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. :)