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!!!!!