Snow in Wyoming....and James' letter to his Dad - Dennis Reinhardt

 

I hope this email finds you safe, well, and happy wherever you are in the world!

It snowed two days ago! It's worse than North Idaho! Though it has almost all melted by today, the damage is still visable. The trees still had all their (mostly green) leaves and the snow was preceded by a rainy day. That means that all these poor trees - which Sheridan, WY has a ton of - got overloaded with too much heavy snow on their leaves. There are fallen and broken branches all over the town.

Though many were without power, it gave Elder Dahl and I a great oppurtunity to get out and serve! Alot of people don't know that we are not infact a cult and we are infact christian - helping people in our area really helps to clear up this concern. =)

I just had my first experience with what war really does yesterday...Thank you so much for serving, Dad, I just hope that you haven't experience the trauma that this man has.

As we walked, we waved to a man smoking outside his apartment. After coming over and exchanging greetings, we found out that he knew that we were missionaries, and that he was a vetran who while he seemed to be all there, something was a little off.

Long story short, this man has tons of pain. It seems like he has had deep and dark depression that has been eating at him for a very long time. What he had done and what was done to him had left him multilated on the inside.

Promise I won't preach to ya too much, Dad =) But as we talked, you could feel not only the pain that he had, but how much potential he still has! He is a father! Grandfather! Still, he has been trying to deal with this pain for 20 years (at least).

He agreed to meet with us again. I am excited. We really care about him after just meeting him. He has heard for a long time that Christ can heal him...This time, with us and God willing, we will be able to show him how that actually works.

I'll keep ya posted with this guy if that's ok - this will really be a test of my faiths and my beliefs. From my personal experience, if I align my life with what Christ has taught, I have peace, hope, and pain turns to understanding. I have had no hardships that can compare to this man's (his name is James) trials at all!

Love ya lots, Dad

Thank you for all the support, love, and emails!