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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
Monday, August 29, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
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
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
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
Monday, August 8, 2011
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.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
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
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
Thursday, July 7, 2011
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
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.
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.
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