Monday, September 25, 2017

Gaúchos, Adventistas, e roupa branca (Gauchos, Adventists, and white clothing)


1. A beautiful day in the Bom Fim Branch
Wow, what a wonderful week it was! We were happy to see 4 baptisms in the Branch this week! We've been teaching Paulo and Aline, the coolest couple ever, and it was so happy to see them be baptized after 1 year of meeting with the missionaries! We even Face-timed their "first elders" so they could share the special day with us. The water in the church ran out as we were filling up the font, so you could say baptizing a 6' 3" Brazilian wasn't an easy task, but he went down on the first try! It was a beautiful day for all who were present.
The baptism!




2. A visit to the Adventista´s church
At least 3 times a week we see a guy from the Seventh Day Advent church at the bus stop who tries to convince us that Saturday is the Sabbath day, and this week he said if we visited his church he would visit ours twice! So Saturday morning we headed out early with the Bible AND the Book of Mormon in hand and we went to his church! Things there were different for sure and I am now a first hand witness that the apostasy was real! Funny experience though.

3. O DIA DOS GAÚCHOS!  (THE DAY OF THE GAUCHS!)
This week was "cowboy day", the state´s holiday (like July 24th in Utah) and it was super fun! There were men on horses as far as the man could see! I put on my gaucho clothes and headed out (see photos below)! The church was packed that night with the party the members had! Wow, I absolutely love these people.

Love you all!
Elder Rawson

Moroni 8:3
Elders on a tank on gaucho day

Elder Rawson, the Gaucho

Me and my companion in the midst of the cowboy parade



my study desk arrangement


ELDER RAWSON buying ice cream for the zone to celebrate 4 baptisms!



Monday, September 18, 2017

#WorkHardPrayHard

1. Weekly overview
Olá galera, (Hello friends) this week was crazy! Congrats on my cousin Landon for his call to Brazil, you´ll love it. We saw some pretty cool things happen this week. A storm hit this week that overflowed the river and one day we couldn't even enter our area!




I started up the English class here in São Gabriel that´s been going well, a Catholic minister even came! Our investigators are coming along.

Click this link to see a video inviting people to our English class.

Advertisement for English Class

2. Splitssss
This week we went on exchanges with everyone in our zone! It was a crazy week but its always fun to learn with a new missionary. I love to just have an amazing day to inspire and excite our zone!

3. House Checks
President and Sister Louza came by the house this week. We had cleaned all Pday and thought it was spotless, but it´s crazy what female eyes can see:) all in all it was good and we got cookies!

The Elders with President and Sister Louza

Cookies from Sister Louza for passing our cleaning inspection


4. Paulo and Aline
We´re helping a couple stop smoking so they can be baptized, so we had a cool lesson with them this week. We had them stab a shoebox for every time they smoked then when they opened they saw that we had put pictures of Christ inside and that every cigarette makes Christ sad. The Spirit was amazing.

Miracles are a happening here! Life is good.
Elder Rawson

 missionary lunch at Celis'









Monday, September 11, 2017

Fire in Your Bones

1. Mission Tour with Elder Carboni
Hello friends! This week was amazing, and the highlight for sure was the meeting we had with an area seventy. When he shook my hand he looked into my soul! He got up there and preached some deep doctrine that put fire in all our bones! The Spirit was burning inside my heart and there was no way to deny it.

2. September Fun
This week was Brazilian Independence Day and coming up is national cowboy day! We live in the center of the city and there was a huge parade outside our house! Brazil is always looking for a reason to party, hahaha. But man are these people special to me.

3. Bom Fim
Our area here is coming along! We cover a slice of the center and then a bunch of farm land. We walk a lot-- but our investigators are so worth it! We are teaching a family that wants to be baptized, but the wife is deaf and mute so we´re trying to learn sign language to teach her. The worth of souls is great in the eyes of God!

Elder Rawson
D&C 88:78

Lunch(so happy we divide the branch with sisters)

Brazilian Indepence Day parade

churrasco

the 3 biggest Elders on the mission with President Louza

The 3 biggest elders and my comp!


Monday, September 4, 2017

A New Beginning

1. Welcome to the branch Bom Fim!
Hello yáll! Hope everyone is as good as I am. I´m here in São Gabriel in a branch! Working here is super different than any of my other areas, so I`m learning as I go. The Branch accepted me well and I love the people of Brazil more than words can describe. All is well!

2. New responsibilites
This week was full of training and meetings! Tuesday we had mission counsel and President trained us on how to run our zones and how to be an inspiring leader! We´re in charge of 2 cities and I swear I spend half my life on the phone getting reports on every companionship! I´m learning tons with my new comp, Elder Loureiro, he´s amazing, love him to death.

We have some cool people to teach so I´m excited to help them progress in the Gospel as well!  I love my mission with all my heart and I know that this Gospel is what can lead us back to our loving Father<3

Elder Rawson

3 Nephi 27:19

The shoes of a hard working Elder

Mission counsel

Me, Elder Loureiro, Elder Eyring (we were in splits) and a calf