Mexico Week 39 -- Obedience Brings Blessings

This week we lived in buses! Woo! Hoo! Our Zone Leaders called Monday night and said that I was invited to a Leadership Training Tuesday and Wednesday in CRUZ DEL SUR! I loved visiting that church building! But anyways, two days of about 3 hours in buses!  Then today we had to go to the mission offices for our flu shot.  Like I said, we lived in buses!! 

I got to see Hermana Mansfield! Love that kid, she is training a new missionary right now! 

Today I saw my hija! She is training and opening a new area in Michocan...oh sea, bien lejos de aquí!

Happy Thanksgiving!! Please enjoy my list of blessings I made!

Mom, I officially own a hot glue gun in Mexico!  I made thank-you notes for everyone that participated in and went to the baptism. They loved it! 

Members are also starting to give us Christmas trees...love it! 

 So to start things off, this week I went to the 2-day Leadership Training.  It was awesome and I learned a TON! Well actually, I felt super overwhelmed and wow, some times I feel like I’m the worst missionary in the whole world!  At the end, we watched this video where all of the apostles talk about the purpose of leadership in the church. Let’s just say, I may have shed a few tears. It was so beautiful what they said. They talked about how so many times we are called and we have no idea what we’re doing, but we learn, and the most important thing is helping others to be true disciples of Christ. I loved this theme, we are just called to learn, love people, and help them grow. I love that the Church is so focused on other people.

We have a new investigator this week and his name is Jorge! He is the son of a less active member that’s coming back to Church.  He struggles so much with being an alcoholic. He always talks about how he sins every day and there’s just no escaping it. He broke my heart last night!  After we got home, I kept thinking to myself, “How many people in the world feel like that? How many people feel like there’s no escaping sin?  That we can’t rise above the things we do wrong? That we can’t leave? Or that we’re trapped?”  I love the peace that the gospel brings. As we learn to trust in Christ, we really can overcome these things, we can repent. 

Okay, this week was one long big story. Monday night, we go to the house of Oscar to see how he’s doing after his baptism. Their house was MAGIC. All four of them were together and laughing and having fun and the Spirit was so strong. His brother, Jose, has changed so much. He was cracking jokes left and right and we shared a really special lesson with them. Sunday after church I felt like we should invite Hermano Jose to listen again. My pride got in the way and I didn’t really want a repeat of the last time, so I didn’t say anything.  Monday, in the lesson, I felt the strongest Spirit that just said ¨Go on already, invite him to be baptized.¨  He accepted a baptismal date so fast and just said, “Yeah, I’m going to prepare and start working.” WOW!!  That same day Hermano Oscar tells us that his wife is going to live with his mom so that she and their son can get baptized. He talked with the bishop and the bishop told him it was okay and everything. We got super excited!! 

Jump to Tuesday ... after we arrived from the leadership training, we went to eat with Hermana Elsa, something felt weird to me, so I asked her if Karen really was going to live there.  She said that a few times during the week she was going to spend the night basically. This is the part where Hermana Rawe gets really nervous, because, really, she doesn’t live there and the bishop can’t give permission. Hermana Karen at FHE is super excited and wants to buy her baptism dress and is praying thanking Heavenly Father for letting her get baptized here. 

Wednesday, Hermana Rawe talks with President Camarillo after the leadership training and affirms what she was already thinking. Wednesday night, we tell Hermano Oscar and he gets super mad. We were teaching about the priesthood and the order of the church, and well ... he just got more and more mad, until he tells us that until his wife can get baptized here, he’s not going to church. This is the part where Hermana Rawe and Hermana Malacara leave their house to get home by curfew and sit on the floor and cry a whole lot, and then prayed a whole lot. Actually, in that moment, I was just thinking about Christ. I was thinking about how if I felt so pained and so sad for one person that was leaving the path ... how does he feel for every single person? I felt so angustiada y just sad, just straight up sad, and it was for one person. I literally can’t imagine how he felt everything for everybody. 

We go to bed and I wake up Thursday morning feeling terrible. At about 6:45, Hermano Oscar calls. “Hermanas, I am so sorry. I’m just really, really, sorry. I prayed. I prayed a whole lot and He told me that I had to obey, that His will was a little different than mine. Hermanas, I know that you have turned your hearts into this family, just like God has. You love us, you love us a whole lot and that’s why you do everything you do. I just ask you that you help me find the missionaries there because my wife really wants to get baptized.” 

Wow, the Lord taught me that we have to obey. Sometimes it’s really, really hard, and it would be easier just to bend the truth a little bit. Being obedient and being honest always pays off. I have learned so much about honesty and obedience in my mission. I started thinking about how much our investigators truly watch us. They are learning from us and how we do things how the church is and how it is run. I fully believe that we are training future leaders of the church and now they are going to know how important it is to do things the way they should be done, to be completely honest in all things. I loved it. I loved seeing how the Lord touched his heart and helped him to accept His will. 

Thursday in the afternoon, we teach Hermano Jose the Restoration. We go back Saturday and he’s read five chapters in the Book of Mormon and is praying. On Saturday, we saw beer in the house and started asking ¨cough cough, who’s is this??¨ Hermano Oscar says you’re not going to believe it, it’s the friend of Jose. He didn’t drink last night!  He was drinking soda. He’s also not smoking as much. We haven’t even taught him the Word of Wisdom yet!  Hermano Jose promised to go to church on Sunday and Sunday morning we were waiting for him! Sacrament meeting ends and no Hermano Jose.  I felt terrible. I was thinking NO!  We pressured him again and now he’s running.  He’s going to tell us the same thing he told us last time. At the end of sacrament meeting, he shows up, “I’m sorry Hermanas!  I stayed with a friend last night and well, I’m late, but I’m here!”  Woo! Hoo!  We are so exciting to keep working with him. Also, he should marry my sister, Rachel...for reals Rach! Ha! Ha!! 

I love you guys and hope you had a great week. It’s up and down like always, but we usually end up! I love what I’m doing!  Eat some turkey for me! 

Mexico Week 27 -- Stand for the Right

To my household full of birthdays!! 

We spent our whole P Day cleaning because it used to be the house of Elders.  I’m talking we bought a new broom and mop and just went to town, throwing away all of the clutter and I felt like a true Rawe. I think I will be a clean freak after the mission. 

We are FINDING people!! We found a family this week and just some really great people! I know that the Lord is preparing people but we have to give it everything we’ve got to help them understand and feel the Spirit. I know that the Lord uses us as instruments in his hands when we give Him everything we’ve got. 

Okay, now for some funny stories! There is this little grandpa in our ward and he’s adorable. We found him in the street this week carrying a bunch of stuff and helped him carry it to his house. He starts telling us about how he coached PE for kids and how much he loved exercise and all of the sudden, he takes off running in the street! Then he loops back to where we’re at and drops down in the street in front of his house and starts doing push-ups. Then he jumps up into his jumping jacks.  It was everything we could do not to start laughing. We made it about 3 blocks from there and just lost it. I love these people. 

That same day, we visited a less active member who’s 92 years old. She can barely hear and doesn’t like the hearing aids so we kind of yell basically. She sees that we’re scratching our legs and starts asking us if the mosquitos are attacking. Then she shuffles to the kitchen and brings RAID! That stuff isn’t for skin!! Before we can say anything, she starts spraying us both!  I’m talking two full minutes on each leg as the Raid is just running down our legs. After we share a message with leave there and our legs were on fire the rest of the day! This was old people week or something ;)

Also, I was totally manipulated by a 10-year old boy. He comes up trying to sell us some cream or something and he’s talking a million miles a minute and says stuff like, “I’d personally really recommend it to you” and then he winks. I’m literally dying and what do you think? I buy the muscle cream. 

Do you just love these pants?? I do.

  

Okay now for the serious stuff. Our President called a meeting for all of the zones in Guadalajara and he and his wife talked to us. They were pretty blunt about obedience and well, the hammer came down a little bit. I guess we’re losing a lot of missionaries. But wow, I love our president and his wife. They speak with so much love and I know that they want what is best for us. They strongly invited us to repent, to put our lives in order and be perfectly obedient to every missionary rule. I felt so inspired to give everything that I have, to give the Lord all of me. Hermana Camarillo said that our obedience in our missions determines how obedient we will be the rest of our lives. I never want to justify or make exceptions, during or after my mission, I just want to be obedient and marry someone that was obedient during their mission and still has this desire after. She told us a story of when they first got married. They didn’t have anything and she was offered an incredible job but had to work some Sundays. They sat down and talked about it.  What kind of marriage are we going to have? To what degree are we going to be obedient together? Well, she didn’t take the job and they have lived a pretty obedient life! I loved this example. It really hit me and I realized the kind of marriage I want, the kind of life I want after my mission. Wow, our President and his wife are just great! 

This week we also had exchanges with our Sister Training Leaders! I stayed here in Tlaquepaque and Hermana Malacara went to Cruz del Sur (or my old area). Hermana Quisbert visited me here! I love her to pieces. She’s from Argentina and is an incredible missionary. It was so nice just to talk to her, to express everything I’ve been feeling this month and she just listened and helped me out. Wow, real talk in Spanish! She talked about these past transfers were really hard for her, like she sobbed Sunday night.  Who does that remind you of? She asked President, “Why did you do this to me?”  He told her she had learned all that she needed to there and these are some of the sacrifices we make in the mission. I had never thought of that before. I always thought our sacrifices were leaving home, being obedient to every rule, not watching Disney movies.  Ha! Ha! Those those kinds of things. But it’s more than that ... we sacrifice our hearts. We leave areas with people we love, we are heartbroken for their problems and trials, we worry about them instead of thinking about ourselves, we give up all of what we want in order to follow the Lord and where He needs us. He has a plan and requires a lot of us, but the blessings are awesome. I had to pass through Cruz del Sur about 7 times this week to go to the meeting and also for exchanges. Saturday, I just got really sad on the bus, like really, really sad. I too thought, “President, why did you do this to me?”

I realized how much I’ve grown in one month. It’s been really hard, and I should probably be more patient, but wow, I can see that I’ve grown. I’m just a little more patient and a little more humble. I love my mission. I know my day with Hermana Quisbert was a little tender mercy of the Lord! I loved teaching with her. I caught the fire again! I felt the Spirit so strongly like when Hermana Buttars and I taught. One taught and then the other jumped in with testimony, like we were both just pumped to be there. Friday night we talked a lot, cried a little, and then hugged some. I realized that I’ve been holding back a little bit. Sometimes I’m still wanting to be in a different area with a different companion or being frustrated or negative. It’s holding me back from giving everything I have here. I decided to start loving my companion and this area one hundred percent. I decided to lose myself and just worry and stress for the people here and their concerns, not for anything else. The time is going by so fast, it’s already September, and I just pray I’m using it the way the Lord wants me to. I want to be humble and learn all that He wants me to learn. I have been so blessed! 

Also, I saw my daughter at our meeting with President. She’s struggling a lot too and just hugged me a lot and said I really miss you. I worry about her, but she’s so strong and I know that the Lord trusts her too. Just that motherly love for daughter kicking in! 

I love you all and hope that all is well with all the changes this week! You are all incredible and I am a testimony that change helps us grow...even when we don’t want it! We put our faith in the Lord, we work hard and be obedient, and the rest works out. 

All the love in the world,