Hey Mommacita!Thanks for filling me in on everything...man, I cant believe it, time has really started to fly by the last two weeks, its so wild!I can't believe that I will be home soon, and that we will all be together for the first time in a long time! I'm excited. And I'm a little nervous as well ha ha, but I guess that comes with the mission, right?As for the storm...nothing really happened, just lots of rain and wind, we still went out and worked and saw lots of miracles because of it...Angel and Lissette now have a date for baptism - the 25th of November. It's kind of sad for me that I won't be there to see this one through, but I know that God will take care of them.I think, momma, that this is going to be the hardest part about leaving the mission - that I won't be able to visit, to teach and to see these people. I love them so much, they have become my dearest friends. It makes me think about something that Matty told me right before I left... there was a point where I called him, freaking out saying, "Matty, I think I want to come back to Hawaii"...to which, in Matty style, he calmly said "Rachel, you can't"... He told me that before this life I had made a promise. I had made a promise with my greatest friends, in the pre-existence, that I would come down and find them, that I would share with them the gospel. He said that if I didn't go, I would be denying them the gospel and breaking my promise - I would miss out. Man, I am so grateful I came, because I can truly say I have met my greatest friends. I have been so blessed because of it. I will forever be grateful for it, for this time, for all the it has given me, for the friendships I have made, for the growth I have received.I am excited to get to hang out with you momma, ahhh, alone time with momma, lets just cuddle and watch movies ha ha...as for after the mission, I haven't really thought too much about what to do, I think I'm going to need to go to Utah for a bit though at some point... so... road trip?Well momma, I love you, I will write you one last email next week... I'm going to send a package home to you tomorrow with some books and stuff...but yeah, love you tons!CuboRaquelPS: HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPA WALLY...and thanks for the letter, love you papa and granny jo see you soon.
Tuesday October 30, 2012
Monday October 8, 2012
Dear Sweet Momma---
Oh Africa, it just sounds buck wild. I hope that you know how grateful I am for you, I am grateful for your willingness to always go and help those who are in need, grateful for your patience and perseverance...I just love you so much. I'm excited for when all of you get home, so you can be able to enjoy in those comforts of home, not to mention all the American candy you want without having to travel to the embajada.
As for me, this week was pretty sweet...I'm just kind of really tired to be honest. We are just trying to work until we drop, which is the best way to work. There truly is no feeling more satisfying than that of being exhausted in the work of the Savior. The days when I am exhausted are the days when I know that the Lord is proud of me, and I hope that even after my mission I can stay that way, just doing God's work, serving others, being more focused on the eternal things than on the worldly things.
I've been thinking a lot lately about that scripture in Mosiah... that the natural man is an enemy to God and will forever be unless he puts off the natural man and becomes as a little child, meek, humble, submissive. I love that concept. When I think of little children, I think of sweet human beings, who love all they meet, they see the good before they see the bad, they trust, they give, they help others, they are sad with those that are sad, they walk with those who ask them to, they are patient, they laugh, they listen to the counsels of their father, they try anything and most the time they do it with out questioning why, they walk and they go, they have faith and they are willing to learn, they can hear and feel the Spirit and they trust it.
Momma, that is what it is all about, I am excited to come home and be with you all but at the same time I am so nervous because I know that that's when the real test will begin. When I will have to apply all the things I have learned out here. When I will actually be in the world having to put off the natural man, finding the way to balance it all. I hope and pray with all my heart that I can be as a little child, that I will always remember the things of eternal value instead of those of the worldly. Something that Elder Holland or President Uchtdorf said I think, was that once we start this journey, we cannot look back but we must look forward and go. Mom, I can not look back to my past, but I must go and always be a disciple of Jesus Christ because that is what is most important. I know this Gospel is true, I have been blessed with that knowledge and testimony and will forever have the responsibility to share it and live it. I'm grateful for it, for my Savior and for my family. I am excited to be with you all and to begin the rest of the journey, the rest of my mission. I love you.
Cubo
RR
October 1, 2012
Mommy!
Man oh man,
I'm glad to hear that everything is working our for the AFRIKANOS so that they can find their way back home easily...that is such a blessing. I'm excited for you all to get going back home, there is nothing like it. That reminds me of a song....I think it's called Home. It says, "home, now let me go home, home is whenever I'm with you!" It's wild how that works. I have noticed that the moments in my life where I have felt lost or sad or confused, where it seems as though I can't continue on, the thing that always popped into my mind was the thought of you, or of grandpa, or of family. In Hawaii, it wasn't so much my friends, but it was the thought of Matty and Lindsay and Parker...it was never the thought of 460 Albers Rd., but the thought of being with the ones I love, with the ones that know me. Because it is through you all that I find my support, my peace of mind, my comfort. I am so grateful to my God, for each and every one of you and the promise He has given me that as I do my all, as I strive to follow my Savior I can have you all by my side and I can have greater lasting joy. I am so excited for the family to all be together again to celebrate Gromzy and Shaybaby...it's gonna be the sweetest.
Right now, I am still in Fredricksburg, training Hermana Wallis. Our area is ginormous so we have a car, thank goodness, because its freezing! I heard this winter is going to be awful because the last, apparently for others, was really "warm." I'm loving it these days though, out here there are tons of trees and so I get to see everything change, and it's just beautiful. The work is progressing and I am just trying to work as hard as I possibly can to consecrate my work to the Lord. I just want Him to be proud of me by the end of this all. Momma, yesterday in sacrament meeting a man bore his testimony. His name is Don Dimas Rodriguez and he is just the sickest ever, I love him so much. He bore his testimony talking about how grateful he was for his missionaries who gave him the chance to have the truth in his life, to hold the Priesthood of God, so that he can bless his family and friends...I couldn't help but cry, knowing what a large impact this work has on others, knowing how grateful I am for the missionaries who taught you and for your willingness to accept it, knowing how grateful I am for the examples of Matty and Grommy and Boofy and Dad, for their willingness to participate in it all and how grateful I am for my mission, for how blessed I am and will forever be to have seen the lives of people I have talked to change and seeing my life change. There is no greater peace or joy, no greater feeling than helping others and seeing them light up literally at finding the way back to their Father in Heaven. I love my mission momma, I love you, I love everyone. BE safe in AFRIKA.
Cubo
RR
PS: Check out the crazy chihuahua that always tries to eat me at the trailers.
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