"Carrying me to new heights"

Written May 27

Lots of missionary work is going down over here and we have two families that are progressing smoothly. One of the families is a family of influence around here so it`s a pretty big deal for us.

This mission has 5 curses:

1. falling into the acequia (drainage system that runs along the road and is always filthy)

2. getting bit by a dog

3. getting dropped on by birds

4. getting kissed or kissed at by women

5. not making it to the bathroom on time

If you are wondering.... I have fallen victim to one of these curses since being here. It wasn`t that bad but I`m sure there are plenty in store for me. Elder Egbert had some poor luck with the curses this week... dang. 

I started doing lots of door contacts this week and I`m getting a lot better at it each time. My language is progressing so quickly... I can`t even believe how far I`ve come since being here. 

The kids here either wear a dress shirt and tie to school or lab coats; it`s pretty funny. It looks like a bunch of little Argentenian scientists walking around. They always come up to us and show off their english skills... 

I bought a watch from one of three black guys in all of Valle de Uco. The other two black guys are his brothers.. haha.

We had interviews with President Ávila this week and mine was short but sweet. There is only so much we can communicate at this point in time. He is such an inspired man!

Saturday was my first Argentenian holiday! It was their independence day. Our branch had an activity which was a huge success! Lot of members, inactive and less active members, and investigators were there. We went and ate choripán (bread with chorizo in the middle) fresh off the grill and it was soooo good! Then we went back to work and had a huge night. 

I`ve been reading the Christlike Attributes section in the Preach My Gospel book and taking the assesment at the end to see which attribute I need the most help with. I can feel the Lord blessing me and carrying me to new heights as I strive to become more like Him. You all should try it too because becoming like Christ is a lifelong pursuit. 

Here is the link to the Christlike Attributes section:

http://www.lds.org/manual/preach-my-gospel-a-guide-to-missionary-service/how-do-i-develop-christlike-attributes?lang=eng

And the Assessment:

http://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/images/gospel-library/manual/36617/36617_000_006_06-attributeActivity.pdf

One thing I've learned about missionary work is that pushing through the hard times and working when it isn't easy always brings blessings. 

Things are going great here and I`m pushing through the hard times (which are few and far between) with the Grace of God. 

Love,

Elder Rainock

"A big week"

Written May 20

Elder Egbert and I had a big week this week! We worked hard, put up some big numbers, and have a lot of people that are very close and excited for baptism. Our lessons have been going smoothly and we do well as a companionship. I have felt the Spirit shake me to the core many times while bearing my testimony. The church is still young here so we have been very busy fortifying the branch and its members as well as doing some finding for new members.

This week I went on exchanges with one of the Zone leaders. He is a Brazilian and doesn´t speak very much english. It forced me to speak spanish (the only language we have in common) the whole day and my spanish improved so much! Many think that he is from the states because he has an accent. People were calling us gringos (which is a daily thing) even though he is from Brazil.. pretty funny.

People here really like my blue eyes and "blonde" hair. I´ve even been told that I look like I should be in the movies. Also, in church yesterday after reading a section in gospel principles, I was told that I was a very special person and have the voice of an angel... haha. Good stuff.

Speaking of voices... yesterday a man in church sang a solo and he had one of the most magnificent voices I have ever heard! He never had a chance to show the world his talent because he was born here.. it´s so sad. I´ve always wondered how many angelic voices there are in the world that will never be discoverd or that haven´t been discovered just because of cultural walls. I just found one yesterday.

Again, speaking of voices, it seems like the only english things that kids know how to say here are "hello" and "---- you"... I´m sure they don´t mean any harm when saying the latter, though. It´s just something they know and when they see two americans walking by they have to show off their english. Honestly, people really love us here and there aren´t any problems with missionaries getting robbed here in Tupungato.

This week I had my first asado! An asado is like a cookout but they cook the meat on a wood-burning, brick grill. The meat here is fantastic and it was some of the best steak I have ever head. While on the topic of food I´ll mention something kind of interesting... people eat cough drops for candy here. They aren´t called cough drops, though... it´s just candy.

Last night I had a very spiritual experience that I can talk about. We were having ward council and Elder Egbert was not able to attend because he had a district leader meeting; it was up to me to speak on behalf of the missionary work in our branch here. I was able to understand almost everything and able to express myself in ways that I wanted to when asked about the missionary work. When it was over I was filled with warmth and wonder... I am in another country, understanding what is going on, and speaking another language well enough for my ideas to be understood. The Lord is truly helping me and the gift of tongues has never been more real to me.

Thank you for your prayers and I am praying for you back home. I´m doing splendidly down here so don´t worry ´bout a thing.

Love,

Elder Rainock

Elder Egbert and I at my first district meeting:

A vineyard we walked through to get to an appointment:

My first asado:

Arrival Photos

"We have a lot of things in store for Tupungato"

written May 13, 2013

It´s really nice to be back in the field and to feel like my days are being filled with wholesome experiences. I'm learning so much during my personal and companionship study times - it´s been very uplifting so far.

Monday night I flew from Richmond to Atlanta and met up with some other missionaries there. We had trouble boarding the plane right away because they had never seen visas like ours but we were finally permitted to board. The flight was a little over 10 hours and I got a few hours of sleep. When we landed in Buenos Aires we went through customs and it all went smoothly except I couldn't understand anything... I could tell they were speaking Spanish but they seriously sounded Italian; the cadence and voice fluctuations they use in Buenos Aires make them sound that way. We were met outside of customs by two Argentinean men who copied our passports and took us on a crazy ride through Buenos Aires... traffic laws are not enforced and motorcycles were squeezing between cars at speeds well over 100 mph on the highway. It was the same thing through the city but just not as fast. Buenos Aires is huge! I thought I was in a Bourne movie by the look and feel of it :) We spent a couple of hours at a headquarters of the church in South America and were taken on a bus from there to another airport in Buenos Aires. We flew from Buenos Aires to Mendoza and that only took a few hours.

We were met in Mendoza by the mission president, his wife, and the assistants to the president. They took us to their home in Mendoza and it was super nice! Standing on their balcony and looking out at the city made me want to live in Mendoza one day. We had a delicious dinner there, took pictures, and were taken to one of the apartments to sleep. There I had a nice little reunion with Elder Hone (one of the guys from my MTC district a year ago). Elder Hone and I were standing on the balcony of his apartment and I saw something in the dark running across the power lines about 20 feet away from us. I said, ¨Oh cool, they have squirrels here¨ and he replied that it was a rat... a giant rat.. that´s when it hit me that Mendoza wasn't quite so perfect after all :)

The next day I got to talk a lot with Elder Morley (another one of the guys from my MTC district) and met my companion Elder Egbert, from Sandy, Utah. He is a district leader so we stayed another day for his training. That next day I saw Elder Marsh (MTC companion!) and it was great reminiscing on old times with all of those guys.

Elder Egbert and I left Mendoza for our assigned area late Thursday evening. On first arrival we went to work right away and conversed with people on the streets of Tupungato (that´s where I´ll be for at least the next six weeks). I practiced taking the initiative in talking to people but Elder Egbert took most of it from there because I couldn´t understand anything...

The next day I had my first Tupungato meal. It was a pasta with some cow kidney chunks in it and about an inch of oil at the bottom of the bowl (oil is it´s own food group here... they put tons of it on everything). The dad of the family is kind of a jokester and he asked my companion, ¨Have you told your companion how to thank the women for dinner here?¨ to which Elder Egbert said no. The dad then told me to tell his wife, ¨gracias por su porkeria¨ which basically translates to ¨thanks for your crap¨ but I didn't fall for it.

This is my first blog post since being here so it´s kind of long but thanks for sticking in there with me. I´ll say some more interesting things now.

Tupungato has tons of vineyards and lots of the wine that Mendoza is world famous for comes from here. It is a town along "el camino del vino" which roughly translates to "path of the wine." They also grow garlic, onions, tomatoes, walnuts, peaches, pears, cherris, apples, corn, and the list goes on and on and on... it is pretty impoverished except for the few people that own the wineries and what not. Almost everyone here works in a field picking during the harvest season and don´t work at all the rest of the year.

There are dogs everywhere on the steets here... everywhere. At any given moment I can turn around in a 360 and see at least 8 dogs.

In Argentina they speak castellano.. not spanish. It actually is spanish but they will never call it that. I have to tell people that my castellano isn´t very good.

They have Sondas here which are very strong, warm winds that come down from the Andes and blow dust up everywhere. We had one on my first day here.

There are tons of Bolivians here in Tupungato that work in the fields... most of the people that we talk to are Bolivians.

The Andes are pretty far away from where I am but they are still huge! And I´ve been told that those are only the foothills...

Everyone here eats a huge lunch and then takes a siesta. We take an hour during siesta time to do language study and then get back to work. They don´t really eat dinner here - they stay up late drinking mate and relaxing. Also, alcohol is way cheaper than water here.

In respect for the people that we come in contact with I won´t ever be too detailed about our lessons but I will say that we have had A LOT and there is tons of work to do here. Elder Egbert and I are going to be making a big impact together, he's a great trainer and we have a lot of things in store for Tupungato. We've felt the spirit guide us many times in our planning and lessons (some times very strongly).

My first Sunday was great (about 40 people were there) and it´ll keep getting better as we keep working and get people coming back. My castellano is progressing rapidly. There are still so many things that I could say but I have very little time.

Emailing is the easiest way to contact me and I can now email anyone.

Email: cordell.rainock@myldsmail.net

The work is plenty, the harvest is over here but not for missionary work, time to gather.

love,

Elder Rainock

"the gospel can be made to help anything"

I will be in Highlands Ranch for another 6 weeks at least. We had transfer calls on Saturday. I don't have my visa yet and they are keeping me here in Highlands Ranch with Elder Peck. They don't like to fly people out in the middle of transfers anymore so even if I got my visa tomorrow I'd have to wait six weeks. That's okay though, I really like it here. I am a little worried about my Spanish but I'm taking good advantage of my language study time.

 

The people here live a super active lifestyle and it is a great place to live one. From mountain biking, hiking, camping, running, swimming, tennis, golf, etc.. Colorado is a great place to be. Oh, and I have never seen so many jeeps in my life. About every 10th car is a jeep wrangler, it's pretty awesome. There are also some beautiful (but gated) developements here with some houses that would knock me off my feet. We have members that live in most of these communities so we have the code to get in so we can work with them.

 

Anyways, on to more spiritual things :)

 

We have been working with a bunch of members here lately to get the work moving here in Highlands Ranch. The ward hasn't had a convert baptism in over 3 years. However, the ward is extremely large and new families are moving in all the time.

 

We taught some great lessons this week! I love being here out in the field. We get to work with people in so many varied situations of life. It's awesome how the Gospel can be made to help anything. All problems, concerns, and trials we face can be helped with some aspect of the Gospel; it's a beautiful thing.

 

This week I was a part of something special and I know that the Priesthood authority is on the earth today. I am grateful for that and to be a witness of God's power. His love is abounding and His miracles are never ceasing.

 

Saturday night we went to a baptism of someone that Elder Peck taught in his last area. He was a middle-aged man and had come a long way. His family had always been members but he never had any interest. President Maynes (the Denver South mission president) was there and spoke on baptism. It was a great day for that man and his family.

 

I am grateful to be a part of this work and to be here in the Denver South mission. I feel of the Lord's strength and love every day. I see Him working in my life and in the life of those around me. I'm praying for you guys back home and thank you for all of your prayers.

 

Love,

Elder Rainock

The keystone of our religion

It has been a great week. We have made some good contacts, worked with a TON of members, and had some good companionship study.

On Monday, after I got done emailing, we went and dunked with Rocky (the mascot for the Denver Nuggets) off a trampoline he set up in one of the local church gyms. It was awesome!! Rocky did a little flip dunk for us and we all had a good time. 

We had a dinner appointment that night at a part-member family home. One of their pet snakes had gotten loose a few weeks before and they hadn't been able to find him.. well them found him. The dad was in the basement and found it caught in a mouse trap :/ It was pretty sad for the family (except for the mom who hadn't been able to sleep for weeks because of it).

On Tuesday we had some great lessons and we lost our keys. We looked everywhere for them about 10 times.. turned out they were in my shirt pocket. Elder Peck had used them and tossed them in my shirt pocket while I was on the phone with some other Elders. I never keep them there so I didn't think to look.. haha. My shirt pocket is always heavy with pass along cards and other stuff so that didn't raise an alarm to me.

Wednesday night we had a good less with a man who is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He has been struggling recently and needed some upliftment for him and his family. It was a great lesson, everyone was uplifted, the spirit was felt, and laughs were had.

Thursday we had a great district meeting. I gave a training on the difference between the Reformation and Restoration that went well. I probably learned more from preparing the training than the Elders I taught learned. We also met with a crazy guy who lives in a trailer - he is quite the character and has had a rough life.. neverthless his is always full of insight and seems to know his purpose in this life pretty well. He is one of those examples of people that you shouldn't judge by their appearance.

Friday during breakfast Elder Peck witnessed a hawk taking out a little black-bird in the back yard. I missed it but still got to see the hawk sitting their with the bird in its' mouth. We always went to the newly renovated Highlands Ranch mansion. It was the original mansion home that sat on 10's of thousands of acres here in Colorado. It has been run down for a long time but there was a recent 6 million dollar renovation done. It is now a place for weddings, receptions, parties.. etc. We went to get out and public and make contacts, it went well and a lot of people asked why we were wearing name tags.. haha. So we gave them the business.

Saturday we made some good contacts, knocked on some doors, and followed up on the new member missionary program that we are doing with members.

Sunday we had some investigators at church and that was nice. It is always great to see them come and take that step of faith. It can be intimidating for new members but they never seem to regret it. We have great, open, and warm wards here that always welcome unfamiliar faces. We had an awesome lesson with an investigator lady and brought along a recently returned missionary along with us. He was in Mexico, injured his foot, was receiving terrible medical care (they even gave him a pregnancy test?), and his foot was only getting worse. So he got sent home early on a medical release to get treated here. Anyways, our lesson with him was great. For dinner we had a pork roast at a member's home with some of the best BBQ sauce I have ever tasted.. he made it himself.

I'd like to end with some personal revelation I have received this week. I have always felt uncomfortable when we say "the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion." As soon as I hear that I start wondering why we claim the Bible to be of equal importance when we call the Book of Mormon the keystone. It has something that has always bothered me. As I was reading the introduction to the Book of Mormon this week and received an answer to this personal issue. The last paragraph in the introduction states,

"Those who gain this divine witness (that the Book of Mormon is true after reading it) from the Holy Spirit will also come to know by the same power that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that Joseph Smith is his revelator and prophet in the last days, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the Lord's kingdom once again established on the earth, preparatory to the second coming of the Messiah."

It was then I realized that the phrase "the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion" is unrelated to the Bible. Our church claims to be the restored gospel of Jesus Christ that He established while on the earth, we claim to have a prophet who receives revelation from God, we claim the Book of Mormon to be the word of God, we claim that Joseph Smith was called as a prophet of God in these Latter days to restore that church (just like it has been done many times through prophets throughout history), we claim that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer, etc...

Those are bold claims, and either they are true or they are not. The way we can know if all those things are true is through the Book of Mormon. When we gain a testimony that the Book of Mormon is true, we gain a testimony that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world because the Book of Mormon testifies of Christ. When we gain a testimony that the Book of Mormon is true we gain a testimony that Joseph Smith was his revelator and prophet because if he were not, God would not have given him the power to translate it from the plates. When we gain a testimony that the Book of Mormon is true we gain a testimony that this is the restored church because it is the medium by which it was brought forth by a prophet.

I have a testimony that the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion. Not because it is more important than the Bible, because it isn't. But because it supports all of our claims.. when we know the Book of Mormon is true, we know it is all true.

I hope everyone is doing well, your prayers are being felt and I am praying for you back home as well.

Love, Elder Rainock

"we like to sing loud and proud"

 written June 11

 

Elder Peck and I had a great week. The work is progressing and we made some great contacts. We get along pretty well and keep each other laughing. Every time we have companionship study or planning we belt out hymns because we like to sing loud and proud.. even though it sounds pretty flat and terrible. There is no word on the visa stuff and there won't be any until I pretty much have it in my hands.

 

On Monday night I got to share the message of the Restoration with a lady in our ward in Spanish. I did it to practice Spanish but also to invite the Spirit into their home; the best way to gain the trust of members is to bring the Spirit into their homes. So I am getting a decent amount of practice with the language along with my hour of language study each morning.

 

Tuesday was my first day on a bike.. it was pretty rough because of the altitude and I don't have much stamina. Also it seemed like the wind was in our faces all day; we'd be going one with the wind in our face and then turn around and it'd start blowing the other way, haha. The heat wasn't too bad (even though it almost hit 100) because it isn't humid here. We made some good contacts and had some good lessons with members. We are working on putting names on the ward roster with faces.

 

On the first Wednesday of every month we get to go to the temple. That was a nice surprise because I wasn't expecting to go to the temple again until after my mission since we wouldn't have one in my area in Mendoza. That day I went on splits with another missionary and I went to his area. We helped address some concerns people had and had some fantastic lessons with some members. That night we went to a members home - the mother had a southern accent. It made me feel like I was back in Virginia; that was kind of refreshing. Also we talked to a man walking his half husky + half wolf around... It definitely looked like a wolf though. It was bigger than the fully grown St. Bernard that another family we are teaching has.

 

On Thursday morning we had a great district meeting with the missionaries in our district. We had lessons on desires, faith, and charity. It was very inspiring to me. The Lord grants unto us according to our desires and our faith. If we desire to for others to hear the word of God and we have faith that God will place those people in our path.. that is exactly what will happen. It's hard to keep that faith and desire when you get an earful from atheists or anti-Mormons but it's important to just move on and carry on with the work. One thing that Elder Peck says after we run into those people is, "that's just an apology we can look forward to on the other side".. we get a good laugh and it lifts our spirits a little.

We also had two dinner appointments on Thursday... We forgot about one of them until we were already 10 minutes late.. to top it off the dinner was a about 30 minutes away. We were a late for that but it was with a super nice member family so we were forgiven. Another thing that Elder Peck likes to say is "it's a great day for America".. It's pretty funny. When we wake up in the morning, when something good happens, when something bad happens, you can count on him saying it. Good times..

 

On Friday I had the biggest snow cone of my life. When the girl was making it I was amazed at how big it was... and she kept on adding more... it was delicious but waaay too much sugar. I definitely overdosed on sugar that day because some members gave us cookies and desserts that we can't deny.. haha. We had a good dinner that night and shared a new member missionary program with two member families. The importance of members in the missionary work is sometimes unrecognized. But when people are introduced to the church through members they already have a social support system. It is important that people are baptized, but it is even more important that they continue coming to be continually nourished by the word. Baptism is not a final decision and an end, it is just the beginning.

 

Saturday was a very solid day. We really have to take advantage of Saturdays because it is when most people are home. We met with a bunch of members for the new member missionary program and made some good contacts for some potential investigators.

 

Church on Sunday was nice and the rest of the day was pretty similar to Saturday.

 

Today is P-day and we have something pretty awesome on the schedule!! The mascot (Rocky) for the Denver Nuggets is LDS and is bringing his trampoline and mats to one of the church buildings in our zone for the missionaries. DUNK FEST!!! I'll have some good videos and pictures of that that I'll send home next week.

 

I'm praying for all of you. Things are great here in Highlands Ranch.. just living the dream.

 

Alma 31: 34-35