Be Ready for Everything!

HELLO family and friends! Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers, they help more than you know!

1.FHE with President/Sister Louza
This week we got invited to a family night with our mission president and his wife! So we invited some of our investigators and were getting ready to go when we got a phone call from the AP´s telling us that we were responsible for the message! We had a little freak out moment cause we had nothing ready, but we decided to say a prayer that everything would work out. We ended up talking about the life of Christ, and after reading The Living Christ the room went silent. The Spirit was SO amazing.

President Louza then got up and invited everyone to be baptized and our investigator accepted! It was such an amazing night and I was grateful that the Spirit helped us to touch these peoples hearts! When you don´t know what to say, testify of Christ.

FAMILY NIGHT with Eduarda and Leila

At FHE I also led the group in a killer game of "Pedro Tiago e João"

2. Great investigators

Our purpose as missionaries is to invite everyone to come unto Christ and prepare them to enter into God´s presence, which can only happen when they truly repent of their sins and are baptized with the proper authority. We´re working with a great group of investigators, and 3 currently have baptism dates. I absolutely love this work and am grateful to share with others what has come to make me happy.

Our church in Santa Marta

3. Feeling fruity
I've been  on  a natural juice craze. Fresh Brazilian fruits rock!

My amazing comp making fresh guava juice<3

Have an amazing week! Think about what you can do this week to show your love and devotion to your Savior Jesus Christ.

Elder Rawson

I love the cool graffiti art that is everywhere!

Call Me Cupid

1. God´s blessing the work
I´m blessed to say that everything is going super well down here in Brazil! We've been seeing miracles as our investigators come to accept Christ and His restored church! We teach lots of youth, who are super open to our message, but we are also teaching 4 couples! Well, none of them are legally married and therefore cannot be baptized yet, so we've been working hard to get them married! Brazilian laws about marriage are kinda stupid, cause if we had a Las Vegas close by we could solve this issue real quick. But it´s been a great adventure:) #CallMeCupid

2. President Nelson
This week we were all privileged to hear from and see our new prophet, President Nelson! I know he was called of God and will guide this Church exactly where God wants it! Two Elders here had a cool experience- They invited a teenager and his mom to watch the announcement in the church on Tuesday. The mom didn't want her son to be baptized because of her view of our church and 'false prophets'.  But after the broadcast, she turned to the missionaries and said "That man is a prophet of God and my son needs to be baptized here." So right after they put on white clothes and went to the river and he was baptized! Powerful experience.

3. Stake conference
This week we had stake conference in Santa Maria! It was such a great day because I was able see all the members from Salgado Filho and Centro where I have already served! I felt pretty famous when I saw that I know almost everyone in the stake. But what made me happier was that I saw 3 of my converts there, firm in the Gospel! Such a proud moment. Rose is doing great and that was for a sure a happy reunion (see photo 4 below).

Love you all! Keep reading the Book of Mormon so that God can bless you!
Elder Rawson
Alma 34:15

a street view from our house. 

 Enjoying AÇAÍ with my BFF`s on Pday

my English buds from Salgado Filho

My convert Rose with the bishop and his wife:)

Enjoy the Little Moments

1. A splendid week!
HELLO Y´ALL:) This week was full of miracles. The Lord´s hand is ever so present in my life and I love it! The highlight of the week was for sure Kauan's baptism! He was crazy excited. His parents even came out to watch and now we´re working to get them legally married! I was super grateful for the ward's support- it was packed and there wasn't room for everyone so people crowded in the back and into the hallway. Some investigators made it out to church as well that we weren't sure if they would be able, so we´re being super blessed with the progress!

Kauan´s baptism

selfie with the crew

THE BAPTISM WAS WELL ATTENDED

2. Three service projects
As missionaries we´re supposed to always search for planned and unplanned opportunities to serve, and this week we finally were able find some! We painted a grandma´s house and as we were cruising along our day to day plans we saw 2 moving projects that we helped with! People think we´re crazy to offer help with manual labor with a white shirt and tie, but I love it:)

Grateful for opportunities to do service

Our painting project

3. Enjoy the little moments
My time here on the mission has taught me to enjoy the little moments! Just making the best of every little oppurtunity you have. Whether its taking a cold shower after frying in the sun all day, or ordering pizza when you complete "a sister mission" aka 1 year and 6 months. I hope you all can take the time to enjoy the little moments and seek Christ in all that you do.

 a Coca Cola factory in our area

SPLITS WITH ELDER MCKINLEY #UTAHPRIDE

my pizza for 1 year and 6 months of service!

BDAY SELFIE WITH EDUARDO

Love you all:)
ELDER RAWSON
Moroni 7:34

Am I in Utah?

1. Live from Santa Maria
HELLO FAMILY AND FRIENDS:) This week went so fast I don´t even remember what happened! We´ve just been going to work, doing our best all day every day! So yesterday we get to church to stand in the door and greet the people who come in... And the people just kept coming and coming and coming! We had almost 200 people in sacrament meeting! Compared to the branch of 50 where I was I felt like I was in Utah! I´m blessed to be in such a great place.

2. The blessing of members
I´m always so grateful for all that the members do for us! They always go out of their way to make sure we have good meals and are taken care of. We have a super cool Irmão named Alessandro that is helping us and being a member missionary! We got a phone call from him and he said that his son has a friend that´s ready to be baptized! He already got the parents permission and everything, we just needed to show up "to teach the lessons." So Saturday we´ll have a Kauan´s baptism! I truly feel like I`m in a Utah ward #blessed

Have a good week, and remember to stick with those new year resolutions;)

Elder Rawson
ALMA 5:45-46

teaching Kauan with his friend João

Family Night with my favorites

a marvelous exchange with my ex comp Elder Loureiro:))

The Return - Santa Maria 2.0

1. When the Lord calls- You go!
So to my surprise I was transferred back to Santa Maria- where I started my mission! I was super happy with the progress we were seeing in São Gabriel and I was content and  hoping to stay more time there, but when the Lord calls, you go! But I am happy with the seeds I left planted, and my old comp Elder Lopes will take good care of everyone:)

2. Hello Santa Marta!!!!!!
On the bright side of things I got transferred to the ward Santa Marta, the most famous area in the mission:) Things here are so nice! The Sunday attendance here is through the roof!  Also our teaching group is literally all references from members and families of recent converts. My new companion is Elder Luz, from São Paulo. I already knew him from early on the mission so I´m pumped to work with him!

My comp Elder Luz and my Utah friend Elder Mckinley

Elder Rawson and Elder Luz

the wedding of our ward mission leader

3. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YÀLL:) When you´re new on the mission they joke that you won´t go home this year, and not even the next year, just in the next! So I`m happy that its 2018- my year! I´m ready to give it my all these last 23 weeks.

our mini New Year's Eve party with recent converts!

Love you all!
Elder Rawson
1 Nephi 3:15