Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

This email is going to be pretty fast, because I get to talk to my family this week! I have to leave something for us to talk about!

This week we had the Christmas Party and that was really fun! We ate an amazing meal and then we played Minute to Win it games. You know the game where you put an Oreo on your forehead and then you have to get it into your mouth without using your hands? Well.... I'm boss at that game, I got into the finals and would of won if I had been sitting down but we were standing and I kinda lost my balance! It was a lot of fun to be with all the missionaries in our mission and just have a good time together! I realized that I may get a little competitive at those kind of games. But it was still fun! Then we got our Christmas letters from our families (a lot of sisters were crying but I managed to keep the tears in this time). After that we had a devotional with President Nattress and his parents were there so we heard a few funny stories from his childhood. Then we let go of 400 balloons with lights attached to them, these balloons represented the number of people our mission has helped bring to the gospel. IT WAS AN AWESOME NIGHT!

Then I went on exchanges with Sister Taylor. She's from Japan and we had an awesome time together. Its amazing to me how much I learn from the sisters I go on exchanges with. Each missionary has so much to offer and I'm grateful for the change that  I have to learn from sisters and they strengths that they have when doing missionary work.

We also got to go to the Mesa Christmas Lights 2 times this week. Both times I looked for Hermana Andelin but she was nowhere to be found. I talked to a few of the Mesa Temple Visitor Center Sisters and asked if the new Tempe missionaries had come in that week and they said there was one Sister in the group! It must have been Kathy! I could of seen her if I had gone the same day! Oh well. That's okay. Maybe I'll see her at the Easter pageant.

Next week is Nadine's baptism. She's an investigator from my last area but I see her all the time because I go on exchanges in that area and I attend the same church building. I can't wait for Saturday, this is going to be an awesome experience for her. Especially since her husband's family is

in town for Christmas and they're coming to the baptism to show their support! She's an awesome lady and deserves this!!!

I'm so excited for Christmas! I can't wait to talk to my family!

NO CRYING OKAY?

I don't know if that's possible but I'll try not to cry! 3 more days!!

All my love,

Sister Raubenheimer 

He is the Gift

Hey there family and friends and anyone else who chooses to read my cheesy emails,

How are you doing this Christmas season?

I hope that the lights and Christmas trees make your soul as happy as it makes mine. This afternoon we get to help a lady put up Christmas lights. We're cutting our Pday short to do service but it's worth it, since its CHRISTMAS!

Well I'm not really sure what to tell you about. This week was pretty uneventful except for the fact that everyone wants to talk about Jesus right now. All we have to say is, "Hey, we've been sharing a two minute video about the true meaning of Christmas with everyone, could we show that to you quickly." And people say YES! Everyone has time for Jesus during Christmas! And it also helps that we carry around our little portable DVD players so when we see people at the park they don't have any excuses about not having a internet on their phones. This week we were able to have 23 teaching opportunities. That's the most I've taught my whole mission! God truly blessed us this week and now we've just got to keep it up! Working hard and talking to everyone you see is the only way that God can bless missionaries. The only disappointing part of the week was that we weren't able to find any new investigators from all those people we shared "He is the Gift" with. So this week we're focusing on finding new investigators!!!

Sister Barlow has only been out for 4 months now, so she tends to get really stressed out about little things. I try to keep the mood light by being funny and end up making a fool of myself but it doesn't really matter since everyone already thinks missionaries are weird. If I sing Jingle Bells at the top of my lungs in the middle of the street, who is actually going to care? No one. Besides the members. And there's a lot of them around here!

Okay, funny experiences. So! We were street contacting this man and we talk to him about his day and what he's been up to then we comment on his Christmas lights and ask him what his favorite part of Christmas is... he says  I don't believe in Christmas or Christ... Well I have no idea what to say to that. SO I say okay, well have a great day! As we're biking away I turn to Sister Barlow saying "why does he have Christmas lights then? What is he celebrating if he isn't celebrating the Savior's birth? Shopping? Spending money!?" We both burst out into fits of laughter. I don't really know why it was so hilarious but it was! Then the 2nd funny experience. Last night we were at a LA's home and the little boy told us his stomach hurt. No one really thought anything about it and we kept talking. After we share the message, he tells us he wants to show us his hotdog...

(what he meant to say was helicopter) so he runs upstairs, grabs his helicopter and brings it back down. Well.... he opens his mouth to talk and he projectile vomits all over my boots... all over!!!!!!! Then my boots were covered in those hot dogs. GROSS! We quickly decide that it's our time to exit and make our way to the door. And then we hear him throw up again..... at this point Im ready to barf because I can still smell his dinner all over my feet.

Anyways, after we got home we cleaned up and we took airbourne, so hopefully neither of us get sick!!!

Well that's it for now!

Sorry, I don't have any pictures from this week but I'll have some next week. We're going to the Mesa Temple Christmas lights tomorrow! And Elder Packer's son (Elder Packer, who is in the 70) will be touring our mission this week! Should be great!

I hope everyone has a great week!

MERRY CHISTMAS!

Remember to think about the Gifts that Christ has given you this year!

ALL MY LOVE,

Sister Raubie

Thanksgiving

Hello everyone!

There's so much that I need to fit in this email, my mind is about to explode because of all the info in my head right now. Okay so I got transferred right? But then I was inner zoned and I literally moved over 1 neighborhood. That was really surprising! Didn't expect that at all. Also I got called to be a Sister Training Leader. I'm really excited to be working with other sisters and helping them with their missionary work. The sisters who are in my old area are in my stewardship so I have the chance to go on exchanges with them and see all the people that I love from that area. I also get to see Nadine and continue to help her progress to the waters of baptism. Isn't that amazing? I am so happy about that!! 

So Sister Barlow is my new companion, she's been out for 3 months and loves missionary work! She's from Fruitland, Idaho. The same place our mission president is from, he's even been her bishop and stake president. So I guess that makes her one of his favorites! I'm really excited to be her companion. She has an amazing work ethic and love for the people that we are working with. This transfer is going to be absolutely amazing! :)

​So Thanksgiving morning we spent at a member house with our zone but only part of our zone because at transfers they combined Bella Vista (my old zone) with Ironwood Zone together. So now we're in Ironwood Zone and we have 20 missionaries in our zone, before it was just 12... so yeah that was surprise! For lunch we went with the Copeliens to their aunt's house who lives outside of our area but still in our zone on a ranch. That was really fun!!! We stayed for a long time! Then we had dinner at the Miller's house! And finally pie at the Higby's house. SO basically it was a day full of stuffing and turkey but I ate ham where I could. I'm still not fond of turkey. I guess that's the South African inside of me.

Oh we also stopped by Torrance's house. He is a recent convert in Pecan Creek 1st ward. And he is literally the bomb diggity! He's this 54 year old little black man that LOVES THE GOSPEL! In fact he often comes out with us on his bike and does missionary work with us! He really is the coolest kid on the block and I'm super excited to work with him. But whenever he talks I tend to fall asleep because he has this silky radio gospel voice, so I have to make sure that I stay awake when we he shares his testimony.

 

Everything is going well here! And I absolutely love that Christmas lights are going up now! Christmas is my favorite holiday and it just makes me so happy! I encourage everyone who receives this email to check out the new video that the church has made for Christmas. It is called "He is the Gift". You can find it out Youtube or Christmas.mormon.org

When you watch it, think about the gifts that the Savior has given you this year and then share the video and your thoughts online on facebook or on instagram. But make sure that you #sharethegift. The church has put a lot of effort into this production so let's support them by sharing it as much as we can!

So since Sister Barlow just finished training we got to go to new missionary meeting on Friday and the APs trained us on how we can be more effective missionaries. I realized that I don't know my scriptures as well as I thought and that I still have a lot to learn on my mission but there was something interesting that they trained on that I thought I would share with all of you today. Why do you think that we pray on our knees? I never really thought about why we do it, I just do it because its what I grew up doing and it seems to be one of the best ways to show respect to our Heavenly Father. I also thought that if I was in the most uncomfortable position possible then I wouldn't fall asleep during my prayers. But think about this quote "If you go out of your way for God, He will go out of the way for you." Isn't that interesting! President Nattress always says in order to receive personal revelation we need to make a sacrifice and a covenant with Him. Prayer is the tool we use in order to make that covenant so might as well be sacrificing at the same time. So my commitment to you is to get out of your bed every morning and every night, get on your knees and have a deep conversation with your Heavenly Father. I promise that he's listening! He will answer you!!!

I love this work! I love being a missionary and I love Arizona! I'm so grateful for the chance that I have to be here and become the person that my Father in Heaven wants me to be.

Also, shout out to Sister Bowen! Congrats on your call to Brazil! You will do amazing things in Brazil!! I'm so proud of you!!!! :)

p.s. we helped out at a turkey trot Thanksgiving morning and it was really awesome!!!! :)