Tuesday, March 29, 2011

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

Monday, March 21, 2011

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

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

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

Monday, March 7, 2011

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