First Letter Home

MTC Week 1

9/10/14

Dear All,

The MTC is one heckuva place. The spirit here is so strong and everyone is so helpful and willing to lift each other up because we all know that we have the same struggles. It's like BYU on roids.

This first week has taken forever I swear, but I have learned so much. I have my missionary purpose memorized in Spanish, I have the first half of the first vision down, and I have the first 4 verses of D&C 4 down. So that's all coming along nicely.

Because I am in the intermediate class, I got to start teaching an investigator the second day I was here. Elder Sanchez, my companion, and I have taught the first two lessons so far and asked him to be baptized yesterday. He said he would pray about the things we said and give us and answer tomorrow. (Of course, he's not a real investigator, but it's still intimidating trying to speak only in spanish using words I barely learned.)

So there is a sister in my district who is very shy and very hard on herself when it comes to speaking the language. She knows how to speak nearly perfectly, but she is so afraid of speaking that often she doesn't. I have been praying as her district leader for some time now to try and know how to help her.

So then last night, a member of the branch presidency stopped by my apartment, I''m not sure why, but he asked us how she was doing and how he could help. I asked him to join with me in praying for her, and he said he could do me one better. He showed me the scripture that says "for the Lord knows that ye have need of all these things", and told us that one of the gifts of the spirit is that we can pray to know what to ask for.

So Elder Sanchez and I went to our room and got down on our knees and offered some of the most sincere prayers I have ever been a part of. The spirit was so strong. After we finished, we sat up and talked about what we felt, We came up with a plan to help this hermana, and then we got back onto our knees to ask if it was the right plan. Overwhelmingly yes. It was amazing, I can't even begin to describe it. 

In summary, I love being a missionary.

Love,

Elder Rawlings

***Side note from Mom.  President Wolfort who had been serving as Mission President in the Atlanta North Mission, and was just released this past July, is serving in Jenson's Branch Presidency in the MTC.  Jenson has really enjoyed working with Pres. Wolfort and being able to discuss many of the missionaries he worked with in our Ward.