Wednesday, December 16, 2009

I'm very optimisitc about my last 6 months, which will start on Friday.

Hola Familia!
How are yall doin? Thanks for writing to me again this week. It’s really great to hear from you. I must say that I’m glad that Biff and Kailey are back together again. Will animals be included in the resurrection, or have they already fulfilled the measure of their creation? I guess we’ll find out in the millennium.
Anyway, we’ve been having some interesting experiences. I cant believe I forgot to tell you last week, but on Sunday, we were in a bus and my comp contacted a family in front of us. I couldn’t hear it very well, so the next thing I knew, he told me that we were going to church again! We ended up in an evangelist church. It was quite the experience, but pretty low key. It wasn’t one of those churches where people fall down and yell and stuff, but it was still quite interesting. Very different. It was not the true church of Jesus Christ.
We went to Paran for zone conference and had a great time. It was kind of stressful, but great to see a bunch of friends from around the mission. Half of the mish was there. It continues to amaze me how much the mission can change. Almost every conference something new is presented to us and it changes the way we work and makes us more efficient and stuff like that. Its great.
Yesterday we set a date in the registro civil for analia y Pablo. They are gonna get married! The date is for the end of February though, so its not likely that I will be here, unfortunately. Its ok though, I’m so excited for them. Pablo is doubting a little bit, but we have time to work with him. The Bejarano family went to Buenos Aires to have that operation that I would you about last week. They need prayers.
I also bought my Christmas present today! I got the suit for 300 pesos and got a 25 peso tie to go with it. Ill send pictures as soon as I can find a computer that will accept my camera. Thanks mom and dad! I now have a llama suit! It just makes me feel closer to Elder Layton. Im sure hes seeing the llamas that become suits in Argentina There aren’t very many llamas here, just cows and birds.
Quick story. We have a pair of falcons that have a nest on the top of our building and are very protective. Its dangerous to go on the roof, and they attack us every once in a while when we stick our hands out the windows. Last night, I walked into my room and opened the curtain a little bit and was startled to find one perched on my window sill almost in the room (because the window was opened). Anyway, I got the other guys and we took pictures and stuff, then I got really close with out her knowing because the curtain was in the way, and another elder took a picture. Ill send it to you some day. It is great.
Other than that, things are just going great. I’m learning a lot from my comp right now and am very optimistic about my last 6 months, which will start on Friday. This is a big milestone, and it makes me want to work harder.
I am convinced and am sure that this is the one true church of Jesus Christ, restored through a prophet, containing all the true points of doctrine that carry us to salvation.
Love ya lots.
Elder Rau

Thursday, December 10, 2009

The River is Dropping

12/9/09
Hola Familia!
Great to hear from you all this week. I hope you are enjoying the cold, because its certainly the opposite here. It’s quite toasty.
Anyway, good news from the river front. Its dropped below 15 meters and continues to drop. Some members are getting back into their houses, but now the clean up starts. It’s gonna take quite a while to get everything cleaned up. The river brought a lot of mud and bugs and snakes and things, so there will be lots to do in the coming weeks. I talked to a red cross guy the other day and said that they were planning on housing people in the schools for another four months, but I think that was like a worst case scenario thing. I think everyone has pretty well repented and remembered God in their time of need. Despite all the forecast of rain, there hasn’t been a drop all week. Last night we walked by a catholic church, and being the day of the virgin, there were about a thousand people outside, and I think I heard them praying for the river to go down or something like that.
I guess you could say that Christmas season is in full swing here. It’s not got too much to do with how we celebrate back there, but it’s cool in its own way. It’s a lot more similar to the fourth of July, with fireworks and parties and certain drinks that would be unwise to partake of. This year will be different for us though. Last year we got to go and spend the night with members, until one in the morning, but this year we have a normal schedule. But once 12:00 hits there will be more noise than on a battlefield due to the fireworks, so we will more than likely just keep the lights off and watch the fireworks from our tenth story window. I am very excited about that. There are no regulations on fireworks here, so its basically anything goes. It's gonna be sweet.
To clarify things that I must not have explained correctly, my comp is from Utah and is also a zone leader. When you move up to zone leader you get “trained” again, so I guess I am training him. We went to mission council last week and were instructed on the vision of the mission by the assistants and of course, the man behind it all, Presidente Villalba. He taught us why we have the priesthood and how we can be agents unto ourselves and be anxiously engaged in a good cause. Lots of doctrine instead of the “application” or list of things to do.
The investigators are doing great. One family is receiving an abundance of trials and blessings. They are going to receive a ton of bricks and materials from the government to finish their house, and they won like 700 pesos in the lottery, but the mom is hospitalized with an aneurysm (coagulated blood in her brain) and the dad is also having some medical problems. It’s great to see how the lord keeps them afloat. This is the same family that the dad got up in district conference about two months ago and gave his testimony. They have so much faith.
We have zone conference coming up this week, so I will get to go back and see my first area. Half of the mission will be there, so I will see quite a few friends. I hope to have a few minutes to drop by some people out there. There are now Hermanas in the area.
I think that’s it from me this week. I am learning a lot about things that are going to help me later in life, like working efficiently under pressure and stuff like that. It’s not easy to be a zone leader. It would be nice to move into the emeritus ZL status, but I guess I have something to learn here. I will go and do I guess…
Anyway, I love you all a whole bunch and look forward to talking to mom and dad in a few weeks. The church is true, of that I’m sure.
Elder Rau

p.s. i can't send fotos due to the lameness of the computer, so maybe next week...sorry...