Lopez Santos Family Baptism 2.23.19

Lopez Santos Family Baptism 2/23/19

Hey everyone that I love so much,

This past week has been absolutely amazing!  

So we were able to Baptize the Lopez Santos family this past week and that was such a wonderful experience!  I was able to baptize the brother, Noè Lopez Santos and his daughter was baptized by my companion!  It is such a wonderful experience to see the whole branch supporting and ministering to the new converts!  They were so excited to be baptized and Noè just kept saying I feel so happy, I feel so blessed!  His wife was baptized when she was young but didn't stay active until recently.  It is in moments like these that help every difficulty and struggle to get to this point totally worth it because they were the family of my first lesson here in the mission field but we lost contact during the holiday season for 4 months but then afterward we found them, helped them make commitments and they are preparing to go do baptisms for the dead this Friday with the whole branch!  The miracles of God are so real!

Spiritual thought of the week:

Murmuring - I have reflected a lot this past week about the very easy trap of murmuring.  In my studies, I came across this talk from Elder Maxwell that helped open my eyes and I hope that we can see the importance of giving thanks to God for what we have been giving and acting with the best of our intentions to be forces of good rather than a stream of negativity.

Hope you enjoy this one! 

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1989/10/murmur-not?lang=eng

Sister Lopez Santos made Tamales for the Baptism

Other things that happened this week that were sweet!

We had a phenomenal lesson with Lizeth who is a young mother who wants to raise her children in a good way and live uprightly before God but isn`t sure how, and she accepted the restoration and the message of the gospel, but her husband ran into some anti-Mormon literature and this caused her to doubt, but thankfully she didn`t close the door on us but asked sincerely about some concerns she and her husband had and thus we were able to explain that they were the beliefs of another faith, and she is progressing super well and is such a miracle!

Sorry I ran out of time!

Next week I hope to share some more!

Love you all! 

Keep strong and put your shoulder to the wheel!

Elder Raven

Look up Joshua 1:9 for a piece of daily inspiration

6 Meses (6 MONTHS!)

Elder Raven's Entire ZONE 2/16/19

Hola everybody!

This has been absolutely wild looking back and seeing all that has happened in these short few months!  It has been really great this past week to work with a lot of contacting because sadly many investigators went cold on the gospel message, between the Jehovah´s Witness, family pressure or work schedules it was kind of rough, so it meant that we dedicated quite a bit of time to looking for references and doing street contacting!  This resulted in some pretty phenomenal experiences that I would like to share with y'all:

Leadership Conference

We had an amazingly edifying experience with all the Zone Leaders and District Leaders with the Asistants in the meeting of Liderazgo!  i was able to see about half of my CCM district was also assigned to be district leaders in other parts which is really quite strange because normally more experienced missionaries are assigned to serve as leaders but I guess it came about as a result of the fact that our mission right now has about one half of us with less than six months in the mission!  So it is really skewed to a group of younger missionaries which is great because it means that we have a ton of enthusiasm, energy, and the capacity to change the norms and create a lasting impression!

First, Jorge Alberto!

This young father has been searching for the true Church of God for 5 years, and is truly such a wonderful man who has so many questions that in our last lesson with him we had to slow him down a bit to be able to answer fully some of his questions and help him understand the basics, which is absolutely phenomenal!  We have him committed to come to the church, and it was an awesome time teaching him the first lesson because he was so hungry to learn more and began to ask loads of questions about the purpose of life and the plan of God after we had taught the Restoration, and my companion and I smiled at each other, then we introduced the first principles of the Plan of Salvation to him!  He is such a miracle in such a difficult week, and his young children are absolutely adorable!  We still haven´t met his wife yet, but we will figure it out on 

Wednesday!

As well, last Saturday we had the awesome experience of a Zone Activity in the branch of Hidalgo, where literally they have an average of 12 people attending church every week, but after the activity, they literally doubled and they have plans to help this struggling are!  What we did is that one member of the Stake Presidency or Stake High Council went with a companionship of missionaries to teach and actualize the member list of the branch and do some contacts as well!  This was really great, but was a little bit difficult in the activity because the households that we were assigned didn´t have the numbers of the houses in order and as we were driving by we passed by the numbers 204, 527, 904, 106 and it was like they had drawn out of a hat the number of their house which made it very slow but very worthwhile and we found three families that despite quite a bit of time outside of church activity are talking with the missionaries from Hidalgo, and we hope that everything can work better for them!

This week has been wild in the temperature because we have gone from 90 degrees to 50 degrees and with the air down here it can feel scorchingly hot or absolutely freezing, but we keep echando las ganas!  We feel truly blessed to be down here in Alianza Real and I know that this is the Lord´s work, that every one of us, with our varying spiritual talents and gifts that has a large role to place before the Second Coming of Christ, and that he can magnify us in ways that we cannot even imagine!

I love you all so much, and until next week!

Elder Raven

We finally pulled off a surprise party for Mckinley! 🎉

Elder Raven 

Thanks soooo much for the voice recording last week. It was so good for my heart to hear your voice. You sound incredible!!! 💙

I wanted to send this picture of Timp. I took this morning when I was taking the boys to school… It looked so pretty with the sun hitting it. We’ve had a lot of snow this winter! We probably have 2-3 feet of snow in our yard. 

Also Mckinley‘s 17th birthday was on Saturday, but the boys wanted to throw a surprise party for her. Remember we tried when you were 16 and she was 14 years old but the word got back to her and so she figured it out before it happened. 
This year the boys wanted to do the party NOT on a day close to her birthday so she wouldn’t expect anything. So we had friends come over after young women’s and young men’s Wednesday night and she was totally SURPRISED! It was so fun!

Questions 

When you had the surprise of the ZL’s and then President and Sister M. coming to your district meeting where was that located? I bet that was quite the shock. 

Even though it was stressful... The message you shared about having love and charity for the people is powerful… So you’ve been prepared for this since even though you didn’t know. I bet you did a great job. I know things can be stressful but just remember YOU ARE A SON OF GOD! He loves you and He will support you in all the demands and things that are placed upon you. 

He is watching over you and HE IS WELL PLEASED WITH YOUR EFFORTS! 💙💙💙

That “traditional” grandma’s advice was so funny… About how did attract a spouse when you get home. I bet that really made you laugh 😂😂😂

1. How are you feeling? 

2. We sent you a package and it arrived at your mission home. Did you get it yet? 

3. How is your area? 

4. How are the awesome families you are teaching? 

5. Thanks for your amazing testimony and wonderful emails. So many people tell us how much they love reading your emails. Tara just told me today!  We love you! 

6. Your kind heart is touching a lot of souls. The members in Mexico tell us what a good missionary you are and how much you have helped their Rama. 

7. It was fun to hear a little accent when you sent the voice recording! You sound so cute. 

8. How are the cockroaches?

9. How are those families doing that of been coming to church? How are your investigators?

10. I saw you’re getting a new mission President and July 1, 2019 do people know that in your mission? His name is Elder Jose L Isaguirre 

11. How is Cardenas Cano family 

You can answer some of these questions are all of them in the group email I just want you to know we love you we pray for you I think about you constantly. It’s been so fun for me to go and help with missionary efforts. A little girl my primary class, Jaylen  is taking the missionary discussions and it’s been so fun to go and hear what the missionaries are teaching her. It helps me

Feel close to you! I love you with all the tender feeling in my heart! ❤️❤️❤️ Here is a send you a pic of Jaylen with the missionaries! 

It’s Jaylen Rose. Do you remember her. She turned 9 in January so she is getting baptized in March. 

Happy Valentine’s Day! ❤️💕💝💛

You are in our prayers 

Love,
Mom

Here is a pic of all the snow we have right now! 

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Hey Mom,

Sorry about the scare!  We suddenly got news on Saturday night that we were going to have interviews with Presidente Maucotel on Monday, and so we ended up working all of Monday like a normal proselyting day, and we had our p-day today! I did take out 2,500 pesos (about the 136 dollars mentioned in the photos you sent me!) of money yesterday to pay for some new shoes as well as buy a knee brace for Elder Santiago because he really doesn´t have the money sufficient to cover it! Don´t worry I am going to get the money back because it is a medical expense and so it will come back to me cause its reimbursable! I am going to send some photos of the new shoes attached to this email!  I believe everything came in one piece, and thank you so much for the golf pants, the valentines gifts and all of the very special letters!  I have been reading the Miracle of Forgiveness non-stop and I only have 20 pages remaining in this awesome book!  I was truly shocked to actually finish the book and see how truly beautiful the repentance process is and all the unnecessary burdens that I have been carrying for so many years I am finally beginning to feel relief!  It is truly wonderful to be smiling from my heart as well as my eyes now!  I can´t thank you enough for this priceless gift as well as the beautiful commentary by grandma weber who truly helped me in learning about several of the principles inside the book!  In fact, I am going to use several in the massive group email! That is so awesome that you were able to surprise Mckinley, and I am so glad that you guys enjoyed hearing my voice!  I feel that I don´t have a very thick accent but we´ll see what two years does to me, haha!  

My area is really doing quite well!  We have the baptismal date for the 23rd of this month with the famillia Lopez Santos!  We finally found some baptismal pants for him too, because the brother is a bit chubbier and so we were looking everywhere for size 40 pants for baptisms but finally found it from this elderly member in our branch that is really amazing (Hno Galindo)!  We are also teaching Hermana Juanita y Nicolas and they are attending church and the Hermana is progressing but it is a slow but surely process!  We are really just looking for people to teach all the time, we have received a lot of references but the large majority of times we can´t find them because of their very extensive work schedules, but if we can find them, they will surely progress with their desires and the Spirit that they will feel!   

Elder Santiago and I are getting along much better now!  We battled a lot because I have always been a strict stick to the rules kind of guy, and I still am, but I have changed my perspective to be a little bit less prideful and we are working in harmony much better!

The cockroaches are fine, we really don´t battle much when it is really cold like it has been recently, but we´ll see what happens in the summer, haha!

Thank you for your kind words of encouragement!  I pray that we can be influences for good, and genuinely contribute some great families to the branch!  

Yes, we have heard about the new president and we are all very excited to see his administrative style and everything!  Being an area seventy he is sure to bring some fire Elder Holland style while still being a very kind and loving man, I presume . . . haha!  

The family Cardenas Cano is going great, the Hermana Alma is still attending and we have been teaching the hermano David, we hope they can keep going strong because of the upcoming move!  We visit them frequently to help strengthen them and we have really focused on teaching all the recent converts to make sure they keep being fortified!

I feel really great here and I truly don´t want to leave after this change, but I have felt that the Lord will call me to other directions, but quien sabe? who knows right, haha!

Love you so much,

Hope I resolved some of your concerns!

Elder Raven

Letter from and to BLAKE

Hi Elder Raven,

How are you doing? We are going to St George this weekend to play Icebreaker cup.  Any advice?  How is the soccer in Mexico?

Mom said you got our package...When did you get it? I am glad you sound so happy in your letters and voice recording. that is funny about the grandma and her dating advice to you. Mckinley's suprise party was fun, but mom was sick on her birthday. She is dong better now.l

I love you bro!

Love, Blake

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Blake,

I am great!  That is so awesome!  I love Icebreaker!

Bits of advice,

1 Don´t get a concussion, haah!

2. Leave your heart on the field, but be a good sport about everything!  (even if they paid off the ref, haha)

3.  Be a leader to everyone and just play for the fun of the sport and don´t stress to much about the scoreline but give it everything you can and let your coaches know if you would like more time, or if you feel that a certain position would suit you better but don´t be overbearing about it!

4. Just smile and have fun buddy! You are a great soccer player and you play better than a large majority of kids here in Mexico!

Love you!

Have fun,and keep saying your prayers!

Love you,

Elder Raven

Qui gana dia (I don´t know, jaja)

Monterrey, Nuevo Leon MEXICO! 

Here are photos of the district from the top of the Obispado which is a really awesome lookout point of the entire metropolitan area of Monterrey, NL Mexico! 

Monterrey Mexico

 

Hey Everyone!

This past week has been absolutely difficult to describe and so that´s the whole reason for the title of this week´s letter which comes from Zapoteco (the native dialect of Southern Mexico that my companion, Elder Santiago, speaks fluenty!)

We have been progressing really well with the Lopez Santos family and they are going to be baptized next Saturday! Which is way awesome!  The Hermana Juanita is slowly progressing but she accepted the Word of Wisdom in such a drastic way!  She has always been a huge coffee drinker and it has been her way of functioning but after teaching her on Friday about the blessings and consequences of disobedience to this commandment, she immediately said, that´s it, I am not having coffee ever again, and she´s stuck to it!!  It is one of the coolest miracles of the mission I have seen!  The husband, Nicolas, is still struggling with this a little bit, but we will see what miracles God has in store for him!

Spiritual Thought:

We have been working with a less active family that has been deeply offended by some members of the church who a long time ago unwittingly did some fairly offensive acts that are quite personal but suffice it to say that this family, which has been sealed for time and eternity in God´s temple has permited these harsh feelings to reside in their hearts for several years of inactivity! This is truly saddening and as I was reading the words of Spencer W. Kimball I came across this poem he quoted I would like to reiterateit!

My heart was heavy, for its trust had been

Abused, its kindness answered with foul wrong;

So, turning gloomily from my fellow-men,

One summer Sabbath day I strolled among

The green mounds of the village burial-place;

Where, pondering how all human love and hate

Find one sad level; and how, soon or late,

Wronged and wrongdoer, each with meekened face,

And cold hands folded over a still heart,

Pass the green threshold of our common grave,

Whither all footsteps tend, whence none depart,

Awed for myself, and pitying my race,

Our common sorrow, like a mighty wave,

Swept all my pride away, and trembling I forgave!

Although this is a kind of morbid tone to the poem, I think it is important to recognize how truly short his lifetime is and we have the two options of liberation or captivity, so let us please choose the former because the power of forgiveness is truly existant and can liberate us not only from the great weight of a grudge but also it permits the full powers of the Atonement to have a grander effect in our lives.  Until we can fully forgive others for their actions, we will be placed in a spiritual neutral that is where none of us should desire to be!  Let us forgive our debtors as we plead for the grace of God to eradicate our debts and that we may be more fully dedicated to the causes of love, joy, and peace that come from aligning ourselves with the desires of Christ!  So no matter how long a problem has been going on, please turn the other cheek, and permit God to take over his responsibilities of judgement is the message that I hope that we can apply in order to be truly happy!

Highlights from the past week:

Divisions with the Priests!

Since we have a really strong priest quorum in the branch of Alianza Real, we have really tried to help them become prepared for their missions!  We were thinking and planning, and we came up with the idea to have the priests acompany us for a full day!  So starting last saturday we gave Luis Ramirez and Kevin Ornelas a crash course in the missionary life, where they spent an entire day in divisiones with us so that we could get twice the work done, and to motivate these priests to make the decision to serve and this was approved by President Maucotel, the parents of the youths, and the Branch President so don´t worry, even though afterwards we learned about a very recent change in church policy that made this the first and last time that we will be able to do this activity, oops!  But on the flipside,  we had some wonderful contacting moments and I was with Luis for the day and he taught with such power and testimony that I know he will be a phenomenal missionary in two years!  We had a lot of funny experiences that I would wish to relate but I am kinda low on time but until next week!

Interviews with President

We received the news on Saturday that we had interviews with president yesterday(monday) so that is why pday was today and I am sending this letter late.  It was a great experience to learn more about leadership and resolve some concerns and I feel that God truly does call his servants to bring their experiences and individual gifts to bless the lives of those they preside over!

  

Love you all!

 Elder Raven

Ojala que sigan echando las ganas!

Hi Kyle this is Caleb

Hi Elder Raven,
How are you doing? I miss you 
Love Caleb 

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Caleb,

I'm doing good!  I love you so much buddy! And you look like you´ve grown a ton since I left and you look really skinny!  Keep smiling and be nice to everyone like you always have been! Do you have any questions for me?

Love you,

Elder Raven

❤️ Mckinley Sweethearts Dance with Bentley Ackerson

Elder Raven,
We thought you would like to see how beautiful your little sis is! 😍 She had a lot of fun but she didn’t like trying to coordinate for the dance. She said “why are dances so stressful?” I remember hearing you say the same thing. 😂

We hope you are enjoying Mexico. We fasted for YOU, grandpa, grandma, your companion and area yesterday for Fast Sunday! ❤️
We love you! 
Love, Mom

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AWW! MY SIS IS SO INCREDIBLY STUNNING!  That Bentley was a lucky kid! 

That is so funny that she feels the same way!  It is pretty funny to see how I used to be so stressed about things that now I have come through the other side, and they appear so simplistic!

I love the pics of the tamales as well, and for all of the wonderful little miracles that you have been seeing lately!  Thank you for the fast, and for your constant support!

I am going to be staying in Alianza Real for another 6 weeks with Elder Santiago, and we are going to work our tails off here in the vineyard of the Lord!  I am starting to see how incredibly short our time is here in the mission because we are going to finish this cambios and I am going to be a fourth of the way through the mission!  It just makes me want to work harder and help more people truly!

Thank you so much!

Love you with every fiber of my heart!

Elder Raven

Feb 4th ?'s

 Since we only get one email to send back and forth...here are some questions! :)

Elder Raven,

Hi, How are you doing?  I have a couple of ?'s for you?

1. How are things in your area.  I love that the Cardenas' Family send us photo! We pray for them.  You are a really big part of their conversion.  They will always have a big part of my heart.  Elder Snow commented on photo I put on FB of you with the Rama Alianza Real.  He said it was one of his favorite areas.  
2. I know transfers are tomorrow.  Do you get to stay with Elder Santiago? At Christmas I think you mentioned that you are staying with your companion until March.  Just curious if that is the same.  
3. Also, I have been texting Elder Manwill's mom.  He is flying straight to Monterrey tomorrow.  He won't go to the CCM.  You have helped him so much.  They are so grateful for you! You are a missionary with the light and love you send to others. We are so pleased with everything you are doing KYLE!  We love you!
4. A sister also commented on FB that you are holding a Liahona for the branch activity.  How was at activity?  I think you ran out of time last week?  Did you make the Liahona? That's so cool.  
5. Please tell the Cardenas Sanchez family how much we LOVE them.  We are so grateful for their photos.  I know we will be close with their family for a long time.  I hope they will get to go to the Temple next year.  That would be so neat if you could go with them, since you have gotten so close with them.
6. Is there anything you need?😍
7. How is JOSE LUIS doing?
8. Thanks for the photos and cool stories for the blog. Please send more that you want in your blog.  Also, make sure you take photos of things with your camera so you can remember your first area.
9. i would love to see what your kitchen looks like and your apartment/home. Just little details that you don't think are important i will be fun to have those memories later! 💙

My testimony has been strengthened that Heavenly Father is aware of us and will send things to us like that little lady from Puebla Mexico to sell tamales just when I needed them! (If you haven't read my email about the tamales...copy and read it this week.  It really strengthened my testimony and teaches me to trust Heavenly Father.  He is watching OVER all of us. I can trust you are in HIS care!

We LOVE YOU so much!  We fasted and prayed for you yesterday!

Keep smiling! 

Love, MOM 💕💕💕

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Hi Mom,

1. Yeah, the family Cardenas Cano are the sweetest people ever!  They are so wonderful, but I am slightly worried about the husband because he hasn´t been able to attend church lately because of his work, and when this construction project is finished, they are going to move to Reynosa, which is really far away, and I just pray that they don´t go inactive because they are so good, but they have had some trials, and I feel that their faith is being shaken a little bit.  But they are absolutely wonderful, the coolest family ever!

2. Yes, I am going to stay with Elder Santiago in Alianza Real until the half of March, sorry it makes more sense in Spanish grammar, I know, haha!

3.  THAT IS SO INCREDIBLY AWESOME; I AM GOING TO SEARCH HIGH AND LOW FOR HIM AND I PRAY THAT HE GETS PUT WITH SOMEONE CLOSE BY!

4.  Yeah, we had a ward family home evening, we prepared a small lesson, we 4 missionaries of Alianza and we had some mini pizzas afterward!  So yeah, we created the Liahona from styrofoam, some mini straws, and a whole bunch of gold paint, and the plan is that the Liahona goes from family to family and they are going to invite other less active families into their houses to have a family home evening with them, and we are hoping that they will have greater connection with the missionaries and the ward, and also strengthen the active families, and then in church we will report about the Liahona, and who is going to have it the next week!

5. Just like number 1.

6.  Really I can´t think of anything I really, really need, I am doing just fine, thank you!

7. Jose Luis has been working his tail off and I feel that he is feeling doubts about his faith because he is a little bit cold with continuing his progression but everything is great!  As well, we are going really well with the familia Rosalez Chino, of Kenai, they are so amazing and we are helping the Hermano change to be able to enter the temple as a family as well!

8. Ok, I will try to send better pics and emails, don't worry! And this week I have a special email for Mckinley and the boys with a file that I think they will enjoy a ton!

Love yall!

Elder Raven