Week 83

Hey Family and Friends, 

This is an exciting week to be sure! Last Saturday Sara was baptized! I had found and taught Sara when I was in the Hermiston Ward almost a year ago. She was unable to be baptized because of family opposition, but here we are today. She was baptized on Saturday, confirmed on Sunday. The fact I was able to be here for that happening is a huge blessing. I was able to see the beginning of her journey on the covenant path, and the day she entered onto the path. It's important to recognize and acknowledge that baptism is not the end, it's just the beginning. The temporal end goal here is the temple! There's a big emphasis to get the people we baptize to the temple as soon as possible to participate in proxy baptisms. A single week after their baptism they should have a limited use temple recommend, then they're off to the temple! 

The other baptism was Cheyenne. She's been taught for almost a year as well. Family opposition had been a big factor holding her from being baptized. Now that that's been resolved, she's been running full speed to be baptized! She has a ton of fellowship and help from the ward in her progressing towards baptism. 

The week's besides that has been pretty good. We've been hitting the streets on out bikes that we have.... well, we were. One of the tires on my bike got popped and we haven't been able to use them since then. We're gonna try and get it fixed asap. We've been talking to everyone we can on the streets. I gotta say, the people here in Hermiston are super nice. There's been like four different instances where we talk to someone and they're not interested, but they still give us food or something like that. It's really nice of them. I love it here in Hermiston. I wonder how long I'll stay here. The rest of my mission? I actually kinda hope that. Regardless of where I am though, I'll give it the best I have! 

Got some pictures from some service projects we had this week.

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

Elder Rexinger

Service Project

Cheat Day

Week 82

Sorry for the delay on last week's message. We are having some AT&T-related e-mail issues. Thankfully, my e-mail is through Comcast for better or worse.

Thomas

Dear Family and Friends,

There have been 3 baptisms in our area in 2 weeks. All three of those baptisms were of people I taught! Their names are Sara, Cheyenne, and Gabby. I wasn't able to attend Gabby's baptism, but I was able to get a picture from it.

It was really touching for me to be involved in the baptisms of these amazing daughters of God. Of course, all the credit goes to our Father in Heaven. I was simply a tool in His hands to help these people draw closer to Him. I am forever grateful that I was able to be there and help our Father in Heaven change the lives of these young women.

We also have some awesome news with Cheyenne's family. We believe that her baptism has served almost like a catalyst for her family to really become interested in the Gospel. It's cool to be able to experience this. The Spirit at the baptism was really strong, and to see the effect it had on the people present has been amazing. We're already seeing miracles come from it. We expect to see many more. I am excited to see what the future brings.

Love you guys, see ya. The Gospel is true.

Elder Rexinger

Week 81

Hey Family and Friends,

How are you all doing? I have been doing awesome here in Herm-Town (aka Hermiston). 

We have a baptism coming up in a couple weeks and it is awesome! Cheyenne is so prepared. It has been a wonderful experience to get to know and teach her. We've gotten through all the lessons besides the commandments and the laws and ordinances. Those lessons are a bit different from the first couple. They can go fast or slow, depending on the needs of the individual. For Cheyenne, I feel like we might be able to teach all the remaining principles in one lesson. She's that prepared. 

Also, someone that I had taught here in the Hermiston Ward almost a year ago is getting baptized on the 7th. Sara is amazing, she truly is. Her only reason for not being baptized was familial opposition. However, she has since received permission to be baptized. It has been almost a year in progress. What an adventure indeed! 

We were able to have a Zone Blitz this past week. That was great, because the Assistants were able to join us for it. We were paired up with Elder Robinson. He was in the MTC with me all that time ago (19 months). It was great to be with him again. We were able to catch up on old times. 

The Gospel is true and has been restored on the earth today.

Love you all.

Elder Rexinger

Week 80

Well hello there everyone! 

Elder Rexinger here in Hermiston Oregon serving with one of my favorite companions ever! We get along super well, we teach really well together, and we're killing it! He is from Mesquite, Nevada.

Moving on to the events of the week.... This week has been jam-packed with a ton of stuff! Monday was of course preparation day. Whole lot of fun there. Tuesday was the grind. We were out talking with a ton of people. Walking around all day everyday is really good for having a ton of conversations with people. Wednesday was district council. Thursday we had to do our weekly planning because Friday we went to the temple! I love going to the temple so much. The Spirit there is seriously unrivaled. Saturday was really special for me because I was able to return to Pasco for a little bit to attend the baptism of someone I had taught during my time there. It was really awesome to be there in support of her making that decision. Sunday was eventful too! We had someone at church named Cheyenne. She wants to be baptized so bad, it's awesome. Her date for baptism has been set for September 14th. Theres a lot of people we visit and see on Sunday. We spend time with a recent convert family doing Come Follow Me study with them. We also do Come Follow Me with another family with a 9 year old recent convert. 

The week has been eventful to be sure. It flew by in an instant it felt like. When talking about time flying by, I've been on my mission for over 19 months now! That is so crazy to me! It's all becoming so much more real. My dad even got vacation time for when I get home..... It's close enough for that to happen..... It's so weird!

Anyway, that's it for this week. Thank you for the prayers and support.

Elder Rexinger