Review Of The Past 2 Weeks

Hi everyone!! 


I'm so sorry I didn't get an email out last week, I was pretty busy last pday! My grandparents drove up from Utah and took me and my companions out to lunch!! That was sooo exciting, it was so fun to be able to see some family!! They took us to Panera Bread (my favorite place in the world) and brought up some birthday presents from my fam :) Such a fun day. 

Over these past 2 weeks, my district has had the challenge to pray everyday, twice a day, at 9:19 to see miracles in our work. (Mormon 9:19 is our FAVORITE scripture about miracles) We have been doing this and oh my, have we seen miracles!! 

First one happened last weekend. We were tracting, definitely not my favorite activity in the world, and we prayed before hand that people would be kind to us and that we would knock on the right doors. We knocked probably 50 doors and every. single. person. though disinterested, was very polite and kind. One man even went on and on about how much he respects and loves members of our church for all the good they do in society! Also, we found one man, Charles, who told us we could come back and talk to him more about our beliefs!! Our prayers were definitely answered. 

Second one happened while we were volunteering at the Idaho Youth Ranch. This couple walked through the door and the man pointed out to the lady like "Oh look it's the LDS missionaries" and I figured it was just another person trying to make sure they avoided us but then he like got our attention and was like "This is my fiance! I want to get her baptized!" He explained that he's been a member his whole life and his fiance has been going with him to church and she is ready to take the missionary discussions and get baptized!!! God lead them right to us!! We got her information and are hoping to meet with her this week!

2 other miracles that happened later in the week: we've been trying to contact this lady, Cami, for soo long but everytime we go she is not home. Last time we ran into her husband, and he gave us her number to get in contact with her but the number didn't work! So we stopped by again and, again, just her husband was home! So as we were talking to him i just thought maybe there is a reason we keep running into him. I asked him if he would be interested in sitting in and participating in the lessons when we come visit Cami, and he said YES he would love too!! One new person!! Finally, the Vega family, that we met our first night here. We have not been able to get in contact with them for a few weeks because they were sick and had to cancel our lesson, and then just would not call us back. However, THEY CAME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY! So we were able to see them and set up an appointment to teach them again tomorrow!!! 

So many miracles, I know that Heavenly Father has been hearing and answering our many prayers these past 2 weeks. Things are good here! My spanish is still a MAJOR work in progress, but, overall, things are good! 

I want to finish with this quote from Elder Uchtdorf, from his talk, "The Love of God," "Though we are incomplete, God loves us completely. Though we are imperfect, He loves us perfectly. Though we may feel lost and without compass, God’s love encompasses us completely." I can promise each and everyone of you that God LOVES you. He loves you more than you can comprehend. Nothing you can do or say will diminish his love for you, each one of us is worthy. 

All my love

Hermana Rawlins

Pictures:

1. Me and my comps at our service project on saturday- helping clear out the Church's orchard to get ready for the new season. 

2. Me and my cute greeny Hermana Sanchez

3. Us post service project- it was freezing and pouring rain!!

4. The trio <3 

5. Us tracting!! 

Hola From Nampa!!!

Hi everyone! I'm in Nampa now!! I'm so excited, these last few days here have been awesome! There is NO SNOW (which I am loving) and there is a lot more people, a lot more stores, and a lot more spanish! :)

Like I said last week, I am in a trio now! One of my companions, Hermana Martin, is from Highland, Utah and has been out for 7 months. Together, we are training a brand new missionary, Hermana Sanchez! She is from West Jordan, Utah, but was born in Mexico, so she is fluent in spanish! They are both so nice and such great missionaries. We are having so much fun getting to know the area and the people, and having Hermana Sanchez help us with our spanish.

We have already been kept so busy here!! Our first night, Thursday, we went and visited the Vega family. The wife is an inactive member, the husband is a nonmember, and then they have 3 kids who are nonmembers as well. We introduced ourselves and got to know them a little bit, and they told us they are so ready to take the lessons!! YAY! We have our first lesson scheduled with them this Thursday- I am so excited! Also, last night, we went and contacted a referral from someone in our Spanish ward, a man named Salmos. Ee shared a scripture with him and set up a return appointment for next Sunday to talk more about our church!! Exciting stuff

So yes, I am covering a Spanish ward now!! It is so awesome. After not using spanish at all for 6 weeks though, I feel like I literally forgot everything I learned in the CCM. But the more I talk with the members and the people in the neighborhood here, it's slowly coming back- definitely have a lot to learn though. We split the spanish ward with 2 Elders who are in our same area, Elder McIllece and Elder Fields. I actually came from the CCM with Elder Fields so that is super fun. We do a lot of teaching appointments together, and they get a lot of referrals for us from people who "prefer hermanas" hahahaha but it's so cool having the opportunity down here to work with other missionaries!

The Elders actually found a service opportunity for an English family that they are teaching, so we did that on Saturday along with another companionship of Elders in our district. They told us we were helping them clean out their garage because they are moving, but when we got there we found out that these people were BIG TIME hoarders. There was just HUGE piles of clothes, toys, garbage, literally anything, all over the driveway, in the house, and from the floor to the ceiling in the garage- there was a car buried in there that we couldn't even see til we started clearing stuff out!! Not only that but all of their stuff in the driveway and their front yard was soaking wet and soggy from the rain, dirty, and covered in dog poop. It was a good time. She also informed us that she had 2 dead dogs in her freezer and kept asking us if we wanted to see them- i took a polite pass on that one. It was a sad situation but the people were truly so nice and were so grateful for our help. It took a long time and we still have to go back to finish the job, but it was awesome to get out and help someone in need! 

The people have taken such good care of us already. We have dinner appointments every night, and have been invited over for breakfasts as well! They also have given us lots of referrals and members that we need to go see and do service too, so it looks like this will be a busy transfer! I am sooo excited, the best days on the mission are the days when you have a full schedule!

Thank you everyone for all of the birthday wishes!! It meant so much to me and made my day a little more special :) It was cool though that I just got to do missionary work all day on my birthday, because I know there is nothing better that I could be doing right now. I love and miss you all so much and wish nothing but the best!

Hermana Rawlins

1111 South Cole Rd

Boise, ID 83709

Pictures:

1. The trio!! At the laundromat waiting for our laundry hahaha

2. Me in front of my McCall house for the last time :,)

3. Me and my old companion, Hermana Percival, on our last night together- eating candy and playing "how well do you know your companion" hahaha

Week Of Many Lasts

Happy 2020 everyone! I hope you all had a good holiday season! My new years wasn't really anything special, we had to be on "lockdown" in our house by 6 so we just talked to our families and hung out at home :)

I don't have much time to write today, but as the subject says this has been/will be a week of many lasts! We had transfer boards on Saturday, and I found out that this Thursday I will be transferred to a new area with a new companion and a brand new district! I'll tell you where I end up in my email next week just to keep things a little more exciting ;) hahaha BUT this is my last week in McCall and with Hermana Percival :( I'm gonna miss everyone so much, this is a good area with some really good people.

More crazy news, in my next area i will be TRIO TRAINING. Generally, your first 12 weeks in the mission field you are in training and your companion is your trainer. However, I've only been out for 6 weeks and President is already making me a trainer!??!! So me and another girl will be training a new missionary in a trio companionship! Meaning this is also my last week of being in training! Also, we will be shotgunning the area, meaning that all 3 of us will be brand new to the area so we just gotta figure everything out for ourselves. Kind of crazy, I don't know what President is thinking over here, but pray for me hahaha! 

On another note, this is also my last week of being 19 ?!!? I will be turning 20 this Sunday on the 12th! I am getting tooooo old oh my goodness, but I am so excited for what this year will bring and all the experiences I'll be able to have out here on the mission! Everyone listen to some Queen and Elton John for me on that day- heaven knows that's what I'd be doing if I was home :))

I'll end with this quote from President Boyd K. Packer regarding faith. “I recognize two kinds of faith. The first is the kind that is apparent in the world. It is the common denominator of most everything that goes on. It is the thing that lets us exist. It is the thing that gives us some hope of getting anything done. Everyone has it, some in a larger measure than others. The second kind of faith, remarkably rare, unusual to find, is the kind of faith that causes things to happen. Faith is a power as real as electricity except a thousand times more powerful. Exercise it, practice it, don't just take it for granted. When you look at yourself, ask yourself how faithful you are. Faith is a first principle of the gospel according to the Lord. Is it a first principle in the gospel according to you?”

Love you all

Hermana Rawlins

Since I'm moving, my address is just now the mission office address :)

1111 South Cole Rd.

Boise, ID 83709

Pictures:

1. My dad's cousin, Pam, her husband, and friends came and took us out to lunch!! It was so fun to meet them 

2. Our mission president and his wife came up to McCall, studied with us, and then took us out to lunch the next day! Such a cool experience :)

3. Me and Hermana Percival after our 3 hour road trip down to Ontario for Zone Council