Dropping the Hammer

1. Baptism Invites
Hellooooo my friends! This week was pretty splendid to say the least. We're working some more with Rose and Pedro and they´re moving along just great! They went to church again and are loving the friendship they have with the members and the Spirit they feel! The Gospel really is a big happy family after all. We invited them to be baptized and they said they "Need to talk to God about it first" so I was pretty happy with that!

2. Gabriel complications
We're still teaching our little friend Gabriel! He´s a 12 year old kid who has members who are neighbors who help him cause his family situation isn't great... We showed up for a lesson there Thursday and turns out his dad is the head of a Macumba group (witchcraft) and they were having a "meeting" so we scattled out of there real quick! He wants to be baptized but we're not sure how it'll work out... But the Lord knows his children and we know that whatever happens will be the best thing for him!

3. The power of family nights
Thats right people, FHE is a huge focus here in Brazil! It´s a good time to get together with your family to have a little fun, have a spiritual message, and then of course share a treat! Tonight we're going to take Rose and Pedro to a family night with President Louza and Wednesday our ward mission leader is having us and our best investigators over! It´s such a powerful tool in missionary work and also strengthens families! If you're not having a family night, repent and start now:)

Everyone get ready for Conference weekend, it´ll be a good one!
D&C 1:38

Elder Rawson

My comp

my homie Elder Capistrano

Laundry day!

Being an Answer to Someone's Prayer

Hello everyone! I love hearing from you all, you make me so joyous! We had a solid week down here in Santa Maria.

1. FUN NIGHT
President put us as an extra set of missionaries in the ward to strengthen the ward, so naturally we planned an activity called Fun Night! We made cute little invitations and everything. It was the first activity in months so it really helped the everyone be excited about Church! Our investigators loved the pie smashing in the face activity and getting to know members!

2. God answers prayers through his missionaries
Wow, so this week we were walking down the street talking to people and we found a woman named Rose and her son Pedro! They just moved to the city so they don't know anyone and Rose is looking for a job. We used the Church resources here to help her look for good jobs and she went to Church and now knows a bunch of people! In our last lesson she started crying saying how hard things had been and she prayed for God to send her help, and the next day we showed up and starting talking to her:) There is no better feeling than knowing you were an answer to someones prayer!

3. More miracles of the week
This week we were walking home after a long day and I was ready for a shower and my bed! It's not uncommon for random people to stop us to talk about Trump or ask us for many, and a guy showed up and asked if he could talk for a minute. I was about to be like no, sorry, but the Spirit was like Give him a chance! So we went along talking and he got baptized 5 years ago but has been inactive since, but has had some changes in his life and he wants to return the Church and serve a mission! I can't even imagine what would have happened if I would of denied him. I´m grateful for the Spirit helping me out in my moments of weakness!

Well, there's a bit from my week! I´m on cloud 9 because we had FOUR investigators at church:) the mission brings more happiness than words can describe.

-Elder Rawson
Mormon 9:21

My District

Pizza!!!!!!!!!

Get 'Em Boys!

1. Exchanges
HELLO everybody! Love hearing from all you, hope everyone is well. This week was a week of exchanges with my district! It´s always nice to work with a new missionary and see what things they do well and apply them to your own mission. Splits also mean Pizza and Xis(pronounced shiz, Brazilian hamburgers) so we ate well this week!

Splits  Adventures

2. Ward mission leader visits
So our ward mission leader is great! He´s always making us churrasco and taking care of us, but he also puts us to work! Once a week we go out with him and he shows us less actives to visit and old investigators to try and teach again! He´s always laughing and smiling and is truly an example of magnifying your calling!

lunch with Brother Chico

churrasco

3. The Dog
It´s been pretty hard for us to do "unplanned" service here because people here think it´s a sign of weakness to accept help, but the Lord blessed us with a chance! We saw an old man walking his MASSIVE pit-bull and it got away from him and took off down the street, so naturally we took off after it! We made it a good kilometer down the road before we were able to calm him down and shoo him back to us owner! He was super grateful and we have an appointment to teach him this week so I'm  happy as can be! The Lord blesses us in mysterious ways:)

4. Rain Complications
So when it rains here, it pours to say the least! 90% of people don´t have cars, so when it rains people just hide in the houses, which makes our work difficult. We had half the amount of people at sacrament meeting from our ward this week. We´re doing our best to use our creative forces to teach, but the next time you see a little rain storm, pray for the missionaries in Brazil!!!

Love you all!
Elder Rawson

D&C 78:7

filling out my March Madness Bracket with Elder Burton!

Pictures from my mini hike adventure

#English4Brazilians

1. English Class
Hello folks! I hope your week was as joyous as mine. The English class the American missionaries teach here in the city is going great! Suellen got baptized on Saturday, so I guess it´s going well! I take turns teaching the kid class and the adults basics, and it´s hilarious when they ask how to say something I have to think of how to translate it back into English! See below for a low quality picture with my high quality class.

2. Exchanges with Elder Burton
One of the highlights of the week was the division I did with Elder Burton! We´re from the same group in the MTC and we sat by each other on the plane, so it was great to go to work with him! He´s from Draper so it was good to have some laughs about Utah things as well. We found chicken nuggets that we ate for dinner so we were a happy bunch! Love that kid!

3. Mr. Donald Trump
Since not many exciting things happen here in Brazil, the news stations talk a ton about Trump and our politics and stuff, so basically everyone here asks me about what I think. Since Trump is a hater on immigrants to the US, no one here likes him so I take some heat sometimes. A guy drove by us the other day and yelled "Stupid American! You voted for Trump, didn't you? You aren't welcome in Brazil!" I just laughed to be honest.

4. All love, no commitment
Brazilians are amazing people, and tons of people are open to accepting our visits, but it´s tough to find people who are willing to 'experiment on the good word of God' and actually keep our commitments! We´re working hard to help people truly come to know the Savior and accept his gospel!

With love,
Elder Rawson
James 1:12

This is our monthly mission letter! I made it in for my "diligence in writing in my journal" #100%

The words in blue are the English translation of what Elder Rawson said about journal writing.