Zone Conference!

Hi everyone!

It has been another good week here in Kuna! It is getting pretty hot here BUT good news, we got a CAR!! Just for 2 weeks, but still, we are counting our blessings! It is definitely nice not to be walking around in the 100 degrees on my crutches... haha! As for my ankle, it is slowly healing up. It is definitely very colorful though! 

Teghan's baptism had to be postponed until this coming Saturday due to some certain family issues. We were a little disappointed about that, but we are PRAYING that it can happen for sure this Saturday!! We are so excited for him.

We had Zone Conference this past week which was SO fun! It's always so fun to see other missionaries that we don't normally get to see and to see President and Sister Nygaard. I also was asked to perform the special musical number at Zone Conference, so me and one of my Zone Leaders, Elder Barron, sang a special arrangement of the hymn, "Teach Me to Walk in the Light," I was very nervous but I think it went pretty good! It was kinda exciting to be able to do that.

I read a talk this week from Elder Brian K. Taylor, one of the authorities of the church, called, "Am I A Child of God?" I loved this quote from it that bears testimony of the power of the Book of Mormon and what it has to do with our relationship with God. "When you feel hurt, lost, scared, upset, sad, hungry, or hopelessly abandoned in life's extremities- open the Book of Mormon, and you will come to know that, 'God will never desert us. He never has, and He never will. He cannot do it. It is not His character to do so.'" If you have never read the Book of Mormon, I invite and encourage you to do so. You will come to know your Heavenly Father on an entire new level. You will feel closer to Him as you read. You will feel His love and His power in your life more abundantly. I PROMISE you, you will have a newfound sense of peace and comfort as you study from the Book of Mormon. I couldn't be on a mission if I didn't know that to be true. It is true.

I love you all! Have a good week!

Hermana Rawlins

Address:

1742 N Madderlake Ave

Apt. 3

Kuna, ID 83634

Pictures:

1. Apartment 3 picture in front of the sunset :,)

2. The little kids that live in our apartment complex wanted to take a picture with us! hahaha

3. Our cutie district at Zone Conference!

4. Us in OUR CAR WOOOO

5. Me and Sister Watanabe

6. Me and two of my closest friends from back in Nampa, Sister Adams and Sister Hemming!!

7. Apartment 3 at Zone Conference <33

8. Another cute pic of us

Halfway There, Living On A Prayer

HOLAAAAA

This past week I hit my 9 month/halfway mark in my mission!!!! Woooo!! I cannot BELIEVE how fast it has gone! It truly has been the best, most impactful months of my life. I have learned and grown so much- in all aspects of life. I cannot wait for what the next 9 months will bring. 

Not much happened this week. We had "Progress Meeting" which is just to check in and see how all the trainers and new missionaries are doing. It was so fun to be able to see other missionaries and friends. We also had some lessons this week with Teghan- who is getting baptised this Saturday!!! We are soooo excited for him and his family. He is so sweet, I just see him as like my own little child. His excitement about learning the gospel and getting baptised makes me soo happy and proud!! He is gonna be the best example for his family.

We have still been doing lots of service, contacting, and playing sports :) Just as I was starting to go proooo at soccer, though, I sprained my ankle :(( I thought it was just a bruise at first, so I kept playing on it all week, and then had ANOTHER accident on it, and now it is sprained prettttttty good. I am on crutches and gonna have to be in a boot within the next couple days. BUT everything is good, I am doing good, and the work still goes on!

I miss and love you all!! Thank you for all the emails, love, and prayers. 

Hermana Rawlins 

Address:

1742 N Madderlake Ave

Apt. 3

Kuna, ID 83634

Pictures:

1. Last night we had an APARTMENT SLEEPOVER! We pulled all our mattresses into the living room and it was so cute and fun

2. This morning. Post-sleepover

3. Us and this little boy we are teaching!

4. Having a hot dog and smore roast with our ward mission leader and his family!

Just Pictures

Hello everyone!!!

I don't have a lot of time today, so I will just send pictures! I love you all and hope you have a good week! Things are good here! Time is flyyyying by. I will send more next week!

Hermana Rawlins

Address: 

1742 N Madderlake Ave

Apt. 3

Kuna, ID 83634

Pictures:

1. We painted an older couple's house and then we got a little messy on accident

2. Me and Sister Cruze before she got transferred :')

3. Me and Hermana Smith out walking to one of our lessons

4. Paintingggg with the district

5. Fields are white and ready to harvest ;)

Happy 4th Of July!!

Hellooooo!

I hope everyone had a FUN holiday weekend! We definitely had a lot of fun here- I can't wait to tell you all about it!

This week we had lots of cancellations... it seemed like almost every lesson, whether with members or the people we are teaching, every service project, and all our dinners cancelled on us this week! Always disappointing but all is well! Missionary work always tends to be a little difficult around holidays.

We also had our fair share of awkward/weird experiences this week. We have been going down our ward lists with all the names of the member's in each of our wards and calling 2 each day, from each ward. We are just trying to introduce ourselves and share a spiritual message to get them more comfortable with us! Well, we got a little bit ahead of ourselves and didn't check our records of the people we contacted the day before, so we accidentally contacted a lady twice in a row. She answered and we gave her the whole, exact same spiel as the day before, and she very awkwardly told us that we had already called and had an appointment set up for the weekend.. OOPS. We were so embarrassed, hahaha! Rookie mistake. 

Another lady that we called from our ward member lists had told us that she actually moved to a different state, so she was no longer in our ward. She then, however, proceeded to call us, text us, and leave us multiple messages over the next couple days, just being absolutely hysterical- sobbing, yelling, and telling us all kinds of craziness. She was definitely not in a healthy or good mindset, and so we had to be firm and remove ourselves from the situation. Kind of crazy!! Nothing like that has ever happened before on my mission. 

We got to have such a FUN 4th of July!! We started off the day running a 5K with our district, the sisters we live with, and our Zone Leader! It was SO much fun!! It was put on by the city of Kuna so we got to see and talk with lots of different members and families, and they played music the whole time so we as missionaries got to listen to some "normal" music for a day- which was definitely a blessing, haha! After that, us and that same group that ran the 5K went to a party that a member family was having and had invited us to! It was so fun! We ate lunch, played volleyball and cornhole, talked to people, and had a good time! We then came home and did some regular missionary stuff like studying and reading. We got to talk to our families for a bit, too! Then we went and had a bbq at a member's home and played some cornhole with them. THEN we went with our district to ANOTHER member's home and had ANOTHER cornhole tournament, hung out, and watched fireworks!! President gave us all permission to stay out until 11pm to watch fireworks (since it doesn't get dark here until like 10:30pm for some reason). It was SO much fun! All in all, I am very sore and tired, and am now a pro at playing cornhole. 

I hope amide all the barbeques, fireworks, and parties, that you were able to reflect on how incredibly blessed we are to live in this country! This verse, though about the Nephites and their battle against the Lamanites, is relevant to the cause of this country. "...for they were not fighting for monarchy nor power but they were fighting for their homes and their liberties, their wives and their children, and their all, yea, for their rites of worship and their church," (Alma 43:45). I am grateful for those that served, and continue to serve, so that we may always have the freedoms that were promised to us so long ago! I am grateful to live in a country that allows for disciples of Jesus Christ to stand tall and preach the gospel, instead of being forced to hide it away. We are very blessed.

Sending all my love from Kuna, Idaho! Talk to you next week :))

Hermana Rawlins

Address: 

1742 N Madderlake Ave

Apt. 3

Kuna, ID 83634

Pictures: 

1. Our cute little district on 4th of July getting ready to watch fireworks (*side note, Idaho has the prettiest sunsets)

2. Me and Hermana Smith <3

3. Me and Hermana Smith pt 2!

4. Post 5k stretches

5. Me and Hermana Smith pt 3

6. We also had zone conference this week! So we got a cute pic of all the sisters in our zone

7. 5K GROUP WOOOOO (post run)