The Church of Jesus Christ Does Exisist, and We are Members of It - Cool!

10/21/09
Hola Familia,
Another week from between the rivers. It’s been a great week, not exactly what I’m used to, but still great. Life is different as a zone leader. There is a lot more stuff to do and a lot more opportunity to give up some personal things to help someone else. That’s just a nice way to say that I don’t have time to do things that I normally had time to do, but that’s ok. I think I will learn quickly how to brush my teeth in the dark and stuff like that. It’s all worth it though. Leadership helps me learn so much.
Monday/Tuesday I went on divisions with a district leader in my old area of Rural, here in the city. That was very fun. They are having trouble working with the ward, so I took advantage of that and we went around and visited members, shared scriptures, asked for references and the like. We also had some plans fall through, which means we had time to go visit some old investigators. One of which should now be getting baptized in a few weeks! When I left, Alberto had a baptismal date, but never made it. He had a very complicated work schedule, and after a million failed attempts to find him, the missionaries stopped going by and he kind of got forgotten about. It’s sad, but that’s just kind of how it happens. The good news is that he now has a more stable job with a more predictable schedule. He also never stopped reading the book of Mormon and had the word of wisdom pamphlet (is that what you call it?...pamphlet?) out on his table next to his cigarettes ha-ha. He’s so cool though and was very pleased to see us. I was surprised how many people recognized me. A lot has happened in the last 6 months though. The attendance has cut in half, but there are more members with temple recommends, so I guess it’s good and bad.
We have district conference (we are in a district) and presidente Villalba will be coming with both of his counselors, so I’m pretty excited for that, but that also means that we have zone conference in two days and we have to give a 40 minute part of it, so that’s got me kind of nervous. We have it pretty well planned out, we just need more specifics and stuff. It’s going to be about commitments.
My area is called Concordia, in the city of Concordia. It is very big. I’ve gotten used to the smaller areas, so I’m walking a lot now. It kind of feels unproductive, but I guess that’s just how it is. I am going to fix it by really focusing on talking with everyone in the street, which is something that, for one reason or another, can always improve. We have downtown and a rundown part of town, so we got everything. Not sure if I’ve told you yet, but we live on the 10th floor of our building and have a great view of the church, which is right across the street. It’s amazing! We have a grocery store a block away and anything else we need. It’s perfect. You already know about the air-conditioning! It’s nice. My comp is from Utah and we live with an argentine (from Mar del Plata in the south of the province of Buenos Aires) and a chileno from Santiago I think. They are way funny. My comp is awesome. I see no problems in the future, so we can just focus on our area and keeping the zone happy and functioning. I’m very optimistic about this transfer.
Well, thanks for the conference talks and for all your love and support. I hope things are going well for everyone in Arizona, California, Oregon and Washington and wherever else yall live. Know that I love you guys a ton, and like dad said the other week, I CAN wait to come home, but it’s gonna be pretty cool when that day comes. I love being here and doing what I’m doing. I know that this is the great and marvelous work that has been mentioned in not just the doctrine and covenants, and that the church of Jesus Christ does exist, and we are members of it. Cool huh!
Ok, love you!
Elder Rau