Week 61: 2 Corintios 3:3.

This week was another incredible week! On Wednesday we had the great opportunity to help an older couple of missionaries go around the zone doing house checks. It was really fun to help this couple and be with them for the day. They are truly incredible people, so faithful and full of love! On Saturday we had a talent show as a ward! It was probably one of the funnest nights of my mission! There was about 70 people there! The whole ward was clapping, singing, and dancing! I´m so grateful to be able to see the power of the Lord help this ward come together as one. Man, I love this ward so much! In the show de talentos the 4 Elderes dressed up as gauchos (Uruguayo Cowboy) and danced an Uruguay dance. It was so fun! But our investigator Carlos Falco is really gaining a testimony. We have his baptismal date for the 30th of this month. He is such a great man...God is truly sending his angels to prepare the hearts of the children of men. But this week, my companion goes home and my new companion will be Elder Lopez. I can´t wait, he and I are really great friends so it´s going to be a great change where we will see a lot of miracles! But this week during studies I found a scripture that I have come to love....2 Corintios 3:3. I would like to bear my testimony that the gospel of Jesus Christ is engraven on my heart. I know Jesus is my Lord, Savior, and Redeemer. I know only through him and his teaching he can be my advocate with the Father. I love you all and I hope you have a great week! 

Elder Arbon 

Purple Pday

Week 60: "The Book of Mormon is truly a book of miracles."

This week was absolutely amazing! Monday we had a noche de hogar with a family that just recently moved here from Maldonado. They are a menos activa family so we have been working really hard on getting them back to church. They came last week and this week during the noch de hogar the husband told us something that really hit me pretty hard. He said that the wife has truly changed. Before they knew each other they she was a drug addict and a prostitute. But due to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the amazing power of the Book of Mormon she was able to have a change of heart. It really showed me that the Book of Mormon is truly a book of miracles. Also this week we had tri-zone conference with President Smith. It was the first time in mission history that we had it here in Artigas. President said he wanted to have us show the other zones so that they could implement the things into their zones. It was such a great experience! The spirit was so strong and everybody was uplifted from it! Also this Sunday was a lot of fun! There was a huge storm that cancelled church! The streets were flooded and a lot of the houses of members we flooded as well. So we told all of the hermanas in the zone to stay home and all the elders to get to work. It was so humbling to see the way people live here. It really showed me the blessings of the Lord that I have in my life. I love you guys, have a great week!

Elder Arbon

Week 59: "This truly is His work and He is speeding it up."

This week was by far the best week of my mission! It first started off with this menos activa familia. They have been inactive for a long time and their 11 year old daughter isn´t baptized. We dropped by one Sunday to invite them to church and found out that their daughter was sick. So we went in and gave her a blessing. After we left they went to the hospital and the president de la estaca works there and gave her a blessing. It turns out that she had Meningitis. But everything turned out well and the family said it was because of the blessing she had that God protected them. The whole family came to church this week. Also this week we have been working really hard with the family Betancourt...they have been inactive for awhile. But all 7 of them came to church this week. It was absolutely amazing in the church. We had 110 in church. We have almost tripled the attendance in 3 months. This truly is His work and He is speeding it up. During church Carlos and a few other investigators came to church...Carlos has a fecha for the 16 of Noviembre. He is an incredible man. But Mario...one of our recent converts got up and gave his testimony this week. It was truly powerful and it brought tears to my eyes. Also the zone is doing amazing! Three months ago we started with 241 people in church in toda la estaca. Yesterday...we had 514!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also we had the second most baptisms out of all the zones of the mission. It is truly amazing! All of  the elderes y hermanas are working so hard, obeying, and listening! I know without a doubt this is the true church. I love you guys and I hope you have a great week! 

Elder Arbon

Week 58: "noche de hogar"

This week was an amazing week! I don't know if I told everyone but last Sunday we had stake priesthood conference and we set a record with the amount of people in the history of Artigas! After that my companion and I received a call from the president of the mission saying he had talked to the president of the area about Artigas and the president of the area was stoked! He will be coming to the mission and is really excited to come to Artigas in December! Our area is doing really well and so is the zone. We have the best missionaries in the mission here in Artigas and they’re obeying, working, and listening like there is no tomorrow. On Friday we had a ward activity that ended up in a flour fight! Also this week we had a great lesson with one of our main investigators Carlos! We invited him to the church and preached to him the Evangelio de Jesucristo using the baptismal font and the sacrament. It was super powerful and he is really animated for his baptism the 16 of Noviembre! When my comp and I went down to Montevideo we got to stay in a huge apartment all my ourselves. We had an older couple come to the mission but they went home because of health conditions so we got to use their apartment for the night. It was so much fun!!! But the truth, I can't even tell the difference now between the living conditions now and from when I was home! Everything just seems normal now! People here in Artigas are very loving and a very accepting people. I really have grown to love these people. Have you had the opportunidad to talk with the missionaries? Have you been able to go out and work with them or have you had a noche de hogar with them? God is speeding up his work right now and we all need to play a part in it. The missionaries need your help so please help them out...even if it's just a reference or an hour a week, or one noche de hogar with a family that is investigating the church. Please help them out! NOW is the time that God is speeding up his work...it's close!  Also this week we were going to have a zone activity on Saturday, we were going to go out to a place called Piedra Pintada and hang out with the stake president and play a bunch of games as a zone. But it rained so we had to cancel it. But we went to the church and cooked hamburgers for the zone. It was so fun....I truly love the missionaries in my zone. They are all such amazing missionaries. I want to bear my testimony that I know this is the one and only true church on the face of the Earth. And it is the church of Jesus Christ, the same church he established when he was on the earth but was restored by our beloved Prophet Jose Smith. I know the priesthood keys have been restored to this earth so we can gain access to the atonement of Jesus Christ through the sacred ordinances. I know that Jesus not only died to cleanse us of our sins but to know how to succor his people. Through him we can have strengths through our most desperate times. I know the plan de salvation to be the perfect plan of God made possible by his Son. I know that he is our Savior, Redeemer, and our Advocate to the Father.

I hope you have a great week!    

Elder Arbon

Week 57: "I know Today is the Day!"

This week was a great week! We weren´t able to proselyte for 3 days because Tuesday we had to finish buying the things for the new hermanas and on Wednesday I was asked to go down to Montevideo to help fix all the finances of the mission. On Thursday we had concilio, this is where all of the zone leaders get together with President to talk about the mission. But we did see a lot of miracles this week. It was amazing! I got to see Santi and Kati, Willy, and the family Ruiz. It was a lot of fun seeing Kati and Santi. They took out all of their piercings and are going to church. It was so amazing to see. As a zone we´ve doubled the assistance in the church and we´ve had 10 baptism this month compared to last month with only 3. Also, we were blessed with an investigator named Carlos Falco, he set his own baptismal date for the first of November and one of the menos acitvos that we helped reactive brought a family member and now she wants to listen to the missionaries. I know Today is the Day! hope you have a great week!

Elder Arbon

Missionaries of Artigas