July 16, 2012

Hey Everyone

This weekend we were so blessed.  A family of three got baptized and then a 14 year old girl, Maylis also got baptized.  Martha(Colombia), Fredy(Guatemala) y Kamila Pantaleon...we found them in a subway.  My companion was in the bathroom, so I started talking to them and we got a return appointment. With time, we started visiting them regularly.  The only problem was that Martha was extremely Catholic. She grew up praying to the Virgin Mary and everything, but she said she felt like there was something she was missing and she wanted her family to be united.  Well, we finally started getting to teach Fredy, her husband, and he quickly embraced the gospel.  He started changing... leaving things behind, like alcohol and coffee, and he told us that he just felt good at church.  He felt at peace, different than ever before.  So we invited them to be baptized and they said yes!  It was so incredible to see each one of them leave the water...first Fredy with tears coming down his face, then Martha and then Kamila.  She said to us right after that she had been searching and pleading for God to help her family and then He heard her pleads and sent us.  That moment was so humbling and so special for me.  I love them so much and am so excited for when they can enter into the temple and be sealed forever.  I know this gospel is true momma, I know that God has a plan for each and every one of us and I know that our family will be together forever, that we will see Dad and Grandpa again and we will all just celebrate.  That's all God wants for us... to be happy.  We just have to do our part.  But it is a beautiful thing.  I love you momma, tons.

Cubo

RR

July 9, 2012

Dear Family - HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!!!  God Bless America!  What a place to be on such a special day...  Along with the month of July, I start to realize that time is running faster and faster - four more months is all I have left to do some very special and important work.  I'm excited to see you all but at the same time, I'm a little nervous.  I just want to be good.  I want to know that God is proud of me and all that I have done.  I just need to keep working hard to the end, keep giving all that I can!  We are having baptisms this week, Marta (Colombia), Fredy (Guatamala), Kamila and Maylis (Honduras).

The Lord is blessing us so much right now and there is nothing sweeter than seeing people who I love, my brothers and sisters change, and accept the gospel in their lives.  I'm so grateful for it.  I know that it is something so special.  This IS God's work, the work of salvation, the work of eternal happiness.  I am so blessed to be a part of it all.  This gospel changes lives, and more than anyone's, it has changed my life.  I'm so humbled and blessed and will forever be indebt to my Savior.  I love you all so much. Thanks for all you do.  Keep praying for Noel and Osiris - that Noel can get his passport from Honduras. I think I may have missed some birthday shout outs, if so - I apologize.  I think I missed Auntie Lisa Lodi.  KC!!!!!  You are coming up.  Nonie!!!!  You are all in my heart!  

 

Cubo

RR

June 25, 2012

This letter is going to be short because to be honest I dont have much time.  We just got back from running to DC...so SICK!  I loved it tons, it was so peaceful.  This week we had to say goodbye to the Albrights :( they are going home.  I love them so much, President is just "the man."  Ima miss them.  Found out that me and Hermana Ahokava are going to stay together and we are both stoked!  She has become such a good friend and there is nothing like doing missionary work with one of your best friends!  As for the people, Noel and Osiris want to get married and be baptized but they have to wait for their passport to get to them from Honduras. Pray for them momma...family, they are on the brink of making such a beautiful decsion and the adversary is working hard, he doest want them happy...but God does.  Momma, I love this work.  I love the Savior.  I love it all.  And I love you.  Thanks for always being so good to me.

 

cubo

rr

June 18, 2012

Hey everyone!

So this week we had a miracle...

 

As a zone we decided to fast for our investigators to have spiritual experiences and well, Noel had a huge one.

We went over to Noel and Osiris' house and Noel answered the door.  He was there with his friend (and his sister-in-law) and they were both drinking.  There were beers on the table and as I sat down and saw them, the saddest feeling I have ever felt came over me. I didn't know what to do.  We knew that we probably couldn't really teach him too much, so we began to invite him to come to church and as we were inviting him, his eyes rolled into the back of his head...I asked "Noel, are you okay?"  he said to me "yeah I am okay."  Than I said, you look a little tired.  He then said, "Hermana, why am I going to lie to you, I am an alcoholic,  I am an alcoholic."  And then with tears in his eyes he said, "but I don't want to be like this anymore, I want to change.  Ever since you all started coming by I have begun to change.  You have won my heart, I am ready to change."  We began to explain that it was the Spirit that has won his heart, that has given him the desires to change and that by following his Savior Jesus Christ, by following the Greatest Man who ever lived, he could over come this and that all of his sins could be erased.  He then said," okay, I am ready to do this."  Then, we invited him in that moment to throw away his beer.  Together, that night, we poured all the beer down the drain, he received a blessing, and then the next morning when we stopped by for church, he, his best friend and Osiris were already - waiting to go to church! 

 

That moment was one of the most special moments I have ever experienced - to be able to see a man at his lowest, most humble state, recognize that he needed the Savior's help and accept the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  It was a testimony to me.  I know this gospel is true, and it is only through it and following our Savior that we can be healed.   

 

Love you all!

 

Cubo

RR

 

PS:  Happy Birthday to Aunt Cyndy, Aunt Sabrina, and Granny Jo! Love you all and thanks Lukey Barnes for being the sweetest lil cuz ever and writing me :) love you!

June 11, 2012

So mom, Hermana Ahokava and I are training a new missionary...super sweet but crazy because it made me realize that I have been a missionary for a while. Just it has made me come to recognize that, I'm going home soon...The thought of being in the world scares me, the only conversation topics I have these days have to do with my mission, my investigators, and the people I have come to love. Hope you all will be ready for "awkward rachel." When the time comes its gonna be super good though. I got all those pictures in the mail, and it just made me really happy...gahh, I miss you all tons. Momma, I hope you know how much I love you. I'm proud of you. Thanks for being the best and always having my back. BE good, keep me posted on the Hawaii thing :) I love you. RR
Happy Birthday Shout Outs to:  Aunt Cyndy, EMILY EMILY EMILY, Aunt Bri, Auntie LISA
And Happy Father's Day to Grandpa, Dad, Papa Wally, Matty and Seth, Mark and Brother Wilson (and all of you other great fathers out there.)

 Here are some pictures...my ode to Boofy haha.. People were calling me senora with that dress on haha. I love you Boofy!

                                                                                                        The other photos are companions and investigators.

June 4, 2012

Hola! I just wanted to write you all a little update, so here it goes.... Right now I am serving in Alexandria, Virginia with Hermana Ahokava(thats right, I found my islander here in Virginia!). We are having a blast and seeing so many miracles. Man, its the best! Right now we are teaching a few people that are really progressing. I want to tell you all about Noel y Osiris from Honduras, my family, haha. Its crazy but I never thought I could love as much as I love them. They are the sweetest, and all that I want for them is to be completely happy. Hermana Sorensen and I found them about 4 months ago knocking doors and they just let us right in. Since then I have come to know them...they have told us of their struggles leaving their son in Honduras so they could support him, crossing the border, working 2 sometimes 3 jobs, and we have been able to see how the gospel has helped them, how it has lightened there eyes and also the weight on their backs. It has been such a testimony to me that this gospel, has a healing power, that this work, is God's work, and that His work is to help us all return to Him so we can be eternally happy. I love you all. Cubo RR PS: happy birthday Aunt Nina, Cali, Lindsay, and Sarah. love you

May 21, 2012

Hey everyone- So this last week has really been incredible. We have just been super blessed with a lot of miracles. Man, I feel so humbled everyday to be a part of this work, the Lord's work, a spiritual work, an eternal work. To see peoples lives change and to be able to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord. What a humbling experience and what a blessing. This last week I got to go on an exchange back to Bella Vista and see my former investigators who I have missed so much. It was a really sweet experience. First we went and see the Family Arguetta. Oh how I love this family. They are a family of 6 from El Salvador and Marta makes the best pupusas ever! Well I guess the last couple of transfers they have been kinda stuck, Marta has been waiting for an answer from God. So me and Hna Thompson we went in to go and teach them and we talked with her about how she expected to receive her answer. She said through prayer and the feelings she received. We then asked her if she had prayed specifically, to know if these things were true, to which she replied she didn't have to, she already knew. She said that she just wasn't sure about baptism. In that moment, I remembered her telling us(me and hna moya) about a dream she had the first night she met us about 6 months ago. That night, after we taught her the first lesson, we invited her to pray for guidance. Well, she did it. That night she got on her knees and prayed and asked God for guidance, for where she should go with her kids, where he wanted her to be. She had a dream, that she was in the church with me and Hna Moya. She received an answer from God the first night she met us. The Spirit was able to remind me of her telling us of that dream and and it testified to her that that was her answer. She said that it was right and that she didn't want to go to church anywhere else. Right now, they are preparing for baptism the 15th of June! The second sweet experience I had that day was when we went to see Carmen...Carmen is the best, she came up to me and Hna Moya in church back in Dec and asked to learn from us. Unfortunately she has also been stuck lately because she is living with her boyfriend and has had a fear of leaving him over something she wasn't sure was true. As she has been taught she has seen so many people progress to baptism and change, for example her boyfriend's nephew Rudy was baptized the 5th of May. She went to his baptism and was moved to tears. So that night we went to see her. She said the opening prayer and the spirit was in the room so strongly. We talked a little about Rudy's baptism and how much he had changed and how he had a full testimony of the gospel. We then talked to her about the gospel of Jesus Christ and how much He loved her. She expressed her feelings of how she wished the past could be wiped away and then we read with her Alma 7:10-15. The Spirit was so strong in the room. We explained to her that through the gospel of Jesus Christ, through faith in Him, repentance and baptism, all can be washed away, erased. We asked her how she would feel to be completely clean from her past? She began to cry and we asked her how she was feeling. With tears rolling down her face she said that she had gone to the catholic church growing up and she liked it, but it never made her feel the way she felt, it never made her cry...she said she knew the church was true. We invited her to come unto Christ and be baptized the 15th of June to which she excepted. I love my mission, I love all that it has given me. In this time, I feel like I have come to see things and people with a different perspective, I see them now as my brothers and sisters, and I love them so much! I only want the best for them, I only want to help them be the happiest they can be. I know from experience that the truest happiness you can receive is by living the gospel of Jesus Christ and I feel so grateful to my Heavenly Father to have had the chance to go back to Bella Vista that day, to see my people haha, the ones that I have grown to love with all my heart and to see the moment where they felt the truth and accepted it. The Holy Ghost testified to them the truth, It testified to them the eternal truth, that God loves them and that He wants to see them again. The gospel is so true. God's hand is in our lives everyday. I am a witness of it. I love you all so much. Cubo RR

May 7, 2012

Hello dear family: How I love you all so much. So this week out here in the mission was really awesome. We got to hear from President Bednar and the spirit in the room was so incredible. After we walked out I remember feeling so physically, mentally and spiritually drained. He talked so much about faith and so much about how we had to act in order to truly learn and to truly gain a testimony. He also talked a lot about humility, about being the instrument that the Lord needs you to be so that He can work through you. I have come to realize on my mission, that all of this work has absolutely nothing to do with me. All the success, the miracles I have seen have all been because the Lord gave them to me, so that I could learn more and be more grateful to Him. And I am. I am so grateful to my Savior, to my Best Friend. Cubo, RR

Bowling

SISTERS ACTIVITY - MARCH 5, 2012

The whole beautiful group

Sisters Sorenson, Hardt, Ahokava, Raynor, and Dezzeo

Pres with Sis Yoon, Moses, Crockett, Ferrin, and Murray

Sisters Mecham, Rozsa, Anderson , Hanson, Ferrin, Sister Albright, Sorenson, Crockett, Moses, Smith, Barnes, Raynor, and Ganbaatar