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Fa, it was super weird saying goodbye to one of our all star missionaries last night who goes home today. Look him up for me, his name is Jordan Christensen. He was super cool and it felt weird to think that I`m next. Then I realized I need to baptize still so I stopped thinking about it. Today was cool, we went to an all you can eat place called the Finca and I ate a ton of ice cream, yeah, and a piece of pork cooked on the grill. Now we are writing at the ciber and I`m trying to think of what to do so that our new missionaries in the zone and the ones that stayed start off on the right foot this transfer. Ah that`s right, I stayed here! And my companion stayed too, so I`m going to end the mission speaking like a Chileno! Super cool, I`m going to come back home and not be able to speak proper English. We`re also super excited to start working again and this week we have a consejo de lideres with President (just the zone leaders and the assitants), so we are going to start the transfer pumped. I`m super excited to devote myself completely to the Lord and really find those people who are ready to accept baptism and go to church and read the Book of Mormon and pray. The Lord did promise us that, the field is white already to harvest, not in 3 months but now! So that`s going to be our main focus, is teaching the recent converts their lessons of retention to teach them how to bring their friends and family to church and then finding those investigators who have been prepared ya!
Anyway, I`m also going to need to find my math book from West Point and my Chemical engineering book because I`m going to need to do some studying! So yeah conference, I was actually feeling bumbed out because we didn`t manage to bring any investigators to any of the sessions, so this week we are super focused on finding the Lord`s prepared who are willing to go to church this Sunday. I don`t have time to waste on people who are half interested in going to church, I need to find people who are willing. This transfer we also have interviews so it will be my last chance to ask President things before my final interview. I`m also excited that we made a better plan with my companion to help the members become more involved in the missionary work too. We plan on sharing scriptures about the Doctrine of Christ with them and leaving the less active members commitments similar to that of investigators to help them grow in their love for the Lord and their neighbor too. Our vision is to help the less active and the old members grow to the level of faith of a recent convert.
Some things I really liked about the conference was the talk about recognizing spiritual revelation and following it. I`ve also never heard a general authority spend so much serious time talking seriously about dreams. Which means that last night I dreamt about getting home standing in the living room, looking around, and having no idea what to do, ha ha ha. I don`t need an interpreter to tell me what that means, so even more reason to forget myself in the work here and now while I can. I also really liked the talk about the difference between being active in the church and active in the Gospel. Here in the mission is when I`ve come to understand better what it means being active in the Gospel, because when our focus is on being active in the Gospel we aren`t annoyed by all the meetings in church or anything because we understand and see that we are helping other of God`s children progress toward qualifying for celestial glory.
Well that`s about it for my week, I`ll let you know how everything goes this week. I`m ready to end it running my heart out, and my mind out, and my strength out. Love you and write more next week. Chau Chau.
Con amor,
Elder Arrowchis
Monday, April 2, 2012
March 26, 2012 The Field is White
Alright so I want to respond to your email first this time because talking about plans for something other than baptizing sounds more stress relieving right now. So here´s my thought, so it stays "flexible", I get there, we go to your house, I unpack my stuff, I go to saddleback and hit up Brother Greiner institute at 12:00, and then at 1:00 we all meet up at Ted´s or something for an awesome breakfast burrito (I´m thinking I´ll be with my dad at institute but I don´t know). Then after talking and stuff I´m with Dad until my release, and then we go to your house and I eat some awesome food and chat, and then sleep for the next week, while going to institute, and the temple, and taking out the trash, and cooking, and studying math and chemical engineering, and the scriptures, and the miracle of forgiveness, and dancing, finding people for the missionaries to baptize... Yeah.
Talking that sunday is perfectly fine. Even better, I´ll still have all the scriptures from the mission running through my head ha ha. The only problem is they´ll be in spanish. I was also thinking, and if anyone asks me to give a blessing I´m going to ask to do the first anointing part, because if they truly have faith in the blessing that´s enough because I have no idea how to speak or do it in English, ha ha ha!
So this week has been a super heavy week, re pesado. Lots of stress and plans failing and low numbers, so we´ve been learning how to cope with that. We talked with President this morning and he gave us advice from one of President Uchtdorf´s talks about when we encounter turbulence the best thing to do is not to speed up to try and pass through it but to slow down actually. So we are going to try and apply that this week by focusing on the little things that I´ve learned and know I need to do and pray that the Lord sends success, especially for this general conference weekend. One way I´m applying it is that I had the thought that well the field is white already to harvest, that´s the Lord´s work not mine, and so I could be sitting down sleeping and that still wouldn´t change how white and ready the field is to be harvested, only I wouldn´t be receiving any fruits from the white field. So we´re not going to focus on how bad last week was and what we need to do to improve from there, but rather start with the approach of a new missionary. A new missionary doesn´t know anything of past doubts or excuses because he has no experience with those, so therefore he works completely based on faith. So we are going to plan without taking into account the doubts and excuses investigators/members have given us and only seek to do the will and plan of the Lord, the way a new missionary would find it.
Let me know how everything goes with West Point. Right now I´m not even anxious I´m so worn out, I just feel complete that I did everything that they requested of me. love you and write more next week. Chau chau.
Con amor,
Elder Arrowchis
Talking that sunday is perfectly fine. Even better, I´ll still have all the scriptures from the mission running through my head ha ha. The only problem is they´ll be in spanish. I was also thinking, and if anyone asks me to give a blessing I´m going to ask to do the first anointing part, because if they truly have faith in the blessing that´s enough because I have no idea how to speak or do it in English, ha ha ha!
So this week has been a super heavy week, re pesado. Lots of stress and plans failing and low numbers, so we´ve been learning how to cope with that. We talked with President this morning and he gave us advice from one of President Uchtdorf´s talks about when we encounter turbulence the best thing to do is not to speed up to try and pass through it but to slow down actually. So we are going to try and apply that this week by focusing on the little things that I´ve learned and know I need to do and pray that the Lord sends success, especially for this general conference weekend. One way I´m applying it is that I had the thought that well the field is white already to harvest, that´s the Lord´s work not mine, and so I could be sitting down sleeping and that still wouldn´t change how white and ready the field is to be harvested, only I wouldn´t be receiving any fruits from the white field. So we´re not going to focus on how bad last week was and what we need to do to improve from there, but rather start with the approach of a new missionary. A new missionary doesn´t know anything of past doubts or excuses because he has no experience with those, so therefore he works completely based on faith. So we are going to plan without taking into account the doubts and excuses investigators/members have given us and only seek to do the will and plan of the Lord, the way a new missionary would find it.
Let me know how everything goes with West Point. Right now I´m not even anxious I´m so worn out, I just feel complete that I did everything that they requested of me. love you and write more next week. Chau chau.
Con amor,
Elder Arrowchis
Monday, March 19, 2012
March 19, 2012 Non-cool P Day
Alright so here goes the big long email. I´m not sure what to write, so I´m just going to pour out what comes out of my mouth. First and foremost, that fax I sent might be a bit confusing in box 20, so if they ask each box says the same thing, I think it´s a "no" or "normal", and the signiture is to show that I didn´t forge it. Second is that that trip took our WHOLE P day, so my companion is a bit molested (annoyed in english) and I need to make it up to him because we´ve only had one cool Pday in a while now. He just completed a year and a half a couple of days ago so I´m going to buy him a kilo or so of ice cream, maybe just a half a kilo. Just so you know, we get about 50 bucks a week for spending and today I spent about 15 on groceries, HAHAHA. What a difference but here it feels like a lot. There´s also a bunch of easter eggs in the store but they are super expensive, so actually i might just buy one for my companion, there we go I´ll buy him an easter chocolate egg. Bunnys aren´t that popular here. It´s super humid today again and it looks like it´s going to rain now.
This week we need to find some miracles because we didn´t baptize last week and we don´t have any set baptisms for this week, so we need to do some work. We are also stressing out because the zone is just not producing the results that we want them to have, and we don´t know exactly what else to do to help them because we call them every night and try to help them with their doubts and the doubts of their investigators, we keep track of their records and try to help them work in more efficient ways, we are trying and trying to help all of them achieve a vision of real growth in the celestial kingdom, but it seems like a lot of times they just get mad or simply don´t listen! It´s like having kids or something, we know what to do to help them but they don´t put it into practice. We actually have one missionary who recently got super excited because he saw a girl get baptized who had to drop just about every bad sin and this Sunday even wore a skirt to church to her confirmation. Complete miracle and now we have seen a huge increase in his faith due to that miracle. It´s funny because he is a super obedient missionary but never really had the vision, just obedient because he knew he had to be and wanted to be obedient. Basically he was a Sam. So I started telling him to pray for a response whenever he would ask me doubts and even though he got frustrated he started praying and now we see that he does have a vision and is achieving levels of success that he just didn´t even think of before. It´s great! Now he´s more of a Nephi.
Other than that, I don´t want to think about going home, but what were your plans for the pick up day? I was thinking that since you dropped me off, my dad picks me up (with you there) and I spend the day with him until I´m released (I´m assuming it will be in the night) or until dinner, and then I go with you from dinner on. Just a thought. I haven´t thought about what I want for dinner, but yes for dessert I want a root beer float. Actually, your homemade lasagna sounds really good right now. And I plan on going for teds burritos for lunch and sushi for a merienda, ha ha. Anyway, gotta do zone leader stuff in these last 5 minutes, love you. Chau chau, let me know if there´s anything in particular any of you want from Argentina.
Con amor,
Elder Arrowchis
This week we need to find some miracles because we didn´t baptize last week and we don´t have any set baptisms for this week, so we need to do some work. We are also stressing out because the zone is just not producing the results that we want them to have, and we don´t know exactly what else to do to help them because we call them every night and try to help them with their doubts and the doubts of their investigators, we keep track of their records and try to help them work in more efficient ways, we are trying and trying to help all of them achieve a vision of real growth in the celestial kingdom, but it seems like a lot of times they just get mad or simply don´t listen! It´s like having kids or something, we know what to do to help them but they don´t put it into practice. We actually have one missionary who recently got super excited because he saw a girl get baptized who had to drop just about every bad sin and this Sunday even wore a skirt to church to her confirmation. Complete miracle and now we have seen a huge increase in his faith due to that miracle. It´s funny because he is a super obedient missionary but never really had the vision, just obedient because he knew he had to be and wanted to be obedient. Basically he was a Sam. So I started telling him to pray for a response whenever he would ask me doubts and even though he got frustrated he started praying and now we see that he does have a vision and is achieving levels of success that he just didn´t even think of before. It´s great! Now he´s more of a Nephi.
Other than that, I don´t want to think about going home, but what were your plans for the pick up day? I was thinking that since you dropped me off, my dad picks me up (with you there) and I spend the day with him until I´m released (I´m assuming it will be in the night) or until dinner, and then I go with you from dinner on. Just a thought. I haven´t thought about what I want for dinner, but yes for dessert I want a root beer float. Actually, your homemade lasagna sounds really good right now. And I plan on going for teds burritos for lunch and sushi for a merienda, ha ha. Anyway, gotta do zone leader stuff in these last 5 minutes, love you. Chau chau, let me know if there´s anything in particular any of you want from Argentina.
Con amor,
Elder Arrowchis
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
March 5, 2012 Visionary Leadership
Yeah, it´s kinda fun to baptize. It´s also kinda fun to eat alfajores. Things are getting super busy here because Elder Ramirez and I have been struggling quite a bit to get the zone organized and moving, we finally are getting there today with all the materials we need, so hopefully this week will be better than the last. This week we also have a conference with the zone leaders and district leaders so that should help because we have two new district leaders in the zone.
I´m still working on developing this "visionary leadership" deal. It´s really cool what we´re learning here about vision and about how we need to know the why of what we´re doing instead of just accepting the rules. That gives us the drive we need to want to follow the rules and also to make our own plans inorder to accomplish our objective. That´s when it becomes our objective, and not just our mission president or the assistants objective. It´s really neat too, kind of like Nephi was the only one who supported his dad and acted on his own direction to accomplish the commandments received through their dad. He had the vision, and in 1 Nephi 2 it explains that he achieved it by praying and receiving a confirmation for what his dad had told him. Laman and Lemuel never wanted to know and Sam it seems obeyed to obey, and did not receive the vision. That´s the difference between being a Sam and being a Nephi; Sam obeys but Nephi understands. Yeah when I was down in Ushuaia it seemed that everyone wanted to get a job in the factory because they paid the best and had the most stable hours. It was huge down there.
So another spiritual experience we had this week was that we were walking down the street in front of a members house and they had told us that across the street lived less active members. We saw a lady sitting outside there and talked to her and she listened to us and accepted to be baptized. We then decided to try and visit a less active family before going home and a man called out to us in the street. Normally we don´t stop because at night they usually do that to rob us, but this time we did stop. He turned out to be going through a really rough time and after talking with him and his mom we learned that they had been to church before but a long time ago and that missionaries had passed by too. So we commited them to read and pray and get baptized and they accepted. That´s another things we are implementing here in our zone only, is counting how many times a day we invite people to be baptized. This really shows how focused we are on calling people to repentance through baptism and if we have received the vision of real growth in the celestial kingdom. So yeah, good stuff. Well, time to go and now more pictures, so I´ll get the paper signed and faxed in and also the doctor appointment. Love you lots and thanks for all the help you´ve given me with the West Point application.
Con Amor,
Elder Arrowchis
I´m still working on developing this "visionary leadership" deal. It´s really cool what we´re learning here about vision and about how we need to know the why of what we´re doing instead of just accepting the rules. That gives us the drive we need to want to follow the rules and also to make our own plans inorder to accomplish our objective. That´s when it becomes our objective, and not just our mission president or the assistants objective. It´s really neat too, kind of like Nephi was the only one who supported his dad and acted on his own direction to accomplish the commandments received through their dad. He had the vision, and in 1 Nephi 2 it explains that he achieved it by praying and receiving a confirmation for what his dad had told him. Laman and Lemuel never wanted to know and Sam it seems obeyed to obey, and did not receive the vision. That´s the difference between being a Sam and being a Nephi; Sam obeys but Nephi understands. Yeah when I was down in Ushuaia it seemed that everyone wanted to get a job in the factory because they paid the best and had the most stable hours. It was huge down there.
So another spiritual experience we had this week was that we were walking down the street in front of a members house and they had told us that across the street lived less active members. We saw a lady sitting outside there and talked to her and she listened to us and accepted to be baptized. We then decided to try and visit a less active family before going home and a man called out to us in the street. Normally we don´t stop because at night they usually do that to rob us, but this time we did stop. He turned out to be going through a really rough time and after talking with him and his mom we learned that they had been to church before but a long time ago and that missionaries had passed by too. So we commited them to read and pray and get baptized and they accepted. That´s another things we are implementing here in our zone only, is counting how many times a day we invite people to be baptized. This really shows how focused we are on calling people to repentance through baptism and if we have received the vision of real growth in the celestial kingdom. So yeah, good stuff. Well, time to go and now more pictures, so I´ll get the paper signed and faxed in and also the doctor appointment. Love you lots and thanks for all the help you´ve given me with the West Point application.
Con Amor,
Elder Arrowchis
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Jose C Paz II Pictures
Elder Arrowchis
The family we baptized and her friend on the right in the Nueva Pompeya branch
The baptisms that we had this past weekend: a boy who´s family is returning to church, a mom and daughter whose other daughter was confirmed last week, the daughters of a family we have been teaching for awhile
The baptism I did, Bishop did the two sisters, and a recent convert did the mom and her daughter.
Monday, February 27, 2012
February 27, 2012 Time to Baptize!
Okay, time to baptize! So I don´t have a lot of time right now because I´ve had a ton of things to do, but hope you enjoy the pictures. SO yeah, this past week we worked like crazy! Elder Ramirez has a very concentrated style of working, especially when it comes to dealing with the other Elders. I´m learning a lot from him about counceling with the other missionaries to help them aument their faith in order to gain a vision of achieving more and setting higher goals while still being realistic. For instance, this last week we started counting how many times we´ve invited people to be baptized. This past week we achieved 8 and because of that urgency and boldness we had 5 baptisms where we only would of had two otherwise! It´s great and I am just super stressed and super excited to just start baptizing and confirming (because it all depends on a missionary´s mindset no mas). It´s a great energy that comes from repenting myself everyday and looking to help and serve others instead of staying content with the success that I am given. It has a lot to do with trying to retain the remission of my sins as explained in Mosiah 4. That is also relieving to know that I don´t have to worry about West Point right now, just keep exercising every morning and not letting myself go on the sweets and fatty foods. Could you also let me know if I need to reschedule that doctor appointment to finish the sheet for my eyes? Well, I sent pictures this week so I´ll leave off on the writing a bit.
About those who were baptized: The boy of 9 years we found because his family is inactive but started coming back to church and wanted to baptize him. The mom and her daughter we found through our recent convert, who is her daughter, and with that family they just came prepared. The older daughter showed up to church one Sunday, basically baptized herself, and then we started talking with her mom and younger daughter. The mom read everything and had been living all the commandments her whole life and the night before her baptism her daughter prayed with her to know if she should get baptized and she felt like she should. The other two girls are part of a family we´ve been teaching since I got here and they decided to get baptized this week too. We actually dropped them but the whole family came last Sunday and they accepted fechas. Now it´s just time for the Dad to act! Love you a ton and thank you so much for all your help with West Point and letters and stuff.
Con Amor,
Elder Arrowchis
About those who were baptized: The boy of 9 years we found because his family is inactive but started coming back to church and wanted to baptize him. The mom and her daughter we found through our recent convert, who is her daughter, and with that family they just came prepared. The older daughter showed up to church one Sunday, basically baptized herself, and then we started talking with her mom and younger daughter. The mom read everything and had been living all the commandments her whole life and the night before her baptism her daughter prayed with her to know if she should get baptized and she felt like she should. The other two girls are part of a family we´ve been teaching since I got here and they decided to get baptized this week too. We actually dropped them but the whole family came last Sunday and they accepted fechas. Now it´s just time for the Dad to act! Love you a ton and thank you so much for all your help with West Point and letters and stuff.
Con Amor,
Elder Arrowchis
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