. I will be transferred to the Hermiston, Oregon Zone in the Hermiston Ward with..... Elder Christiansen once again. It's weird how that worked out. One transfer with him in Walla Walla, he left for Hermiston, I stayed in Walla Walla only to break my foot and get sent to Kennewick. Now I'm getting sent to Hermiston to be his companion again.

I had a lot of fun being in the office though. I helped out the office missionaries, so now I got the hook up with them. I did have fun helping out with the T-shirt orders and Flu shot orders, as well and driving around with Elder Rose, the Vehicle Coordinator. I'm gonna be sad to say goodbye to everyone here in Kennewick, regardless of only being here a month. It's good though, and going back in the field will be good for me. I've been itching to get back out walking the streets. Nonetheless, I am reminded of King Benjamin’s counsel in Mosiah Chapter 4 verse 27 "And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order."

I had to spend some time in the office recovering. As much as I wanted to get out there and work, I knew I really couldn't. Gotta do these things in wisdom and order.

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

Elder Rexinger

Dallin and a family from Kennewick that happen to know our Bishop in Roseville really well

Week 32

Hello my wonderful family and friends,

My apologies for not letting you all know that P-Day was postponed until today. I forgot Labor Day switched that all around. Regardless, it has been a really awesome week. Being here in Kennewick has been a blast. I know talking about how I'm grateful for being in Kennewick might include being grateful for me breaking my foot, but I actually am. The people here are awesome. Some missionaries don't really like member missionary work, but I love it. Working in the office has actually been a blast. I have been helping out all the office missionaries. It also has its perks. I'm also spearheading the organization and other logistical responsibilities for the order of new mission T-shirts. My mission doesn't allow logos on T-shirts, except our mission logo. We have navy blue shirts with our mission logo in white. I've been pressuring President and Sister White to add more options for colors. We originally meant for 5 options of what color of shirts we could have. President White shot that down, but I got Sister White working on him, trying to convince him to have more options. That's the office business going on.

There are some awesome things happening here in the Meadow Springs and Badger Mountain Wards. Kevin our investigator has been doing awesome. He is really wanting to live the law of chastity in order to get baptized. He is also looking for a place to move out and live. We got the ward council working to help him. We also helped a guy named Bryan clean his apartment because he had a surprise inspection the next day and he needed help ASAP. We helped him and because of my broken foot status, I helped do the dishes and talked with him the whole time. There was also an awesome experience yesterday with an ex-communicated member who has been trying to get re-baptized. She had a pretty rough time recently, and I gave a spiritual message that almost made her cry. The Spirit was ridiculously strong. I shared Proverbs 3:5-6, Psalms 119:106, and Mosiah 4:9. Those were the main highlights this week.

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

Elder Rexinger

P-day at the Colombia River Temple

Thanks to one of the members in Kennewick who sent us this pic on Facebook

Week 31

Hey Everyone,

This week I spent most of my time in the Mission Office doing miscellaneous tasks for the office missionaries. I helped do an inventory of the proselyting supplies. I usually help with the mail, getting it all prepared to be forwarded to the missionaries.

In the evenings, I've been working primarily with the Zone Leaders in the Badger Mountain and Meadow Springs Wards here in Kennewick. They're both awesome wards. We have a couple of super solid people we are teaching. One of the people is named Kevin and he's awesome. After the first lesson that was taught, he was on super good terms. The first time I heard about him was when he had called us and talked about how he wanted us to come and teach him. He's super solid and awesome. He even came to a baptism that happened on Saturday and he's super excited to progress and make it to the font himself.

My recovery with my foot has been going really well, no pain whatsoever. I can walk on it just fine with or without the boot. In addition to my medical stuff going on, there was an Elder that got super sick for what we think was a viral infection. Initially, it was thought to be appendicitis, but that was ruled out. I spent the day with him in Pasco. I had to leave the baptism early and go spend 10 1/2 hours in the hospital with him. I spent the majority of the time just sitting there. I didn't mind though. What kept going through my head was the Mormon Message called "Lift". If any of you have not seen this message I would ask you to watch it. It's all about how service heals the soul and that kind of thing, it's awesome. This is the link.

https://www.lds.org/youth/video/lift?lang=eng

Overall, I'm doing great. Thank you for the support and prayers. The Gospel is true.

Elder Rexinger

Week 30 - Broken Foot (cont.)

Well hello family and friends,

Yes, I broke my foot. Preparation day was quite eventful last week. It all started on last Monday. I had the good old preparation day email session, followed by an hour long drive to Pendleton, Oregon. We arrived and ate lunch at a pizza buffet (pretty good day so far). We went to the church building afterward where we were getting together for sports and later on, a Zone blitz. We played basketball and scatterball (best game ever). In the middle of one of the scatterball games, I jumped up into the air to dodge the ball and I landed a bit weird I guess. I heard and felt a pop and a cracking sound. My companion at the time said it sounded bad. I thought it was just a sprained ankle. It hurt, but it was manageable. I went into the clinic the next day and X-Rays were taken. The X-rays weren’t really conclusive, because the clinic said they thought they saw something, but they couldn't really tell. I ended up having a CT scan the next day to see for sure. We got a call a couple hours after we left the clinic, and it was confirmed. I have a hairline fracture along one of the bones in my left foot. I was ordered to come back into the clinic to get a boot and later went off to get crutches. I was ordered not to put any weight on my foot for the next 4 weeks, and even then I'll still have to wear the boot for 2 weeks after that. There was a bit of a dilemma. How was I supposed to proselyte? Well the short answer is, I can't really. I got called from my Mission President, President White, and I was told there was a possibility that I would have to go home early. He called my Stake President and my Stake president called my parents and everything. Fortunately, instead of needing to come home, I was moved to Kennewick. I will be working nights with either the Zone Leaders here in Kennewick, or the AP’s, and I will be working in the Mission Office for the next month during the day while I heal.

That's my situation for the next month or so. It's better than going home.
I will know more and update everyone next week.

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

Elder Rexinger

Typical Dallin

Week 29 - Broken Foot

Hey Everyone,

Dallin apparently was playing basketball last p-day and broke his foot after someone landed on him. The Mission President called our Stake President to tell us that he is fine, and he has a what appears to be a hairline fracture in his foot. Dallin will have to be in a walking boot for about 6 weeks and non-weight bearing for the first 4 weeks. We will find out more info tomorrow after the weekly e-mails. He will most likely have been moved to the mission office, so I am sure he won’t be too happy about that.

Here is his last letter. Please help us pray for a speedy and complete recovery for Dallin.

Dear Friends and Family,

This week has been pretty good. My companion and I are doing well. We have just been doing our usual thing. We were able to teach our investigator Kyle twice this week. We were even able to bring our Bishop. Bishop Frederickson is awesome. He has a funny sense of humor. We had a great lesson followed by a commitment to come to church. Unfortunately, Kyle did not follow up on what he said. We were kinda bummed about it, but we're gonna go back and teach him the importance of church. There was a lot of other random stuff that happened, but that was the headliner in our teaching. Our teaching pool has shrunk, but were still doing good.  We have a couple of good people we are working with. Selene is no longer on date because her parents in Colombia weren't too thrilled about her wanting to be baptized. There’s that to deal with. She does live with her aunt and uncle who are less active members though.

Oh also, I had to cast out some evil spirits out of the apartment I used to live in that the sisters are now currently living in.

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

Elder Rexinger

Pizza Day

Missionary Jet Skiing

Week 28

Hey Family and Friends,

This transfer has been really good so far. It’s only been a couple days, but it's been good. Elder Christiansen said goodbye to a bunch of people last week, so that was fun. My new companion’s name is Elder Havea. He came out in the same group as Elder Christiansen, so he is an older missionary, like 19 and a half months out. Yeah he's pretty ancient, but that's okay. That's been all my companions so far. He was actually Elder Zachary's last companion if any of you remember me talking about him. Elder Havea is from a city called Surprise in Arizona. Apparently, it's really close to Phoenix. He is actually a rather old missionary. Not only is he old in missionary age, but he's like 27 almost. Seven months ago, being around a 27 year old 24/7 would've been weird, but now it's fine. I'm used to talking to people way older than me at this point. He's also Tongan, but he looks Mexican. It's kinda funny sometimes.

I'm still driving. I wasn't really supposed to drive last transfer, but Elder Christiansen didn't want to drive. Elder Have a doesn't have a license for some reason, so yes, I'm still driving.

We moved apartments and are living with the Zone Leaders. Elder Crump and Elder Anderson are fine.

One of our Walla Walla 2nd Ward investigators named Selene is progressing. She lives in our area, but the WW2 (Zone Leaders) thought she was in their area. It turns out she's not. They've been poaching from us, RUDE.

Anyway, I'm being patient, way more than I usually am.

Love all of you. The Gospel is true.

Elder Rexinger

Elder Christiansen saying goodbye to Walla Walla folks.

Week 27

Family and Friends,

The long awaited day has arrived, transfer calls have come in and I am.............staying here in Walla Walla 3rd Ward. At the same time, I'm receiving a new companion named Elder Havea. Elder Christiansen is being sent to the Hermiston Ward in the Hermiston Zone. He is no longer a District Leader (he's been a DL for like 7 months). I hear good things about Elder Havea, like he's super nice and all that.

There has been some very good developments for someone getting baptized. We talked to a woman named Sherry. We had talked to Sherry at the beginning of the transfer, and she had some awesome potential. We found out she lived in the Zone Leaders area. We were so devastated. She was so awesome and we had to refer her to them. She's been babysitting for her daughters kids a lot and her daughter lives in our area. We ran into her again yesterday and had a super spiritual lesson. We put her on date for baptism and she's super solid on it, September 8th. We offered her a blessing and that's gonna be happening tomorrow, Tuesday. We invited her to church and she asked if she could bring her grandson, and we were like "Oh heck yeah there's even this thing called Primary that's just for kids 3-12 years old" and she was like "dang that's awesome" Paraphrased of course.

Our other on dates have all practically dropped us and that made us super sad. The Lord prepares people for us to meet and teach though. A scripture that just came to my mind that's awesome, Moroni 10:23 "And Christ truly said unto our fathers: If ye have faith ye can do all things which are expedient unto me." I would like to focus on the word "All" in the scripture. With God and Jesus Christ, we truly can do all things. Peter and John healed a crippled man from birth at the gates of the temple in Jerusalem. Jesus calmed the sea and wind by commanding it "Peace, be still." By acting upon His name, we can truly do all things in accordance with His will.

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

Elder Rexinger

Last District meeting before transfers and Sister Sutton goes home

Week 26

Hey Everyone,

This week was a bit difficult. Nothing too crazy happened like last week, but almost all of our investigators dropped us. We went from 7 people on date to 1 person.

That's the bad news out of the way. On the good news portion of this weeks email, there was an awesome ward BBQ that we went to and brought a couple people. One was Sister Sirrine, nicknamed Beanie. She's a less active member that we are literally about to reactivate. She came to the BBQ and she loved it. She said she was going to try her hardest to get to church (at 8:30 in the morning), but she had to go to Tri-Cities an hour away, and she didn’t get back home at 3 in the morning. She wasn't able to make it this week, but she's coming next week.

I'm also the designated driver now, Elder Christiansen really doesn't like driving because of some PTSD thing or something like that. I love driving, and if you know me or my driving style, I'm what I like to call a cautious reckless driver.

After the issues we had with our investigators dropping like flies, I’m trying my best to follow the council in D&C 121: 7-9 this week. It reads, ”My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;
And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.
Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands."

We are taking that advise to our investigators as well. Satan ain't putting us down, we'll just find new people to teach.

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

Elder Rexinger

Walla Walla District

Week 25

Hey Everyone,

This week was a pretty good week. Nothing super crazy happened, except for the crazy lady that I called the cops on. Other than that, it was a pretty normal week. We are running into a lot more drunk and drugged people here in Walla Walla than I did in West Richland. It makes for interesting stories, but not so interesting gospel conversations and discussions. In fact, that lady I called the cops on was hitting on me like crazy, rambling on about random stuff. That was fun. We also have a guy we are teaching named Marcus who is a less active member that has a big tattoo about cops on his chest. Gotta love this place. A lot of our current people that we're teaching and that are on date are from the really poor areas in my area.

There is a lot of potential though with all these people we're teaching and are on date. I would like to ask everyone that reads this to pray for Tanya, Jeremy, Kyle, Amanda, Jesus, Michelle, and Cindy.

I'm reminded about how when Alma went forth to preach to the Zoramites. Alma 32: 15-16 speaks to the poor who have been thrown out of the synagogues for being poor, even though they had helped build them.  It reads, "Yea, he that truly humbleth himself and repenteth of his sins, and endureth to the end, the same shall be blessed—yea, much more blessed than they who are compelled to be humble because of their exceeding poverty. Therefore, blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble; or rather, in other words, blessed is he that believeth in the word of God, and is baptized without stubbornness of heart, yea, without being brought to know the word, or even compelled to know, before they will believe."

Everything else is going good, I'm feeling great. It’s not too ridiculously hot here, only like 100 degrees. I'm loving having a car, but not liking having a limit to how many miles a month were allowed.

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

Elder Rexinger

Not sure how Dallin ended up at the kid table??

Week 24

Hello Family and Friends,

What is happening? You can tell me what's going on with you whenever you want, but I only have an hour and a half on Mondays.

We have been tearing our area up this past week.This week we had a competition with the Sisters in 1st ward about who could get the most on dates from Wednesday to Sunday night. The results are in.....We got 6 people on date for baptism. Tanya, Jeremy, Amanda, Jesus, Michele, and Kyle. The funny thing is I don't know Jesus and Michele. We had a Zone Blitz during the week and it was Elder Christiansen, Elder Miles (my former Zone Leader) and Elder Anderson (my current Zone Leader) in my area of Walla Walla 3rd Ward. I was in the College Place Ward with Elder Judd who has been out a transfer after me. I was finally the Senior Companion for once! It was only for a couple hours though. Anyway, now the sisters owe us cookie dough. It's crazy to think I hit my 6 month mark really soon. This whole mission thing has to slow down a lot. I feel like I just started in the MTC. I keep being told it gets faster.

I guess it's true what people say, if you love what you do, you won't work a day in your life. You get used to people yelling at you in their cars as they drive by, and with people looking at you like you're lesser people because you have a name tag on. You can deal with all those things and more if you're grounded on the Rock of our Redeemer as it says in Helaman 5:12, "And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."

I will let everyone know how our investigators are doing asap. Pray for them as they make commitments to accept the Gospel and be baptized.

Thanks as always for the prayers and support. The Gospel is true.

Elder Rexinger

Elder Rexinger being himself with some "sword of Laban."

Elder Rexinger and his companion.

Week 23

Hey Everybody,

There have been some awesome developments recently here in Walla Walla. We have someone on date for baptism for August 25th. The only problem is we need her to get married....and quit smoking and coffee....and come to church some more....Her name is Tanya, and she's pretty cool. We also went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders and put 3 more people on date for August 25th. That was awesome.

I'm starting to get more comfortable in the ward I'm in. Walla Walla 3rd Ward has some awesome people in it. The ward here is actually awesome. It's small, but great. This town reminds me a lot of Carmichael. My last area in West Richland reminded me a lot of Roseville. There are a lot of less/inactive people though. We're gonna be working on that. We're integrating the Covenant Path Program to go out with the Ward Council and help these people get back to church and activity. As it says in the Book of Mormon, in the Book of Moroni chapter 6 verse 5, "And the church did meet together oft, to fast and to pray, and to speak one with another concerning the welfare of their souls." It continues with verse 6, "And they did meet together oft to partake of bread and wine, in remembrance of the Lord Jesus."

We want this for everyone, we want them to feel like a part of God’s Kingdom, because they are. We want them at church because we love them and care for them. We've recently been talking and dropping by an inactive member that has a testimony of the Gospel, but just has her reasons for not coming to Church. We have been trying to help her overcome those obstacles and make her way back. She's also awesome. Her nickname and the name she usually goes by is Beannie.

We also had a lot of moves this week. We helped a family move out of their house, emptied a storage shed and loaded up their U-haul truck. Had a big bucket of honey fall and break. That was sticky in the truck.  We've also been proselyting a ridiculous amount, like over 40 hours a week. We had 46 hours this week and 49 hours last week.

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

Elder Rexinger

Week 22

What up family and friends,

I have a new area with a new companion and a new car! Yes, I do indeed have a car now. We have a Toyota Corolla. My new companion is named Elder Christiansen. He's awesome, and we are having a ton of fun. He is from a small, small, small town called Lakeway, Texas.

This area I'm in has a lot more work than my last area. It's still a decent sized area. Walla Walla 3rd Ward is full of people we are teaching. I haven't met most of them yet, because they are all over our area book app. We are definitely a lot more busy than my previous area.

For now, we are living by ourselves in a large apartment that's actually pretty nice. The area we're in is a bit more rundown than my last area. The ward has only about 40% attendance according to the Ward Mission Leader. Maybe 100 people show up to Sacrament Meeting. I love it so far. No matter the size of the ward, no matter the size of the building you meet at, not matter all that stuff, what’s important is coming together to worship, and to partake of the Sacrament.

As promised from last week, here are the pictures from saying goodbye to some families. I really loved my first area and look forward to working here in Walla Walla.

I will have more good info next week after I am settled in.

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

Elder Rexinger

Bishop Dye from The Lakes Ward

Brother Morris and his special sweater

Week 21

Hey Everyone,

Well, we got the transfer call this morning. I'm being transferred to the Walla Walla Zone and I'm gonna be in the Walla Walla 3rd Ward. I've spent three transfers here in the Paradise and Lakes Wards, but it is my time to go now. It's been an unbelievable experience to serve in these wards. I've made such good friends. In fact, the Bishop in Lakes Ward called us after we texted the Ward Council that we were both getting transferred. He told us that we better come by today, so were going by later tonight. Elder Hepworth and I are both out of here, and we are getting replaced by sisters.

In other news with transfers, we're losing a ton of missionaries. Only 10 missionaries are coming in and 21 missionaries are going home. 8 of the 10 missionaries coming in are sisters, only 2 are Elders. A ton of areas are getting combined and it's wrecking the West Richland Zone. We are going to spend until Wednesday morning visiting the awesome people in the wards, saying goodbye and getting some pictures.

Before e-mailing last Monday, we decided to have a zone-wide pancake breakfast. I spent some time cooking the pancakes and President and Sister White showed up for it as well. President White is awesome. We had some delicious oatmeal pancakes that came from a family recipe from Elder Allred. After breakfast, our zone decided to play soccer at a park along a street called Bombing Range. That was one of the most fun P-days I've ever had so far. Elder Nyman and I played goalie, so that was a cool flashback. Thankfully, we were both good at playing goalie. The game ended in a tie 1-1. We also had our last District Council for the transfer.

I had the spiritual thought at the meeting, and I shared Mosiah chapter 5, verse 15. It reads,  “Therefore, I would that ye should be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works, that Christ, the Lord God Omnipotent, may seal you his, that you may be brought to heaven, that ye may have everlasting salvation and eternal life, through the wisdom, and power, and justice, and mercy of him who created all things, in heaven and in earth, who is God above all. Amen." This verse is when King Benjamin is on his tower counseling his people to be steadfast in immovable in good works. I chose that scripture because two missionaries in my district are going home, Elder DeWeese, and Hermana Vidaurri. Their time as full-time missionaries is ending, but our message  about enduring to the end is never over.

I love all of you. The Gospel is true. Thank you for your prayers and support.

Elder Rexinger

West Richland District

Last District Meeting

Week 20

Hello Everyone,

This was a momentous week on my mission. Overall, there hasn’t been too much to show for the work that has been done in this area I've been in. However, as we stay faithful during difficult trials, the Lord blesses us for our faith and steadfastness.

We have someone on date for baptism. His name is John and he is absolutely awesome. I'd like to ask everyone who reads this message to pray for John. Other than that, nothing too big has happened. We did get in the house of a family named the Moss's. I've been here over 4 months and we finally got in. It was awesome.

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

Elder Rexinger

Happy Father's Day from the Lakes Ward

Another pic of our District from the temple last week

Week 19

Hey Everyone,

Sorry but this letter is a little short because it has been a busy day already.

This week was a pretty good week. No one tried to attack us, so there's a plus. We had a couple lessons this week that went well. We also had interviews with the Mission President this week. I expressed my dislike of using Facebook. I was never much of a social media user before my mission. Now that I'm out here, I'm being told to use social media. It is an interesting situation.

We also went to the temple earlier today. That was awesome. We are allowed to go to the temple about 3 times a year. This was number one, and I can't wait for the next two times this year.

At the end of this transfer (June 20th), it'll mark four and a half months in this area. I'll most likely be getting moved. I've gotten so close to the members and people here that it'll be hard to say goodbye. Change is good though. It keeps us moving forward and not focusing on the past too much.

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

Elder Rexinger

Elder Hepworth and I at the Colombia River Temple

Week 18

Hey Everybody,

I wasn't able to email last Monday because of Memorial Day. My mission decided to not have our P-Day until Tuesday. The same thing is going to happen this week. We have mission interviews on the 4th, and we're going to the temple of the 5th.

Besides that, it's been a pretty good week. We had a lesson with a part-member family named the Garrisons. We had the lesson at a members house, which was good. We also had dinner at a members house who we've been helping return to activity. We answered a bunch of questions about the temple as they're preparing to go to the temple. I had a couple really spiritual highlights this week to go with the challenges.

Some guy knocked on our door yesterday super mad about a missionary (not even us) talking to his daughter (who is a little girl) and showing her the Book of Mormon. He rang our doorbell and had a rant with us. He freaked out over it, like he was straight up about to fight us because of it. He was calling us liars and threatening to hurt us over something we didn't do. Oh well, it was humorous to say the least.

Thanks for the prayers and support. The Gospel is true.

Elder Rexinger

Good pic of the scenery in West Richland

Dallin being Dallin and playing catch with some kids

Week 17

Dear Friends and Family,

The start of the week has been really good for the most part. In news unrelated to missionary work, I'm getting a pretty sick tan from walking around in the sun all day.

We had a Zone Conference this past Tuesday all about us getting Facebook. Just FYI, if you message me on Facebook, I can't respond at all. You can see my posts though.

Other than that, we've been trying to increase our teaching pool, which has been pretty successful. We found a couple of new investigators named John, Doug, Chuck and a couple kids. It's been good.

Elder Hepworth has been trying to get us bikes in our area for the past couple of weeks, but it got shot down by our Vehicle Coordinator named Elder Rose.

I have become super tight with the members here in the Paradise and Lakes Wards. It's going to be hard when I do eventually get transferred.

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

Elder Rexinger

One of the member's dog named Cici

We were out finding and this guy had his Harley in the garage.