Week 35: "We went there an hour early and we didn´t know why but God needed us there at that moment to help that family."

Hola,

It was so good to see you! I loved it! It made me miss you so much more!  We have the greatest family and we have the responsible to help others. We have been blessed with so many blessing; we´re financial stable, we have a family that loves each other, and above all we have the knowledge of the gospel of Jesucristo. We may have been blessed with all these things but these blessings come with a responsibility, we must give these things to those who are in need.  This week was a crazy week. We had two elders go home early so we had them stay with us for a few days and we had to take them to the airport.  Also, our financial system went down so we won´t be able to pay anyone for 10 days. So we were busy running around making sure everything was paid and making sure the mission had enough money for the next 10 days. So Sunday, when we were picking up an Elder at 4 de la mañana a family came up to us and said they had been living at the bus station for a few days because they came to Uruguay just a few days ago to live with the family of the guy but they kicked him out because he was investigating the church. We went there an hour early and we didn´t know why but God needed us there at that moment to help that family. The ward that they´re in now really pulled through, they got them a house, food, and now the guy has a baptismal date for the 1st of June. Such a testimony builder.

But from now on I´m going to describe one thing from Uruguay that´s different from the states. I know you want to know more about my area, the people, and the norms here so every week I´m going to tell you something new. The food here is changing, in summer they eat milanasas (thinly breaded chicken or beef) and ensalda de rusca (chopped up potatoes, carrots, peas, and a ton of mayonnaise) and now they eat more of soup now that it´s getting cold.

I love this Gospel. I know Jesus lives, I know he suffered and died for each one of us individually. He knows our weakness and knows our strengths. When he paid the price for our salvation it wasn´t easy, but he did it. If it was hard with him why wouldn´t it be hard for us. But he didn´t quit so I won´t. I want to testify that I know the Book of Mormon to be the word of God, that José Smith was a prophet of Lord, he restored the same priesthood keys that Jesus has. I love this gospel. I love my family with all my heart, and above all I love Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Elder Arbon 

Mother's Day Skype

Week 34

Te quiero! No puedo esperar para verte mañana! Te voy a decir todo mañana! Recuerda...escriba preguntas que yo puedo contestar. Te amo!

Elder Arbon

Pictures

Where I workout every morning.

Kati and Santi

Week 33: "Our purpose as missionaries is to make families forever, not just to baptize people."

This week was a really good week. On Monday my companion Elder Gudmundson came in. He´s a really good guy. He grew up in Orem and has a farm up in Idaho. In High school he played baseball and volleyball. He´s very smart kid, and his Spanish is a lot better than mine when I came into the offices. He´s a little bit of a nerd but I still love him. This week was really busy in the offices. We´re having to buy a lot of new houses because of the new wave of missionaries coming in and also we´re having troubles with UTE (this is the company that owns all the power in Uruguay) because they changed their entire system, so we´re doing the best we can to find a solution of how to pay all the power bills. With all the work in the offices we´ve had a hard time getting out to field, it´s been killing me. But our investigators are progressing really well. With Kati we´re just waiting on her boyfriend, Santi, to become worthy to baptize her. This week we shared the story of the prodigal son and the desire God has to forgive us. We don´t want to rush her to baptism because we don´t want them falling back into the same things they used to do antes, we want them to become strong in the Gospel together so they can become an eternal family in the future. Our purpose as missionaries is to make families forever, not just to baptize people. This week I studied a lot on hope. What I found out was that everything starts and finishes with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We must have faith in the Savior, his atonement, and his teachings and have hope that he will, without a doubt, fulfill every promise (covenant) we have made with him, and must above all have love for him because of the sacrifice that he made for us. I want to bear my testimony that know that Jesus lived a perfect life, suffered and died for each and every sin, he will fulfill every promise he has made with us, and that he loves us with a perfect love. I love you all and I hope you have a great week.

Elder Arbon