Email: November 25, 2009

This is what Paul had to say at the end of November:

Hey guys, it’s me again. Thanks for writing. It was nice to hear from everyone at home.

On Friday Elder Callaghan and I had to help the assistants by taking the new missionaries downtown to do some paperwork. While we were inside it rained a ton, so that by the time the assistants got back to pick us up, the city was completely flooded. Oh yeah, I don’t think I’ve mentioned that Resistencia is like on level with the river here. When it rains a lot, the city streets fill with water up to about a foot and a half, and stay that way for a few hours until it can drain out. But anyway, Elder Eliason, who was driving, tried to go down one of the more flooded streets and sure enough, water gets into the motor of the van he drives and we died right there. We had to jump out and push. Did I mention that the van had four people in it, and in was in about two feet of water? It was really heavy. Elder Callaghan and one of the assistants, Elder Lescano and I ended up pushing the car like five or ten blocks, and then Elder Eliason got the car to start. Hilariously, Elder Lescano didn’t have time to change his clothes before going to zone conference and teaching like fifty missionaries, so he just did it in his soaked suit.

The funniest part of the story is a man named Marcos Coreo. He's a convert of about two or three years who is in the bishopric in our ward. He is a great guy who has a ton of excitement for everything. Sometimes even too much excitement. We never see him unless he’s dressed like a missionary, and he ALWAYS wants to help us. Well anyway, Elder Callaghan and I had taken off our ties to protect them from the rain and were pushing the car, when out of nowhere we hear 'ELDERS!' and out comes Marcos running from behind to help us push. And what was even funnier is that he was dressed exactly like us, and had left his tie behind. I love that guy.

As for investigators, we have a few that are progressing. One of them is a man who teaches catechism (or however you say it in English) for the Catholic Church. It is going to be rather difficult for him to change, but he is reading his Book of Mormon regularly. We get to teach him again today, so I’ll see how it goes.

Sorry that the blog is so behind!

Sorry I'm a little behind on the blog this week...I was in Barcelona when Paul emailed home. Here's a bit of what he's been up to lately:

"Resistencia is pretty cool. It isn't a very old city, but there are a lot of little quirky things to it. For instance, Resistencia is the self-proclaimed city of sculptors. There are a ridiculous number of sculptures in the city, and no one knows what half of them are supposed to mean. In our area there's one that is almost like a cloud with cow's udders hanging out of it. Like I said, no idea.

"After challenging you guys to talk to me about the service opportunities in your lives, I've come to realize how much more often I am helped by other people than I help them. I've just realized how many people do little things for me every day, while I have to look just to find one opportunity a week."

Overall, he sounds like he's doing very well!

Here are the most recent emails that Paul has sent from Argentina. Due to being out of the country myself, I have been very negligent about updating this blog. I will try to be better.

October 7, 2009
I got transferred to another province, and here in Chaco. Don't really have a whole lot to say about my new area, as I don't really know it that well. I have two companions—Elder Johnson and Elder Callaghan. They're both really hard workers, and I'm excited to be here with them. I miss my old area, but Chaco is a whole lot nicer than Posadas. The city is a LOT cleaner. The people here are generally a poorer, but my area is in the richest part of town and we have basically everything. The apartment even has washing machine and an oven!! Looks like I don't have to fry anymore. Today we went to the store, and they have Snickers bars. Man, was that exciting. They also have brownie mix. Still no peanut butter though. That's okay though, because WE HAVE HOT WATER!!

Conference was amazing. I loved every single talk, but I think that the most powerful was the one in which Jeffery R. Holland testified of the Book of Mormon. I wash I could duplicate the power with which he spoke. Every single one of my investigators would already be baptized. Unfortunately for them, they only have me. I do the best I can though. I also liked one of the talks from Elder Bednar (I think it was from the priesthood session) in which he talked about what we should do with our families. It made me feel like my whole letter writing has been a bit of a failure, in that I hardly ever bear my testimony to you guys. I´m going to try to do better though, so here I go.

This last week when I was reading in my scriptures (something missionaries do quite often, actually) I found a scripture that explained a lot of the questions that I've been having in my life. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it again afterward. It might sound silly, but it really bothered me that I couldn't find this scripture, and I had even begun to think that I'd imagined it. It was very discouraging. During conference, one of the twelve started talking about the same subject that this particular scripture pertains to. I prayed that he would quote the scripture I was desperately looking for in his talk, so that I would have the reference when the Ensign comes
next month. In answer to my prayer, the speaker concluded quoting the scripture that I'd been seeking.

That story might seem very simple to other people, but it was very important to me. I know that the Lord loves each and every one of us enough to have one of His servants answer our prayers. When we pray with humility and faith, everything is possible for us. I know that
God loves you all and is watching over you.

I was also touched by something that President Monson shared about doing a good deed every day. I would like to start sharing small acts of kindness with each other so that we focus more on the good that we do every day. When we focus on the positive, we are blessed with better lives. This week (don´t get mad Mom) I did the dishes twice for the six other elders that live in our apartment. Everyone is supposedly supposed to do their own dishes after using them, but things rarely work out like that. This week, when the dishes piled up, I cleaned them.

October 14, 2009

The area here is really nice. The toilets all accept toilet paper and everything. In my old area it wasn't always quite so simple. In our apartment the toilet worked fine, but in some of the members houses we just had to throw it away in the trash. Some missionaries have a little bit of trouble adjusting. In my last area we could shower, we just had to use an electric shower head. They work okay most of the time, but they're a lot more finicky than ones that have a hot water heater.

I had a very interesting experience last week. We went out to go work with one of the local members, and he was so excited to be out with the missionaries that it bordered on ridiculous. He jumped at every opportunity to contact people in the street. Not only that, but he seemed to be looking for exactly the people that our mission president tells us to contact, families, potential priesthood holders etc. By the end of the night, this brother was actually singing in the streets the hymns of the church. I'm not exaggerating. He taught better than I did, and seemed to follow the things taught in Preach my Gospel better than me to. The worst part was when I realized that this brother was not a returned missionary, and that he was baptized only two years ago.

Being out with Brother Marcus was very humbling, he's a much better missionary than I am. Unfortunately, he has a family to take care of, so the people here are going to have to settle for me. All I can do is try to take the excitement that he has for the work and apply it in my mission. My point is, we have to try and improve ourselves as instruments in the hands of the Lord rather than compare ourselves to others.

Today I want to bear my testimony to you guys about the power of scripture study. As Elder Holland quoted this conference, those who hold to the rod and treasure up the words of Christ will not be deceived and will not be failed by their testimonies in the last days. I would like to add my own humble, personal testimony of the Savior. Living the gospel is not easy. It requires a painfully acute awareness of ones own faults. Sometimes we become discouraged and think that we can not do anything. Last week, I had a day like that.

I woke up completely on the wrong side of the bed and was angry with people for no reason whatsoever. I got discouraged and started to think a lot about my shortcomings as a missionary. I barely found the energy to study, but as I did so I began to receive comfort from the scriptures. I read from Moroni 7:33 and realized that all I needed to do was ask the Lord for help and he would give it to me.

When we show our faith in God by reading the scriptures, He can help us with guidance in our lives.

Well, summer vacation's comming to an end. I hope it went well for everyone and that you all had enough fun to last you through the next school year. I'm pretty sure that 5 months have never flown by this fast in my entire life. It's pretty strange that pretty soon I won't even be very new in the mission. Weird.

Anyway, the woman that got baptized is named Ramona. She has 7 kids and a very strange family. Four of the kids are Evangelical Christian, and one of them doesn't know that she is an investigator yet. Ramona is very nice, and it has been amazing to see how the spirit has affected her life.

It's been like the busiest week that I've ever had in my entire life. Ward conference was this week, so everyone was excited for that. We also have a ton of investigators that are progressing really well. Because of ward conference, there have been a ton of member references lately too, which is pretty cool.

I've had a ton of testiments this week of how it is that the spirit strengthens us when we're not good enough in and of ourselves, which is good, because I am pretty much never good enough. If there's ever anything that you feel like you need to do, just do it and rely on the Lord for your support.

I love all of you and hope you miss me a ton.
Love, Elder Rasband

I haven't been doing a very good job of keeping this blog up to date, and I apologize. Paul has been doing really well in Argentina and is enjoying his time there. His first companion, Elder Nichols, finished his mission on July 31st and since then Paul has been serving with Elder Hatton from Kentucky.

Here are a some pieces of his recent emails:

07/08/2009
Elder Nichols is a hard worker and he is my trainer. Sorry for the confusion. He and I are really good friends and Ill be sorry to see him go home to the states this month. He and his family are going to have a trip through the US at the end of the summer and I told them they could stop by. You can ask him about all of the silly mistakes I make. I'm sure he'll want to disillusion you.
Right now we are teaching a lot of people. One of them will probably get baptized this month if we can get some way for him to come to church--which by the way has been cancelled in all of Argentina for the next month because of the Swine Flu. Were trying to work something out where we invite him to the houses of the bishopric instead.

07/16/2009
Last week was a lesson in blessings in disguise. Because of the whole Swine Flu scare the government here asked the churches to stop holding meetings. This made Elder Nichols and me a little frustrated because we have a couple investigators that had to attend sacrament meeting in order to make their baptismal dates. Later in the week however, we got an email from the President (of the mission) that said that our investigators could attend the little family sacrament meetings instead as long as someone from the bishopric was present. It took a lot of work, but both of them ended up coming to sacramant meeting!! Not only that, we ended up having more investigators in the church than we have had since I got here. Plus, it was really cool to feel the Spirit that the members invite into their homes when they participate in preisthood ordinances.
Lately, we've been teaching a lot of young people, which has it's own set of challenges, but I find very rewarding. Strange things happen sometimes though. For instance last night we went to visit Marcello, a 14 year old that we found while we were teaching his girlfriend's family, and I looked over to the table and saw a Linkin Park album. Marcello had been listening to it before we came in, but had turned it off because he didn't want us to criticize his music. He was really surpriesed to learn that "people like us" (which is to say missionaries) like the same kind of music that he does. Unfortunately he decided to play the album after he found that out, and we had to ask him to turn it off.

07/22/2009
It was cool to have sacrament meeting in the members houses. It was really special to see how the spirit in the homes of righteous families can be the same as the spirit in the chapel. The Stake went ahead and changed everything back, though, so this week we had church in the chapel as usual.
Elder Nichols and I have been really busy lately. We have a couple of investigators that are getting close to baptism, and we are visiting them pretty much every day. It makes our day a lot more complicated because between Ramona and Julio and our Lunch we have to go to every part of our area every day.
I'm also very tired because we can't run in the mornings and I have much less energy than usual. We can't run in the mornings because our shower is broken and we are having to heat up water on the stove to bath. It makes me feel like a really hardcore missionary. Also a little smelly.

07/29/2009
We're working really hard. We have a bunch of investigators and they're progressing pretty well. We've started teaching a girl named Camila who's a friend of one of the youth in the ward. She's really cool, and she wants to get baptized, but her mom said the Spanish equivalent of "Over my dead body." We're working on that though.

08/05/2009
Life here in Argenina is amazing. I'm really happy to be here. Elder Hatton and I are going to have a ton of success. Being able to see people change their lives really is incredible.

08/12/2009
One of the people that I've been teaching since my first week in Argentina got baptized, and my new companion and I didn't really have a ton of experience in planning everything. Plus, it ended up raining really hard the day of the baptism and the day of the confirmation, so almost nobody could come. That might have been ok though, because we found out at the last minute that the Bishop's mom had made us a cake,and we didn't have utensils to eat it with. Everyone just had to use their hands.

Thanks for your patience! I will try to be better about updating frequently.

Life here in Argentina is fun, although a bit hectic. Sometimes I feel like we do more walking that anything else, but we're making progress.

I've also been learning about the importance of member missionary work. What I've learned is that no one will come to church or be reactivated or take any steps in the Gospel unless they are invited, and inviting is NOT "Well, maybe, if you wanted..." If you truly love someone you will do everything you can to persuade them to take steps towards their own salvation. In the scriptures, the greatest members of the church spread the gospel at every opportunity with all of the power they posses. We cannot expect to be called "blessed" by the Lord unless we are diligent. I've come to realize that all of the relationships in the world mean absolutely nothing unless they translate to friendship and fellowship in the world to come.

About half of the active members of the ward can say my name now, which is cool. Who knew that "Rasband" could be so difficult? Unfortunately, the other half of the ward has decided to call me Elder Batman. I guess that nickname is going to stick after all.

Love,

Elder Rasband

Paul is doing really well in Argentina. He is currently serving in a city called Posadas in Northern Argentina. Here are a few thoughts from his recent emails:

"Well, here I am in my second week. The work here in Posadas is going really well, and I'm excited to tell you all about it. There is one thing that I forgot to mention last time though: the name of this province of Argentina is Misiones, and therefore, an native of this area is...a misionero. What's even funnier is that there are buses everywhere that say 'Orgullo de ser Misionero,' which roughly translates to 'I want to be missionary,' or (very roughly) 'I hope they call me on a mission.' I took that as a sign that I was in the right place."

Remember him in your thoughts and prayers.

Arrival in Argentina

Elder Rasband has officially left the Missionary Training Center and arrived safely in Argentina. His address in Argentina is:

Elder Paul Rasband
Argentina Resistencia Mission
PO Box 30150
Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0150
USA

This address is for pouch mail only. The following are instructions for pouch mail as stated in the LDS Church News in December 2007:

"To avoid possible discontinuation of the pouch mail service, the Church has revised its policy on missionary correspondence.

Instructions issued in September call on families and friends of missionaries to simplify their correspondence by mailing a single 8 1/2-inch x 11-inch sheet of 20-pound paper, or equivalent to paper used in copiers. Envelopes may not be used.

The sheet is to be folded into three parts, as is commonly done to insert into a business envelope. The top edge of the sheet should be fastened with tape on the top edge only, no closer than one inch to either side.

The name of the missionary is addressed on the outside of the sheet, with the name of the mission and the pouch address of the Church: P.O. Box 30150, Salt Lake City, Ut., 84130-0150.

Apply a stamp to the sheet and mail to Church headquarters."

Paul would love to receive letters from anyone willing to take the time to write them.

Paul had a wonderful experience in the MTC. On May 14th Elder Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles came to speak to the missionaries about the purpose of missionary work and the blessings they will receive for serving faithfully. In a recent letter he said, "I really love my mission. I haven't even had the chance to teach anyone for real yet, and I already love my mission...if I never learned another thing, or felt the Spirit again on my entire mission, the changes that I've gone through in the last month are worth two years of my life."

He is growing tremendously and working very hard. We are proud of him. Please remember him in your prayers.

A Few Excerpts...

Elder Rasband has been keeping busy. Here are a few random thoughts assembled from the emails that he's sent so far:

Thanks for your emails. It was good to hear from you. I hope you miss me tons! Anyway, I just got back from the temple. It was amazing even though I was really tired and had some trouble staying awake. I guess that's what my companion's elbows are for.

Things are good here. I've been working a lot. The food is not very good for me.

When you get the chance, could you please send me some healthy snacks? I've been working out a little, but I can't lose weight because we eat nothing but cookies. Oh, and every once in a while, I fireman's carry Elder Hogge and do a couple sets of squats. He's lighter than me, but the awkwardness inherent in the load makes it an okay workout!

I'm doing well in Spanish, and I'm starting to know the scriptures better and to have more material for the lessons.

My other skills are all way ahead of the district. Honestly, and don't put this on the internet. I'm one of the best firebenders in the MTC, and in gymn I almost always win the lightsaber duels. My teachers were so impressed that they took me aside separately to learn force lightning. We're not supposed to get sith powers 'till the last week!!

Mucho amor,

Elder Rasband

*disclaimer: one or more of these comments may or may not have been taken out of context...

First news from Paul in the MTC:

My first week at the MTC has been wonderful. The spirit here is so strong that it can be physically wearying. Or maybe that's just the 18 hr days. As Melissa said, even if there are a lot of rules, at least they aren't enforced with tear gas.

My first mission companion is Elder Hogge (said Hoag). He is from California and we are getting along well. I promise to send pictures of us next week.

This week we were able to attend the Draper temple Dedication via satellite. It was an incredible experience for me that helped me see the part in the work that the Lord has given me.

I am studying hard and I hope that you will pray for my success. I love you all and I hope you'll come back to this page from time to time to see how I'm doing.

Just a Brief Introduction...

My name is Melissa and I will be maintaining this blog at the request of Elder Rasband. Today he told me that good things come to those who wait, and while I don't actually think he meant it in this context, I just want to express the sentiment that I will do my best to keep this page as up-to-date as possible, but I can't make any promises about having a regimented update schedule. I will do my best to keep you posted as he keeps me posted.

Elder Rasband has officially entered the MTC as of 1:00 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time. I am very proud of him for taking this step in his life, as, I'm sure, are all of you. I know that Paul would love to receive letters from anyone who felt the desire to send them. His current address is posted on the sidebar.

I hope you all enjoy receiving these updates from Elder Rasband. Please remember to keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Melissa Smith

Here I Go

Well, this will be the last time I will be posting personally for a while. I feel like I should write something profound and inspiring, almost like I owe it to all of the people who I've pressured into reading this page to bring them up in some deep way that no one can quite explain.

The problem right now is that I don't actually have a lot to say. Maybe I'm just a little bit overwhelmed. As people, we have long-term ideas about the courses of our lives. Things we'll do "when we're older." There's a strange feeling particular to passing through one of these portals. We are almost unsure as to whether we have chosen our route or if it has sprung on us. In my case, I think both are probably true.

Sometimes, it can be hard to proceed. The numbness of being unable to control oneself can petrify some people. That fear calls to my mind the account we are given of the war in Heaven in the Book of Moses.

1 And I, the Lord God, spake unto Moses, saying: That Satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me, saying—Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor.

Sometimes, as members of the church, I think we fail to realize our own, incredible histories. Every person who lives on the Earth today once stood up in Heaven and made a choice. We could trust our Father, and go down to be tested, or we could have surrendered to the lies. We could have given into the fear of our own failings and chosen the easy way. A third of our brethren decided that they could not proceed through the veil. They did not have the faith to progress.

When I reach a hard portal in my life, I take comfort in the fact that I have already taken the deepest plunge of all. I have already surrendered my will to the Father's, and entered into the unknown. It reminds me of something a very wise woman once told me. She said "You can do Hard things."

The next time you're feeling scared to go on, try to remember the person that you were before you came here. Remember the fact that you have already made hard choices, and you can do so again.

Or something like that.

I love most of you. You know who you are. See you in a bit.

There, and back again...

...and uhhh there a second time.
A Missionary's Tale

I left up last when I was about to begin a frantic packing session that lasted the entire night. I always feel a little fulfilled when I get to do that. It lets me know that I've used up every single second of free time. It's almost become a conscious choice to procrastinate. Or at least that's what I tell myself to make me feel better about it. I didn't realize that the blessings from choosing to serve a mission would extend to helping me with my travel habits.

My plane was scheduled to leave at around 9 AM, so we wrapped up the packing by 5:30 and drove to the airport. I distinctly remember saying something along the lines of "It's early enough in the morning that we shouldn't have too much of a problem." I was right, or at least I would have been if I had been using any airline other than Delta.

The airport wasn't very busy, except for the 300 or so people standing in line for the check in that I needed. Apparently there had been some major computer issues. Anyway, to make a long story shorter I arrived at the gate just in time to stand there for twenty minutes as the plane I was supposed to be on got ready to take off without me. Sometimes I think they close the planes when they do just so they can get some sort of sick satisfaction at watching 30 or so angry passengers.

I think most people would have been bitter or upset, but I was in a special circumstance. With surprising speed, my sleep-deprived mind calculated that if I booked on the 5 pm flight I would have the opportunity to invoke an important Rasband family ritual: the Impromptu Holiday.

I ended up getting a ride back home and having an extra day to say goodbye, for which I am very grateful. Unlike any other time I've had to travel, I was fully packed and ready to go. You can see some pictures from the both airport trips and the wonderful day in between.

Oh, and Janet, I totally won that game of Settlers, even though you had no faith.

One Last Hurrah

Just to Recap

Good things come...

I just realized that it was probably bad luck to make this page, referring to myself again and as Elder Rasband, before I am actually ordained as a missionary. Now President Suhaka will probably have spiritual inspiration that the church doesn't want to let me be an official representative after all. In my defense I actually did consider using my first name and then going through to change it afterward. Unfortunately, I'm still not sure whether I'll be allowed to post on this site after my ordination. I decided that I'd just have to risk the jinx so as to avoid the chance of my Mission President finding out I'd broken the rules just hours after I'd committed to them and excommunicating me so here we go.

Anyway, as an almost-missionary, I have found, one is asked three questions in every conversation they have with another member of the church.

People keep asking me if I'm "nervous." I don't think I am. Do I seem nervous to you?--ignore the above.

They also want to know "are you excited." In some ways, I can't believe that I'm actually going. Mostly, though, I've been being prepared to go on a mission all of my life. The Last couple of years have taught me new things about people, and I truly feel as Alma did when he said. "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! Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth." I know that the Gospel of the Savior is the most profound, most complete act of love to be witnessed on any Earth. I know that if we "have love one to another" we will share the word of salvation with the objects of our love, and that is the work by which we will then be known. I know that there is nothing more important for me to do than to go to Argentina. I have given much for the opportunity, and I would gladly give much more.

In other words yes.

The Last question is always said with a sort of wry, "I've been there too" expression. The question is "Are you ready to leave?" I've spent the last three weeks or so frantically trying to do everything I could think of to get ready to leave. I took my brothers out to see movies, hung out with my Mom, talked a lot with my sister, got completely cooked by the sun in Florida, talked entirely too much on the phone, and once, I even stayed up all night playing video games with my friends. As I close this post, I'd like to say that I am more ready to go on my mission right now than I would be if the church suddenly decided to issue missionary starter-sets complete with visas and a couple volumes on exactly what is meant by the phrase "and a conservative tie." I have done my best to amend my grievances and express my gratitude. I may not have actually opened my new luggage yet, but I know that whatever might have to be express mailed to the MTC, I sure didn't leave any baggage.

Now...I have to go pack.

Florida Vacation

Welcome

Hi everyone.

Thanks for taking the time to look at the page I set up. The fact that you're here means you probably already know that I have received a call to serve in the Argentina Resistencia mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints. If you thought that was a mouthful, you should try saying it in Spanish. I started this blog as a way of justifying the awesome camera that my Mom got me for Christmas, and as a way to plant even more suggestions into my brothers' subconscious to try and make missionaries out of them too. It is also a good way to give people back home a good way to keep track of how I'm doing.

This is my first blogging incursion (it's like a foray, but more masculine), and my record with social networking sites is rather poor. Lucky for you readers, though, I'm not actually allowed to blog from the mission field. Starting next week you'll be reading things secondhand, but with notes and pictures from me. I thought this would be my small way of making sure Melissa doesn't have a social life while I'm gone. If you do want to talk to me directly, however, my email and mailing address will be posted in the sidebar. You can find the box on the bottom-right corner of the page. I'll try to make sure that that information remains as current as possible.

Thanks for all the support and well wishes,

Elder Rasband