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