Sunday, June 26, 2016

Power of the priesthood



Dear All,
Welp. Less than two months left. How freaking weird is that. I went on exchanges with guy who is going towards his first year, and I told him that the last big song that came out before I went into the MTC was one called "Shake it off" by Taylor Swift and he was floored. "That was sooooo long ago!" he says and I'm like "well yeah like two years more or less" and it was crazy.
But yeah this week was pretty good. Lots of spiritual experiences again. We also had a baptism, which was nice, it's been a while since I've been able to say that. But yeah it was pretty cool, I'll throw some pics on there later. She is a reference from a family in the ward where we almost always go on Mondays to do FHEs and she started coming all of the sudden but she didn't really show any interest and then one day she called us aside and she was like "Hey I want you to teach me cause I need to find a church." And it was like ok well that's what we are here for. But then she straight up disappeared. We had no idea where she was for like a month. And then we went to that family's house and boom there she was. We taught lesson 1 super quick, set a baptismal date, and 5 weeks later (the minimum here in this misison) she got baptized. It was way cool. Super chosen, and going to be a super good member for the rest of her life.
Also before I forget, HAPPY FATHERS DAY TO ALL YOU DADS OUT THERE, especially MY dad. Here in Tijuana they started the celebration Saturday night, cause the Mexican national team played against Chile in the Copa America, and that means that they started drinking at like 5pm and then Chile started winning and they started drinking more and then the game ended 7-0 Chile, which if it were a football score would be like 70-0. Embarassing. And my comp loves soccer and when he heard he almost cried it was super funny but the point is people were all super drunk on Saturday night, and then they woke up on Father's day hung over, and how do you get rid of a hangover? Drink more!! There are so many bottles and cans in the streets and in the trash cans and in the gutters it is ridiculous. These people need the Gospel.
But yeah there was a ward party, of course, complete with live music (in the chapel), and all kinds of fried Mexican goodness. Honestly Mexican ward parties put US ward parties to shame. They're way fun.
But we had a pretty cool moment during the party cause the sisters in our ward brought and investigator, and out of no where the dude just started crying. The sisters came over and asked us if we could give him a blessing. So we all went into an empty room and the guy started to tell us all about his life, and man was it rough. He told us he was crying because he was having a hard week, with sickness and disability and stuff and to see all those people happy and dancing and with their family was just too much for him. We gave him a blessing and taught a little lesson but it was just so special, in spite of the music and the noise and the whole environment in general, there was like a little pocket of the spirit right there. I started to think about that moment a lot this week. I feel like it was kind of a model that I want to have for my life. In spite of all the things that are out there in the world, even though they might be good things, there has to be at least a little pocket, or a little place, or a little time where we can feel the Spirit and get closer to our Heavenly Father. With that little space as our foundation, everything else falls into place better. After the lesson we took the guy back out to the party, and the ward mission leader introdcued him to another guy in the ward, who took the man by the arm, sat him down, went and got him food, and spent the rest of the night talking, joking with, and conforting him. It was really special and a true testimony of the power of the Preisthood and the need we have to use it worthily in every moment.
So yeah. Lots of stuff still to learn. But poco a poco vamos mejorando.
Los quiero mucho,

Elder Rawlings

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