Week # 6 The Day Before I Leave for Mexico

September 30, 2013

Hola mi fantastica familia!!!

So today is Monday, September 30^th, 2013 the day before I leave for Mexico. I am so gosh dang nervous! Holy crap. I am not even close to fluent, I haven’t fully packed yet I am so at peace it’s crazy. God is truly watching out for me!!!! I know that I have angels on my right and on my left. I know that as long as I ask with a sincere heart and am completely obedient then God has no choice but to bless me like crazy! Last night during the devotional I realized the importance of the temple in our lives. I really wish that I would have gone to the temple more, and really prayed harder and would have really focused on the things of the temple. 

Well anyway I leave at 2:30 in the am. It is 8:30 and I am all packed and ready for Mexico. We said goodbye to our teachers and it was wayyyyyy harder than I would have thought holy crap. I cried a few times but whats new! No lie I am really good at spanish, like I have 10 times more to learn, but I have learned more in these 6 weeks of spanish than I could have in the 3 years I took spanish. The gift of tongues is real, and you never really think about how much the gift of tongue really comes into effect until you are forced to learn a different language. I am so ready for Mexico. I am ready to get into a place totally new, I love being out of my comfort zone, it is one of thee best blessings of this life. I would encourage you all to step outside your comfort zone, and be bold like my mom has always told me “live big!” I love this and I have really taken it to the next level here in the MTC. There are some crazy things I have been asked to do during my stay in the MTC. Most of these things have been some of my most segrado cosas en la CCM. 

Well I know this is a super short email but I gotta get a few more things done before I leave for Mexico, but I just want to leave you all with my testimony. For most of my life I have never had a sure knowledge of some things in the gospel. I didn't know I really had a father in heaven. I never knew that the book of Mormon is the word of God and Joseph Smith is a true prophet. Most of the basic doctrines I didn't have a sure knowledge of these things. And I realized that this was because I didn’t want to believe. And it was because I was selfish and I was too stuck inside myself, and the first few weeks in the MTC hit me right in the face. But I am so glad they have because I have grown more in these 6 weeks than I have in most of my life. And I am now choosing to want to believe these things and I am receiving miracles every day. It is insane. I have been a fence sitter my whole life and quiet frankly I am very disappointed in myself. There is no such thing as a fence sitter in the gospel. Your are either a follower of God and Jesus or you are a follower of satan. But that is one of the best things in the gospel is repentance. We are always making mistakes some bigger than others but Jesus covered everything all you have to do is ask and ye shall receive. Do not procrastinate the day of your repentance. That is like saying " you know what I will wait right before my mission to be happy" or "I will wait until I’m older and I’ve had my "FUN" to repent and be truly happy" like come on we would never normally say that... Well anyway I have come a long way and now I know these things are true because I am living them and repenting daily. I challenge all of you to be happy now and live the basic doctrines of the church. I say these things of mi redentor y mi salvador Jesu Christo, amen.

Love you all more than you know. Next time you hear from me I will be en MEXICO!!!! MUCHISIMO AMOR    

 Your Elder Rodabough

Week # 5 LAST WEEK IN THE MTC BAYYYBBBEEEYYYYY

 September 24, 2013

LAST WEEK IN THE MTC BAYYYBBBEEEYYYYY

Holy Moses the time is really flying! I only have 1 Year 10 months left of my mission!! I don't like the thought of that at all. I am really starting to fall in love with the work. I am really getting good at the language at this point but I’m sure when I get to Mexico I will be back to square 1 haha. But I know that God never gives a commandment without providing a way to accomplish the task. He has commanded me (also all of you reading this) to become fishers of men. Why would he ask this of us if he knew we couldn’t do what He has asked. I have 100% trust in the lord at this point. No matter how good I can speak the language or how simply I explain the doctrine without god and the spirit there is no way to convert anyone, as I write these words I am overcome with the spirit testifying to me that these things are true, and that if we just get into the right place at the right time, and are worthy of the spirit you WILL ALWAYS teach with the power and authority of God. This is not our work people this is Gods work, and he loves and cares about his children more than we can ever fathom!!

I would like to share a story real fast that was shared with me at a devotional from an Elder Bateman, a retired General Authority. He told us about a girl that left the MTC 5 months ago and wrote home this story..."We were at the Sacramento California regional Hospital getting routine check ups when out of the wooden doors a man was rushed in to the room next to us, doctors were shouting and nurses were flying everywhere, I knew the man was on his death bed. As I watched the doctors try to stabilize this man I saw the man breathe his last breath of air. He was gone; he died right in front of me. A few minutes later I saw the mans wife rush through the same wooden doors that the man came through not 20 minutes before I saw as she ran into his room, and saw her fall to her knees and started to cry, like only a person that has lost the love of her life cry. She began to shake his body begging him to come back and the look on her face was a look of despair, loneliness, and a sense of loss that she could never get back. But I knew in my heart that our message was one that could bring her back the feeling of peace and that families are forever. Before I could talk to the woman she was taken out of the room by hospital staff I felt horrible inside cause I never got to share our message with her. I was sick for days and I always remembered the woman. A few weeks later we were out knocking on members doors and it was almost time for us to return home. My companion suggested that we retire for the night but I was prompted by the spirit to knock on one more door. We went up did our normal routine asking for referrals and we asked if she knew about anyone that has received a loss recently. The member said that her neighbor had a husband pass away recently, my heart skipped a beat and I thought maybe this could be that woman, so we got her address and payed her a visit the next day. We went to the address that the member provided us, and the woman that I saw from the hospital answered the door, she let us in and we began talking to her about the passing of her husband. I told her that we were in the room next to the one your husband passed away in, she began to cry and I pulled out my journal and gave it to the woman and told her to read it and she began to sob even harder. I told her that we had a message from God, and that message was that she will see her husband again. The look on her face I will never forget. GOD DOES NOT FORGET ABOUT HIS CHILDREN! He wanted me to find this woman, and He needed her to feel the spirit and love of God and to hear the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. God is real and wants everyone of us to return to him but we just need to listen to the spirit and act on his promptings."

This absolutely wrecked me. It hit home so hard for me because I was always so worried about the language or how well I knew the doctrine but ever since I heard that story I just find the needs of the investigator, and just say what I feel prompted to say and the holy ghost must speak Spanish because I for sure don't, yet every time I turn over and submit to the will of the Father I am filled with the words of God. I am no longer McKay Rodabough I am Elder R(do what God says and you will be blessed out the wazoo)odabough. Guys I love this work and I haven't even taught a real person yet. The time is already flying by. The MTC has really prepared me for the field, and it has kicked my butt hard. There were many times I just thought like why am I here or why don’t I just go home. But I have caught the vision, I am ready to forget myself, and not worry about anything else for 1 Year and 10 months from this day. I love the gospel and I would be a total different person without the gospel, and I cannot thank Jesus enough for the atonement. I want to encourage all of you to put off the natural man and stop with the things that are holding you back from being happy. Why do we add to Jesus's suffering in the garden, EVERY SINGLE TIME we sin we send a package to Jesus that says "first class delivery from Adam McKay Rodabough" That package adds to the pain that Jesus felt in the garden. Every time I am about to do something that I know to be wrong I think about what I am giving to Jesus. I love all of you and I cannot wait to hug and kiss all of you when I get home, but until my time is up I am going to change some lives first. I need people to feel that sense of peace and love that we feel everyday. I am hyped out of my mind to get out and to serve I’m pretty sure I’ve said that like 5 times already. But anyway I gotta go. I fly out on October 1!  Well anyway gotta go love you all more than you can ever know. 

La Iglesia es verdadero

-Elder Rodabough    

Week # 4 Learning A Lot about Myself

September 17, 2013

Well its good to see that I have tons of emails to respond to on my P-Day.... #sarcasm, but anyway I am just gunna give you guys an update on how my week has been. I have been doing Physical Therapy 3 times a week. My knee is getting a lot better and I don't think I will have to get surgery. I haven't gotten my visa yet and I leave in 2 weeks from yesterday, so I hope I get my travel plans for Vegas this week or else I will be reassigned to another mission. Until I get my visa...but anyway its super boring here, and I am just stuck in the daily grind of things but things are generally good and I hope you all are doing well at home. I am playing volleyball everyday and I am getting way better. I play with these kids that played for college. 1 played for Dixie, and another kid played for BYU, and another played in Hawaii. They are insane so I really have to be on my game cause I don’t want to be the worst one on the court. It is forcing me to get better really quick. I think when I get home I am gunna tryout for a college club team or just a college team but idk. 

I am really learning a lot about myself. Stuff that I never really knew. I am a very independent person I realized I really like working out. Working out and praying to the Lord for help are literally the only things getting me through the day. I am struggling not being able to flirt, and really do things with girls, and I never really thought that would be hard for me. But it is. There are a lot of really cool sister missionaries though. I’ve met probably like 20 or so that are from all over the world from Paris, to the Congo, to Australia, to Russia. There are a lot of really cool sister missionaries. It always is a treat when you get to sit down and have a nice conversation with them. 

Another thing that has been super hard has been not being able to go up the canyon or hike or climb or anything. It suuuuuucks, when I get back I am buying a dog and a crappy old camper. I will just live in the woods and grow a beard and just be a mountain/beach bum. 

So, let me tell you the daily routine of what I do each day in the MTC. I wake up at 6:30, Gym starts at 6:35 I have gym till 7:25, and then we have 30 minutes for 6 of us to shower get dressed and be in the classroom by 8. And if we don’t we get chastised and they make us feel like crappy missionaries, but I could care less what they think hahaha. Then, we have personal study time till 8:50, and then we have 30 min for breakfast. So, we are back in the class at 9:15, then we have spanish class from 9:15 till 1:50, then we have 25 min for lunch then we are back in the class by 2:20.  We have gospel studies till 5:35 and then we do an online learning thing till 6:50, then dinner for 30 minutes. Then we have companion study and personal study in the classroom till 9. Then, we plan for the next day till 9:30 and we go back and have an hour before bed to study more or pray or MEDITATE!!! 

But the MTC is actually alright, it’s hard and I absolutely hate it, but it is good because I can tell it preparing me well for the mission field. We talked to a bus driver the other day and he said that Mexico City is the ugliest city he has ever been in haha. But he said the food is BALLIN. Everyone lies to us and says Mexico city is alright but we all know it is gunna be a whole new world down there. I am so excited to get out of this MTC and actually teach some non-members. I will have a baptism my first week in the field you watch. But anyways I gotta go I love you and I wish I had some emails to respond to, but I guess you all are just to busy haha. Well anyway. La iglesia es verdadera. Muchismo Amor 

-Elder Rodabough 

Week # 3 Another dog....

September 10, 2013

Hey Mom if you even name the girl dog anything close to my name I will not come home from Mexico... But anyways I am doing pretty well here in the MTC its sucks though cause 4 out of the 6 guys in my district got their visas but not me. They leave tomorrow to fly to Vegas for a day to pick up the visas. The Salt Lake City Consulate only gives out so many visas, so we have to fly different place to pick them up. IDK when I will get mine... its really starting to get hard for me. First being sick then the thing that happened to my knee now me not getting my visa its really getting discouraging for me. But you know what I could give a shiz, I have sat in the same classroom for like 2000 hours so far no lie and I will be danged if I don’t get to Mexico. 

I am so jelly that you got another dog if you could send me a little dog in a package I would be set. I am lonely and super bored all the time. We talked to a guy that got back from the my same mission and he told me that people just crap in the middle of the street because the food will make you so sick that you don’t have time to find a bathroom. #nevertrustafart haha and he said that he saw people get shot right in front of him because right now the government is trying super hard to crack down on the drug cartel or whatever. They call it the conflict zone... but he said he never had a problem in Mexico City as long as your smart and don’t do dumb shiz. So it looks like I will be shot, kidding kidding. 

My investigators are super tough right now we taught hermano Breiden about 4 times and on our 4th lesson he said that he doesn’t believe in God anymore because why would God make his life so hard. So I shared with him about when my life was crappy was when I was farthest from so I called him to repent right to his face and he seemed shocked but he wasn’t mad. He was actually super humble and he said that he will pray to God and live his life in harmony with what we have taught. 

Our other investigator won’t pray so that sucks cause she can’t progress if she doesn’t pray. Everything revolves around her praying, so I have been praying for her.... I hope she will feel the efforts of my prayers for her. I miss doing the old things I used to do, but what I am doing here isn’t about me, and its been super hard, and no lie there have been a couple of times when I have just wanted to throw in the towel, and give up but for some reason I haven’t... My companion is so dang obedient it is so annoying, he tries to tell me what to do and I just shrug him off and do what I want. I have been good and I am super obedient, but this kid is like over the top obedient so annoying but anyway its all good only 3 more weeks or 20 days haha. Then I will be in the conflict zone. 

I have been missing dad like crazy these last couple of days he really is such a good man and tell him I am sorry for all the crap I have given him these last couple of years. I could not have asked for a better father. He is literally thee best and I am so blessed. Mom come on you know what I think of you, you are literally thee coolest, most young, beautiful, loving, raddest mom on the block, and I would not be on this mission without you. God is so proud of how you guys have raised me, He’s put you through heck and back but you’ve managed to come out on top, and He knew you would, I just know it. I am so grateful for what happened to you, and I am so glad that you never fell away cause this gospel is the only true gospel on this planet. We are all just a giant team. Me, my family, my friends, and everyone who is righteous VS satan and his devils. He’s such an idiot the battle is already decided we already won, but he wants to take as many precious souls with him as he can. SO EVERYONE STAY STRONG. Everyone likes to win why should the battle with satan be an different. We must remember who we really are. And we need to look at ourselves through God’s eyes. I know we can all do it, no worries. I love all of you and I cannot wait to see you again when I get back. Please stay strong cause I need you in the next life with me. 

 I love everyone,

P.S. please write me and email me everyone. 

Mom please forward this one to everyone. I love you to the moon and back. GO CAMPING its beautiful outside.

Week # 2 Como le va!!!

September 3, 2013

Hola Familia, Como le va!!!

como esta? estoy muy cansado hoy... La CCM es muy deficil. Me compañero es beuno, im kiddign but i could go on and on in spanish. Thats all we speak lately. We committed Emilice to baptism and she said she would be baptized on the 21 of September. But guess what............. She is a teacher here at the MTC and she speaks perfect english i had no clue. The day after we invited her to be baptized she came into our classroom and gave us an evaluation about how we did and she said that she felt the spirit so strong when my companion and i were teaching. We got 2 new investigators Yesterday:) 

My zone and district are sooo cool. I love all of them. The food here is actually pretty decent. I’ve gained 20 lbs i now weigh 172 lbs of pure muscle. I look like a model. No lie. Kidding, we play volleyball everyday for PE I love it (sorry small tangent). Let me tell you about the investigators we have now.

The first ones name is Breiden Valencia, he was born in Mexico, in the city of Heramocio and he is studying at the UVU. He works at a music shop, he plays the guitar the piano the violin and is studying music at UVU. He is 21 years old and has a girlfriend that is pregnant with his child....(law of chastity will be taught don’t you worry). Our first lesson with him was yesterday and he was texting the whole time, and wouldn’t give us the time of day. So, I kept asking him questions to keep him interested, but he would give me 2-3 word answers in spanish that I barely understood it was a tough lesson we said he had to go 10 minutes into our lesson and that he wanted us to leave so i shared my testimony and he look right into my eyes and said thank you so much... I asked him if we could come back on wednesday and he said we could!!!! So stoked. He will be baptized I promise you. 

Our second investigators name is Natividad. She is 35 she has 3 kids all teenagers. She is a super nice lady, but her spanish is so fast and she is a little white girl that reminds me of a princess. I feel like she has never said or done anything bad in her life. She’s suuuuper nice holy cow. But the girl she is pretending to be is super shy and is always tired and it makes it super hard to get her to talk or do anything. I just talk and tell her about how much I suck at spanish and she just laughs. I can talk for like 45 minutes straight only in spanish I’m so awesome holy crap, kidding kidding no but seriously. 

My testimony has grown 10 fold since I’ve been here at the CCM. I mean MTC. I thought I knew a lot about the gospel until i got to here. I Know NOTHING but I learn so much everyday. Today we talked about how to receive revelation and I got theeee crazziest answer ever about my question. My question was "how can I know if I am truly happy in this life, and how can I share this with other people and have them believe me.... 

My Answer came in a rather weird way I prayed for like 30 minutes straight and I opened my eyes and I just had this totally sleepy relaxation and sense of peace that I’ve never had before... I haven’t really decided what it means but it gave me such a peace of mind and that feeling i got was just shouldn’t worry about it. The feeling that everything will be all right, and I just need to keep being obedient and listening to the promptings of the spirit.

Family and friends I just want to testify. yo se que neustro padre celestial es real, el jesu christo es la salvador por mi y ustedes. yo se que la expiacion es verdadero. jose smith es una profeta verdadero tambien. yo se que familias es eternas. yo tengo mucho amor por mi padre celestial. en el nombre de jesus christo amen. 

Please write me and send me stuff I love you all like you could never believe. La iglesia es verdadero.