Lucky number 13

It seems that Rawly's lucky number is 13!

He graduated in 2013

Received his endowments on the 13th

And today, the 13th, he has his first baptism...

For his first baptism I sent him a letter with this poem in it because I believe it says a lot of who Rawly is and the gift he has for loving others... As Rawly talked about in his last letter when the mission president asked him what they were doing to be so successful and he answered: "We just think of the people we teach as our friends and share with them the message we love."
Then I wanted to share it here because I believe it says EVERYTHING about what missionary work should be and how to be successful and how simple it really can be... Be a friend.

THE ROSE

A certain man planted a rose and watered it faithfully, and before it blossomed, he examined it. He saw the bud that would soon blossom and also the thorns, and he thought, "How can any beautiful flower come from a plant burdened with so many sharp thorns?"

Saddened by this thought, he neglected to water the rose, and before it was ready to bloom, it died. So it is with many people. Within every soul there is a rose. The God-like qualities planted in us at birth grow amid the thorns of our faults. Many of us look at ourselves and see only the thorns, the defects. We despair, thinking that nothing good can possibly come from us. We neglect to water the good within us, and eventually it dies. We never realize our potential. 

Some people do not see the rose within themselves; someone else must show it to them. One of the greatest gifts a person can possess is to be able to reach past the thorn and find the rose within others. This is the characteristic of love, to look at a person, and knowing his faults, recognize the nobility in his soul, and help him realize that he can overcome his faults. If we show him the rose, he will conquer the thorns. Then will he blossom, blooming forth thirty, sixty, a hundred-fold as it is given him.

Our duty in this world is to help others by showing them their roses and not their thorns. Only then can we achieve the love we should feel for each other; only then can we bloom in our own garden.