Hey Family! I will go ahead and start answering some of Dad´s questions. First, a little about our zone/district. Our District is called the district of Leon. It includes pretty much all of the area north of Madrid. So, it is a pretty large area. We don´t have any stakes here, but a lot of branches. Our missionary district is 5 pairs of missionaries, 2 here in Aviles, and the other three in a bigger city closeby called Oviedo. Like I said, we have 2 sets of missionaries here in Aviles! That is so cool! Especially because before about 6 months ago, this area had been closed for 2 years. Our branch is small, but it is slowly growing! We had 30 people at church on Sunday, which is way up from the 15 we had about 3 months ago. Haha, about the comida. I have been eating quite a bit since I got out to the field, but I´m starting to moderate a little bit. Haha, as far as weight goes though? I haven´t weighed my self since I got to the field, but I have stayed pretty consistent. Gotta love that high metabolism! I sleep very well here! Probably because we are working so hard during the day. Still working on the whole thinking in spanish thing, but everyday, I can feel my spanish skills going up. Haha, about the twelve grapes thing. All that I know right now is that everyone watches the TV at midnight on new years eve, just like back home, and in Sol in downtown Madrid, there is a big countdown. When it gets to 12, you have to eat twelve grapes for every sound of the chime of the clock. Haha, Im pretty excited to do that! It´s a little harder here in spain, because the grapes that they sell have seeds, so it makes it interesting. Christmas here has many different traditions, so I will have to tell you about all of them after christmas. Whew, I hope that wasn´t confusing in any way! Things are going so great out in the field. We are working hard, and we have seen the fruits of our labors. We did intercambios (companion exchanges) this weekend, which was awesome! I got to go to Oviedo and work with Elder Jaforus, who is from American Fork! He is a great missionary, and I think we will be friends for quite a while. The coolest part is that we got to set a baptism date with one of our investigators here in Aviles, who has been hesitating for a while. This Friday! I am so excited to have my first baptism! Thank you so much for the package, I am excited to get it! I have all of the gifts for the kids for Christmas, and I am going to try and send them this week sometime. They´re nothing huge, but I hope that they like them. Thank you so much for all of the prayers in my behalf, I am so happy to be out in the field, sharing something that I love so much with other people. Until Next Week! Elder Rawlinson

Hello family! I absolutley loved getting your email! That picture is so great! Now that I´m out in the field, I can´t really print stuff, so can you send me a copy in a letter? Also some other family pictures would be great. Speaking of that! Here is my address: Jose Manuel Pedregal 14 Escalera Derecha 4D Aviles 33401 España Group message: First week out in El Campo Misional(the mission field)! I´m very very excited to be here! I was very surprised when I heard that I was going to the North of Spain, as most missionaries stay in the Madrid area. It is gorgeous up here! I am in a little town called Aviles. When I say little, I mean about 80,000. Haha, not too little! But since everyone lives in appartments, it only takes about 30 minutes to walk from one side of the city to the other. It is very green up here! A little chilly as well! The weather here reminds me a lot of the north west, it rains pretty much every day, and is not sunny very often, but I love it! It is gorgeous, and I will need to send some pictures soon. My first few days out here have been pretty great, but really, really hard. I thought I knew quite a bit of Spanish my last week in the MTC, but I have realized that it is totally different talking to real people. I´m slowly getting the hang of it, but I now understand why return missionaries say don´t give up in the first few months. The work is going great! My companion is so good! His name is Elder Parkinson, and he is from Kaysville. He only has been out for 4 months, and he is already training! But I completley understand why. He is very good at the Language, and is a very hard worker. The church has a branch here, where there are about 20 active members. The members are so awesome! They help us out so much with everything we do! It is a little strange with some of our investigators, as I didn´t start out with them. It feels like I am just being put in the middle of someone elses lessons, but I am getting used to it. I will let you know next week more about that, but we have one investigator that commited to baptism on Friday, and another family where two of their children are pretty interested in the church. Once again, I will let you know more about them next week. I love teaching the gospel! And sharing something with other people that means so much to me! Tell Skyler congrats for me! I´m so excited for him! When does he leave? I´m so happy to have a family that supports me so much! My MTC companion, Elder Schwenke is in Alconbendas, just outside Madrid. And I am not sure if he is related to that football player. Thanks for everything family! I will keep in touch weekly! Elder Kaleb Rawlinson PS If you or anyone else needs to send a package, make sure to send it to the office. I am going to try and send a Christmas package back home, but I don´t think it will make it back by Christmas.

November 14 letter

¡Hola! ¿Qué tal mi familia y amigos? Greetings from Spain!!! The weather is still fantastic here, but even better is the spirit of God that exists in this MTC. The language is coming along so well, and I am getting very excited to enter the field! Only a week and a half more! We just barely got back from the temple, and I am in love with it! It is one of the most beautiful things I have seen. The spirit I feel, and the inspiration I get there are special and undeniable. Let´s see, what else is there? I can´t remember if I said anything about this last week. There is a popular TV channel here that has filmed us a couple times in the past week and half, as they are making a segment on Mormons in Spain. If anyone wants to look that up on the internet (I think that is what its called, I can´t exactly remember. ;) ) the show is called commando actualidad, and the channel is TV 1 Española. That experience was very interesting! There was a day where a film crew was following the MTC president around, and also interviewed a few of the missionaries, in Spanish!!! Im glad that they didn´t choose to interview me, that would have been so stressful. The MTC received 30 new missionaries on Tuesday. All of them are native Spanish speakers that will be entering the field at the same time as us. So we now have almost 60 missionaries here. Very exciting! And it gives me a chance to practice my Spanish a little more! Every Thursday, we watch an MTC devotional either from the past, or live from Provo. Last weeks was from Elder Bednar on Christmas of 2011. It was one of the best devotionals I have ever listened to! It was on the Character of Christ. He stated that the character of Christ is to turn outward and serve people when the natural man would turn inward and focus on himself. I know that my mission will help me to overcome myself and become more like Christ, and I want to challenge each of you to do the same thing back home. I know that as we do this, we will become more in tune with the spirit and the will of The Father, and find more joy in this earthly experience. I miss all of you tons, but I love this work more than almost anything right now. I am always praying for all you, and I hope things are going great in The States.! This gospel is true. More and more, day by day, I am seeing that more clearly. I am very excited to get into the field and serve the people of this gorgeous country. ¡Grande es el Salvador y su Evangelio! Family! I´m so happy right now! I just got back from Sol, and I got some postcards I will have to send to Ethan when I get his letter. The fence looks very good! Tell everyone to check the blog, because I don´t have too much time today. I love each and every one of you! Keep me updated. Elder Rawlinson

November 6th letter

What happened this week? I´m kind of settling into the MTC, so this letter might be kind of short. Let´s see… On Saturday, as usual, we went to the park to proselyte. My companion and I placed 2 Books of Mormon! It was pretty amazing, before we left, me and him met to establish goals, and my companion said that he needed to bring a Russian BoM. He wanted to because he had met a man in the park the week before that wanted a Russian copy. I was a little skeptical, but as we were walking around the park, we found the same man! We gave him the Russian copy, and he was very happy. Not too much to report besides that! We went to the Prado art museum today. That was an awesome experience! My parents know how much I enjoy museums. The weather here continues to astound me. We left the window open last night. And it is November! My roommates are such amazing elders! They are all so different, but everyone contributes in different ways to an awesome spiritual room! We have an elder from Payson, one from Delta, one from Wyoming, one from Oregon, and my companion Elder Schwenke, who is from Orem. We have grown very close over the past three weeks, and I know that all of us will be lifelong friends. Haha, in fact, we are all planning on going to each other’s weadings when we get back. On a spiritual thought, our district had a killer lesson from one of our teachers a few days ago! He talked about the importance of bearing testimony to investigators, but it basically turned into him testifying about his mission experience. One thing that he said that I like a lot was, ¨God doesn´t look at your results, he looks at your decisions and your journey.¨ That helped me a lot, especially as I am learning a new language, and it can be a little discouraging sometimes. I love this gospel! I love the Lord! I love Spain. I love the People. I just can´t wait to get out in the field and feel this love grow tenfold! Elder Kaleb Rawlinson

2nd week in the MTC - Nov 1st letter date

Sorry this is a day late, but today is a holiday in Spain, so since the teachers have today off, they moved our Pday to Friday this week. On a normal week it is on Thursday. It is strange, traditionally, Spanish people don´t celebrate Halloween, but the prominence of the United States has made it more popular here. We saw a bunch of kids out and around last night in costumes. The holiday that is today is very similar to Memorial day back home. Everyone goes to cemeteries to honor those that have passed on. Wow, I feel like I will say this every time I mail home, but where do I start!?!? Spanish is coming along great! It´s difficult, but I am definitely making progress! The MTC is very hard, but I am continuously growing closer to Christ, and my testimony is growing more than it ever has before. I already feel my mission has changed my life dramatically, and I have only been out for about 2 and a half weeks! There are a couple of experiences that I want to share about this past week. As you know, we go to Buen Retiro Park every week to proselyte. It is one of the scariest things for me personally, but when I get there, I always feel strength and comfort. When we went this week, my temporary companion was Elder Dailey. He is from AF, and he is a pretty cool guy. As we walked into the park, we decided to walk the in the opposite direction that everyone else did, kind of towards the corner of the park. As we walked, we couldn´t really find anyone to talk to, so we decided to pray again and ask Heavenly Father to help us find someone who would listen to us. We then walked a little further, and almost immediately we saw a woman taking pictures by a stream. I felt like she was the one! We went and talked to her (luckily Elder Dailey was a little better at Spanish that I was.) She was visiting Madrid from Peru for business. She seemed very accepting and curious! We gave her a Book of Mormon, and she filled out a reference. I have no idea if she will actually take the discussions, but that experience taught me one thing. God answers prayers. Usually, it is not obvious, and we need to be constantly searching, and listening to the Holy Ghost. But, I feel like we all occasionally need a spiritual slap in the face, and that is what Saturday was for me. The other experience that was pretty great was the day before. There is a sister missionary in our district that is struggling with the transition to the mission, both physically and mentally. Last Friday was a difficult day for her, so she asked me if as the district leader, I could give a blessing of comfort to her. I full heartedly agreed, but I was very nervous. This was the first comfort blessing I had ever given. Even though I was nervous, I knew that it wasn´t actually me giving a blessing, and that I was just a channel for the power of the priesthood to help her. So, as I started the blessing, I immediately was comforted, and the words that I said were not my own. I love this gospel. I am extremely grateful for the power of the priesthood. I am grateful that I was worthy enough to give that sister a blessing, and have that amazing experience for the both of us. I am grateful to be on a mission. Even though I miss home at times, I know that it is what I need to do at this time in my life. I know this church is true, and I know that God loves us. Whenever we need anything, we can call upon our Father in Heaven. Thanks mom and dad! I love you so much, and I miss you tons! Elder Rawlinson

Kaleb's first week at the MTC

I´m sorry this email has taken so long to come, but today i sour first P-day, when we first got here, they gave us a chance to send a quick Email to our parents and that was it. So, once again sorry it took so long! There is so much to talk about! So much! My companion is Elder Schwenke. He is from Orem and he went to Timpanogos. I actually knew that he was going to be in the MTC through a mutual friend, but I had no idea that we would be companions! He is litterallty the coolest guy. His dad is from Samoa, and his mom is from the states. He is an all-state football player, and best of all, he has the strongest testimony. The MTC is so great! It is way different than Provo, as we only have about 40 missionaries here right now. So many different languages!! We have Spanish, Portugese, French, and Russian. And we are all in one zone! We have class pretty much all day, but one of the highlights is getting to play soccer. We play daily on a little ghetto public soccer court, that is covered in graffiti. I stink at it, but the environment is so great. Sometimes the little Spanish kids come and play with us, and they always dominate. We also eat authentic Spanish food in the MTC. It is almost a mixture of French and Italian food. I like it, but a lot of the missionaries here don´t. On Saturday, we had the chance to go to the park downtown and proselyte for a couple of hours. It was literally the scariest thing I have ever done, but I know the spirit was with us. I was nervous to only be speaking Spanish, but luckily about half of the people we met spoke English! We placed 3 Book of Mormon´s, but my favorite part was at the end. We got together at the end and sung next to this gorgeous fountain, and I was actually asked to conduct. While we were singing, I got the distinct impression that I knew the church is true, but best of all, I didn´t care who knew it!! I love music!!! I love the gospel!!!! Let´s see, what else is there? I was made a district leader! That´s pretty fun! It´s a little stressful, but I already love my district so much! Madrid is a gorgeous city! The park was literally one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen, and we get to go downtown today and see Puerta del Sol and Plaza Mayor. You could say I´m pretty excited. The weather is definitely a lot better than Utah right now! It usually gets up to about 75 degrees during the day. I already feel at home! I love you family! Keep in touch! I was worried when I didn´t see an email from you! Elder Rawlinson

Kaleb Flies to Madrid

Kaleb's flight left SLC at 9:45 am - so we dropped him off at 6:45.  Everyone was pretty tired from the night before having friends over, and all the family that had been staying at the house for the weekend.


This morning we already got an e-mail from him...(attached below)... He is doing great! and arrived safe and in good spirits.

Kaleb Rawlinson <kaleb.rawlinson@myldsmail.net>	8:07 AM (4 hours ago)
to me

Dear Family! I´m sorry that this will be a little short. I don´t have too much time to write. I just wanted to let you know that I made it safely to the MTC in Madrid. The flights were very very loooong. Right now, It´s about 4 in the afternoon, and I probably only slept a total of 80 minutes on the flights last night. We had some fun at the airport as well, because the assistants that came to pick us up had the wrong flight information. We were there for about two hours, and just barely had a small dinner. Nothing much exciting has happened, as I have been on a plane for most of the last 24 hours, but I just want to share something that I wrote in my journal while studying on the airplane.
¨Right now, I´m looking at my watch and it is telling me that it´s 4:50 AM, but my Body is telling me, and my parents would tell me that it is 8:50 PM on Monday. Wow! Right now we are about to fly over Ireland on our way to Amsterdam. I am sitting at the very back of this large Airbus A330. We are going through a little turbulance right now, and there was quite a bit for about 30 minutes when we were passing over Newfoundland. But, besides that it has a good, but long flight! I believe that it´s a total of 7 hour and 45 min flight from Minneapolis to Amsterdam. It is a little strange not being able to watch TV or listen to music, like virtually everyone else is, but I am starting to realize how much it will truly bless my life over the next two years. Just the past few days, I have had so many emotions about leaving, with my farewell happening yesterday (or, I guess the day before that, and just all of the crazy things that have happened this weekend. When I got set apart though, I had the most amazing peace settle over me. I didn´t notice it fully until I started talking to Trent, but I am truly thinking more clearly!It has been the most amazing feeling, and I hope that everyday on my mission I can think the same way. I feel much more in tune with the spirit, and I feel like I can look at the eternal perspective much easier. That doesn´t change my apprehension though. Honestly, even though I know what a mission is all about, I just don´t know what fully to expect from MY mission experience in Spain. I feel like the son of Mosiah, as they started their mission to the Lamenites (Alma 17:9-10) They fasted and prayed to the Lord that he would grant unto them a portion of his spirit, that hey may bring their brethren to the truth. It then goes on to say in verse 10 that they did receive the comfort of The Spirit, but I´m sure that even though it doesn´t say, they had great humility. I pray to the Lord that he will grant me that humility, that my objective among the people of Spain may become clear. I am so excited to start in the MTC, and to start the best two years of my life!¨
Thanks again for everything Mom and Dad!!! I will send more updates soon!!!!!