Working Hard and Having Fun

1. Baptism of Fernando
This week I was super happy to see our friend Fernando enter into the waters of baptism! We found him my first week here, took him to church twice, and he decided to be baptized! It was a testimony builder for me to see his pure desire to follow Christ and how baptism and joining the church is the way to do that! Super happy day<3

Font Selfie

2. Invite everyone to come unto Christ
As missionaries, especially in Brazil, we talk with so many people every day that its impossible to keep track of them all, so I decided I would invite everyone I talked to come to Church on Sundays, and give them a chance to use their faith. Well this week, a member of the bishopric called us to the hall and low and behold there was a woman we had talked to that week! She liked her experience and asked to be baptized #blessings

3. Teach nothing save repentance
I have never worked so hard in my life to truly try and fulfil this promise, and this week we had 16 new investigators. The Lord is truly taking care of us as we strive to do His work!

4. Funny quotes from the week
A member was giving a sacrament talk yesterday and talked about how Satan is always trying to drag us away from the path and was like "He´s literally always out there to get you. Satan doesn´t have a P-Day! He´s on the job 24/7!" Also on exchanges with the assistent this week we realized that we had already given our Book of Mormons out, and he said "We better hurry home and get some more or people will think we´re Jehovah's Witnesses!"

Love you all!
The scripture of the week is 3 Nephi 27:13-16 #ReadIt&YoureCool
Elder Rawson

Splits with the assistant

Alegrete & Armadillo

First off, Happy 100th birthday to my great Grandma P! You´re a warrior and an example to us all!

1. Armadillo anyone...?
I´m loving the people here in Alegrete! People are super receptive and we are teaching a ton of lessons every week. But this is a smaller town with some more traditional Brazilian cultures. This week our friend Ubirijara offered us some food, and we kinda blindy accepted, and he came out with an armadillo!!!! They eat them all the time I guess, as well as gopher, alligator, and wild hog.

Serving up some armadillo

2. English Class
We decided to take advantage of having two Americans together and started an English class here! We had a decent turnout, and its been fun trying to explain English while slyly teaching them the Gospel! Fernando, our best investigator, went and is coming along well!

3. President Louza´s invite
During transfers President told me he felt super inspired to send me here to Alegrete, and that I should seek to find my purpose here. I got into an area/ward that wasn't going great, and we've been turning it around! The Bishop came up and thanked us for our work and I felt super grateful to be here fulfilling the Lord´s desires for me.

Love you all! Hit up D&C 81:5-6 for some good spiritual food:)
Elder Rawson

A killer lunch we made

CHURRASCO, ribs/lamb/sausage/garlic bread

The sunrises here are amazing!

It's quite  chilly here in the mornings

Kool-Aid from the USA was a hit with some investigators this week

God Blesses His Gringos!

1. Welcome to Alegrete!
Life is good here in Alegrete! Tuesday I woke up at 5:00 to catch the bus! It was strange riding alone, seriously had lack of companion stress. It was a long 5 hour ride, and I puked 6 times. But I`m super happy with my new area and my comp! Elder Bagely is a stud. The people here are  WAY more open to missionaries and the Gospel so I`m super excited to work in this town!

Bus ride to Alegrete

2. The two most blessed gringos around
It´s safe to say that this was a God-inspired transfer, cause we saw so many tender mercies! The Lord was there guiding us to people who are ready. We taught some crazy spiritual lessons, and nothing makes me happier than to see people with a true desire to know God´s will and then follow it!
Our ward is a bit different here. We had 33 people at Church yesterday, counting 2 Elders and  their 4 investigators.... But the members we have are super strong and ready to work!

doginhos and gringos! (mini hot dogs and Americans)

3. Jesus is the Christ
The best part of this week for me was seeing the growth of my testimony. I've been studying the life of Christ and the power of his eternal sacrifice, and it takes my breath away every time. Every single one of us will one day stand before God and account for the life we lived, and if we have accepted and used his Atonement, how great will be our joy in that day! I know God lives and this is His church, and that if we exercise our faith and repent everyday we will be clean before him in that grand and last day!

Love you all! My challenge for you all is to read Alma 5. Do it and watch yourself change.

Elder Rawson

All Good Things Come to an End

1. Transfersssss
Well, my 9 months in Santa Maria have come to an end! This week I said goodbye to an amazing ward, Ala Centro, and happy to be heading to ALEGRETE!!! Its a small city 4 hours on a bus away from Santa Maria, and my new comp will be a newbie from Utah! I´m super excited for what the future holds and the miracles the Lord is preparing for us!

Said goodbye to an amazing ward this week.  Love them all!

2. Last week miracles
Naturally in our last week,  half of our good investigators accepted the invitation to prepare for baptism! Rafael, an eternal investigator who likes to Bible bash with us, accepted our invite after we explained the priesthood and how this literally is God´s only church! He loved the Sunday Meetings and he knew some members, so I was happy to see that we left our area better than we found it!

Guys, this Church is so true! The joy that we can feel through keeping the commandments is unreal. Reading the Book of Mormon daily will bring a new light into your lives, and through prayers of faith God´s angels will be with you in every moment!

Love you all!
Elder Rawson

D&C 18:11