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

Week 27: "If the first six months were suppose to be the hardest then I've got paradise for the next 18."

Great week! The baptism of Maria is postponed until the next week because our ward is going through the temple today with a member that is taking out his endowments because he leaves for his mission this next week. It´s okay though, we get another week to prepare her for baptism. The area we are in is doing so good, we were so blessed this week. The hard work is starting to pay off. God put a lot of new people in our path to teach. On Tuesday we were walking home and a guy, Rubin, and his wife called us over. He used to live in Rivera, one of the most northern departementos in Uruguay, and while he lived there he was a corto plazo (temporary missionary) and he left on a mission to the states but he had to come home to fix some things. After he got home he fell away from the church and is now living with his girlfriend that is 16. But he told us he wants to come back to church and she wants to go with him. So we´re going to get them married and have him baptize her. I´m so excited! Also, we have this little kid named Elias. He is so funny, every time we go over he talks to us about video games and tries to get us to play them with him. Today we played futbol with him and all the kids from our barrio. It was so fun! Also, we have Nahuel. He´s about 13, he´s a capo. If he comes to church this week we can baptize him with Maria the next week. He´s really funny, every time we go over to his house he won´t let us have a lesson this week unless we play a game of futbol after with him and his cousin Shayla. But it was a really good week, it´s going to be crazy in the next coming weeks. We´re opening up 11 new areas and 7 of them are hermanas. We have to find all the houses and make all the contracts for them. But I´m excited for it! I really loved the quote you sent me. It made me think of the Doctrine of Christ. The Doctrine of Christ is Fe,  Arrepentimiento, Bautismo, Espírtu Santo, and Preservar Hasta el Fin...true, but if you look deeper at the Doctrine of Christ it isn´t just to do those things, it´s to show our Father that we love him enough to put aside our desires and do His Will. In the end that´s the purpose of this life, to do God´s will.I´m going to be honest with you...I love it here. I´m not just saying that to make you happy either. If the first six months were suppose to be the hardest then I´ve got paradise for the next 18. I truly have learned so much on my mission. Not just about this Gospel, but about myself. I´ve learned that who I was before my mission wasn´t the man I´m suppose to be, I´ve learned who I want to become. That boy who left Pleasant View, UT won´t be coming back. I´ve realized that I have too many faults to count, but it makes me grateful that God gave an opportunity to find and fix these faults. Man I love my mission. You might have to come down to drag me home because I don´t know if I´ll come home on my own free will.

I love you all and I hope you have a great week.

Con amor y honra,

Elder Arbon 

Week 26: The Good and the Bad

This week was crazy in the offices because of changes so we didn´t get a whole lot of time in the field but we still got a lot of work done. I love the offices but can´t wait until I get all day to work in the field. I love my calling now as an office Elder but it´s just I wish I had more time in the field preaching the word, but I love what I´m doing and I´m going to make the best of every second I got. I´m so excited! But transfers were crazy, we were running all the over the place. It was a lot of fun though!  Next change we´re getting 24 new missionaries. Locoisimo!  I heard a rumor that some of our missionaries in our mission might go over to Argentina to help open some missions over there! Crazy hu? This week flew by! With the changes we were busy every second of every day. On Tuesday we gave a presentation to the new missionaries and then I stayed with them that night. It was a lot fun, we woke up early and had a push up contest and then got them ready to meet their trainers. I got some really bad news though. My last comp got transferred to Montevideo so I got to see him for a little while. We were talking about our area and then we started to talk about Marta. She was suppose to get baptized last Sunday but during her baptismal interview they found out that she had committed a major crime in the past. She killed someone with a knife and she planned it out. So now she has to write a letter to the prophet but she didn´t want to do that. That really hurt when Elder Manning told me that. But some really good news is that we were teaching Maria and she told us that she had a dream that her son told her she should join the church. Made my week! She´s reading the Book of Mormon daily and she´s really excited about being baptized!  She has a fecha for next Saturday, I´m counting down the days. I´m looking forward to that more than I have for all of my P-days...combined! But this week I realized that I haven´t learned anything on my mission, but at the same time I´ve learned everything. The things I know now are the same things I will know when I´m 80 years old. I know the Jesus lived a perfect life, suffered for our sins, died on the cross, and was resurrected. I know the priesthood keys were restored to José Smith and I know the Book of Mormon is true. People are always looking to over complicate things, but that´s not our church. Our church is simple and true. Man I love it. I love you all and I hope you have a great week. 

Con Amor and Honra,

Elder Arbon

Week 25: "the real reason for the doctrine of Christ is to show God that we´re here to do his will, not ours."

I love the offices, we´re busy every second of everyday and I really enjoy that. This week was such a great week. We haven´t had a lot of investigators lately so we´ve been doing a late of finding through menos activos and recent converts. But one day we were crossing this busy street and this little sweet old lady stops and says ´Mormones.´ Right there was an answer to our prayers. We helped her cross the street and talked to her for a few minutes. The next time we met with her we had a good lesson and she came to church last week. On Monday we had a noche de hogar with her and the mission leader, it was really good. But the other missionaries in the office brought one of their investigators and it was no bueno. She´s a little older and a little bigger but we were taking a picture after the noche de hogar and she put her hand on my butt cheek, and not just the top half but the bottom half and held it there for at least a minute while we were taking pictures. I almost had to go in to the mission president to have a talk with him, I´m just playing! The other missionaries thought it was pretty funny. Also this week we got to eat lunch with the President because changes are next week and we´ll be really busy Sunday through Thursday. This change was only 4 weeks because of the change in MTC schedules. But while I was at his house I went to the Distribution Center to buy some things and I ran into Cody Barlow. He´s the kid that knocked me retarded. It was so good to see him, he´s serving in the Uruguay Montevideo mission. He´s a capo! But I learned a lot this week, especially a lot about the Doctrine of Christ. My institute teacher sent me a letter describing the Doctrine of Christ. Most people will say it´s fe, arrepentimiento, bautismo, Espírtu Santo, y Preservar hasta el fin and that´s true. But the real reason for the doctrine of Christ is to show God that we´re here to do his will, not ours. I love you all, I hope and pray for you every day.

Elder Arbon

Listen to ´Give It All to Him´ by Tel Dyer. 

Week 24: "I want to bear my testimony that I know without a doubt in my heart that I know this church is true."

It was a great week this week. Last Saturday we had the baptisms for Aldo and Sophia. The baptism was amazing and everything went so smooth. Their uncle baptized them and on Sunday my companion and I got to stand in the circle when they were given the Holy Ghost and confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was truly one of the best moments of my mission so far. To be able to help one of God´s children receive one of his most precious gifts, the gift of the Holy Ghost. This was truly such an amazing experience. We had a rough day in church though, we didn´t have any investigators attend this week. It was raining that day and when it rains the whole country shuts down. No lie! So we spent most of church trying to throw people over our shoulder and bring them to church but with no exito (success). It was good though, adds fuel to the fire to work even harder. Gloria is doing good, but she was going to go into her operation on Thursday so she didn´t want to walk in the rain and get sick for her operation. Then her operation was cancelled, but she has been really sick lately so we haven´t been available to sit down and have a lesson with her for a while. Sunday night my comp butchered my hair, I look like I´m straight out of boot camp. This week we did a lot of finding and we tried mostly through contacting. We didn´t have a whole lot of success and we had a meeting with the bishop today and we´re going to have a meeting with him tomorrow to receive some names of some menos activos (less active) so can help complete part member families. Also this week I did a lot of driving. I was a little nervous at first because the drivers here are legitimately nuts, but I learned that there is no such thing as a right of way. Their philosophy is, take it or lose it. So I´ve been doing that this week. I received a letter from the Fast and Furious movie crew and they said they wanted me to be their stunt driver but I told them I have to finish my mission first. Ha. But today was really fun, we went to Ciudad Vieja. It was so beautiful. It was a lot of fun. I love offices, it´s a lot of work but that´s why I love it. I´m finally starting to get the hang of things though, the only thing now that´s really holding me back is my Spanish but I know with time that will come. I can understand a majority of what they are saying and I can hold the conversation, I just don´t have my full personality so I can´t connect with people a whole lot. I still really like my companion, he´s a hard worker. We both have the same goals to work hard and be obedient so we get along really well. My comp and I wake up a half hour earlier to go for a run and a TRX band workout. This week I learned a lot about faith. In order to have faith we must first believe in ourselves. We must first do the things God wants us to do, and when we do those things we will be able to feel we are worthy to receive his love and his blessings. If you feel you are unworthy of God´s love how could you love him and if you don´t truly love and believe in him how could you have faith that he exists? I want to bear my testimony that I know without a doubt in my heart that I know this church is true. I´m grateful for Satan, because without his temptations how could I become better and I´m grateful God loves me enough to chasten me. I love you all and I hope you have a great week.

Con amor y honra,

Elder Arbon