Friday, April 16, 2010
It Is Another Very Happy Day in the Mission
4-7-10
¡Buen Día!
Hey everyone! Hows it goin? Sounds like everything is goin great back home. Ari mentioned that its going into spring there, which means that yes, it is about fall here. Its actually quite chilly right now. I'm wearing long sleeves again! Its so much nicer to sleep cold than hot! Anyway, I'm just really glad for cool weather.
Well, I'm back in Holy Faith...crazy huh. I am pretty excited to be here. My comp is elder pratt, a great great great grandson of Parley and an awesome missionary. He really wants to do everything he can and be perfect, so I know he will have success in his mission. Hes commin right along with the language. I took my peruano comp for granted, I forgot what its like to do all the talking...basically. We are both adjusting. The area is called Ciudadela, and has been closed for between 10 and 12 moths due to lazy missionaries and indifferent members. Having not seen a single baptism in about 2 years, they are excited to have missionaries again and are more than ready to help us. We already have all of our lunch appointments for the next two weeks! Any dreams I had about loosing a little bit of weight before coming home have gone out the window. We are in the city, so naturally, the people are not as receptive. I have never been rejected so much in my whole mission, but greater opposition means greater blessings in the end.
So far we are teaching an incomplete family of like a million people. Two of the kids already have baptismal dates for may and the rest are coming along just fine. One couple is getting ready to get married and she asked us if she could get baptised after she gets married. I said no....haha, just kidding, I said absolutely! Her husband is a member, and I don't think he lacks that much to come back to church. He just needs some good friends to support him in his righteous endeavors.
Yesterday we taught a catholic missionary. It went way different than I thought it would. He really just wanted to find out what we really believed and say that he thought what we were doing was really good and that as long as we are all worshiping the same God, we all go to the same place....if only it were that easy. He had some correct theories about why there are so many churches, and when we explained the apostasy he looked like he understood. The only thing we haven't exactly agreed on is the need for authority. He just kind of started talking about other stuff, but its ok because he said that for sure he was going to read the BoM and pray about it, so I`m not really worried about anything.
It is another very happy day in the mission. While revising the weekly newsletter, I saw pictures of a few people I know from old areas. The mom of some kids in cabaña got baptised, Juan Pablo montenegro from paraná baptised someone, maybe even his mom and I saw the name of Oscar Duarte on the list of those baptised last week. That all just made me sooo happy! I think the dad of another guy from paraná got baptised too. His son is on a mission and I was in the area the first time he (the dad) came to church.
So conference was pretty much amazing! I kind of don't want to say it as to avoid offending the womenfolk, but priesthood was definitely my favorite! I kind of felt like a lot of the talks weren't written exactly for missionaries, seeing as they are about raising kids and stuff, but I guess I learned some good stuff. My poor comp didn't understand a word of saturday because we had to watch it all in Spanish. He was kind of jet lagged still, so he got some rest. Conference is different in spanish. I prefer hearing the profets actual voice, but thats just me. If you could, send me the first presidency's talks and that should do for now. I'll probably ask for more as I review my notes. Especially President Ucthdorf and Eyring from priesthood. I'm so grateful for modern revelation. I don't know how all the other churches do with out guidance directly from heaven.
Well, i think thats about everything notable from this week. I hope you are all doing great and enjoying spring.
The church is true, i have no doubt.
I love you all a whole bunch,
ELder Rau
¡Buen Día!
Hey everyone! Hows it goin? Sounds like everything is goin great back home. Ari mentioned that its going into spring there, which means that yes, it is about fall here. Its actually quite chilly right now. I'm wearing long sleeves again! Its so much nicer to sleep cold than hot! Anyway, I'm just really glad for cool weather.
Well, I'm back in Holy Faith...crazy huh. I am pretty excited to be here. My comp is elder pratt, a great great great grandson of Parley and an awesome missionary. He really wants to do everything he can and be perfect, so I know he will have success in his mission. Hes commin right along with the language. I took my peruano comp for granted, I forgot what its like to do all the talking...basically. We are both adjusting. The area is called Ciudadela, and has been closed for between 10 and 12 moths due to lazy missionaries and indifferent members. Having not seen a single baptism in about 2 years, they are excited to have missionaries again and are more than ready to help us. We already have all of our lunch appointments for the next two weeks! Any dreams I had about loosing a little bit of weight before coming home have gone out the window. We are in the city, so naturally, the people are not as receptive. I have never been rejected so much in my whole mission, but greater opposition means greater blessings in the end.
So far we are teaching an incomplete family of like a million people. Two of the kids already have baptismal dates for may and the rest are coming along just fine. One couple is getting ready to get married and she asked us if she could get baptised after she gets married. I said no....haha, just kidding, I said absolutely! Her husband is a member, and I don't think he lacks that much to come back to church. He just needs some good friends to support him in his righteous endeavors.
Yesterday we taught a catholic missionary. It went way different than I thought it would. He really just wanted to find out what we really believed and say that he thought what we were doing was really good and that as long as we are all worshiping the same God, we all go to the same place....if only it were that easy. He had some correct theories about why there are so many churches, and when we explained the apostasy he looked like he understood. The only thing we haven't exactly agreed on is the need for authority. He just kind of started talking about other stuff, but its ok because he said that for sure he was going to read the BoM and pray about it, so I`m not really worried about anything.
It is another very happy day in the mission. While revising the weekly newsletter, I saw pictures of a few people I know from old areas. The mom of some kids in cabaña got baptised, Juan Pablo montenegro from paraná baptised someone, maybe even his mom and I saw the name of Oscar Duarte on the list of those baptised last week. That all just made me sooo happy! I think the dad of another guy from paraná got baptised too. His son is on a mission and I was in the area the first time he (the dad) came to church.
So conference was pretty much amazing! I kind of don't want to say it as to avoid offending the womenfolk, but priesthood was definitely my favorite! I kind of felt like a lot of the talks weren't written exactly for missionaries, seeing as they are about raising kids and stuff, but I guess I learned some good stuff. My poor comp didn't understand a word of saturday because we had to watch it all in Spanish. He was kind of jet lagged still, so he got some rest. Conference is different in spanish. I prefer hearing the profets actual voice, but thats just me. If you could, send me the first presidency's talks and that should do for now. I'll probably ask for more as I review my notes. Especially President Ucthdorf and Eyring from priesthood. I'm so grateful for modern revelation. I don't know how all the other churches do with out guidance directly from heaven.
Well, i think thats about everything notable from this week. I hope you are all doing great and enjoying spring.
The church is true, i have no doubt.
I love you all a whole bunch,
ELder Rau
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Hola Familia!
Once again, I forgot to tell y'all that transfers are this week. I think, or did I tell you? Either way, its Tuesday and I'm writing. So transfers are in and I didn't get exactly what I wanted, but I am pretty happy/excited/nervous/scared to death. I will no longer be a leader of zone (or zone leader for those that are fluent English speakers) but will continue serving as a district leader. I'm going BACK to Santa Fe and will be opening an area that has been closed for about a year for various reasons. My new companion is Elder Pratt, and is fresh from the MTC. I get to train again! Unfortunately, I have heard alot about the area, both good and bad, but I guess that doesn't really matter, we are still going to rock it! I have the heart of down town in the area. Its a new challenge.
My first hijo is making a skyrocket climb in mission leadership. He is going to be a zone leader this transfer, which is as fast as any yanqui has ever moved up. He and another elder from his mtc group. I am pretty excited to see if I can train an assistant, thus vicariously becoming assistant! Haha, just kiddin.
This morning we went and helped our bishop roof a house for someone. We did it with cement. Construction is very different here. Everything is with bricks. At first I was up on the roof receiving a bucket of cement and handing it to someone else, then receiving the empty buckets and passing them down the line. After a little while I got called down to the cement mixer. UP until this point I thought the job was pretty easy, but then they told me that I would have to receive the empty buckets and put them on the ground for someone else to fill with cement, then pick them up and lift them as high as I could and pass them to another guy who passed them to someone on the roof and so on. I will be very sore tomorrow. It was a great experience though... I think my hands took the worst of the beating. I got like a million blisters that all popped and got sand and cement in them. I got home and thought it would be a good idea to put straight alcohol on them.....possibly the worst decision I have made in a really long time. It burned really bad. So that was my morning. I love service...really, I do.
I got one of the best phone calls in the whole world the other night. An elder called from Concordia and told me that the dad of a family there has decided to get baptized. He had a date earlier this year, but I don't know what happened. The good news is that this time the elders didn't ask him if he would get baptized, he asked the elders if he could get baptized. I would absolutely love to be there this week end, but I guess someone will just have to send me the pictures afterwards. That family is so going to the temple next year! I also heard that the mom of a few kids that got baptized in Santa Fe got baptized last week. She wanted to get baptized so bad while I was there, but for a while she was under the impression that she couldn't go to church if she was still smoking. We felt really bad for having miscommunicated, but either way, she got baptized. Now the whole family are members, they just have to activate the dad. He was baptized as a kid, but hasn't really gone to church in forever and doesn't remember anything except maybe his baptism.
OH yeah, I totally forgot, I turned 21 this week! Crazy huh! It was a pretty normal day. My comps birthday was the 27th, so it was a birthday weekend. An hermana made us a super huge awesome cake and we have been eating it for every meal for the last few days. Your birthday is a really big deal down here! Everyone was really excited and greeted us and stuff. It was cool. Saturday we had an activity. We watched the lion king. I think it’s like the third time I have seen it in the mission. Its amazing how much you can relate to the gospel/plan of salvation from that movie.
Love you all,
Elder Rau
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
The Church is True, Jesus Christ is our Savior, and He is, Undeniably, the Jehovah of the Old Testament
3-24-10
When I got my call to Argentina, I knew there was a pretty heavy Italian population, but I didn't realize how large the "white" population would be. Just about everyone has Italian, Spanish, German or otherwise European in their blood. The point of the story is I thought that I would never get to teach any Lamanites. The book of Mormon was written for them, so I kind of wanted to take it to them. Well, my dreams have been completed! There is an Indian tribe here called the Toba. They are very much Lamanites. They all moved here to Rosario try to get out of a very poor situation in other parts of the country, and live in the humblest of neighborhoods. Our contacts have changed. We were inspired by a Peruvian elder in the mission who is straight up Indian... elder Humañahui it means eagle eye... but anyway, when he knocks on a door, he introduces himself and talks about a legend from his people about a white God that visited his people and that their records have been preserved in the Book of Mormon. We try to apply that same approach talking a lot about the personal ministry of the Savior here in the Americas. Anyway, we have some pretty promising contacts so far.
Other than that, we are seeing other small miracles. A few days ago we were just walking down the street, when we heard someone yelling, ¡ey, muchachos! That usually means that there is a drunk man or some punk wanting to rob us. I usually don't look, but this time was a little bit different. I looked back to see 3 teenagers on the curb looking at us. One called us over so we went. When we got there, one said, what are you preaching...so we told him, the word of God. It was then that I saw the bible in the hands of one of them. We shared the first lesson there in the street and set an appointment to go back tonight. I'm pretty excited. They are honest seekers of the truth! They are the funniest to teach.
I did get an interesting phone call the other night. Elder Hildreth, the assistant and one of my old zone leaders and possibly the most influential missionary in my mission, and by that I mean one that has helped me be better, asked how everything was going and if I had a preference on where I finish my mission. The obvious answer was where ever the Lord wants, but I gave a suggestion for president to pray about, so we´ll see what happens. I would love to go back to Entre Rios.
We had a way cool two day zone conference in the mission home. We played games, learned cool stuff and above all got animated to be better and lose ourselves in the lords work. We gave our little portion as zone leaders and I got to talk about pole vault! I also talked about high jump. I talked about how everybody thought that the events had pretty well reached their potential and that the world record wasn't going to go much higher. I then talked about the Fosbury Flop, and the invention of fiberglass poles and stuff like that, then gave another analog with the whole, look to the sky thing, instead of looking at the bar. We have to set our sights higher than the minimum. (I think I already told that analogy to you, but if not I can tell you later.) But it was great and we talked about goals and other good stuff like that.
I'm pretty much out of time, so I'll end it here. I love you all a whole lot and hope that everything keeps going well for you!
The church is true, Jesus Christ is our savior, and He is, undeniably, the Jehovah of the old testament (the JW´s knocked on our door this morning while we were cleaning...so that topic is fresh in my mind).
Anyway, I love you all a whole lot and look forward to next week’s letters!
Elder Rau
When I got my call to Argentina, I knew there was a pretty heavy Italian population, but I didn't realize how large the "white" population would be. Just about everyone has Italian, Spanish, German or otherwise European in their blood. The point of the story is I thought that I would never get to teach any Lamanites. The book of Mormon was written for them, so I kind of wanted to take it to them. Well, my dreams have been completed! There is an Indian tribe here called the Toba. They are very much Lamanites. They all moved here to Rosario try to get out of a very poor situation in other parts of the country, and live in the humblest of neighborhoods. Our contacts have changed. We were inspired by a Peruvian elder in the mission who is straight up Indian... elder Humañahui it means eagle eye... but anyway, when he knocks on a door, he introduces himself and talks about a legend from his people about a white God that visited his people and that their records have been preserved in the Book of Mormon. We try to apply that same approach talking a lot about the personal ministry of the Savior here in the Americas. Anyway, we have some pretty promising contacts so far.
Other than that, we are seeing other small miracles. A few days ago we were just walking down the street, when we heard someone yelling, ¡ey, muchachos! That usually means that there is a drunk man or some punk wanting to rob us. I usually don't look, but this time was a little bit different. I looked back to see 3 teenagers on the curb looking at us. One called us over so we went. When we got there, one said, what are you preaching...so we told him, the word of God. It was then that I saw the bible in the hands of one of them. We shared the first lesson there in the street and set an appointment to go back tonight. I'm pretty excited. They are honest seekers of the truth! They are the funniest to teach.
I did get an interesting phone call the other night. Elder Hildreth, the assistant and one of my old zone leaders and possibly the most influential missionary in my mission, and by that I mean one that has helped me be better, asked how everything was going and if I had a preference on where I finish my mission. The obvious answer was where ever the Lord wants, but I gave a suggestion for president to pray about, so we´ll see what happens. I would love to go back to Entre Rios.
We had a way cool two day zone conference in the mission home. We played games, learned cool stuff and above all got animated to be better and lose ourselves in the lords work. We gave our little portion as zone leaders and I got to talk about pole vault! I also talked about high jump. I talked about how everybody thought that the events had pretty well reached their potential and that the world record wasn't going to go much higher. I then talked about the Fosbury Flop, and the invention of fiberglass poles and stuff like that, then gave another analog with the whole, look to the sky thing, instead of looking at the bar. We have to set our sights higher than the minimum. (I think I already told that analogy to you, but if not I can tell you later.) But it was great and we talked about goals and other good stuff like that.
I'm pretty much out of time, so I'll end it here. I love you all a whole lot and hope that everything keeps going well for you!
The church is true, Jesus Christ is our savior, and He is, undeniably, the Jehovah of the old testament (the JW´s knocked on our door this morning while we were cleaning...so that topic is fresh in my mind).
Anyway, I love you all a whole lot and look forward to next week’s letters!
Elder Rau
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Every Injustice, Hardship and Trial in this Life will be Made Right, Even More, it will have Been a Blessing
So anyway, we have had another great week. I forgot to tell you last week, but I had a once in a life time experience. You know the rhinoceros beetle from ants, well, those bugs actually do exist, and we found one the other day. I had seen them before and didn't think they could pinch with their very sharp horn, but as it turns out they can. My comp was inspired to tell me not to do it (stick my pinky finger between his forehead and horn) but I did it anyway and it clamped down. It hurt real bad and I think I accidentally killed the poor bug because I threw him afterwards. It was a pretty funny experience.
We were waiting for about 14 people on Sunday and 6 of them came, which was pretty cool! We didn't even have to go out and look for anyone, so I bet we could help some more people if we got out and brought them. Its pretty cool to see an investigator arrive on their own. They are the chosen ones.
Other than that its been a great week full of really cool lessons and substantial personal revelation. Lots of things are just occurring to me right now. I guess I am in reflection mode. I like it and am writing it down, trying to show the lord that I appreciate what he tells me and am willing to receive more. One of these revelations came in the middle of the night. We have always repeated a passage from john 15, every night before going to sleep. Verses 4 to 9 I think... not sure though, I just know it. But anyway, I was thinking, what does that mean? I had never really thought about it, but then it hit me. Those who do not abide in the savior, dont love him, and don't keep his commandments. They will be cast out...(como pampano, y se secar, y los recogen y los hecho en el fuego y arden...not sure how that part goes in English) A verse then came to mind from Mathew 7, when the lord tells someone that had done many good things in his name that He never knew him. I then thought of the number of disobedient missionaries that I know that still have a ton of success. The bottom line is that the fruit is acceptable in the way that it is harvested, as far as the personal situation of the missionary. Obviously everyone gets blessings for getting baptized, but it is important for us as we participate in this great work, for our own salvation and for the joy that is promised to those that are called to the work. I hope I am doing things right! On the other hand, those that do abide in him and love him and keep his commandments will be blessed with one of the greatest blessing, which is aligning your desires with those of the Lord. Wanting the same thing, which allows us to ask for anything and receive it because we wont ask for anything outside of the will of the Lord. Something like that....
Something interesting happened with a couple we are teaching. My first couple days here we taught a couple and she didn't really want to listen, but he was all for it. One thing led to another and we didn't get back to their house for about two weeks. His mom is a member and they live with her, so they weren't without contact from someone from the church, but still, I felt really bad. I felt worse when we found out that they had actually separated for a few days and were not doing too good. Odd change of events, all of a sudden she is really wanting to go to church and he is back to his old ways. She recognized the difference from the time that they were going to church every week to the time when they didn't want to go or keep the commandments, and so now she really wants to go to church and get married and baptized and stuff. I'm confident that he will return to have interest soon enough. It was more than likely part of the lords plan for them to go a little while without much spiritual support so that they could see the difference and be more motivated. I was telling someone the other day that the coolest part of the mission is recognizing the way the Lord works in the lives of the people. Its a big blessing of being a missionary to see that.
Well, I think that's about all I have time for for this week. I love you guys a ton and hope you have a great week! I know that this is the true church and that God loves us and has a plan for us that extend much farther than our current capacity to comprehend. Every injustice, hardship and trial in this life will be made right in the life to come. Even more, it will have been a blessing. Cool huh.
Love you guys!
Elder Rau
We were waiting for about 14 people on Sunday and 6 of them came, which was pretty cool! We didn't even have to go out and look for anyone, so I bet we could help some more people if we got out and brought them. Its pretty cool to see an investigator arrive on their own. They are the chosen ones.
Other than that its been a great week full of really cool lessons and substantial personal revelation. Lots of things are just occurring to me right now. I guess I am in reflection mode. I like it and am writing it down, trying to show the lord that I appreciate what he tells me and am willing to receive more. One of these revelations came in the middle of the night. We have always repeated a passage from john 15, every night before going to sleep. Verses 4 to 9 I think... not sure though, I just know it. But anyway, I was thinking, what does that mean? I had never really thought about it, but then it hit me. Those who do not abide in the savior, dont love him, and don't keep his commandments. They will be cast out...(como pampano, y se secar, y los recogen y los hecho en el fuego y arden...not sure how that part goes in English) A verse then came to mind from Mathew 7, when the lord tells someone that had done many good things in his name that He never knew him. I then thought of the number of disobedient missionaries that I know that still have a ton of success. The bottom line is that the fruit is acceptable in the way that it is harvested, as far as the personal situation of the missionary. Obviously everyone gets blessings for getting baptized, but it is important for us as we participate in this great work, for our own salvation and for the joy that is promised to those that are called to the work. I hope I am doing things right! On the other hand, those that do abide in him and love him and keep his commandments will be blessed with one of the greatest blessing, which is aligning your desires with those of the Lord. Wanting the same thing, which allows us to ask for anything and receive it because we wont ask for anything outside of the will of the Lord. Something like that....
Something interesting happened with a couple we are teaching. My first couple days here we taught a couple and she didn't really want to listen, but he was all for it. One thing led to another and we didn't get back to their house for about two weeks. His mom is a member and they live with her, so they weren't without contact from someone from the church, but still, I felt really bad. I felt worse when we found out that they had actually separated for a few days and were not doing too good. Odd change of events, all of a sudden she is really wanting to go to church and he is back to his old ways. She recognized the difference from the time that they were going to church every week to the time when they didn't want to go or keep the commandments, and so now she really wants to go to church and get married and baptized and stuff. I'm confident that he will return to have interest soon enough. It was more than likely part of the lords plan for them to go a little while without much spiritual support so that they could see the difference and be more motivated. I was telling someone the other day that the coolest part of the mission is recognizing the way the Lord works in the lives of the people. Its a big blessing of being a missionary to see that.
Well, I think that's about all I have time for for this week. I love you guys a ton and hope you have a great week! I know that this is the true church and that God loves us and has a plan for us that extend much farther than our current capacity to comprehend. Every injustice, hardship and trial in this life will be made right in the life to come. Even more, it will have been a blessing. Cool huh.
Love you guys!
Elder Rau
Friday, March 5, 2010
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