Last weeks letter

I forgot to do a post last week so here it is! 

A lovely picture of Elder Rau with his shower in the background. :)

Elder Rau sitting on (but not using he was sure to specify) the toilet while doing the dishes. In case anyone is wondering, I think the reason he hasn't sent any pictures of the people over there is that he's not allowed to bring his camera when they go out teaching. 

Here's some of his letter:

"...As far as an average day here...We get up at 6:30, have comp prayer, then personal prayer. Then we plug in the shower and wait for it to heat up... Elder brooks showers first and I pretty much eat breakfast then get down to personal study. By the time we are both showered and studied and everything, its about 9:00-9:15. We then plan and head out. We have a lot of investigators and so we do everything we can to see as many as we can, but we do a lot of walking so we can only do so much. They usually are not home, and our backups usually fall through, (so we are working on setting solid appointments) and so we just knock doors until our next scheduled thing. Lunch is at 12:30 to 1:30, then we do language study and comp study because its in the middle of the siesta. We leave the pencion at around 4, then do the same thing (knock and go to appointments) until about 9."

"This week we had zone conference, and it was awesome! I got to see Elder Redmon from my mtc group, but no one else. We had a good time swapping stories and stuff and got some really good counsel from the president and assistants and zone leaders. Unfortunately, it was all in Spanish, so I didn't get as much out of it as there was to get, but I still think I did pretty well. the language is still coming along very well. I understand almost everything, but just don't have the confidence to try and talk back. I think I figured out how the gift of tongues works. I have found that my initial thoughts about how a phrase should work are usually right, but I disregard them and over think it. So, basically, I believe that a lot of first impressions are from the spirit, and if I can figure out how to really listen and use them, I will not only be able to speak the language better, but also be way more sensitive to the general promptings of the spirit."

Milenesa

I found this picture of Milenesa - Elder Nate's favorite Argentine food so far. I also found a recipe on recipezaar.com at http://www.recipezaar.com/78573 I think I'm going to try it. From the little research I did, I think there are several different forms of milenesa - using different meats (pork, chicken and beef) and different toppings. Wouldn't it be so fun to get the recipe from the sister that is feeding Nate every wednesday? Maybe I'll ask him to get it for me... :) 

Elder Rau Working hard!

Our Elder sent us a long letter and some pictures this week! What more could we ask for? :) The photo explanations are in his own words.

"view from our back deck thing (which is the roof of the house below us and also where we wash our clothes on occassion.....by hand. there is usually a lady from the ward that does it...usually).

"fruit salesman and cart (probably the same cart they use to collect trash)"

"dog on roof"

Nate told us in a previous letter that there seem to be more dogs than people in his area - they are all over the place! Even on the roof tops. He said he always wondered how they got up there. I wrote back and requested he get a picture of a dog on a roof and he didn't disappoint. :) How funny! 

Here is a part of his letter from this week:

"We are still working with Daniel. He is set for the 27th  of this month and totally has a testimony. He had told us that he does, and that he knows that he needs to be baptized. The problem is that he understand the covenant too well and is a bit scared of getting himself into it. We are just stressing the point that it is absolutely necessary and that it is the gate to the celestial kingdom and that kind of stuff. His family is still no help. 

I think I told you a bout Edgardo, but if not, let is suffice to say that he is pretty much golden. We were only in his area because of failed appointments and one or two miracles. We were walking right past his house, and I don't know why, but I stopped dead in my tracks right after I walked past his door, and went back and rang the bell. He came out and wanted to argue, but we testified and answered a few questions. Our return visit was amazing. He identified to everything that we were teaching and was pleased to find out that we were very different from the Catholic church. He is currently in BA (buenos Aires) because of a very sick nephew, but he left a note with one of the people he shares his house with that he will be back this week and really wants us to "keep helping him"!!!!! I think if we can get him to stop smoking, he will be an awesome new member. He is very smart and really wants to know the truth....

We just found, Saturday night, a man named luis. I was doing my best to introduce us and explain what we were doing and I hit a wall and just asked if he would be interested in hearing our message. He looked at the ground and gave an answer very different than the one that I get every time I ask that question. He said yes, but didn't have time and so we are going  back on Tuesday.

Do me a favor and look up a cumbia singer named Gerardo Farias. He as put out over forty albums, and we eat with him every Wednesday! He has an awesome voice and a strong testimony, but just can't make it to church because of his work. He comes whenever he can, and his wife is active. She also makes amazing!!! food. She is the one that made the milenesa that I loved, and as far as I know, milenesa here is just beef rolled out flat and breaded and cooked or something like that. Good stuff!"