Dec.7, 2015

It's been a fine week. Even though there's no snow or presents, there's still always a bit of trunkyness in the air. But Elder Acarapi and I are still killing it working out here, doing the best to get people to remember the real reason why we celebrate in the first place. 

The other day we were out on the job finding people to share the great tidings of this special season. We stopped by a house to share the "A savior is born" movement that the church is doing. She said she was a Jehovah's Witness and doesn't celebrate Christmas. We explained that we respect her beliefs and culture and that she could just see the videos on the site to hear a message about Jesus Christ and why He is important. She was actually very nice about it though I don't know if she did end up visiting the site. But during the contact as we talked with her, her enormous black dog came out. I guess my comps black bag(that he always puts on the ground when we stop) called the dogs attention enough to get him to go and mark his territory on it. So yeah, while contacting a Jehovah's Witness her dog peed on my companions bag. Luckily its waterproof so it didn't do any damage but it sure made an awkward situation to laugh at afterwards!

The work is still going on. We don't know why but each Sunday morning something happens and the 15 or so people we had to go to church can't make it. But this week we'll be speaking more directly so there's no way the people can not understand the importance of church. We are going to the temple tomorrow morning for a zone conference so I'm stoked for that.

Love you all! Don't forget the core of what we are celebrating this month! Merry Christmas

Elder Rawson

Dec. 14, 2015

This week one day some appointments fell at about 4ish, so we decided to stop by our house (we almost never go home in the afternoon) to call a list of referrals that we had received from the Internet. So as we were making the phone calls I saw out the back of our house a person climbing over our wall. I yelled "Hey" and ran to the back. It was some dude (druggy) sitting on the wall with the deer in the headlights look. I said "que hace?!" and he just kinda slowly pretended to play with the fruit as if he was getting fruit and didn't respond. A few days later we did an exchange and I went to another ward with Elder Carranza and his comp, Elder Johnson from Springville, came here. Well after the Exchange they told me that Elder Johnson had left his sandals by my desk and they disappeared. (Yes, we have already been looking for a new house to move to...)  Heres the evidence..

Where the deed was done..

The curtain was moved.. (theres no window or door)

Piece of wood... (he used a long pole of bamboo to reach the sandals)

Where the sandals were left before the crime

My note that I put on the back.

Antonio Maridueña, the son of the Maridueña family that got baptized two months ago or so has decided to get baptized on Christmas.He was always nervous and was never really sure about the decision I guess. During the exchange My comp and Elder Johnson had a cool experience in a lesson with him and he received the answer to be baptized and he is so much more excited and it looks like a new light has entered him! He even says he want to serve a mission. He's 17 so hopefully we can get him on that! 

We went to the temple again this week and another conference with president.

Elder Carranza and I after the exchange.

Elder Jared Galarraga went off to the Birmingham, England mission this week! We said bye on Wednesday. Good guy..

Nov. 23, 2015

Hello everybody!

Great week. We've taught some great people, shed some great tears, and learned some more great things of Jesus Christ and His Gospel.

This week I've understood more that stress is a Spirit killer and keeps one from keeping charity in their heart. I had to admit that I've been holding a lot of stress deep down and has kept me from feeling the Spirit constantly and has affected my patience a bit. When I confessed it to myself and to God I then received the answer to the problem. I learned and noticed that I hadn´t been making a conscious effort to be in constant prayer or fasting as usually as I had been before. Earlier I was trying to do a fast at least once a week to keep myself more aligned with the Spirit but had stopped. We did a fast this week and I have tried to be in prayer more consistently and I have seen a big difference! Our investigator _______ didn't attend church and we still don't know why. When we went by his house before church his sister said he was showering to go but never showed up. We are sure it has to do with work because he has been worried about it and money lately .  Juan  and his wife attended and are excited for their baptism on Christmas if it comes out! Then the Chica Torres family also attended with us and are awesome!

Lovin the mish and thankful for the prayers! Happy Holidays and love you all!

Elder Rawson=)

Titanic with Elder Wahlen on the lighthouse today.

gettin loco in guayaquil

At church with the Chica Torres and the Tobar Bonilla families!!

Maybe the best fish Ive had so far out here with the Mero family!

"el candado de la muerte" -the lock of doom(death) which means they arent home..

Nov. 30, 2015

"A Savior is Born" (go to lds.org)

Hello!

So this last month of November my comp and I didn't have quite the results that we hoped for but things are looking a lot better for December! I'm still pretty amazed that I'm about to spend my second Christmas in Ecuador! I think I've been hearing that the snow will actually be falling this year up North, as will the rain down here once this storm called the Niño hits in late December. My companion, Elder Acarapi is a great guy and will probably be a patriarch. He's fresh to the mish but already knows the scriptures a ton. He's probably the most patient 18 year-old I've ever met! He also told me that before his mission he taught all the lessons to 3 of his friends and baptized them. the missionaries only needed to verify the things that he had taught them! He came prepared and it makes me wish I would have come more prepared to the mission! 

Julián, our tall investigator, texted us yesterday morning saying that the University called him saying he had to make up some time that he had missed before December so he couldn't go to church. He is still doing great though. This week we also found out that he has an addiction to a drug. He had stopped smoking and drinking ever since we have been teaching him but when we taught the Word of Wisdom, we found out there is something else he has been struggling with which is probably the reason he and his wife separated. But we fasted with him this week and gave him a blessing at the end of the fast. I felt the Spirit very strongly giving the blessing and it looks like he has been clean from the problem ever since! So we'll pray that he continues to free himself!

The mission is great and I love you all!

Elder Rawson=)

Eating at the chifa:)

Pics from the temple on Friday when we went with the ward!

The temple to me is clear evidence that this church is more that just an organization established to help people live better lives, but the very Kingdom of God on Earth in preparation for the second coming of Christ.

Nov.02, 2015

     This church is the best:)

Hellllllo

Great week. me and my comp have been working super hard and staying busy. We found some great people and taught great lessons doing so! We've also found a bunch of people that were really opposed to the church and expressed their feelings openly to us. Its sad because they don't know what they do... Someday though. The deeper and stronger your testimony gets, the harder it is to accept when people reject your message. 

Thursday we organized a little movie night to watch  Joseph Smith, the Prophet video at the church. Getting things ready was kind of stressful because the church didn't have cords we needed and things didn't seem to work. We were starting late and it looked like not  a lot of people were arriving. I told myself I was never going to try to put an activity together like that as a missionary again, but eventually it started. When the movie ended I looked back and a ton more people had arrived and like half the people were crying from the Spirit.  I guess I could do it again and just be more prepared next time! Its a holiday weekend down here and a lot of people were out of town and many people we met couldn't attend church because its like memorial day here. But we are going to continue to improve teaching people about the Sabbath and committing them to church for 3 HOURS. (I hate when they leave after the first hour...) 

But the mish is great! do it if you can!

Elder Rawson=)

Elder Measom found out about my Bday late but still wanted to celebrate:)

chicken foot soup

..Here's a few snaps from the zoo today:)

 Nov. 9, 2015

Whenever I see a "just do it" shirt, I contact them :)

First time eating Caldo de pata:) (cow foot soup)

So based on the mission so far I just want to start by supporting the prophet's words when he said ever young and able man should serve a mission,and with the lowering of the age for the sisters it's worth the consideration!

It was another great week. Many of the lessons that we taught this last week were very spiritual and we were able to share some great experiences with people! I have noticed that there is always a very special spirit present as we teach and talk about the atonement. I honestly don't understand how or even completely why the atonement was carried out, but I know it is true and that I can be saved because of it. 

 For the investigators and the work this week we visited Juan and his wife and had a great lesson about faith and they committed so strongly to go to church. But yesterday morning when we stopped to pick them up he had left a note on the door saying he was sorry for failing again but had an emergency with his mom's health. That really bummed me out and shook my faith a little but then we got over to a new investigators house named Julian , a big white man taller than me. We taught our first lesson Friday, he committed to church and when we got there Sunday morning at 9 he was already out front shining his shoes for church! He is great and we invited him to be baptized the 28th of this month after church! He accepted. Now it depends on us to do our part! We have met a lot of great people. Satan has kept them from going to church but we won't give up! The Church is true!

Elder Rawson:)

I smell trunky in the air!

Julian at church,He's taller than the gringo!!

Painting a member's house:)

Aprovechando la colada morada mientras está en intercambio con É Carranza:)

Nov. 16, 2015

Jaun came to church :) :)

Hellllooooo,

I hope everyone is doing great and will be enjoying the holiday season coming up! Time is flying down here! Found out barely that the whole family went on a big cruise vacation.. Which is great and all but not quite like sharing the salvation with souls:) 

Yup the subject above is right! After like 5 weeks, Juan C and his wife made it to church! We only stopped by their house once this last week because they weren't going to church. Sunday we passed by the house at about 8 and he told us to return at 9:30 to go to church. We did and they were ready to go! His foot is still a little bad so we took taxi over to the church.  They stayed the whole time and were very attentive. Julián is still great too. He always keeps his commitments and went to church on his own yesterday. He even took his 2 little girls with him to church! The mission is nuts and I wish I could share everything that has happened but we'll see how well my memory is after the 2 añitos:) 

Les quiero a todos! cuidaos:) 

Elder Rawsoñ

 la familia Rivas Navarrete 

Juan  y Jennifer a la iglesia ayer! still wonder why latinos dont smile in pics..

My boy Jared galarraga got his passport to serve in Birmingham, England next month!

Goodbye barbeque for Elder Crisp from our zone that started here 2 years ago wih the Lozano family

The Face.... that the crazy drunk puts up in front of our house! (These are the things I mean when I say some things will have to wait after the mish..! haha:)

OCT. 26, 2015

Great week, found great people, taught great lessons, great invitations to baptism but no one in church. This week on Wednesday, as a zone we focused a ton on finding new people and inviting them to baptism. We did it and got a lot of people excited for baptism and like 11 people accepted to be baptized the 14th of November but then after when we went back for the next appointments, they bailed and weren't home or they had an Evangelical friend there to tell us to go away and leave them alone.... ugh. But it's normal for people to have things come up and be busy unexpectedly.  A lot of them were very sincere so we'll do more follow up with them this week while looking for more. About 2 weeks ago we had a day when a lot of appointments fell.  We walked around a bit and I started to think about the lives I've seen changed and the miracles that have happened so far and I remember I really wanted to find a family that was ready for help and be baptized.  I offered a little prayer in my heart telling God my desires and how I wanted to find a great family and right after finishing the prayer, I declared to my companion, Elder Acarapi, and Ronny, a member that was with us, that we were going to find a chosen family. As I told them that I made eye contact with a man sitting with his family just by his door in his house. We took a few more steps and I thought "It can't be them, that was too soon!" But I was prompted to go back. Juan Carlos Tobar let us in his home.  He told us that he had been out of work for 2 weeks and very upset, stressed and worried because he has to take care of his wife and two little girls. We had a very spiritual first visit and I told him my prayer and being guided to his house. The Sundays after, fear and worry overcame him and he left to look for work in the morning instead of church.  Now his foot has been very swollen and hasn't gone to church still but wants to very bad. Conversion is never easy and there will always be trials but our hopes for them are still good! I love you all and remember Christ in all you do!

Elder Rawson=) 

Stake service project on Saturday. I got baked.... So burnt:(

Oct. 19, 2015

Its been a good week. Our investigator Marisol Barcos was baptized on Saturday in the afternoon! She lives with her sister and her niece recently left on the mission a little bit before I got here and I think that's why she got more interested in the church. We didn't get quite as much done this week as I would have liked too but we are going to be finding people like crazy this last week. I love you all and hope you keep saying your prayers and read the BoM TODOS LOS DÍAS  (daily)! 

Here's my ponderize scripture of the week. I have it memorized in español so look it up. DC 58:26-29

Porque he aquí, no conviene que yo mande en todas las cosas. porque el que es compelido en todo es un siervo perezoso y no sabio, y no recibe galardón alguno.

De cierto digo que los hombres deben estar anhelosamente consagrados a una causa buena y hacer muchas casa de su propia voluntad y efectuar mucha justicia.

Porque el poder está en ellos. y en esto vienen a ser sus propios agentes. y en tanto que los hombres hagan lo bueno, do ninguna manera perderán su recompensa.

Mas el que no hace nada hasta que se le mande, y recibe un mandamiento con corazón dudoso, y lo cumple desidiosamente, ya es condenado.

Elder Rawson:)

Bautismo

For behold , not that I should command in all things . for he that is compelled in all things is a slothful and not a wise servant , and receives no reward.
Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many house of his own will, and bring to pass much righteousness .
For the power it is in them. wherein they are agents unto themselves . and while the men do good , do no means lose his reward.
But he that doeth not anything until he is commanded , and receiveth a commandment with doubtful heart , and keepeth it with slothfulness , the same is damned .

Elder Rawson :)
Baptism