December 26, 2011 Pan Dulce

Things here are going fine, today we went and saw the casa rosada, which is argentina´s white house, and then went down a street which is like 10 blocks long of just shopping stores. It was cool. By the way, it sounds like the missionaries there are rockin, especially if they are getting the wards help to achieve 21 lessons a week with member. We struggle here but we are managing. This last week we actually broke a record for our area and managed 14! And that was after a Sunday where all of our set appointments fodged us.

By the way, I have eaten a ton of pan dulce, or fruit cake. Apparently it´s different here than in the states as in it´s popular and supposedly it´s softer and fluffier. One of our members cooked us a whole chicken too! She´s awesome and is going to teach me how to do it because the thing was that it was de bone-ified and filled with ham and cheese and vegie goodness. She knows how to take all the bones out of the chicken so when you cook it it still has it´s main form, just no bones. Yeah, she was a professional cook for 50 years.

Other than that there´s nothing much new, just my companion is realizing that his 12 week training program is just about at and end as we start week 11 this week and it said that the "new missionary takes the initiative in all teaching and planning opportunities." He´s getting a bit nervous about if he gets transfered to a new area or changes companions. Oh the joys of growing up and getting shoved out of the nest. There are so many "padded" learning opportunities in the mission. I think the worst would be if they actually thought of calling me to be zone leader, because that would be a challenge. But I really don´t think the ywould, if anything they´d make me regular senior companion which is just fine because I´ve stopped desiring to become some great missionary leader because I realized no one really cares or asks after the mission if you were zone leader or assitant to the president and I´m still struggling with the position I´ve been given. Love you and write more next week.


Con amor,
Elder Arrowchis

December 19, 2011 Christmas Plans

okay, so we´re planning on being on at 6:00 my time, and for you at 6:30 because I´m going to talk to my dad first.  So I guess that would come out to 1:00 your time.  I also don´t really feel like talking right now either because I took the test today and I scored below the averages in all the events and didn´t even finish the mile because I started dry heaving after the second lap, so I´m not too excited right now. 

But this week we did have success in that last Saturday we baptized Carla and her daughter Erika, and this Saturday we baprtized her other daughter Paola.  They were all confirmed on Sunday which was a very special experience.  We also had quite a few investigators in church, which is a miracle.  But other than that just the normal mission life.  This week we have a special christmas devotional and I heard rumors that Elder Foster of the 70 is going to be speaking, so we´ll see.  I did get your christmas package but I´ve been so busy that I haven´t ewven opened it yet.  You can´t honestly expect me to wait until christmas, but being so busy I might not actually get around to opening it until then!  That is so great that Jordan received his endowment!  Now he needs to go a couple of extra times to really understand it.  Also tell him to be ready, because this Saturday I have a couple of things i want to share with him to help him get ready for his mission.  I guess I´ll just have my companion do it again in 2 weeks then.  That´s all for now and so just expect me to be on at 6:30 my time to talk with you.  Love ya, chau chau!

December 12, 2011 No Time for PT Test

ALright, so I´m kinda bummed out right now because the zone leaders haven´t been able to administer my PT test [for West Point readmission] these past couple of weeks, they´re busy doing zone leader stuff like paying the rent for other missionaries and stuff and they live an hour away so could you please ask the Major if my companion could administer the test or another missionary who lives closer? Thank you, this is getting really stressful and frustrating, which Preach My Gospel says is not the patience so I´m having my opportunity to develope patience from the Lord as well, so please ask and get back to me next week if at all possible. On top of that I really don´t feel like writing so here´s some pictures I promised... unless there´s a problem with the computer. Love you and I was thinking to do the call on the 24, because it´s a saturday, and so could you please check the time difference and then tell me in what schedule you´ll be available and next week I´ll tell you what time to expect me on. thanks for everything you do!


Con amor,
Elder Arrowchis

December 5, 2011 Baptisms

Wow, they are on fire over there baptizing (in Aliso Viejo)! Congradulations on the baptisms and the vacations. Man, so you still need to keep a look out for Elder Gibbons or ask around. I honestly don't know what to write now. We have two baptisms planned for this Sunday too, a single mom and her daughter. It's really cool because it will be the first for my companion. Other than that, yeah it can get really hard being a trainer, but I have learned a lot and am trying to humble myself even more. So that's cool that there are spanish speaking missionaries, that means maybe I'll still be able to do something with these castellano skills when I get back. I'll send pictures next week after the baptism and some extra pictures. So I'm also going to take my physical fitness test next week too, and I was wondering what's up with the medical test, because I don't have a sheet or form to do it...? What do I have to do for that? Love you and say hi to everybody.

Con Amor,
Elder Arrowchis

November 28, 2011 NOT Trunky

Wow, so I can´t say that seeing those pictures [church missionary board at home] makes me trunky, which is when you are sad or distracted by thinking about home, but then what´s it called when seeing those pictures makes me sad because I DON´T want to go home? All I´m saying is that I can feel it coming now, when I walk out of that office and stroll next to that board I going to be balling. I´m having so much fun working hard down here. It is so hot and stuffy and humid now, and summer´s not even here, and it´s so hard trying to be diligent in doing everything president asks me to everyday day after day, and it can be hard when my companion is having a hard time and I have to deal with everything and help him, but this past week I have really tried sacrificing my desires completely to the Lord and it has been such a special feeling that I have had.

I have finally grown to have a love for my branch just as strong as in my last area Monte Olivia. This last Sunday was a day of miracles. We had to get up at 5:00 to get ready for and leave for a meeting with all the missionaries and bishops in our stake at 7:00, and then a lot of plans that we had for bringing investigators to church fell through, but we passed by the house of one of our new investigators and he came to the church with us. Then another investigator came, but she´s not progressing so it wasn´t as exciting, and then during the last hour when we were in sacrament meeting a family of our investigators came in, a mom we are teaching and her two daughters. Then before sacrament meeting the branch presidnet asked me to give a talk so I spent 10 minutes trying to prepare a 15 minute talk in gospel princples, and thanks to the mercy of the Lord it came out awesome and spiritual. That´s when you know the Lord is guiding you, because I can´t do something like that on my own. Then after sacrament meeting we talked to someone in the room who we didn´t recognize and it turns out it´s a couple that just got here from Bolivia and that husband is a melchezidek priesthood holder and his wife is a non member. Can I get a BAP-TIS-MMM! Then we had to do a 4th sunday missionary family home evening in the church and even though we didn´t prepare for it at all we managed to pull something together and it came out great and everybody felt the missonary spirit even more. Another pure miracle and manifestation of the Lord´s love and mercy for us. I know these miracles come from my desires to become a missionary of faith like a principle of power and the change in my prayers that I have made to more fully submit my pride and will to the Lord´s.

It´s interesting to see how the mission life is affecting my companion and I can only think of Jordan. Tell him the mission will be completely different than anything he´s ever done and he needs ot understand now that he needs to go in humble prayer to the Lord and trust with all his heart in His mercy and love, otherwise it could be a little rough, ha ha. Love you and write more next week.

Con Amor,
Elder Arrowchis

November 21, 2011 Progress

This is the last week of the transfer and I can´t believe how fast it´s gone. I´ve realized that when speaking English, I speakwith a slight red neck accent, like saying fer instead of for and such... anyway, training is going good, we´re working on helping my companion get more involved and even though he gets frustrated sometimes, we take it slow and then build him back up. I just realized that after this week I only have 4 transfers left... that is way too short. I don´t wanna go home!

But other than that we had some good success with our investigator who is progressing. We weren´t able to get her to church but on friday we had a lesson with her and she prayed and said that she wants to be and feel ready for her baptismal date, so that´s exciting. We also passed by another family who we already dropped and started talking with the son, who is 24 years old and he actually came to church this weekend, which was also really cool. We also got him talking to the YSA leader about activities and supposedly he was going to go to a fireside Sunday night.

We just moved this week too, actually today, and so we went to check out our new part of our area and my companion bought his first Argentina Jersey and I´m actually kinda jealous because it looks cool, but I´ve already got two and his is the latest and most expensive, so I´ll pass! I am looking to buy some sweet addidas pants though, cool b-boying status.

I also feel like my relationship with God is improving and becoming more personal as I¨ve been humbling myself a lot these past couple of weeks as I´ve come to realize that over 3/4 of my mission is over and I haven´t been having very many baptisms compared to a lot of the other missionaries. I´ve been trying really hard and having success but it seems like I just can´t baptize like many other missionaries, especially in this mission which baptizes a lot. Other than that I also have gotten darker as the dread of summer comes on with the 40*C weather and 100% humidity kick in. But luckily i can still eat icecream and not get fat so that´s cool. Well I´m glad that you have helped me out so much with my West Point application and stuff. I feel more confident about being able to complete this CFA test thing. I actually have been going out to run and I think I did the mile in 6:17??? I´ve never done it that fast. I´m also getting better at pushups and sit ups, so hopefully the other events won´t kill me either...


Love you and write more next week.

Con Amor,
Elder Arrowchis

November 14, 2011 18-Month Mark

That´s awesome about Matt´s baptism, ha he must have more faith than me. Very cool, now you have to help friend him and make sure that he´s being taught the lessons of retention every week. It´s also important that he knows that that baptism is the source for more baptisms right now, so take advantage of finding through him and the lessons of retention. The missionaries better be asking for references in every visit. I can´t believe you remind me about my 18 month mark. Luckily you aren´t like some parents or sibilings who remind their missionary every month how much time he has left, ha ha. So, the money in my account, is that personal, or is that what you take out from to pay the mission, because if it´s 400 a month I´m going to be going home a lot sooner than expected... Also, thanks for doing pretty much all of my reapplication stuff, I have been doing my workouts and I´m pretty confident on my pushups and sit ups ability, just kinda worried about running maybe, so this week Elder Hunt and I are going to take our companions out in the mornings during exercises to go run a track right outside our apartment. Please find out if my mission zone leaders or someone else can do it too, it would be so much easier.

So cool things happening in the mission. We´ve been teaching this woman who´s been super depressed and hasn´t understood a thing of what she´s been reading, but she has been reading a bit everyday and because of that and her member friend inviting her she made it to stake conference this past weekend with her four kids, 2 of which are baptizing age, and said it was the first church she had been in that she loved and didn´t get a headache and is going back next week for sure. So with a little daily contact and teaching this week I have faith that she´ll make it to her baptismal date for the fourth. Hey, tell matt to keep pictures from his baptisms and we can do a cool tree activity when I get home with them that´s really inspiring and motivating. We have also been teaching another family that needs to get married but the husband likes to listen but doesn´t want to go to church or get baptized, but the wife does and even though these past three weeks she hasn´t gone to church even though we´ve gone to get them, she said that yesterday after we left she felt so bad for what she did and knew that what she did was bad that she got on her knees and asked Heavenly Father for forgiveness and said that she wouldn´t do it again, even if her husband doesn´t want to go. So basically she´s repenting, and she has two daughters who can get baptized and are interested too, so we just need to get them married now.

That´s all, I´ll let you go so I can go eat, HA HA, and so you can start writing me for next week´s letter :D! Love you.

Con Amor,
Elder Arrowchis

P.S. I ate Seviche yesterday, a Peruvian dish that is raw fished cooked in lemon juice, as in without fire. Super good.

November 7, 2011 Missionary Advice

[Advice to new ward mission leader] There´s a ton of blessings that come from missionary work. Somethings that have always helped me are having missionary family home evenings. That´s an activity where the ward´s invited and invited to bring a friend or a current investigator. Those at the very least are good for building relationships with the members and helping them have more desires to help in the missionary work. They could also be centered around inviting the members to give references or make plans to invite someone to church or something. It also helps if I have a list of all the priests and elders who could accompany us and their hours of availability, so maybe if he could do a list like that. If the missionaries are good they should also be filling out a progress report every week with their investigators and less active members and recent converts that they are working with. As a matter of fact Matt could start out by asking them in their correlation meeting if they have that. That´s another thing, Matt should have a meeting with them everyweek to talk about their investigators and how the ward council can help bring them to church and involve them in the ward so he knows what to say in the executive comitee meeting (where the priesthood leaders meet together.) Other than that I´d invite Matt to read chapter 13 in Preach My gospel where it talks about working with the ward council and defines all the jobs and callings in the ward leadership, since I have no actual authority or stewardship to tell Matt how to be a ward mission leader. All I know is that our mission president is putting a ton of emphasis on teaching the lessons of retention to all of the recent converts within this year and last year and finding new investigators through them, because the best converts come through the recent converts. He also puts a lot of emphasis on teaching more lessons with member than any other lesson, so that´s why I included the part about hours of members, because we´ve found that by teaching 15-20 lessons a week and never less than 10 a week, missionaries baptize more. Maybe that´s just true for my mission, so I´d definitely ask the missionaries about what their mission president wants them to focus on and read Preach My Gospel rigorously to understand what these missionaries need to be doing and how they need help so the ward can baptize weekly.

Training is pretty difficult because it´s hard to speak English so much because I notice that my spanish always suffers a bit after speaking english. I am also responsible for teaching him how to be able to function as a missionary because it´s pretty obvious that we don´t become used to the missionary lifestyle right away. It´s also a good experience and a lot of pressure knowing that this experience will be shaping the rest of his mission, so I´m always trying to be the example. I honestly have no requests for christmas... I´m good on socks, maybe a tie, I donno...How about a baptism or some cool missionary skills.  Investigators only dig missionaries with good missionary skills :)

COn Amor,
Elder Arrowchis

October 24, 2011 New Companion Elder Lauder

Ha ha ha, alright I´ll write some more. I´ve actually have a lot to write about, I think. First things first, I have a new companion. His name is Elder Lauder and he´s from Salt Lake City, Utah and has six brothers and sisters and he´s the oldest out of all of them. So in otherwords He´s gotta look good for his family on his mission. That´s the other thing, this is his first area and so that means I´m a trainer. It´s super crazy the training program that they´ve given us, with a whole packet of things we have to study and goals that we have to meet during our companionship studies for the next 12 weeks (because that´s how long a trainer is supposed to be with his companion). The weekend before I received my new companion we had a super intense capacitación (uh, training meeting I think is the translation) about the final judgement and what the purpose of missionary work is and What I need to be focused on when teaching my investigators. Yeah, it was probably just as heavy as reading Jesus The Christ, which by the way I read and is super cool and it´s great that Jordan´s reading it now because he shouldn´t waste time reading it on his mission. I also want to read a ton of other church books when I get back: The teachings of all the prophets, The Miracle of Forgiveness, The Doctrine of Salvation, Articles of Faith... just to name a few. I´m going to call the mission president this week so I´ll ask him about the doctor thing and the letter, but could you ask the Major guy at west Point what I can do about the PT test, because supposedly I need to have a military officer or gym teacher take it, and i now know no one of the type... so I need special permission for my companion or maybe the zone leaders to do it? I don´t know, but we have been going out to run every other day and when we stay in I do sit ups and push ups like crazy.


That´s crazy that Cari is coming back already... what about Jenny Ward? I don´t remember who else went out around the same time as me, any one I know? Is there going to be anyone at home when I get there? All I know is that when I´m get back the only plans I´ll have every day would be to go to the temple, work out, practice soccer, study my math and chem engineering books, and read scriptures. Now I really don´t want to finish the mission, bleh. Anyway, this week´s been crazy training my new companion and all. I haven´t had a baptism forever, I don´t know why it´s hard for me to have the faith, but thanks to my companion he managed to commit 3 people to be baptized in our area just this week, so he´s super cool. We are also working a lot more with the members to help them give us more references and to go contact them in the moment, that way we have more success. I hope you two are ready because we I get back I already have a vision that at least every family home evening will be a super spirit fest to find people we can find the missionaries to teach. Just from what I´ve seen, life is so much better when the missionaries are teaching your friends. but for now I´m still struggling to be a baptizing missionary so I´m more focused on that for now, lo siento.

Well, that´s all for now, i´ll write more next week, AHAHAHA, the ultimate last words. Chau chau.

Con Amor,
Elder Arrowchis

October 17, 2011 Trainer

Ha ha, first, tell Delia "Gracias Hermana, conozco las misioneras de Almagro asi que si queda en su area van a pasar para visitarle. Muchas gracias hermana que esté bien y siga leyendo, especialment cuando no quiera!". COuld you also tell Julio "Che, igual, cuidáte y seguí fiel para lograr el sacerdocio de melquisedec. hay que servir una misión, es lo mejor. Ayudá a sus hermanos y mama llegar los domingos. sabés que? Voy a entrenar un misionero nuevo! NO le conozco todavía pero escuché que será yanki, así que no va a hablar nada de castellano. Portate bien y hacé buenas cosas."

Yeah, there are cambios this transfer and guess what? I´m staying in my area, but I´m going to be training. I jsut had several training meetings and supposedly my new companion comes in tomorrow and the president said that all of the yankee missionaries are going to be training other yankees (okay so he didn´t say yankees maybe) and the other missionary who shares teh appartment with me is trainign too so it´s going to be crazy. We´re kinda rushed right now so ´ll write more next week. Love you and see you later. Thanks a lot for the letters and support, I´ll let you know how the first week of training goes.

Con Amor,
Elder Arrowchis

October 3, 2011 No time to Write

Sorry, don´t have time to write more, hope you enjoy the pics and thanks for the love. Congradulations on the mission call, it´ll be great. January, i´m not going to see Jordan for over 3.5 years... Loved the corrections, thanks it´s good. Tell me if there´s anything I´m forgetting to do, I´m sure there is. I have not asked my mission president yet. Love you.

Con amor,
Elder Arrowchis

September 19, 2011 The City

The big city isn´t so bad, actually it kinda reminds me of San Diego, but maybe fewer bigger buildings, I can´t remember how many were in downtown San Diego. It´s funny, but everyone here has heard about California. There hasn´t been one person who´s asked where´s California. It does get really confusing here with the buses though and trying to know which one takes me where, but that comes with time and luckily I have at least 4 more weeks to learn it. It definitely is a little weird to not be in Ushuaia and it kinda hit me that two weeks after I left they had 10 baptisms planned for that weekend, only because that´s not the first time I´ve left an area and they started baptizing a bunch. But I know the Lord sent me here for a reason and I can help this branch in some way. One cool thing is that it´s really fun to listen to my companion talk because he can be kinda sarcastic when talking to less actives and it´s funny how he can relate with the people and break the ice for example when telling about Nephi and his family "and so one day Lehi gets outta bed, talks to his family and says hey we gotta get outta here, I just had a dream. So they leave everything behind, their house, their money, their tv, their playstation, their cell phones, grab their little bags and their little camels and go out to the middle of nowhere. I´m not even sure if they had pillows." His humor can be funny but sometimes he can be a test of patience because he is very similar to me and I realized that he does a lot of the same things that I do, ha ha (for example assume I know what he´s thinking when he says something). Other than that he´s very motivated and a great worker. The other two missionaries that we share the appartment with are really cool too and funny.

Thanks for the letters and actually this past week I did receive the application packet. next week I´ll get the essay to you and a rough timeline (if you could help me out with things like PCM work and everything) and question: How does my mission president submit my letter of recommendation? Does he write it and i mail it? Or does he mail it? If so, to where? Grácias mami. Love you and have fun this week with Jordan´s call. Remember, he´s serving to baptize.

Con Amor,
Elder Arrowchis

September 12, 2011 Transfer to Congreso

I got a haircut today and man I feel better. Hey guess what, I´m in Congreso, Capital Federal de Buenos Aires! Yeah, it´s a lot hotter here... I can´t wait for summer... anyway, the branch is awesome and the members really love us, the missionary before me was here for 6 months and did a lot to earn the love of the members so now I´m disfruting that. We again have lunch everyday of the week and when people cancel there´s a couple members always ready to cook for us. Not only that but they cook pretty good. No offense but I can´t say that I´m one of those people who miss momma´s cookin´, not because you cooked bad but because the people here cook so dang good! Ha ha, one lady said that she knows how to cook a chicken by taking out all the bones first without disarming the form of the chicken. Then she cooks it and stuffs it full of ham and cheese. Yeah how cool is that, I´m going to see if we can´t go over one P-day to learn how to do that. She said that when she was younger she learned how to cook from an aging chef. There are also a lot of really cool members here who are willing to help us. one recent convert accompanied us for 7 hours one day! Then her husband always leaves with us when we show up, he actually expects it! So yeah, the branch is cool and even has some return missionaries. This past weekend we actually had a baptism. We really had two planned but one of them turned out to be a member already, he just didn´t tell us at first because he was inactive and wanted to come back to church, and the other one was a person who couldn´t find their info in the database, so he had to be baptized all over again for the paperwork. But it´s still a baptism!


It´s also really weird to think that I´ve only been here a week because it feels like I´ve been working here forever already. I guess that comes from trying to love the people so much. I also can´t believe that today I celebrate 16 months in the mission... that´s how much time my trainer had when I was with him! That´s how much time Elder Torres had when I left him! And they both already finished the mission! This is so weird, I still feel like I have maybe 6 or 7 months in the mission field. Anyway, other than that things are pretty cool here. I´m with Elder Valenzuela who´s from Mar De Plata here in Buenos Aires and yup he talks like a portaiño. He has 5 meses in the mission and is actually just waiting for his visa to go serve in Venezuela. He´s cool and good at soccer.

So this week has been the week of putting baptism dates. I´ve learned the importance of getting people baptized, like I told Jordan, without baptism our friends and family have literally no chance of being able to return to their heavenly parents after this life. Sometimes to motivate myself i think of one of the people I´m teaching and I wonder how I would feel to see them rejected from God´s presence during judgment day and know that i could have said something to help them accept the Gospel in this life. That always helps me want to make more contacts in the street and keeping working for my investigators. That´s why when people say that missionaries only want to baptize to look good with numbers their wrong, because the missionaries who baptize a lot are the ones who realize that God wants all of his children to be baptized, now. So what we´ve been doing to put baptism dates this week is passing by old investigators who already have been to the church more than three times and have been taught a lot of the lessons, basically they only lack getting baptized, and reading a scripture with them, then kneeling down with them and having them say a prayer asking if the Book of Mormon is true or if they should get baptized for the day we set for them and then reading in the pamphlet of the Restoration about prayer to help them realize the answer that the Lord gave them. Doing this I also realized the importance of being obedient. In the first part of the mission I was always obedient to follow rules no mas because that´s how West Point trained me. I also realized I was miserable and wanted to leave the mission because i felt sad and useless. Now I realize that by being obedient I am showing love for God and through my faith to be obedient he blesses me to feel loved and more important I feel the confidence that when i ask the Lord to bless an investigator with an answer to their prayer about the Book of Mormon, He is going to answer that prayer in the moment and then I just have to help the person recognize that answer. I know that´s true because in every visit this week, actually every time in my mission, where we´ve done the prayer with the investigator they have received their answer in the moment, every time. That´s why I know the Lord wants missionaries to baptize and wants people he blesses us to get to know to get baptized now, because He has never stalled in blessing someone with an answer when they have the faith to read and pray with us in a lesson. That´s why Jordan needs to know he is serving a mission to love the people so much that he wants them to acheive the salvation, which means he wants them to get baptized because that´s how they start their journey. In other words, Jordan´s purpose as a missionary is to baptize.

Love you all and thanks for the letters and advice and everything. Have fun getting Jordan out of the house and don´t forget to invite your friends to church. By the way, Jordan should be going out with the missionaries 2 to 3 times a week for a hour and a half or more even if they don´t have appointments set and are just traveling around, especially if he´s not working anymore. Chau chau.

Con Amor,
Elder Arrowchis



P.S. General Conference is in a few weeks, don´t forget to read your scriptures daily to prepare!

August 29, 2011 Ricardo Baptism

Yesterday we had a baptism! This week we were teaching our investigator family and we found out that their 11 year old son was reading the Book of Mormon like crazy, went to several youngmen´s activities, and has been going to church consistently for a couple weeks. This last Sunday was his third assistence (need 3 to baptize) and we felt that he should be baptized this week. So we asked his family and they said alright and then his mom told him and he yelled "Yipeee". Apparently he was asking his mom already if he could be baptized or what to do to be baptized beforehand. Even though he baptized solo we felt that it would be a help to the family and to the ward to have the baptism. SO what happened? Tomorrow the mom and dad (who´s already a member) are going to sacar turno to get married and the date will be the 9th of september, baptism the 10th, confirmation the 11th, and the sister missionaries in the center were talking with his other brother of 15 and he accepted a baptismal date for the 17th of september. So many blessings from the Lord.

Which brings me to what I´ve been studying this week. We finally saw Presidente again and had our interviews. He told me in my interview that I needed to study in Preach My Gospel chapter 6 about patience and diligence. I did so and I found out that the Lord blesses us with tests of patience in the mission before he blesses us to find investigators to build our love for them because if we don´t have enough patience with them when we find them we aren´t going to have the love we need to have to help them through all the trials that lead to baptism. It´s also to help build our faith so that we can believe that the Lord will bless us in our afflictions. Then I was studying about diligence and I learned that by being diligent in our work we are showing the Lord we love him and that we love the people we work for. This corresponds to the two commandments Christ taught us, love they GOd and love they neighbor. Therefore if we are not diligent we are not keeping these two greatest commandments and the Lord cannot bless us with miracles. Then I was studying about prayer and I realized that I need to change how I pray. In 3 Nephi 27 Christ comes to the disciples and asks them what they want him to give him. Then in Ether Christ instructs The brother of Jared how to build the boats but that he can´t have windows or fire for light. Then he asks him what he would have him do. I realized that the Lord never once did something for these people that they themselves couldn´t do. That´s how the Lord expects us to pray, to first make a plan and do all we can and know how to do and then ask the Lord humble, acknowledging that we don´t know how to make something happen and acknowledging that He can, to give us a miracle. The brother of Jared knew how to work with metal, so he created rocks and asked the Lord to make them shine because he didn´t know how to do that. That was the faith and miracle of the Brother of Jared, seeing the Lord´s finger was just a side effect of his faith.

Just remember that the Lord loves you dearly and that if you pray to him for missionary experiences and for the courage to speak and to fill your mouth in the moment, know that he will bless you. As Doctrine and Covenants teaches us several times, the process is first open mouth, then filled with Lord´s words.

Love you and say hi to everyone. Tell O-Dawg Che el choripan está pero de diez.

Con Amor,
Elder Arrowchis

August 23, 2011 Being Humble

Ha, very cool the pictures. Well, I would´ve sent pictures but being as it is Tuesday I didn´t want to carry my camera and camera cord around all day so I´ll mail them next week. How´s Jordan doing on getting his papers mailed in?

Faa, I´ve come to realize that the mission is all about being humble. Being humble enough to accept the Lord´s help, humble enough to follow mission rules, humble enough to admitt that I don´t know how to do the work alone, humble enough to follow exactly what my mission president asks me, humble enough to not exclude my companion in planning and teaching, and humble enough to choose doing good over doing bad (in my case being lazy). This past week was a bit rough but I think it was mostly because due to a lack of energy so this week we had a pretty good district meeting in which we talked about praying with real intent and that many times we get into a routine and although we are being obedient to the letter of the law (in my case praying before entering every house) we may not be obedient to the spirit of the law (in my case praying before entering with real intent). That really humbled me because I also realized that there is a difference between those missionary robots who are obedient to follow rules, and those successful missionaries who are obedient to be obedient. Supposedly the mission president comes this week and I believe it´s more likely because now the flights are all regularizados. So finally we are going to get to see Presidente and have our interviews. These past few months have been a crazy learning experience for me. I´ve been humbled past the point that I thought I could be humbled and still felt very prideful. It´s made me think what does being humble really mean.

That´s sounds awesome about the bread, I actually really want to learn how to make bread because the two times I´ve tried here it hasn´t really come out too good. There´s one investigator here who made us bread and it was soo good that I´m going to see if we can organize a P-day to go over to her house and show us how she does it. It sounds really easy ingredient wise, the difficult part is in amasar(kneeding?) it. So that´s awesome.

Thanks for all the help with the West Point stuff, I´ll do my part over here. Transfers are in 2 weeks so I doubt that the mission president will get it in time to carry it down here and I hope I don´t get moved to a new place because if not I have no idea how I´m going to pass it... but I´m sure the Lord will help. By the way, is it just me, or does Jordan seem a bit chubier? HA ha ha ha. Love you all and will send pictures next week.

Con Amor,
Elder Arrowchis

August 15, 2011 New Family

Alright, it´s sounding better. If you could please mail the application packet yesterday, that would be awesome because I would like to get it here because a member here is a physical education teacher and so I´m pretty sure that meets the qualifications for someone who needs to give the test. I also have no idea how to get the medical list done, but here in Monte Olivia the branch president could help because he´s a doctor and there are more people here in Ushuaia who know how to speak English. Thank you very much.


I did finally get my phone so I am super stoked about that, which also shows in our numbers for this week that we were able to organize more members to go out with us and teach lessons with member present. Also, we are planning a mission activity with our branch mission leader but we don´t know of any activities to do other than watch a movie. Do you or the sister missionaries have any ideas that we could use for games with big groups of people/ family size group of people? Thanks. I can´t believe you made the sister missionaries late. Are you at least giving them references and inviting people to listen to the missionaries? You gotta help them out a little bit for giving you their time.

This week has been a lot more miraculous. Our investigator who is progressing came to church with two of her 3 kids and they all loved it and want to come back this next Sunday and then her son went to a young men´s dinner with the young men´s president and today they played soccer with us. We also had a talk with her last night about the law of chastity and she told us that she wasn´t married legally to her husband but then told us with excitement that when her husband got home she was going to have a talk with him about that. Then she gave us a pizza size slate of bread that she just finished cooking, which was really cool. We also were able to meet with more people to teach them and did so with members accompanying us which is always better. Tell Jordan that´s the secret to having success as a missionary, getting along with your companion and working with the members, and of course praying for charity towards all of them. The rest of our district as well seems more excited as others are finding people to baptize and have interviews this week. Oh right, now that I´m district leader I have to do the baptismal interviews for all the missionaries now, que loco. So this week we plan on working even harder to have the right member with us in all of our lessons and now that we´re finished we are going to go get a haircut and cook some banana bread. It was such a good feeling to see the progress the district made this past week, I honestly felt like crying. Last transfer was really rough and it´s such a relief to feel that the Lord is blessing us and guiding us and now we are seeing success for our hard work all this time here in Ushuaia. That´s something that I would like to know as well, why did the Lord want me to be down here in one area for so much time? It would be interesting to me to find out that response.

I´m afraid that it´s still easy for me to speak English as well because now I am helping my companion try to learn English I think a lot more in English, but I´m trying to only think in Spanish! Also, thanks a lot for the Josh Groban CD and the MOTAB, they´re awesome.

Love you all and write more next week! Tell me how it went inviting one of your friends to church next week!

Con Amor,
Elder Arrowchis

August 8, 2011 No Cell Phone

[In response to waiting for West Point application] Man, this West Point business is annoying, they need to get their acts together those slackers.  I don´t know if I want to go to West Point anymore, seems to me they´ve all gotten fat and lazy.  Maybe Anapolis is higher caliber now, geeze luiz.  Anyway, I don´t even know how I´m going to get any of this stuff done down here, so it will literally be a miracle if I get back there.  Yes my new companion finally came, his name is Elder Bravo and is from Santiago Chile.  yeah, otro Chileno.  But it´s fun helping him learn English.  Making those weird vowel sounds is fun to practice like cat, bid, myth, dude... que divertido.  He likes to play sports and studied for a year at a very good culinary art school for cooking, so we´ll see what kind of stuff I can learn from him.  So now I am in my area all the time, however the Lord has decided to test my patience yet still because the office Elders forgot to send my cell phone with my companion when he came down and I´m not sure when they´re going to send it.  In other words no one can contact us hardly ever and we have to pass by all the members to organize visits and lunches, which is good because it gets us working with the members more but still makes it hard to organize anything with the District.  Other than that I´m doing good, Elder Amasio taught me the Haka and we had fun playing soccer again this week.  We also found a family who the dad went to church for the first time this last week since 35 years and his wife was reading in the Book of Mormon the other day and told us that just after starting she was filled with so much emotion that she had to go to the bathroom, and she´s not one to cry either.  We also taught her 15 year old son and he seemed to have interest too because he noted a difference in his mom.  It truly is incredible the change the Gospel can have in someone´s life if they just take the time to really read the Book of Mormon with an open heart. 

July 18, 2011 Obtaining Charity

Well, please thank the missionaries for getting Jordan to realize how hard it is to teach and be a missionary! I don´t know how long it took the lesson with you guys, but normally the longest we try to go is 45 minutes maximum. Try doing the lesson in 15 hahahah! To help with the first vision we use the pamplets. I don´t know if you´ve seen the first lesson pamphlet but when we teach one companion relates Joseph Smith´s experience and the other shows the picture of Joseph seeing our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. We actually use the pamphlets quite a bit, especially to help people make commitments.

Thanks so much for the packets! I finally got it and boy I knew my momma loved me when I opened it up and saw that bouncy ball. I think that was one of the best gifts. You did send S´mores stuff and Elder Amasio and I tried a couple last night, I forgot how delicious they are! THis week in the district meeting I´m going to divy up the rest and give it to the other missionaries to try. Luckily in the two other companionships there´s one north american so they can all learn how to do it right! I also liked the ties, very snazzy and cool. Also thank Jordan for the shirt he sent, I guess I can accept having a BYU shirt since it´s of where my brother went to dorm... I also thought the ballerine cookies were good and the S´mores goldfish were really cool, thank Amanda for me. Thank the McPHerson family for the socks, those are always useful, especially down here where it gets a bit colder. Thanks a ton for the two CD´s, they are really cool. My companion is already making a copy of the Josh Groban today, ha ha. Thank grandma and the passeys for the letters and yeah, it was awesome.

I haven´t heard anything about the new Harry Potter movie here but I did see a trailer and it looked awesome. I can´t wait to see it afterwards oh man! Yeah that is crazy about how long it´s been, I don´t remember well but I think Brian Lynn got us into the books because I at least remember going at midnight to buy the book with him one time early on. By the way, what´s SYTYCD??? Oooh, so you think you can dance. So how was that? Did anyone get the plane ticket? Thanks for keeping up to date on all my West Point stuff, I was actually about to ask if you have the physical test, because it´s already now past July and I need to see where I stand, pero mal. I also have a favor to ask: could you email some of those West Point pictures to this address waldo.mena@gmail.com ? This is the war history fanatic and would love to see some pictures, especially ones of me in uniforms ha ha. If you could do it today too it would be awesome because we have dinner with them tonight.

Now for spiritual stuff. We had a zone conference this past week and it was very different, president told us he taught us things that he didn´t talk about in any other meeting. We spent the whole morning talking about Charity. First he asked all of us who we wanted to become. So we told him what type of person we wanted to become and then we talked about the requisites for obtaining charity. He taught us that we can´t practice having charity, it´s not a talent we can develope. Charity is like a pair of glasses that when we put on changes our view of someone because we see them as Christ does. I´ve learned that after having an experience like that we are changed forever because even if we end up falling and not becoming more Christ like we cannot deny the thoughts and impressions we had for that person. It´s a love and understanding and a desire for their well being that goes beyond anything I´ve ever experienced before. It´s also helped me realize the importance of people getting baptized RIGHT NOW because really they will be cast off forever after this extremely short life and never be allowed to live with God or Christ again. It´s amazing how often we forget the purpose of this life and how important our daily effort to learn the gospel is. I´ve also learned that if people don´t go to church they will not convert, it is absolutely important that they get to church, not just so they can get baptized, but because they will not receive the revelation they need in order to know that it is really worth it to convert and join this church. This past transfer has been incredibly hard because of the 5 weeks so far, I¨ve only had one investigator in the church for two of those and after her third time going she told me that she didn´t feel the spirit anymore and wasn´t sure if she wanted to get baptized anymore. She also wasn´t reading and praying everyday so going to church couldn´t help much without those two things too, but still I´ve learned that we need to do all we can to get these people to church. Like our mission president told us, would tying these investigators up and carrying them on our shoulders be too much or overexagerated to get people to church for their first time? No, not at all. I´ve come to understand more the importance of going to church every week and taking the sacrament.

That´s what I´ve been learning in my time here, and thanks for all the support and send my love to everyone there at church and at PCM.

Con Amor,
Elder David Arrowchis

July 7, 2011 Quick Update

ahhh man, sorry I can´t respond more. The internet cut today and we haven´t been able to get back to a ciber until now, and that´s just to check. We have to go get ready but I´ll let you in on the sparknotes:

1. we celebrated the 4th of July today with hotdogs, hamburgers, and the sisters made brownies with ice cream. Then we played fútbol.

2. I still don´t have my new companion and am back with Elder Amasio (my zone leader, from Anaheim). He´s Tongan and is going to teach me the Haka (like the New Zeland all blacks). I think I´m not going to get a companion until next transfer (3 more weeks). These numbers are terrible and it´s my first week as compañero mayor, que triste! But nonetheless I feel an amazing excitement even though I have no idea what to do to baptize in my area and it seems hopeless, the Lord really is watching over us and guiding us.

3. GOOD job with the missionary efforts. All it takes is a testimony, don´t be chicken, you get better with practice and it´s cool to see your friends get baptized ;). Thanks for doing those things, it makes me feel better and motivated to hear you inviting people to go to church and to meet with the missionaries.

4. I just finished buying souveniers today, so now you have a jersey (and of course I have several, hehehe).

5. Love you all and will write more next week.

Con Amor,
Elder Arrowchis

June 30, 2011 Reading the Book of Mormon

I´ve come to realize the great importance of reading the Book of Mormon. I was on the bus one time in Grand Bourg and I was too scared to do a contact with the man sitting next to me so I started getting really stressed out and depressed and then I took out the Book and the strongest feeling of importance and magnifisense (I don´t remember how to spell en inglish) came over me. Since then I have been able to share my testimony strongly about the Book of Mormon and haven´t doubted it even in the face of tough investigators who want to fight it. THAT´S WHY JORDAN NEEDS TO READ THE BOOK OF MORMON EVERYDAY, SO HE STARTS THE MISSION BAPTIZING, UNLIKE ME! emphasis just in hopes that he heard it through the email :) . That´s what I studied today in Helaman 15. I think it´s verse 7 that talks about how because of the unfatigable diligence of the lamanites to bring their brothers to a knowledge of the truth of the gospel they were having daily baptisms. Right now we are working on getting to the point where the members help the missionaries find new investigators so we can one day get to where the missionaries help the members no más teach their friends, and that´s how we are going to be baptizing every weekend.

Yes, I am trying to stay healthy by varying my diet and trying to eat more fruits and I am doing my exercises like crazy. Me and Elder Amasio made the goal that by the end of this transfer we are going to have six packs, so we´ll see who wins. By the way, my companion still hasn´t been able to come down so this week a missionary (from my group actually) named Elder Allan came down from Rio Grande and we spent the week in my area. He´s still here and we have no idea when the planes are going to be able to bring our companions. We might be looking at another month, but that depends on the volcano. I heard the last time something like this happened there weren´t consistent flights until 5 months after. That would be cool to me, a year or more in Monte Olivia. Well, got to go now and bust some heads in fútbol.

June 20, 2011 Still No Companion

Well, I have not gotten my birthday package and I have not gotten my new companion yet.  I still don{t know when he{s coming and it{s been a week.  I{m still switching off being in my area and then going over to my zone leader{s area, but this week I think we are going to spend a lot more time in his area because he has a baptism this weekend.  It{s been crazy down here because I don{t have my phone and my companion already ran out of credit so we can{t make any more calls until about the 23 of the month when we should get more credit.  I am tired and I have no idea what to write.  This past week was also a bust, it seemed like the little time I had in my area I wasn{t doing anything good because we just couldn{t find our investigators in their house or with time to talk to us.  Other than that I had a couple of spiritual experiences.  One was that the Presidente counciled us to say a quick prayer before knocking on a house asking the Lord to bless us with His spirit and to find new investigators.  We did it in Elder Amasio{s area and even though the member said he was leaving he gave us a reference and we went over and there was a family that let us in.  We taught a lady and another guy and that guy ended up going to church the next day.  He{s also married (which is rare) and has interest so that was a blessing too.  In another appointment we had we started teaching and I felt impressed to share what I had learned in my daily study that day about how if we aren{t going to church, reading and praying everyday, having family home evening, doing all the small stuff we aren{t inviting the spirit into our life and he doesn{t have power to bless us with desires to stay worthy because satan will have power over our hearts and that{s when we start feeling more jealous, offended, angry, or whatever negative feeling or thought.  It seemed to help the investigator with his doubt and we felt the spirit a lot.  Love you and hope everything is going good there.  I{ll let you know next week if I am still without a companion, ha ha.

June 13, 2011 Companero Mayor

Soooo, here´s what´s happened this last week, it´s been a crazy. First a volcano erupted in Chile and all of the flights in Argentina were canceled. So my companion left for Buenos Aires on 36 hour bus ride at 5 AM Friday Morning. Since then I´ve been with the zone leader whose companion also ended his mission spending half the time in my area and half the time in his. He got safely to Buenos Aires and was supposed to go home today, but there are no flights, so he´ll continue his mission until there are flights (parents are probably bummed). That also means that my new companion can´t come either, and they aren´t sure when they will come so it could be anywhere from this Wednesday to next week. Not only that but I´ve been called to be compañero mayor! I feel completely unprepared and have no idea what to do, so I´ll just take it slow and keep doing what I´ve been doing rather than be something I´m not. The Lord called me because I´m at that level, not because I now need to make that jump. So I don´t know anything about him other than his from Chile (another chileno, oh no, ha ha ha). My companion that I´m with right now is named Elder Amasio and he´s from Anaheim, California! He´s been on the mission for 1.5 years and is Tongan. He was born in California but his parents came from Tonga and met in California. He´s got 3 brothers and 4 sisters and is the third child. He likes football, volleyball, and basketball. Other than that nothing much is going on, it´s still not really snowing either like everyone told me it would. I bought some more alfajores today and so now I´m up to over 70. I´ve been thinking about books that I want to read when I get home and of them are the miracle of forgiveness, The doctrine of salvation, and the teachings of the prophets. I´m shotgun firing my thoughts because I don´t know what else to say, so I´ll write more next week. Thanks for the pictures, I finally saw them. Say hi to everyone for me and no I didn´t get my birthday package and yes I got gloves from my dad and would you mind friending "Drew Del Ludwig" for me, thanks!
Con Amor,
Elder Arrowchis

June 6, 2011 Moon River

That´s cool that you are getting to know the missionaries, I know the missionaries came over before but I kinda wish I would have known them better like I know the members here. That´s also great about starting to read PMG! All I was looking for was to here what things called your attention or caused you to think, basically when did the spirit talk to you. That might cause me to think about that and receive revelation in my area. That´s one thing I learned from Presidente, is when it says to ponder and meditate the scriptures, that really means putting our name in them and literally applying them to us. That´s how we receive the spiritual revelation that the scriptures have for us.

Tell Jordan to not worry about the dances, Moon River gets better every time, HAHAHAHA. Tell him to get to know the bartenders and ask if they remember me, like Alicia. Tell him to ask Alicia to make him her special: 1/4 cup sweet and sour mix, 1/4 cup orange juice, and 1/2 cup sprite. It´s awesome. Tell him also that he can play his Ipod on the main lounge speakers, but he needs to get friends with Amanda or the tech guys and have them teach him how. Also tell him I´m a pro at cushion pad throwing (Amanda will understand, I taught her). Oooh, club house 5, how crazy. It´s like the same feeling I get when i talk with a missionary who´s been in the same area as me. I honestly can´t even imagine driving right now, let alone that old company van.

That´s crazy about not being super anxious to get him on a mission. It probably helps that he´s doing the paper work while he´s still 18 and not 20! Everybody here says I look older than I am too, like a lot older. That means I´m going to look 60 when I´m 30! Que macana... I haven´t got my birthday package yet (just barely got the easter package from my Dad), and I have more pictures and I´ll stop writing now to try and send a few.

Love you,
Elder Arrowchis

May 30, 2011 (to Jordan)

It honestly doesn´t feel like my mission is already half over. I feel like I only have 3 or 4 months in the mission and that I should still be with my trainer. It´s crazy here, because now it´s starting to snow more often and that makes things colder. I thought I was leaving the snow when I left New York! It is crazy here though because there are a ton of dogs still in the street. Don´t tell mommy but one bit me on the back of the leg around the ankle. I was so mad! So now when dogs start to annoy us we just throw rocks or snowballs at them. We´ve also been playing soccer every P-Day this transfer and I´m starting to get pretty alright too! I´m also learning how to make omelets better. Right now I feel fat so I´m making omeletes with boiled broccoli in it. It´s pretty good too! You should definitely learn how to cook before you go out, as in have mommy teach you how to make noodles and rice on the stove. Just some basics, and then maybe cookies too so you can have that memorized for the mission. Also, study preach my gospel, especially the first two chapters before your mission. That will help motivate you and teach you how to study so you don´t waste time in your mission figuring that out. The snow has finally gone, but did you ever slip on ice at BYU? Last week I slipped about 5 times on the ice, two of which were within 30 seconds just after leaving the house. It´s hard when your shoes have absolutely no grip! Don´t tell mommy that either, she´ll probably just get worried. Love ya and remember to read el Libro De Mormon everyday!


Con Amor,
Super Shmif

May 30, 2011 Apple Pie in Argentina

Thanks for the letter, I completely forgot it was Memorial Day this weekend, but the Argentinians had their independence day this past Wednesday and we went to a fiesta at the church and ate popcorn, empanadas, fry bread, and an apple pie (it was the closest apple pie I´ve ever eaten that came close to like in the States).

Our mission president recently told us a story of a missionary who is baptizing more than any other in our mission and how he asked him what his secret is. One of the things he said is that he has not just a desire, but a hunger to baptize. Thus if we desire it, the Lord will bless us according to our desires, which is why many times we don´t receive blessings. i´ve also noticed that I am a lot more likely to find people to teach and find our investigators in their house if I simply think until I feel "I want to teach right now". It almost even turns aggressive sometimes, ha ha. But it works.

I was also studying today for an investigator that has a doubt as to why we don´t have "educated" ministers who give talks in church and random members are called to talk. So I read in D&C 50 about how when we teach and listen with the spirit, we learn by the spirit and both the teacher and the student are edified. Then I read in Luke 12:11-12 about how the spirit will teach us what we need to say in the moment, as long as we have the words of life in our memory (from our daily studies!). Thus, it doesn´t matter if we are listening to a general authority or a CTR 8 giving a talk, we can still learn just as much if we are paying attention to what the spirit tells us and not just the good feeling it gives us. That´s how the spirit gives us revelation in the sacrament meeting, by bringing to our rememberance scriptures and quotes we studied to answer our questions we are thinking about.

I was thinking that I sometimes share what I´m learning with you guys and you like it, so maybe you could do the same. Would you (especially Jordan) be willing to study every week in Preach My Gospel and tell me what you are learning? I think that would help me out too to receive revelation reading your studies and could especially help Jordan start to read Preach My Gospel.

I also have another Moogle request. Next month starts when I can take the PT test thing again, right? Well if I don´t score good the first time I take it I would like to do a diet thing to help loose weight to run faster, etc. I´ve heard of missionaries who don´t eat anything with sugar other than fruit for a month. Would you mind looking up ideas that I could apply in the mission that would still help me build strength and lose weight? Thank you!

Con Amor,
Elder Arrowchis

May 16, 2011 Random Thoughts

Right now I am listening to some song in English because I´m in the ciber. My companion is writing to his family and it looks like I´ll finish before him. We played soccer and volleyball today with the Hermanas and other Elderes. I´m kinda hungry. I´m gonna buy a Riccota cheese cake from a family to celebrate my 1 year mark in the mission. I drank a really good 150cc glass bottle of 7-up. I bought a coconut today and it took forever to open it and the milk was really bitter water and I don´t even like coconut so I threw it away but it was cool to do. Now a spanish person is talking on the radio. Uh, what else is going on here... Anyway that´s cool that Jordan is finding something useful to do. I think if he´s getting paid $85 a day he´s doing pretty good as long as he doesn´t start spending it. That´s a bummer that he can´t go to institute though, just mission prep and the Tuesday night one.

I´ve been getting really tired lately and I don´t know why. This week we had a ton of success too. One thing I tried to do is write all of our references and new investigators for the week on sticky notes and then pin them right in front of where I plan every night to try and help me. It worked because I find I can focus a bit more during planning and we´ve had more success with several of our investigators. A family we found went and so far the mom said she wants to go back to church next week and her oldest kid of 12 years old said he wants to get baptized. Another investigator also went with her oldest daughter so that was also cool. We have really improved in our desires to baptize and that has been the key in doing better and being blessed with more miracles.

I read in Alma 41 today and it said the word desire 5 times within two verses. It was teaching that we will gain salvation or condemnation based on our desires to that end. If we desire eternal life, do missionary work, achieve a goal, the Lord will bless us to get there. That´s why we will be judged in the end based on our works and desires. Interesting. I also read in 3 Nephi 27:26 that we will be judged for the scriptures that have been givin to us and our knowledge of them and how we´ve applied them, which our mission president said applies to preach my gospel since it was written to convert missionaries and not investigators. So not to be preachy or anything, but you might want to start reading that, ha ha. Hope your day is still going good.

Love you and let me know if there is anything I can do for you. Tell Jordan time to prepare for his mission is TODAY. Chao Chao.

Con Amor,
Elder David Arrowchis

No Transfer - Mother's Day Plan

Aahh, I don´t know if I want to use skype still... I´m still thinking. Anyway, I will be here still, HA, I did not get transfered which means I will be ending Elder Ludwig´s mission and have to stay another transfer after with the new missionary (Most probably). So I´m here for the next 3 months, at least! I´m actually really excited about that because I absolutely love it here in Ushuaia. It´s getting colder but I love being in a mountainous area, the members are amazing and I love them all, now I´m going to be here for when the branch president gets back and another family, and I´ll still be able to carry the work that I started, and most importantly I didn´t have to pack last night and go on a plane today, whew. But, that gets me thinking where I can get that PT test done, because there is a member who is a gym teacher (or was recently) but I have no idea where I could run the mile. Plus, the members are so ready to help us. They are waiting for us to call them to go out on visits, and they are getting pretty organized about going and doing visits and visiting less actives, and there are like 5 returned missionaries and the other are awesome as well. It´s just awesome in Ushuaia, if you want to come to Argentina for vacations we definitely need to come here! Plus, this transfer I think I´m going to get my address changed from Buenos Aires to where I´m living here so that everything is cheaper, ha ha. Maybe the President would let us go to Puerto Williams again if it´s only 100 dollars a ticket instead of 250 a ticket.

So, about the skype. Here´s the back up plan for a landline:
-The phone number is 011-054-02901-423635
-Dad calls at 7:40 pm (3:40 pm CA time)
-Mom calls at 8:10 pm (4:10 pm CA time)

So thinking about it, we can try to use skype. Here´s the plan for skype:
-I´ll sign on at 6ish my time
-Dad calls at 6:00 pm (2:00 pm CA time)
-Mom calls at 6:30 pm (2:30 pm CA time)

My companion is going to do skype, so lets do skype too. If that doesn´t work for me we´ll go to a members house for the back up plan and times. Please check the time difference between Ushuaia and California, because I based it off of a 4 hour difference and i don´t know if that´s correct. Love you and I´m done writing since we´ll be talking next week (Sunday)! Please send a confirmation email telling me if you can and/or you understand so that I can ask if I can check on Thursday or something if everything´s alright!

Con Amor,
Elder David Arrowchis

Baptism in Puerto Williams

So, unless you haven´t figured it out by now, I went to Puerto Williams with my companion this past weekend. We went because it´s apart of our area and there was a baptism there (I´ll let you look for where it´s located in the world). Lets just say I can now say that I´ve been to the town most south in the world. It was quite an experience getting there and while we were there. I don´t have much time so I´ll write only a little, especially since I sent pictures. So, first we had to get there. We had everything paid for in the morning and we were packing when I decided I wanted to buy a souvenire or something from Puerto Williams. So I went to my wallet and pulled out some personal money without even thinking. I pulled out 300 pesos argentinos and put it in my bag. The weird part is that I even thought that that was way too much and maybe I should bring dollars just in case. But I just said nah and left it at that. Then we got to the passenger control to make sure we could leave and come back to the country. It turned out there was a problem with my passport paperwork and i had to pay a 300 peso fine before I could leave. The boat was leaving and we wouldn´t have had time to go back for more money if I hadn´t of brought that money. Then we got there and started getting to know the members. We passed by the boy who was getting baptized and had an amazing lesson with his family where I received revelation about how 3 Nephi 20:8-9 relates to easter. We also had other spiritual lessons with the members, who are bien Chileno. That was our adventure for the week and I´ll write more and confirm the Mother Day´s call next week (and if I got transfered or not). Love you and hope you enjoy the pictures instead of mutter about not answering your letters.

Con Amor,
Elder David Arrowchis

Need FHE Game Ideas

Ha ha, you are giving a talk on Easter Sunday, how great! Well, I would recommend reading from "True To The Faith." Then, just take a second to meditate and focus on what is the focus of the atonement. Then just follow the impressions that come to your heart and look for those answers in your daily study through True to the Faith or the bible dictionary. Then just share what you learned with everyone and bear your testimony. That´s what I try to do for my daily scripture study. And I´d recommend you start before Saturday because even though you work "harder" under stress, I don´t know if you´ll be able to work "better" under the stress by recognizing the spiritual promptings through all that emotion, ha ha. It´s like what Elder Holland said in General Conference, the speakers spend a month at least sweating, praying, and searching for the topic they should speak about. You already have the topic, you just need to find the direction the Lord wants you to take. I´d also suggest reading the atonement in lesson 2 in Preach My Gospel. There´s a guide in that lesson to scriptures that talk about the Savior.

So your asking me advice made me think of an experience Presidente Arnold (Area President for Sur America Sur) told us in a conference with him (because I realize i didn´t give you much material to write):

He said that when he was a mission president for Costa Rica there was a problem within the country and he had to figure out how to move all the missionaries to a certain spot in the mission for safety reasons. He said he had no idea how to do it because part of the mission was outside of Costa Rica and he would have to cross borders and they weren´t doing anything of the kind. So he called a member of the 12 (Elder Oaks I think) and asked him what he should do. Elder Oaks told him it sounds like he needs to pray and figure it out, and then he hung up. Eventually Presidente Arnold received the revelation he needed but that was a funny, yet true response. Ha ha, good luck on Sunday, you´ll do great.

Anyway, thanks for the Easter Basket, I haven´t even finished half of it. I´ve already given away quite a bit but this last week I got diarreah for a couple of days and still feel kinda quisy, so I didn´t eat much of it yet. The ferrero rocheros were also a nice touch. I gave Eduardo and Elder Ludwig the silly puddy and they are always playing with it.

This week´s been pretty rough, as in we just haven´t had much success. The cool thing about Elder Ludwig is that he´s learned how to keep happy in the mission even when things aren´t going too well. One thing that I realized is that I have almost a year in the mission and I STILL have no idea how to be a good missionary. It can be very frustrating not knowing what to do STILL. I do think I understand Spanish more, so that´s a plus. I think I´ve gotten to the point of understanding just about everyone, only not when they use words that I don´t already know. I know one way you can help me! So we are trying to organize family home evenings with our investigators and other members, but we don´t know any family home evening games... could you send some suggestions (and how to play)? Thanks.

Send greetings to Amanda and tell her thanks for all the letters and especially for the list of scriptures! Tell her that if she´s still going to institute when Jordan gets there she needs to get him incorporated and all that. I can´t believe the whole clan is going to have worked at Leisure World... the worst part is that I was there in the beginning too! Back at the old budget building! Oh my gosh... I´ve been with that company my whole life. Thanks for the pictures too, they were awesome, just too bad that Elder Martinez already went home to see them. Love you and good luck with the talk on Sunday, I´ll see how it went on Monday I guess, ha ha.

Con Amor,
Elder Arrowchis

April 11, 2011 Another Baptism

I´ve had some crazy experiences this week. This past weekend we had the baptism of Belinda Hurtado (she told us we couldn´t take photos or put them on facebook so you´ll have to look at the old fotos of the other baptism of her kids) and we had almost every test of faith pass. The first miracle, to be baptized you have to pass a baptismal interview. It just so happened that the President showed up that night in the church, without knowing why, and was able to help her in her interview so she could be baptized. He told us that when he was walking in the street he felt he should go to the church. SO he did. Elder Beatty came out saying he needed to call the president and lo and behold, he was there in the church to do the interview. Que accidente, no.

The next miracle. When we got to Belinda´s house to take her to the church for her baptism, she wouldn´t leave because one of her sons hadn´t arrived from school yet even though he should have. So knowing that she wasn´t going to leave unless someone was looking for her son, I left with Eduardo to go look for him while my companion and her family went to the church to prepare for the baptism. We spent a hour looking for him and finally decided we needed to go to reach the baptism. First of all you should know I left the house not knowing if we would find him or not, having little to no idea where to look, but having faith that we would find him and arrive. so what happened as we were walking to the bus stop to go to the church, up walks his brother. So we grab him and run to catch the bus right as it was arriving. We arrived in time to see one talk and the ordinance carried out.

So this week I´ve learned that this is really the Lord´s work and that he is guiding us even when we don´t realize it because the spiritual promptings are sooo soft. I´ve also gained more knowledge that being obedient and humble equals being happy. Finally, in Sunday i felt an even stronger love for everyone in the branch as I looked around. So strange since I´ve only been here 4 months and yet I feel such a strong attachment and devotion with every member in the branch. Write more next week and I´ll try to send some fotos now.

Con Amor,
Elder David Arrowchis

Do you want to hear from my convert Eduardo? Here he is:  hola mi nombre es Eduardo, hoy con elder arrowchis fuimos al glacial y nos divertimos mucho, de verdad, espero que su hijo se quede mas tiempo para seguir disfrutando del clima, jaja , un placer jeje, see you later.

Yeah, he knows quite a bit of English too, bits and phrases.

April 5, 2011 General Conference

Ha, thanks for the pictures! Yup, there´s snow here too, not nearly as much as Utah, but yesterday it started to snow some in the morning, so thus it starts. That´s cool that Jordan is finishing his first year of college. It´s actually really weird for me but well, it´s cool for him. When he goes to brother Greiner´s class ask him to pick up a list of memorized scriptures (that list I asked you for almost a year ago...) from brother greiner. It´s front and back filled with scriptures and what topic they are and I´d like a new copy that´s not all destroyed in case more companions want a copy.

General conference was sweet! That is one of the experiences that I enjoy most in the mission as well because it´s just 5 boys sitting in a room talking and making jokes about conference! We totally called the joke that Elder Bednar referred to before he got up "Uh-oh, Elder Bednar and then Have I Done Any Good In the World Today, get ready to repent." It was also cool because we were all interested in conference and all taking notes about what we learned. It was a good feeling. Also, whatever happened to Kelly People´s mom because I could have sworn I saw her in the MOTAB!

So yeah, I´m also trying to cook more with my companion, he´s taken a couple of clases and always watched his mom so he knows quite a bit. Today I tried making bread, but it came out kinda weird (I don´t know how to form it) and kinda salty. But it was the first time so I´ll get more practice before I get home. I want to learn how to make it like the Argentines do. My plan is to cook for you guys when I get home so I can spend more time practicing because I won´t get any at West Point. I have learned how to make a mean banana bread though, so that´s cool.

Another update on Delia is that recently she left to go visit her dad in Jujuy who had 4 operations and is 80 years old. We heard yesterday that her dad had a miraculous recovery and is doing just fine right now. That woman has a lot of faith. Also we talked with an investigator and her boyfriend about the law of chastity last night and about getting married. They promised to pray together and think about making plans to get married, so we´ll see how things go but they also felt good after that night. Well I have to go now, but thanks for the love and prayers! Tell Jordan to write me and to read the Book of Mormon everyday. Penguin Elder 5 out.

Con Amor,
Elder David Arrowchis

March 28, 2011 Updates

Ha ha ha, you ate panqueques with Dulce de Leche!!! Ha ha ha, yeah we made that the other day for breakfast. I told you Dulce de Leche is sooooo much better than caramel! With our other new converts Diego and Tamara we made cannelonis from scratch. That was pretty cool too but I didn´t get the recipe so I´ll have to ask him another moment.  He also taught me how to make salsa rosa for spaghetti noodles.

That´s cool that you are getting more involved with the missionaries, that is really how the missionary work moves forward, if the members are ready to fellowship and look after new members. One of the sweet moments of the mission has been after the baptism of Delia we went to the house of her member friend who told us she has been working with the missionaries and inviting her for 15 years to church and family home evenings and what a blessing it was to finally see her baptized.

People always say that the missionaries are angels, but the missionaries see the members as the angels preparing souls to receive the restored gospel. That´s cool about the general authority. I think I told you, two P-Day´s ago we ate lunch with Pres. Gulbrandsen and his wife and Elder Foster and his wife from the second quorum of the seventy. He was really reverent.

We do teach follow up lessons to the new investigators, we actually teach all of the lessons over again and then some new ones about service, temple work, family history, and getting sealed and things like that however we try to do the retention lessons with their hometeachers or the ward missionaries so that they can get more testimonies and build more friendships with the members. All of our new converts are going through trials right now actually. Diego and Tamara have said that business hasn´t been so good in his realitor business. Delia recently left to visit her dad and won´t be back until 12 of April because her dad had 4 surgeries and is 80 years old, so we don´t know if he´ll make it much longer. The Hurtado family is good but without work again, so they are on a very limited budget that doesn´t always leave them with money to take the bus to church on Sunday. Eduardo is doing great and going to seminary with his sister Evelyn so that is awesome and Julio the oldest is getting ready to bless the sacrament next week.

Thanks por todo and if I´m still here in six weeks I´m going to ask you for a pair of gloves, but not the big puffy gloves, maybe some shooter gloves that still work to keep your hands warm, and obviously without the padded knuckles to not look like a ruffian (Matt should understand). I´m a missionary, but I can still look cool! Love you and you´re in my prayers. Chao chao.

Con amor,
Elder Arrowchis

March 21, 2011 Temporary Companion

Elder Martinez is still in Buenos Aires until tomorrow... wow that was hard, my brain is in Castellano mode right now and the words are coming to my mind in spanish first, bizarre. But yeah, Elder Martinez had his despedida last night and today he waits until tomorrow when he arrives at 11 in the morning, and doesn´t get releaved until 8 at night! He has to spend practically the whole day as a missionary in his house, que feo. I hope that I don´t have to wait too much time to get releaved when I get home, you guys will suffer a lot if I do (no TV, always have to accompany me, no music other than church music, namebadge everywhere...). But yes my new companion came today. Actually, kinda cool, Elder Martinez left on Saturday in the afternoon, and so I needed a companion and have spent the last two days going with my convert Eduardo. He accompanied me everywhere, studied in the morning and slept over for two nights. My new companion is Elder Ludwig and I actually heard about him from my trainer and supposedly he´s really funny. He reminds me a bit of a TravBum type so far. I´m still compañero menor and Elder Ludwig only has 3 months left in his mission, so I could end another missionary! But I´m really excited. He is also from Las Vegas and that´s all I know so far. He played baseball in highschool and college and played the trombone in middle school.

That´s so cool about general conference. Weird, I just had a call from the other missionaries and I can´t remember if it was in Spanish or English... Anyway, I had completely forgotten about General Conference until in Priesthood this past sunday they anounced the schedule. I can´t believe that it´s coming up so soon, it will be my second general conference in the mission, and it feels like just yesterday was the last one. I can´t believe six months have already past in my mission! The other day I was filling out my new agenda for the next six weeks after I finish my current agenda, and I wrote the date for when I complete one year in the mission! I can´t believe that in 9 weeks or so I will complete a year! How weird. But yeah, that´s the life of a missionary, I realized that even the returned missionaries don´t usually have a problem letting us stay for a long time and that it is very easy to do. That´s cool that you are getting involved more with the missionaries as well. How often do you give them food? When I get home I want to start cooking all these Argentinian foods I´m learning and I can share with the missionaries to help pay back for all the lunches I´ve received (yeah, I´m getting a little plump...). Now I´m only eatting salads in the night and the only junk food I buy are new alfajores that I haven´t eatten before, but I gotta start getting fit. I have to write to the President now, but thanks for sending the music and writing me. Chao Chao and send greetings (¿mande saludos en inglés?) to Sister Affleck.

Con Amor,
Elder Arrowchis

March 14, 2011 Recognizing Blessings

Ha ha, it starts!!! Que zarpado!!! I´d forgotten how zarpado West Point is, especially for admissions. I have to take the CFA again, I feel so fat!!! And I have no idea how I´m going to take the DoDMERB here, ha ha. No, I won´t let it unfocus me because it is a long way off, but thanks for sending it because it definitely rekindled that fire inside of me, that hooah, that I´ve been missing for awhile. Now lets see if I can convert that into being more bold in sharing the gospel! HOOAH, A BAUTIZAR! Oh wow, I translated the part about him being annoyed for my companion and he just laughed. Very cool. Now I´ve really got to start doing my workouts. Okay, thanks for staying on top of that for me. Also, sorry that I don´t have photos today, we got up early (to avoid paying 30 dollars) and went to the national park with the branch president. It´s cool and it´s El Parque Del Fin Del Mundo. We went to one lagoon called Laguna Negra and since there was nobody around the silence was almost overwhelming. It´s the first time I´ve experienced silence like that. It was almost more pressing than a loud drum in your ear. I´ll send photos of the park and of Delia next week. Also, can you thank the Clawson family for sending the letter and la hermana Clawson for sending the poem about missionary work. It´s very inspiring.

So for something spiritual, because I still have time. This last Sunday we had District Conference and Elder Foster of the Second Quorum of the 70 came. First, we ate lunch with him on Saturday, which was cool, then on Sunday he shared a very inspiring story that might have already been in the Liahona before: A wise Chineseman lived on his farm with his only son and one horse. One day his horse ran away and could not be found. His friends came over and told him that surely this was a bad curse. He only responded "I don´t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing." Then a few days later his horse returned to drink water and brought with it 9 more horses. The friends of the wiseman came and said that surely this was a good blessing. The wiseman only replied "I don´t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing." The next day as the son was trying to tame one of the wild horses it broke the leg of the son and he could no longer work on the farm. The friends of the wiseman came and told him that surely it was a bad curse. The wiseman still only responded "I know not if this is a good thing or a bad thing." A week later China entered a war with a neighboring country and drafted every able bodied male. The wiseman was too old to go and the son could not serve on account of his broken leg. Later in the war, every male who went was eventually killed. The moral of the story, we don´t always recognize the blessings that the lord gives us until after the test of our patience and faith.

I love all of you and I hope things are going well with the house and the pets and G-paw and G-ma. Also, could you please look for the name of that song, it´s driving me crazy! Chao and I´ll write next week.

Con Amor,
Elder David Arrowchis

March 7, 2011 FHE Leads to Baptism

I can´t tell you how many people we find who aren´t married and living together. I learned from Presidente that the law of chastity was given to us so that God can send his children to structured families where they can grow with more care and love. Presidente used the example with our investigator of how the mom felt leaving her child with someone else to see a movie or something and she said she feels an emptiness. He said that our Heavenly Father loves us even more and that´s why he wants us to comply with the law of chastity so he can send His children to a family that will care for them.

We also had another baptism this weekend of a woman named Delia. We met her in the house of a member who invited her over after we scheduled a family home evening with them. We had no idea that she was coming but when we showed up we simply changed our game plan and started teaching. After that she said she´d listen but not be baptized, but finally last week she had an amazingly spiritual experience and decided she wanted to be baptized. It was really a miracle to hear her say that she finally recognized the spirit and her response to her prayer. I haven´t baptized in my mission up until Elder Martinez (and one baptism with Elder Blanch) and I have no idea how he does it, but he´s also baptized a lot of people in his mission.

Another cool experience before I go, while we were teaching Delia a day before her baptism our recent convert Eduard Hurtado was with us and she asked him what changes he saw after his baptism. Then he shared an incredibly powerful testimony how things weren´t easier but that he changed and was more patient and obedient to his mom, about how he had to repeat a grade in school because he wouldn´t leave the computer but now if his mom asks him to get off and clean the plates it´s easier for him to do so. Love you and hope you are enjoying the weather.

Con Amor,
Elder Arrowchis

February 28, 2011 Wedding & Baptism

So Diego and Tamara go baptized this week! Diego and Tamara were the first investigators we met here, the missionaries before told us we had an appointment the day we were to arrive and a member showed us where they lived. They got married and then baptized and are soo cool. Diego did ninja school for 5 years or so and Tamara´s dad lives in South Africa. Diego is very analytical and very logical. Tamara is very quiet and reserved but also analytical. Diego is also really funny, I wish you could speak Spanish because he is so funny and cool how he talks and what he says. It´s kind of weird having a companion who is finishing his mission because I see the end of it while I haven´t even hit the half way point yet.

I honestly don´t know what else to write right now, sorry. I`m going to start writing in my planner during the week things that happen so I can have more to write about. Are you up to date on things I need to do for West Point? Do I need to do anything yet? I also want to buy you souvenirs that are very fitting for the color code/personality thing. There it is, revelation.  Also, if using my debit card uses up the money required for my mission I´m going to need to ask if you could transfer $150 (U.S.) to my account to buy you your souvenirs.

Okay so your homework for this week is to look up Boca Junior and River Plate (they are soccer teams here in Argentina).Thanks and thanks for sending questions, it helps me know what to write. Do you have any questions about pictures I´ve sent? Love you and have a good time there and remember to pray everyday and to read everyday. When we are obeying the commandments and repenting we open the door to receive the misteries of heaven and learn things that haven´t been reveleaved before. Let Jordan know I miss him and he needs to go to church and read the Book of Mormon everyday! Chao Chao.

Con Amor,

Elder Arrowchis

February 21, 2011 No Time

Alright, so today we went to the glacier with Presidente and his wife and so now I don´t have a lot of time to write, but next time I will tell you about a family home evening we had and an investigator that we encountered.  Also, could you do me a favor and look for Amanda Adams and Kaila Garcia on my facebook and invite them to read my blog.  We did an activity with a family about sharing the gospel and this time I participated and I felt to invite them two to read my blog.  Well, gotta go, sorry.

February 14, 2011 Being a Missionary

My mind is going blank right now also and I have no idea what to write. This past week has been a rough week in that we haven´t found many people to teach. We´re kind of hitting a wall right now and I don´t know how we are going to vencerlo (I´m forgetting how to speak in english). That´s another weird thing, I´m forgetting how to talk completely in English but at the same time I can´t speak fluently in Spanish, it´s very frustrating. I don´t know if I´m tired of Spanish or more tired of English sometimes, ha ha. I can´t believe that Mike Ecklund, Marc Lennox, Rowe Lennon, and Tyler Clendenon have celebrated their 100th night already. I haven´t even hit 1 year yet!

It´s interesting being a missionary. There are times when I feel really lazy and would love to just relax the rules just a bit, sleep a bit longer, relax in the house a few more minutes, or spend some more time in a members house than we should, but then there are times when I have so much spiritual revelation and realize how much improvement I need to make in this life. For example right now I´m just feeling exhausted but maybe tonight I will have a spiritual experience that will boost me back up to wanting to work hard. That´s why the mission is so much harder than West Point, because the results of disobedience manifest itself even more quickly than at West Point and that obedience is mostly dependent on me. There´s not someone telling me everyday what to do. There are also a whole lot more rollercoasters on the mission in one single day than at West Point. Trying to balance my budget and spend only my limited amount every week is difficult as well, because it´s really easy to just say "whatever" and dive into my personal money to pay for more food or an extra alfajore or something like that. It can also be rough living with someone 24 hours a day. That´s another thing that´s crossed my mind on the mission, marriage. I have no idea how two people can get married and stay happy together. That is a modern day miracle that comes directly from the Lord. But I know this work is true and even if I don´t have a lot of success the Lord wants me out here to learn something about life.

One question for my companion, what is the difference between "no" and "not" and when do you use one and not the other? Also can you tell the McPasseys thanks for the card but I have no idea how I´m going to use the money they sent (I´m surprised it made it at all) and also to Amanda for the letter. When we get mail whenever it comes through Fueguino Express, about once every transfer. Like I said, North American treats are acceptable now, because it´s fun to share them with my latino compañeros. Thanks for the letters and for keeping the cat fat, I don´t know what I´d do if I came home and couldn´t get a workout picking up my cat. I still can´t believe that he hasn´t died of obesity yet. Say high to everyone and eat some sushi for me!

Con Amor,
Elder David Arrowchis

February 7, 2011 Baptisms

The superbowl does not exist here. Nobody talks about futból americano, let alone the superbowl. Here it is all about River Plate and Boca Junior (some moogle homework for ya) when the World cup isn´t in season.

So the first experience, don´t ever go shopping right at the end of your fast. I spent more today on food than I have ever in my mission. Next, the penguins. We were able to go because Presidente was with us and gave us permission. It was soooo cool. The President came down and his wife told us that they wanted to have a P-day with us. So after a lot of wheeling and dealing by my companion with the agency that goes out in catamaran, we got the spot to go. Then when we showed up our president counciled with the asistant (Elder Labra) and he felt that the boat was big enough, and with the president with us and his approval, we went! And now that they have already seen the penguin island, I doubt they will do it again if they ever have a P-Day in the south again, so in otherwords I saw a miracle and got my wish to have a picture with a penguin.

About the baptism. They are the Hurtado family and we met them our first week here because they were old investigators that the missionaries before us dropped. So when we stopped by we were patient and even joined in their laughter (it´s like Brandon Santos´s family but with more kids) and they started to listen and feel the spirit. Now all of the kids are baptized, talking about going on missions, and are pressuring their mom to get baptized. They are really cool and the mom invited us to have dinner with them one night and she is going to cook us Bolivian food, because she´s from Bolivia. There is a definite difference in their faces and countenances now and we can tell they are all a lot happier. All of them were baptized at first except Eduardo, the tallest one and his mom. Then he told us that during the baptism of his two younger brothers he felt desires to be baptized. So while everyone was eating and leaving afterwards he had his interview and we decided to baptize him. So we filled the faunt back up but hot water wouldn´t come out, so he did it in cold water with nobody there except his family and one member who showed up from another branch. Afterwards he told us that he felt more complete, which is significant because before he would tell us that he never felt if this is true or not. In other words he received his answer after his baptism! This last Sunday the three oldest all received the Aaronic Priesthood and the oldest, Julio, wants to baptize his mom.

This experience came about largely because two weeks ago, the week before their baptism, one of the asistants (Elder Labra) came to Ushuaia and ended up staying a week with Elder Martinez and I. I learned a lot from him and experienced a lot in that week. Also, One night Presidente Gulbrandsen went with us to visit the Hurtado family and also Diego y Tamara (the family where I am painting). Those were also very spiritual experiences and I learned a lot. During one of the nights that we visited Diego y Tamara with Elder Labra I had an unbelievable experience. My companions started talking and talking while I was sitting there not talking. I had no idea what to say so I just started praying and trying hard to think about what to say, and I started to think about all of the experiences and visits we have had with him. Then I started to feel a really strong love for him and his family and that´s when Elder Labra asked me to share what I was feeling. So then I started talking and the scripture Moroni 7:48 came to mind. I shared it and through strong emotion choking my words and speaking through the spirit. I have never before felt the pure love of Christ but I´m sure that that night I came pretty close. It was a very inspiring experience and has taught me a lot about the importance of charity and the importance of having it for those we know. Later during other lessons with other people, I have found that when I can start feeling a love for those I am teaching I start receiving the inspired questions that cause the investigator to basically look to heaven for an answer which then causes them to feel the spirit and in that moment is when they start learning because the spirit is teaching them. That´s the importance of inspired questions in our work now.

Those are the stories I have for this week, and I am still in Ushuaia for another transfer (they were yesterday) with my companion Elder Martinez who finishes his mission this transfer, so I will be here at least 3 more months, this transfer and the next to work with the new missionary that will come after Elder Martinez leaves. That is great with me because I have come to feel a love for this branch that I have never felt before in my life and absolutely love all the members here.

Thanks for your letters and love. Chao chao, hasta la semana que viene!
Con Amor,
Elder Arrowchis