HOME

Im finally back home!  I made it to the island on Wednesday and all I can say is it feels like home.  As soon as I stepped off the plane and felt that humid air, I just knew, I never wanted to leave this place again.   Every time I leave the island and come back, I fall back in love with it even more.

Its something so sweet, the relationship I feel with Hawaii, its where I grew up, where I experienced so many of the youthful exploits, where I lost myself and then found myself again. Im so grateful to be here, experiencing this place again, to hear the ocean as I fall asleep, to feel the sun on my skin, to get pounded at pounders, to meet knew and beautiful people, to allow myself to enjoy the pure joy that comes from being home, because home is where I am.  I cant wait for the adventures which await me.

Merry Christmas

Ive been pondering a lot lately on Christmas, the true meaning of it all. So often in life we get distracted by the glitz and the glam of it all, the lights, hot chocolate, the presents....but when it all comes down to it the most important is the gift given to us out of love by our heavenly father... 

16 ¶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (New Testament, John, Chapter 3).

God gave us his son so that,  through it all, through all the distractions we could look to him, turn to him, follow him, and have everlasting life.  

Im so grateful for my savior, for the special day many years ago when he was born and i celebrate it with joy in my heart.  

The Paper Kites - Featherstone (Official Music Video)

Im a year and a half behind on my music so a few days ago I decided to jump into it and found this sweet band...im loving them these days

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference

Tuesday October 30, 2012

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!

 

Cubo

Raquel

 

PS:   HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPA WALLY...and thanks for the letter, love you papa and granny jo see you soon.

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.

September 24, 2012

Dear Family: 

We found on Saturday night a woman named Nina, momma, she is so sweet.  She is from Mexico and lives with one of her three sons, the other two live in Mexico with her parents.  She is working to support all 4 of them in Mexico.  It was crazy, as she let us into her apartment and we started to talk with her, I could just see how tired she was, how much she needed peace, the peace that comes from the gospel and immediately i thought of Mathew, when Jesus says, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and i will give ye rest."  I knew, in that moment that I was in the right place, that there was no where else in this world i needed to be but there, with her.   So we began to share with her and well, the incredible thing about her is that in Veracruz, Mexico, about 13 years ago she had spoken with missionaries, read the Book of Mormon and attended church regularly.  She lost contact with the elders when she moved, but we invited her to be baptized and she smiled big and said yes, that she had gone to baptisms of her friends and that was something she was wanting to do.  There is nothing more special than that, than finding someone who has been searching.  I know momma, that this gospel is true, that it is the thing that brings us eternal happiness.  I love you so much and am so grateful for the example that you are to me.  Tell every one I love them.  Be happy, cause momma, we are so blessed!

 

Cubo

RR

September 10, 2012

Mommy----

 

Sounds like Africa is just buck wild.  Keep enjoying it, just think, how many times will you get to be secluded in another country.  I love you so much and am so grateful for all your support.  Everything here is going good.  Just working hard and trying to make God proud.  I'm really trying to just focus on becoming the best that I can especially now that time is a matter.  Man momma, I love my mission so much, I'm so grateful for the things it has taught me and the way that I have grown...this will forever be the best decision of my life.  I think anytime we chose to draw closer to the Savior it's the best decision of our lives though, it just brings so much more light and peace to us.  This may sound wild, but I find more comfort and peace in my life now as a missionary with non stop days than I ever did in Hawaii.  It just goes to show, there is a difference between happiness and joy.  Happiness is the momentary satisfaction, its the fleeting gratification, but joy, it's lasting, it's an inner peace and it comes by following the Savior...(now I'm sure there is a balance between the two in this life and we need to find that balance.) But I'm grateful for the time I have to follow the Savior, to walk with Him and share the gospel with people.  That's the only thing that can truly change people's lives...so momma, those people that you see in Africa, I know how badly you want to help them and although you cant bring momentary happiness to them economically, you can give them joy - so snag some pass along cards from the missionaries and go buck!  Give em out like Matty did when he had just gotten home and we were in San Francisco for Christmas.  Remember how he gave them to everyone...I always thought he was so weird but now, I get it.  

I love you momma.
I'm so proud of you.

Tell everyone I love them so much.

 

Cubo

Raquel

September 3, 2012

MOMMMAAAA!!!!!

 

I'm so excited to write you!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

 

I couldn't wait to read my emails this week from you to hear about the AFRICAN ADVENTURES of you and Nonie!  That's gonna be such a fun trip!  I'm stoked you two are getting to play a lil bit.  So you are going to be there in Africa forever - haha, just embrace it, have fun and love the members. You should go out with the missionaries if you have time!  I love that you love the ward there in Africa, the Spirit you feel.  Its incredible, I love the gospel so much momma, but I Love it way more in Spanish, its so pure and true, these converts they know the difference between having the gospel and not having it and so when they have it, they share it, they feel it and they tell everyone what they love about it cause they know that that is the best gift in the world we can give those we love.  It's sick. 

 

Out here in Fredricksburg, we are just working really hard trying to find people.  The work is so much more different than before. It's good though, it makes me humble and rely on God more.  So the other night, we were out knocking on these trailers and it was late, we had about 5 minutes left so we went and knocked on the last door.  Right after we knocked it, this white kid came out and he smelled so bad, his whole trailer smelled like marijuana and the look in his eyes just looked empty.  In that moment, I told him who we were and asked if he had faith in Jesus Christ to which his response was a chuckle and a no.  I remember looking away right after that to grab a pass along card and I just felt fear, we gave him the card and left but I learned something from that experience that I wanted to share with you.  I learned in that moment how important the Spirit is to me.  How much I thrive off of it and when it leaves, it makes me sick, so sad and scared.  I was thinking about how before my mission, I had kinda lost that for a while, I lost the ability to feel and recognize the Spirit like that because I wasn't surrounding myself with the best situations.  Now, I am so grateful for my mission because it has help me come to see the difference.  I'm sure I've told you before that my favorite scripture is in Corinthians, where it says that by faith we walk not by sight.  Well I have come to realize, with the Spirit we can come to have sight, as we follow it we are given more and more, as we trust in it we are able to be in the right places at the right times to help those who need us.  Momma, the Spirit is so precious, we need it so badly in this life, and God knew we would need it, thats why He gave it to us.  I'm so grateful for it. I never want to lose it.   I'm grateful for you.  I love you tons.  Tell Boofy and Seth and Thomas Thales Sherry (and Cali) that I love them.  Enjoy the time you have with them. 

 

Cubo

Raquel
 

PS:  Katie Kat..Kiki, Katherine, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!