Week 94- November 24

  Everything is going great!  This past week has been quite the week, there has been a lot going on.

     

     Monday night we had mission leadership council with Elder Packer. That was a really cool experience. He is a great man and he taught us a lot of great things. He taught us about conversion and how it comes and also he taught us about leadership skills that we can build to help those we have stewardship over. It was really cool because what he trained us on was things that I had been thinking and studying about. Conversion is such an interesting thing and it is so important in everything we do. Especially missionary work. If the conversion comes from the missionary and not from the Holy Ghost then that person is a lot more likely to fall away and not have a lasting conversion which is what Heavenly Father wants. When we do all we can as missionaries to help them have a spiritual experience where they feel the Holy Ghost it will be a more lasting conversion. I am going to be working on my teaching skills to help people have those experiences. Tuesday we had a combined zone conference with 4 other zones. It was a great meeting. We learned about obedience, desire, teaching skills, and family history work. The training's and talks that were given were what a lot of the missionaries needed. We talked about it in the council the night before with Elder Packer and decided what we as a mission we need to be trained on to improve. The family History training was really awesome. We are now a pilot mission for a new family history program. The Program is us as missionaries using family history stories to help people feel the spirit. So in order for me to do this I need some family history stories to share. Will you and dad both send me stories about grandma and grandpa that you remember from growing up. Also stories from dads mission and information about where our name comes from and about the ancestors and things like that. I would really appreciate it. You can either Email me them and I can print them out or you can just mail them through the normal mail whatever works best. I am really excited to hear all these stories. 

      

     This weekend was pretty crazy. Friday we were on exchanges and I was in our area. We went to have a lesson with our investigator that was planning on getting baptized this up coming weekend. When we got there he said that he had to talk with us. He began by talking about the holidays and how people were going to be out of town, as he was doing so I was getting really nervous that he was going to ask to push his baptism back but as he continued he said that he wanted everyone to be able to make it to the baptism and that he really needed to be baptized as soon as possible. He then asked if he could be baptized in the next 2 days. We said of course. Saturday night he was interviewed and Sunday night he was baptized. It was an awesome baptismal service. I had the opportunity to baptize him.  He was so prepared. We had only been teaching him for 4 weeks and now he is baptized. That makes up for all the rejection and everything like that. 

     Yesterday there was a man the just walked into church and said that he was looking for a church near him. He also told us how he has been going to institute down in Escondido. We talked with him for a bit and invited him to come to the baptism. He came and afterwards we talked some more with him and we are going to start teaching him here soon. It is so incredible how the Lord blesses for hard work. We have been knocking doors pretty much every day and we haven't seen any success directly from it but I know that all the miracles that have been happening have come from it. It is really neat to see the Lords hand in this great work. It is such a blessing to be a part of it to be able to witness all of these great miracles that are happening. 

      Thanksgiving is going to be pretty sweet. We are going to be having dinner with a family from the ward and that's basically all I know for now. We are going to have a good time that is for sure. That is so crazy about Austin. I can't believe that he is already driving that is really bizarre. I can't believe that it is already the holiday season. Time is going so fast I can't believe it. That would be awesome if you could send me that card. Thank you so much for everything! That package was awesome. I Love You! 

Love, Elder RINDLISBACHER   

Cody's 21st Birthday- November 17th

Hello Rindlisbacher Family! I thought you might enjoy a birthday picture of your favorite missionary! He has had a bit of a cold lately, but is otherwise doing well. He is soooo great! We love him.
Have a great Sabbath day.
Julie Baker

Request for Departure on January 29, 2014

Dear Parents:

Your missionary’s service here in the California Carlsbad Mission will soon be completed. In preparation for that time, we ask that you provide the following information which will help us make the necessary arrangements for the return home.  You can do this by email or regular mail, but email helps us complete this task in a more timely manner. 

Your missionary is scheduled to depart on January 29, 2014, and desires to remain 100% focused on the sacred calling of a missionary and to serve with fullness of heart, might, mind and strength—and not be distracted by things of home and the future.  We encourage you to keep references to departure and plans to the minimum necessary for arranging for school or other events needing discussion as it is sometimes difficult for missionaries to stay focused near the end of their mission.  Please continue to write encouraging, uplifting letters to your son or daughter.

 

Sincerely,

Sister Curtis

Week 93- November 18

   This week has been a good week. We have been staying pretty busy. My Birthday was actually pretty good. We had so much cake it was ridiculous. I think I am done with cake for a little while. I did get the packages from both Grandparents, they were both great!  Yes I have been pretty sick for the past few days but I am slowly getting better which is good. But I am still trucking along working as hard as I can. life is still good no matter what. 

     Our investigator is doing awesome! We taught him 3 times last week and he went camping with the YSA which was really good. He now has a lot of friends here in the branch which is really good. He really is a solid investigator. We are going to be meeting with him as much as possible to help him as he works toward his baptism. He is really excited to be baptized which is awesome. November 30 is going to be a pretty big day here in Temecula we have 5 baptisms planned and a family of 4 could be getting baptized if they get married. So we are praying that everything goes well. It is definitely going to be a busy day. We have a couple other investigators that we are working with that are slowly progressing which is really cool. The work is really starting to pick up here. The family ward that we cover is starting to catch the vision and are slowly progressing and they are doing more to help us out which is much appreciated.

     This week is going to be a big week. Today Elder Allan F. Packer flies into our mission and will be here for the next couple days. Tonight we have a mission leadership council with him which is going to be really awesome. I am really excited to see what he is going to talk to us about. Tomorrow we are having a multi-zone conference where he is going to be speaking to all of us. From what I have been hearing we are going to be a pilot program for some family history thing. It is going to be really interesting. for this program that we are going to be doing we have these little booklets that we need to fill out. If you could mail me a copy of my pedigree chart with information on grandparents great grand parents with information on their family it would be much appreciated.  I will let you know all about what happens in next weeks email. Oh yeah you and dad were married May 27, 1988 right?. .  Also in 3 weeks another General Authority is coming to our mission leadership council so that is going to be really cool. 

     Thursday we had our zone training meeting. It went really well. President was there which was a little nerve racking but it turned out great. We talked a lot about the Atonement and missionary work. There is a really cool video that you should look up on youtube it is called missionary work and the atonement. It is really good. The missionaries here in Temecula are all awesome we have some really great missionaries. It has been a lot of fun getting to work with all of them. 

     I am not really sure what we are going to be doing on Thanksgiving. Probably eating a lot of food at a bunch of different peoples homes but we will see what happens. But I know we are going to be giving thanks that's for sure. That is really cool that you guys are going to Julie and Rods. That is probably going to be a ton of fun. 

     That is really all that has happened here this last week. Thank you for everything. I Love You!! 

     Love, Elder RINDLISBACHER

Week 92- November 11

Everything is going great down here. There has been a lot happening lately which is really good.

     This past week we have been so busy doing all sorts of things. We picked up a new investigator, we had mission leadership council, I taught a lesson with a professional baseball player, and I went on exchanges. 

     The new investigator we picked up is so solid!! He has a baptismal date for November 30 and I am pretty sure he is going to make it. He is a young single adult and he has studied a lot of different religions. He says that this just feels right. He was taught 2 times before we picked him up by sisters in the zone and we have taught him 3 times. We have taught him about commandments and the gospel and he is just soaking it in. He has come to a few Branch activities and he has been welcomed very well. When we have taught him we have invited him to live the commandments and he is really excited and all in. We taught the word of wisdom the second time we met with him and he told us that he was working on quitting smoking. We met with him yesterday and he said that he threw away his last pack of cigarettes and he is done with it. I am pretty sure he is the most golden investigator I have had my entire mission. It is really cool to see the changes that he has made since we have started meeting with him. 

     Mission Leader council was good like usual. We were trained on using our time more effectively and how we can bless more lives with the spirit. President Kendrick talked with us about a recent conference he went to where Elder Ballard and a couple other Seventies gave training's. It was really cool to hear about all the things that he learned and how we can apply them into our individual missionary efforts. Now that my companion and I have been trained it is our turn to train the missionaries here in Temecula on the things that we learned and the things that we feel the zone needs. We are going to be having our Zone Training meeting on Thursday so we have been doing a few things to prepare for that to help the missionaries here become the best that they can be. I am excited for the meeting. I enjoy giving training's and helping the missionaries out. 

     The lesson with the professional baseball player was Awesome! His name is Robbie Brantly, he is the starting catcher for the Marlins. It was a really good lesson, he basically taught the whole lesson which was super cool. Not only did we teach a lesson he showed us a bunch of the secret handshakes from the players and he showed us his bats. He taught us a couple cool healthy thing to eat. It was a really cool experience. 

  

   Saturday we had Breakfast with the Stake presidency like we do at the beginning of every transfer. What a great experience that is. It helps us build unity as a zone. We were able to give a short training after we ate. We trained on how we need to work and stay persistent. Our vision as a zone for this transfer is "Harvest the wheat." We talked about how we are going to do this, which is by work. It was really neat because as we talked about it everyone was starting to catch the vision and everyone was excited to go and do! It was great to see every ones desires increase.

     I went on exchanges from Sunday to Monday with one of the missionaries from the zone. It was a really cool experience. I had the opportunity to help him with a couple things he shared with me his Testimony. I really enjoy the opportunity I have to help the missionaries out. I love it and I have been able to see a lot of missionaries change and become better and grow. Ministering to them has really shown to me how much love our Heavenly Father has for each and everyone of His children. It has given me more of an eternal perspective on a lot of things. I hope each day that I can do something that will change somebodies life, that is my goal every morning. I honestly don't know if I have been able to accomplish it at all but each day I try my best to do it. I have learned so much since I have had the opportunity to serve, what a blessing it is to me. 

     I can't believe that it is already my Birthday it really doesn't feel like it is at all. I honestly have no Idea what I want. I have a lot of things that I would like but I don't want them until I get home. Ties are always good music is also always good but other than that I really have no clue. pistacios, cashews and peppered jerky are some things that I enjoy snacking on. 

     Thank you for everything Mom! I Love You! 

Love, Elder RINDLISBACHER

Week 91- November 4

This week past week has been pretty adventurous. We had Halloween, we left the mission boundaries with a bunch of young single adults, golfing and we have been doing a lot of running around getting things situated here. I am not getting transferred and neither is Elder Thompson, we are going on the third transfer together. It is pretty crazy we both thought he was going to be leaving but we both thought wrong.

       Everything is going great here the work is actually starting to pick up. It is great. We picked up an new investigator in the YSA and we are going to be picking 2 more up this week. We have also found some people while we were tracting that said we could come back. They didn't seem to promising but we will see what happens this week. 

       Halloween was great. We had to be in our apartment at 6 to stay away from all the crazies here in Temecula. (like there are that many) But is was good. We watched the new movie Ephraims Rescue. That is a great movie. If you haven't seen it I highly recommend it. We also just hung out and had a party at our apartment. The 3 other Elders that I live with had a ton of soda and junk food and I had my Capri Suns and a little bit of candy. We have so much junk it is ridiculous. My companion and one of the other missionaries that we live with set a goal to not eat any junk or soda and that they were only going to eat Healthy. We will see how that goes, ( so far not so good, but they did buy a ton of fruits and vegetables this morning).

       Leaving the mission boundaries was pretty awesome. There was a YSA camp over the weekend at a campsite the church owns down in Ramona. It was Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We got to go down on Sunday because that is where the sacrament meeting was held. It was a great experience. The Meeting was held in an outdoor amphitheater. It was super neat because while they were passing the sacrament I had the thought that this is how it was when the church was first restored. I took a lot of pictures but all and all it was pretty awesome. 

       We got to go golfing this morning with a couple members from the YSA. It is November 4 and we were out golfing in shorts and a tee shirt. Bizarre? I think so but is was awesome. I didn't do to great but it was still fun. 

       This past week we did a lot of running around. We had to deliver a ton of stuff and pick up a ton of stuff from people, it made it really hard to get other missionary things done. But we had a productive which and we accomplished a lot of things. 

       Those pictures were awesome, it looks like Halloween was pretty fun. I can't believe that Grandpa is retired, that is so awesome! I don't think there is anything that I need right now, but I I have a good list of books I want to read when I get home so I am pretty sure I can wait till I get home. I also don't want to have to worry about getting it home, because I already have a ton of stuff to get there. 

       Thank you so much for everything Mom! 

I Love You!! 

Love, Elder RINDLISBACHER

Week 90- October 27

 This week has been a pretty good week like usual. There is never anything to complain about. We still really don't have anyone to teach which is disappointing but we are keeping our heads up working hard and trusting in the Lord. The tracting has been going pretty well. Nothing really is happening from it though. We have tracted 243 doors so far. It really has been a lot of fun though. We have had a lot of funny experiences with people that we have met. We had a guy on Saturday that tried to bash with us but he was really bad at it. It was amusing to sit there and listen to what he had to say. I was laughing inside the whole time because I knew what he was trying to do. Tracted really is not effective at all and I am coming to know why more and more each day. But it is really all we can do. Hopefully something exciting will happen. 

     Friday night I was on exchanges in the Spanish area. That is always an adventure. It is really a whole different world I can't believe it. I really had no idea what to do. The food in the spanish work is really weird. I am not a fan of it, but I still ate it. It was a little frustrating because I couldn't talk to most of the people. I have been slowly learning spanish so I know a little, not very much tho. 

     This week we were able to talk to 108 people out on the streets. I am pretty sure that is a record for this area. We were out talking to everyone we came in contact with. I really enjoy talking with people, it is really cool to hear their life stories and how things in their life apply to the gospel. It is always a little bit frustrating to hear them say no but I understand agency and it doesnt bother me. We met one guy that helped me strengthen my testimony. We met him while we were out talking to people on the street. As we talked he told us that he was Christian and then he proceeded to tell us how close our religions line up but one thing that we don't agree on is the Trinity. He said that the trinity is hard to believe and even christians don't understand it. That really stuck out to me because from what I understand God isn't a God of confusion. Sometimes I don't get how people can be so oblivious to things. It is so great to get to have 2 hours every morning to study. I have come to love that time. I don't want to stop when I get started. I have learned so much as I have studied and read the scriptures. There is so much cool stuff to learn about. Over the course of my mission I have gotten a lot of study materials. You are going be shocked when you see it. 

     Sounds like there is a lot going on back home, that is always exciting. That is really cool that Grandma and Grandpa are staying, and that is really cool that they got a new truck and a great one at that. That is really awesome that they are all going to be blessing the sacrament. That is going to be an awesome experience. That is awesome that you got to bear your testimony. That sounds like a really cool sacrament meeting. That hymn is one that you really can never sing enough. 

     So next week is transfers so we will find out Saturday night what is going to be happening next transfer. Everything is up in the air so I have no predictions on what happens. 

     Thank you so much for everything!

   I Love You! 

Love, Elder RINDLISBACHER

Week 89- October 21

   This week has been pretty good. It has been a lot of hard work. We have been doing all we can to find people to  teach. It is been really tough to find people here to teach. We have been trying to work with the ward but we aren't getting much help. We decided that we were going to do all we could to find people and trust in the Lord that he will bless us. Thursday through Saturday we went out and we went tracting. We knocked on the most doors I have ever knocked on, on my entire mission. We knocked 135 doors, with no return appointments. Its is by far not the most effective way to find people, but it is all we have. We have a goal to knock every door in our area. I am excited for it, it will be a great accomplishment when we are through. Hopefully we will find someone to teach. It is actually kind of fun to tract, because you never know what is going to be behind the door. every door is a new adventure. 

      We were able to pick up 3 new investigators in the YSA branch last week. It was a miracle. It feels really good to actually have people to teach. They have a friend on a mission right now so he is being a great example to them. They are really excited to learn. They are all really big into dirt biking. One of the girls is a professional racer and there is a ton of awards all of the place. It is incredible. It is a lot of fun teaching them because they have tons of questions. 

       On Thursday we had a special zone meeting. Elder Thompson and I have been pretty worried about the missionaries in the zone and how hard they are working and as we counseled  together we came to the conclusion that we needed to talk with everyone about consecration. We had a council meeting with all the missionaries in the zone and we discussed this and how we can all be more consecrated. It was a great meeting, we received a lot of insight on the missionaries and how we can help them to be the best that they can be. It has been really interesting to see attitudes change and the miracles that come from being consecrated. I have definitely seen them in my life and the lives of those around me. I have been setting goals on how I can be more consecrated so I can become better. 

      Saturday morning we went and helped out the Dudley's with some yard work. That was a lot of fun. I think it was the first time on my mission that I have used a normal lawn mower to cut the grass. It felt great to get out and do some manual labor, I really miss that. It brought back a lot of good memories from back home. 

      Yesterday there was some mid-single adults conference going on and they all came to our YSA sacrament meeting. It was a great meeting Elder Sabin who is a area Authority came and spoke. It was a great talk. It was basically about how we all can do it no matter what. Afterwards there was a fireside. It was all about how we can do anything. There was a video that was played about a man who has a son that is disabled and they do Triathalons. It is incredible. During the swim he pulls his son in a boat, during the bike ride he has a special bike for the 2 of them, and for the run he pushes him in a wheel chair. It is an incredible inspiring story. Their names are Dick and Richard Hoyt. It has motivated me to do more because I can. 

      On Tuesday night I met a missionary that had just returned home from Japan. . . As he introduced himself to me he looked at my tag and got this shocked look on his face and he said, " do you have family on a mission in Japan?" I said that I did and he went on to tell me that they were in the same mission and how great of a missionary Elder Rindlisbacher was. It is crazy how small the world is inside the church. I cant believe it. I thought it was pretty awesome! 

    Today we are having a zone activity. It is going to be a lot of fun. We are going to be having a BBQ  and playing sports. There is a member in the Stake that is providing all the food and their house for us to do it at. It is going to be a great activity. I am grateful for people who want to help us out.  

      I hope everything is going well. I Love You! Have a great week! 

Love, Elder RINDLISBACHER

Week 88-October 15

This week has been a great week. It has been full of a lot of adventures. I cant believe how fast time is flying by. It is pretty incredible.

Where to start. . .

     Wednesday last week we had our zone training meeting. It went really well. I was really impressed. There are a lot of great missionaries here in Temecula and they are what made the meeting great. We had a lot of participation so we didn't have to do a ton of talking which is good, because I'm not sure anyone likes to just hear us ramble on forever. We had trainings on resolving concerns using the Book of Mormon, Follow up, and companionship Unity. We have a Sister training leader in our zone so we had her do the follow up training. She did a great job. Hopefully these trainings will help all the missionaries here to become better.

    

      Friday I was able to go on exchanges back to my Greenie area again. That was a lot of fun. It is always great to see people from way back then. While we were out visiting people we were talking to people on the street. We talked to one group of people that I had talked to when I was here before and as we were talking they remembered me and we were able to build a better relationship with them and we were able to answer a bunch of questions that they had. It was really cool to see how once there is a relationship how people actually open up.

      Saturday I was on exchanges again, but I was in my area this time. We spent the morning painting a fence for some members. That was a lot of fun. It was the first time I have been able to do service since I have been in this area. Then the afternoon we spent moving furniture for another family in the ward. It was basically a day of service which was really good.

      Sunday my companion and I spoke in sacrament meeting. This was the first time my entire mission. I thought I wasn't going to have to do it but they caught me. I Spoke on the 11th article of faith. I feel like it actually went really well for the circumstances. I wasn't able to prepare very much for it, because I was on exchanges and preparing for other meetings, but I had a few ideas on what I wanted to say. I was really nervous but as I got up to the pulpit and started to speak the words just came to my mouth and I was able to get what I wanted to across. I shared a story from a talk that President Kimball gave back in 1976 called the false gods we worship. I talked about how, what, and where we worship. and I used the story in the what part. I actually really enjoyed speaking. Shocking right!

     Yesterday we had another zone meeting. We didn't have to do anything for this one except get everything set up. The Assistants and President gave trainings that reviewed the past six months of training. It was really good to remind everyone what we all need to continue to apply. Last night as we were driving home a missionary in the zone called and asked if we could come by and give him a blessing. So we swung by and I was able to give him the blessing. I had no idea what was going on so it was all by the Spirit. During the blessing I said a few things that he needed help with. It was so incredible to feel the power of the priesthood and the guidance of the spirit.

     This week is going to be a great week. Nothing is going on in our area so we are going to be doing a lot of door knocking. We are going to see miracles happen. We have a goal to knock on every single door in our area this week. We will see how it goes.

    

     Thanks for everything Mom! I Love You!

 I hope you have a great week.

Love, Elder RINDLISBACHER

Week 87- October 6th

Everything is going great! There was nothing to exciting that happened this week besides conference. We haven't been teaching to much which is a bummer but we are ing the process of finding people to teach. We still haven't found anyone but I know there are multiple people who are ready!

   General Conference was Awesome! It was so inspirational, and it answered a lot of questions that I have had. President Monson said it best, " this has been the most inspiring conference." All the talks were great! I can never pick a favorite one. I learned so much. I love reading and listening to talks. Over the course of my mission I have gotten a lot of talks and I love to study them. It is so cool that each talk is different and that they are on something specific. Over the course of the wekkend I had the spirit again bear witness to me that President Monson is a true Prophet called of God and he is leading the church the Way the Lord would if he were here. It is such a blessing to know that God continues to work the same way as he did in the time the Savior was on the Earth. It just makes so much sense and I am grateful for the knowledge and understanding I have of it. It is a weird thought to think of what life would be like without guidance from the Prophets and Apostles. I know I would be lost.

   There was so much in each talk and there was a lot of little specific things in all of them that stuck out to me. I think the overarching theme was missionary work and enduring. There was a lot of great talks on pushing through when times get tough. I love General Conference. What was you favorite talk? I can't believe that the priesthood session was broadcasted over the internet.  The chaple here was pretty empty as well. I feel like that takes away from the power of it along with the tradition. It still felt really weird not being with the family for conference. Especially the priesthood session. Going to get ice cream afterwards was always the greatest. I thought alot about that on Saturday night.

    Friday we had mission leadership council. Those are always great! It is great to go and receive trainings on how we can become better and how we can help the missionaries to do the same. We were trained on how we can better resolve concerns using the Book of Mormon. We will be having our zone training meeting this wednesday where we will be training all the missionaries in the zone on this along with something else that my companion and I feel like we need to. I am always excited to do this. I love to give trainings! I feel like I always learn so much while I do. Also during the council meeting we had a pretty long heated discussion about standards of excellence. No on really wanted them because they in a way impose and the missionaries aren't completely motivated to stretch. But as we counciled and discussed we came to the concesses on what we can do. We will be setting a standard of excellence on a couple things. It is gong to be interested to see how this works out. I am a little aprensive but I am going to follow the council given from my missionpresident and I am going to do it and see miracles.

   On Tuesday I had the oppurtunity to go to the San Diego Temple. I love going to the Temple! It is such a great place. That temple is so incredible. It is so beautiful. Inside the Temple I feel like I always receive inspiration on things that I need to know/do. Being there I also feel so close to my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ. The Temple is such a special place and it is a blessing to have them.

That is great to hear that st. george was good. Those are always great trips no matter how short on long they are. That is awesome that Eric ran it. I can't believe that they are finally moving here. It is about time. I can't believe that Austin is driving. Time is flying by so quickly. I feel like I close my eyes and wam a week is gone. I don't know when my release date is, I haven't heard anything.

Thanks for everything mom! I Love You!

Love, Elder RINDLISBACHER