Monday, November 23, 2015

Elder Reinoso, OTM (Open The Mouth), Thanksgiving, fun

Hello Fantastic Family,

Have a great Thanksgiving this year. They have turkey here but they don't eat it. I don't know why they have turkey here if they don't eat it though. It's like a pet, I think. They're super cool here and they open up their feathers huge and they get super fat but when they stop acting buff, then they are skinny.

Elder Reinoso is super awesome. He's different and doesn't always share what he's thinking with me and there have been times where I just look at him like, "Why didn't you tell me what you were planning???" So we're working on that. But he doesn't fear anybody. He'll talk to anyone. He's teaching me to have courage and we're talking to a lot of people.

Elder Reinoso's younger brother got baptized first in his family. Then his younger brother told the missionaries, "Hey my brother's hiding in the back. Go and teach him." So he started listening to the lessons. He wouldn't get baptized because of soccer on Sundays. He got paid to play soccer. He decided to go to church one Sunday and not play soccer. His coach found out and told him he was off the team. Then he told the missionaries that he wasn't playing soccer anymore and could get baptized. Two weeks later, the National Guatemala Soccer Club Team called him up and offered him a place on the team and he accepted and wasn't playing on Sundays. Two years later, they found out he was planning on serving a mission and kicked him off the team again. So know he's here in Honduras and is a member of just 2 years and 11 months. He baptized three friends that are now serving missions in various parts of Central America and he also baptized his Mom. As far as his Dad, I don't know when or how he got baptized but he's also a member of the church and it sounds like he is a really active member in the ward. So that's Elder Reinoso in a nutshell.

We had a lot of fun contacting this week. One night we were trying to get in a few more Open the Mouth before retiring for the night and we found a man at 9:15 pm that was really evangelist. He was super happy and cheerful to see us and we started talking about Family History. I told him that my g.g.g.grandpa came from Europe to the US and I told him about Peter Shirts meeting the Indians when they stole his cows and then begged for food from him. I was surprised but he started arguing with us that my g.g.g.grandpa couldn't have lived in the 1800s because he would have been born in the 1700s and not the 1800s. I just let that one go because he can't argue with me about my ancestry (like he would know who my g.g.g.grandpa was). And so we asked if we could show him how he could search for his ancestors in FamilySearch. He told us NO of course and then continued to tell us to study more about Joseph Smith. He called us "Idol-worshippers, fornicators, adulturers" and many other things about Joseph Smith and his "10 wives"... My companion wanted to talk about how Abraham had multiple wives, as well but I cut him off because that wouldn't end well. And then I asked him, "Have you attended one of our church meetings?" He hadn't. "Have you read the Book of Mormon?" And he responded that the Book of Mormon is far from spiritual... blahblahblah. Obviously, he hadn't. So I invited him to do those things and bore my testimony of the Book of Mormon and that anyone and everyone was, is, and forever will be invited to read from it's pages and will know that it is true if they meditate on what they read and pray to God asking Him if it's true. Then I shared with him 2 Nephi 25:26 and Moroni 10:4-5. By that point he was wavering in his resolve to tell us we were wrong. By the time we left he gave us a hug and told us thanks for sharing that with him. I just felt good as we left and spiritually uplifted. It was a short, spiritual moment that we had in the cold night with an unexpected encounter. :D Fun moments of the mission :D

Love you family!!! You guys are the greatest! Have a Happy Thanksgiving! They don't really celebrate Thanksgiving here but we'll do something fun.

Congratulations with the progress of the wedding. I hope everyone gets better from being sick and being operated on. S.M.I.L.E. (Spiritually Minded Is Life Eternal)

Elder Spencer Tuft

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