Daniel's Baptism!

Here is part of Elder Rau's letter from today:

"Daniel got baptized on saturday and everything went according to plan! The baptism was awesome and his confirmation on Sunday was equally cool. However, the week leading up to the baptism did not go as planned. We went out to his house last Saturday and had an amazing lesson. Tuesday was a little different. He was feeling a little conflicted and confused about how he was feeling. He thought that he needed more time. We explained that he was probably just feeling a little nervous and it was perfectly normal. He was also having trouble sleeping and wasn't sure that he was ready. This is where the spirit took over. This was the most powerful and spiritually guided lesson of my mission thus far. The promptings were so clear and made so much sense. I was learning as I was speaking to him. My spanish wasn't perfect, but it improved significantly. We explained that maybe this was just a trial of his faith. Maybe the Lord was testing him to see if it really was a desire of his heart. We also shared some personal experiences that related to how he was feeling. At the end of the lesson, he still wasn't feeling awesome, and this feeling continued until his interview on Thursday. It was an hour long. One of our zone leaders, Elder Kibler, did an awesome job in the interview, because he felt better still afterwards. He still wasn't sleeping well.....Saturday morning we called him and he was on board, 100% and ready to go. The baptism went forward and was almost perfect. the only thing that was wrong was our starting time. We started ten minutes late...not bad huh? Elder Brooks (who is still my companion...and will be until about november 12th) said it was the smoothest baptism he has ever seen. I was privileged to be the one to baptize him. There is so much power i that ordinance. I felt the spirit so strongly as I raised my arm to the square and called him by name, then performed the ordinance in the name of the Father, the So and the Holy Ghost. I still can't really describe my emotions, but it was an experience that I will never forget." 

Elder Rau cleaning dead cockroaches out of the font

Elders Brooks and Rau with Daniel

A picture of their church building

Letters to Home

Part of a letter from Elder Rau on 9/30

Daniel is doing really well. We had to re-commit him to baptism. This has happened before, obviously because he has been investigating for over a year, but instead of saying I will try, he said, I want to!!!! This came after an awesome lesson in which we were able to explain very thoroughly what it means to have a testimony and all of that good stuff. He finally has the desire to make his covenant and he will be able to make it on the 11th of this month. We have been watching some of the segments from special witnesses of Christ, and he enjoys them and I think will be able to watch most of conference this coming week. We get it live feed here, which means we are going to be home late on Saturday night. Even better, the elders get to watch it in ENGLISH!!!

We have some big news with one of our menos activo families! They came to Church!!!!!!! Its been almost a year and a half since the last time they came. He is such a stud, spiritually. Every time we go over to see them (we eat with them every other Sunday) he bears his testimony and talks about his mission. I guess they just had a lot of bad experiences with the members and their feelings got hurt so bad that they just didn't want to go to church anymore because they got offended every time. Now they realize that the people don't make the church true!! We are really excited for them. 

The work continues and is still true! Miracles happen every day and I know that the lord is mindful of his children here. He is preparing them and us so that we can meet and we can help them return to him. I'm so grateful for my testimony and the chance that I have to share it. I konw that Moroni's promise works, and that it can work for anyone!

Part of a letter from Elder Rau on 10/6 

So general conference was pretty much amazing! We got to watch all five sessions even though priesthood got over at 11 and we were only allowed to go to sunday afternoon if we had an investigator present (we were waiting for about 10 but Daniel is the only one that came). We definitely learned a lot about how we can improve the quality of our work here. President Monson's talk about finding joy in the journey was especially important for me. I also really enjoyed the entire session of Saturday afternoon. Elder Worthlin and Elder Corbridg's talks were really awesome, and Elder Holland was also very powerful. I'm not sure if this is a good or a bad thing, but the words of the prophets have taken on a lot more importance while I have been on my mission so far. Maybe I didn't study them enough before the mission, but right now I love listening to and learning from living prophets. 

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!"

First Discussion

Here is a video I took while talking on the phone with Nate.....Elder Rau.....Last week. He is teaching part of the first discussion. Doesn't he sound so good??! Sorry about the bad recording and the background noise. I thought later that I should have put the camera on the tri-pod and focused in on a picture of Nate. haha. Maybe at Christmas. :)

President Villaba

Here's a picture that Elder Rau's mission president's wife sent to my Parents. His mission president is President Villaba and we assume that the other elder is Nate's Trainer, Elder Brooks.