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!