MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! DEC. 22, 2014 AND DEC.29, 2014

His Trunky blanket (as he called it) that I had made for him for Christmas!

Dec. 29, 2014

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Oh boy, I have had a great P week! haha. Just kidding, we've been doing some good work out here! We had a way sweet day on Tuesday the 23rd. We took the whole mission and went through the temple and after we cleaned a bunch of church buildings as a mission and then we had an amazing dinner and Christmas program together as a mission with the president. (I have the greatest mission president in the world!) There was a bunch of missionaries that sang and played music and there is some good talent here in the Guayaquil north mission!

But as for the work, Junior is going strong and will be joining with the youth of the ward and go to the temple to do baptisms this Tuesday which he is really excited for! We also started to teach his mom and his sisters which is so cool, Awesome family, They also came to our ward party this last week and had a ton of fun! Javier is still making a ton of progress and will be an awesome leader in the church. As for Edison, we saw him drunk on the streets and we visited him Saturday and he was very drunk and super emotional. Its sad to see what alcohol can do to ones mind like that. But we visited him again yesterday and he was a ton better and we helped him understand the sabbath day so he can attend church with us! I'm really excited for him, He will turn his life around one of these days!

Talking to the fam was great of course and it looks like not much as changed! everyone is still their goofy selves! haha

But that's all for now folks! love you!

-Elder Rawson:)

WE ARE A HAPPY FAMIILLYYY!!!!

HAPPY SISTERS :) :)

HOHOHO!!!

Dec. 22, 2014 
First off, I wanna wish you a merry Christmas from the bottom of my heaaaarrrrtttt!! 

  Yet another good week down as I approach my 1/4 mark (wowzers)!! But it is so hard to think that Christmas is coming and there is snow back home! I can hardly even remember that snow exists at times. The sun is blazing at this time of the year and its only going to get worse! ...Full fuerte ese sol! (haha me encanta la jerga aqui!) But other than that I love Ecuador! 

We baptized and confirmed Junior this week and I can already tell that he has so much potential to be a very strong member of the church. In one year he can be an awesome missionary himself! He always was super good at keeping commitments and has basically read through the gospel principles book already! After being baptized he bore his testimony and shared an amazing story. 

His mom is a super nice woman but had been getting upset a little for his decision to be baptized. One night he went in his room and began to pray and ask God that his mom would be comforted so he could follow through with his baptism in peace. Shortly after his prayer his mom came in and told him that she had been thinking and that she would be supportive to him in whichever decision he makes!
That was such a huge testimony builder to me! I know that being baptized and having the gift of the holy ghost he will be a great example to his sisters and his parents and perhaps one day they will follow his example into the waters of baptism!

Make sure you all remember the reason why we celebrate Christmas! Because Christ was born, and Christ was born in order to carry out the atonement and allow us to receive redemption from our sins and weaknesses in order to be clean and spend eternity with our families and father in heaven!

Love you all so much!
Elder Rawson:-)