Week 32: "God blesses his servants."

I´m doing so good! I didn´t have a party for my birthday. It was the week of changes so we had a lot of work to do so to be honest...I didn´t realize it was my birthday until I got home and saw your card sitting on my desk. It was probably my best birthday though, we just worked all day. Loved it!  This week was such a great week. We were busy most of the week with changes, buying the tickets, going to the airport to pick up the oros (new missionaries), buying all the food for them, and giving presentations about the mission. Everything went really smooth. I also got a new companion. He´s name is Elder Encina from Paraguay. I love the guy. He´s a super hard worker. But he leaves this Monday to Tacurembó con Elder Larsen (mí ultimo compañero). My actual comp, Elder Gundmundson, is with Elder Larsen right now showing him the area because he´s coming to the offices and his old comp got transferred as well. So he´s showing Elder Larson the area and then he´ll come to the offices on Tuesday. We didn´t get a lot of time in the field because of changes but we got to work a lot with Kati y Santi. I love those two! Such capos. This week has been crazy as well because I took over as head financiero. There is so much to do all the time. I love it though. Talking to dueños, buying new houses, paying the rent and the bills. It´s been a lot of fun. I know it´s not work in the field but God blesses his servants. I bear testimony of that. Amo esta obra.

Elder Arbon

Week 31: "God loves us enough to give us covenios to show us his love."

This week was a really good week. Not a lot happened because we´re just getting ready for cambios next week. I´m really excited for them though. I will be getting a new comp.  His name is Elder Gudmundson from Orem. He´s only been in the mission for two cambios but we´re going to get a lot of work done. This week I took over as Head Financiero. It´s been really good, talking with dueños and getting all the bills paid. This week we´ve been working really hard with Kati and Santi. We´re just waiting for his papers to come in from his other ward so he can have a an interview with the bishop to become worthy to baptize her. But it´s been really good working with them, we´ve been able to see the changes in their life. They´ve changed completely. Now Santi leaves every night to go sleep at the house of Kati´s sister and her husband so they can keep the Law of Chastity and both of them quit smoking. I love those two. But this week we had a meeting with President about the changes and he shared something with us that I loved. He talked about Convenios, our first Convenio is baptism, next is the temple, and the third is the Santa Cena cada semana. I thought a lot about it a lot this week. A lot of people here think that they can do whatever they want and "believe in their own way" and they think God will save them at the last day. I feel so bad for them. God loves us enough to give us covenios to show us his love. Not only is it a promise but it´s a contract. He´s obligated to bless us if we keep the commandments. People think they can do whatever they want and he´ll bless us. It´s not that way, he gave us convenios to show us he will bless us and he has showed us the way. Fa, amo esta obra. Sorry it was a short email, it´s my comp´s last p-day here so we had to do a lot of stuff. But I hope you all have a great week. Les amo.

Elder Arbon

Baptism of Maria!

Week 30: "The Lord blesses us so much and the reason why is not just because of obedience, it is because we´re doing more than we think we could and we´re working our tails off."

This week was a really good week! Conference was amazing. I´m so mad I never went when I was home. I think when I get home we need to start a tradition that we should go to por lo menos one session every six months. Deal? But what I got out of conference is the importance of obedience. At times we don´t know why God has commanded us to do certain things or why God has given us the trials we are all facing. But God has promised us, He promised us, if we obey he is bound to bless us. Fa, I loved conference. In between conferences we went looking for people to bring and we went to this lady´s house named Estela. As we got there she came out yelling at her son and she told us she couldn´t attend us. But then she broke down and started to cry. We sat down and talked to her and she opened up to us. She told us she´s sola(single) and her kid is a drug dealer. We said a prayer with her and gave her a LDM and taught her about the power of the atonement and Christ’s suffering for us. It was such a good lesson. Also this week we´ve been teaching a guy named Luis. He´s a really good guy, but he is the perfect example of an Uruguayo. He just talks and talks and talks. He´s a really good guy though. We watched the restauracion with him and he really enjoyed it. He told us he´ll be at church this week.  Also this week we´ve been really focused on Kati and Santi. They have progressed so much. Santi doesn´t sleep over at her house anymore, he sleeps at the sister´s house who is married, and they both stopped smoking. We have the baptism for her the next Friday! I can´t  wait! Also yesterday we went by Estela and we didn´t have a lot of time so we sat down with her outside and invited her to come to the baptism of Nico today and then we invited her to be baptized. When we asked her she accepted and started to cry. Our president leaves at the end of July, and when the new president comes I might have to come back to the offices because I´ll be one of the only ones with a license. The work is going so well. We have a lot of great investigators. The Lord blesses us so much and the reason why is not just because of obedience, it is because we´re doing more than we think we could and we´re working our tails off. Sometimes we´re running from one appointment to another. That´s the key to missionary work, obedience, work, and then give it all to Him. I´m still loving the office. Next week I get a new comp and I´ll be senior comp and he´s only been in the mission for 3 months. I can´t wait, I´m going to work his shoes to their soles.

Fa, amo esta obra. Les amo todo. 

Elder Arbon

Week 29: "I´m hungry for another!"

This week was a great week! Our P-Day was changed to today because la Conferencia General is tomorrow and we want to go work in the field to bring as many people as we can. But this week was a really good week. On Saturday, Rosanna´s mom came and said hi to my companion and I. She wanted to take us to Ciudad Vieja and to go visit her mother but we didn´t communicate very well so I only got to see her for like 15 minutes. But they were such nice people and it was really good to see them. After we had the baptism for Maria. It was awesome. By far one of the best moments of my mission. But it was about a half hour before the baptism and we forgot to fill up the font. And it usual takes about 4 hours to fill it up. But we started it and by the time the baptism was about to start it was completely full. Fue un milagro! But the baptism was perfect, you could truly feel the spirit there. Funny story though...as I put her in the water she let her legs float up and as I started to lift her up she didn´t put them down. I thought she would  put them down so I waited a few seconds to see if she would but she couldn´t. So we sat there me holding her like a baby. After the few seconds I had to drop her and then hurry and catch her. It was super funny! But after she came out of the water I wanted to give her a hug so bad but I was afraid I might give her a heart attack so I held back! But I really could feel the spirit, I´m hungry for another! On Sunday we had a really good service about la Pascua. We also were really blessed with another investigator. His name is Nico, he´s the boyfriend of one of the members of our ward. After church we had a lesson with him and gave him a fetcha and he accepted. They rest of the week was a lot of fun. On Tuesday we were walking in the street next to this warehouse and there were about 15 kids playing futbol in the parking lot. So we hopped right in and played for a few minutes. It was a lot of fun! On Wednesday it was concilio for all the zone leaders so we were running around all day taking them places. Thursday we woke up early and helped a non-member family move. It was really good because it helped them spark an interest in the church. But fa, I can´t wait until la Conferencia General! I promise if you watch or listen to it with a question in your mind you will receive an answer, without a doubt! Amo esta obra con todo mí corazon! Tenga una buena semana. Les amo!

Elder Arbon 

Week 28: "Feliz Pascua"

Things are going so well. We´re having a lot of success. We´re having trouble finding people but we are getting a lot of help from the members. Last week we had 18 with member. Crazy hu! We were so blessed. This week was a really good week. Not a lot happened but Maria is getting baptized tonight, I can´t wait. But we´ve been teaching this couple Santiago y Kati. Santiago was the guy who stopped us when we were going home one night. He´s a member but his girlfriend isn´t. He wants to come back to church and wants to bring her with him. She really likes the church and wants to be baptized but we can´t baptize her because they live together and are not married. They want to get married but they can´t because she´s only 16 and her mom won´t sign the paper for her to get married. She won´t sign it because if she does Kati´s father won´t send them money and her mom really needs that money because she´s a prostituta. Crazy hu? But we´re doing a fast for them next Sunday so we´ll know what to do soon.  

The church beautiful, it´s not as big as the ones in the United States but it´s super nice. It is actually the first capilla in South America. Cool hu! But our apartment is so nice, it´s the nicest apartment in the misión. There are two rooms, two bathrooms, one living room, a full size cocina, washer and dryer, and it´s on the fourth floor over looking the beach. Man we are so blessed! I feel like I´m at home with how spoiled I am. Yes, the secertarios stay with us in the house as well. We do get warm showers everyday, depends on when you take it though. We have a tiny water heater so usually only the first two or three people get warm showers. But our last one broke so we didn´t have one for 2 weeks. I loved it, I actually felt I was in South America. But we have a great ward so we get a lot of lunches from members but usually we go to a nearby almacen or supermercado to buy something and eat it really quick because we don´t have a lot of time to sit down and eat. Weather is cooling down a ton, we have to wear our sweaters now.

I got a call Wednesday from the mom of Rosanna (our neighbor here in Pleasant View) and today we´re going to go try and eat with them. I´m so excited, that´ll be a lot of fun and a good oppurtunidad para enseñarle.

I want to wish all of you a Feliz Pascua. I also want to bear my testimony that Jesus lives and he broke the bands of death so we can live with him and our families again. I love Jesus Christ, my Savior, my Redeemer, and my Brother, with todo mí corazon. I know without a doubt that he lives, he loves us, and only through him we can live with our family again. I can´t express in words how grateful I am for his perfect life, his atonement for each us individually, his death, and especially his resuracción. I know he broke the bands of death so we can as well. I love him with every fiber of my being and I am going to do the best I can to glorify his name in everything I do. Les amo todo.

Con amor y honra,

Elder Arbon