Monterrey Temple with the Hermana Cecilia and Gerardo

Hey everyone!

This past Thursday, April 25th we were finally able to attend the Monterrey Temple with the Hermana Cecilia and her son Gerardo, who were recently baptized!  It was so wonderful to be able to help her do the work for her daughter, Yuliana, that tragically passed away three years ago.  The Hermana was absolutely vibrant as she came up out of the water, and her smile was contagious even until we were taking the Metro System all the way back home!  I am going to attach some photos at the end so that you all can enjoy them!

Today they gave us the changes and that I am going to be staying here in Felipe Carrillo with Elder Chavez as the District Leader for one more change, and the same with the rest of my district!  We have been seeing a whole ton of progress in our area in the Pedregal, and this change is going to be super exciting, just stay tuned!

We have been able to receive a lot of sweet references from the members, and thanks to the Relief Society President here for giving such a powerful talk on Sunday about member missionary work, we are doubling the amount of results we have been having here!  Our leaders here are so amazing, and truly we can see the Lord guiding our little ward to something far greater!

As I was studying this past week I came across several scriptures that I was thinking of using to try to meet the need of the Hermano Alonso that we have been teaching and it was truly beautiful to receive this piece of revelation for my own life!

As I was reading in the Doctrine and Covenants section 78 verses 17-18 I came across these verses that I had heard before but that never struck me so hard as they did during this past week!

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are little children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you;

“And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours.”

This was absolutely perfect for Hermano Alonso because he has been struggling with the fact of feeling that God truly loves him, and we began to truly testify from this scripture and help him see how much God desires to bless us, and if we do our part that he really can create a mile of change out of our miniscule effort!   Because of this, he is now a lot more receptive, he told us that he never wishes to miss a day of church, and that his sense of personal worth has grown immensely!  

On a more personal note, I was able to receive guidance from the phrase, be of good cheer, I will lead you along.   At times, I have seen Satan try to delude me from my worth as a child of God.  He wishes for me to think that I lack importance or value, but I have grown to appreciate every day the ways in which the Lord makes me His Hands here in the little corner of Monterrey!  That He truly can revolutionize my life and make me new, more dedicated, more humble, and more abundantly blessed, if I can just keep to the basics of the work, love the people, and seek the Spirit.  This is something that can truly create a successful missionary out of my flawed efforts, and will help us leave many souls touched by the love of Jesus Christ that we demonstrated through listening to the Spirit!  I love the fact that this is a gospel of miracles, of divine blessings, and that we have divine guidance even when we feel down, and that our loving Savior and Heavenly Father see us for who we can become and not for the small mistakes we make in the day-to-day!  I truly love this gospel!  This is the Church of Jesus Christ, and we are so blessed to have the opportunity to prove our valor before God, and decide to return to live in His Presence.

These verses also brought me right back by the the conference talk given by Elder Renlund about the means by which we can receive the blessings which God has for us.  I am going to place a link here for everyone to read it one more time because it is just so good!

I love you all!

Que disfruten sus bendiciones!

Elder Raven

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2019/04/41renlund?lang=eng

True Healing

Buenas Tardes!

This past week has honestly flown by with so many wonderful events, and also a lot of difficulties, and I truly wish to share all of the spiritually uplifting experiences I have been able to have but I will have to settle with a few of the small miraculous treasures of this week!  From electrical hazards, to minor flooding problems, I have seen the Lord's hand in protecting both the life of my companion and I during the day to day events.

It was a true delight to see my family on Easter Sunday and all their smiling faces!  They are just the greatest!

Easter Sunday, April 21, 2019  I LOVE MY FAMILY!

 It was also great to see DJ Ford and hear that he was recently Baptized. 

We had interviews yesterday, and talking with Presidente Maucotel, I offered the idea of seeing if we can try to develop a branch out here in our area <because the majority of the people really battle to have the money to go to church> and because it is growing so much!  He said it is a wonderful idea and it also is something that our bishop has been asking to receive for quite some time, so we'll keep our fingers crossed and see what God's plan is for El Pedregal!

For one, we have found several wonderful new families to teach this week, and the surprising thing is that they all are from Veracruz!  Due to a long-standing trend of economic troubles in the state of Veracruz, a large number of people have been and are coming to the bright future of Monterrey, and more specifically to the areas in which we live because they are all new neighborhoods!  This is so sweet because when we taught Hermano Jorge and Hermano Luis this past Sunday, they were able to tell us of their Christ-like desires to follow his example, and it was so tender to be able to testify to them that the Church we represent truly is the holiest way in which we can live!  So a lot of wonderful little stories to share but suffice it to say that we are running full speed with our area, and with the changes coming next week, I am truly praying that I will be able to stay here for quite some time!

It truly has been a week of miracles and as I was discussing with President Maucotel in our interviews, I expressed a desire to be able to learn and develop more the spiritual gifts that God has granted to me, and thanks to his wisdom and experience he was able to help me resolve a lot of my concerns

I also was able to plan our district activity for today, and we went over to Abasolo in order to play soccer as a district on this sweet synthetic turf field where we were able to have a great time playing together and uniting in our missionary brotherhood!

As I was reflecting on this past week, I have honestly been battling with many forms of unexpected exhaustion.  At the end of each day, I am truly battling to try to complete all that we have planned!  This made me very nervous because I didn't wish to develop some symptoms that would interfere completely with my ability to serve as a missionary.  This led to being able to devote a bit of time to listen to a BYU Devotional Talk that discussed the many forms of healing which we encounter in the gospel, and one of the quotes that the speaker shared that I would like to share with all of you right now if from Dallin H. Oaks in his October 2006 General Conference Address where he stated:

“Healing blessings come in many ways, each suited to our individual needs, as known to Him who loves us best. Sometimes a ‘healing’ cures our illness or lifts our burden. But sometimes we are ‘healed’ by being given strength or understanding or patience to bear the burdens placed upon us. “The healing power of the Lord Jesus Christ—whether it removes our burdens or strengthens us to endure and live with them like the Apostle Paul—is available for every affliction in mortality.”

I really testify of the words of a living prophet, seer, and revelator.  I can honestly express that often we place certain demands upon the types of healing we wish to see in ourselves, and at times we can attempt to pray that God will conform His Will to ours, but what I love is that from this greater understanding of what it truly means to be "healed" we can feel greater peace, appreciation for that which we do have, and strive to let the grand plan of God work within our lives and stop fighting so hard against the many adversities we face.  That by permitting the grace of God to more fully take part in our lives, we can begin to see a semblance of Him begin to develop, and a true love for the power of Christ to mold us into an instrument beyond our greatest expectations!  

I truly love all of you and even though I haven't been physically healed completely of this struggle, I can honestly testify that I have received the strength to complete with what the Lord asks of me.  Although it is a struggle beyond words at times, His Power has given me just what I needed to 'bear my burdens with ease."  I testify that this power is available to all of us and not just full-time missionaries.  That God is always at our side to teach us, and if we humble ourselves in mighty fasting and prayer, that is when the miracles within our souls begin to occur.

I hope you all have a phenomenal week!  I wish I could say more but due to a lack of time I just have to say "Les quiero muchisimo y cuidense!"

Elder Raven

Cecilia and Gerardo got Baptized!!! 6.10.19

April 10, 2019 Cecilia and Gerardo Baptism! :) 

Hey Everyone!

This past week has flown by and I have honestly loved every second of it!  With so many cool experiences it has been hard to put them all down with the time allotted but I am going to give a handful of my favorites!  Well, for starters the title of this email comes the goal of my companionship of really keep us in good physical shape, because the mission here in Monterrey is really awesome, but keeping a balanced diet is really difficult to maintain, so we have begun to place even more emphasis in an exercise program where we can try to burn off the extra tortillas and the extremely well-cooked meat, haha!  So while we were talking about this one day, my companion began to ask me how somebody describes someone that is really strong.  I jokingly responded with some slang about how you can call someone huge and it is a wonderful compliment.  So now, every morning after we finish our workout, he looks in the mirror and asks me I´m huge, right Elder Raven? and I just chuckle and say absolutely every time!  This is just so priceless because knowing my companion Elder Chavez does not speak a lot of English, it is about the only English interaction we have outside of language study, and somehow it strikes me really funny!

Anyway as for the more spiritual side of things:

The power of a personal inventory

As I was reflecting this past week during our companionship inventory that we do, I came to realize something incredibly powerful about the gospel.   The moment in which we come to know better our own personal weaknesses the better that we can connect with the grace and atoning powers of our Lord, Jesus Christ.  Sometimes I have noticed a cultural thing within the church that we can become debilitated by our apparent lack of effort, results, or whatever other lies that Satan wishes to give.  Sometimes we in the midst of an abundance of blessings can let the tiniest of details steal the abundance of happiness that the gospel offers us.  From this I realized something important, the much like the week prior, that if we can truly find our ways to improve then we can begin the process back to God, because I personally know that I have in some way s deluded myself into seeing my true colors, but during this past week I have tried to have a daily inventory with God in my personal prayers at night.  I am trying to sincerely ask to be filled with gratitude for all that I have, and then in turn, reflect, and ask Heavenly Father what it is that I can repent of.  These two steps have made my prayers infinitely greater this past week, and I have been able to see my little errors, I begin to see the infinite virtues of God who loves us perfectly, who acts in our best interest, and allows to face difficulties so that we can grow.  I truly testify that we have a loving Heavenly Father, that he wishes for us to become as He is, and that only through His Son we have the opportunity to receive these blessings!  I truly have felt the power of liberation that comes when we seek to genuinely look into our shadows to permit the light of the gospel to fill us!  I feel that this might be a ramble, but the point is that I testify of the Love of God for each and everyone of us, I testify of our divine potential and that God is at the Helm of this wonderful Church that was made to help us gradually become more perfected!

Weekly Recap

Martes: Intercambios con Los Elizondo (Elder Ramirez)

Take I had some intercambios with the Elders from Los Elizondo, with Elder Ramirez from Mexico City being my companion for the day!  The real highlight from this day was in being to help a member in the ward take the initiative to begin activating all the less active members of her family who live in Los Elizondo, and the Elders this past week were able to have many begin to come to church again which was a beautiful piece of news to receive!  

Miercoles: Bautismos de Cecilia y Gerardo

Cecilia and Gerardo got baptized and confirmed this past week and because we held the baptismal service with special permission to do it on Wednesday night after Mutual, we had basically all of the active ward members supporting her in this decision and it was a truly beautiful service because as well we were able to include a recent convert, Hermano Jahaziel to do the baptismal ordinance for her, and although he was incredibly nervous, he was able to do it flawlessly!  I truly testify that we have greater access to the atonement of Jesus Christ through these Ordinances and that through our faith and commitment to our covenants, we can truly become more like Christ, and shake off the darkening influences of the adversary!  I love this gospel for this exact purpose and that we can become beings of light to help illuminate everyone around us to find the joy of the gospel!

Jueves: Isael y David

We have been teaching the family Cabral for quite some time and we have been really focusing on David and Isael (Isael is the father of the family) and we are hoping that they will be able to be baptized soon!  They are a wonderful family, and we have really focused on maintaining daily contact with them to help them in their critical moments of opposition and blessings!

Sabado: Alonso y Paola

As a result of the bautismo de Cecilia and Gerardo on  Wednesday, her daughter-in-law, and her son became really interested in the Church, we have begun to find a few difficulties with them, but their desires to follow Christ are wonderfully strong, and we will see what this next week holds.

Domingo: Familia Garcia de la Cruz

We were able to spend time on Sunday to teach the family Navarrasco another time, but the really cool experiences happened when we were eating with the Garcia de la Cruz Family who are incredibly active and for 20-plus years have been battling with the father of the mother of the Garcia family to help him be baptized to be a member of the church and so that their family and be sealed together!  She shared that the missionaries before never really took much interest in her family life, but because we listened, we were able to give meaningful counsel through the Book of Mormon, and she told us that she is going to try another time to see if she can directly ask her father what impedes him from progressing in the church, and then lovingly invite him to speak with the missionaries for the zillionth time and begin the road to an eternal family! It was a beautiful experience and it made me really reflect about how we always have missionary opportunities, and I am praying that this sister will be able to have the Spirit help her to touch her father´s heart!

Lunes: Los Elders de la casa rosada

We helped the Zone Leaders move houses today, and their new house is a tint of pink so bright that already they are creating the legend of the little pink house Elders and I have been able to successfully use it to help other people find the directions to the chapel, haha!

I love you all

Elder Raven

Here is a pic of the baptism!

Tons of Tamales

Hey Everyone!

This past week has truly been phenomenal for so many reasons and to top everything off, in honor of the holy week (la semana santa) that we have here in Mexico, a lot of the really special foods have been coming out!  But one of my favorite things that has happened, is that we have been receiving too many tamales throughout the week that I strangely almost don´t feel like eating them sometimes, but then I go ahead and eat them anyways!  

And to help us out even more, today we had our Zone Activity playing soccer for 3 hours in 90+ Degree Weather, and to finish it off we all prepaid for tamales but the Zone Leaders bought way too many, and it was just my luck to leave with 30+ extra tamales to eat throughout the week, haha!

Anyway, General Conference was incredibly powerful and we had such a wonderful experience with the Hermana Cecilia and Gerardo her son that are going to be baptized this Wednesday!  She tragically lost her oldest daughter a couple of years ago and ever since we have taught about the temples and eternal families she has had the desires to do the ordinance work for her daughter so badly, and when President Nelson tenderly shared his experiences with his daughter, Wendy, in her final moments of mortality, she broke down crying. She said that she knows that Russell M. Nelson is a prophet of God and that nothing is going to stop her from returning to live with her Daughter and say all the things that she always wished to say to her!  It was such a beautiful moment and I can truly testify of these simple truths! We are part of the living Church of Christ that has been restored and is being restored through just men who have been called to direct the earth in these last days!

I can testify with all the faith that I currently possess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, that he wishes for us to be healed by him, and as many of the apostles and prophets shared, we need to be more morally clean than we currently are, if we wish to be true disciples of Christ, always changing to become more like him!

I truly love these simple principles and that the Book of Mormon contains the fulness of the gospel of Christ!  It can heal us of spiritual and emotional wounds, and when part of God´s will, it can also cause a physical healing within us!  

I love you all, and I just wanted to close by sharing that I love you Guys, I will send a more full email, but we have a ton of work, and make sure to support the missionaries by living the gospel in every moment, and taking a few seconds to share your beliefs with the people are looking for the truth and don´t know where to find it, and I promise you will be blessed just to give the invitation to your friends, family members, and coworkers to learn about the gospel from your local missionaries!

Uncle John McCune was sustained as a General Authority Seventy at April 2019 General Conference

I love you all!

I pray you can study the wonderful talks of this week!

Sorry for no pics!

Elder Raven

Sorry Hermana, It Was Only 15 minutes ;)

Hey Everyone!

Well, how´s it going?

Anyway so about the title of this email, this past week we were eating with this wonderful family from Venezuela and Columbia and they are honestly the greatest in helping us with missionary work and whatever thing that comes up. This was complicated a bit because before we ate I had two baptismal interviews to do for a companionship in my district, and these individuals were so wonderfully prepared and it was truly a cool experience to do 3 interviews in one day, but in returning to our area for the lunch appointment we weren´t able to find the correct bus and we ended up arrived 15 minutes late.  We apologized to the hermana, and continued until about half way through the meal, the Hermana began playfully threatening her kids to pick up their rooms, and she picked up her sons really nice nerf gun and began to wave it around in the air like she was going to shoot them to get them moving, but what ended up happening is that she accidentally pulled the trigger and the bullet passed right by my right eye and bounced off the back wall to hit me in the back of the head.  To this I jokingly responded, sorry hermana, it was only 15 minutes, and her husband (who is the second counselor in the bishopric in the ward) just was laughing and everyone in the house was just rolling on the floor because the sister truly had no idea that it was going to fire and was apologizing up and down, but I said no pasa nada hermana, and just went on laughing and joking, but it was kinda sketchy because it could have messed up my eye pretty good, haha! 

Due to some changes this past week, a Sister in my district had to go home for some health complications.  The food here was really difficult for her stomach and sadly she is waiting to be reassigned to a different mission right now!  But as a result of these changes we have been able to work both areas in Felipe Carrillo!  The other area has the large majority of the members in it so it has been really interesting to get to know them better, work more closely with the ward leaders and accomplish a lot of wonderful things here in our ward!

My companion and I are doing great, I have battled a bit with some sickness, but nothing is stopping us from teaching the children of God!  We have been able to encontrar (find) a lot of wonderful people and as of right now we have several families being prepared to get baptized!  The individuals that we have been teaching are so wonderful to us, and it is such a blessing to serve the Lord here.

I just want to take a moment to explain a bit about some of my favorite events throughout the week!

Salvador and Mauricio: They are a father and a son who are so wonderfully strong in their faith in Christ.  The father wants to teach his son how to be a good person and as a result of his desire to serve God and be a great father, and after having felt that this is the true Church, they have plans to be baptized in the end of this month!  Salvador works in various restaurants delivering and sending food supplies and he is honestly the sweetest man and it is such a joy to teach them!

We had a wonderful lesson with Nancy and her family as well, and they are all committed to come to church which is wonderful!  They are slowly starting to grow out of their Catholic traditions and desiring more of the gospel knowledge!

This past week I read "The Power of Everyday Missionaries" by Clayton Christensen and that revolutionized my perspective about the work!  I realized that I was not incorporating the potential of the members as much as I should have, and so we will be spending the large majority of this week with more members in our lessons, bringing the youth to accompnay us, and refining the wonderful potential of the ward to work with.

As a spiritual thought I would just like to express how truly essential is the attribute of humility in our church.

We have a gospel where the expectations are that we can become like our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, which means that there a lot of potential growth in each and everyone of us.  In order to accomplish the grand means of growing in our faith and devotion to God, I would like to invite each of us to reflect about the indicators of Humility given in Preach My Gospel which work on a scale of 1 to 5 in our capacity with this characteristics and they are:

Humility

41. ___ I am meek and lowly in heart. (Matthew 11:29)
42. ___ I rely on the Lord for help. (Alma 26:12)
43. ___ I am sincerely grateful for the blessings I have received from the Lord. (Alma 7:23)
44. ___ My prayers are earnest and sincere. (Enos 1:4)
45. ___ I appreciate direction from my leaders or teachers. (2 Nephi 9:28)
46. ___ I strive to be submissive to the Lord’s will, whatever it may be. (Mosiah 24:15)

I testify that as we seek to be more submissive, grateful, and sincere in our desires to have the Lord mold us, we will be able to pass through our difficulties as a refiner´s fire, make us stronger in our testimony and more capable of serving others with Christlike love!

I testify that this is a gospel of grand expectations, but that we are never alone!  Christ is always guiding, cheering, and inviting us to take the next steps, to make the small sacrifices that bring forth the great blessings of heaven, and that even though many voices criticize us for our way of being, I have found that I really resonate with the words of a Christian song Come as You Are which states Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot cure!  I love this principle and I love each and everyone of you!  Keep striving and believing in the miracles which are not seen but will come if we stand strong and committed to the only being who gave his all for us! Let us be Faithful and True, and never stray from the fold of the Good Shepherd!

Love,

Elder Raven

Elder Hernandez and I eating the Best Food Ever, Campechanas!!!

Intercambios with Elder Hernandez (With Some The Best Food Ever, Campechanas!)

The Rosalez Chino family (We baptized their son Kenai, and helped reactivate the rest of the family! They are the greatest!)