The Raleigh Family

 

Posts From August, 2012

Week 24 - Yesterday I got to see Josh (Elder Allen) finally! 

Wednesday, August 29, 2012 8:15:00 AM Categories: Letter's Home

Dear mom,

This week has been pretty good. So this past Sunday we had a cool experience when we were at church. so after the meeting was over this guy came up to us who wasn’t a member but his whole family is and his son is on a mission, but he just hasn’t wanted to get baptized until something touched his heart and I guess that when me and my comp just sat down and talked with him but didn’t push baptism he felt touched. But we were over to his house and we asked him how he felt and he said ´like I’m going to be the next stake president or something!` Haha it was awesome! So he’s hopefully gonna get baptized this weekend that’s coming along with two other people we’ve been working with. So this Sunday should be pretty cool.

Oh also transfers were yesterday and I stayed in the same area but got a new comp. his name is Elder Oliveira Souza and he´s Brazilian so my Portuguese should get a lot better this transfer. So at the end of this transfer I will have had six months in the same area! haha this area is super good too! And the ward is really starting to get excited about missionary work. They said it’s been a while since the missionaries have baptized a lot of people so I’m pretty excited to be here for another six weeks.

Oh also yesterday I got to see Josh finally! It was pretty weird! He like he can speak Portuguese really well and has lost a bit of weight too! I attached a picture on here. He´s doing good though. I think it made us both a bit trunky to talk though haha it was pretty weird to be seeing josh in brazil and we both know how to speak a different language! Its super crazy! Haha

Anyway how is life back home? Things are going good here and I and my comp get along pretty well so far. So it should be a pretty good transfer.

Anyway I love you guys and I’m praying for you all. Let grandma Raleigh know I’m thinking about her and praying everything goes well with her surgery.

 

Love,

Elder Raleigh

 

Josh and Me

My new companion

Week 23 - I have a testimony of baptism and the power it has to change lives 

Wednesday, August 22, 2012 9:19:00 AM Categories: Letter's Home

Dear Mom,

This week has been pretty sweet!! We baptized 3 people! Reginaldo, Felipe, and Anna. They were all really spiritual baptismal meetings. First we baptized Anna on Friday which also was her birthday and I got to baptize her so that was pretty cool. And after her baptism, her family set up a surprise party in the relief society room and she was super surprised and kinda started to cry a little. It was a really cool experience to see someone who has been searching their whole life and finally found the truth. Then one Sunday night we had the baptism of Felipe and Reginaldo together. They were both super ready to receive the gospel. I got to baptize Felipe so that was pretty awesome. Then after we baptized him and changed I went up and asked him how he was feeling and he said he´s never felt better in his whole life. I have a testimony of baptism and the power it has to change lives. This week has been like the climax of this last transfer cause we´ve been working our butts off to make all these baptisms go smoothly and everything worked out, but it was for sure a ton of work! haha.

So yesterday we were eating at this place the government sponsors so it’s really cheap (like 2 R$) for a whole meal. And when we got done this lady came up to us and started talking. And she is a Jew who has been searching really hard to find out where she´s from. But the thing is that she doesn’t know how she´s Jewish because her ancestors are half from Portugal and the other half are native to South America! but she told us how she´s been searching for a long time to figure out where she comes from and she had her blood tested and it was proven that she was Jewish descent! She also said that she used to be Christian but started to get doubt because of Judaism and so now she’s just very confused about who is the true God. So tonight we are going to meet her and we are going to use the book of Mormon to “convince a Jew that Jesus is The Christ!” It’s gonna be super awesome! I can’t wait!

Sounds like there´s a lot happening back home! I can’t believe that Jasmine and Mikayla are already off to college! That’s nuts! You should tell Maddi to keep looking for a new job!

Man that’s nuts how crazy the weather is these day! And sounds like the campout was fun! Haha! Dude that house is gonna be way different when I get home! It would be cool if you guys got that downstairs kitchen done though before I get home. I hope everything goes good with Grandmas surgery, I’ll been praying for her.

I love you guys and hope you have a good week this week!

Love,

Elder Raleigh

 


 

Dear Dad,

Thank you so much for the music! Music helps a lot to keep us in a good mood in general! Haha.

This week has been pretty awesome! We baptized 3 people! And I got to baptize 2 of them. My email to mom talks all about it. Also starting not this next week but the week after that p-day will begin to be on Mondays. So next week it will be Wednesday, but then the Monday after that it will be p-day. So I get one short week! Haha

Sounds like life is getting super busy! You better ask for a big raise at the end of this year or something! Haha we used that phrase ´´work smarter not harder`` a lot when I was iron working. Well at least the smarter ones did haha. There is always a smarter/easier way to do something.

I think that if you just got on my desktop and opened up iTunes and then used the search bar you could find Whitley and then just drag them off of iTunes into a separate folder. And then just put that folder on a flash drive or something to put it on your desktop and it would all be good.

Anyway life is good here and the gospel is growing and people are getting excited about missionary work in our ward! I’ll be praying for ya´ll and let grandma Raleigh know I’ll be praying for her too.

 

Love,

Elder Raleigh

PS, share these photos with mom. The Woman is Anna, the kid is Filipe, and the man is Reginaldo.

Anna at her baptismReginaldo and Filipe at thier baptismFilipe at his baptism

Week 22 - Something I’ve learned is that it is super important to teach people from your heart 

Wednesday, August 15, 2012 9:30:00 AM Categories: Letter's Home

Dear Dad,

This week has been pretty awesome! Something I’ve learned is that it is super important to teach people from your heart. Not just follow a plan that you made before you get there but to follow what the spirit says to you. Last night we were in a lesson and it was a division so it was just me and a kid who´s getting ready to serve a mission and we were teaching this couple and the wife was very interested in religion but the husband didn’t go to any church and didn’t think he needed to go to a church to be saved. So it got to the end of the lesson and I just bore my testimony that I knew that what we had to share would bless their lives and a bunch of other stuff, but I did it with real love and I think they could sense it or something so after I finished the husband started asking me where our church was and saying he wants to do a visit there!

So any way what me and my companions have been doing is applying those scriptures that say “mine elect hear my voice and don’t harden their hearts” and “mine elect hear my voice and follow”. So basically what we do is the first time we enter the house to share a lesson we just teach about the baptism of Christ and invite them to be baptized in the same way that Christ was baptized. So basically the invite is just to see how they react. we say, “ so if God demonstrated to you in your heart that these things were true would you follow this prompting/answer from god?” Usually they don’t understand so you have to explain that only if god shows them this is true will they be baptized. And then after that you say “were having a baptismal meeting on the (chose a date), if you receive and answer between today and this date will you follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized on this day?” And depending how they react to these questions you can tell if they have a real desire to follow these things or not. Also you will have people who are just nice and willing to talk but don’t really want to follow so that’s where the scripture “mine elect hear mine voice and follow” if they really are elect and ready then they will immediately begin to do what you ask them. The key to this whole process is that you do it with love. You should not be pressuring the people at all to make the commitment; you are only inviting them to make a commitment. So if they don’t want to make a commitment then don’t spend your time working with them but if they are will to make a commitment then work with them. This is our system. Just teach about baptism straight up and invite them and just see how they react and if they don’t harden their hearts (which means they argue with you and don’t want to even try to believe) and if they follow then they are elect. So you can tell after only the first visit if they will really be baptized or not. Sometimes it’s hard because you will find a nice person who is interested in learning about it but doesn’t want to do anything about it, and this system will help you to know whether or not to use your time teaching them or not. And ever since we've been using this system the lord has blessed us with a bunch of really good people! The system might be a little bit different for how to do it in America cause of the culture difference, but the principle is the same.

Thank you for the music! And I got it all so if you can figure out a way to put more on you could just take that stuff off and put more on. It’s cool you liked that song by Whitley because that’s actually one of the ones I like most and am looking forward to getting! I think I have Whitely on my iTunes on the comp at home so you could just get on there and take it so you don’t have to buy it again.

I think big things are gonna happen here in this mission soon. Because there was a leadership meeting and the president was talking about how we have stewardship over the whole city where we live and how we should just baptize the whole city. And he talked about a lot of examples from scriptures and from modern day missionaries who baptized like hundreds of people in cities in a short amount of time and that is what he wants us to be doing. And he was dead serious when he was talking about it. So me and my comp made a goal to try to baptize everyone who we talk to. And I think it’s working pretty well cause we have lots of people who are going to be getting baptized this month and were finding lots of other people. The key is you just have to change the way you think and not limit yourself to a number, just make it everyone.

Hope the advice I gave can help your Sisters in your ward. Does Maddi go out with the sisters? 'cause she totally should! Having a member there for lessons makes a huge difference! Also I think it’s a great idea that you’re going to visit families and get them thinking about missionary work ‘cause the best investigator is always the ones that are references from members. Keep up the good work!

Love you guys and I’ll be praying for you all and hope you have a good week.

 

Love,

Elder Raleigh

Week 21 - Mine elect hear my voice and don’t harden their hearts. 

Wednesday, August 8, 2012 11:21:00 AM Categories: Letter's Home

Dear mom,

 

This week was awesome! We got a pretty big teaching group of people who are all really good people and we made a goal to baptize 8 people this month, which is for sure gonna happen! (see dads email for a description of the people and the plan) but we’ve been having lots of miracles and I think after this month the ward here is gonna be super excited about mission work cause they’re gonna be getting a lot of new members that they’re gonna have to help with! This month is gonna be sweet here!

It’s sad to hear about umbra :( you gave such a detailed description that I could see it all happening! Sad stuff... In gonna miss that cat. Hopefully he´ll be there in heaven when we get there. And Frankie too.

Sounds like the temple day was super awesome. It’s been a while since I’ve been to the temple. I hope I get to go sometime soon, but I think that I’m gonna be in this area for at least one more transfer which means like two and a half more months. Which isn’t bad because this area feels like home now and it’s gonna be sad to leave it someday. I for sure want to come back after my mission and visit all the people that I am meeting and working with here. I for sure love this place.

It sounds like everything is good at home and starting to settle down a bit. Good to know they didn’t get a super high maintenance baby. Haha. Anyway sounds like life is good there and I hope it keeps being good! Life is for sure good here and only getting better!

 

Love,

Elder Raleigh

 


Dear dad,

 

This week was super awesome! We made a goal to baptize 8 people this month and I think it might happen. We already had 4 people who were on track to be baptized when we made the goal and now we have 4 more that are a good potential! We have Reginaldo and Adriana, Felipe, and Anna who are all pretty much guaranteed and then at church this Sunday this women who has been a little less active showed up and she had two kids that are 9 and 11 that she wants to be baptized this month so that’s 6! And then last night we went and visited this woman who we had found two nights ago and they are super awesome! We started teaching the first lesson and when we got to the part where we were about to introduce Joseph Smith and after the apostasy she started talking about how she didn’t know how to know for sure which of all the churches are true and pretty much had like all the same problems in her life about religion that Joseph Smith had before the First Vision! It was awesome! The Lord has definitely been preparing her to hear the message of the restoration! So they´re probably gonna be baptized on the 25th if all goes well! So I think for sure were gonna reach our goal!

So these past 2 weeks me and my comp have been focusing a lot on trying to find people who are “elect”. When I first got to the field and heard people talking about "elect" it kinda like offended me in a way cause people made it sound like the gospel isn’t really for everyone, but as I thought about it more some people just really aren’t ready for the gospel in their lives! So we’ve studied about "elects" a lot. There are two scriptures that describe what it means to be "elect". One says mine elect hear my voice and don’t harden their hearts, and the other says mine elect hear my voice and follow. So what we’ve been focusing on is finding people who don’t harden their hearts and who have a desire to follow and ever since we’ve been doing that we’ve been finding awesome people who were just ready for the gospel! We are here to help people to come unto Christ, but we can only help them as much as they actually have a desire to find the truth. So this week we got a system down for finding people who are elect and the lord has been just blessing us with people who are ready!

Today we’re finally gonna clean the bathroom! Haha we’ve cleaned every other part of the house so it doesn’t feel like were camping anymore. And today it will be complete! Haha we’ve spent the last 3 p-days working on the house. Anyway that’s pretty much all that happened this week.

It sounds like life’s about the same back home, except it sounds like you guys are actually finishing projects that you start now! Haha the house is gonna be totally different when I get home! Don’t send me any pictures I wanna see how different it is when I get back.

I’ll be praying that everything goes well with work and hopefully things can start to settle down for you a little bit. Love you and nice hearing from you.

 

Love,

Elder Raleigh

 

Ps. also the new mission president is way more lax on the music we can have now. So if you could can you send me the music from that band I showed you a while ago called Whitley? All their music is super uplifting! Thank you.

 

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Elder Ian McKay Raleigh
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