Week 94: "It was absolutely incredible how quick our Heavenly Father answers the prayers of his sons and daughters."

This week was a great week! It was the last week of my companion Elder Bossa. On Tuesday we had interviews in the zone of Oeste here in Montevideo. In the interviews we taught a new lesson about repentance and then we talked about the purpose of the first three lessons. It was a really good training and it really helped cleared up a lot of doubts that the mission has. On Wednesday we went up to the Colonia and had another training. Right after the training we had a few minutes free so one of the zone leaders and I left and went to a lesson with a recent convert. We decided to teach her the new lesson of repentance. As we were teaching she opened up and told us that she has been praying really hard in order to help someone that is going through a hard time. This person was a young adult that had just been baptized a few weeks ago. She asked us what she should do in order to help this person. As we began answering her question the person in which she had been praying for walks in the door with one of her friends. We asked her to sit down and participate in the lesson and she did. As we were teaching them she committed to come back to church this Sunday and bring her friend along with her. It was absolutely incredible how quick our Heavenly Father answers the prayers of his sons and daughters. Thursday morning my companion went home. My other companion, Elder Aqueveque, had been up with him the last two nights in a row helping him pack and run some errands before he went home. We had slept a total of maybe two hours in two days. On Thursday it showed! My companion had to walk beside me to make sure that I wouldn´t fall asleep while walking. Yesterday we went on divisions with the zone leaders from Oeste to help them out in their area and see how they can improve. It was a really great division. 

Elder Arbon

Week 93: "It usually is a day long but this time we had so much to teach it was two days."

My new companion is a stud. He works super hard, a great teacher, and is really funny! In order to prepare for a fireside you have about 10-12 practices of the missionary choir so it sounds perfect, visit all of the recent converts that are going to speak and help them prepare their talk, make a video containing the videos in which you are going to show to the congregation, and prepare the church with microphones, the projector is working good, etc. It is so much fun in order to go around to meet the recent converts and listen to their conversation. It is such a spiritual experience! It is amazing. The Lord loves us so much that he sends his Holy Spirit to touch the heart of this humble people to change their life. I love listening to their testimonies. This week was incredible! It started off with another Fireside in the zone of Cerro, the zone in which I am in right now, on Sunday. It was awesome! There were so many people that came to it, there were 540. I couldn´t believe it! It was a great spiritual experience. The rest of the week my companions and I got ready for concilio, a meeting with all of the leaders of the mission. It usually is a day long but this time we had so much to teach it was two days. It started on Thursday and ended Friday night. On Thursday we went to the temple, introduced a new lesson, and talked about the new goals of the mission. On Saturday we started off with a soccer game between all of the leaders of the mission. It started a 6 o´clock in the morning. All of the neighbors got upset because of the yelling. But we played all of the North zones against the South Zones. I was captain of the North and my Companion was captain of the South. We even designed and made T-Shirts! It was so much fun! Then that day we really just reviewed and clarified the way in which we teach as a mission. Our mission really needed it. Then yesterday we went with President up to a branch in Colonia to help a few missionaries find some new investigators. But it was a great week! I love you all and have a great week! 

Elder Arbon

Week 92: "humility comes from love"

I thought that after awhile of taking Elders to the airport I would get used to it but some of the Elders have become some of my greatest friends and it hurts more each time because I may not see some of these people ever again in this life. This week was absolutely incredible! This past Sunday we had changes and we had a fireside in Rivera! Changes were really good, my companion and I call on the companionships in order to tell them their change. I really enjoy it because I get to know almost every person. The fireside was a great experience that I will never forget. It was a meeting where no one directed. It was videos, testimonies from recent converts, and a choir from the missionaries. The spirit there was so strong! Also I got a new companion, his name is Elder Aqueveque, from Chile. Such a stud! Such a hard worker and is really focused on the work! Elder Bossa, one of my companions right now is going home in two weeks so Elder Aqueveque will be my companion until the end of the change. I´m going to miss Elder Bossa a lot, I have learned a lot from him. On Monday we came home from our trip to Rivera and on Tuesday were the changes. The oros, or the missionaries were supposed to get here at 8 o´clock but due to the fog their plane from Buenos Aires was delayed until 4 o´clock. When they got here we had a capacitación with them and then the next day we gave a capacitación to the trainers and then the trainers met their oros. After that we have been working super hard on the fireside we are going to be having here in Cerro. I cannot wait!!!!! We’re practicing as a choir, put a movie together, and meet with all of the recent converts. It has been such a blessing to meet with all of the converts in order to hear their testimonies. It´s incredible to see how much the Gospel has changed the lives of these amazing people!

I learned something so amazing this week! I was studying about humility this week and I learned that humility comes from love. Jesus loved the Father so much he was able to humble himself enough to drink the bitter cup. It was love that motivated him to humble himself! If we love someone we are not going to allow our pride to come first over that person. That really helped me realize that if we want to be humble we must first come to love God our Father and then our fellow brethren. President Smith gave us permission to watch the games of Uruguay so I got to watch the game with my companions. It was incredible! So much fun! It is going to take me awhile to get used to watching TV again. I felt super awkward.

Elder Arbon

Week 91: "500 missionaries"

These past few weeks have been crazy! I`m going to start from today and work backwards. Today I went to the temple to see a convert from Rivera in the temple. He is such a stud! But yesterday we worked on the changes with President so we were in the mission home almost the whole day. The day before was absolutely incredible! We had two conferences that day! In the morning we had a conference with our whole mission! There were 250 missionaries and I had the opportunity to direct the conference, it was incredible! We listened to both Hermana and President Smith. The spirit was so strong! Everyone left from the meeting truly uplifted and animated to work their tails off! After the conference we went to another conference with Elder Robbins, president of the seventy, with the other mission. There was a total of 500 missionaries. I know that he is a man called of God and filled with the spirit. He taught us so many great things! One of the things he really focused on was the importance of the spirit! It`s really going to help this mission grow and bring more people unto Christ. This week was a little nuts! My companion was in Rivera the whole week preparing the Fireside for this weekend while I was here preparing for the conferences. The Sunday before I went with President Smith up to the department of Colonia where he spoke in a fireside with one of the wards up there! He is such an inspired man...every time he speaks, he speaks with the Holy Ghost. The Saturday before the office Elders from our mission played against the other mission. It was pouring down rain but so much fun! We dominated them!!! 

Elder Arbon

Week 90

Getting ready for a huge conference this week, with both of the missions. It is going to be incredible!!!!!! 

Week 89: "The revelation I had received was that repentance isn´t a one time thing."

I am so sorry I was not able to write last week. But these last two weeks have been absolutely amazing! Two weekends ago President, my companion, and I went up to the department of Salto for their stake conference! The car ride up there could have been the best part. While driving president shared with us some doctrine about the Plan of Salvation and especially about the resurrección. It was incredible! The spirit was so strong! It was also a really great experience to be able to go back to the area to where I started my mission and see all of those people. The next weekend we went up to the department of Tacurembo to another stake conference. Before the conference I had the opportunity to do divisions with one of the Elders and we visited with the kids that had been baptized a little while ago and now the parents are investigating the church. We went to their house and shared the plan of salvation. They truly felt the spirit and accepted a baptismal date for the month of June and came to church the following day. After the stake conference in Tacurembo we went up to Rivera in order to meet with the zone of Rivera. What we are doing as a mission now is we are doing firesides all over Uruguay. I cannot wait! It is going to be so powerful! In the fireside we will be watching inspiring messages, listening to recent converts about their conversion, and we will be able to listen to the Stake President and also President Smith. It is only going to be an hour or so. This is going to have such a great impact on the Uruguayan culture. Here in Uruguay they do not have firesides so this will be a great way in order to invite their friends in order to get to know the missionaries and have a spiritual experience! It is going to be a great way in order to involve the members in the work of salvation and find new people to teach! After the meeting with Rivera I had the opportunity to do divisions with the zone leaders in Rivera in my old area. We went visited quite a few people! We visited two less actives and we visited the family Torres and I had the opportunity to baptize, Daniel and Valentina! They went to the temple two weeks ago and are going to the temple again in order to do baptisms in a few weeks and I am hoping on having the opportunity to go with them! And these past two weeks in the field have been incredible! We have been working super hard with José and Lojan! They have had a few set backs because of both smoking and economical issues but they´re pushing through it! They will be baptized the 21st of June. We also have a daughter of a less active named Josefina, she is such a smart girl. Today for P day we went to the temple to do baptisms for the dead with some converts from our ward. It was a really great experience! I love the temple so much! I would love to work in one when I get home. This week I studied a lot about repentance! The revelation I had received was that repentance isn´t a one time thing. You don´t break the chains of sin and then you are okay. Repentance is a lifetime process. The sons of Mosiah and Alma the younger are perfect examples of that. Even though they had repented of their sins it wasn´t the end of the process, they had to endure to the end in order to receive a true forgiveness. I know that repentance is real and we can repent only through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Have a great week! 

Elder Arbon