I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go.

Homecoming!

2011-03-22T12:03:00.000-06:00

Paul arrives home on Saturday afternoon THIS WEEK! He's worked hard, and we're all very excited to see him again.

He will report his mission on Sunday, March 27th at 9:00 am. Email paultrasband@gmail for more details.

2011-02-23T08:31:00.002-07:00

Well, Here I am

It feels weirder writing home every week. I’ve given up on trying not to admit that I'm trunky. We’re still working very hard, but it doesn’t bother me to talk about my plans for after the mission anymore.

Last week was really interesting. We’re working really hard to find new investigators, putting in practice a new assignment to have the members write down all of their friends and then pray to know who to send us to. With the increase in the size of the area, there are a lot of families to visit. A woman who is confined to a wheel chair gave us a dozen references. It was intense.

Eulogia couldn’t get baptized on the day that we’d planned. It turns out she’s not technically married to her husband. That was actually a huge oversight on our part, seeing as such couples are so common here in Argentina. She’s still working towards baptism. This week we’re all going to fast together to see if we can get her boyfriend to marry her. If you could put her name on the roll in the temple, that’d be great.

Other than that there isn’t a whole lot of news to share.

This week, we have to go to Posadas for zone conference. I’m not super excited, seeing as the missionaries in their last transfer have to pass in front to bear their testimonies. I’m not shy about my testimony, but I hate the spotlight that says “Hey look, he’s about to go home.”

At least I still have a month’s worth of miracles left to see.

Oh, and this morning the office asked for your phone number. This makes me think that you should get something about my flight plans this week.

Love,
Elder Rasband

2011-02-16T10:17:00.005-07:00

This was the week of transfers. I stayed in the same area, but with a little surprise. Formerly, we shared the branch here with Elder Francis and his companion, but when we looked at the chart, we saw that his companionship had changed to the other branch in the city. Translation: a lot more walking on our part, and an extremely hectic first week trying to get to know the investigators that they were leaving behind.

Also, Leo decided that he didn’t want to get baptized. It seems like he’s having some pretty big problems between him and his family. I don’t know why he won’t just pray and really try to know that what we taught him is true. It would really fix everything that that family is going through. It’s always sad when things like this happen, but with Leo we really helped him in everything that he let us. I feel like we fulfilled our purpose as missionaries.

This week we do have a baptism though. Eulogia, an older lady that we found three weeks ago is really excited for her baptism. She is also going through some family problems. The branch president said that her husband is notoriously violent in the neighborhood where they live. He doesn’t hit her, but she says that she just can’t take any more. She had decided to move to Paraguay last week, but then decided against it so that she could be baptized. She’s going to wait until after the baptism to decide what she’s going to do. I have so much respect for her and the decision that she made.

Other than that, we have several investigators that would be progressing if they would only go to church. I don’t know what to do with them. It’s kind of frustrating when you try so hard to help people when they don’t see the importance of helping themselves.

Elder Francis had a really sweet tie that I’d been coveting for a long time. I kind of make a game out of trading for the best ties. Anyway, when he first got to Eldorado, I asked him where he’d gotten the tie, to sort of size up what I’d have to give him in return and he said "My girlfriend sent it to me for Christmas." What a downer. I knew that there was no way he was going to trade that tie. Then, three weeks ago he gets the "Dear John." I waited a couple of hours, to my credit, before I asked "So...that tie?" He just handed it to me. The funniest part is this: for several weeks, I didn’t dare wear the tie, because Melissa is still waiting for me and I started to look at it as kind of a bad omen. I mean, it still has “I love Elder Francis” written in sharpie on the back. Today, I finally got the courage to put it on, so thanks Melissa for not sending me a Dear John.

Love,
Elder Rasband

2011-02-16T10:17:00.003-07:00

2011-02-07T11:36:00.001-07:00

Okay, I have to admit first off that I feel really weird because I just started my last transfer. On Wednesday I’ll know if I’m going to spend it here or if I go to another area, but I find it unlikely that I’d get moved. I’m now oficially one of the oldest missionaries in the mission.

Today we’re going to have a lot of fun. We’re going to play soccer as a zone and then throw knives at the Teddy Bear that Elder Francis’ girlfriend sent him a while ago. It should be great. And you thought that missionaries lost our violent male tendancies.

This week was really rewarding. The fast with the Morel family was incredibly successful. After a couple hours Brother Morel got a phone call saying that his son was in jail in a nearby town. I think that it really opened his eyes about the power of the gospel. He’s set for the baptism on Saturday. Please keep praying for us.

Elogia is also progressing really fast. She started inviting all of her friends and family to church. She wants to start showing church movies in her house to try and attract people to come with her on Sundays. She’s a really funny old lady, but it’s amazing how fast she’s changing. On sunday in Relief society she asked about how we pay tithing. That’s so strange, but it shows that she wants to start living everything.

Church went really well on Sunday. We had a record attendance of almost 80 people in sacrament meeting. 5 of them were investigators. It was especially rewarding because a family that we were about to have to drop came for the first time in a month, and I think that that’s a really good sign for them.

The other great thing was that Paolo, our 21-year-old convert, blessed the sacrament. It was a huge step for him because he’s really shy. We’ve started talking to him about the possibility of serving a mission. It’d be so good for him.

Plus, Claudia, another convert, came home from vacations and showed us that she’d visited the LDS churches in the cities she was visiting. She’s changed a lot too since her baptism in December. I’m incredibly proud of her.

I’m doing really good, even though it hurts to say “next month” when the people ask me when I finish my mission. I’m thinking that if I get sent to a new area I’m going to lie to my companion just so that he doesn’t bug me and tell him that I have 2 transfers left.

I’m getting sadder and sadder about leaving the mission, but I’m also getting happier and happier about seeing you guys.

Love you all,
Elder Rasband

2011-01-24T15:26:00.002-07:00

This week, I had a lot of things that, earlier on in my mission, would have distracted my focus and made it hard to be successful. Predictably, when we kept working hard after every one of those experiences, something amazing happened. It’s helping me to see that our trials come to test our faith, but that if we keep on course, the Lord will bless us immensely.

We started teaching a woman named Eilen. She is a young woman with two little kids. Her boyfriend is from another church, and he really doesn’t like it when we come around. When we knocked her door on Wednesday (I think) she said “Hi do you guys want to come in and sit down?” It was a little startling to be honest, but we accepted and went on in.

Eilen told us that about a year ago she’d been crying and praying to know which “path God had in mind for her.” A couple of days later the missionaries showed up. She really liked what they shared, but her boyfriend told her that he would kick her out of the house if she kept receiving the lessons. Reluctantly, she told the missionaries not to come back. Together, we decided that it would be best if we could come back when her boyfriend was at home to try and talk together and reach an understanding.

When we showed up yesterday to talk with the family, her boyfriend didn’t want to talk to us very much. He said that he was busy working on something out back. Then he startled us by saying “I just want you guys to respect my religion and I’ll respect yours.” We asked if that meant he was okay with us teaching his girlfriend, and he said yes.

During the lesson, it seems that he changed his mind, because he came back to the window and said that he wanted to “talk” to us when we finished. By his tone it was fairly obvious that it wasn’t going to be a friendly conversation. We finished the lesson, and asked Eilen to offer the prayer to close. She said that she didn’t want to because she was nervous about her boyfriend. I felt so bad for her. We felt inspired to teach her that when someone is nervous is when they most need to pray. She agreed and after the prayer was over went to go call her boyfriend. Miraculously, his anger had passed and he declined his opportunity to talk with us. It’s amazing how the Lord answers our prayers.

Happy New Year's!

2011-01-03T18:52:00.002-07:00

When I was thinking about what to set as my resolutions, I kept going back to the Conference talk by D. Todd Christofferson about a consecrated life and what he said about time. My biggest Resolution is to plan every day this year, even after I finish with my mission. That way, I make full use of the resources that God has given me.

My other goal is to apply what I’ve learned on the mission to my living/studying habits. I’m too old to stay up late at night, and to dedicate hours a day to leisure activities. I want to get up early and go to bed late, and get perfect, or nearly perfect grades. That’s all though

This Sunday, I had a very weird experience. I blessed a baby in Sacrament meeting. He is the son of an investigator named Alejandra. She’s really excited about the gospel, and her husband came to church, which was really cool because he got to see the blessing. I couldn’t think of a better way to start off. We still haven’t had a lesson with him, but hopefully that experience will have prepared him to receive the gospel.

This week we had transfers, and Elder Hyde went to Resistencia. Elder Francis, from Arizona came to our branch. He comes straight from the mission office, which means that he’s really excited to be working with us. He’s a good friend of mine, so I was really excited when he got here.

Other than that there’s not a whole lot of news. This week we have the Baptism of a Kid named Paolo. This is take two, because the first time he left us with the font full and everything. I feel a lot better about this time though. He’s really cool and I think that He’s going to be a very good priesthood holder. He’s also 21 years old, so if we’re lucky he’ll decide to serve a mission. One of the best feelings that a missionary can have is when a convert goes and serves a mission himself. If she does her papers as soon as possible, I have one that’s planning on leaving this summer. The only thing that could be better is having a family get sealed in the temple.

12.13.2010

2010-12-14T12:04:00.000-07:00

I think that this has been one of the most jam-packed weeks in my whole mission. We had a ton of things that got in the way of doing the actual missionary work, but we still managed to do everything that we needed, and the Lord blessed us for our efforts with a really important success.

On Monday we went to Iguaçu Falls, the big waterfall in Indiana Jones, which was really stressful because President del Castillo wasn’t really excited about the idea. He wanted to be sure that everyone went out to work on time after p-day. It turned out to be really inspired though, because we contacted a huge family that a member had given us as a reference and five of them ended up coming to church on Sunday. It was a real miracle because we'd been really worried about how we were going to get a good number of investigators to show up. In the end, it turned out really well.

This week we were blessed to baptize Claudia, a single mom with two kids. Her children are going to get baptized next week. Claudia is really special because she’s had a lot of things happen in her life that helped to prepare her for the Gospel, but she doesn’t wear her problems out on her sleeve. She’s very focused in what she wants and has had to make some life-changes to get to this point. I'm really happy for her. She's also done very well at making friends with the ward members, which is going to help her to stay active in the church.

Elder Taylor and I are really excited for the rest of this month. I’ve been waiting a long time to be able to have the kind of success that we’re having in our area right now. I feel like this is by far the best time that I’ve ever had in my life. It’s so wonderful.

I’ve been putting a lot of thought into something that a Senior Missionary taught us in a Zone Conference a little while ago. He said that lots of people don’t accomplish what they want in life because they don’t have plans. That’s pretty much commonly known in the church. What he went on to say, however, was very interesting. He explained that if we are going to have success, we need to know why we’re here. He suggested making a life’s mission statement. Our Heavenly Father has one: “For this is my work and my glory...” A big part of why he’s so successful is that He’s completely dedicated to one thing, and all of His resources go towards that. The Elder that gave the lecture said that we should base our life’s mission statement on our patriarchal blessing.

I really liked the idea and have been trying to put together my mission statement. It’s a little bit elusive, because there’s a lot of information to consider, and because there is a certain practical limit to how much one can say. Every time that I start writing I end up with a whole paragraph of information. I must say, that it is a really useful meditative exercise. Every time that I find myself thinking about my purpose, I notice certain behaviors that I should eliminate. I highly recommend it.

I have a Christmas-related assignment for you guys. You should take a copy of the Book of Mormon or two, each one of you, put your testimony in it, mark a favorite passage, and commit to give it for Christmas to one of the people that matter to you. If you do, you will be able to see the people that you love in the celestial kingdom.

I’m glad to hear that you guys are doing so well. I miss you all a lot.

Love, Elder Rasband

11.23.2010

2010-11-23T18:32:00.000-07:00

Dear Everyone,

Well, here I am. Sorry that I didn’t write yesterday. The President of Argentina declared a holiday. No one knows what the holiday was, but that’s okay.

This last week was rather hectic. Elder Robles left for a city near Resistencia. My new companion is Elder Taylor. He's from a tiny town in Illinois where his family were the only members. He is 6’4”, making him about average for my companions. He is the fifth of nine children, and likes to play basketball and to pitch.

The first couple of days this week we had little success, and then had to push really hard to teach the lessons that we needed to in order to finish the week strong. It all worked out in one of the Lord’s infinite mercies and we had 10 investigators in church!! It was really exciting. This week we had the primary presentation. I honestly thought it was a disaster, but everyone else seemed to think that it was very spiritual. I think that is was a really good thing for the investigators to see.

A 20 year old kid named Orlando who is going to get baptized on Saturday came with his whole family for the first time. We also had Aurora, the mom of one of the teenagers that got baptized last transfer, and two of her other sons that came. Aurora wants to get baptized next week. I wasn’t really too sure about how much actual desire she had, but I looked over at her during the meeting and there were tears running down her cheeks. It made me feel really grateful to my Father in Heaven that we have so many people to teach.

I’m glad that the new stake president is focusing on the youth and on missionary work. Sometimes, people think way to much when they have to give a reference to the missionaries. Finding new investigators is your responsibility. It is not that of the missionaries. Members are entitled to receive revelation when they give references. Let me explain with a story.

Last week, we got a reference from a member in our ward that he thought was really good. He said that the lady was literally looking for a new church. She lived really far away from where we usually work, so we had to wait a few days to be able to stop by. When we went to contact her, she flat-out turned us down and said that she belonged to ‘Dios es Amor,’ a local congregation.

My comp and I knew that if the Spirit had told that member to send us to that neighborhood, it had to be for a reason. We started knocking the doors on her block. Two houses down, we ran into Mili, a woman who six months ago had read the book of Mormon and been converted to the restored gospel. She’d attended church with her husband, but in the end had fallen away when her husband changed work and it became difficult to attend church on Sundays. We had a very pleasant lesson, and she committed to be baptized in December.

The person to whom our member friend had sent us was not prepared for our message, but the spirit had inspired him to send us to the closest person that he knew. Do not be afraid to give the names of your friends to the missionaries. When you begin to do so, the Spirit will take over and the ward will begin to have much more success.

Oh, Thanksgiving. I feel more grateful now than I ever have in my life, but it’s kind of hard to express why. I’m thankful that despite my own shortcomings, the Lord has seen fit to bless me with my calling, shape me into something so much more desirable than what I was, show me that I am nothing, and how with His help I can do anything. I’m gratefully for the incredible people that the Lord has given me to teach, and for the best family in the entire world. I’m also really grateful that someone blinded Melissa to of all of my weaknesses and tricked her into sticking with me. I feel like my entire life is perfect and I have everything that I ever wanted.

Thanks so much for everything.

Love,

Elder Rasband

News from Argentina

2010-11-09T09:17:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

This week was really good. Some really important things happened for our area. It was REALLY hard to get lessons in though. No one was home when we went by their houses, even for the lessons that we had set ahead of time, and no one that we knocked into had time to receive us. It was hard because I really like to have good numbers, but the Lord blessed us for our efforts, and I’d rather have blessings than good numbers.

Funny Story. In our apartment there are two sets of elders, and my companion and I always play jokes on the other companionship. This week, we didn’t even have to plan anything because it was done for us. Sister Belaber, an amazingly nice woman in the ward who is in a wheelchair, had given a reference about two months ago to Elder Hyde (our favorite victim). He is an incredible missionary, so he tried for hours to find the house of Sister Belaber's friend, Claudia. Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful.

Last week, Claudia had to move suddenly, so Sister Belaber offered her to come and rent an apartment behind her house. Said apartment just happens to be in our area. We met Claudia this week, and have already had three lessons with her. She came to church on Sunday.

The words of Elder Hyde- I HATE YOU GUYS.

So funny.

Mari couldn’t make it to church this week because she had a family gathering on Sunday, but she accepted a baptismal date and committed to stop smoking. I felt really good about the lesson that we had with her about the Word of Wisdom because I know that she understands why she has to quit, and because I believe that she will be able to. When she gets baptized, she will be one of the most faithful members of the church in the whole world, because she is very good at recognizing spiritual blessings. I’m a little worried about her because she is afraid of pressure, and I don’t want her to think that we are pressuring her to get baptized.

Orlando is doing really well. He came to church again and is very ready to be baptized. He recognizes it too. I’m really excited.

Oh, and we also put a baptismal date with Paolo, the friend of a member girl who came to church at her invitation. He's 21 years old and is basically already Mormon. He has to work Sundays because everyone else at his job goes out to party Sunday mornings, and he's the only one who doesn’t drink. He is getting people to cover for him though so that he can go to church.

AND, the mom and brother of Noemi (one of the 15-year-old-girls that got baptized) both want to get baptized as well. They came to church for the first time yesterday.

All in all, we have a lot to be thankful for. I’ve never seen an area so blessed.

I love you guys so much, and know that the church is true.

Love, Elder Rasband

08.30.2010

2010-09-02T16:00:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone!

This week I decided that I'm never getting married. Or at least, if I were to get married, my fiancé/future mother in law would be in charge of all of the wedding plans. This week was a disaster. I was more tired than ever, and we taught comparatively few lessons. Every day there seemed to be something that was going to prevent the wedding. It was really stressful, but we endured and the Montiel family got married on Friday baptized on Saturday, and confirmed yesterday. Whew.

As if that weren't enough, the one-year-old daughter of a part member family that we're teaching drank bleach-water last Sunday and spent the entire week in and out of he hospital. Her mom was incredibly scared, and asked us to give her a blessing. We ended up passing by the house like every day during the week to help out. The little girl is really affectionate and it's so hard to see her like that.

To top it all off, in an extreme family home makeover moment, the Gonzalez family started getting he bricks that they needed to add on to their house. Two years or so ago, the house of the Gonzalez family burned down. They lost what little they had. Then, in a fight with their neighbors, someone called Social Services, who deemed that the parents could not provide for their five children. The kids went to government homes. Slowly but surely, the Gonzalez family is trying to add on to their one-room house so that it can be called adequate for the return of their children. Unfortunately, the homes where the children live have given them the deadline of December to do so or the children will be offered up for adoption.

We're trying to help them out so they can make the deadline, but of course we're limited in what we can do.

We're having a lot of success, but most of my days are spent thinking about how to teach better and a lot of other stuff that I'm not really sure I know how to share.

One thing I can say is this: lots of people, especially misionaries, want to be guided by the Spirit in what they say. To do this they try very hard to study out in their minds what they are going to say and then deliver the best sermon they can. When this is our focus, we are far from teaching by the Spirit. In order to teach someone by the Spirit, we have to be more focused on them than on our own lesson. As we listen carefully and sincerely to what they have to say, the Spirit allows us to discern their needs and then we can teach simply and without embelishment what the Spirit tells us they need to hear. Christ was so good at this that he could discern the thoughts of the people.

We've learned a lot about listening to our investigators lately, and had very spiritual experiences with them because of what we're putting in practice. Hopefully I'll be a much better listener when I get home.

Thanks for paying attention to my emails and for your prayers. I certainly felt the extra help this week with the Montiel family. I love you guys.

2010-07-22T07:22:00.004-06:00

I remember that this time last year I was making fun of everyone because they acted like the 40-50 degree weather was really cold. This year it's not so funny. I am pretty much freezing.

This weekend was a girls'-camp-type of spiritual experience. We were wet, cold and muddy, and we could see our breath inside the house, but in the end everyone came through for us. We were able to have investigators in church, and our members even came, which was somewhat awesome. Our little branch had better attendence than the local ward (and they have six missionaries) and our members have to travel much further to get to the chapel.

On Saturday, there was a stakewide mini MTC activity. It was really cool. After a morning of training, the youth got to go out to teach with the missionaries. I ended up with the group of young men from the branch. They're pretty much the most ADD, long-haired, Argentine group of 15-17 year old punks that there ever was. I had to control them. Dont laugh.

Anyway, I was really excited because one of the three youth was Silvio, the kid that was about to be baptized that evening. His testimony is so strong. It was a really cool experience to teach him and then see him teach other people. He's going to be a great missionary. I included pictures from both of the activities.

2010-07-06T12:25:00.000-06:00

Hey guys!

Happy fourth of July! And no, there were no fireworks.

We had a crazy and incredibly spiritual week. The members in our branch are really excited about missionary work. We've been having little training meetings and we've also been trying to do service in their houses. We're starting to see a lot of unity and families are being reactivated. Everything that we've fasted and prayed for is coming to pass.

Two weeks ago we found a kid named Silvio while we were looking for a reference from a member. This week Silvio got permission to be baptized. He's really excited.

At the end of Principles of the Gospel, my companion and I shared our testimonies. We were both kind of surprised when Silvio said: I'd also like to share my testimony. We were even more surprised by what he
said. He testified of the Book of Mormon and that the church was true. He thanked us for teaching him and bore his testimony of his upcoming baptism, quoting 2nd Nephi and saying that it was the "door
that leads to the path that leads to eternal life."

This kid is 17 years old and met the missionaries two weeks ago. He goes to seminary, mutual, bears his testimony and reads his scriptures every day. Then, when my companion and I ended the class without
challenging the students to pray about what we had taught, Silvio did it for us. The kid is incredible. I started to cry a little bit right there in the class because the Lord has blessed us so much.

This week we finally saw the end of the whole Argentine futbol craze. I decided not to make fun of anyone. Mostly because there are a lot of them here, but also because I heard that some of the young men cried.
I felt very merciful.

Elder Rasband

2010-06-16T14:27:00.001-06:00

Hey guys,

Well, this week was very exciting, if not exactly for the same reasons as the last one, thank goodness.

This month, the World Cup is the only thing that matters in this country. There is nothing even comparable with the excitement that Argentina has for this tournament. It makes March Madness look like a 10-year-old's birthday party. On Saturday, Argentina beat Nigeria 1-0 in the world cup. We aren’t, of course, allowed to watch the matches, but every single television in the entire country was showing the game and we could pretty much hear what was going on from the street. Not only that, people bought fireworks to set off when Argentina scored, so we didn’t even have to ask anyone how the game was going. Then, on Sunday everyone made fun of me because the US tied with England 1-1. I hope we get to beat them just so the members stop making fun of the US.

Sunday was full of rather mixed emotions. Many of the investigators that we were expecting in Sacrament meeting didn’t show up, but Graciela, who is going to get baptized this week, did. I don’t know if I've said anything about her yet. Three weeks ago, Elder Simons was on a companionship exchange with another elder and they found Graciela's house. They said that the lesson was really spiritual and that when they asked Graciela if she would read the Book of Mormon to know that what they had taught was true she said that she had already received an answer. She did read though, and she started coming to church and is very excited for her baptism on Saturday. She’s already planning on going to a YSA activity in Posadas and to do baptisms for the dead next month. She also wants to serve a mission.

This week I’ve come to see a real need to improve the manner in which we commit our investigators to fulfil their commitments. The people here are really nice, and our investigators will stop what they’re doing to listen to our message. Unfortunately, they’re kind of lazy about actually coming to church or being at home when we have an appointment. It’s been bothering me a lot because when you teach someone about the gospel you can really get to love them, and then when they fail to act on what is taught it’s really sad. Today in my studies, I read part of preach my Gospel that suggests strategies that we can use to help people to keep their commitments. I’m really excited to be able to put it in practice starting tonight.

Apart from Graciela, a lot of our less-active families came, which made us very happy. I feel like I we work just a little bit harder, just a little more effectively, we are going to have a lot of success here in Ramita.

I love you guys!

05.31.2010

2010-06-08T21:39:00.001-06:00

This week was incredibly busy. I was extremely tired the whole time, and about three days ago I lost my voice. Funny thing: as a missionary, I tend to use my voice a lot. I guess I just never really appreciated it as much as I should have. I've decided not to make that mistake again.

This week was also amazing. We had a bunch of investigators who came to church, which was a relief, because that's been really hard for us in the last few weeks.

Our branch is tiny. About thirty people come on a good week. The members are really good, but are mostly new to the church. Our leaders are learning their new roles. For now, the branch president is a member of the high council who lives in the nearby ward. We don't have enough people for a chapel so we take the bus to church.

There are two new families that are particularly helpful. They are the Rivas Family and the Dugos families. The husbands are the councilors in the branch presidency, and the wives are the relief society presidency. Those two, along with two other families and a few other people, comprise the core of our active members. We do have a lot of less active people who come if we're lucky though.

Life is good here!

03.17.2010

2010-03-17T19:57:00.003-06:00

This week in sacrament meeting, I had a really special spiritual experience. I guess I should explain a little. Every missionary in the entire mission has my cell phone number. They aren`t allowed to call, but they do it anyway so that they can get their questions answered when we are not in the office. It's really annoying. Sometimes I take the battery out because I get five calls in a row from people who shouldn´t be calling at all.

So the other day, an Elder from Colombia called me and asked me for the number of the office. That's slightly annoying because everyone else in his zone has the number, and he is allowed to call them, but instead he called me. I gave him the number and he hung up. Five seconds later he called again. He had written it down wrong. I gave it to him. He hung up. The phone of the elder standing next to me rang. It was the same guy. He wants the office number. The elder with me gave him the exact number that I did. It was really frustrating at that point. A few days later the phone rang again. It was the same elder, asking for the same number. I lost my patience a little bit and told him to write it down this time. His response was very profound: "Please have patience with me."

When I was in sacrament meeting, I was thinking of all of the things that I fail to accomplish. I found myself asking forgiveness as I took the bread and water, and immediately that phrase came to my mind. "Please have patience with me." How often do I have to ask forgiveness for the exact same things? The whole experience was very humbling and opened my eyes a lot.

Just a Couple New E-mails

2010-02-24T14:08:00.002-07:00

02.12.2010

I learned a ton this week about myself and about how we need to be submissive to the will of God. Sometimes we face setbacks, but we have to do it with faith. We have to trust that no matter what happens, it is for our good.

This week, for instance, I was really frustrated because we didn't get to go out and teach our investigators much. This was especially frustrating because we need to teach Delia so much before her baptism the 19th. But then last night, when we finally got to talk to her, she was much more receptive than she had been before. She has had a really hard time accepting the need for prophets after the ministry of Christ. Last night we read to her from Ephesians 4 and a light came on in her eyes and she really understood.

My point is this: I have tried to teach the need for prophets to Delia at least 4 times personally, and I know that other missionaries have done the same. She accepted the teaching yesterday because the Lord had prepared her. I am convinced that if we had stopped by when we'd planned she would not have understood, but instead we were trapped in the office while she was being prepared to receive the lesson. I am so grateful that the Lord is in charge of what happens her, and not me.

Know that I'm praying for all of you and that I love you so much.

02/24/2010

Life here in the mission is going well. We are teaching a lot to a boy named Enso and he is progressing really well. I am really excited. It looks like he's going to get baptized soon, but more than that, I really love the kid.

Well, I want to let you guys know that I love you a ton. I also want you to know that the Gospel is true. Thanks to the covenants that we have made, the celestial kingdom is within our reach. We have to improve ourselves every day, and every day we have to repent, but in the end it will all be worth it.

12/30/09

2010-01-14T13:39:00.003-07:00

Hey guys, it was great to talk to you all for Christmas. And it was even better to get to hear from you all again today. This week was pretty cool. We've been working really hard and having some success. We found a new family Monday night and we set another appointment with them for tonight. Literally within two blocks of their house, two members came up to us on a motorcycle asking if they could accompany us to a lesson this week. I guess you can call that a sign.

I don't know if I've actually mentioned the whole motorcycle-as-a-family-vehicle thing, have I? It is not uncommon to see a family consisting of two adults and two kids riding together on the same bike. Actually, it's not even limited to "motos." Sometimes the dad pedals a bicycle and the mom steers and supports a kid on her lap. Sometimes, they even combine the two, and the bicyclist holds onto the back of the motorcycle to keep up. I have to say that the funniest is when to guys my age share the same pedal bike. I don't care how Argentine I become, I will never do that.

The other day we went by Sister Nuñez' house to see if we could teach her grandson sometime this week. Sister Nuñez is Super-Mormon. She's about to turn 90 years old, but she still tries to give us references and help us to come in our teaching assignments. One time we went to visit one of her friends who is 85 years old, and the poor woman didn't want to talk to us and started making excuses. Sister Nuñez said "I'm five years older than you are and I'm still up and about
walking." It was pretty funny because there really isn't anything you can say to a woman like that.

Anyway, we went by her house to talk about her grandson, and she was about to go out and pick the ripe mangoes from this gigantic mango tree in her front yard. Needless to say, Elder Callaghan and I climbed the tree in no time and gathered up the fruit, which this poor sister promptly put in a bag and gave to us. So much for service.

Interesting fact--did you know that it's actually somewhat common to be allergic to mangoes? Apparently for some people, mango trees are like giant poison ivy plants. There are even people who can get sick from breathing the pollen or eating the fruit. Yeah, I found that out yesterday, when everyone kept asking me why my entire body was red with a rash. Finally someone said "You elders didn't go and climb a mango tree did you?" Yeah. I love my life.

The worst part was that we had a teaching appointment yesterday with the mission president's wife, who happens to be in charge of the health for all of the missionaries. She tried to make me go to the hospital to get the rash looked at. For some reason she wouldn't believe that I had painted my face red. Anyway, when we finally found out about the whole mango thing she let me off the hook and told me to wait until Saturday. What a disaster. Oh well.

We had Christmas Dinner with president and his family and the assistants. Sister del Castillo is an amazing cook. And they gave us all ties, which was nice of them. Actually it was Christmas Eve, which is when Argentines have their big family gatherings. On Christmas day I just talked on the phone and then we went out to go work in the evening. It was pretty low-key, which I
liked.

Email: November 25, 2009

2009-12-07T10:22:00.002-07:00

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!

2009-10-24T12:26:00.002-06:00

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!

2009-10-17T12:25:00.003-06:00

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.

2009-08-21T08:32:00.008-06:00

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

2009-08-14T15:03:00.003-06:00

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.

2009-07-01T14:23:00.007-06:00

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

2009-06-10T15:58:00.006-06:00

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

2009-05-20T15:53:00.006-06:00

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...

2009-04-14T15:56:00.010-06:00

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:

2009-03-26T18:20:00.002-06:00

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...

2009-03-18T23:34:00.001-06:00

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

2009-03-18T10:26:00.001-06:00

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...

2009-03-17T12:22:00.001-06:00

...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

2009-03-17T12:21:00.001-06:00

Just to Recap

2009-03-17T12:20:00.001-06:00

Good things come...

2009-03-15T15:59:00.000-06:00

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

2009-03-15T15:37:00.001-06:00

Welcome

2009-03-15T14:55:00.000-06:00

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