The Raleigh Family

Invictus Emergo

Week 19 - Everyone has a different path to take here on earth that will shape us to who we need to be. 

Dear mom,

 

This week was kinda hard. Pretty much our whole teaching group kinda fell apart. And we didn’t end up having anyone come to church so it was sad. Also the woman we baptized went out of town and met someone and I guess she’s moving to that city with him now. She left today so we went to see her and give her and her son some presents. It was sad because she started to cry and I haven’t ever seen her cry before. Its weird because it seems like we just met her yesterday and she just got baptized, but it’s been a while now I guess!

Sounds like things are going good back home! Man the house is going to be way different when I get back, I might not even recognize it! So do you think that heather will probably have the baby this next week or so? Man that’s nuts!

It’s cool you got to see the Whiteds! How’s Tyler doing? It would be pretty cool to talk to him and see where he´s at in life.

The Whited FamilyTyler Whited

So today we finally cleaned the house! And the front area outside our house! That’s why I’m emailing later.

Last night we have a pretty cool experience. So it was the end of the night and we went and waited at the bus stop and after like an abnormally long time a bus finally came. So we were riding on it and after like ten minutes they just stop and told us that they were at the last stop and they weren’t going to return to the terminal, which is where we needed to go. So we got off and had no idea where we were. So we asked some people if bus 11 passed there, which is the bus we needed to take. And it did. So then while we were waiting we looked in this burger place to see how much the food was, but we didn’t have enough money to buy any food. So we were walking out and this guy came running out and said he was gonna buy us a burger! So we let him. And we ended up getting his contact information and then bus 11 came but it just waited there for like ten minutes (I don’t know why) and all the bus drivers got off and were just chillin' or something so we got all there information to. So then we were riding home and thinking about how weird the situation was and were both sure that it wasn’t a mistake. We got kicked off a bus and had just enough time for us to get everyone’s contact information and get a free burger and 2 liters of coke and get on the bus to go home. God was for sure involved with it! Haha

Oh also another cool thing happened the other day! So we went to this house on Monday that we had contacted on Sunday night and we went in and got to know them a little bit. It was a married couple. And then started to teach them the first lesson. So we got to the part where we read the scripture James 1:5 and I asked them if they believed that god answers prayer, and before I could even finish the question he interrupted me with his answer which was yes. And then he started to tell us that he had actually been praying, for a while now, to know what way god wanted him to take and then we showed up at his door talking about Jesus and so he invited us in. At this point in the lesson his wife started to cry, which is kinda intense for the first lesson haha, and then we told them about the first vision and the book of Mormon and the spirit was setting the house on fire! So I’m pretty confident that this guy and his wife will be baptized because they are both looking for an answer with real intent and were both just really open. So I’m pretty excited about that!

Oh so now were allowed to listen to more music! We can listen to like any EFY music and also I think most of Enya would be okay so next week can you email me some music? Cause we are getting sooooo sick of our music! Haha we have two CDs and one is Mo’ Tab’...

I like that quote from Elder Holland. He´s for sure one of my favorites of the 12 Apostles. I like that parable. We have someone when I was in the MTC come and speak and he talked about that one. I can’t remember who it was but he said “God´s not worried about the time of day it took you to find the faith, just that you found it by the end of the day.” Something like that. And it’s totally true! Everyone has a different path to take here on earth that will shape us to who we need to be. And everyone who has faith at the end of the day will receive the same reward.

So yesterday when I was riding one the bus I was thinking about decisions and how they shape people’s lives and deep stuff like that and I decided that there are two type of people in this world, those who do things to try and discover who they are and those who do thinks because they already know who they are. I’m so grateful for the gospel in my life! I think everyone in the world has such a hard time really knowing who they are and what they want to do with their lives and what is really important. I’m just glad that through the gospel we know what this life is all about and we know what we need to do to be happy! I know that as we go through life we continually discover who we are, but I also think that best way to know who you are is to just live the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Love you guys and hope you have an awesome week!

 

Love,

Elder Raleigh

Wednesday, July 25, 2012 12:23:00 PM Categories: Letter's Home

Week 18 - We all have something to learn and something to give. 

Dear mom,

 

This last week was super awesome as well. You’ll have to read the story I wrote in dads email about the woman with the Alma experience. It’s a pretty intense one.

Sounds like everything is going pretty well back home.

It’s cool to hear that everyone is starting to move out east! That would be super awesome if Chad got the job in Philly! We could go see them all the time! And also Philly is a pretty sweet city, except all the murders and drugs and stuff like that...

Good to hear that everything is working out with Jess. And good to know the Jacksons are such good friends! It’s for sure an answer to her prayers! And that is a pretty funny story about the battery! Haha made me laugh.

It’s pretty nuts that Heathers gonna be having another baby anytime now! You guys will have to send me pictures! Hope everything is going well with the baby, I’ll be praying for her.

Transfers were yesterday and I stayed here in the same area (Limeira) with the same companion. This transfers gonna rock! We got a bunch of people who are very possible to be baptized this transfer so it should be a really good and busy one. Today we’re gonna go and play some soccer with some of the members and try to get some investigators to go with us so that should be pretty fun.

It’s funny that you sent me a quote by Gordon B Hinckley cause my comps family did to but the one he got was ´you can be smart and happy, or stupid and miserable... It’s your choice` haha I thought that one was pretty funny, but also true. It really is just a choice that we make. We can live seeking knowledge and happiness, or we cannot, and be stupid and miserable. So I just hope I always stay on the side of happiness. I also like that other one you sent me. It really is true that people don’t just come into our lives for no reason. We all have something to learn and something to give.

I’ll be praying for you guys.

 

Love,

Elder Raleigh

 

Dear dad,

So what you said about the double helix thing is exactly what I was saying about to my companion this last week! I think I’m gonna like this talk! (I kinda pictured it as a circle and each category had like a bar that grew taller every time it goes around. That’s crazy we had the same idea of it! I think this talk is exactly what I was looking for so thank you. 

(See: http://www.lds.org/broadcast/misc/CES_2006_Eve_BednarDA_%20SeekLearningByFaith_00920_000.pdf)

Sorry to hear life is so busy there. Life is pretty busy here too. Yesterday was transfers and I stayed in the same area again, which is the city of Limeira in the State of São Paulo. I’m pretty happy about staying here. It feels like home now haha.

This week we’re gonna help some people get married so that we can baptize them so that should be a pretty cool experience. We taught them this last week and the spirit guided that lesson like I’ve never seen before! The girl had a crazy experience! So she kinda struggles with depression and this past week it started to have a really physical effect on her and her heart was having trouble beating and so they went to the hospital and she almost died! But in the moment she felt like she was gonna die she realized she wasn’t ready and she remembered all her sins and things she hadn’t resolved and remembered Christ. In that moment she put out the strength to say out loud “Jesus me salva” three times, which means Jesus save me, and immediately she felt better and her heart started to work okay again. So then we were there like a few days later and didn’t know that this had happened at all and she told us about it. And here is the miracle that morning me and my companion studied that part in the book of Mormon where Alma is struck dumb and suffers for all his sins and it is almost exactly what happened to her! So we read that to her and the spirit was super powerful! We all learned something during that lesson, but I think the main thing is that sometimes we are given things in this life that are way too much for us to handle but if we just call on the name of the lord he will save us. The only reason anyone ever falls and stays fallen is because they just don’t ask for a hand to stand back up. Through this experience we all realized the very real power that Christ has to save us. So by the end of this lesson they both had a baptismal date and a date set to go and get their marriage rolling. They realized that Christ saved her for a reason and that she should make the best of it now. At the end my companion asked them how they felt and they said it was hard to describe but they felt like they wanted to let out a laugh but didn’t know why and just felt at peace. It was a truly miraculous experience and I’m glad I got to be a part of it.

So that was probably the coolest thing to happen so far on my mission haha. So things are going really good here. And I’m working on the language still and on my conversational skills. I can pretty much have a conversation just until someone says a really big or uncommon word. Haha but I can pretty much understand everything that people are saying so that’s kinda cool.

I hope everything keeps going good back home! I’ll be praying for you guys! Man times going fast! At the end of this transfer I’ll have been out for 6 months already!

 

Love,

Elder Raleigh

Wednesday, July 18, 2012 10:53:00 AM Categories: Letter's Home

Week 17 - I got to baptize a kid named Mercelo 

Dear mom,

 

This week has been awesome! I got to baptize a kid named Mercelo this past Sunday who was the kid of the woman we baptized last Sunday. It was pretty cool feeling to be the baptizer.

It sounds like everything is going really well at home. Sounds like Maddi’s BBQ was good and it’s awesome that you guys finally got a new couch! Haha and the organ...

That’s nuts that in less than a month we’ll have a new member in the family!

This week I’ve been studying a lot about Divine Nature and I realized that all of the attributes kinda go in a cycle or like they circle back around. I figured out that all the attributes feed into each other. First there’s faith then then knowledge, virtue, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, and diligence. And then I read a quote from an apostle that said personal integrity is the foundation of faith so tack that on the front there. And then I started thinking, what is the foundation of personally integrity? And after thinking about it a lot I figured out that it is self-esteem. So tack that on in the very front. And what is interesting is that if you are diligent with all these other attributes then it will build your self-esteem. So it’s like a never ending cycle. I found a scripture I liked a lot in 2 Peter chap. 1 that talks about these things. I like verse 2 a lot cause it says your grace and peace will multiply through the knowledge of our lord Jesus Christ and it lists all these attributes and then in verse 8 it says that if these things abound in you then you will not be barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Then also in verse 10 it says if ye do these things you will not ever fall. So this past week I’ve began to study these things one at a time and try to apply them in my life and I can already fell a lot more peace in my life. Anyway you guess should look this up and study them because I think they are important.

I also like that quote you gave me. Conversion really is the focus and as you love people the work really is a lot easier haha and you will be better at helping a person to be converted. And I think if you mesh the last two together it might work better, teaching truth (doctrine) with the spirit is the key.

I love you guys! Have an awesome week and tell dad I love him too. And tell heather I’ll be praying that everything goes well with the baby.

 

Love,

Elder Raleigh

 

Ps. here’s the kid that we baptized this week and his family! And I just thought this was a sweet picture of me and my companion.

Solange and Mercelo at his baptism Mercelo at his baptism

 

 

 

Wednesday, July 11, 2012 10:27:00 AM Categories: Letter's Home

Week 16 - It was serious miracles this week! 

Dear mom,

This week was awesome! We found someone who was just ready to receive the gospel and we taught her every day last week and she got baptized this past Sunday!! I’ll attach the picture. Every single commitment we asked her to make she made immediately without hesitation and kept them all. She quit smoking and we were able to give her a blessing and in the blessing it said she would developed a dislike for smoking according to her faith and like two days before her baptism her sister offered her a smoke and she said it smelt disgusting to her and she didn’t even want it! It was serious miracles this week! She told us after only being there twice that she was already beginning to feel like a new person. The Holy Ghost was definitely working in her! And this week her son is gonna get baptized and he asked me to baptize him!! It’s gonna be sweet!!! So this next week should be pretty awesome too. We set our goals pretty high for this week so I think we’re gonna see some real progress in this area.

So that’s pretty much all that happened this week, oh also we got a new mission president but I haven’t met him.

Anyway why were you guys picking up a couch?

That’s nuts Bro. Little said that it was the best ever! Sorry Maddi got sick :( that’s brutal being sick while camping! Haha reminds me a little bit of man week this last year. Sick and camping and hot and cold and bugs don’t mix well so I feel for her haha

 

Love

Elder Raleigh


Dear dad,

This week was super awesome! We baptized a woman named Solange and she was just ready to receive the gospel and turned her life around in a week and this week her son is going to get baptized too and he asked me to do it! So were gonna be working a lot with him this next week and getting him ready for it. You’ll have to read the email I sent to mom because it has more details about the whole situation. But it was a really awesome experience!  

I attached a picture of her and that’s her son there so you’ll have to show that to mom.

Solange and her son at her baptism

Anyway not much else happened this week, just a lot of hard work! Haha my language is starting to come along! It’s getting easy for me to understand what people are saying. I still have problems with conjugation and I don’t know all the words but I can for sure have a conversation with people as long as we’re not talking about things that are too complex haha

I heard trek was awesome this past week! Other than Maddi being sick, but I’m glad you guys had a good time!

Oh I read a really cool talk this past week called His Grace is Sufficient by Brad Wilcox. It’s really good, it really helps to understand what grace really is so you should look it up and read it its really awesome!

Anyway this week is gonna be awesome here so hope it’s awesome there too. Keep praying and focusing your lives in the gospel!

 

Love,

Elder Raleigh

Wednesday, July 4, 2012 10:43:00 AM Categories: Letter's Home
Elder Ian McKay Raleigh