Ramos Children Baptism...In Felipe Carillo

It was sweet when I saw the Ramos family.  The mama started crying when she saw me.  It made me feel so special! 
I love the Ramos family!!!

Hello Everyone!

So this past week was not overly exciting because due to some trouble with the bone structures in my big toe I had to take off the entire toenail for the third time, and the doctors strictly prohibited that I could go out to teach and make visits but it is alright because we have been able to teach several investigators over the phone and through the members we have received a few rides to be able to visit others and the great thing is that from this problem we are able to work more closely with the members and we have seen several miracles in this past week!

We were able to help Nallely overcome the fierce opposition of her mother in her becoming a member of the church and she has returned to the activities and is on track to be baptized soon!

We also have found several families that are member references which are such wonderful people, and we are just hoping that my toes heal up to be able to give better follow up with them!

Sorry for the lack of a spiritual message this week but I´ll blame the toes for this one! jaja

 Their son, Luis wanted me to baptize him, so I got permission to go back and be at the baptism.  Elder Chavez also got permission to be there since we found this family and taught them!  

Meanwhile here are a few pics of some of the Ramos family members getting baptized! (Dulce, Luis, and Cristal all got baptized and soon their parents should get baptized as well!, once he can get legally divorced from a previous wife and get married.)

Hope you all have a wonderful week

Elder Raven

13 Months of Miracles!

We had a lot of wonderful experiences this past week due to the awesome members here in the Concordia Ward who are really trying to do their part in the work!  I am really seeing how yesterday in Elders Quorum we were talking about the missionary work and our stake Patriarch shared how the members in the ward are an army of faithful followers of Christ, and to not use that army doesn´t make sense!  It was a very amazing talk that he shared with everyone and now we have passed a calendar around for the members to sign up for us to accompany them to visit their friends and family members that are less active or non-members!  We are seeing a ton of results and it is wonderful how the Lord is advancing his work here in Monterrey!

I am loving this new area and Elder Santos is quite legendary! The district has been great and I just wanted to share with you all two links to be able to watch and apply in this upcoming week!

https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/russell-m-nelson/love-laws-god/ 

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media-library/video/1-nephi-1-2?lang=eng 

Sorry for the quick email but I love you all and I promise pictures next week!

Elder Raven

Wild Week of Miracles And Street Soccer

Hey everybody!

This past week was pretty amazing because here in San Nicolas we have had a ton of activities but one of the best ones was this past Saturday where we had a stake tournament of Soccer which got really crazy but our ward won it all and it felt super good to get in and play a little! It was funny to see several members asking if I had played in Real Salt Lake Academy because I kept pace with all the elders quorum players and they were really surprised!  We also had Sergio come to the activity and was with his family there and they are references that the members passed to us and they are really excited to come to church this next Sunday! From the few visits that we have had with them they seem really escogidos and I am praying that I will be able to stay here in Concordia! 

Saturday we helped out with preparing baptismal services for the members which was awesome to help build confidence with them and we also found several PF´s (part member families) which is awesome cause now we are going to be teaching them! 

Aside from that we also had a few disappointments with investigators that have family members with false perceptions of the Church and some of them were on the edge of losing their faith completely due to the intense opposition, but it has been a miracle to see people like Nallely and Obed overcome this negativity by filling their lives with the Book of Mormon, and Church Songs, and being able to find Hope in the midst of the threats that their parents and all their family members are throwing at them and it is so amazing that the faith of others is also strengthening mine and seeing how much I am willing to be able to offer for the Gospel.  Sorry if this gramatically doesn´t make sense but I know that this is the way to eternal life and that for sacrifices made from a desire to serve God, come great miracles and blessings!

I hope each and every one of you have a great week and if you feel like your faith is faltering or you are not sure about what the future holds, just keep holding on to the iron rod and find the joy of participating of the fruit of the tree of life! I know that life is full of ups and downs and the only thing we can do is just thank God for the ride and keep his commandments through loving our fellowmen and christlike service!

Sincerely,

Elder Raven

Photos from leaving Felipe Carrillo 2 weeks ago, jaja

Concordia Week 1

This has been a fantastically wild week! I feel so excited here in the Concordia ward after only one week!  My companion Elder Santos, from Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico is really awesome and i feel like we are learning so many incredible lessons together!   The ward here is very animated to take part in the missionary work and in order to better encourage the ward, the bishop called on us right before the start of sacrament meeting to give 10-15 minute talks about missionary work, which was a little stressful but it was amazing how Elder Santos and I, due to a lack of time, didn´t have time to prepare or talk about anything beforehand but our talks combined into a beautifully harmonious message which just strengthened my testimony of how the Lord truly guides us as companionships here in the mission!  Elder Santos spoke about 1 Cor 14:9 and our need as members to declare the gospel to others as the trumpet mentioned in the verse above and prepare everyone for the Second Coming of the Savior which was an amazing way in which he applied Ven, Sigueme (come, follow me) with his discurso, and then I went on to share a personal experience of having been lost in the woods as part of a Scouting Trip and how Hope is what got us through the challenge and then applying how there are so many people that are lost today that are looking for the light of the Gospel and that as we open our mouths, we illuminate the lives of others about the gospel and as well we find light to our personal struggles and difficulties and it is a little bit difficult to shorten the whole talks together but overall it was a wonderful spiritual experience.  

We have several wonderful people that we are teaching, but due to some family opposition, we had to postpone their baptismal services this Saturday!   The Hermana Nallely, a college student,  is one of them that is a escogido (golden) investigator who had passed her baptismal interview and was completely ready to be baptized on Saturday but in the end, due to some opposition from her mother, she didn't get baptized but we are praying and hoping that Nallely can find a way to help soften the heart of her mother!´

We are working more with the members than ever, and the results are definitely showing!  We have members accompanying us with every single lesson that we have planned so far this week which is going to be incredible!  We have a ton of less active young men that we are hoping to work with as well to be able to find Part member families and possible friends that aren´t members to be able to strengthen the ward!  This is the dream ward to be able to work in, and I am so excited for the time that I am going to have here!

Anyway we found some really exciting new investigators this week as well with Rey David (King David is his actual name), Obed, Kevin, and Jose, who are some awesome young men we met playing a bit of street soccer with them for like 10 mins who are coming to church this next Sunday and Rey David contacted us as we were passing by and he asked for a bit of help moving a refrigerator onto the back of his truck.  He is an awesome older gentleman who has a lot of personality and a very strong desire to follow Christ and still remembers when Elders shared the gospel with him over 15 years ago and he lost contact with them suddenly and he is really animated to continue learning about the gospel and he is the first man that on a first contact said, I am willing to follow Christ more than anything else in this world, and I hope that you guys can teach me how it is done!  He is super escogido and we are going to be visitng him throughout the week to help him come unto Christ.

Anyway tons of cool things happening here and I wish I could share more, but for now, I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Elder Raven

2 Ne 31:20

Changing things up

Hey Everyone!

So starting tomorrow I am going to be leaving the Anahuac Stake for the first time in my year in the mission! (It is so crazy!) I will be heading to the Concordia Ward in San Nicolas Stake which is only about 10 miles away from my current area! (Check fotos where I diagrammed the changes, using LDS Maps and Snipping Tool, jaja!) (Just to let you know FC is where I was at, the sister area that were sharing the ward with us, and the zone leaders of Anahuac)  I will be serving with Elder Santos who was my first zone leader in this mission and this will be his last change which is so wild to see how the time is flying by!

It is pretty sad saying goodbye to everyone that I have come to love in these past few months but I genuinely believe that the Lord has a divine purpose for me in San Nicolas! 

I am really excited to see how things go in the next few weeks but I feel that this was a truly inspired change and honestly I am not going very far from Felipe Carrillo which is really nice!

But aside from all the change information I was thinking a lot this last week about the heroes from whom we pattern our lives after.   Some of us may do this following a famous individual, others a grandparent or mentor or teacher, and others our closest friends.  These can be great influences in our lives as we are following gospel principles, but I would like us to reflect about whom we spend our time thinking to model ourselves after and then think about the wonderful individuals of the book of Mormon, with the Nephis and Captain Moroni type figures that just give us the inspiration to persevere and be faithful!  I truly believe that we can literally apply the scriptures and become more like these individuals if in everyday situations we could take the divinely inspired actions of these just men and women and do similarly!  I have been trying to apply the principles of Teancums love for his fellow men, his courage, and preparation as a missionary to be able to better serve those around me and I know that as you follow this pattern with the ultimate example being Jesus Christ we will always find a happier and more blessed way of being!

I love you all and I will send you the fotos next week of the goodbyes!

FOMO and Repentance

David and Alma Cardenas-Cano Familia texted my mom this week to see if I was still in Felipe Carrillo Ward. They wanted to surprise me and visit my ward so I could see their new son . I was so surprised!!!!  It was fun to see how much the twins have grown.  I love this family! I heard they are preparing to go to the temple!  I hope I am close by still so I can go with them! 

A note from mom...
Kyle, Brother Cardenas feels so close to you. They are grateful for your service in Monterrey!  They love you.  I am grateful for the Cardenas family.  They are the only ones who send me photos of you! You look so handsome and happy in this photo!!!

This family LOVES you!  It was a tender mercy for me to know that they wanted to come see you...especially since you have had Elder Sant'ana as a companion.  I know Heavenly Father is watching out for you!  The Cardenas Family was inspired to surprise you with a visit. It meant a lot to me that they came and they don't know you are having a hard companion right now...it's a testimony to me that  Heavenly Father is aware of you. ❤️❤️❤️ He will send you extra LOVE when you need it!
Hope you are well.  I love you! Love mom! 

Hey Everyone!

This past week was pretty awesome as we were able to have several edifying experiences!

First of all we were able to have our first zone conference with the New President Isaguirre and I truly felt his love and powerful witness of this work!  He taught the elders in such a direct yet humble way that we saw several big changes in our mission schedule, and we are going to be much more effective now!  One of the big things is that we will now have district meetings on Mondays which means I am going to running around even more on Monday, but also that we will start off the week strong and ready to dedicate all of Tuesday to proselyting!  We also were able to see about half of the mission and I took a few fotos with them but I don´t have my camara with me, sorry! 

We also had a wonderful time learning about the basic principles of Repentance unto Baptism and I loved a principle that we talked about that was shared by another mission president where he shared that many times we have heard about the term of FOMO or Fear of Missing Out which is basically defined as being afraid of missing out on an experience due to being in a different place.   Then our Presidente turned to us and shared, how many of you have FOMO from the presence of God? and this was revolutionary because many of us, including myself, we could see how repentance was this key to avoid missing out on living in God´s presence after this life!  If we can but turn our actions thoughts and behaviors to God then repentance becomes efficacious and we receive a fulness of joy that we are not going to miss out on the Celestial Kingdom! Daily repentance is our triumph song over the forces of Satan and as we overcome our weakness (Ether 12:27) we become more like He is!

I loved learning about repentance in this way and I testify that it is a real power!

I also was able to see this because I had intercambios with Elders from my past area because now they are in my district and as a final part of the intercambio we were able to visit some of my past converts and the tears of joy that fell down our faces was absolutely beautiful!  I stood there in silence as I saw how much the children had grown in the Cardenas Family, or how the Rosales Chino family is about to get sealed and so many details that I had lost in these past few months!

I know that this is the work of the Lord and even though I do not have fotos with me I will send them next week!  I know that with every soul that comes unto Christ there is great rejoicing in the heavens and i feel so priviledged to have seen a small piece of that this past weekend!

I love you all so much and hope you can feel the same joy that I have been feeling!

Elder Raven

One Year of Miracles in Monterrey!

Wow! It is quite insane looking at all the events that have gone on in this past year!

WE had a wonderful week this past week and even with the scorching sun, we are seeing a lot of wonderful little miracles!

The Ramos Family after seeing many struggles with their schedule is going to be baptized in two weeks!  We have seen a lot of wonderful little miracles with them and the Hermana Nubia is so spiritually prepared! We are still seeing how the Lord is preparing them and we are just including all the members we can to help them feel loved and stay animated about their decisions!

We also had some miraculous experiences with the members because the Sisters were also able to baptize a complete family this past week and the family Galvan Medina are so wonderful and the Sister Ivonne bore a powerful spiritual witness of the veracity of the church and they are clearly on course to be sealed in the temple!

District Activity Bowling and Trampoline

We also had our district activity today which was great because we went bowling in a little plaza and it was great because due to recent changes in the zone our district has 12 missionaries now (3 normal companionships and 2 trios!) which has made things really wonderful! We have seen how the Lord is truly blessing our district with a support and love for each other which helps us stay really animated!  It was so great being with them and we found this cool 70s diner here that made some massive hamburgers that were absolutely delicious!

But as for a more spiritual side of things I saw this Mormon Message the past week in the Quorum de Elderes Class and dealing with how we minister to others!

https://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/one-on-one  

It is an excerpt from the October 2016 conference talk by Elder Holland, Emissaries to the Church, which is absolutely beautiful!  I know that the Lord has given us the capacity to bless those around us through small and simple means!  I know that as we strive to love as the Savior loved and demonstrate our gratitude for all of the wonderful blessings we receive gracias a Él (thanks to Him) we can be angeles here upon the earth to those around us!  This past week my companion and I were studying Alma 13 in companionship study and we were discussing how as missionaries and members of the church we can oftentimes be these mortal angels that others need in order to receive the gospel, referring to verse 24, and I know that every charitable act done with a pure heart will be purifying to us!  I would like to invite you to find someone to serve and be able to apply as well the new videos of the church that were shared about how to share the gospel with others that are in this link;

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/blog/sharing-the-gospel-in-normal-and-natural-ways 

And that we can all strive to model these simple examples and see those who need our love and support!

I love every wonderful and charitable act that you have ever done and for the many examples that you all have given me of how Christ always looked to serve others!

Til next week!

Elder Raven

Que legal (How Cool in Portugese)

Hey Everyone!

This past week was full of wonderful experiences from an accidental run in with Marcos to learning all kinds of Portuguese slang and words this has been one of my favorite weeks in the mission so far!

We had the Ramos Family and Marcos come to church yesterday which was phenomenal!

There has been huge progress with many of our investigators and they are so incredible and I am so grateful for the many blessings which we saw in this past week and thanks to my new companion Elder Santana I have really been able to enjoy the work in a different way!

It is still hard, and there are days where the work is difficult but I have come to feel and see more often how the Lord is working in every single one of the lives that we interact with on a daily basis!

One cool experience was with Mizael and Cinthia who are absolutely amazing because they were being taught by the missionaries a long time ago but they never got baptized because they weren´t married and they didn´t want to make the commitment, but then we were checking the registros (teaching records) and felt that we should visit them! It was so wonderful to have a lesson where the spirit was testifying to them of the reality of this Church and the importance of the principles of the Atonement and Repentance in their lives, and at the end of the first lesson, we felt a need to invite them to return to the church and become members! The wonderful thing is that they said, yes it is about time that we put God first in our decisions! And they also let us know that they had been feeling impressions to get married for the two young girls that they have and about a month ago they got married! So now it seems that they have been truly prepared to become members! They are so incredible and they have an iron-like resolve to be baptized!

A spiritual thought comes from the Elder Holland Talk in Abril 2009 of None Were With Him

https://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/none-were-with-him-2 

Even though this is a Easter Video I feel like it is something we can always benefit from because:

I love these words he shared and I also would like to testify that Christ knows us, he knows our challenges and he can succor us (run to us) wherever we may be found!  His loneliness means that we are never alone and that He stands with open arms to receive us the minute we turn our lives over to Him and say, Thank You for paying for me, please help me to make use of your gift and become more like You.

I hope you can find comfort from this video and that you can always remember our Savior Jesus Christ and strive to emulate His Perfection!

Elder Raven

Isaiah 52:7!!! Also Happy 50thAnniversary to my grandparents!

HAPPY 50TH ANNIVERSARY TO MY GRANDPA AND GRANDMA SCHULTHIES
It was fun to get to talk to them today on their 50th!!! My mom is in Oregon so I got to say hi to them!

Wow, this past week was incredible!

I am loving my time with Elder Santana who is a really upbeat and fun personality but also teaches and helps other people with power and love!  It has been so nice to be able to learn Portuguese with him and sometimes in lessons I have been accidentally throwing in Portuguese words which always creates a confused look from the investigators but anyway its caused a lot of funny experiences this past week!

Service Project with Hermana Arroyo cut, paint, and prepare a wood sign for her smoothie stand!

We found several new investigators this past week which was wonderful but specifically I would like to talk about 2 older couples this past week we started teaching who are really awesome! The first couple is named Juan and Juana and Juan is an ex-judge for the city of Escobedo and a really religious and wonderful man who is very receptive to the message of the Restauration, which is very rare here in Mexico because generally speaking the older generation is very close to Catholic traditions, but they began right of the bat by saying, we only wanted to talk with you two at first because you were always smiling and talking with the people in the street, and the simple fact that you always said good morning, or good afternoon to us helped us gain a lot of confidence with you two, but now after taking a real interest in us and after hearing about Jose Smith, we have felt and recognized that you have been sent from God to bless us!  This was one of the most incredible moments of the mission so far, not because of self-recognition or anything, but the fact that the Lord had prepared these two very humble and wonderful people to learn about the Restored Gospel of Christ.  They couldn´t come to church yesterday but they are reading the Book of Mormon and have said that they are coming this week!

The other couple is named Rodrigo and Seda! They were really closed off to us at first, but after passing by their house every day and talking a little bit with them, they finally accepted the offer that we could visit them! It was a wonderful lesson that we had and they truly felt a peace after hearing the message of the plan of salvation, (because they had lost a grandson recently) and said please keep coming back because this is the first time we have been able to have hope for our grandson because he wasn´t baptized in the Catholic church and they thought that he had gone to an eternal torment, but now they are also willing to begin coming to our church and learn more about God´s love and the principles he has revealed through his prophets!

After seeing these lessons and so many others I would just like to add my simple testimony that truly God is preparing people for the message of the Gospel and much like He has declared in 2 Nephi 27:20-21 *He will do his own work!* He just needs us to be able to take part in this process and receive the miraculous learning experiences that come from sharing the gospel with other people! I know that He love us! He has a plan for us and that He is in control over the seemingly insignificant details of our lives!

I love you all so much!

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Keep Praying, Keep Believing!

Elder Raven

Message from Blake to Elder Raven

Hi Kyle,

this is Blake, I just finished the park city cup I did well. one game I had three opportunities to score but I didn't score any of them I just hit the ball with the wrong side of my foot. I am now playing a holding center mid or left mid I am really happy about that. my team got to the semi-finals and then the ref was bad and we had a PK in overtime to tie the game we shot and scored but one of our players stepped over the line so instead of letting us get the kick she gave the other team a goal kick. 

It was fun.

 I wish you were here so we could practice soccer together and you could help me get better at shooting.

From Blake

Message back from Elder Raven

Ok love you bud! That is tough, but I am glad that you are still playing! I would love to practice with you, and don´t worry, when I get back from the mission I am going to spend a lot of time helping you out with whatever you want!

That is so cool that you changed position, you are much better midfielder than defender!

Your big bro!

Elder Raven

Voce fala portugues? (Do you speak Portuguese?)

Elder Chavez saying goodbye to Castro Familia!!! 

Wow!

Crazy news with Presidente Isaguirre giving us special changes so that I am now going to be with Elder Santana from Brazil who doesn´t have much time in the mission but I am so stoked to apply the portuguese that I have been studying these past two months!  (Its a long story but many weeks ago I had the feeling after talking with some Brazilian Elders that I would need to learn portuguese as well in the mission so I began asking them for grammar books, doctrinal things, and then I went and bought a book of mormon in portuguese to be able to learn here in the mission because even though we are in Mexico I have found 3 families here that speak Portuguese and it was so crazy how this small impression is going to help me so much with my new companion!

Another crazy thing is that the investigators from last weeks email, Cristi, Mari, y Alejandra all came to church on sunday with their kids and the members just enveloped them in their love and I they are progressing and it is so wonderful to see the light come on in their eyes as the hope of Christ and his Atonement takes a greater part in their lives. 

We also had to postpone the baptism of Marcos to this week, but that´s alright because it also works out better for the ward! And now it is so great because the members here are giving a lot more references now and this change is going to be so incredible!  It is sad saying goodbye to Elder Chavez but I know that we will be able to keep in touch after the mission!

Anyway there are a lot of exciting member activities coming up to include the ward even more in the spirit of Missionary Work and everything looks to be going up from here!

Anyway for a spiritual thought we were studying a lot this past week the importance of opening our mouths as misionaries and we decided to have a chant, or motto of Romans 1:16-17 (sorry you will have to look it up)

The Wonderful CASTRO FAMILIA!

Sorry I ran out time to explain it better, but I know that we can be a light to help others come into a fulness of the blessings of the gospel but we must never be ashamed or hide our light under a bushel, but in sharing our light, our own personal darknesses or difficulties will also be illuminated!

I know that Jesus Christ is the light of the world and He can guide us through whatever challenge we may be facing if we can but trust in His Divine Love, and know that He Lives and can Resurrect Us from our past selfs then comes the Joy of the Gospel!

I love you all!

Hope you have a great week!

Elder Raven

Anahuac Stake Mission

 

This past week was phenomenal in so many aspects but a really amazing opportunity was given to me this past week to be able to visit my past area in the Alianza Real due to a stake missionary activity that we had last Saturday where we united all of the missionaries in the Stake and with all the Stake Presidency, High Council, and Several Other Stake Leaders. We divided up and had a member from the Alianza Branch accompany us to be able to know our way around the area, but after 6 months serving in this wonderful branch, it was like coming home and it was a wonderful experience running into the Hermano Uriel and his family who started coming to church again after our visit, and even though we were given a specific route, the Elders in the branch kind of let me go as a free agent to find all the people that I felt needed the invite which was so wonderful! 

It was also a funny experience because in the activity I was talking with the Stake Presidency and Stake High Council, and they all recognized me by name without having to look at my nametag which is awesome, because I am going for a year now in the same amazing Stake, called Anahuac, and it has been a wonderful learning opportunity because I feel like I know this part of Monterrey incredibly well and I have grown to love this little part of the Lord´s vineyard a ton! and even some members and recent converts from the other wards have gotten to know me which sometimes makes me feel like a celebrity, haha!

But anyway on a little more spiritual side of things we had a really amazing experience with some Member references this past week named Cristi, Mari and Alejandra.  They are three single mothers with several teenage children and they have had very complicated family relations.  We began teaching them by getting to know them a little bit and sharing our purpose as missionaries, and these women just broke down crying because they had passed by us in their car before the appointment where we had walked from the other side of the ward to be able to reach their house, which was an hour walk in 100 degree weather, and they asked us why we had come walking in such extreme conditions to help them, and I was able to respond to them, Because you are that important to God, and we hope to teach you about your worth and the potential you have in His Eyes. With this simple recognition of a principle I think they had known a long time ago, but now were not so sure after such difficult marriages, it opened up a beautiful spirit in the Room, and these sweet sisters told us, what can we do to learn more, for which we began to tie in principles of the Plan of Salvation with the restoration, and after we finished teaching about the Book of Mormon, I brought out a copy of the Book of Mormon and Elder Chavez did as well, and with a humble tone of voice we said that we would like to share with you the key to everything that makes us happy and lets us know more of God´s plan, and we committed them that if we gave them copies of the Book of Mormon, that they would read them to which the Hermana Cristi literally snatched the Book out of my hands and basically said, [I am not only going to read it, but I am going to study every aspect of this book!

This beautiful experience made me wish to share with everyone of you that truly this Church is so wonderful because when investigators, members, or contacts on the street,  who have been beaten and torn up by life and feel like they have little left to contribute or accomplish in life are able to recognize the divine plan of Forgiveness, of Happiness, and of Peace, everything changes! The light in their eyes begins to return, and time and time again I can testify that I have seen the Light of the Atonement revolutionize everyone from rebellious teenagers to sweet, arthritic, grandmothers, and in every situation they begin to sense this greater Redeeming force and that they are not alone!  I can truly share just like C.S. Lewis declared, I believe in Christ as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.  I love the mission, I love this gospel and I love our Savior because through His Loving Sacrifice all things are possible!

I would like to invite each of us to reflect upon the many blessings we receive at the Hands of our all-loving, all-knowing Heavenly Father, and His Son Jesus Christ and resolve to set a few goals to express our gratitude for Their never-ending Grace and Goodness!

I love you all!

Hope you have a phenomenal week!

1. Activity in Alianza

2. and 3. Elder Chavez and I passing Abandoned Railroad lines