New Companion

Jenson and his new comp Elder Zundel

Dear All,

Yes this week was changes. And yes there was a change. Elder Mera went to Tijuana and I received...(drum roll)...ANOTHER AMERICAN! Woo I am so happy. This is his last transfer so that means I´m gonna be here for a while, at least for alllll of the heat. But it´s good, he´s a good guy and we are gonna get along well together I think.

But yeah this week was pretty chill. I went on exchanges this week with another guy who is about to go home. On bike. And once again, my bike had no brakes. So that was terrifying. I have never felt so close to death. Plus it was like 115 that day, so yeah that was nice. But that day was fun. When we went to go eat, the sister praised my eating skills, saying that the missionaries in her ward don´t eat because they´re getting ready to go home, so they´re trying to lose weight. And I´m there like "lay it on me I've got more than a year to catch up" haha it was fun. Just super hot.

On Wednesday I had a lesson that made me laugh harder than just about anything in my life. So there were two little old ladies sitting outside talking. And they started calling to us. So we go talk to them, and we realize one is deaf, so we just focus on the one that can hear. But the deaf one kept talking anyway, even if it didn't have anything to do with the topic. So that got me started. And then the other lady chimed in saying that the night before she had been praying and asking for a blessing. Apparently she needed 100 pesos to go do something, so she prayed and asked for that blessing. And BAM there we were. So I was like "Hello baptism how are you?" but then she kept talking. She said the following: "I just want to go to your church, get up and grab the microphone, and just ask the people there for...well, for a blessing. Cause I just need 100 pesos, and all the people that go to your church are super rich right?" And bam. Spirit gone, two elders fighting to keep straight faces, both of us imagining this lady in a testimony meeting. It was just so unexpected. Everything was going so well and then it all just changed so suddenly. So we left them with a prayer and turned the corner as fast as possible so that she wouldn't see us laughing. It was great.

Thursday was the hottest day of my life. They said it got up to 48 degrees Celsius. I'll let you guys hit up the conversion on that. But then there was a breeze. When I think of breezes I think of cool, refreshing little blows of air that help you out. Not here. Have you ever stood in front of an oven at 450? Yeah. The wind physically hurt. And everything just bakes. I have a blister on my finger because I touched a chain link fence. IT IS INDESCRIBABLY HOT. And they say it's just beginning...

Friday and Saturday were hot too, but not like that. Saturday we did what I thought we would never do. We bought bikes. But the first think I checked was that the brakes worked and that the pedals were straight. And yeah. I bought a pretty dope bike. It's fast, looks good, and has working brakes. It's nice.

Sunday we just spent the day saying goodbye to members, and I realized that the ward here is pretty cool. So that's nice.

Anyway that's my week. Hope you guys are enjoying your summer, and drinking lots of water.

Los quiero mucho,

Elder Rawlings

Jenson and Elder Mera 

First week in Nacionalista

Jenson  and Elder Vega just prior to leaving Robledo

Dear All,

Happy Fathers Day! I don't know if it's this week or next, but whatever. It's one of the two, and I figured I would just mention it to be on the safe side.

SO yeah. Nacionalista. It is still super duper hot. They said we hit 115 yesterday and man did it feel terrible. It's supppsed to be in the 120s this weekend, or so they tell us. That'll be fun. 

But yeah this place is kinda cool. I feel like my whole mission I've been in the armpit areas of the Zones that I've been in. Universidad in Ensenada, Robledo in Los Pinos Mexicali, and now Nacionalista in Mexicali Mexicali. Lots of dirt roads, cholos, and poor people. My kinda place. Lots of miracles this week. Twice we ran into members from Las Vegas here on vacation who bought us food and one of them introduced us to his Mother-in-Law who wants to get baptized. So that was nice.

But yeah life goes on. I've been trying to be super exited this week cause I feel like if I'm not busy I'm gonna get super lazy and not wanna work here. So for the first time in the mission I feel like I've been really doing excercise in the mornings. I don't know how effective it's gonna be if I keep eating 4-6 quesadillas or pizza every night but it makes me feel good so nimodo.

I'm trying to think of special stuff that happened this week and nothing is coming to my head. It was a really normal week. It was a great week in terms of numbers but there wasn't really anything super funny or spiritual or anything that happened. The only thing I can think of was one contact we did who listened and was super cool for the like 5 minutes that we talked to her, but when we asked if we could visit her she just straight up said, "No, I really would not like to listen to you guys. But nice to meet you!" I actually started to laugh. It was just so direct. And came out of left field. But whatever. And then I read a scripture in Helaman that said that Nephi baptized 8,000 Lamanites, but then in the next chapter it says that in his next "area" he was rejected to the point that he just went home. I was like "Hey that's me! Except heck no way am I coming home." 

And we went bowling today. You'll never guess who (didn't) win. That's right. I'm 99% fluent in a second language and my bowling skills are still the same. Some things just never change.

You guys take care of yourselves, drink lots of water, y se van por la sombrita, eh?

Les quiero mucho,

Elder Rawlings

Surprise Transfer

Dear All,

Holy week. Holy flipping week.

It started so well; we started teaching a guy who speaks perfect English and wanted us to teach him in English so guess who taught the whole lesson. It was kinda weird. I had to translate many words, just cause they aren't words that I would normally use. It was fun though. 

We also started working on the next baptisms up. A family that we met like 3 weeks ago but then their daughter got sick and so we couldn't see em for a while. But we found them on Tuesday and they told us they had already made plans to be in church on Sunday without us telling them anything, and that they had read their pamphlets several times. So dang yeah that was nice. Also a Catholic family who told us they don't let anyone in but when they met us they felt something different and so they decided to let us come in and teach them. Chosens.

Tuesday and Wednesday I was with Elder Cronin (the dude from Mississippi) and we had fun. He's crazy. We also found someone super cool. When we asked her if she wanted to get baptized, she told us yes right away. And then when we told her what day, she started to cry and said that it was the day of her dad's birthday, and that her dad had died a  few years ago and she felt like he hadn't forgiven her for things that she had done, and so it was going to be a very special day. So yeah that was pretty incredible. 

On Thursday morning we got a fantastic call. The family that we baptized on Saturday, their dad is depressed and had been laying in bed for like a month without doing anything. But in these past couple weeks he's made a few steps. Like he went out and cut his hair and he went for a bike ride. But he wasn't working, so the family was struggling hard economically. But then on Thursday the lady called us, told us that he had gotten up that morning and went and got a job making tacos. Pretty much on his own. She was so happy, and we were too. He said that as soon as he left the house he felt better, that he wants to come to church on Sunday, that he wants to get baptized, all that good stuff. AND he was going to have his day off on Sundays. BOOM. So cool. That afternoon we met the uncle of the other girl who got baptized on Saturday, and when we invited him to baptism he said that he got goosebumps and also almost started to cry. So yeah basically we were finding golden investigators everywhere. 

BUT THEN.

So Thursday night we were walking down the street with a recent convert to a lesson, when the phone rang. My companion answered, "Good evening President Garcia how's it going?" So yeah that kinda sent up a flag. They talked for a little bit while I knocked the door, and then he came over to tell me that we had to be home early so that we could talk to the President.

So we get home and make the call. Lots of little things happened, but the gist is this. A missionary went home on Wednesday and left his companion alone. So guess who was getting sent to be the replacement. That's right, Elder Vega and I. They closed our area, and by Saturday night we were working in trio with Elder Mera in the Nacionalista Ward. 

That sucked. Holy heck. We had to say goodbye to all of the members and converts in one day. And totally unexpectedly. It was a miracle that we even found all of them because we pretty much just showed up unannounced and dropped the bomb on them. Probably the hardest day of my mission so far. And the first time I have really cried since getting here. I love these people. Some of these people we were in their house every other day. We all got so close. It was like leaving behind my family again.

But anyway life moves on. Sunday afternoon they called us to tell us that I'm staying here with Elder Mera until the end of the transfer, two weeks away, and Elder Vega took off for Tijuana. I'm gonna miss that dude. We straight up killed it there in Robledo. Not boasting or anything, but we worked our tails off. We just would not settle for less than excellence. We found at least 10 new investigators each week we were together. 9 weeks straight. It was awesome. But now it's on me. Nacionalista won't know what hit it.

I always love hearing that you guys are well, and I hope it keeps going that way.

Les quiero mucho,

Elder Rawlings

HOLY HECK IS IT HOT

Dear All,

Woo June! And if you have been paying attention to the weather, the "bueno" heat just started. It it SO BLASTED HOT. I wish there were better words to describe it but no. It's just hot. And then when there is a breeze, which normally would cool you off, the breeze it HOT TOO. I'm losing weight, though, so that's kinda nice. BUT HOLY HECK IS IT HOT.

For the weekly summary, it was a pretty solid week. I was on exchanges on Tuesday, another Elder came with me here in Robledo, and we had a terrrible day. Not a single one of our appointments, plans, or plan B's was home. So we set the goal to contact 20 people. And we did 19. Technically we did 20 but one guy we contacted pulled out some weed halfway through and started getting really "happy"as they say here, so we didn't count that one. But it was crazy hot.

Wednesday was better, as we were able to actually find the majority of our appointments in their house, including a guy in a wheelchair with one leg. So more on that to come.

Thursday was pretty cool. I don't know how far the rumor spread, but supposedly on Thursday at exactly 4:00 pm there was supposed to be an earthquake that was gonna turn California into an island. And since Mexicali is right underneath California and pretty much at sea level, there were more than a few people who literally headed for the hills. So that was funny. The good thing is that we survived. A few casualties, but we just keep on keepin on ;)

On Friday we went on three way exchanges because we are young men and not good at planning and so at the last minute we had to improvise. I was in an area somehow uglier than mine, and using a bike with no brakes. So you'll imagine how that day went. Plus it was so dang hot. The best part about that day were the guamuchiles (pronounced: Wah-moo-chi-lays). Theyre these little fruit things that kinda look like snow peas on the outside, but like reddish when they're ripe. And there were a ton of trees in the area I was in. So we ate a ton. They're pretty good. Definitely different, but good.

Saturday was a special day. The Zone Leaders had a baptism in our chapel, so we got to be there for that. It was pretty cool. An older guy who has a testimony pretty freaking awesome. And then later on we ourselves had the chance to baptize. But we one-upped the Zone Leaders. Actually we 4-upped them. That's right, we got to baptize four wonderful daughters of God. It was pretty cool. Three were part of a family (a mom and two of her daughters) and the other is the ex-girlfriend of a guy who just left on his mission. It has been super awesome teaching them and really watching their testimonies growing, especially since all of them except the mom were pretty rooted in their churches, but when the got their answers they had the faith to act. 

Even better, all four of them were references. So there's where the power of the friendship and support and genuine love of the members comes into play. If you're not giving references, start. Make it a goal to have made one new friend or have talked to at least one person before the missionaries come to your house to eat. They might start coming to eat more often, and maybe its cause of the food, or maybe its cause they know you really love the Lord and want to help Him and them in this great work.

The only hard part about Saturday is that it was SO DANG HOT. Good thing the water was nice and cool.

Anyways yeah. That's pretty much the week. Lots more stuff happened, but those are stories for when I get home. So I'll leave you with that suspense. 

Hope you're all super duper well and reading the scriptures every day. 

Les quiero mucho,

Elder Rawlings

Mátelo.

Dear All,

Memorial day.

We killed our pet.

Now you're caught up. 

So this morning, we got up, said prayers, and my companion went to go finish passing numbers to the Zone Leaders, and I come stumbling into the kitchen half asleep, and then my compaion starts yelling at me. That woke me up fast. He told me to go look what was sitting on his blanket. I was thinking like a cockroach or a spider or something like that. But then I looked. And this is what I saw:

​(Dont worry that isnt the blanket he sleeps with)

He told me he had seen it when he got up to go to the bathroom, but he thought he was dreaming, but when he had passed by again he realized it was what he thought it was. A very dead mouse. RIP Mátelo.

So that's how I started this week. And this last week was all right too. We had exchanges 3 different times. So that was cool. On Monday the Zone Leaders came here with me to Robledo, and that was fun even though it only lasted like 2 hours. Then on Tuesday night another Elder came here and on Wednesday we went to his area cause our companions were in Tijuana. And the on Friday we went with the Zone Leaders again. It was nuts. But super fun. Except for Wednesday cause I was on bike and I hate bikes.

But yeah we had some interesting experiences. Lots of people jsut straight up rejected us. Which is something that hasn't happened a whole lot since I've been here. Also several people who we had been teaching and who even had baptismal dates just straight up disappeared. Like they don't exist anymore. Which kinda creeps me out a little bit. But whatever. The work moves forward. We keep finding people, we keep getting better, and this ward keeps growing.

It's actually kind of cool how that works. I've noticed that the attitude of the missionaries influences a ton how the ward works. For example, Universidad and Robledo are two areas notorious for being difficult. Members who aren't involved in Missionary work, hard hearted people, things like that. And yet, when we just put our shoulder to the wheel, the whole place changes. For example. This Sunday, we had three less active families that came to church. And we didn't even visit them. They just said they felt the need to be there. The more we work, the more the Spirit is in this area. And those people who have recieved the promise of the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost are more perceptive to its whisperings. That's where the desire to come back into the fold takes place.

But the coolest thing of this week. We had lunch with this awesome dude on Sunday. He's an English teacher so guess what we spoke the whole time. And then he tells me he served in the Mexico Couliocan mission. And I was like "Hey I feel like I know someone who also served there." And then when he was giving us a ride to our appointment, it hit me. So I asked him, "Hey did you ever meet an Elder Stock on your mission?" And guess what. He said yes. So take advantage of seeing Brother Stock tonight to tell him I met the guy who came in to replace him when he left the mission. His name is Daniel Rosas. He said they only knew each other a few days but that Elder Stock was famous in the mission. SO yeah I thought that was pretty cool.

Anyway, my week was pretty normal. Hope you guys enjoy yours.

Les quiero mucho,'

Elder Rawlings

100% chance of rain

("formula for success: pick a house that looks promising, knock on the door, and they will let you in"...as shown in the photos)

Dear All,

What a week.

So remember how I kept saying that Mexicali was super hot? It still is. But this week was different. Everyone was telling us "watch out guys theres a 100% chance of rain on friday" but we were like yeah ok haha here we are in the middle of the desert it'll rain for like 10 minutes and then it'll just be super hot again. So yeah. More on that later.

It was a pretty good week. On Tuesday we had a training with Presidente Garcia; he came to talk to all of the bishops and Ward Mission Leaders here in this stake. And he asked for the missionaries to be there. So that was cool. And he pretty much exhorted everyone on all sides. It was way fun to watch. And then the Stake President spoke. Man that dude is powerful. Incredible speaker. And when he talks his has this face like he is furious at something and he moves his hands a lot and the whole thing just gives it this dictator-type vibe, but talking about the Gospel. It's super cool. 

On Wednesday we had a pretty cool thing happen. We went to go visit someone who we have been teaching kind of off and on because she doesn't go to church, but she really wants to learn. Also she has a son with a knowledge of the scriptures that is absolutely mind-blowing. So we went to visit her. And she was telling us how a couple months ago she and her husband were talking about how they wanted to join a church, and that day her husband had come home from work (he's a taxi driver) and said that he had met some "Hermanos" and had invited them over to the house, but then they never showed up. That made me think a little bit. About two months ago, when I first got here, I had gotten into a taxi on exchanges and we had spoken with the driver, who had given us an address on the same street that this lady lives on. But when we had gone to visit, they said that no one lived in that house with that name. So yeah we left it at that. But then I pulled out my Planner and looked at the reference and asked the lady what her husband's name is. Yep. It's the same dude. I think we heard the number of the house wrong. But still. It's pretty cool how the Lord works to make sure his children get home safe.

Not a whole lot more happened this week. It was a good week. 

Haha just kidding. I know you're dying to know what happened with the rain. Here we go.

So we left the house at about 10:45, after we had finished studying. And it was raining, but not a whole lot. So I was like yeah, whatever. But it didn't let up. And so we started working, and we ended up finding some pretty cool new people. And then it started getting worse. And we didn't have umbrella, jacket, nothing. So that was good. So we went to our house, cause members were going to bring us food, and when we got home we were soaked. We changed real quick, ate, and then left, but with umbrella and rainjacket. And it just kept raining and raining, and holy cow it's still raining. It finally stopped at about 6:30, exaclty when we finally had a member available to give us a ride. So we went to a lesson, and when we left we had the option to take the long way, or pass through a field and get to the next appointment in about 3 minutes. We decided to take the field. After all we were in a car what could possibly happen.

SO yeah about 30 seconds later we were stuck. So this guy gets out, we get out, his girlfriend takes the wheel, we roll up our pant legs and start pushing in the mud. Pretty soon it got unstuck, and she just took off, leaving us about 100 yards of field to cross on foot. So we got out of there and all of us were about 3 inches taller cause of the mud on our shoes. It was pretty fun. Overall, it was a good day. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Well yeah that's my week. Hope you guys had an even better one.

Les quiero mucho,

Elder Rawlings

Another transfer down

Celebratory root beer floats in honor of  making it though another transfer 

Dear All,

Holy cow this week has flown by I feel like I just talked to you guys yesterday. Weird how time works.

Anyway this week has been pretty cool. On Monday after I wrote you guys we went to a member's house with all the Young Men and played pool for a few hours so that was a pretty solid day. Then of course we went to work and had a pretty cool lesson. It was with a family we found knocking doors. They had let us in, and we had shared a little mini lesson with them, and then on Monday we had set an appointment to go visit them. And at the end of the lesson, we asked them to pray. And one of the daughters offered to do it. So we taught her how, and when she prayed it was super cool. It was one of the most sincere prayers I've ever heard. When she finished, her mom was crying super hard. It was a pretty solid moment. 

Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty solid, and then Thursday got weird. About 5 in the afternoon, the sky started getting cloudy and then it started getting really windy, and I started getting really excited. I thought it was gonna rain. And I miss rain. But no. It didn't rain, it just got pretty cold. (Actually they told us it was like 70 but when you compare that with 105, it's pretty freaking cold.) And Friday was the same way.Super "cold" haha. But it felt nice. It was the first time I haven't sweated in my sleep since I've been here (and if sweated isn't a word, judge ye). 

Also on Friday we were on exchanges and I was with that guy from Mississippi I told you about. He is a blast. There's a neighborhood here called "Caminos del Sur" (Ways/Paths of the South) and so he went and took a picture of it so that he could, in his own words "send it tuh mah daddy" (You've gotta say it out loud) because "The South gon' rise again!" 

Saturday was brutal. I don't know if I have had a day quite so physically demanding in my whole mission. We literally didn't sit down until about 7:30. Every single lesson we taught was outside the person's house. And they didn't feel like bringing out chairs. So we were on our feet from 11 am to 2 pm when we ate, then we left at 3 and were standing until 7:30. It was a hard day. But I had been listening to that talk from Elder Wirthlin "Come what may and love it" and so I was doing a hard job of not complaining, just laughing at how rediculously hard it was and how incredibly my feet hurt. But it ended up being a good day. We found a few solid new people to teach and we gave away all the Books of Mormon we brought with us. So yeah. Worth it.

Sunday was pretty solid. We went with some members who have laptops and let us call, and so that was nice. They made us steak and pasta and salad and it was like a normal sunday dinner at home. And then I got to see you guys and all your cute little faces and it was pretty cool.  I just forgot everything I was gonna say. 

Then we got home and celebrated a little bit one more transfer completed (see attatched photos.) It was pretty solid.

So yeah that was my week. Another transfer down, only 10 more to go. As much as I wish it was 20 or 100, that's just the way it is.

Stay classy,

Les quiero mucho,

Elder Rawlings