Things have changed 12/15/2011

Richard's surgery did not go as planned in Ohio. They had problems with anesthesia and scrubbed the procedure. He arrived home 12/14 in the evening and is having the surgery on Friday 12/16 and will have a 2 to 3 week recovery. Prayers are appreciated in his behalf. He is still a missionary as he was not released and will be back out quite soon.

Week of Dec 5th

This week we were not sure if we would get a letter.  For those not following Richard's blogspot, he has a bladder stone the size of an egg.  He will be having surgery to remove it in the very near future.  It will more than likely require an overnight stay in the hospital, and a week or so with light activity and then he should be back to it.

 

Hello everyone,

 

Sorry for the lateness of the letter this week, I was not quite sure what to write about.

 

This week we had an interesting lesson at a potential investigators house. We found this lady while we were tracting a few weeks ago and she wasn't able to talk with us at that time but she invited us back and she told us that she would feed us. When we go back for the appointment, she has a lot of family over and has this huge meal for us. The food was wonderful and after dinner, we had what we thought was going to be a "normal" lesson.  We started out by asking them what they were expecting from our visit and they said that they wanted a discussion about our beliefs compared to theirs. As we started talking, we introduced the Book of Mormon to them and we also talked to them about the restoration of the church. It was a bit difficult to teach because almost the entire time we were teaching, the wife was trying to convince us that God does not have a body and that God and Jesus are the one and not that they are one purpose, and yes those two things contradict one another. In the end though, the husband seemed very open to our mesage and eagerly accepted our invitation to read the Book of Mormon so I am very excited about that and we also have a return appointment for next saturday.

 

Josh, who we are still planning on being baptized this Saterday is doing very well. I am still not sure about his green tea issues, but I am confident that he has figured out for himself that he needs to stop because it is a comandment and not because it is bad for you. As we have been teaching him after talking about the Word of Wisdom, he found a lot of thing that he brought up to us that Elder Turner and I watch as he conected the dots on his own that he needs to give up green tea. He has his baptisimal interview tomorrow and I am very excited and nervous about it.

 

I talked with President Nilsen and he said that the surgery will be happening here in Ohio and I will let you know the date of it when I find out. Also I am excited about going to the temple tomorrow and going through the Columbus Temple. It is very small, but it is a very beautiful temple and I am excited.

 

Love you all,

Elder Rawlings

 

P.S. could I get Great Grandmas address, I can't seem to find it in my address book. Thanks

Week of Nov 28

This week Richard's letter will not be posted.  We would appreciate the prayers of all who know and love Richard right now on his behalf.  Richard is experiencing some significant health problems.  He has been found to have a bladder stone the size of an egg.  This is not a gall stone, but a stone in the urinary bladder.  The stone will more than likely have to be surgically removed, but the underlying reason for forming such a stone is what has us and his doctor concerned.  He is experiencing significant pain and discomfort at this time.  Please keep him in your thoughts.

Week of Nov 21

I was remiss in my blogging duties last week.  So here comes two weeks worth of letters.

 Letter dated 11-14-2011

I am sorry to hear about Grandpa, but I know that he will be O.K. and that he will make it through this and I know that he will do just fine.  I have survived through this first transfer and am excited for this next one.  It is a short one, only five weeks, because it would be a little too close to Christmas for the missionaries changing areas and the ones going home.  Also President Nilsen is apparently going to be keeping people in areas longer so I could be here for a little while.  Things are going a little slow right now, but I am not letting it get me down.  We are starting to do service as a mission for our members and our investigators during the day at the less productive hours of the day and I am noticing that the members are growing in there trust in us and are very thankful for what we do, (it also helps when you take their leaf rakes and they can't do it on their own because of it.  I am loving the work, but not much has changed in this last week with our investigators, but our ward mission leader is going out of town and we will finally be able to bet into the correlation meeting with the Bishop this next week.  I like Emoticons ( this one is funny).  Any way, my time is getting short but I am having a great time out here and I am loving the people more each day.  Also on a great note I worked on pottery today!   It was a bit difficult at first, but I think I am getting the hang of it.

 

Anyway, I need to go, but I will be sure to send more info next week.  Love you all.

And now the letter form today 11/21

This past week has been a good week.  One of our investigators, Josh, has a baptismal date for Dec. 10th and he is very excited about it.  He attended priesthood for the first time this week and I was afraid that it would scare him away because the lesson was on the Millennium and we got into a lot of speculation about what is going to happen.  Thankfully when we went to his house today to work on pottery, his wife, who is a member, had more questions for us then he did.  Also on Sunday we had a non-member in our Gospel principles class who had shown up for the primary program that her friend invited her to come to.  The lesson happened to be on "The Post Mortal World" which is usually not the best topic for a first time exposure to the church.  Thankfully the lesson ended with time to spare and we started talking about Thanksgiving and about gratitude and I watched as she opened up a bit more as the discussion went on.  I am not sure about what is happening with one of our investigators.  She is a nice old lady who was very open to hearing about Jesus and when she met Elder Turner she fell in love with him, we were on exchanges when we met her.  About three weeks ago, she left town and said we could call her the next week to set up an appointment, but we have not been able to get hold of her and when we drop by her house, it does not look like any one is home.  Another one of our investigators, the lady who taught us the Plan of Salvation, we thought had fallen off the map we were able to get hold of her and we have an appointment set up for the second. overall this week has been a good week.  I will get you more info on members next week, since my time is about up.  I love you all and I hope that all goes well at home.

 

Love,

Elder Rawlings

Nov 7th (two months down)

WOW our boy is really growing.  I think he broke a record for letter length.  As you can read for yourself, he is adjusted well and enjoying the work.

 

To everyone back home,

 

It is hard to believe that I have been out here two months already.  I am loving it out here in Ohio and am getting the hang of the work.  Last Wednesday, we had some Jehovah's Witnesses tract into our apartment.  We were on companion exchanges in the 4-Pad, that makes things interesting because we stay in the same apartment and your companion is still there.  During our companionship study, Elder Brooks and I here talking in the main part of the apartment.  When we go out , we find Elders Turner and Smith talking with two women on the porch.  When we walk out, they are not quite sure what to say other than "Oh, there are four of you." When they saw our name tags and figured out we were Mormon missionaries, they were taken back a bit, but when they saw four of us they really freaked out.  I am loving the work out here and all the people.  We have three solid investigators that are looking like they will be baptized and that I am very excited for.  The first one is Josh and he was going to be baptized not too long ago, but his parents were out of town and he wanted them to be there and we are working on setting up a date for him to be baptized on.  The second is a woman named Paulie who absolutely loves my companion, every time we have taught her there has been a different missionary.  The first time was Elder Kirk and I, The second time was Elder Turner and I, and the third time it was Elder Turner and Elder Smith.  The last time she told them that she did not remember Elder Kirk or me, but that there was something about Elder Turner that every time he talked made her think that she should listen to him.  The third one is Malita, we met her while tracting and gave her a Book of Mormon, a Restoration pamphlet, and a Plan of Salvation pamphlet.  We tried calling her the night before our next appointment and we got a message saying that we had a wrong number.  When we showed up the next day, we were about ten minutes late and when we knocked on the door, she answered the door and said she was just about to call us to find out if we were coming.  From the time we first met her and our appointment she had read all of the Plan of Salvation pamphlet and also the additional study scriptures in the back and she ended up teaching us all about the Plan of Salvation.  When we extended a conditional baptismal commitment she was very excited and eager. I am loving the people out here and am excited to find out about the changes that are going to start taking place that President Nelson is going to start implementing.

 

Love you all

 

Elder Richard Rawlings

 

Halloween Letter

Last week the letter was rather short and so was my time, so a blog update did not happen.  So here come two letters last week ( the short one) and this week.

Letter From 10/17/11

 I am doing great over here in this wonderful great Ohio Columbus Mission. It is so great to hear all of the things that are going on at home and to know that everything is going well. I am excited to hear that things went well with Dad's weekend at work.  Also please send me Elder Meade's and Elder Reed's e-mail addresses. I am doing great and am loving the work. We did service this week at a less active members home who is working on remodeling his new house before he moves into it and we helped him  move trusses for his roof up onto the second floor of his house. It was wet, raining, and I enjoyed every moment of it. also, we got a steak dinner out of it. I am loving all the work that I am able to do out here and look forward to this next week. Love you all and will talk with you all next week.

 

Love, Elder Rawlings

 

now for 10/31/11

 

Happy Halloween Everyone

 

I apologize for the short letter last week, my letter to the president did not send for some reason and I had to retype it and that took up a lot of my time. Halloween is really weird out here in Ohio. each different city or township has a different day and a two hour time that they do trick-or-treating in and they need to be on there porch or there driveway or the kids don't come to the door. I am loving it out here in my area and most of the time we are in the car, but at least once a week, we get out on our bike and go visit people on those.

 

Mom asked if I have had an doors slammed in my face. The answer to that is yes, on multiple occasions. the fist time the guy answered the door and asked if we went around banging on every ones door and shut it in our faces, and the second one the lady answered the door, screamed "I believe in the devil" and slammed the door. I have not let it affect me and I can tell when an area has been tracted recently by Jehovah's Witnesses because we get nobody that is even willing to give us a chance and when we have referrals in that area it makes it hard. We will give it a few weeks and try the area again though.

 

The people are great and I am becoming good at talking with people. I can even talk with the cute girls that my companion shies away from, it helps that most of my friends back at home are cute girls. In lessons, I am able to get the message across clearly, but I need to learn not to throw too much information at them at once. Also I have learned the value of helping those in need. On an exchange with the zone leaders, we went to go get shakes at a gas station at the end of the day and a lady came up to us and asked if she could have five dollars for gas and she also thought that my companion looked familiar. it turns out that they live in the same apartment complex. I gave her the money and she was so thankful she gave me a hug and asked if she repay us. We told her that she did not need to repay us, but we got her information and she seemed interested in learning more. I am not sure what has happened with her yet, but I will ask as soon as I get a chance.

 

I love all of you and am looking forward to another great fun filled week of missionary life.

Week of Oct 17th

Hello Home,

 

I hope that everything is going well back at home and that everything is working out well.  I am finding that the work is going well and that as I strive to be bold, that things seem to work and and that it is a lot easier than I thought it would be, all I need to do is open my mouth.  I am still having a hard time trying to get started with what to say to people, but I am slowly starting to break out of my shell.  Right now, we have two investigators that are showing promise, and they seem to want to know more about the gospel.  One of them we met while tracting on the apartment complex that I told you about last week and when we stoped by to visit him yesterday, he told us that he had read the scriptures that we gave him and that he loved it and was excited for our visit that day.  Sadly, he was expecting us a little earlier in the day and when we got there around 6, he was having a birthday party for his son, but that he would be happy to meet back up with us so we made an appointment with him for this afternoon, I can't wait.

 

His letter was sent in two parts.

 

Sorry about that, I don't know why it randomly sent.  Any way, as I was about to say, the other investigator we met on Friday and learned that she and her husband have met with missionaries before and they loved meeting and talking with them.  The husband is one that will be more of a distraction during our lessons, and sidetracked nearly everything we talked about, but the wife read everything in the front of the Book of Mormon up to chapter 5 in 1 Nephi and she told us that we wont convert her to our religion, but that she will read the Book of Mormon all the way through which gives me hope that as she reads it that she will want to know more about it and come unto Christ.  Well, I love all of you and pray that everything goes well.

Week of Oct 10th

This week the mailbox received an email from Richard, Mom had asked him to look for someone she worked for years with who has moved to the area he is in.   This is the actual entire body of that email.

"I ran into her at church yesterday and we said hi and just talked about how you two used to work together.  I need to meet up with her and talk some more though."

She sent back a quick response telling him that better not be the whole letter for the week.

This week has been going great. So far I have been out trackting nearly everywhere in our area, from the well off areas to the ghetto. So far, I think I like the ghetto more, they are more receptive. I had one person, who was drunk as could be, tell Elder Turner and me that we have "a lot of guts and a lot of BALLS (he was very emphatic about that) coming into a place like this, but you have God with you." I am not sure if I should have been a little worried than I was, but for some reason I was not afraid at all, Elder turner was scared and not sure what to do. He was giving us a lot of crap and just joking around with us in the same manner that usually happens back at home. The members are feeding us well, some a little to well, and we usually have dinner appointments every night. When we had dinner with the Chan's, Brother Chan gave me about twice as much as I can normally eat. Just as I am finishing up and thinking "I can do this," my companion gets more and Brother Chan loads about as much onto my plate as he did the first time. Thankfully, no one at the table was able to finish what was on their plate, although I had the most followed closely by Elder Tuner who had about as much loaded onto his plate as I did the second time. After I was so full that I thought I would not be able to move, Sister Chan brought out bowls of icecream for the two of us. That was a fun dinner and we will be going back for dinner with them on Thursday. I pray I don't pop eating all that food. I was also fed a "Green Meal," I will send you a picture next week if I remember to bring my camera and sd card addapter, I left both at the apartment. I love you all, tell Elders Reid and Meade that I said hi and that I now have about fifty "I wonder if this is the same..." questions to ask them now, and I will talk to you next week.

 

All my love,

Elder Rawlings

 

As you can see, he is doing fine and enjoying things there.

First week in Ohio

Well he has arrived in Ohio and is settling in.  In a letter to him I commented that General Conference for him was probably a very different experience than at home, read his response.  We are proud of his decision to go and serve his mission and look forward each week to an update and we will share what we get.

Hello Everybody

I am having a great time here in the mission feild. My new companions name is Elder Turner from Mesa Arizona and I am rooming with Elder Smith, the same one that just came out that we know, and Elder Brooks. I am serving in Canal Winchester just south of Columbus, and it is a car area, but I have spent about half my time out on bikes. My address is 3948 Martha Jane Place, I'm not quite sure on that, but any mail that is sent to the mission office will be forwarded and priority mail packages will be forwarded. I will let you know a definite address next week. So far I have not taught any lessons to investigators, but I have had some success in tracting into 1 new investigator and two potential investigators. I will write more in a letter home in more detail, and i will be on for a bit longer after sending this. Love you all.

Elder Richard Rawlings

PS, I watched 2 parts of conference at members homes and for the others watched it on the padded benches so it was more comfortable. Also, one of my first meals in the field included sushi.

He has flown the coop...

Well we spoke with Richard this morning, and it may sound cliche, but he has changed a bunch in a very short time.  Among other things, he has gained 5 lbs.  Given that he weighed about 115 or so when he left 5 lbs is good.  He was able to call us from the airport this morning on his way to Columbus.  He is excited to get there and get to work.  My only prayer for him is that he works hard and sees the hand of the Lord in the work he does.  We look forward to reports of the experiences he has while serving others. 

Week 2

We had a couple of things we needed to send Richard while he is in Provo, so we decided to fill the rest of the smallest box found with other stuff too.  We were walking through the isles at the grocery store and I picked up a small orange ball painted like a Jack O' Lantern.  Like a red four square ball but orange and about 5 or 6" in size.  Elizabeth looked at me and asked what is he going to do with that?  I said they will find something that will entertain with something so simple.  He has only a few more days left there, he leaves the MTC Sept 28 and heads off to Ohio on the biggest adventure of his life.

Here is his letter, edited for spelling and readability

Dear Family,

 

       Thank you for the package that you sent.  We used the ball for a game called "hamper ball." A laundry hamper is placed on one end of the room, you face the opposite wall and bounce the ball off the wall and try to make the ball into the hamper.  The first time someone did it we were all very excited about it.  I am the only other person to make it in, and I have done it three times.  My time in the MTC has been going by very fast after that first little bit before the first Sunday.  Last Saturday night when I walked out of class and it was silent, I knew that it was going great for the Utes.  When I got back to the dorms, we learned that the score was 30-10.  The last score I knew was 43-10 so I slept well knowing that the Utes had won.  Last night we had a great devotional by Elder Russel M Neilson on the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith from this coming Octobers Ensign that is all about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith (I'm not sure if they have sent it out yet, but we got it early last week.).  I am running low on time, but I will write you a letter letting you know more about how things are going.

First Week

Well Richard has made it through the first week.  In his standard Richard fashion he as you can see below is not long on words.  I know as time goes by and he has more exciting things to talk about we will hear more and more.  Elizabeth and I having been through what he is going through understand what he is experiencing and what his days hold, but Marie is still sort of in the dark as to what his days are all about.  I can only hope that he will begin to have his ability to express himself in letters home to be able to share his day to day experiences.

Hello Family,

My first week in the MTC has been a good one. The first part of the week was very slow, and very long. After Sundy, the week has been going a lot faster. Monday was the first time that I had a hard time, because I could not get any time that was quiet so that i could study. i had a lot of support from my district leader and Elder Tuiasosopo. I have been able to overcome those dificulties and get some time that is quiet to study. My second day, they started having us teach and I was compleatly lost with what to teach about. After a week of teaching, I feel that I have made a lot of progress and am able to teach people a lot more effectively , but I still have a lot more to learn.

 

All my Love,

                  Elder Rawlings

 

P.S. Also please send a picture of me with long hair, none of the other elders believe that my hair use to be as long as i say it was.

The Eagle has landed

Well he is successfully delivered to the Missionary Training Center.  I think he did better than the rest of us did.  A few frazzled nerves the last few days, but I think he has what he needs physically, and we know he has what he needs spiritually to make it through the next 3 weeks and then lookout Ohio he is coming.  Yes we really did wear tye dyed shirts to drop him off, it helped him with a smile and lots of folks commented whether that was good or bad I am not worried, he was who it was for.

We are about there

Well yesterday was the day I think Richard was dreading the most, the farewell talk in church.  He did very well, I was actually quite impressed with his ability to stand in front of a group of people and not only keep his composure, but be able to present a message that was well prepared and thought out.  Our little guy has grown up in ways we didn't even know he had.  We are down to the last full week with him, he gets to wake up in his bed at home just 8 more mornings. 

The preparations are about done

Well we have had a time gathering all of the necessary things for Richard to begin his great adventure.  The obvious suits, shirts, ties, but then to actually have to think about things like towels, bed linens, etc.  I thought getting everything rounded up for a vacation or a camping trip was a project.  We have to equip this kid for the next two years for most all possible scenarios.  We are grateful for Richard's willingness to help with the expenses of getting him out.  We only have a few things left on "The List" to get rounded up in the next two weeks.  He is still working this week and next and then he gets to relax for a day after the Labor Day holiday and then it is off to the MTC (Missionary Training Center).  Pray for us the next two weeks will leave all of us feeling like we have been thrown into the washer and sent through the spin cycle.