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
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
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...
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
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...
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...
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
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.
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.
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