The Raleigh Family

Dear mom,

It was good to see you guys the other day. Not much else has happened since then, but one thing I forgot to ask when I was on Skype was what way does water drain there? Clockwise or counter clockwise? Cause I always had this theory that water drains opposite here cause were on the southern side of the planet. Let me know?

Yesterday we started a new area closer to our house and I learned how to teach the first lesson in three minutes and commit people to baptism on the spot. It goes pretty well usually. And we usually get a return visit. People here are so excepting! They’ve really been prepared to receive the gospel.

Also were teaching this couple that’s not married but they live together, and last night they told us that they’re getting married. It was pretty cool. We had a video that had tons of different videos about the church and they wanted to watch the one about temples and after it was over they asked about temple marriage and they seemed very interested in it. They’ve already received a testimony of the book of Mormon so they know it’s all true and they’re really progressing, it’s amazing to see people’s lives change as they act in faith on the things we testify to them.

My language is really starting to come along. Yesterday I talked to a lady and invited her to church but she has another church she attends and I was able to ask about it more and find out when it started and ended and it turned out that the times were different so I told her she could come after and I testified that she would feel the spirit and it would bless her life and she said she would come. I was able to understand pretty much everything she was saying so it was pretty cool.

Anyway I gotta go. I love you guys and hope everything is going well. I keep you guys in my prayers every day.

Love,

Elder Raleigh

Dear mom,

This week was a little less hard than last week haha. I can Skype you guys this next Monday around 6:30 pm my time because the internet house closes at 8 pm. I told Ally to set up an account and email it to me since she is pretty computer savvy and then on Monday night just be on your email at the same time in case there are technical difficulties. I also told ally 7pm so just let her know that it is 630 now please. I hope that everyone will be able make it.

So the day before yesterday I was having a difficult time with the language and so I was praying about it because I just want to be able to teach people. So then yesterday we were knocking doors and the first door I knocked there ended up being a daughter of the family that has been studying English for 6 years and so the father (who answered our clap) ran and got her and she was really excited to speak English with me and I was able to teach her in English and just translate a few words for her and she understood and was very grateful for the message and we are returning this Saturday to teach more. It was definitely an answer to my prayers. After that I was feeling very happy and I could speak and understand Portuguese much better after that. It was a very cool experience.

Then later that day we were stopping by our apartment and there was a guy leaving and he asked me if I was an American and where I was from. It turned out that he actually lived in York, Pennsylvania for 2 years! He’s a teacher and he wants to help me with my Portuguese. It was a very good day yesterday, and its days like that that makes it all worth it to be here. I know the lord is always looking out for me.

That’s pretty funny that no one recognized your hair haha. I’m looking forward to seeing your hair this Monday!

I’m sorry to hear about Jay Pfeiffer I know who he was but I did not know him very well. He must have been an amazing person though because I have never seen or heard of Brother McBride getting emotional.

That’s cool that Mike came over and fixed the radio. He’s a good person for sure. He’s always trying to fix things haha.

That’s sweet that Maddi’s getting a scholarship for her painting! I’m sure she’ll get a decent amount for it. So will it be hanging in the school then? Or where will it be displayed?

The baptism was good. I don’t know Wesley to well but he seems like he’s really into the gospel and he will stay active for sure. So I’m sure I’ll get to know him. There were like 20ish people at the baptism so it was good. I guess the water was super cold though but all was well.

I like that quote it is very true that we all have talents and abilities that are limitless but also they do wither away if we don’t use them. And what better way to use them then to bless the lives of the people around us. They are just like our testimonies. We are ether growing them or we are losing them. I hope that my bag of talents and abilities will bless the people of Campinas.

Hope everything keeps going well. Say strong and trust in the lord

Love,

Elder Raleigh

Dear dad,

It’s awesome that you got to visit family in Utah. And it’s good to hear that jess is gonna get some teaching experience. I’m sure everything will be fine moneywise. All she has to do is pay her tithing and trust in the lord and she´ll be taken care of.

This Monday I can Skype home at 630pm my time. I asked ally to set up an account for me and to email the password and username to me and then you guys just gotta be on your emails in case there are technical difficulties.

So the other day we were in our apt and my companion had this song that was English and he wanted me write the lyrics and while I was doing it he was just like ´oh fetch´´ and stood up and I looked at him and when I did I felt something crawling up my arm. It was a cockroach! Haha I jumped and it fell off my arm and on my lap and then I tried to get away and tripped over my chair and then over my companions chair. It was kinda funny. But now I know there are live cockroaches in my appt.

Sorry to hear about your food poisoning. That’s like the worst sickness I’ve ever had and it was terrible. It’s good that you’re okay now.

I think that I will learn Portuguese in less than a month. I’m already able to have a broken conversation with someone and I can teach the whole first lesson which we timed and it takes about 17 mins so I can talk in Portuguese for 17 minutes. It really is a blessing to have a Brazilian companion. And when were one the streets I can usually understand what people are saying when I ask them if I can share a message with them.

It was kinda funny the other day we were contacting people on the streets and normally people stop to talk to us but for some reason not a lot of people would stop to talk, in fact it seemed like they would speed up so after a while I just started to walk with them and talk. It was effective on one person who was kinda laughing at me when I was walking and talking poor Portuguese with her but she gave us her address and were gonna visit her house another day.

My companion saw those numbers that are your budget and he thought that it was your salary when I tried to explain it to him. Haha he thought I was a millionaire for a second. But that is awesome that you get to use that much money!

That’s sweet your training for a marathon! It’s funny cause Ally is actually going to do that too. But I will hold you accountable. I want to do a marathon when I get back. I don’t think it would be that hard. I walk like at least a marathon every day and sometimes we have to run and it’s not as hard anymore. So when I get home well have to do one together.

I had a pretty cool experience this week with prayer and getting an answer, but I sent it to mom so you’ll have to read her email. Hope everything goes well for Maddi in the talent show. It will be an awesome experience for sure.

Anyway I gotta go. I love you and keep you in my prayers.

Love,

Elder Raleigh

Dear mom,

My apartment is pretty ghetto, but it makes me feel like a man haha. It sounds like there is more crime in E-town then here. We haven’t had a problem at all with crime here. That’s crazy though that Gus was out! I’m just connecting the dots but it sounds like someone came in our house and tried to break into the Wolf's house! Or I guess maybe it could be that Gus broke out of our house and then tried to break into the Wolf's house. He must really hate their dog or something haha.

People don’t mess with you if they know you’re from the church. My companion likes the peanut butter. I eat a PB&J for breakfast every day haha. Also I’m his second person that he has trained. But still the first few days were kinda hard because neither of us could understand each other very well. I’m getting a lot better really fast at Portuguese now though.  It’s good that I have a Brazilian comp because I will learn so much faster. I can pretty much understand everything that people talk about as long as they don’t talk super-fast. I just can’t express myself very well, but I’m progressing a lot every day.

The people here are awesome! The members are super nice and feed us all the time. Like the other night we showed up at a members house at 830pm unexpected and they just feed us without us asking or anything! And everyone is super patient with me when I don’t understand them. People here in general really like Americans and like to talk to me for that. Like we were at another member’s house and there were a bunch of kids there and when they found out I was American they all came running in yelling ´´Americano Americano´´ and they wanted me to speak English to them. It was kinda funny speaking English and they all just stared at me and had no idea what I was saying.

It’s cool to contact people here because like 90 percent of people will actually stop and talk to us and a lot of them seem really interested. It’s weird though cause when we ask them if they heard of the church most people haven’t. So we can actually teach them and they are willing to hear it with an open mind. This Saturday were baptizing someone named Wesley. At church he came up to my companion and talked to him for a minute and I couldn’t understand a lot but when he walked away my companion got all excited and kept saying it’s a miracle. It was pretty cool to see.

That stinks that a sister had to go home cause she was sick. That would be the worst! And I’m sorry to say I don’t remember who sister Juliano is.

Oh so it’s kinda funny that you say I don’t have to worry about cold here, because it is cold here! Haha they say that some nights it’ll get down to just above freezing. I’m going today to buys some sweaters haha. Our apartment gets freezing at night time. My companion laughs because all Americans that come here think that Brazil doesn’t get cold.

Tell Maddi thanks a ton for that diagram of the Plano De Salvacão because it will come in handy a lot when I teach people. I used it a lot in the MTC when I would practice teach.

I do get to go to the temple when I’m in the field like every 3 weeks I think or something like that. The temple is really nice because it’s the one place that is exactly the same everywhere in the world. So it helps better than anything else with home sickness. It’s nice to just sit in the celestial room and meditate. Every time I go I feel renewed and fresh.

I love you guys and love hearing from you. It sounds like everything’s good at home, except the high crimes. Stay safe and pray always.

Love,

Elder Raleigh

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