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

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