Monday, November 26, 2012

Week 10: It´ll be a great experience.


How are you? You guys sound like you guys are doing so well! I´m jealous you guys went to black Friday, that was always so much fun. Great memories! Thank you for the last package, I appreciate it so much! I´m so happy to hear about Walk´s football games, I´m so mad I couldn´t be there! But tell him if he´s having trouble on top look for the Arbon tilt and if it´s not there, let him up! I´m glad Mae´s doing good, is she still afraid of her teacher? I can´t wait until Johnni starts track, I can´t wait to see her marks. I´m so grateful to have the family I do. It truly is the perfect family for me and I love you guys so much.
This week was awesome! We were suppose to leave at 4 in the morning on Tuesday but there was a huge strike in Argentina so there was no flights. We had to stay another day in the CCM. But instead we left at 12 on Wednesday on a ferry. It was so fun! The first night we got there, met the president, and stayed at the hotel by the temple. The next day we woke up at 6 and had a push up contest, it´s a tradition for all the new missionaries coming into the field. But after that we went to the clinic and got our blood drawn, teeth checked, and a physical. After that we came back to President´s house and met our new comps. My trainer’s name is Elder Manning, he´s from Las Vegas. Great guy. He´s been out a year and four months, went to a year at BYU before his mission, and played football and ran track in high school. But after we met our new comps we took a 6 hour bus ride to our area, it´s in the department of Salto and we´re in Colonia 18 de Julio. Our area is huge. We actually get to ride bikes because our area is so big. My butt is killing me because I´m not used to riding a bike 8 hours a day. But our house is so ghetto! Love it though. Toilet doesn´t flush all the way, have a washing machine (you have to fill it up with water though), no cupboards for the plates and stuff like that, floor is concrete, bugs are everywhere, every night we have to fill up our water tank. I love it though! It´ll be a great experience. The first day we went and ate with one of the members. They fed us rice with some hamburger meat, potatoes, and sweet potatoes in it. I had a hard time eating it though because there were so many flies, but it was actually pretty good. But they sat there and watched us while we ate. I felt so bad, they are so giving here. Here we only have branch of about 20 to 30 people. It used to be bigger but the old bishop stole money from the church and it offended a lot of people. The people here are all dirt poor, they work in the places called chacras (farms), a lot of them don´t even know how to read. But they are so loving and giving. We went and visited a less active member because their daughter was having a birthday party and they gave us all their food and they have nothing now. They are so humble. But right not there´s not a lot of new investigators. We did have a baptism last Saturday though, his name is Jhon, 22 years old. Great guy. But there´s not a whole lot of baptisms like I thought there would be. I guess the people here and just so relaxed. They just don´t care about much, that´s their culture. But it´s so poor here, I know it´s going to truly teach me humility.  I love it here, it´s truly a blessing to be here.
I want you to know I love you! I´m so grateful to have you in my life. I really do miss you. I hope all is well and I love you. Could you also send me a couple pictures of our family? The members like to look at pictures of your family so I want to tape them in my scriptures. Also, one of the Latinos stole my microfiber towel, they needed it more than I did, so could you send me a new one?
Your son,
Elder Arbon

Friday, November 23, 2012

We would like to inform you of the arrival of your son to the Uruguay Montevideo West Mission.

Dear Arbon Family,


We would like to inform you of the arrival of your son to the Uruguay Montevideo West Mission. He arrived here safe and sound on Wednesday night and met President and Sister Heaton. He received some training in the mission home to help him get to know the mission and feel comfortable in Uruguay. The missionaries had dinner with the Heaton Family. On Thursday met his trainer and left for his new area. His preparation day will be on Monday so you will be able to hear from him then. It is such an exciting time for him, and we wanted to share it with you. We have included a picture of your son with President and Sister Heaton. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to get in contact with us. Our email is urugoest@gmail.com. We thank you for all you have done as parents to help your son reach this point in his life. 


Elder David E. Bossa
Statistical Secretary
Uruguay Montevideo West Mission

Monday, November 19, 2012

Week 9: I leave tomorrow morning at 4am.


I´m sorry this email is so short, we only have ten minutes to write this week.  This last Saturday we got an old lady to commit to come to church. Such an amazing experience! But my comp and I are so close now. We tease each other like Ethan, Drew, and I used too. I´m going to miss my old district though. We got so close. I leave tomorrow morning at 4am. The next time I write will be next Monday.  I want you to know I love you and I miss you.
Your missionary,
Elder Arbon

Friday, November 16, 2012

Week 8: I just can´t wait to get to work in Uruguay.


I´m doing so good! How are you? My head is doing good. I try not to play soccer everyday because I get too competitive! I´m so glad you got to see Cody.  I´m so jealous. How is he? He´s emailed me a few times but you know how he emails. I leave either Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning for Uruguay! I just can´t wait to get to work in Uruguay. I´m so ready to work! The language is coming along great. The Latino comp has helped me out so much. I can´t wait for Christmas either, I´m so excited to see you (skype)! But my comp isn´t from Quito, tell Brianne sorry. Tell Walk man good luck at his tournament, I wish I could be there!  This week was a really good week! It was hard to get used to my companion at first but now I love the guy. He´s so funny! He asked to come stay in Utah so hopefully you will get to see him. But he´s such a great kid. Not a lot happened this week. I just can´t wait to get out to Uruguay! I will email you on Monday, it´ll only be a short one because we only have ten minutes. I love you and I miss you! I´ll make you proud!
Your missionary,
Elder Arbon

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Week 7: "After you see the gospel touch someone’s life, you have to know this gospel is true."


How´s everything going? I miss you! I´m so glad you are doing okay! It sounds like the family is doing so good! I miss all you guys so much! Mitt Romney lost? Are you serious? What does that mean for our country? Was the election close? That makes me so upset.
It was a good week this week! On Wednesday it was just the gringos and we all played soccer together. We were playing and I kicked the ball and it hit a kid in the head and it knocked him out cold. I think it must of hit him just right! He got up and was okay but I was still laughing so hard! I apologized after though! On Halloween my district came and slept in my room and we put up your decorations you sent me and ate the candy grandma sent me! We stayed up until 12 just talking about home. It was so much fun! Proseltismo was so cool! We went back to the guy we had taught for the past two weeks and we taught him another lesson. We invited him to be baptized and he accepted!!!!!! It was such a cool experience. I´m just mad we won´t be able to see him get baptized. It was such an amazing experience to see the gospel touch his life. After you see the gospel touch someone’s life, you have to know this gospel is true. On Monday, I got a latino companion. He´s name is Elder Segovia, from Ecuador. He´s a convert, been a member for only two years and has a huge tattoo down his right calf. Love him to death but I know God is truly trying to teach me patience. They are so different as a culture. They have no personal space and they take everything. I don´t mind him using my stuff but I don´t like being touched, I know I need to be more Christlike but I´m not a big fan of guys toughing me. I can communicate but it´s so basic. I don´t have a personality in spanish yet but I´m getting there.
Thank you so much for the letters and the packages! I look forward to them every week! I´m sorry this email was so short today. We didn´t have a lot of time to write. But I love you. 
Elder Arbon