Bus "selfie" on the way to Tijuana
Dear All,
Holy this week has been the best week of my mission so
far. And the time keeps flying. Like I feel like I just wrote to you guys
yesterday. But yeah. What a week.
So it started on Monday afternoon. After we finished
writing, we went and found a little hamburger stand that sold two burgers for
25 pesos so we were like heck yeah score (but based on the aftereffects we
probably wont do it again) and then we caught the bus up to our area so that we
could be there before 6 when we had to start working. And as we sat down on the
curb to eat, I noticed that the pocket where I keep my camera was empty and my
camera was missing. Now when I say that you're gonna think that me saying this
was the best week of my mission was sarcastic. It wasn't. Just wait.
So I'm pretty upset. I thought I had left it in the
little cybercafe where we were writing, but Elder Vega thought that someone had
stolen it. Either way, there was a very small chance that we were gonna find
it.
So let me backtrack a little bit. On Sunday, we heard a
talk about praying for specific stuff, that way its number one easier to
recognize when a prayer is answered and two so that we Heavenly Father can know
exactly how to help us. So we were praying on Monday morning, before we left,
and Elder Vega out of nowhere pauses and says "And please let us find a
family of 4 to teach" and I was like wow ok that would be pretty sweet.
So anyway we lose the camera and at that point it was too
late to go back into town to look for it, so we decided to just go the next
day, cause we had zone conference, so we would be passing by anway. And of
course we said prayers to find it and all that good missionary stuff.
So zone conference the next day was super good. It was
all about how there are 4 types of missionaries: the ones that get sent home,
the ones that should get sent home but don't get caught, the ones who do what
they want but come home the same person, and the ones who completely lose
themselves and are completely different when they come home. It was all about
who we want to be. So that was awesome. And then we went and stopped by the
cybercafe on the way home, and they told me that no, and that even if I had
left it odds are the next person took it. So that kinda sucked.
BUT THEN. We were standing at the bus stop to head to
work and this teenage girl comes up to us. And shes like "hey did you guys
lose a camera yesterday?" And I'm like who is this angel coming to help me
yes I did indeed lose a camera why do you ask? And she told me that her brother
had gotten onto the bus after me the night before and sitting in my seat was
this sweet camera with some pictures of a gringo and a morenito in tie and
nametag. So he took the camera home.
Turns out this girl was his sister. So she told us she was
headed to the same place as us, we could just follow her to her house and pick
it up. So we did so.
So of course when we got there we started talking to her
mom and brother and her about missionary stuff. They returned the camera and
the lady said she would like to talk but wasn't sure her husband would be down.
But she promised to talk to him and let us pass by sometime this week to find
out whats up.
And then as we left Elder Vega was like "hey did you
count how many that was?"and it freaking hit me. Ä FAMILY OF FLIPPING 4!!!
Like what the heck. Holy cool.
Then that night we were walking home from mission
coordination meeting and instead of us contacting people on the street, people
contacted us and told us they were interested. Which never happens.
Then on Wednesday I had an interview with President
Garcia. Holy cow I am so grateful that he is here. What an example and leader.
And he told me some good stuff.
Thursday we went to Tijuana for a checkup of all the
Trainees and Trainers, and I left with this awesome feeling of gratitude for
Elder Vega. There are more than a few whose trainers aren't obedient, who waste
time, who don't do the things that missionaries should do, and I don't have the
displeasure of having a companion like that. So that was good.
Holy Friday. We contacted a lady about a week ago who
told us that she wanted to talk to us so that she could convert us to her
church. Lol some people. But oh well we arranged a meeting in a member's house,
and when she got there we just kind of let her run things. She told us what she
believed and we just kind of established common ground. Then after a while we
asked if she wanted to just listen to a shortened version of our message, and
if she didn't like it well no harm no foul. So we started lesson 1 from the
beginning. And she got more and more into it. Every time she threw something at
us, we calmly pulled out scriptures that clarified everything. Then we got to
Joseph Smith.
Which is my favorite part. And I got to talk about the
First Vision.
And as I recited those amazing words, the Spirit freaking
kicked down the door, guns blazing, testifying the heck out of it. She kind of
sat there for a sec, then she was like "well its beautiful, but it says in
the Bible that no man can see God so I can't believe it." I looked at
Elder Vega, who had his eyes closed. The dude was either praying or asleep, and
so I had to answer. I told her how I think that God is all powerful, and if he
wants to show himself to someone, He's gonna do it. And then Elder Vega opened
his eyes, pulled out Exodus 33:11 where Moses talks to God face to face, and
that was that. She believed it.
She ended up accepting a Book of Mormon and promising to
pray and ask.
But it was so powerful. It was the first time that I have
genuinely felt the Spirit testifying and opening hearts and minds through the
words that He was putting into my mouth. Holy cow.
Saturday we found a lady, taught her lesson one, and set
a baptismal date for her and her daughter, then Sunday we found two teenagers,
taught them lesson 1, and set two more baptismal dates. So right now we have 4,
with 4 more that we have set, but theyve missed church or haven't kept a
commitment, But December is looking good.
Les quiero mucho, y no puedo esperar hasta nos veremos.
Cuidense mucho.
Hasta ver,
Elder Rawlings
Snap shot of Jenson's desk
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