ELDER BEDNAR IS COMING!!!

10/28/09
Hola Familia!
It was great to hear from yall again this week. I hadn’t realized that you had stopped giving me updates of the cougars, which was probably a good thing according to what my comps family told him....darn Christians from Texas... But anyway, that’s not that important.
We had a great week here. Zone conference was pretty cool. Since we are a fairly secluded and far spread zone, it was just our zone. (normally, zone conference has 2 or 3 zones together). It was cool though. As always, if was very spiritual and gave us a boost to keep working hard. We gave our small portion and it turned out pretty well. It was about commitments and we all learned some valuable stuff, so I hope we can improve with that. The only other really big thing announced in zone conference is that we are going to have a visitor named David Bednar in November or December. I guess he’s a pretty good speaker, so I guess Im excited...I mean... ELDER BEDNAR IS COMING!!! Im way excited. I guess there is going to be a time for questions and I think we can ask him pretty much anything. What should I ask him? I have alot of questions and all, but I dont know if its really worth the time of an apostle and 200 other missionaries. It would be one big zone conference with the whole mission. That will be especially cool because Its been about a year since Ive seen a few elders from my MTC district. But anyway, that will be cool.
One of our investigators cooked lunch for us. That was also very cool. He always cooks for religious get togethers because he doesn’t go to any church, but is catholic. He feels a void inside him that no church has been able to fill as of yet. His oldest son got baptized a year ago and his wife got baptized about 3 weeks ago (the day before I got here). He has seen the change in them, and is beginning to change himself. My comp tells me that a month ago he was very anti and didnt even want to be in the same room as the missionaries, but after a year of hard work, Pablo is going to end up baptizing his whole family. We had a killer lesson last night that was three or four days in preparation about the atonement. Directly about how peace comes through it. Peace has to do with repentance, which is only possible through Jesus Christ. Long story short, he accepted a baptismal date in three weeks without hesitation. Pretty sweet huh. We will more than likely baptize his 10 year old son and a 10 year old granddaughter that day because his other daughter isnt married with her current partner, which just means they are gonna have to get married first, no big deal, but they are progressing very well.
We also had district conference, because we live in a district. Presidente Villalba just stayed here all weekend and did all his business. He reorganized the district presidency and gave a really great talk. It was interesting to see him interact with the members. Hes a little different. Way more down to earth and normal. Maybe its just because I have only ever seen him in zone conferences and stuff... But another cool thing happened. While his wife was giving a talk in the general session, one of our investigators got up and sat next to president on the stand. We were in the choir seats, so we had now way of controlling what was going on. He talked to president for a bit, then waited quietly for the hermana to finish. President then got up and said that they were going to make an excepcion and gave him about three minutes to bear his testimony. I just about died. He used to be evangelical, so that had me worried a little. (Before I continue, i have to tell you that there was a storm Friday night that was basically a hurricane. Winds reached 120 kmh and tore many houses apart. If you remember me explaining my old area, all of the houses are made out of wood and sheet metal on the roofs or walls. Many many people lost parts of their homes that weekend.) So he began to explain his gratitude to God for his family and everything. His house is made out of chapa (that wavy metal stuff) and during the storm, they thought they were going to lose everything, but then he said that he stood up and said a prayer with his family (his kids got baptized a few months ago) and he felt a huge peace come into his home and heart. He then went on to Bbear a sweet testimony about the church and the book of Mormon. This came out of nowhere! He wasnt even progressing, but now hes like top priority! The only thing is that he cant get married because he has to get divorced first...that takes a long time down here. But it doesn’t matter, because now he’s got the motivation. We are content. We went to go see him and the house was fine. He is building a house out of bricks next door to his existing house, and the crazy part is that one of those walls fell down and got destroyed completely. How does that work? Solid brick walls are thrown down, but some wood and nails stand strong... sounds like a miracle to me.
Anyway, I think thats about it for the week. Im gonna try and send some pics, but for now, know that I love you all so much and love hearing from you every week.
The church is true. I have no doubt of that.
Con amor,
Elder Rau

p.s. My comp was in the same zone or district as elder McKibben in the MTC.
p.s.s. Ari, I got the package and it was awesome! Thanks so much for the pictures. Everyone, and I mean everyone I show pictures to says that cami is the cuttest little girl in the whole world.