Week 107

Working our tails off. I absolutely loved conference, so many questions were answered!!!!! 

Week 106

Tell everyone I`m doing great. I didn`t have time to email, there is still a lot of work to do!!!!!!!!

Week 105: "It wasn`t the nails that held Jesús to the cross, it was His love for the Father and His love for us."

This week was absolutely amazing! I love Elder Huntsman, he is an incredible missionary. He is such a hard worker and is so humble, always looking to be better. I love him to death. But this week we saw a miracle! The last week we had a total of 11 people in church including the missionaries. This week we worked super hard and yesterday we saw a total of 29 people in church!!!!! Doubled and almost tripled! It was incredible! We had a family there that will be baptized the beginning of October. The parents are members but they have 4 kids that are not members! We are super stoked for them. At the end of the sacrament meeting I gave a little talk on love. I shared with the congregation that it wasn`t the nails that held Jesús to the cross, it was His love for the Father and His love for us. And we, in order to follow him, need to do the same. I have a huge testimony of the love that Jesus has for us. I know, without a doubt, without a single doubt, that He suffered and died for me. I love you all!!!!!! 
Elder Arbon

Week 104: "It was absolutely incredible the things that I learned!"

I love being here with Elder Huntsman. He is an incredible missionary. He is a hard, hard worker and is very humble. He is always trying to become better. I love him so much. This week was a great week! On Saturday we had a fireside in a city called Dolores and on Sunday we had another fireside in another city called Mercedes. And then we came back to Montevideo to get ready for the changes. On Tuesday the new missionaries got here from Buenos Aires and we had training all day with them. The next day was so funny. We went into the rooms of the new missionaries with one of the keys we had at 6 in the morning to wake them up by yelling "Hoy es el Día!" It was so fun!!! We woke them up and had them do their exercises, We had a push-up contest among all of the new missionaries and the Elders that work in the offices. After that we trained the trainers and then they got to meet their "kids." After that I went to the temple with my group, the missionaries that came to the mission with me. It was an incredible experience. In the celestial room I got a chance to talk to President Smith and have him teach me a little more about the temple. It was absolutely incredible the things that I learned! After that we as a group ate with the Smith Familia then went to bed. The next day I left to my new area called Florencio Sanchez, in the department of Colonia where I was called to be the group leader. It is a small town and we are opening up an area here with another companionship of missionaries. But we have had a lot of amazing experiences. We taught a lady that has been inactive for 11 years. We taught her the doctrine of Christ and the spirit worked on her so hard, at the end of the lesson she said she will be coming back to renew her covenants by taking the sacrament. We have been finding a lot of great people by talking in every moment we can and last night we found a family whose father and mother are members but the kids are not. We taught them the message of the Restoration of the Gospel and committed all of the kids to be baptized the beginning of Octuber!!! Sunday it was such a great learning experience. We as missionaries taught the Sunday School, Sacordocio, Principios del Evangelio, blessed and passed the sacrament, directed and gave of all the talks in the sacrament. I love it! I truly felt that the spirit was there guiding the words we were sayings. But I love you and have a great week!!!!!! 

Elder Arbon

Week 103: "This week is changes and I get to go back into the field."

I just wanted to tell you I´m doing good! We had two firesides this past weekend, one on Saturday in a city called Dolores and another in a city called Mercedes. This week is changes and I get to go back into the field. My new companion is going to be Elder Huntsman (Zack). I can´t wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Elder Arbon

Week 102: "...and to live like Him."

These past two weeks have been incredible! Last week my companion and I took the misión car and went on a road trip. We went up to the department of Colonia to help prepare the Fireside up there. The zone of Colonia is very different from the other zones because it is so spread up. In order to get from one área to another you need to take a bus on average for an hour, so we did a Fireside in the northern half last week and this week we are doing one in the southern half. So we got permission from president to take the misión van and headed up there. We helped organize the choir of missionaries, make sure the projector and sound equipment were working well, and visited and prepared all of the converts that were going to speak in the Fireside. As Saturday rolls around we were so stoked for the Fireside because everything was looking perfect; the projector was looking good, the sound equipment sounded good, and the converts were all ready to go. And then God showed us who the Gardner was, we were acting a little cocky and God taught us who we need to rely on! Twenty minutes before the activity the adapter for the soundboard fried, we were driving around looking to buy a new adapter and nothing was opened. We even went with a member and grabbed his soundboard and it still didn´t work. We were a little bit frustrated because we had practiced for so long but in the end God blessed us. Even though we had to make a few adjustments everything turned out amazing! We even had a funny story about the Fireside, in the middle of the Fireside there was a man that wasn´t invited to speak that randomly got up and came to the microphone and began to give his testimony. I think he was a Little drunk. I wanted to get up and ask him to take his seat but we let him. A thought came to my mind, Come What May and Love it! It was actually a pretty good testimony, I was really impressed! It was really funny though! Haha On Sunday we went with President to help him do a conference in Colonia. We got to watch a conference by Elder Bednar. It was absolutely incredible! Then the next week started up and we went back to Colonia on Tuesday in order to visit all of the converts that were going to share their testimonies in the Fireside today. After that we traveled back down to Montevideo to leave the van with the Elders that work in the offices and took a bus to the practice up in Colonia. And the next day President came to pick us up and take us with him to Paysandú. From Wednesday until last night we were in Paysandú preparing the Fireside we will be having tomorrow. This morning we took a bus back down to Colonia to make some last minute check ups for the Fireside tonight. It was a lot of running around these last few weeks but was really enjoyable. I want to give you my sincere testimony that I know Jesús Christ is the only begotten son of our loving Heavenly Father, our Savior, and Redeemer. That he came to this world to pay the Price of our rescue. I know that only through His Doctrine we can enter into the kingdom of God. I know that the Book of Mormon contains the fullness of his doctrine in every single page. I know this church to be the one and only church to have a true, living prophet that has been called of God, Thomas S. Monson, at it’s head. I know that he holds the keys to the Holy Priesthood. Which is the power and authority God has given to men to allow His children to once again return to live with him in his presence, and to live like Him. I love you all so much and I hope you have a wonderful week.

Your Son,

Elder Arbon

Week 100: "This week my companion and I worked our hearts off in our area"

This week was incredible!!! Wow! On Saturday I received a call from an old investigator when I was in the zone of Oeste...we talked for a minute and then I asked him to get married so that his girlfriend, Kati, could get baptized! As I invited him and he stayed silent for a second, and the spirit fought with him and then he agreed!!!! So we went to the city offices and they will be getting married here in a little bit so she can be baptized!!! It was incredible! On Monday President took the offices out to eat at a Chinese restaurant, Grandpa would have loved it! This week my companion and I worked our hearts off in our area, we have been taking in every moment and we have been finding so many new people to teach. Also, we had a meeting with the assistants from the other mission to exchange ideas on how to speed up the work and we both found some amazing ideas! But I want you all to know I love you so much and have a great week! 

Elder Arbon

Week 99: "in order to come unto Christ we need to leave everything behind and if we want to follow Christ we need to give everything we have!"

This week was a really good week! I received a new companion, Elder Bulloch. He´s from St. George. A big kid that wrestled in high school. Really humble, hard working guy. I´m going to love working with him. Last Sunday we had a fireside in the zones of Oeste and Flores together! The weekend there was a lot of running around. Saturday night we were visiting all of the converts that were going to share their testimonies in the fireside and buy some last minute things before Sunday. As Sunday rolls around it became hectic! It was about 2 hours before the activity and the computer wasn´t compatible with the projector in the church so we had to rush over to a bishop´s house in order to grab his computer. As we got to the chapel we plugged everything in and got everything hooked up and ready and then the activity started. We were hoping and praying that everything would work! Heavenly Father truly blessed us that night, there wasn´t a flaw in the entire activity. It was absolutely incredible! We were also blessed with the presence of an area seventy! After the activity we started preparing for concilio (leadership counsel) with all of the zone leaders. President Smith is incredible! He taught us some amazing doctrine. He taught us about the rich prince in the bible. He taught us about the law to come unto Christ and the law to follow our Savior. He taught us in order to come unto Christ we need to leave everything behind and if we want to follow Christ we need to give everything we have! I loved it!!! So inspired! But I want to let you all know that I love you so much! 

Elder Arbon 

Week 98: Voice clip

Week 96: "We filled the stake center up so much that there were people standing up in the back because there wasn´t enough seats."

This week was so much fun! On Thursday night my companion and I traveled up to the department of Tacurembo to help that zone prepare for their fireside. I am not sure if I have explained in detail exactly what goes on in these firesides. They are about an hour and a half long with Mormon message videos, a choir by the missionaries of that zone, and testimonies of recent converts or less actives that have come back to church. The responsibilities of my companion and I are to prepare to videos, make sure the choir sounds and looks good, make sure that the chapel is equipped with the microphones and everything sounds good, and visit the people that are going to speak and help them organize their thoughts and ideas in order to send. The fireside that we had in Tacurembo was incredible! We filled the stake center up so much that there were people standing up in the back because there wasn´t enough seats. The spirit was so strong! The thing about these firesides is that there isn´t anyone directing the meeting so there is no interruption of the spirit and everything is shared in five minute intervals so people don´t have the chance to get bored and lose the spirit. I love it! My companion was in charge of the lights and I was in charge of the computer with the videos. It was so much fun! A funny story this week...my companion and I got to Tacurembo and stayed with the zone leaders. They had an extra mattress and we had brought an inflatable mattress as well. One night while I was sleeping the air mattress I was sleeping on lost all of it's air. So the other nights I slept in the same bed as my companion! Haha I know it´s against the rules so I will need to repent for that! Haha The work here is doing really well! I will not be in my area for about 2-3 weeks because I will be traveling to both Artigas and Salto preparing the firesides in the both zones. For P day we played soccer with the zone of Artigas for exercises, studied, then we went to President Bueno's house to say hi to him, and then we went to the Brazilian buffet for lunch. Have a great week! 

Elder Arbon

Week 95: "I bear testimony of the amazing power of the Book of Mormon: of its simplicity and its truthfulness."

This week flew by! This week was interviews so we traveled with President to 6 of the 10 zones that are located in the interior of the mission. Everyday we were blessed to see a miracle in one way or another! On Monday we drove up to the zone of Mercedes. President taught to the District Leaders, Zone Leaders, and us the importance in following the example of Christ as a leader. He taught us two principles: the first being the need to be an example, the second being the importance of “Following Up.” He taught us “Following Up” is an eternal principle that is taught to us in the temple with Christ and our Heavenly Father. After the meeting with the leaders we had a meeting with the whole zone and he shared a scripture with us, Alma 5:7. He taught that every one of us is surrounded by a darkness that at one point and time in our lives causes us to fall into a deep sleep en cuanto a Dios. He shared with us that the investigators are sleeping in en cuanto a Dios and us as missionaries; it is our responsibility to wake them up from their deep sleep. And the way we do that is illuminate their souls with the word of God that is only found in the Book of Mormon. I bear testimony of the amazing power of the Book of Mormon: of its simplicity and its truthfulness. I know without a doubt that the Book of Mormon describes the plan of Salvation, contains the doctrine of Christ, and is the evidence that Jose Smith saw the Father and the Son in the sacred grove. President Smith showed us how we can use the Book of Mormon in order to help them understand the Doctrine of Christ. During our training we backed up president´s teaching of the importance of simplicity and directness by reviewing the purposes of the first three lessons. President has split the first lesson of the Restoration into 3 parts: 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3, each lesson being shorter and teaching one of the three principles of the restoration. The first – the first vision and Jose Smith, the second – The Book of Mormon, and the third – the necessity of the power and authority of God in order to perform the sacred ordinance such as baptism, the confirmation, and the blessing of the Sacrament. We had seen that the mission was confused with the purposes of the first threes lessons so we helped them clear up their questions and resolve their doubts in this subject. We also talked about a few other things: giving baptismal dates, giving commitments (we introduced a new commitment in the first lesson – it is so legit!), the mission team, and how to teach clear and with power! The next day we went to Paysandú. After the trainings and meetings we did divisions for a little bit. I went with, Elder Bagget, we went to the house of a teenage kid that lived in the states for a few years. He couldn´t attend us so we contacted the next house and no one was home. As we were leaving the house we saw a guy of about 25 years old walking in the street, we stopped and talked to him. He said he was on his way to go steal some stuff, which is how he made his living when we testified to him that our message would change his life. He accepted the visit so we went to his house and taught him a lesson. At the end of the lesson we asked him to say a prayer, asked God for the thing in his life that he most desired, he said that he wanted his girlfriend to come back. No joke, as he said amen, his girlfriend opened the door and there she was. He was stunned. He said that it was the prayer that caused it and that he wanted us to come back the next day. It was such a spiritual experience! Then the next day we went to Salto, then Artigas (it was much fun to see every one again), then Rivera, and then we finished in the Tacurembo! It was a lot of fun and we learned so much! I love you and have a great week! 

Elder Arbon