The Raleigh Family

 

Posts From June, 2012

Week 15 - It seems like every week just gets a little bit crazier than the last 

Wednesday, June 27, 2012 9:15:00 AM Categories: Letter's Home

Dear mom,

This week has been super crazy! It seems like every week just gets a little bit crazier than the last. So last Thursday we went to the sister’s area to help finalize a baptism of a nine year old girl. The spirit guided us all day long and there were a ton of miracles that helped us get it done. First of all we were in a city that we didn’t know, without a map and only and address and a bus number that we needed to take. So we got on the bus and asked the driver for help and he got us off in the right direction and when we got off the bus we walked kinda aimlessly for like ten minutes and just ended up at the street we needed and were able to find the house and then we taught the girl all the commandments she needed to know and she was one of the smartest girls I’ve ever seen that age. And her mom wanted her to wait to be baptized, so the girl had been praying that she could be baptized. And when we showed up the mom was at work and only the grandma was there so we were able to teach her and interview her for baptism. Then we asked the family where her mom worked and then we went off again and tried to find it and after a long bus ride and some more aimless walking we just found where it was at. It’s very interesting when I think back on the whole situation we were totally lost the whole time! But not at one moment during the day did I feel lost at all and the spirit guided us to where we needed to be. So anyway we found where her mom worked and told her that her daughter was ready for baptism and got her to sign the paper that she had to and this Sunday she was baptized! It was an awesome experience! After we got the paper and left we stopped and said a prayer of gratitude because we knew that it could not have happened without the help of the lord. We literally just walked into a city and the lord guided us to where we needed to be and got done what he needed to get done. I guess it was important that this girl was baptized this past Sunday.

Then two days later we found a woman named Solange who has just been prepared to receive the missionaries and the on Sunday some members brought a family to church that has just been prepared to receive the gospel too. And they needed blessing so after church we gave them blessings and this week we started teaching them and they want us to come by every day this week and teach them and there getting baptized this next Sunday as long as they can quit smoking! So we’ve been working really hard with them and helping them out as much as we can with that. So this Sunday were going to have a minimum of 3 baptisms! I’m so excited! These people have just been waiting to receive the gospel!

In sounds like you guys are gonna have an awesome week this week too. Trek sounds like it’s gonna be sweet. And I’m jealous that Maddi gets to do the beach and trek all in one week! Lucky! And tell Heather happy birthday for me and sorry it’s late but hope she had a good day. And I can’t believe she’s gonna have a baby soon! It’s crazy that Kacen will be 4 and there will be another 2 year old when I get home!

I really liked the part of your thought faith is always pointed towards the future. My comp and I have been talking about that ALOT lately and I think that’s why we’re starting to have so many miracles happen lately, because we’ve just been having faith that we would find people to baptize and not letting ourselves even admit one bit that it’s not gonna happen. We’ve just been looking to the future and not dwelling on anything that goings wrong only on what will go right.

Thanks for your email and for your prayers, they’ve been helping a lot. Everything is going great here and we're having miracles. Stay strong and keep praying and always look to the future.

 

Love,

Elder Raleigh

 

PS

“His grace is sufficient” by Brad Wilcox, this is such a good talk about what grace is! You should read it and it’ll change your perspective of grace to something that helps in everyday life!

 

Week 14 - This week has been pretty good and pretty hard. 

Wednesday, June 20, 2012 10:44:00 AM Categories: Letter's Home

Dear mom,

This week has been pretty good and pretty hard. We’ve found some pretty good people who have good potential. This Sunday night we went out with a 10 year old kid tracking in his neighborhood and he did some contacts for us and it just melted people’s hearts. We ended up teaching the 1st lesson to someone and he was there with us and at the end we asked him to bare his testimony about the book of Mormon and the spirit was so strong! He said that he prayed and while he did it he just asked if the book was true and he got a warm feeling and afterwards a very peaceful feeling and then he asked about joseph smith and got the same feeling and because of that he knows that the book is true. The woman’s mind was blown it was pretty sweet haha. So that was really good.

 

Love,

Elder Raleigh


Dear dad,

This week was pretty good. We’re finding people who think will really be baptized. And my comp and I are getting along really great!

Sorry I forgot to tell you happy father’s day. I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me while I was growing up. You are a really good example of the type of father I’d like to be some day. I’ve learned a lot from the things you’ve taught me and I can apply some things to how I teach and go about mission life now. Thank you so much for being my dad.

I finally cleaned the bathroom today haha so the apt is looking a lot nicer now.

 

Love,

Elder Raleigh

Week 13 - It was literally manna from heaven! 

Wednesday, June 13, 2012 12:15:00 PM Categories: Letter's Home

Dear mom,

This past week has been kinda CRAZY! I have a new companion now whose name is Elder McGill. He´s from Utah so it’s kinda nice to be able to speak English again. But he is an awesome missionary! I’m gonna learn so much from him.

Also this week I got sick and there was blood in the vomit and had to go the hospital in Campinas but I’m better now so don’t worry about it. They plugged me into an IV and it was all really confusing cause I haven’t studied words in Portuguese that have to do with being sick and stuff and I thought someone would speak English in a hospital but no one did. Haha but they gave me a prescription and I got better. The doctor on the mission thinks that it’s just that my throat ripped a little because I was throwing up too hard I guess. But everything is good now I think it was just food poisoning. So don’t worry.

But me and Elder McGill are gonna destroy this area! We've already started finding lots of people who are very good. And on Monday we tracked into an English school and we’re going back next Monday to teach at it and meet people who will want to learn about the church. It’s gonna be awesome!

Sounds like everything is going well at home. The house is gonna be so different when I get home! And that’s too bad that Maddi’s graduation wasn’t as cool as mine haha :P

So on Monday we had a miracle. Our lunch had fallen through so we were gonna have to spend the little bit of money we had to buy some so we went out to find a restaurant and we went in one that was near our house and they were all excited to see us there cause I guess other missionaries had already made friends with them before so we loaded up our to go dish and it was packed full and the total value of our meals together was R$18 and when we went to pay they said that someone paid for us and they couldn’t tell us who! It was literally manna from heaven! Haha

Anyway I gotta go now but I love you guys and always keep you in my prayers.

 

Love,

Elder Raleigh


Dear dad,

This week was crazy! You’ll have to read moms email. But tell everyone thanks for all the letters. It’s nice to know people still remember me haha. Any way I got a new companion because of an emergency transfer so I’m gonna send you a pic.

 New Companion

Also there is a picture of our manna from heaven haha

Brazilian manna from Heaven

Also this is an artsy picture I took of my old companion I just liked it and thought I’d share it haha

Artsy picture of my prior companion

Love you and hope everything is going well with work and stuff. Me and my comp are gonna demolish this area! Serious were on fire.

 

Love,

Elder Raleigh

Week 12 - This week was good; it was full of a few ups and a few downs 

Wednesday, June 6, 2012 10:16:00 AM Categories: Letter's Home

Dear mom,

This week was good; it was full of a few ups and a few downs but overall was miraculous. You’ll have to read the email I sent to dad about the miracles this week. But that’s an awesome story! I love hearing about people’s conversions. It sounds like you had a crazy busy week as well haha. It is true there is something very different about our church, and I think that it is the overall involvement of all the members. It’s something that we live by and not just something we go to on Sundays. And that's how the church of Jesus Christ should be. Everyone should be actively involved with something good that’s going on. Our church truly lives the principle that `if ye lose your life for Christ sake ye shall find it´ and I think that’s what is so interesting to people and the fact that we all look so happy about it all the time haha. Anyway I gotta go. Read dads letter!

Love you guys, stay strong, and keep praying.

 

Love,

Elder Raleigh


Dear dad

This week was good. We had a miracle happen in the sister’s area which we were able to be involved in a little bit and yesterday we had a miracle in our area, but I’ll start with the sisters...

So the sisters met this woman (about a week and a half ago) who had just lost her mother and was crying so hard she could barely talk but she was really sad because her mom was gonna tell her something but died before she could so they promised her that if she prayed that god would answer her prayer and she would know what it was her mother was gonna tell her. So she prayed and that night she had a dream and her mother told her that she and her sister needed to make up and stop fighting. It’s crazy! Then after that she completely turned her life around. In a week she stopped smoking and drinking! The gospel of Jesus Christ works! She was baptized this past Sunday and now the missionaries are meeting her sister too and she’s starting to turn her life around too. I had the opportunity of helping teach her a few times and her sister too. It really was a miracle! We got to meet with her this past Monday and taught her about eternal families and she and her daughter were both in tears during it, and the spirit was very powerful. It was an amazing experience.

So yesterday was transfers and my companion was gonna get transferred but last week he wrote the president and said he wanted to finish training me. So also yesterday he found out he was actually gonna be a zone leader and it’s something he really wanted to do his whole mission but never had the opportunity yet. So he was feeling kinda bad because he gave up that opportunity, so he had been praying a lot about it I guess, then later that day we went to the house of a man who was a reference. When we got there he said he had been waiting for us for a long time. And he had visited the temple and he felt something. His wife died 6 years ago and he lives with his child now who is 30 and has Down’s syndrome. But we started by teaching him the plan of salvation and he was very interested and the spirit was strong too and we committed him to baptism. He already had a book of Mormon and had been reading it. He seems very excited to learn so much about the truth. We’re going back on Thursday. But after we left the house my companion said he knows now why he needed to stay here in this area. So this past week has been a lot of ups and downs but these past two days were awesome! Its days like that that makes it all worth it to be here.

So we haven’t really cleaned the apt a whole lot I just sweep it and keep clean the sink area and the fridge and where we prepare our food. We get fed a lot every day. When I first got here the hardest part of my day was lunch because they would make me eat sooooo much! But I think my stomach has stretched and I can just eat for days now and I crave rice and beans. I can understand pretty well most everything that people are saying now; I just need to work on my speaking. Overall I’m doing very well. I’m getting used to the culture and the food. I think that American food will probably make me sick when I return.

Anyway I gotta go but a canoe trip would be sweet to do right like on the northern Delaware river. Love you guys and pray for you all the time.

 

Love,

Elder Raleigh

Elder Ian McKay Raleigh
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