Hola Mi Familia

Hola Mi Familia Amado, (Hey My Loved Family, doesn't exactly translate haha)

This past week has been the greatest rollercoaster of my live!  There

have been so many highs and lows and I just don't know where to start,

so I guess I will give you a quick overview! I'll start with some of

the difficult things and then go into the awesome stuff so that way

you aren't depressed, haha!

 For starters, I learned last Saturday that Elder Manwill and Elder

Johnson were going home.  He hadn't told me anything about leaving,

but he had been really reserved, irritable and meeting with Presidente

Caldwell so I kinda had a theory that could be possible.  He told me

that they were flying out together on Tuesday.  It was so sad to see

him suffer and be unable to assist him in any way!  So we ended up

throwing get togethers everynight leading up to their departure by

using Personal time 9:00 - 10:30 to sit around, enjoy snacks, and tell

stories!  It was a beautiful bonding experience and somehow it made it

easier to let go of two of them.

So anyways, Presidente Henrie knew on Sunday that both Elder Johnson

and Manwill were leaving so he told me that I would be paired with

Elder James and that we would both be Zone Leaders! I felt incredibly

torn apart by this because I wanted the opportunity to serve others

but not at the expense of my companion's departure!

The time came this past Tuesday for him to say goodbye, and we shared

contact information so that we could find each other after the

mission, and everyone was really downhearted about the whole affair.

So Elder James and I went to reception desk and found out that we were

not going to be companions but that two Elders from the Provo MTC

would be flying here.  Their names are Elder Sabin and Elder

Gunderson!  This was a curveball because Elder James and I had already

made preparations to be companions so this was really interesting.

The reason why the two new Elders were coming is because they had had

a difficult time with their visas and were originally supposed to come

to the Mexico MTC, but complications stopped that.  Elder Sabin is now

my new companion and he is a really cool guy that went to a year of

School at BYU is majoring in Electrical Engineering and is from

Seattle, Washington!  It has honestly been so great having him as my

companion because he is a low key, humble, kind of guy that is very

active, which is a huge blessing because Elder Manwill really disliked

when we tried to play sports.  We have only been companions for 48

hours but I feel like this is going to be a phenomenal companionship!

There have been tons of blessings in our lessons with Naomi and Teresa

and I want to share with you guys some of the amazing lessons I have

learned.

On Tuesday, a member of the 70 came and spoke with us, Elder Pingree,

about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and its importance in missionary

work!  He reallly surprised me because he is the first general

authority that I have heard speak that is super energetic and kind of

like Hank Smith in his engaging story telling style!  He has an

incredible sense of humor which combined with powerful spiritual

doctine has caused me to truly internalize the teachings he shared.

One instance is to journal every day one thing where the Atonement has

strengthened you (the enabling power of the Atonement)  For Example,

Today the Atonement of Jesus Christ helped me to be patient with my

struggling companion, or be charitable with someone who was saying

horrible things about me.  This has filled my life with a deeper sense

of gratitude and I would like to ask you all to try to do this!  I

have been focusing on the Christlike attribute of Charity, and I have

found that as Moroni stated "Without charity we are nothing." It is

much like the song "Proof of your love"by For King and Country where

we need to evidence the love of God in all that we do if we are to be

counted among his people!  I love you guys, and challenge you to read

the Scriptures every day together, and I know that you will be

blessed!

If you need comfort Romans 8 is beautiful or the story of the people

of Alma in bondage to the Lamanites because God doesn't always take

away our burdens but he certainly has the power to make them feel

light!

Miles Away but Close in Heart,

Elder Raven