Out 4 months! Holy Cow!

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Kia Ora Whanau(family)!!!!

Well for me, this past week was good as always! There are never bad days as a missionary! Only opportunites to grow and overcome opposition!! It was a good week though. We are just sticking to it
and trying to teach people about the Gospel. 

Do you remember sister whetu? that lady we baptized back in december? Well she is awesome!! She like wants her whole family to join the church and is giving us heaps of people to go see and teach. 
She is an awesome missionary! We are now teaching her two nephews and one of her husbands cousins, and there are even more people she wants us to go teach. Its really cool though to see how much
she has changed. I mean she still has some things she is trying to do better on like her language and such but she comes to church every sunday with her husband and kids, reads her scriptures and 
they have family home evening! Its so cool. I mean we were able to save that family. Brother Whetu now has a calling in the young mens and gave a talk  in chruch last sunday. I really love this gospel.
It really does bring our families lasting peace and happiness.

Besides that we have a mission conference this friday and have the opportunity to meet an apostle, Elder Cook!! It really look forward to listening to what he has to say to us. 

The work is going good here, our companionship is doing better even though there are some bumpy patches at times but we are doing good. Elder Jolliffee is going home pretty soon and he is pretty trunky.
He still wants to work but not like as hard as i'd like too. This week we are going to hit it hard and find more people to teach. 

Well thats all for now. Hope you like the pics i sent!! They show that one day we got drenched while working in the rain and also how much food we got one day from members!!! 

Love you heaps,
Elder Rawlinson

Happy new year!

Sunday, January 01, 2012 4:04 PM

Kia Ora Family!!

Well its 2012! I can hardly believe it. I"m glad to hear you were all able to spend the holidays together! Sounds like you all ate a ton, but exercised to keep it off haha! Sounds like its time to get back to life again. School and work are starting again and life begins again. Make it a great year! I know i am!

It was a pretty good week leading up to new years! Like i always say, there are many moments where we are led to people. We met this one lady on the street, and talked to her for a little bit and found out that her husband had recently passed. We talked about the Savior and his atonement and how he can help her in her life, we then said a prayer and then goodbye. It was a really good moment.

So transfers took place this thursday. My companion elder jibas and I found out we are both staying in Otahuhu! But guess what! We found out that we are getting another missionary! So once again i am in a threesome! The missionary that joined us is Elder Jolliffe! He's from England! Its crazy to be in a threesome again. Its going to be an interesting six weeks because or flat isnt really big enough for three people, but i guess we'll have to make it work. Elder Jolliffee is a good missionary, this is his last transfer so i'll be honest and say that he is pretty trunky lol. But its ok, me and elder jibas are going to make sure that he finishes strong!

Hey i got your package on thursday!!! Hurray!! Thank you so much for all the candy, ties and the flag!! Oh and mom the letters were really nice too! I really appericiate the journal you sent me. It was nice to read and realzie how much i am blessed and that no matter what happens, it will never be that bad. It was a really good package though! And yes i did get it! So keep em coming haha.

So yesterday you'll never believe what i ate!! So we had our ward mission leader feed us yesterday. He is a tongan and we ate at his siter in laws house with some of their family. It was a great feast haha. A really really great feast lol. But anyways, the crazy thing that i ate was horse meat! Yes i ate horse haha! And i must say that it was pretty dang good, i would eat it again. I'm being serious, it was probably one of the best things i've had since being out here lol! I mean it was just really good! I wish i could have it back home lol when i'm done with my mission, it was that good. They also rolled a pig and i ate pig. That was also pretty good. They told me the next thing i need to try is dog! Thats what they eat back in Tonga, but its illegal here in NZ. Haha, they said i would like that if i liked horse lol. I'm not to sure i could eat a dog though, thats probably the line i would draw haha.

It was a great new years though, and i'm glad to talk to you all once again. 
Well love you all so much! And i will talk to you again next week!!

Love,
Elder Rawlinson

Christmas Pics

Here are some pics of my christmas yesterday!

Almost the New Year!!

 Sunday, December 25, 2011 4:10 PM

Malo Family! (Malo pretty much means Hello in Tongan)

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas! I'm so glad I had the chance to talk to you all! It was such a blessing to be able to! How was your christmas!! I bet its really nice having the family together! I miss you all but it was great to be able to hear your voices on christmas! Brandon told me i had a bit of an accent! haha your right! I wouldnt even notice that i have one haha but i bet i do! Glad to hear everybody is enjoying a nice break from school and work.

Christmas was good here. It felt weird just because it was really warm and like i said people arent all hyped

up about it here like they are there. The members were great thought, two different ones brought us breakfeast in the morning and some presents(choclate), which was really nice. After church we went over to the Whetu's home and ate some lunch and they also gave us a gift! It was a sandwhich maker and some lollies(candy). It was really nice of them! After that we went to another members home and ate dinner! I ate so much yesterday its crazy! They had a seafood feast. There was lots of fish and crab and other seafood that i dont know what the name was haha. It was different but good. They also gave us some gifts as well! A tie for each of us! It was really nice. Made me feel at home! After that we went out for a few hours and saw some people and knocked some doors giving away joy to the world dvds. I was afraid people were going to be really rude, but nobody was everybody was pretty nice and one lady actually gave us a sack of food in return. So all and all it was a pretty good Christmas.

I feel bad i havent gotten your packages yet, but this thursday is transfers, and that is a day we get all our mail. So if i dont get my stuff that day, i will let you know next monday. Hopefully it just takes a long time for stuff to get here and that its not lost somewhere.

It seems that each week that goes by goes faster and faster. Its almos like a dream. It goes by so fast our here but not at the same time. I can't explain it. I'm learning and growing a little bit each day. A mission for me as been a great experiance so far. To be out on my own. Having to figure things out for myself and to become a man. I now know why the lord wants all young men to serve missions. If we serve faithfully, it molds us into instruments that he can use. He will be able to use us the rest of our lives. Its really quite amazing he trusts 19 to 21 year old young men to carry the most important message to everyone in the world and to face the things we face.

The New year is almost here and i can't believe it. If you were to tell me last year at this time that i would be in auckland new zealand typing this email, i would laugh. I look back and remember my senior year and can't believe how fast time has gone. It seems like 2 years will be a long time but i realize it will go very quickly, and thus i cannot waste anytime! Anyways, i love you all so much, and thank you once again for the emails and prayers! Talk to you next week! 

Ofatu,

Elder Rawlinson

Almost Christmas!

 Sunday, December 18, 2011 

Kio Ora Family!!

I can't believe its almost Christmas!! The month of December is almost over! Transfers is actually next week! I'll most likely stay here in Otahuhu. I'm glad to hear from you all!

Thats to bad Brian's dad passed away.But from what it sounds like it was probably his time. I like what you said dad about tender mercies. I have really come to know the

lords tender mercies out here in the field, and their are many as a missionary, and i try and thank Heavenly Father as much as possible for them.

I hope you all are pumped for Christmas! The family is going to be all together is sounds like! Thats awesome, well except me haha, but its all good! I'm looking forward to talking

to you on Sunday! Me and my companion have decided we are going to call around 3:00 p.m. New Zealand time(it will be sunday for us, saturday for you i guess). I have no idea

what time that is there but i'll leave that for youto figure out! Hopefully i will be able to talk for an hour but i'm not sure, i'll find out soon. I hope you have been sending my mail and

stuff to the right address because since being out i havent got any letters or anything, i guess it could just be really slow and take a long time, so hopefully i will get your package

and stuff before sunday. I bet i will, i have faith it will all work out.

This past week was good! Sister Whetu(Erica) got baptized! And so did one of her sons and niece! It was a miracle! Things happened this week and we were afraid it wasnt going to

work out, but it did! It was a good servie and a whole bunch of her family showed up, and a lot are nonmembers so that is good. It will be a great blessing for the family. They come

to church all the time, and things are going really well. Its so amazing! I mean how much she has changed since i first met her. Like i said in earlier emails, the Lord can change hearts,

thats the miracle of conversion.

We also had a Christmas conference on Saturday for the mission. We got together with a few other zones and had it at a nearby chapel. One of the Seventies, Elder Watson, came and spoke to us.

It was really good, i learned so much. He really talked about how god is our father, and truly does know us and help us. That this is all His plan, and he came up with it. I think the problem

is that sometimes we dont teach enough about god the father, or the godhead as missionaires, and people just think God and jesus are the same, when as we know they are different beings, and also

that we pray to Heavenly Father, not Jeus. It was a really good training. For me, what i do know is just try and make people realize that they are a son or daughter of God, he is their father, knows

them and truly loves them a lot, and that they can speak with him through prayer, as one man speaketh to another. I know our purpose as missionaries is to baptize, but lately i feel like we've just been

trying to get numbers, instead of truly saving people. So i just need to remind myself that people are real and not a number. I see that can happen very easily is to get lost in trying to accomplish numbers

instead of truly helping people.

But anyways, its been a good week and I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!! Talk to you on Sunday!!!

Love,

Elder Rawlinson