Daniel Castro Baptism 6.8.19 One Change More in Felipe with Elder Chavez

Hey Everyone!

We received the news last night that I am going to spend another change with Elder Chavez in Felipe Carrillo!  This is going to be our 3 change together and I am really excited for what this change will hold! 

Thanks to these changes we have really been reflecting on how we can improve our efforts and see greater results in our area, and I have a feeling that with our goals we are going to be truly able to plant the seeds to create a branch out of our area!  

Daniel Castro Baptism 6.8.19

This past week was wild as we had the baptism of Daniel Castro, who is a young man that after being invited by his friend to church, requested to begin talking with us, and after 3 weeks of learning was baptized!  It was a truly beautiful experience as well because now his family is learning about the gospel and they have all committed to be baptized as well at the end of this month!  It is so wonderful how a small act of kindness (the invitation) made a world of difference in the lives of this amazing family!  We have several wonderful investigators progressing and the wonderful thing is that we are finally going to be able to get Paola y Alonso married which will be wonderful because after some time helping them understand the importance of the Law of Chastity, they finally committed! 

We have had our zone incredibly activated and in this month we are hoping to see many miracles in helping God´s children draw closer to the church!

Yet with all of these wonderful things, I will be honest in saying that it has not been all sunshine and roses! And from these difficulties, it has come to my mind a poem that I memorized in the 8th grade due to a very kind keyboarding teacher and I felt to share with all of you!

When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all up hill,
when the funds are low and the debts are high
and you want to smile, but you have to sigh,

when care is pressing you down a bit,
rest if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is strange with its twists and turns
as every one of us sometimes learns
and many a failure comes about,
when he might have won had he stuck it out,
don't give up though the pace seems slow
you may succeed with another blow.
Success is failure turned inside out
the silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
and you never can tell just how close you are,
it may be near when it seems so far.

so stick to the fight when you're hardest hit

It's when things seem worst that you must not quit. 

I honestly do not remember the author of this poem, but I have felt that many times in life we are given challenges in order to demonstrate the Christlike Attribute of our Diligence to the principles of the gospel!  Truly this is the Church of Divine Miracles, and we are always entitled to God´s help if we do our part, and I also have come to realize that many of our personal challenges truly can be the refining influence that we need and for that reason, God in His infinite love and wisdom permits us to take on these challenges so that our spiritual muscles grow.  I believe that many times we can spend our time thinking about the What If´s or the Why me´s, but if we truly can have faith in the promises of this gospel I testify that there is not any trial of our lives that is not giving to help us become more like Heavenly Father, that even though the road can be dimmed around us, his love will never abandon us.  I felt this so strongly this past week while I was studying some of my favorite verses from Romans 8:38-39

38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Of these things I testify and as well that God loves you personally, knows you by name, and wishes that you will turn to him in prayer in whatever challenge or difficulty you are facing! Of these things I give my personal testimony and experience, and until next week!

Do Good! Be Great!

Elder Raven

PS Mike Dagley came over and told me how much he appreciated this email.  He really needed to read this email.  It gave him a lot of comfort.  Great job Elder Raven! :) 

The Miracles in the Small Things

Hey Everyone!

This past week I have felt so incredibly grateful for some small things that really have made a huge difference in the quality of work we have been able to do here in El Pedregal in the Felipe Carrillo Ward. 

1. We were able to change houses which is wonderful and now we are not stressed about where we are going to live, jaja!

2. Daniel and His Family were able to receive answers to their prayers about the veracity of the Church, and they have all committed to be baptized on the same day with the Ramos Family! 

3. Our New Bishop, Bishop Ortiz is helping activate the members by leading through his example of accompanying us to lessons and personally making visits to less actives!

4. We are planning to have a super baptismal service this Saturday where all the Zone will get together and it will be a truly powerful experience to unite our stake and also motivate members to take a greater initiative in the work!

5.  We had a lot of small changes in the leadership in our zone so that means Elder Norman, who is an awesome and energetic Elder is going to help build up the animo of the zone!

I have so many wonderful things that I wish to thank Heavenly Father for, and I would like to share with all of you a conference talk that really hit home this past week as we have been helping several investigators with some great challenges and how we can express love to others in their difficulties with these words of President Monson I feel will be able to touch your hearts as it touched mine this past week!

Love you!

Elder Raven

Sorry for no photos, my camera has been broken for some time but I am going to buy a new one soon!

Interviews with President Maucotel

Hey Everyone!

This past week has been wild!  Right now I am on my way out the door to head to our district activity en el planetario alfa, which is going to be way awesome!  We had interviews with President Maucotel yesterday which was truly inspiring!  I can truly testify that the Lord has called these men to stand representatives and receive revelation for all beneath their care!

This past Sabado Isael and David called us an hour before their baptismal service where we had filled the baptismal font, invited all the members, printed out programs and everything, and they told us that they weren't going to be baptized!  It was truly disheartening after having been committed and taught, and after they had expressed their testimonies to us of the reality of this church as the Church of our Savior, but due to a lot of familial intervention they were basically going to disown them for their acts, and several clever ways in which Satan attacked them, and with the death of their uncle, they lost their desire, and we are going to continue animating them in the hopes that they will join the church! 

On the flipside we found several wonderful families and I would love to share their stories, but all 4 of them have been committed to church, one brother, Antonio, I would like to mention specifically because he was in front of his house in the shade, studying the bible when we passed by and I asked him if we could help him learn about a book written by prophets that also teaches of Jesus Christ.  

He was really curious and asked, how can I get this book and extra knowledge, and I responded by taking out a Book of Mormon, testifying of the reality of the Apostasy and the Restauration (in a simplified version) and he told me that he would begin reading and try to finish it before the end of June!  He is a powerful brother that has battled through a lot of health issues with his kidneys, but I have a feeling that God truly blessed us to be in the right moment to help this brother learn.  Later last week, we taught him all the restoration and he accepted our invitations to pray to God about our message and to attend church with us!  I am so excited for him and I feel that he truly has been prepared for the gospel message!

Anyway, I love you all! Keep praying and hoping for your dreams and for the missionary work wherever you may be, and then take an active part in bringing souls unto Christ!  It will be the best thing you could ever do!

Love,

Elder Raven

Jump Start!

Wow, 

this past week has been full of ups and downs, but the best thing is that now I am on my feet, I got cleared from the doctor to work normally, and we are on fire here in Felipe Carrillo!  Elder Chavez and I have been able to find several wonderful families to begin teaching this last week that look amazing, but the coolest thing is a youth named Daniel that showed up to church unexpectedly!

We already had the Ramos Family, Marcos, Paola, and Hermano Martinez all seated next to us but a brother from the back of the congregation with a handful of minutes to go before starting church he called us out back and we came to know Daniel who was talking with the missionaries a long time back but because of his work and a few other struggles of faith he was never baptized but he always loved the church and he applied all the principles were taught in the church like a sponge!  He is really prepared to receive the gospel, and I just felt so grateful that God is entrusting our ward with so much growth and progression!

It was a powerful sacrament meeting yesterday as well because we changed our Bishopric completely and two members from the Stake high Council are going to be the Bishop and his first Councilor!  They are really excited to help animate the ward, and the Ward is having a literal jumpstart with this change in leadership!  We are so excited and I am praying to be able to stay another change in Felipe Carrillo because it is such a wonderful blessing to get a new energy going and after being bedridden for a little bit of time from my ingrown toenails we are going to be on fire!

There are so many wonderful blessings and stories I wish I could share, but til next week I would just like to finish with a small spiritual thought!

As I was studying this past week I came across this scripture in section 88 of Doctrine and Covenants which states:

40 For intelligence cleaveth unto intelligence; wisdom receiveth wisdom; truth embraceth truth; virtue loveth virtue; light cleaveth unto light; mercy hath compassion on mercy and claimeth her own; justice continueth its course and claimeth its own; judgment goeth before the face of him who sitteth upon the throne and governeth and executeth all things.  

I would like to focus on the line that mercy hath compassion on mercy and claimeth her own.  In reflecting upon this line it became more clear to me the absolute necessity of demonstrating a loving kindness to all who are around me in the mission.  That as I strive to be more kind to others, that in the same manner, I will receive the blessings of greater kindness in the judgment day.  I had heard this thought expressed several times before, but reading this scripture it came with a great power into several ways that I can improve my kindness with my companion, with the investigators, members, and other missionaries.  Even though I was not inherently bad in my treatment of them, it just gave me greater motives to seek the light in others, build them up, and dedicate myself as an instrument of light in the hands of God.  We already have so many pessimistic voices in the world today and so my invitation is that we can try to be more merciful with those who have wronged us, more patient in our weakness, and more willing to leave the past in the past and step forward into the glorious promise of future days to come, for this I am constantly striving and praying!

I hope you have a wonderful week, and that you can always remember our Savior and His Great Atoning Sacrifice! 

Con Mucho Amor,

Elder Raven 

Count Your Many Blessings!

Family and Friends!

This past week has been full of miracles, and challenges as well!  We have been able to see Paola commit to be baptized on the 25th, the Ramos family from Veracruz all went to stake conference, and we are finding a lot of prepared people to further the work here in the Pedregal!  We are finding all sorts of miracles here in the district and the zone, and we are praying that we will be able to continue in our faith-based actions, Christ-like service, and connection with the Holy Ghost to be able to be even greater workers of miracles here in Estaca Anahuac!  I honestly don´t have anything too crazy to share, but I do have a few personal thoughts for anyone facing a difficult time right now (which I believe in one way or another applies to most of us):

As part of this past week, I had to go to the Christus Muguerza Hospital here in Monterrey to remove the ingrown toenails of my left and right big toe.  I began with the belief that only one side was ingrown on both toes, but came to find out that all sides had to be taken out.  This was tough because it has limited my ability to work as a normal missionary, and it is often infuriating to stay in the house for such long periods of time, but this added time of rest has given me the opportunity to realize several things:

1. How much I appreciate small thing such as having feet that work normally, jaja!

2.  The power of being patient in affliction with the assurance that it is all part of God´s grand master plan for me!

3. I have the capacity to suffer with joy in every moment of my life.  As members of the church we have the truths that these afflictions are for our welfare, and that really God wishes us to find the everyday miracles when things don´t look to be going our way when in reality God is creating a far greater creation out of what I had in mind!  I truly trust in this I am praying for each and every one of you that are facing challenges of a much graver scope that you can find hope, joy, and peace through the Light of the World, our Advocate with the Father, and our Perfect Ejemplar, Jesus Christ!  I truly testify that he can lift our burdens, carry us through our sorrows, and that thanks to him, we are never alone.  This is my simple testimony and I hope that each and every one of us can turn to our Heavenly Father in humble prayer and feel the peace of His Divine Love!

WIth Love,

Elder Raven

Milagros son Fe y Amor y El Espiritu (Miracles equals Faith+Love+The Spirit)

Hey!

This past week was absolutely awesome! We found a ton of new people to teach, and it was really so great!  I am really rushed on time so I will just try to give a spiritual thought, and let you all know that if things go well, we will be finally be able to baptize David y Israel this Saturday which will be great!

So this past Tuesday as I was helping to teach the missionaries in our area, I was truly studying and praying to find something that would help build their animo, and bless our missionary efforts!  As part of this, I came up with the following

Miracles are a product of our faith, love, and the power of the Holy Ghost acting in our lives! I was reflecting upon many of the miracles of the Book of Mormon and the New Testament and I truly recognized that this pattern exists in every part of our lives.  That as we take actions of faith, with a love of God and our fellow men, and listen to the guiding voice of the spirit, any child of God will be able to view miracles in their lives, with everything according to the will of God.  As missionaries, I have not been able to witness a Red Sea parting experience, but as i have placed my faith in God, loved the people I am teaching, and tried to follow what the Spirit tells me, I have seen great miracles in the lives of los demas.  I have been able to see people who were completely closed off and felt isolated from God, do a 180 turn, and experience the joy and light of the gospel.  And in this I would like to share with each and every one of you an invitation to look to God for the miracles that we are seeking, sincerely search in how we can develop our faith, love, and connection with the Spirit, and if everything is according to God's plan, he will give to us according to our desires but we can not lack any part of this formula if we wish to truly have a miraculous experience!  I love each and every one of you!  I testify that Christ Lives, and that we have an inherent worth as Children of God that is beyond any earthly possession. As we store up treasures in heaven, we will have an eternity to enjoy them! 

Hope you all can change the world for someone else!

Love,

Elder Raven

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