Jenson and Elder Lopez saying goodbye to Hermano Adan, his dear friend who sold burritos off from his Moped and would give his extras that he couldn't sell to the missionaries
Dear All,
Hello everyone from the (less beautiful and much hotter)
city of MEXICALI! Yep, I got transferred. My new ward is called Robledo. And
what they say about Mexicali is all true. It is wicked hot and super, super
flat. Basically the opposite of Ensenada. But it'll be good. And my new
companion is also named Elder Vega. But it's not the same one that trained me.
This guy is from Mexico City, and he has the accent haha. But he seems like a
good guy, hes the district leader.
But yeah this week was pretty fun. On Monday a couple in the
ward invited us to go eat some tacos in this place thats supposedly famous in
the whole state for having super good tacos. And they were. Wow. It was legit.
And then we visited a guy named Alejandro, because we had to review the
baptismal interview questions with him because yes, he got baptized on
Saturday.
So this dude was a miracle. We were way far away from home
one night, and as the appointment we had fell through so we started to knock
doors. We knocked one where we saw light, heard voices, and had a car, but no
one came out. But then as we walked down the street we saw a guy washing his
car. Which was kinda weird cause it was like 8:00 at night. So we started
talking, and when we told him we were missionaries he opened his gate and told
us to share whatever we had with him. So we taught the first lesson, gave him a
Book of Mormon, and set an appointment to come back. And we left like
"wow...that was kinda cool". The next time we went back he had read
the first 5 chapters. That never happens. And then when we invited him to be
baptized, he smiled so big and told us what had happened. The morning that we
met him, he had prayed for God to show him a better path in his life. So he was
outside waiting for someone, anyone, but didn't know who, when we met him. He
told us that when saw us he knew immediately that it was God who had sent us to
him. So that was absolutely incredible.
Then after about a week we taught him the Word of Wisdom,
but we honestly taught it super bad. We kept getting distracted. And we left
like well crap. Cause he was drinking a ton of coffee every day. But when we
went back two days later, he told us that he had stopped drinking coffee. And
that he had bought about 50 apples so that they would help him stay awake. We
gave him a blessing, and from that moment on he told us he didn't need coffee
to stay awake.
Then the problem was his job. He had changed his day once to
come to church with us, but the next week they fired the guy with whom he was
switching. So he couldn't come. And the next week it didn't look like he was
going to be able to come. So we invited him to look for a new job. And he said
he would. When we went back he told us that his boss had refused to give him
Sundays, so he said he was going to quit, so his boss was kinda like "oh
dang this dude's serious" and gave him a 1 hour break that Sunday and all
of the Sundays after that.
Then the best part. This guy was living alone because he had
had problems with his family. And the first time we came into his house, it was
literally covered in cockroaches. And ticks. It was disgusting. But every time
we came it kept getting cleaner and cleaner. And then one day he called us and
asked us to come like right now. So we hurried over and found out his son, who
had hated his dad, had decided out of the blue to come live with him. So that
was amazing.
And then on the Sunday before his baptism, we asked him if
he could help us with a ride for two investigators that live close to him. And
he said for sure he would help us out. And he did. (That day was sweet cause we
10 investigators in the church) and then after church he told us that the night
before his car had died completely and he had to push it home. But he didn't
have minutes on his phone to call us and tell us he couldn't help with the ride
so he just said a prayer that his car would start and stay on long enough to
take us to church. So we all piled in, and when we went to go get the other
people Elder Lopez and I got to go get em. And we heard him turn the car off,
which in the moment didn't seem super important to us, but he told us later
that it was one of the biggest acts of faith he's ever had to do in his life.
So basically this guy is incredible. And I had the honor of
descending into the water with him. That was a pretty cool moment. And the
Sisters in our district brought investigators with them, and they told us that
it got them really excited for their own baptism.
And then on Sunday it was rough. Saying goodbye to so many
people. Its like that saying, "You don't know what you have until it's
gone." There were times when I was so blasted frustrated with the ward in
Universidad, but really they just did the best they could. It was nice to feel
loved for a few days. Hermano Adán even made special burritos and brought some
to me. So yeah I'll miss that place. But yeah. Here I am. Now it's time to make
this ward love me too. And yes I am taking pictures, but Elder Lopez just takes
many more. And sometimes it takes a while for the pictures to upload, and its
easier just to forward the ones he sends to me.
You guys are great, I miss you all. Thanks for everything
you do.
Les quiero mucho,
Elder Rawlings
Baptism of Alejandro
with the Bishop of the ward in Universidad
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