Tuesday, January 5, 2010

HAPPY NEW YEAR to Everyone!

1/5/10
Hola familia!
Once again, I’m writing on Tuesday because I forgot to inform you about transfers. I’m really bad at that huh maybe I’ll figure it out someday. The good news is that today I am on a computer that can send pictures, so maybe I’ll get a few off.
Anyway, HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone! We had a great time watching the fireworks from our roof. It was kind of eerie right before midnight because out of nowhere a huge wind picked up and only lasted for like a minute. We decided that that means it’s gonna be a big year, or something big is going to happen.
So about transfers I can’t believe it but I’m going back to Santa Fe living in the same pinch that I just came from, but upstairs. I am going to still be a ZL in the zone Recreo/Rafaela. The area is absolutely amazing. We will be baptizing quite a bit. My new companion was in my district in the MTC. Elder Sharp. He is an awesome missionary! I am very excited to work with him. He is from Preston, Idaho that right, Napoleon Dynamite town. He went to that high school, worked at that chicken farm and knew the real guy that was the inspiration for Lyle. He is actually part of the National Guard. I’m very content, but very sad to leave Concordia. This is one of my favorite cities and I’m really going to miss the members/investigators here. But I guess that’s just how it goes right
I can’t really think of anything else I wanted to write though I had some good stories, but I forgot. Just a few hours ago we got trapped in the elevator of our building that was funny. We were trapped in a little box and it was really hot. Yesterday we were clapping in front of a house and a big old German Sheppard came running at us, but luckily his chain stopped him. We started talking about how he was a mean dog and stuff like that, and then all of a sudden he charged again and broke his chain. It is possible that it was the most scared I have been in my mission. The dog took a few steps, then decided he wanted to go sniff around over by some plants, so he forgot about us. Close call
On a more spiritual note, we had to set goals for the month this week (even though we knew it was a possible that one of us was getting transferred). So we prayed and stuff, then wrote down our numbers and compared. We were exactly the same except for one of the three key dates, but we were only off by one number. Moments like those you can’t deny the inspiration. It’s always encouraging.
Well, I’ll end it here and try to get some pictures off. I love you guys a whole bunch and can’t wait to hear from you next week. I will be back in Santa Fe, so I will write if I haven’t been cooked to a crisp. It usually makes like 50Celsius which being interpreted is really really hot! Plus humidity
The church is true no matter where you go!
Love you lots!
Elder Rau

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...

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

With the Lord's Help, We Will Have Success

11-24-09
Hola Familia,
Once again, I forgot to tell y'all that it was transfers this week, so here I am writing on Tuesday. Thanks mom and dad for making up for my lack of preparation.

I cant believe elder Mckibben, I mean, Jesse, is home! Bienvenidos! I wonder if now he will read the blog and stuff, but I'm sure he's got plenty to do. How is the blog going anyway, do people look at it or have I become as forgotten as the BYU baseball team? I must admit I have been pretty bad at writing real letters too. To be honest, I cant remember the last letter I wrote whatever, I'll be home in like 7 months, so I'll just ask forgiveness when I get home

Well, the baptism of Ariel Duarte when great! We started late, but that is to be expected. It rained that entire day until right after the baptism, then the sun kind of came out. His dad came to the baptism and really enjoyed it. I wish I could send you the pictures, but I kind of forgot the cable for my camera, so maybe next week It really was a great experience though. One of the best 10 year olds I have ever seen. Future missionary.

Speaking of all that rain, we have had so much of it that the river has grown about 14 meters, which is almost 50 feet. The whole area close to the river is flooded and many people are living in the schools and other large covered areas. Its supposed to keep raining, and the dam just up stream cant hold the amount of water that is coming down, so they are slowly letting the water out, regulating it I guess, until all the people can get evacuated. We went down yesterday and helped some people move. We were thinking about getting wet and helping some other people, but I got a call from the assistants that said that president said don't do anything stupid or dangerous, and seeing as the power lines were precarious, we didn't get in the water. They cut the power shortly there after. I guess this is the closest I'm going to get to a natural disaster in my mission.

By the way, my new comp is named Elder Crapono -no joke -but you don't pronounce it the way its spelled. Say the a as in way. He's a big ol boy from Utah I think, and should be getting here today or tomorrow early. Well see. I was hoping to see my MTC comp come here, but he is down in Pergamino as zone leader and will see him on Friday in the mission counsel meeting. Either way, we are gonna have a killer transfer. This transfer the zone had 9 baptisms, but I am planning 11 for our area alone if everything goes well. Its gonna be sweet!
Anyway, I can't really think of anything else. Elder Kirk finished his mission well and is now touring the mission with his family. I'm very grateful for having served with him. I'm kind of worried about being in charge of the zone, but with the Lords help, we will have success in bringing people to Him.
I love you all a whole lot and can't wait to hear from you next week! And don't forget, the Church IS true!
Elder Rau

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

I Know this Church is True, There's No Way That its Not!

Hola Familia!
Another great week here in Argentina. Glad to hear that things are going great over there. I can’t believe that Elder Mckibben is about to turn back into Jesse! With him coming home and my comp about to go home too, I have come to the realization that one day in the future, my mission will end, but luckily, I can’t see it happening, so maybe I’ll be able to convince myself that it won’t happen and I’ll just stay here. But anyway, enough with the trunky talk.
We really did have a great week. Friday, we went to Rosario and assisted the mission counsel. It’s a meeting with all the zone leaders in the mission. We have to travel the farthest. We got on a bus at about midnight, got to Rosario at about 6:30, then got back on the colectivo at 5 and were home after midnight again. 14 hours on a bus in one day is quite a bit, but definitely worth it. I have really been stressing because I don’t have any ideas for the zone. I’m not exactly the most creative person in the whole world, so it’s really hard, but there was a time for all the companionships to talk about what was working for them. And as I wrote down their ideas, I was able to formulate my own, or rather, I had some help applying them to the needs of our zone. It was a very spiritual meeting. I feel a little bit more capable to fill this slot that I’m in.
I know that this church is true, there is no way it’s not. On Sunday I asked a little ten year old to pray about the 21st as his baptismal date. Yesterday he came up to me and said, Rau! I asked God...and he said yes! He then went on to explain that when he asked God if he was in this church, he felt something inside him that was hard to explain, he almost couldn’t breathe, but in a good way, then he asked Him if He was in another church when he asked, he said he didn’t feel anything! This kid is such a stud! He came into the room with a toy bow and arrow one time and said, look, I’m Nefi! His mom recently got baptized and his dad is the one that was kind of anti for a while but had accepted a baptismal date. He isn’t progressing as well as before, but he’s still there. Anyway, we are going to finish that family before I leave here.
We barely fell short of the standards last week, so we wanted to blow them out of the water this week, and so far we are doing pretty well. We almost have it already after Monday and Tuesday. We are doing pretty good here. There is a lot of improvement in the zone too. We are getting ready for some big stuff. I’m pretty sure I got sent to the promised land of the mission. We are gonna blow this place up!
Anyway, that it for this week. I love you all a ton and look forward to hearing from you next week.
I know that eternas pueden ser las familias, en el eterno plan...
Love ya!
Elder Rau

p.s. Thanks so much for the packages!! I got a dear elder from Halloween and an envelope one from mom! They were way cool. The dearelder one had a little tube of goo with an alien in it...in my own defense, it looked a lot like something you would eat, but as it turns out, it was a flubber-like substance that you play with.... as I took a bite out of it, I thought that they could do a better job with the flavor...it tasted like plastic...
That’s right, I accidentally ate a toy...it really did look a lot like jello though... maybe they should label stuff like that a little better...