Happy Birthday Aubrey

Family!

How have you been lately! This was one of the first weeks that I did not recieve an email from you, but that is probably my fault, as I never really write at a consistent time. Things have been very good here lately, and we have been able to find quite a few new investigators. Haha, just the other day, we were walking down the street, and a man in his car stopped in the middle of this narrow spanish street, and asked us if we were Jehovah´s Witnesses (you would be surprised how much we get that here) and we informed him that we weren´t and that we would love to talk to him. He gave us his phone number, and we have an appointment to meet with him tonight. Haha, the miracles that we recieve from the Lord surprise us sometimes. I have really been enjoying working with Élder Gentry, and I look forward to working with him even more over the next while.

So, first off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUBREY! I can´t believe that you are already 8 years old! I hope that your birthday is amazing, and your baptism as well. Also, as this Sunday is Mothers day, we will have an oppritunity to skype home that night. We have set up a time with a member at 8 oclock here, which would be 1 PM back home. I was thinking that would probably be perfect for you right after church. We will just do the same thing as Christmas, and I will call you around that 1 oclock back home. I can´t believe that mothers day is already here! It feels like Christmas was just 2 weeks ago!

That´s about it for this week! Thank you so much Family! Just also wanted to ask you again what your opinion is on the mission flash drive. 

I love you so much, and I can´t wait to see you this Sunday!

Élder Rawlinson

First Baptism in Canaries

My dearest Familia,

Well, I´m not sure if I let you know about it before, but I had my first baptism in the Islas Canarias on Saturday! Haha, it was so awesome! Her name is Laura, and she is the younger sister of a recently activated member named Fabio. Their family is from Portugal, but they have lived in different parts of Spain for the past 8 years or so. He was baptized about that long ago, but lost contact with the church. When they moved to Vecindario 6 months ago, they spent a couple of those months not going to church. In January, Fabio was walking down the street in front of the chapel, and saw the my old companion and his comp walking down the street. He faintly recognized them, and felt like he needed to talk to them. He then started his reactivation, and now is the member that helps the missionaries the most. He is such an amazing person, and so is his sister. She absolutely loved her baptism, and will be such a good member!

Élder Gentry and I are making good progress as well, finding new investigators, and committing others to baptism. We have learned even more the importance of obedience, as we set goals to be better. We can see the blessing that are coming, and we are so happy! I absolutely love working with Elder Gentry, and I look forward to serving even more people with him! 

I am having a great time here, and I am learning soooo much! I can´t even tell you! It sure is difficult, but I love it! It was very weird hitting 6 months a couple weeks ago, and I don´t know about you, but I can see time starting to speed up!

So, I have a little bit of news. Not sure if it is bad. But, remember a couple of weeks ago when you sent me those tax forms? I put the copies on a flash drive, and sent them to you, but after that, I believe that I have lost the flash drive. I have been a little worried about that, and praying and looking for it all over the place. It has not turned up, so I have a feeling that someone took it. I don´t know if there is anything we can do about that, but I thought that it would be good to let you know. I was a little worried, as those forms have my SSN on them.

Well, on that note, it was good to talk to you guys! I love you all so much, and cant wait to see you in 17 months!

Élder Rawlinson

PS So, in that package that you are sending, along with the CD of the classical MoTab music and that tie, could you also send me a CD with the music from conference on it? I was especially pleased with the music that was performed, so it would be great to have a copy. Thanks Mom and Dad!

April 27, 2014

Hello there Familia! 

Just wanted to let you know that I did get the letter! Thank you so much, and it couldn´t have come at a better time! The day after I completed 6 months! Things are going pretty great here!

Here, they celebrate La Semana Santa (Holy Week) So, all of the kids were off of school. It was pretty much like their spring break, so there were quite a few people out of town. Among trying to find new investigators, as always, we have started to work more with the members in the ward. We have such a good ward here! Just yesterday, we drove out a couple minutes towards the mountains to visit a member named Francisco. He is 80 years old, and him and his wife are members of about 20 years. He is an amazing person that knows so much about.. well, everything! It was great to visit him and talk about the savior with a faithful member of the Church on Easter. 

One concept that I have learned a little bit more of over this Easter Week, is that Christ lives. It is something that I had always heard my whole life, but not really thought about what that really means. Being in a catholic country, there are quite a few people that have their crosses, and we have talked to some that are curious why our church doesn´t have any crosses or images of the death of the Savior. The reason why we don´t, is because we focus on his resurrection. Yes, he died, but more importantly, he was resurrected! This has so many implications for us. Him, being the first to receive this great privilege, then gave it to each and every one of us. Jesus Christ lives. I know that. I know that more right now than I have ever before. I know that he directs this church through revelation to his prophet Thomas S. Monson. I love Him, and I love you.

Thank you so much for everything you do for me.

¡Os quiero! Que Dios os bendiga.

Élder Rawlinson

PS. In the name Lucia, the accent would be on the ci. I hope that she is doing good! I would love to see some more pictures of here!

April 14

Dear family,

We had a crazy Pday, so I don´t have too much time to send a message.

Just wanted to let you know, thank you so much! I got that page, and I will be looking forward to getting that in the mail. We have been having such a good time here with Elder Gentry. He is such a great missionary, and such a good friend. I am so happy to see all of the news from home, and I promise that I will send a longer email next week. I love you! 

Elder Rawlinson

PS If you want to send a package within the next week or two, you can go ahead and send it to my address here in the islands. I should be here for a while. :)

General Conference

Hello All!

I hope that your General conference weekend was fantastic! It definitely was for me. It was very interesting to see how much they focused on the youth this time. We need to stand strong. There will be more and more opposition to the chruch as time progresses, so for this we need to fortalize ourselves. I really enjoyed listening to Elder Packers talk, and seeing him bear strong testimony about the restoration of the gospel. One of my other favorites as well was the talk from Elder Bednar, and the story that he related about the truck. How, sometimes, our loads have to get heavier to have enough spiritual traction. I believe that is what he said. Haha, it is a little different listening to Conference in Spanish.

The past week has been very good! We have been meeting new people to teach, and getting a few investigators ready for baptism. My companion is awesome! His name is Elder Gentry and he is from orange county California! He has been in the mission for about 9 months, and he is such a hard worker. I am already learning so much from him, and I am excited to see the work that we do here in Vecindario.

So, quick question. When you say that you want to come back to Spain after, do you want to wait until after I get home, or still come pick me up? I was just a little confused. Haha, either way, I can´t believe how fast time has gone! I have been out for almost 6 months! Already! Haha, sometimes time goes a little slow, but most of the time, it just flies. Thank you so much for the paper work! I will get that copy to you in a couple of minutes here. When it is accepted, can you email it to me? That would be the best option, but if not, If you could just send it to me as fast as you can by mail. Thanks! I love you all! And have fun with the new dog!

Love,

Élder Rawlinson

March 24, 2014

Hey Family! Looks like there are lots of cool things going on at home! Congrats Dad on the ordination! I know that you and Mom will both do so amazing at your callings. 

The past week has been pretty good out here in the Islands! We are getting ready to have two baptisms on Saturday, and I will let you know how that goes next week. Haha, you are right that I always try to be positive about the mission in the emails. Like you already now, the mission is incredibly difficult, and I guess that it would be helpful to share some difficulties with you as well. Actually, right now, me and my companion are going through some rough times with our investigators, so we are spending some more time out in the street looking for more. This is something that is very hard for me at times. Naturally, I am not a very outgoing person, and speaking in another language that I don´t feel entirely comfortable in makes it a little worse. Slowly by slowly, I am overcoming my difficulty, but it is very hard some days. For me, one thing that gives me comfort are the words of Moroni in Ether 12. God gives us weakness so that we can become strong. If we come unto him he will show us what our weakness is and how we can defeat it. Keep me in your prayers, because at times, I could really use the strength.

Don´t let me get down though!!! Because with all of the hard times, come rewarding results! The mission has made me so happy! And I can hardly believe that it is almost a quarter of the way done. Good luck on the country report Devin! You have picked the best country to talk on! If there is one cultural thing that is prevalent here, it is fútbol! It is the thing that unites and divides people that have never even seen each other before. In fact, the Real Madrid, Barcelona game was on last night, and just let me tell you, people LOVE their team.

With love,

Your son and brother,

Élder Kaleb Rawlinson