The Raleigh Family

Dear mom,

The missionary work is going great here! We had 3 baptisms this Sunday! It was a pretty cool experience. You’ll have to read dads email I wrote all about it. But it would be pretty sweet if the dude I baptized became the new stake president. I think in one year I will be able to go through the temple with them. So that should be pretty sweeeeeeeet!!

That’s crazy that the Midwest lost 90% of their crops! Is it affecting the economy and stuff?

Man that’s nuts Cassandra is getting ready to enter the MTC! Let her know that it´ll be okay. Almost every normal person freaks out a little before they enter into the MTC. And when she gets there she´ll see that everyone else is feeling about the same as her. They really help there a lot with helping people to feel comfortable and not homesick. And also the MTC is just super awesome!

That’s nuts that Karen can say real words now! He’s gonna be put sentences together and stuff when I get home!

It’s crazy how much media the church is getting right now! And it’s pretty tight that the bishop got to go on the news and do a long interview! Who do you think is gonna win the election? Oh also can you figure out how to do an absentee ballet and let me know cause I’d like to vote this year.

Hope you start feeling better and have an awesome week!

Love,

Elder Raleigh

Dear dad,

This week has been pretty awesome as usual. I got a new companion and he is an awesome missionary! I think I’m gonna learn a lot from him. He´s Brazilian too so my Portuguese should improve too during this transfer. Yesterday we had 3 baptisms! So that was pretty cool. it was kinda funny though because two kids got baptized by their grandpa and there were a ton of people there so I couldn’t fit in the room with them to see the actual baptism and I guess the grandpa used his left hand instead of the right hand and the witness´s didn’t say anything and we didn’t find out till after everyone had left the room. So we asked the stake president if it mattered and he said it did so we had to call everyone back into the room and do it again haha. It was a pretty good haha.

The bishop told me yesterday that he hopes I just stay here in this area for a while cause it’s been a while since they’ve had baptisms like this. It’s weird though cause I don’t feel like I’ve been doing anything to make these baptisms happen. It seems like people just show up out of nowhere who are just ready to be baptized. This area is pretty sweet. I think I’m gonna miss it when I have to leave. It’s pretty much like home now haha.

Oh man Brazil is a way different place for sure... haha during sacrament meeting this dude stood up and called all this family up to the stand with him, whom I thought, was really weird, and then had them all bare their testimonies, and they all looked really uncomfortable. and then after they all sat down he started to bare his testimony and by the end he was kinda yelling cause he was mad that his kid went inactive and the ward didn’t do anything to save him or something. It was kinda nuts haha and then when the meeting was over the bishop stood up and said that the testimony meeting was meant for us to bare our personal testimonies about the savior and that we shouldn’t stand up as families cause it can make other people who don’t have families in the church sad and stuff... haha Brazil is a little bit more dramatic then the US sometimes for sure.

Anyway on a more happy note I get to go to the temple this week with some investigators! But I don’t actually get to go in cause I’ll be with investigators. But I guess this temple has a special room for visitors and the temple president are gonna come down and talk to them. So that should be pretty cool. We’re going with two couples. One of them just got baptized on Sunday so in a year I think I should be able to go through the temple with them as long as they stay firm which I think they will because their son is on a mission and he will be getting back around the time that they can go through together. So that’s gonna be a sweet experience! And then the other couple is married yet but when the get married there gonna get baptized. I’m pretty excited for this week.

Oh hey I’ve been wondering who´s gonna win the election? Is mitt gonna win? Haha also I think I need to start working on an absentee ballet soon. So could you look up how to do that and let me know? Thank you. I attached a file with the picture of the baptisms for this week. Can you show them to mom cause its taking forever to upload them and I don’t want to do it twice. Anyway have a good week. Let grandma know I’m praying for her that everything goes well with the surgery and stuff.

Love,

Elder Raleigh

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

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.

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