Week 23: "one day Aldo picked up a Libro de Mormón and started to read it."

Such a great week this week. I love the offices. We are so busy, always on the go and I really enjoy that. The work is going so well here, we´ve already had 12 lessons with members this week. We have some amazing investigators. Two of them are getting baptized tonight. I can´t wait! Such a great story. Their names are Aldo and Sophia. They´re brother and sister and both are around age 12. Their parents are less actives because they work so much and they are so busy that they would never let the missionaries in. But one day Aldo picked up a Libro de Mormón and started to read it. While he was reading it he started to ask his mom a bunch of questions about it so one day their mom let the missionaries in and now they’re getting baptized today. I can´t wait! Our other investigator is Gloria, she´s about 70 and she´s awesome. One day we were walking by and contacted her and she let us in. We really didn´t get to teach a lesson because she´s very Uruguaya (she just loves to talk), but she came to church last week and we had a great lesson with her this week and she said she´s coming to church this week. I´m so excited for her! Yesterday, we stopped and played soccer with a bunch of little kids. It was so fun, while we were playing the whole neighborhood came outside and watched us! It was like Friday nights all over again! Today we went to a member's house for her birthday and cooked and ate asada. Tan bueno! I love my comp, he works so hard. He´s not lazy at all so we both have a common goal and we work. The mission president is such an amazing guy, we usually have a meeting with him every Friday to talk about the finances for the mission. He´s really trunkie right now (he goes home in 3 months). But it´s so much different here. First of all, I know this is bad but people here are a lot more intelligent than out in the campo. Also, they are also so busy so that´s been the biggest thing. People here are always on the go. But I love it here, there´s a lot of work to do.  I live about 5 or 6 blocks away from the mission home. I love all the Elders I work with, they are so fun. A little bit of goof offs but we get along really well. The sweets here are so good and I´m afraid that now I´m in the office I´m going to get fat from sitting on my butt all day so I'm going to break the habit of alfajores and eat healthier.

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

Elder Arbon

Week 22: "I´m learning so much about the Gospel and about our Savior but I´m also learning so much about myself and the man I want to be."

On Tuesday I packed up and said goodbye to everyone and got on the bus to Montevideo. I left at 12:30 in the morning. I tried to sleep but this gordo (fat guy that probably weighed easily about 350 pounds) sat across the aisle from me and snored the entire bus ride and the girl sitting next to me kept falling asleep on my shoulder so I would have to move to make sure she wasn´t but it was still a fun trip. I love it here!!!  When I got here we had an orientation for all the oros (new missionaries) and after we sent them off we got to work. The schedule here is a lot different then every other missionary. We have p days on Saturday and planning on Sunday. We wake up at the usual time and have personal studies at 8 until 8:45 and after that we go to the offices. We work in the offices until about 4 and then have a comp study until 5 and then we get to work in the field. But I´m mostly in charge of the reembolsos for these next two changes and then the next 2 changes after that I will be in charge of all the bills, the rent, and all that stuff. There´s four office Elders, two secretaries and two finacieros. My comp is such a capo though, Elder Larson. He´s from Cali and was a surfer. He´s such a hard worker, I love it. Yesterday we went for a run along the beach and then worked out at a park right next to the beach with the TRX bands. I loved it! Our apartment is two minutes away from the beach and we can see it from our apartment. It´s so sweet here. We went up to the roof and we overlooked the whole city. It was a amazing! We also have a big store next to our house so we don´t have to carry all of our food on our handlebars so that´s been nice. We also get to drive a car, but the roads here are nuts. Lines on the road are just suggestions to these people, it´s like Mario Kart in real life. I love it here. The ward is really helpful, my first day here we had 3 lessons with member and we have two bautismos por the 23rd of this month, I can´t wait! The way they speak here in the city is so much different than in Salto. They speak so much clearer here, they are so easy to understand so that´s been really nice too. The only downside here is we don´t get a lot of time to work in the field because we´re in the offices most of the day but this is where the Lord needs me.

Drew sent me a talk to read and it changed my mission. It´s called ´Consecrated Missionary.´ Please go read it. And what I realized is that I´ve been a good missionary and maybe even a great one but not a consecrated one. I need to forget about home, my future, and my past and turn everything over to the Lord. We have an hour to email and I am going to be obedient to exactness. But I really do love it here, I´m learning so much about the Gospel and about our Savior but I´m also learning so much about myself and the man I want to be. And that man is a disciple of God, not just during my mission but after my mission and for the rest of my life.

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

Elder Arbon

Week 21: "I am getting transferred to Montevideo to the offices to be a financer."

This week was an amazing week. On Saturday these two kids asked to race me on their bikes. So I made a bet with them, if I win they had to give their parents a folleto (pamphlet). Whooped `em! It was so fun, it really got them to open up with us so that was really good. Marta didn`t come to church this week because her boss came to her house and asked her to work. But we had a great lesson with her after and she is really excited about her baptism. I am getting transferred to Montevideo to the offices to be a financer, I will be dealing with all the money of the mission. I can`t wait, they have a great ward there that really helps out the Elders. But I am a little bit sad because a lot of time will be spent in the offices instead of out working and I just barely started to get my personality in Spanish so I was starting to get really close with the members and I`m really close with Marta.  She texted us this morning and asked who was leaving and we told her I was so she said she wants to come over and say goodbye. I`m a little upset I won`t be there for her baptism but the Lord needs me somewhere else. It was a great week. I`m sorry this email was short, we have a lot of things to do before I leave. Life is amazing, to be honest I couldn`t be happier. I love this work. 

Les amo y yo amo este trabajo!

Elder Arbon

Week 20: "She`s a little bit of a cougar!"

I`m really enjoying it here. To be honest with you the people here aren`t really interested in anything, that`s just their culture though. In our area everyone works in a chacra (farm) for a few hours, come home, and drink matte. Then do the same thing the next day. They are very laid back people and are afraid of commitments because that means they would have to work. I do love them though. They are so humble and loving. It was a great week this week. On Thursday we had divisions and I had Elder Marìn as my companion. Such a great missionary. He`s from Nicaragua and has only been in the mission for two months. His dad passed away two years ago and his mom is very sick but he`s still on a mission. He has such a great testimony. I felt so bad for him, his butt was killing him from the bike. Poor guy! But we had a lot of success, taught a lot of lessons and found some great investigators. On Friday we patched up a members roof. On Sunday we had another investigator in church. His name is Luis, 19 years old, and has a girlfriend that`s 48. She`s a little bit of a cougar! He has one kid with her and another on the way. He is very poor so he can`t afford a moto or a bus ticket so he walked an hour to church. That was such a blessing. Only problem with him is he can`t get baptized until he separates from his girlfriend or he gets married. That`s tough too because a lot of Uruguayos don`t feel a need to get married. Marta Pacifico didn`t come to church again this week because she wasn`t feeling good. Hopefully she can come these next two weeks and get baptized the third week. I love you all and I hope you have a great week.

Your Son,

Elder Arbon

Week 19: “You only become better when you become comfortable out of your comfort zone.”

The work is going really well this week, we found 14 new investigators.  We had divisions on Tuesday, I was companions with Elder Huaracha, from Peru. He kind of talked with a lisp so he was hard to understand but I learned a lot from him. I can`t wait to have a latino companion though, my Spanish will improve so much. On Thursday we had interviews with the President and his wife. They are such great people. We also had capacitación with one of the APs, Elder Laycock. That was awesome, he taught us a lot. We had a great week finding new investigators, we found 14. The only problem we have is getting members to come out with us for lessons and getting them to church. Most of them live so far away from the church and they don`t have a way to get there. Marta didn`t come to church this week, we called her and sent her messages but she still hasn`t responded. But we did have a little girl in church, she is the sobrina of one of the families in our ward, Familia Acosta. I think the only reason she came is because she has a crush on us though! Yesterday we were contacting and we came across a house that was having a birthday party for their little girl. I thought it would be fun if we went up and asked if we could sing to her in English. So we did and they loved it, it was so much fun! We found our President of our Rama playing futbol yesterday. That kinda made me upset because a reason why a lot of people in this area stopped going to church was because our President used to own a bar and played futol on Sundays, but I`m hoping people can look past that. A lot of our work is mostly contacting. Our members don`t help us out at all. They don`t realize that our éxito depends soley on them. But it`s okay, the Lord will bless us if we work our hardest and put our trust in him.  People here are following Satan`s plan and that is laziness. The reason why Satan took so many of our brothers and sisters is because it was an `easy` way. People don`t realize that work, commandments, covenants, and the church are here to help us improve. We don`t improve by being lazy. We improve by pushing ourselves. What do you think of this quote?... “You only become better when you become comfortable out of your comfort zone.” People need to learn that to get something you’ve never had, you have to do things you`ve never done. We had interviews this week and when I was talking with Hermana Heaton she told me that we are so blessed in the United States not because we have stronger testimonies but because our trial is to use our blessings to serve the people that don`t have the things we do. I love this work. I promise I will make you proud. I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

Your son,

Elder Arbon

Week 18: "First comp...check!"

This week was a really good week. On Monday we played American football, I miss it so much! But we turned my bike into the bike shop in the morning and they said they would have it finished by 7:30 that day but we came back and they said it would be done in the morning. So we borrowed the Zone Leaders clothes, went on divisions with them, and slept in their house. Their house has so many mosquitoes, I woke up and it looked like I had chicken pox because of all the bites. At the zone meeting on Tuesday the zone leaders asked me to do a demonstration for them to show how distractions on the mission can hold you back. They had five guys hold onto me and told me to run to the door. I was so close to the door but all of us fell and they told us to stop, I was so close. Same comp, he`s hoping we get changed next change though. He`s not used to working hard. On Thursday my comp kept complaining he was so tired so on Friday he slept in and said he was `sick.` But he woke up and he was fine. He said that was the first time that has happened to him on his mission. First comp...check! Made me so mad though! On Saturday we talked to a group of drunk people. It was so fun and it actually worked out really well. They listened and participated in the lesson. Yesterday we had a member feed us alligator. I was surprised that it was actually pretty good! We had an investigator in church for the first time in a long time. Her name is Marta Pacifico. She is the lady I made a deal with that I wouldn`t eat sweets until she quit smoking and it worked, she quit and came to church! I`m so excited! That was truly a blessing and a miracle! This week I studied the importance of fasting. I learned fasting without prayer means nothing. The reason for the fast is to help us focus on the reason why we are fasting. I never really made that connection until this week. We fast because it makes us think I`m hungry and thirsty, and then we think why am I hungry and thirsty, and then that helps us focus on the reason why we`re fasting. And that makes our prayer so much more sincere. This week we taught a lady named Maria. She`s going through a really rough time in her life so we taught her how the church of Jesus Christ can help her overcome her challenges. I pictured her dressed in white not only in the font but in the temple as well. The members aren`t helping us out at all. They feed us once every two weeks and they give us no referrals. That`s okay though, just means I gotta do it! I really love the work and I am really beginning to love my mission. I`m so grateful for these challenges, gives me a chance to prove myself to God.  I got the tie mom, couldn`t believe it. We were going to church yesterday and this lady stopped us and said she had a package from the states. That was such a miracle! Who`s in the Superbowl? 

Your son,

Elder Arbon

Week 17: "The most important thing I have learned on my mission is how much Christ truly loves me and how important the atonement is."

I`m so good! I can`t tell you how much I love this work! Oh man, I love it! I love this work so much because.....I love my savior. I can`t tell you how much I`ve grown to love Jesus. And I`m positive because I know God loves me and only wants the best for me.

My bike is getting fixed so we have to stay with the Zone Leaders tonight so we`re going to do divisions with them.

Time is starting to go by too fast, it needs to slow down. I have so much to learn and so much to do. I haven`t got the backpack yet, hopefully I will get it tomorrow during district meeting, every Tuesday we have district meeting and that`s when they give us our letters and packages.  

I can truly feel my desires changing. I can`t tell you how much the gospel is beginning to change me. I can`t describe in words how much I love this church. I love this church and I love our Savior with all my heart. And because of that I`ve realized that family is so much more important to me than anything.

Week 17

My typical days is... I wake up at 6, workout for a half hour and then shower, eat, and get ready. At 7:30 I try to start to study. We have personal study from 8 to 9, companion study until 11, and then language study until 12. After we cook and eat lunch. After lunch it`s game time. We work until about 8:30 or 9 depending on if we`re in a lesson or not and then it`s time to head for home. We plan for a half hour to 45 minutes, grab a bite to eat, get ready for bed, and lights out at 10:30. But to be honest, the most important thing I have learned on my mission is how much Christ truly loves me and how important the atonement is. He suffered individually for me, every pain, sickness, sin, and trial. He could have quit, but because he loved me, he finished it. And because of that I can have true joy in this life and can live with my family forever in the next life. This week was really good though. On Thursday we had divisions with the zone leaders. I went with Elder Nuffer. He played football for Bingham. He and I are so much alike. Such a great guy, learned so much from him. On Saturday we had some ward baptisms, so awesome. I just can`t wait until I get to baptize someone. But tough week with investigators, we didn`t have anyone in church this week. But I know it`s just a test of faith and I need to just turn it over to Him. Good things are coming though, I can feel it!

I love you so much.

Your son,

Elder Arbon

Yo sè que esta iglesia es la unica iglesia verdadera en la tierra.