Week 71

Hello there Family and Friends, 

This week has been super good. We've had some good developments here in the Pasco 8th and 9th wards. The people we have in date are all doing pretty good. We haven't had a full-fledged lesson with them like we did last week, but we've had some good contact. We have been getting to know them more and becoming friends with them. 

Elder Dushku and I are doing so good. We get along great. We have a good amount of things in common. 

This week we actually were challenged by our District Leader, Elder Calvin, to find 4 new people to teach before Sunday evening as a district. It was Saturday evening at that time. We buckled down, prayed for someone to find to fulfill this goal from our District leader. About an hour later, we met with a less-active family that has an unbaptized son named Gabe. The family told us that she wants to be more active before Gabe gets baptized, so he wasn't basically baptized into inactivity. We let her know that it was now our responsibility to teach Gabe because he was 9, and she was actually pretty excited about it. We told her that we were there to help her and her family draw closer to Christ. We taught Gabe a few principles and talked with him about being baptized and he was so excited about it! I look forward to teaching Gabe and getting to know his family more. 

As a result of our faith, we were able to find Gabe to teach and we were actually the first companionship in our district to find a new person after the challenge was given to us. We actually ended up finding 5 people in that time span. It was awesome. I loved seeing the excitement of all of us for the work. 

It was also awesome to be reassured that this truly is the Lord's work and that He will help us move it forward when we have the faith to move forward, nothing doubting. I love being a missionary, I love it here in Pasco, and I love all of you.

See you later! Thank you for all the prayers and support.

I love you all.

Elder Rexinger

Week 70

Hello there family and friends, 

Elder Rexinger here in good old Pasco, Washington. We have had a pretty good week. I'd definitely say it's been eventful. We went from having no people on date to be baptized to having four people seriously on date for baptism.  The cool thing was they were all put on date within a day of each other! 

We had a lesson at the Bland Family home and they had 4 non-members there that we taught the restoration to. One of the non members chose to not commit to being baptized, and that's all good. Our Purpose as missionaries is to INVITE others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. The key word there is invite. Whether or not they choose to accept it or not is up to their own personal agency. It also helps doing missionary work when we look at it that way. The true success in missionary work and the invitation (whatever that may be). In 2 Nephi 2:16 we read "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." 

People in this world are enticed by a multitude of things on a daily basis. The same is true about the Gospel. The more we introduce it to other people in our lives, odds are that someone will accept it. If they reject your invitation does that mean it’s a failure? No, it’s not a failure. It means you're a freaking Rockstar for putting your beliefs out there. Missionary work is intimidating to be sure, but I want to testify to you all that the Gospel is true. I Testify that God loves each and every one of His Children, each and every one of us. The Gospel is here to bless our lives, both in this life and in the life to come. 

This is what Joseph Smith has stated about missionary work, commonly referred to as The Standard of Truth. He said, "The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done”. God will help us in this great undertaking and work of which we are engaged. 

I Love you all. See you later. Thank you for the prayers and support.

Elder Rexinger

Columbia River Temple

Week 69

Hey there Friends and Family,

Sorry it's been a while since I last sent an email. Ever since the change that allows me and all other missionaries to call home, I kinda just lose track of time and forget to write and email. That's my bad though. With the ability to write an email on my phone, there really isn't a real excuse for me. I stayed in Pasco after transfers and received a new companion with only a few weeks experience. His name is Elder Dushku from Centerville, Utah. It turns out his extended family know my Mom's family and his Grandpa used to work for Kaiser, where my Dad works. They grew up in the Carmichael Stake before moving to Utah. Crazy, small world, right?

Anyway, we've been doing a lot of work here with the members. The members here in Pasco 8th and 9th wards are the best. There is a particular family that has been taking off. They are super missionary minded and their kids invite people all the time. There's this particular youth they have brought to church 3 times now. She's been to Family Home Evening like 5 times now, and she's just awesome. She has some other connections with people in the ward that are pretty positive. She's so prepared, she loves coming to church and loves the way she feels at FHE and at church. The only possible setbacks are her parents. We don't know them, but you never know.

We are also hoping to start working with another youth. Her older sister was baptized in April of 2018, and in the past year she has seen a real change in her older sister's life and wants that for herself. Bishop Paul has reached out to her, asking if she would take the discussions and progress towards baptism, and she said yes. The only thing is she needs to ask her parents if she can be taught and baptized. Apparently, it was a battle for her sister to be baptized, but we're hoping her parents say yes. We're still waiting on the results of that. The Gospel truly does change lives.

We've been doing some good service too. We did a ton of weeding at a little farm called Paddle Duck Farm that's owned by some members that aren't attending church right now. We've been going by and helping out, because Sister Douglas had 2 back surgeries very recently. She had one surgery, she had 1 day of rest, then she had the 2nd surgery. It's been rough for her, so we've been helping out as best we can.

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

Elder Rexinger