The Raleigh Family

Dear mom,

Thanks for the email. Today is my first day in the field. I arrived last night at like 7ish and got right to work. We went out and started contacting people. My companion did the first one and made me do pretty much all the rest. People in Brazil are way more friendly than in the states! Most of them will at least stop and talk to you even if they don’t want to hear your message. We were gonna teach an investigator but when we showed up I think that they didn't want to be taught anymore (I think that’s what happened). It was kinda sad.

My companions name is Elder Lobato. He speaks pretty much no English so I think I’m gonna learn Portuguese very quickly. Our apartment is super ghetto! Haha ... It’s pretty cool though. I don’t need a whole lot.

Tonight I think that were teaching 4 people and I’m pretty sure that we're committing them to baptism. I found out yesterday that this mission is always in the top 5 baptizing missions in Brazil.

I met someone here that knew Josh and Nate in the CTM and is from Pennsylvania also her name is Sister Peterson. But her Portuguese is really good and she’s only been here for like 6 months so I’m hoping that I can learn that fast as well. Six weeks is really cutting it close haha.

It’s good to hear about time out for women. Sorry about Chris Allen though hope everything goes okay, I’ll keep him in my prayers. I can somewhat imagine why America would be a big shock for someone from Africa. One reason I think that the Church is growing so much in Brazil is because the people here are so humble, and I can understand why it would be hard to be humble in America.

The last 3 days or so in the CTM there was a guy named Brother Mills and he’s in charge of all the MTCs in the world and he kind of shadowed our district a little bit and asked me and two other guys who were in Provo and here to compare them and he told us that what we said will affect a lot of Brazilians so that was kinda cool. Also my last day there Elder Cook came and we had a special devotional that he spoke at. It was very cool. The spirit was strong there and he spoke a lot about what a missionary is.

Also my last day there we got to go out and give away books of Mormon again. Me and my comp gave away 2 in about an hour. The first guy was just chillin' there wearing only pants in a big public square, and the second was just to guys about my age sittin' in the park and they said they’d read it, and we also pretty much taught the first discussion to a guy for like 45 mins. It was kinda hard though because it was right near a catholic seminary.

I gotta go now. Love you guys. It’s good to hear from you, and it’s good that everything’s going well back home.

Love,

Elder Raleigh

Dear mom,

 I’ve gained about 13 pounds since I’ve been in the MTC and CTM. I’m almost up to 160 now. I’ve been trying hard to gain weight haha. The other day I got to go out and give away books of Mormon. I wrote about that in Dads email so you’ll have to read that.

 The infomercial sounds pretty funny. I wish I could’ve seen it. The Roadshow sounds like it was a good mixture of funny and amazing dance/acting talent as it always is. It’s awesome that they got to do a flash mob at the mall!!! I’m jealous. I’ve always wanted to be in one of those. Did you guys film it?

  That’s pretty funny about the bird hahaha and I hope Maddi’s doing okay. I know that gettin' those things [her wisdom teeth] out is the worst! But just tell her to keep them clean and they hurt way way less.

 Anyway I’m doing good down here. I gotta come back to see the world cup when it’s down here. They already started building a few things for the Olympics that I could see. Anyway I’m out if time. But stay a strong family. And I love you guys, thank you for the support and for the prayers.

 Love,

 Elder Raleigh

Dear Dad,

I leave next Monday morning for the field.

Yesterday I got to go out and place books of Mormon for 3 hours. It was a pretty interesting experience. The first person we talked to ended up being a 15 min discussion that ended very well. He was kinda uncertain about the book of Mormon until he asked me what Christ meant to me and I was able to bear my testimony of the savior and then he accepted the book and said he would read it. It was pretty awesome. The next person we talked to was kinda anti Mormon so he was pretty sure that we were going to inferno for preaching. So he didn’t take one. The next guy we talked to was a runner and it was a short conversation but he took one so it was good. And the last people we talked to took it gladly but they thought we were trying to sell it to them, so it surprised them when we told them it was free.

The language is coming pretty well considering I’ve only been speaking it for a little over a month. I can say almost anything that I need to say, my biggest problem is trying to understand other people when they speak. I think that once I get out in the field and have a Brazilian comp I’ll pick it up really fast. Most people are fluent by 6 months.

 That’s good to hear that E-town kept up our standard of excellence for the road show. And also I’m sure that you will have a good experience planning the Trek. It’s always a really good experience for everyone who participates. I know that when I gained a very strong testimony of Joseph Smith as a prophet was when we had to go off in the woods and pray and write in our journal. I’m sure that many lives will be changed for the better because of the things you plan for Trek.

Love,

Elder Raleigh

WDear family,

I made it to the CTM fine. The weather is awesome down here! Especially compared to Utah. Today is P-day so I got to go out into the city a little bit. The food here is amazing! Also this city is huge!!! From the airplane you can’t see the end of it in pretty much every direction. My room is 6 floors up so I also have a pretty nice view of the city. How’s everything back home. I have a new comp now his name is elder smith. Down here smith is pronounced smeech haha. And when Brazilians say my name they say haolly. Today we went to this buffet place for lunch and it was soooo good. We’re going again next week. Next week Elder Cook is coming here which is pretty cool cause they don’t normally get apostles, that often.

Anyway I was able to send some pics using that thing that dad sent me so thanks for that. Also my St Patty's tie was totally appropriate to wear! I got complimented on it by some leaders haha. I gotta go cause those pics took a little time to send.

Love,

Elder Raleigh

Dear Mom,

 It’s good to know that Dad is back home safe. I do get to go to the temple on P-days and I actually go every P-day at 7 am is when we have to be there. The first week I went I did an Endowment, last week I did 10 Initiatorys, and today I had the opportunity to do Sealings, which was my favorite so far. I didn’t realize what it meant to be born into the covenant until today. So it was a sweet experience.

It’s cool that you got to donate blood with Maddi. I always liked to do that whenever I could. It’s a very good cause.

 Also I read and discussed Lehi's vision with a few Elders from my district and everyone had a different take on it. Something cool about the scriptures is that almost every parable or vision or story can be related to the plan of salvation. If you were to relate this vision to the plan of salvation then the man in white could have been Jesus Christ in the pre-existence. We were asked to follow His plan and came to earth (the dark mist) while we are here on Earth all of us are lost. As we call upon God to deliver us He gives us the word of God (the iron rod). At that point we must still follow the iron rod to receive the fruit of the tree of life. The tree of life is symbolic of Christ and the fruit on the tree is the atonement. There are also many different ways that this vision can be taken and I think depending on where someone is at in their life it can mean different things, and I think that’s probably why it is at the begging of the book because it will get read more often than most other scriptures.

 Here in the MTC we are also taught not to take notes on what a speaker says, but what the spirit says. During conference this weekend I took about 6 &1/2 pages of notes. I would write the speakers name and write my impressions as they spoke. Some of the stuff I wrote didn’t have to do with what they were talking about at all, but now everything I wrote is much more valuable to me, and I am much more likely to go back and read them because of the feelings I received while I was writing. So I would encourage you to never take notes of what someone is saying unless the spirit also says it to you.

 Thank you guys for your support and prayers. I pray for you all very often. I am in the MTC choir but I didn’t get to go to conference.  … but everyone who was in the choir missed the first session of conference which I thought was very powerful and I was glad that I got to hear it. Anyway I gotta go.

Love you all

Elder Raleigh