No Transfer

Dear Family,

Well, we got transfer information on Saturday! And........ I am staying here in Vecindario with Elder Gentry! Haha, I am so happy. :) There were four missionaries here, but the mission is actually loosing missionaries now, so it will just be me and Elder Gentry in the ward now! And, our area is the whole bottom half of the island! I am so glad to be staying here, and be able to see Damian and Solange until they leave for Argentina. They actually invited us over to their house last night for dinner, which was amazing. I really have developed a love for them, and it will be hard to see them go. 

Other than that, we have also been teaching a woman named Dominga. She is from Paraguay, and she is the mother in law of one of the members in our ward. She is so sweet! She accepts everything we teach, and tonight we are going to be trying to set a baptismal date with her for the end of July.

Random funny story from this week! On Friday, we received a call from a man asking us to meet with him on Saturday. It was in very poor Spanish, and he couldn´t understand us when we asked who it was. We were thinking is was a Romanian man that we met in the street about a month ago, so we went over to his house the next day. We called the number who had called us the day before, and it was a woman this time, she asked us, "Don´t you know where I live?" Once again, in broken Spanish, and she gave us an address. We again tried to ask who it was, but she did not understand us. We drove to the address, and as we pulled up, we realized that it was the African pastor of an evangelical church we had visited once about a month ago. We knock on the door and his wife was there. She says "Why didn´t you call before you came over!?" We then explained to her the whole confusion, and she says "You speak Spanish? I thought you were the cable man who had come to fix my TV?" Haha, it was very ridiculous. I guess we speak better Spanish than we thought. :)

Well, that´s about it for this week. It was so good to hear from you! Just so you know, we might be changing apartments to the one the other elders had. It is a little nicer. But, I will let you know for sure next week! I love you Family!

Élder Rawlinson 

Middle of June already

Dear Family,

This past week has been great!  This week right now, we are in the last one of the transfer. I really do not want to leave this transfer, but there is a chance that I might. Ahhhhh! I have grown to love the Canary Islands, and the people of Vecindario. It will be very hard to leave, whenever it happens.

Damian and his family have been progressing very well. We had a Family Home Evening with them and another family in the ward. And we talked about how the Gospel can protect the families. Also, we went over to their home last night to have a lesson, and they let us know that they have bought their tickets to Argentina, and will be leaving on July 8th. We are very excited, but also a little bit sad. We are going to do everything that we can to make sure that they are ready so that they can progress with their goals of marriage and baptism when they get there. The gospel has really blessed their family. Damian was also able to stop smoking, and appears to us much more happy.

That is awesome that you are going to Half Dome! You will love it! Actually, we had a Family Home Evening last night with Fabio's family, and we talked about spiritually uplifting experiences. I shared our hike up half dome, and the letter that I got from you, Mom. I hope that you love that, and I expect to see pictures!

I gave a talk yesterday in Sacrament meeting about the Holy Ghost, and it went really well! It is always so nerve-racking to give talks, especially in Spanish, but I always feel like something takes over me when I get up to the pulpit. 

Love you all family! Hopefully I will be emailing you next week from the islands!

Elder Rawlinson

Dear Family,

A week of miracles! Well, every week there are miracles, I guess it was just easier to see them this week. Things are indeed progressing with Damian and Solange. This week, we talked with them about baptism, and all three of them expressed that they would like to be baptized. :) One of the coolest feelings ever. It will be a little harder for Damian and Solange, as they need to be married before they can get baptized, but Damian´s sister, Nadia can be ready very soon to be baptized. She will be moving to Argentina with her parents in July, but has said that she wants to be baptized before. She has come to church the past two weeks, and it is very cool to see her progress. Well, the whole family in fact! Damian and Solange have a goal to be married as soon as they can, which will probably be in Argentina. They as well want to move back to Argentina sometime this summer, which is something so bittersweet for us, just because we wouldn´t be able to see them get baptized and married. But, that really isn´t important, what is important is that they are growing closer to christ, and will be baptized one day. Teaching them has really helped me to see the importance of Families to God. He really does love our families, and gives us the Gospel to strengthen our families here on Earth, and give us the ability to live with them forever after this earthy experience.

Other than that, we are working on finding quite a bit, like always! This month is the month of invitation here in Spain, and it is cool to see the effort put in by the members to help find people to teach. Elder Gentry spoke in churchyesterday, and I will be speaking this week, so wish me luck!

The birthday was awesome! Haha, he totally surprised me with the cake. He wasn´t able to get the baby picture on it, but it really is the thought that counts. Haha, it was cool to see that you guys were thinking of me as well that day, through a picture of me years ago. :)

Only two weeks left in this transfer, and I really hope that I don´t go! I love being here and serving the people of the canary islands. 

I love you! And I thank you for all that you do for me!

Your son and brother,

Élder Rawlinson

May 18

Dear Family,

I hope that things in Chicago are going great! I would love to see some pictures!

First off, wish a happy birthday to Ethan! Happy birthday E! I hope that everything is going good on your big 15! I can hardly believe that you are already 15, time goes by so fast! Have fun getting your permit, and be careful on the roads!

So, I haven´t gotten the package yet, but I am excited to get it sometime this week! This week has been good out here! We haven´t had the car for the last little while, but we should be getting it sometime this week. Haha, so we have been "real" missionaries for the past couple of weeks. Getting plenty of exercise and sun. Just wanted to tell you real quick about an experience that we had this week. About three weeks ago, we met a guy named Damian in the hair cutter´s. He is 23 years old and from Argentina, he has a daughter named Emily, and he lives with his girlfriend named Solange. When we met, he told us that he had been to our church a couple of times while he was living in Argentina years ago. He was very willing to meet with us, and as we started to teach him, we realized that he had a lot of desires to know God. He didn´t have a huge religous backround, but he has a lot of faith, and is very humble. Before this week, we didn´t see his girlfriend, as she works all day everyday, and he stays home with Emily. Since he is at home all day, we can visit him pretty much any time of the day. On saturday, we were going to visit him just after lunch, but we were invited to a town up in the mountains to eat lunch with a member. That went a little longer than usual, so we decided to pass by Damian a little latter. When we got to his house, Solange there! She had gotten off of work early just for Saturday to be home with Damian, and we got there only a few minutes after her! We were able to teach both of them about Joseph Smith again, and she had a very good experience! She says she has seen a change in Damian, and that she as well interested in the Book of Mormon. We have talked to them about marraige, but it will be very difficult for them. We will be with them as we continue to teach them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.This experience really helped me to see the way that God knows what needs to happen. He knew that we needed to meet with Solange, and provided us with the way to do it. 

Other than that, things are going very good here! I am happy to be out serving the Lord, and very grateful for all of the blessings that he gives me every day. I love all of you, and hope that you are enjoying life back in the States!

Love,

Élder Rawlinson

May 11

Dear Family,

I am so happy that I got a chance to see you yesterday! You all look so great, and I can tell that you are having fun back home. It was also nice to see the new little fuzzy member of the family as well. I am definitely having fun out here! Even more so now with Elder Gentry! He is a little bit of a goofy guy, but, so am I! Haha, we are having a lot of fun.

Hmmm, "uplifting" In Spanish? I´m not really sure that there is a direct translation. You could say, "espiritual" for "spiritual", but I´m not really sure what else it could be.

One interesting experience that we had about a week ago, was something that I did not expect to have on my mission in Spain. We met with a evangelical pastor from Africa, and taught in English. It was very..... difficult. :) Luckily, we got our whole message in, but we got to listen to quite a bit about the bible. The bible is a very good book, and we believe that it is true, "as far as it is translated correctly". This is where the Book of Mormon is so important. It is the most perfect book on the earth, and can help us get closer to Christ so much. That experience definitley strengthened my testimony of the Book of Mormon immensely.

Hey, here is my address:

Calle Zonzama 3#15, 4D

35110, Vecindario

Gran Canaria

España

Thank you so much for everything, and I look forward to talking to you next week.

Love, 

Élder Rawlinson