" I AM doing what I feel is right"

written Oct 28

The internet cafe closed early last week so I didn´t get time to write a blog. Everything is good down here in Godoy Cruz and the work is plenty. The weather is really nice right now (sometimes a bit on the warm side) and lots of people are out on the streets so ít´s prime for missionary work.

 

Elder Rich and I are doing really well. There are defnitely some rough days but we just push right through them and we realize that our great moments totally make up for those rough days. As long as we keep our attitudes positive then the lows aren´t really all that low.

 

This week we had a great investigator come to church. He is an older man, 76 years old, very smart, strong belief in God, and has a mind-blowing knowledge of the Bible. He has had some pretty crazy near death experiences. He has had a stray bullet that someone shot off into the air during one of the holidays come down and get lodged in his head... it was removed and he didn´t suffer at all from it. It was inches away from either killing him or paralyzing him. He has also had throat cancer and now is perfectly fine. He has told us that, "God still has me here for a reason and I don´t know what it is yet." We made sure to take that opportunity to tell him that it´s to receive the restored gospel ;)

 

When we first started talking to him he would tell us that he admires us for what we do but would then remind us to not get held down by an "institution" when it comes to our belief in God but to follow what our heart tells us to do. That always left me with a good opportunity to bear my testimony that I AM doing what I feel is right. I have prayed and I know through the spirit that this church possesses the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and all of the blessings that come along with that. After a few weeks of our chats he has really started to open up to us and accept what we have to say. He doesn´t deny that we are doing what we feel is right and he says he has felt the spirit many times when we talk to him. He is well known in the Godoy Cruz area as a man of faith. Many people come to him for their problems and priests, pastors, missionaries from all churchs, are always coming to him to try to "convince" him to come to their church because they know he would be a very faithful member. Well, yesterday, he came to our church. He said this was a big step for him and that he wasn´t just doing it for no reason. He told us, "you guys are the first missionaries that have been able to convince me and look where I am now" as he referred to standing in our church. That made me so happy. On top of that he loved the sacrament meeting! He said his favorite part was when the people would share their testimony because he could feel that the people in our church are sincere.. He then said, "you guys should have a sunday where everyone who wants to can get up and shares their testimonies." Little did he know that that is next sunday.. haha :)

 

Anyways, things are going along nicely here. Hope everyone is doing well back home and my prayers are being sent your way.

 

Love,

 

Elder Rainock

"Our gated door was gone!!!"

Elder Rich and I are keeping ourselves pretty busy out here. I think I
mentioned last week that we have built up a pretty large teaching
people and that is always nice. It is hard when you don´t know what to
do during the day but we haven´t had that problem lately. In fact..
some days we don´t find enough time to visit everyone that we have
planned to visit. It´s a good feeling and I am really happy where we
are at. Now it´s time to start focusing in, get these people to really
progress, and help them take the steps necessary to come unto Christ.

Something kind of crazy went down last night. Elder Rich and I were
doing our nightly planning and we heard our gated door outside
rustling around a bit. We used that it was just the other missionaries
that we share a house with coming back and didn´t pay any mind to it.
About 10 seconds later when we realized that they still weren´t
opening the door Elder Rich got up to check. He opened the door and
our gated door was gone!!! Some kid had stolen it and was running down
the street with it. He ended up dropping it and running away so that
we couldn´t catch him because the door is pretty heavy. We grabbed the
door, put it back on the hinges, and everything is good now. There is
no need to worry about us and our safety, however. We live in a nice
area and it was actually our fault. We know that we need to close the
gated door and lock it every time but we figured we´d leave it open
because the other missionaries hadn´t gotten back yet.

Anyways, I gotta hop off this computer now but hope you all are well
back home. Praying for you guys and especially the Nielsen family.

Love,
Elder Rainock

"Really inspiring"

Written October 7.

Conference weekend was really inspiring and it is always a treat to hear our loving prophet, apostles, and other church leaders speak to us. As well as the Mormon Tabernacle choir that always sounds fantastic. 

 

I have never taken so much away from conference in my life and it makes me wonder how much I have missed in the past. Taking and reviewing notes is a skill that I have comed to love since being on my mission and desire to take with me afterwards. 

 

There are so many things that I would love to share from conference but for lack of time I will only be able to share a few things that I think might help all of you back home the most. 

 

1. If you missed the saturday sessions then you must go back and listen to them because they were amazing jam packed full of good stuff. Elder Dube stuck out to me as a very captivating speaker (very much do to his enthusiasm and sweet accent) and was very inspiring. It was a fun talk to listen to and his line, "never look back, look at waht we still have to do" kind of dropped the hammer on me a bit as I just completed 8 months on my mission and have been dwelling on hitting my 1/3 mark a lot. 

 

2. Missionary work is really hastening around the world and the involvement of the members with the missionaries is KEY! The talks by Gifford Nielsen and Elder Ballard from saturday are good places to get started if you need that extra kick in the pants. "Make the decision to do what Jesus Christ has asked us to do...fear will be replaced with faith when we kneel in prayer for opportunities to share the gospel." - Elder Ballard

 

3. Elder Eyrings talk in the sunday morning session was very good. I always have the desire to grow a strong love for the Lord because I know that is the first and great commandment but sometimes I don´t know how to go about doing it. He mentioned some choices that lead us to growing in our love for the Lord. 

 

One is through repentance and gaining an understanding of the atonement... that one really hit me as I reflected back on how much my love has grown for my Lord and Saviour through the healing powers of the atonement. There isn´t a day that goes by where I don´t think about how glad I am to be where I am because of the decisions I have made to apply the Atonement in my life. I am trying to be more pure every day. Like Elder Scott said in his talk: "repentence is not punishment, it is the hopefilled path to a more glorious future."

 

Another way that we can grow in our love for the Lord is through accepting calls to serve him. That one hit me hard as well as I am currently on my mission after having accepted a call to serve him continually for two years... it has truly brought me closer to the Lord. 

 

Elder Rich and I have built up a huge pool of people we can now teach after 4 weeks of really hard work. It was very challenging at first but now we can start focusing on specific people who are currently ready to take important steps in coming unto Christ. Thank you for your prayers!

My heart aches for the Nielsen family. They need everyones´ prayers right now.. please keep them in your hearts and in your prayers. Sister Nielsen lost her husband and her children lost their father due to a tragic, unexpected, turn of events. 

 

My prayers for all,

 

Elder Rainock

"O that I were an angel"

Sorry I didn´t send a blog email home last week. I tried giving good responses to everyone who emailed me for once but it left me with no time in the end. 

 

Opening an area has really been a challenge for Elder Rich and I. Starting from zero is quite the task but we have built up quite a selection of people that are willing to listen. When we first got here we were meeting with lots of members of the church to find out who they know, talking with people in the streets, and knocking on doors... but I am happy to say that most of our time now is involved in talking to the people we have met (as well, of course, finding new people). 

 

The people here are a different breed and come from very different backgrounds than the people in my last area. Adjusting was hard at first but now I have a better hang on things. 

 

We have some investigators that are very excited to listen to us and have a true interest and hope that what we have to share will better their lives. And it is true, what we teach does change lives. 

 

One thought that I have reflected on a lot lately is the fact that we, as humans, all sin. And all of these sins, now matter who you are, place a burden upon you. That´s just how it is... and most people don't know that or understand it. But what we teach, the gospel of Jesus Christ, contains what we need to healed, to feel clean, to feel relief from these burdens. As a missionary I have the knoweldge of what heals and it would be selfish not to give everyone the opportunity to listen. Through this thought method I have changed my whole approach of who I talk to. I have gone for picking out families or people that look like they would be receptive to talking to everyone. I know I could have came to this conclusion by looking at the example of Christ as he was no respecter of persons... but this is what helped me. 

 

About a week and a half ago a member of the area seventy from Chile, Elder Nuñez, came and spoke to our mission. I took notes on what he shared but the notes are back in our house. One big thing that I got from it, however, is a story he shared about about his mission. He said that he wasted 22 months of his mission just being good and obedient... at 22 months he read the scripture in Alma that says, "O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!"

He said after reading this scripture he got on his knees and began praying to have this desire... a true desire to serve God and help people and it made a remarkable difference in his succes as a misionary. I have been applying this principle in my prayers as well. Though I have a long ways to go I am growing every day in my desire to teach with great power not just to have success but because I want people to receive salvation. 

 

Hope all is well back home and I am sending my prayers to you all. 

 

Elder Rainock

From Villa del Parque - "Truly amazing"

I said my goodbyes to everyone there in Tup-town and made me way up to Godoy Cruz on Wednesday to meet my new companion and to go to my new area.

We got about 25 new missionaries this transfer and 17 are straight from the MTC. My companion is from Pleasant Grove, Utah and is coming fresh from the MTC in provo. His name is Elder Rich and I can already tell he is going to be a great missionary. He is working hard and has desires to be out and about even with the barrier he has with the language. The people love to hear him talk and always listen very intently when he speaks so we are trying to take as much advantage of that as possible. 

The new area is great and we are finding lots of people to teach very quickly. We have been speaking to everyone in the streets and working with lots of members to find people that we can teach with them. The ward is not very big here but the members are very strong. There are lots of returned missionaries in our ward so that means great things for the work here. We are excited to be here and have the opportunity to gets things started again here in Villa del Parque. 

The area here is very different from my last. This is more like a city area and it is a lot smaller but with a lot more people. There are some nice neighborhoods and some not so nice ones that we have to be careful in. We have already been told many times by the people here where we shouldn´t go at night (or some even during the day) so everyone is looking out for us. The people here are really nice and many speak a bit of english so my companion can find some relief with that sometimes.

I have to admit I was a bit nervous to come to a new area, escpecially a big city, to train a new missionary and have to take the lead in everything. Because when I left Tupungato on tuesday my spanish was still not quite there. When I got here on Wednesday with my new companion we sat down and prayed for help with the great responsibilty that we had in front of us. I felt comfort that everything would be okay and that the work we are meant to do here would get done despite our lack of experience or handle of the language. That evening we went out into the streets and since that moment I have never faulted words to speak and I have understood everything... it is truly amazing.

I don´t have much more time but I´d like to send a picture so I´ll end it here. Hope all is well back home and my prayers for all. 

- Elder Rainock

"[A] time of rapid growth for me and I hope to be of great help"

Man... I just took out my camera to see if I had pictures to send home this week and realized that I did the thinking in spanish... I don´t know if I always think in spanish or not but I just realized it in that moment. Also, sometimes people have shirts or there are signs that have english and I don´t even realize it is in english.. everything just registers the same to me now. And when we sing hymns in the morning it takes me about 10 seconds to figure out which hymnal is in english and which is spanish. My english is a mess... 

Anyways, on to the news of the week!! We got transfers this week and I am super excited! 

I will be heading up to Godoy Cruz which is right next to the city of Mendoza. I will be near the mission offices and in a very populated area. My area will cover part of the city and some villas (villas are areas of people of more humble means and all the houses are small and close together). I will be opening this area as it was closed from the lack of missionaries we have had in the mission. On top of that... I will be training a new missionary!! I don´t have any idea who it will be or where he will be from so I will update you on the next monday. 

I feel very excited right now to have the opportunity to train a new missionary after just finishing my training one transfer ago... it´ll be a time of rapid growth for me and I hope to be of great help to my hijo (means son, what we call the missionaries we train in this mission). On top of that.. the responsibility of opening a new area seems pretty daunting but I know the Lord will help me do what He wants me to do. 

From vineyards and a small town to the big city. A country boy in the concrete jungle... it´ll be interesting. 

This saturday there will be two baptisms here in Tup-town that I will miss since I am leaving on Wednesday. However, I am very excited for this couple and they are already very happy with the blessings they are seeing from living in accordance with the gospel. They will be getting married on Friday and getting baptized on Saturday. They say that their relationship has bettered tremendously and they are truly happy together now. The husband has also quit smoking.. he went from 40+ cigarattes every day down to zero! 

Last night I said goodbye to the woman who got baptized a few weeks ago and her family. They have been very faithful with coming to church and participating in the classes. They are very exciting about sharing what has brought them such great joy. It was great seeing her in church today helping the investigators that we had there feel welcomed and comfortable. On top of that... they are preparing to go to the temple in a year to be sealed together for time and all eternity. Just the thought of that makes me stir with happiness inside. 

It is truly a blessing to be a part of this work today. Thank you for your prayers that help keep me going every day. 

- Elder Rainock

"So grateful to be here"

Last p-day we went on a small hike to a giant statue of Christ that stands on some hills (we´d call them mountains in virginia) looking over Valle de Uco. The view from up there was beautiful and the statue was pretty impressive. I have only seen it from a distance as you can see it from Tupungato.

 

This week I went up to Mendoza for a special training that everyone gets from the mission president while they are being trained. I finished my training 5 weeks ago but I was still invited because President Ávila didn´t do the training then (everyone who came in at the same time as me already had their training in the states while waiting for their visas). It was very inspiring.. just the basics but President Ávila has a way of inspiring and getting us all motivated. Elder Quadros and I left rejuvinated and firing on all cylinders.

 

While I was there I saw Elder Hurley. He was there because right now he is training a missionary from Chile. Wow!! He has lost a ton of weight! 40 pounds!! I´ll attach a photo of us together and you will hardly recognize him as the missionary that I was in the MTC with. He was the only missionary from my MTC group that I hadn´t seen yet and it was a very special day for me. When I was home from my mission I dreamed of the day I´d see those Elders again.. we became so close but by returning home I did not get to enter the mission field with them. Tears filled my eyes many times that day and as I type just because I am so grateful to be here.. to be worthy... to be ready. It is hard to think that I´d be going home with them in April of next year and when they leave I will still have 10 more months but that´s okay.. I have had so many experiences so far that have spoken to me that this is where I need to be right now.

 

The work here in Tupungato is going well. I will find out on Sunday what happens to me since this is the last week of the transfer. Hope all is going well, my prayers and gratitude goes to all of you.

 

- Elder Rainock