Eating one of his new "favorite"treats....see below for the "treat"
Dear All,
Last week I didn't write and I'm sorry. It was a crazy day
of zone activities and my companion travelling all over Tijuana to say goodbye
to converts and getting there late to a meeting with president and having him
get on your case in front of everyone and yeah good stuff. But that's ok. Today
I got a new companion, Elder Rojas, from Puebla, MX, and in a way I get to
train him cause he's a brand new Zone Leader. So it'll be fun.
But yeah these past couple weeks have been nuts. We ate a
ton this week cause everyone invited Elder Ortiz to come eat and I didn't
really complain. We found a super duper chosen lady too, check this story out.
So we were knocking doors one day, and we talked to a lady,
about 30 years old, outside of a pretty shabby house. She had a little kid, and
as we talked to her, we felt like something was out of place, like she wanted
to tell us something, but couldn't. I'm not sure exactly how the question was
that we asked her, but the point is she told us her Grandpa, who had raised
her, had died the day before. Of course, we testified of the Plan of Salvation,
and we set up an appointment. When we get to the appointment, we started
talking, and she told us that when her grandpa died, they were going through
his stuff, and found a picture of him, dressed in white, with two Americans
with black nametags standing in front of a picture of Jesus Christ. She said
when she saw us, she immediately thought in that picture, and that's why she
let us come back. The spirit was felt as we testified that we met her because
her Grandpa had guided us to her house. It was a pretty special moment.
We also got a call early one morning from a member who said
that she needed us URGENTLY in her house. So we ran over there, and there she
was, sitting on the couch, with another lady that we didn't know that was
crying. Check this out. So the crying lady just barely got here from SInaloa,
because she has a son in Prison here in Tijuana, but they were going to release
him early because they diagnosed him with terminal cancer. She had been meeting
with the missionaries in Sinaloa, and when she found out that the lady was a
member, she went and looked for her and asked her to call us.
That by itself is pretty cool, but here goes the other part:
The member is a recent convert, and she told us she still hasn't told a lot of
people that she's a member of the church. But the day before, she ran into a
neighbor, and felt the impression to tell him that she was a member of the
church. So then this lady from Sinaloa was going from house to house, looking for
people who would let her do odd jobs for a little bit of money to help her son,
she ran into said neighbor. As they talked the neighbor told her "Go over
and visit my neighbor, she's Mormon, she can help you".
To quote D&C 88:72-72 "Behold, and lo, I will take
care of your flocks, and I will raise up elders and send unto them. Behold, I
will hasten my work in its time." and 2 Nephi 27;20, "...and I am
able to do mine own work". I testify of these scriptures. The Lord does
his own work. Are we ready for when he blesses us with the people the He has
prepared to share the gospel? Are we Spiritually sensitive enought, like this
sister, to follow the prompting of the Spirit, even though we may not
understand why? You never know the impact that your words can have on someone.
Recently, I was told that a missionary in Ensenada was having a lot of success
in Universidad, where I started the mission, and his success came from finding
Old Investigatores that Elder Vega, Elder Lopez, and I had left behind.
According to the story that I heard, they still remembered us, and had been
prepared in this past year or so in ways that only the Lord understands (Isaiah
55:8).
I was studying a lot about the next life in these past
weeks, and I feel like I am truly, 100% converted to this gospel now, I have
had a testimony for a while now, but I think my true conversion is really
happening. We were talking with the Stake President this morning cause he gave
us a ride to take Elder Ortiz and his suitcases to where he needed to go, and
he said something that really impacted me. He said "Your true mission
starts as soon as you get home. That's where you get to see what kind of
missionary you really were." I hope in these last few months I can get the
habits that I need to be not only a successful missionary, but also a
successful husband, father, preisthood holder, and one say, an Exalted Being at
the head of an eternal family. There is nothing more that we could ever desire
in this life or the next. There is no other work more important than this one,
because it is God's work and glory.
Los quiero mucho, sigan siendo excelentes personas,
obedezcan a sus padres y sus lideres en la iglesia porque son inspirados por
Dios. Este es el Evangelio restaurado, completo, y perfecto. En esta iglesia se
encuentran las llaves del sacerdocio necesarias para que volvamos a nuestro
hogar celestial. Lo se y se lo testifico.
Los quiero mucho,
Elder Rawlings
PS enjoy these pics ;)
grasshopper treat
petunia the pig, before
petunia the pig, after
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