-The framed life of a missionary in Wyoming

The baptism of Bobby Knight and Justyce Viet!

These people were already prepared!

Bobby is a proud Texan Veteran, with the accent, stories, and friendliness to back it up. He has changed his life! He has stopped smoking. He has stopped drinking. He has shown that he is willing to follow Christ the best he can by being baptised!

 

Justyce is his step-daughter. She is the epitome of a high-school girl. She is awesome, but rather air-headed =) Even though she is just a freshman, she has understood what the scriptures have taught and has decided to follow Jesus too!

 

Andrea is the Mom. She was already a member of the church but hadn't gone for a while. It is so great to be able to play a small part in bringing this family together. Andrea is a great mom. Bobby loves his step-children, his wife, and the Lord. 

 

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!

BRAZIL - and news from Elder Reinhardt

 I love that book of Mormon. That is such a sacred book to me. I know that as i read that book, my life would improve. I hope that you recognize that those notes in there can be a personal letter to you from me and that book is a personal letter to you from GOD. 

 

I am indeed warm enough =) There have been enough leftovers from past missionaries that I have taken for myself. I may purchase some boots - but I don't know if I'll be staying or leaving :p

 

I love you all with all my heart.

-Elder James Reinhardt

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hey all! I'll be heading out to Brazil here next Monday! Wish me luck!

I am very excited!!! ...i've been cramming in all the portuguese that I can handle - this means flash cards, reading, watching Buscando a fe em Cristo instead of Finding Faith in Christ. =)

 

Found out that my MTC comp who i love to pieces will be on the plane with me! he has been serving in Minneasota and he just got his Visa too! our Mission President said that Brasil is only handing out 100 visas a month...so the church will not be calling any more foreigners to Brasil. There will still be natives to the country going out to serve, but only those who orignally have calls there have a hope of going still....I'M THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS!...kinda =)

 

 

That's fantastic that you've been reading the Book of Mormon! (I love our message. It's either true or not. Joseph Smith was a prophet or he wasn't. It all hinges on the Book of Mormon!) No, the Book is for you for these two years.  (James sent his studied and highlighted Book of Mormon!)  I cherish that book for the wisdom and truth that it gave me. Now, I get to scour through the quad that you both gave me for seminary. I am learning so much from the Book of Mormon and the Bible!

 

Doing a "companionship study" is such a great idea! As far as what to study? Have a time set aside every day (as best as you can) startand end with a prayer to be taught by the spirit, know how to apply what you learn, to have the truth of what you're reading to be revealed unto you, and then have your first study devoted to page 17 in Preach My Gospel.

 

Our companionship study consists of practicing and reading for our investigators. The first part is just spent sharing what we learned. So one suggestion could be to both have a personal study and then for the both of you, come together and testify of what you read. Tell him what you learned and how it will help you. Ask him for insight on verses that you didn't understand or that you really loved. As he has just studied as well, he may have different promptings on the same verses. What he learned may be different, but as he devoted that study time to God, those promptings are just as important to him as yours are to you.

 

I love you all very much and I know with all my heart that as you continue to devote yourself to God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, everything will work out. If it didn't God would not be the loving God that we know. Though there are some pains that may not be fully worked out until we stand before our savior, Jesus Christ promises peace in this life and eternal joy in the life to come.

 

God be with you!

 

Elder James Reinhardt 

Lessons Learned.....

I have already learned so much here on the mission. One very important thing I learned is that we cannot create miracles/powerful lessons/blessings from heaver, however, we can do the best we can to anticipate. God will ultimately decide the outcome of every effort to bring others to His fold. Some people will choose God and some will not. However, as we do all we can, we can rest assured that we will not miss any miracles that God has prepared for us.

Heart and Soul in the work.....

  

this is about half the mission. 4 zones. this was a mini conference




THis is family night with a family! the story of ammon reinactment

So I just had my first "ET" Emergency Transfer. One elder went home on a medical release, so last thursday, at 10PM, President Anderson told us that we would be picking up an elder from Sheridan, Wyoming and that I would be replacing him. I miss my last two companions, but now I get to experience another part of this huge mission!

 

Last night, I got to meet some of the young-single-adult branch that we have here (we are over a ward and a YSA branch). After talking with one of the guys, I have a feeling that there will be many Patriotic, cowboy-boot wearing, Hicks. =D I'm so excited! We'll see how well i fit in though :)

 

Two nights ago, we had an INTENSE electrical storm. We are totally safe, but there was sooooo much lightening (I'll try to send a video)

 

Last night, I met Jessica. She's about 21, lives with her younger sister, and is investigating the church. Also, there is a marrigae happy Return Missionary after her =p =) He's a good kid, but...i dunno.

She's our neighbor in our complex and on her porch, she really opened up to us. Through out the whole conversatoin, I think i was feeling true charity for her - the pure love of christ. She knew that baptism is a big committment and she was worried that she might be doing it for the wrong reasons - for this RM. She felt that whenever she gave her whole heart to something, it let her down (she does have a very intese story behind that). She doesn't want to get hurt and she wants to fully committ for the right reasons.

God let us bear powerful testimony. I promised her, with all I had, that if she prayed then and there with us, asking God if He loves her, that God would let her know by the spirit she would feel in her heart. I offered a very simple prayer first to give her an example...and she still didn't want to pray.

That's fine, we can never make anybody do anything. We never want to force, we only want to invite. THough I am bummed that she missed out on that blessing, I know that God loves her so much. I know that as she continues to pray and read the Book of Mormon, she will develope a personal relationship with her savior, Jesus Christ. Then she will be able to know for a surety who's gospel this is, who she is committing to.

 

This is Christ's church because he is at it's head. It is led by him and it teaches his doctrine. I love being a missionary!

 

Though I have moved, I have the same address. I have no new news on the VIsa. However, I'm working hard and putting my whole soul into this whever I am.

 

Love you all a TON!

Elder James Reinhardt

 

...My Son, My Friend...My Inspiration...

Mother, I love you.

 

I won't have much time yet. But I could praise you, thank you , and stand in awe for all the things you have done for me and for this family. I would write more, but I spent most of this time (after reading your mail) watching a single mom try and help her 8 yr old son with online school.

 

She looks frustrated, but she is giving it her all. Mom, for you, for God, and for her, I wrote my testimony and a little bit of our story in a Book of Mormon hoping that she reads the chapter when Jesus blesses the children. I know that the gopsel of Jesus Christ helped us and I know that it will help her.

 

Even when we forget our testimonies, even when we are pushed under by all the tempests of the world...Jesus Christ can and will lift us up - if we let him.

 

 Expect a Casette from me sometime soon  with a little bit of journal entries on it for you all. Mom, i've said it before, I'll say it again, and I'm sorry I didn't realize it sooner: you are the best member missionary ever! You truly care and work hard to make everyone you come in contact with feel the love you have for our savior.

 

Mom, I wish I could wrap my arms around ya and give you a huge hug. I can't right now, but I know that our Father in Heaven can.

 

God has reminded me to use your testimony of prayer alot this week. That whenever you asked God if He loved you, you could feel His spirit. Your impact is great.

 

Please look up "mountains to climb" by Henry B Eyring - it has a Mormon Message that is way powerful as well. love you!.

James Reinhardt

My new companion, Elder Plitt with Elder Edwards

This and that from James

This is 3 day old Mongolian Grill food. I love the place, but the way you pay is by the bowl. The higher you can stack the bowl, the more food you get - then the cooks cook them up on a huge hot-plate. Missionaries can stack it pretty tall. (this was one of 2.5 takeout boxes after eating all we could from what we piled up =)s one of 2.5 takeout boxes after eating all we could from what we piled up =)

 one of many sweet bikes during Rally!

I've typed and deleted this email 3 times now...what I want to get across is that we are working hard. We teach the gospel to everyone who will listen. We grow a ton ourselves.

 

I know that I do this personally because I want to bring as much peace and blessings as i can to the people I meet. I want to bring as many people as I can with me to heaven when life here is up. =)

 

I want to present the message that Christ is the source of peace, his church is back today, and the only way to know if I'm lying or not is to read and pray about the Book of Mormon.

 

I'm not a perfect teacher, I haven't been on this earth that long, and every committment I extend I extend to myself as well (because I need a ton of improvement too). But God is our Heavenly Father! He loves these people! He loves each and every one of them and He sent His Son down here to show us that love. God has a perfect plan for each of us to return to live with Him. If I can help even just one person come to that truth - then I'll be gosh darned stoked. =)

 

 

 

 This is "art alley" one little alley-way with so much art (since it's legal) some are good, some are creepy.