Week 53: "We are really focusing on the rescate (rescue) of the lost members of the ward!"

This week was a week filled with miracles. Last Sunday I talked with an Elder that said he has wasted his 21 months as a missionary by being disobedient and not giving it his all. I told him we would have a two day divisiones and it was amazing. He made a 180 degree turn. We found a lady that stopped us on the street that said she wanted to get married and be baptized. It was such a great experience to be an instrument in the Lord`s hands changing the mission of that missionary. Also we were blessed with some great new investigators. One of our investigators, Mario, invited one of his friends to church and he came in shirt and tie. When we first saw him we thought he was a member. But we passed by his house and he and his daughter are now looking forward to their baptisms. Also, Saturday we had another choque de fuerza with the leaders of our ward. It is making a huge difference in our ward. We are really focusing on the rescate (rescue) of the lost members of the ward! We are being blessed with so many milagros. This week we had 79 in church...we started with 40. In our apartment there are 4 in total. My companion and I live with an oro (brand new Elder) and an Elder de España. I have grown such a strong testimony of Joseph Smith and the trials he went through. I know without a doubt in my heart that José is the prophet of the restoration and he saw the Father and the Son and he translated the Book of Mormon by the power of the Holy Ghost. My companion and I get along really well! He goes home in two weeks but we´re working so hard he doesn`t have time to think about home! Our zone is really improving. President Smith is such an amazing man and is so filled with the spirit. He changed the goals of the mission so that we`re focused on the assistance of the church and not just investigators. It´s been amazing experience seeing menos acitvos who have been active for years come back to church. I´m really enjoying my new calling. To be honest my companion and I were blessed with amazing Elders that are changing the beliefs of Artigas. They are all hard workers and all of them have a great attitude.  This week we have been focusing on having an "Ojo de la fe." Which means that we are always looking to the future with the faith that God will bless us with milagros if we be obedient, work hard, and love. And from love comes the revelation that is needed in the work. 

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

Elder Arbon 

Week 52: "animated"

This week was an amazing week! On Thursday we had divisions and I went with a missionary named Elder Webster. We went to this lady`s house that has been debating on being baptized for awhile now. We shared with her the lesson of the restauraciòn. After she said the prayer she said that she could see someone dressed in white when she shut her eyes. She also said after her prayer that she needed to be baptized. It truly was an amazing experience. I know without a doubt that Holy Ghost softens and touches the hearts of God`s children who are ready to receive it! As a zone leader you make sure all the missionaries are animated and working hard. Every Tuesday we make sure all of the missionaries get their letters, we do a lot of divisions to help missionaries stay animated (excited), and we prepare a capacitación every Sunday night to share with the district leaders to share with their districts. I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

Love Elder Arbon

Week 51: "I can`t believe it...I have a new baby brother! I`m untrunkable...but when it comes to this... I can`t wait until I get to hold him for the first time!"

This week was amazing! I can`t believe it...I have a new baby brother! I`m untrunkable...but when it comes to this I can`t wait until I get to hold him for the first time! This week was incredible though! On Tuesday I had the chance to go back to my old area and do division. We visited a menos activo family and taught them a lesson and now they are super animated to come back to church. Also one of the daughters and the aunt aren`t baptized and after the lesson on the restoration focusing on prayer they both committed to baptism and came to church this week. Also this week we had the opportunity to go down to Montevideo for a reunion with President! It was truly amazing! Coming home the bus broke down and it ended up being a 12 hour ride! It was a super fun experience! This week was amazing in the church! We have been focusing a lot on menos activos and Saturday the stake president came up with us and in total we had 90 people in the church, and last week we only had 45. It was truly a miracle! I love this work with all my heart and I`m so grateful to share the mesaje of our Lord and Savior! 

Elder Arbon 

Week 50: "the power we have to promise blessings."

This week was an awesome week! My new companion is such a stud. Elder Mármol from Spain. He only has one change left until he goes home so it`s been a great experience to learn from him. The only problem with him is that he speaks with a lisp because he is from Spain and I`ve began to pick that up! But this week was crazy but fun. It was really crazy with changes but we still got a lot of time to work in the field. We had a really cool experience with a guy named Robert. He`s been a member for about 2 and a half years but he went inactive because he got into debt gambling so he has to work a ton to pay off all the debts. His job is a taxi driver so he works a lot of hours and doesn`t get a lot of money. But we visited him and after we left his house he got a call for a new job that pays a lot more. It was a great experience that shows the authority that missionaries have and the power we have to promise blessings. I love this work and I hope you have a great week.

Elder Arbon

Week 49: Enos 1:4

This week was amazing. This week we helped as a whole district move the hermanas to a new house and also I had the opportunity to do 2 divisions. One of those with the elders that share our ward. They have been struggling a lot lately with people in church and lessons. This week they had 3 investigators in church, it was such a great blessing from the Lord. The most they have had in months. Also, Saturday we had a ward activity. I played football with all the little kids of the ward. It was so much fun. I attached a picture of it. But my companion and I have been changed. I am going to a different barrio in Artigas as a Zone Leader. I can`t wait. My companion is such a stud. His name is Elder Màrmol from Spain. He only has 1 more change left before he goes home so he has a lot of experience and has had a lot of success so I get the opportunity to learn from him. I`m going to make sure he sprints until the end. No trunkiness allowed. I can`t wait to start working. The zone of Aritgas is going to blow up here in a few weeks. We`re going to be right next to the city of Enoch in los cielos. Jaja. Yesterday we were trying to find an ex investigator and we knocked this door and we met a lady from the church evangelica. The spirit was so strong and we were testifying our hearts out. She opened her heart and listen to us. I truly gained my testimony of the priesthood. She said that a church doesn`t save us, Jesus does. She was correct but at the same time wrong. Jesus established his church because only through his church do we have the priesthood power. It is only through Priesthood power can we access the power of the atonement through the saving ordinances of Baptism, temple work, and la santa cena. But it has to be His priesthood, not any, but His. His will, His way, and His timing.  We had a lesson with this guy named Fierrera. He is about 40 years old and he is having some really hard times in his life. We shared a lesson and to be honest it was horrible. But we came back the next day and that day we studied the story of Enos and his prayer of forgiveness. We shared that with him and he said that he had said the same words Enos said and he said he felt his sins lifted from him. He was trying to explain the holy ghost but couldn`t. He kept saying an overwhelming peace. This was an answer to one of my prayers. I have been praying so hard to gain such a strong testimony that Jesus is my savior by receiving a forgiveness of my sins. In that lesson it showed me that Jesus has forgiven me of my sins. I want to share the scripture that hit me really hard. Enos 1:4.....hunger (desire), kneeled down (humility), cried out (prayed), and all day and all night (paciencia). I know without a doubt in my heart that Jesus is my Savior and that he has paid that price for my sins. I love him and I am grateful for him! I love this work and I know without a doubt in my heart that this is His work....and "Hoy es el Dia" that God is apresurando su obra (D&C 88:73). I know this is the one and only church of Christ. I know that through the holy priesthood power we can access the cleansing power of the atonement through sacred ordinances. I love His work and I love my Lord and Redeemer.

Elder Arbon

Futbol with the barrio boys

Week 48: Experience, belief, actions, results.

This week was an amazing week. It started off with a blessing from a teenager named Franco. We were having our weekly ward activity and he came with a member. We were playing futbol and he came up to me and asked how he could be a part of this church. It was amazing, such a blessing! He saw the blessings that come from this Gospel and now he wants it in his life. Also, this week we were blessed with zone conference and stake conference. Such a spiritual experience! President Smith is such an example to me. I know he holds the keys to this mission. He changed the entire mission. How we teach, how we plan, everything. One thing he taught was a pyramid with four words. Experience (Bottom), belief, actions, and results (Top). A lot of people try to change results by changing actions. He taught that we change our results by changing our experiences, which change our beliefs, which change our actions, and then it changes our results. How we`re changing that is our lessons have always been 45 minutes long. He told us that after 20 minutes people lose interest and the spirit leaves. Our lessons are now 20 minutes long filled with the spirit. We leave them wanting more so then we come back the next day and then the next day. Also he read us a scripture 2 Nefi 32:8 that talks about Prayer. But he went deeper. It says if we hearken (listen and obey) to the spirit we will know that it will be good for us. We can apply that to our lives by listening to the whispers of the spirit, acting upon them, then we will know that it is good for us, and then we can testify with power. I want to bear testimony with power that this is the work of our Lord and Savior. My goal is to become his servant and an instrument in his hands. I love you all and I hope you have a good week.

Elder Arbon