Posts
Sorry, but responding will have to wait until next week. Right now I have to go do splits with a member from the ward and then we are going to do more during the week, so hopefully this will help with the missionary effort in Grand Bourg! Also, today we went and played soccer with our district and cooked sausages in the chapel. It was fun, and I bought a photo album to keep track of all the alfajor wrapers I eat!!!
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
October 12, 2010 Elder Torres
This week was pretty interesting. Like I said, I got a new companion Elder Torres and he is from Salta Argentina. He was baptized 3 years ago and is 25, so he just barely made the age cut to go on a mission. He has an older sister who is working as a nurse in Capital here in Buenos Aires, and two younger brothers. Before going on a mission he was working in a theatre as a dancer. He did ballet and got paid to do it. So that´s pretty cool. Right now I am helping him learn English because we were told to help our latin companions learn English on their missions. He speaks pretty well and even has pretty good pronunciation. I never realized how hard English is to learn, only because of the pronunciation.
I don´t know if you remember the talk by president Arnold during general conference (“you stupid cow”), but he´s our area president and so we had a zone conference with him yesterday. It was interesting and he even used the cow story a couple of times. It´s really amazing to see these leaders in the missionary world work. He told us a lot of things we need to change.
Later on that night we had a pretty cool spiritual experience too. We were walking and we passed by one man standing in his doorway, and even though my companion didn´t see him I saw that he was staring at us so I decided to go and contact him. At first he wasn´t receptive but finally Elder Torres asked if we could go in and he said yes. Then we were teaching him and during the lesson we asked him how he felt and he said uncomfortable. That´s not the usual response so I started to panic at what we were going to say next. Then Elder Torres realized and confirmed that he just felt uncomfortable because he grew up Catholic and so this information about Joseph Smith and a restoration were new. So then at the end we invited him to pray and we got down on our knees. He prayed and afterwards said again that he felt uncomfortable. But when we went to leave you could see that the lesson had an effect on him because there was just happiness and peace in his face. That was a pretty cool experience about how the gospel can change lives even if you don´t understand it right away. We are going to go again on Sunday, because he works the rest of the days so it was really a miracle too that we encountered him.
Well, I´m still feeling kind of light headed (from being sick) so I´m going to finish now. Chao.
I don´t know if you remember the talk by president Arnold during general conference (“you stupid cow”), but he´s our area president and so we had a zone conference with him yesterday. It was interesting and he even used the cow story a couple of times. It´s really amazing to see these leaders in the missionary world work. He told us a lot of things we need to change.
Later on that night we had a pretty cool spiritual experience too. We were walking and we passed by one man standing in his doorway, and even though my companion didn´t see him I saw that he was staring at us so I decided to go and contact him. At first he wasn´t receptive but finally Elder Torres asked if we could go in and he said yes. Then we were teaching him and during the lesson we asked him how he felt and he said uncomfortable. That´s not the usual response so I started to panic at what we were going to say next. Then Elder Torres realized and confirmed that he just felt uncomfortable because he grew up Catholic and so this information about Joseph Smith and a restoration were new. So then at the end we invited him to pray and we got down on our knees. He prayed and afterwards said again that he felt uncomfortable. But when we went to leave you could see that the lesson had an effect on him because there was just happiness and peace in his face. That was a pretty cool experience about how the gospel can change lives even if you don´t understand it right away. We are going to go again on Sunday, because he works the rest of the days so it was really a miracle too that we encountered him.
Well, I´m still feeling kind of light headed (from being sick) so I´m going to finish now. Chao.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
October 3, 2010 General Conference
Alright, well I have 20 or so minutes to write, so cool. Yes, we went to a stake center to watch all of general conference, except for priesthood because that started at 9 pm our time and of course we had to be back in our apartment by then. I definitely liked how he was talking about the fundamentals when he lost his voice and said that was something fundamental, he needed to speak! And did you know, they don´t assign talks to the speakers in general conference. They just send them a letter saying "your have been asked to talk at this time for this long, and you will follow so-and-so." I didn´t know if you knew that, but I learned it from a talk Elder Bednar gave to missionaries about following the spirit. So really they are all inspired. I can definitely agree with what was said about video games, and even TV because I think of all the time spent on those and where has it gotten me? I´m not better at making friends and "hanging out" for it, and I could have spent that time practicing piano or fútbol or something that would last me longer. Yeah video games are fun, but in the end they take away from using this time on Earth for other things.
New news. I am still in Grand Bourg, but I have a new companion! My trainer went to Capital and I am here with Elder Torres. He already seems awesome, he talked with the cab driver for 40 minutes about the gospel while we went back to our area and now we are going to pass his name onto the missionaries who live in his area. Also, he is from Salta, Argentina. So I am going to help him learn English and he is going to vastly improve my Castellano. I´ll write more next week when I find out more!
Spiritual Experience for the week: I have learned that attitude changes everything! These past few weeks have been pretty harsh and hard to get through, only because we haven´t been finding many people or entering many houses to teach. Also, we´ve had no investigators in the church for awhile. But yesterday I just woke up and during studies decided that I was fed up with our low numbers so when we left that morning I just started doing contacts in the street. I talked to about 3 or 4 people just from 11 to 12 and we already started receiving references and contacting references, and we entered a house that Elder Nelson has been trying to enter for a long time and we had an excellent lesson and the investigator is interested in listening to us right now. He´s a mago and already understands faith from reading a book called El Secreto. In otherwords, we completed our daily goals, which honestly hasn´t happened a lot with us, and i believe a lot of it had to do with how my attitude changed and I was determined to do the things I should be doing, si o si. So now I will perservar hasta el fin and continue in this attitude. I just need to hang on to this desire to achieve our goals and I believe we will be blessed with more success.
I have to go now, but thanks for all the letters and notifications when somebody writes me.
Con Amor,
Elder Arrowchis
New news. I am still in Grand Bourg, but I have a new companion! My trainer went to Capital and I am here with Elder Torres. He already seems awesome, he talked with the cab driver for 40 minutes about the gospel while we went back to our area and now we are going to pass his name onto the missionaries who live in his area. Also, he is from Salta, Argentina. So I am going to help him learn English and he is going to vastly improve my Castellano. I´ll write more next week when I find out more!
Spiritual Experience for the week: I have learned that attitude changes everything! These past few weeks have been pretty harsh and hard to get through, only because we haven´t been finding many people or entering many houses to teach. Also, we´ve had no investigators in the church for awhile. But yesterday I just woke up and during studies decided that I was fed up with our low numbers so when we left that morning I just started doing contacts in the street. I talked to about 3 or 4 people just from 11 to 12 and we already started receiving references and contacting references, and we entered a house that Elder Nelson has been trying to enter for a long time and we had an excellent lesson and the investigator is interested in listening to us right now. He´s a mago and already understands faith from reading a book called El Secreto. In otherwords, we completed our daily goals, which honestly hasn´t happened a lot with us, and i believe a lot of it had to do with how my attitude changed and I was determined to do the things I should be doing, si o si. So now I will perservar hasta el fin and continue in this attitude. I just need to hang on to this desire to achieve our goals and I believe we will be blessed with more success.
I have to go now, but thanks for all the letters and notifications when somebody writes me.
Con Amor,
Elder Arrowchis
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
September 27, 2010 English & Rubiks Cube
We finally got around to teaching someone we met on the street a couple weeks ago and we started asking him inspired questions. He said that he was taught before by the missionaries but they stopped going by. We finally got around to asking him to be baptized and he accepted before we even finished asking the question. We told him a date but he said that he was going to be busy for a month, and then suggested a date to us. We are going to see him again tomorrow to talk about going to general conference but he is evidence that the Lord does prepare people for the missionaries to teach.
We also met another person on the street and when we passed by his house he was only going to listen to us outside, but we convinced him to let us in. We started teaching but I felt like we should ask questions about (I can´t remember what we asked), and after Elder Nelson asked what he thought the Lord was telling him after we explained the Holy Ghost and he said that the Lord was telling him that he should follow this path. ¡Que Capo! He even accepted to go talk to his boss at work about changing his schedule so that he could go to church on Sunday. They told him no way, but still, the fact that he showed that faith, we don´t meet too many people like that. I don´t know what we are going to do about his Sunday schedule but the Lord will prepare a way. I also noticed how cool it is when somebody listens to our message, the change in their countenance after the lesson is amazing. It is filled with love and happiness.
Our mission president demonstrated how to teach a lesson by only using questions. That way the investigator arrives at their own conclusion that our church is true. And how? Through the spirit of course! When we go to heaven to ask a question, the investigator has to go to heaven to answer it. Therefore the lesson goes from us teaching the investigator to the spirit teaching the investigator. It´s awesome! And incredibly hard...
This has been kind of a long week, and at the same time it flew by, and so I´m having trouble remembering everything that happened. The mission is good and everyday is a rollercoaster, more so than West Point, but I am learning a lot even in my trials. For instance, how much better my day is just by reading at least one chapter from the Book of Mormon a day.
Alright, living conditions. I took pictures of my pensión, but obviously haven´t sent them. An exbishop comes from another zone to do our laundry, so that is sweet only 18 pesos cada semana. A lot of the kids aren´t into computer games, but nearly everyone starts playing soccer from age 2, so even the 5 year old kids are better than me!
Before you send the package (hopefully) I would like you to go to my old institute class, in the adjacent building at the church above Saddleback, and get about 5-7 copies of the "Brother Greiner´s memorized scripture list". It´s front and back filled with scriptures and every missionary I meet wants one, so I want copies just in case they don´t give me the list back after they make a copy. Thanks for the love and support and I´ll go eat an alfajor for you. I now have the recipes for making alfajores and pasta frola!
Quote for the day (and it is so true ) "Missionaries learn two things here in La Gran Buenos Aires Norte Mision, English and how to do the Rubix Cube" - Elder Arrowchis
With love,
Elder Arrowchis
We also met another person on the street and when we passed by his house he was only going to listen to us outside, but we convinced him to let us in. We started teaching but I felt like we should ask questions about (I can´t remember what we asked), and after Elder Nelson asked what he thought the Lord was telling him after we explained the Holy Ghost and he said that the Lord was telling him that he should follow this path. ¡Que Capo! He even accepted to go talk to his boss at work about changing his schedule so that he could go to church on Sunday. They told him no way, but still, the fact that he showed that faith, we don´t meet too many people like that. I don´t know what we are going to do about his Sunday schedule but the Lord will prepare a way. I also noticed how cool it is when somebody listens to our message, the change in their countenance after the lesson is amazing. It is filled with love and happiness.
Our mission president demonstrated how to teach a lesson by only using questions. That way the investigator arrives at their own conclusion that our church is true. And how? Through the spirit of course! When we go to heaven to ask a question, the investigator has to go to heaven to answer it. Therefore the lesson goes from us teaching the investigator to the spirit teaching the investigator. It´s awesome! And incredibly hard...
This has been kind of a long week, and at the same time it flew by, and so I´m having trouble remembering everything that happened. The mission is good and everyday is a rollercoaster, more so than West Point, but I am learning a lot even in my trials. For instance, how much better my day is just by reading at least one chapter from the Book of Mormon a day.
Alright, living conditions. I took pictures of my pensión, but obviously haven´t sent them. An exbishop comes from another zone to do our laundry, so that is sweet only 18 pesos cada semana. A lot of the kids aren´t into computer games, but nearly everyone starts playing soccer from age 2, so even the 5 year old kids are better than me!
Before you send the package (hopefully) I would like you to go to my old institute class, in the adjacent building at the church above Saddleback, and get about 5-7 copies of the "Brother Greiner´s memorized scripture list". It´s front and back filled with scriptures and every missionary I meet wants one, so I want copies just in case they don´t give me the list back after they make a copy. Thanks for the love and support and I´ll go eat an alfajor for you. I now have the recipes for making alfajores and pasta frola!
Quote for the day (and it is so true ) "Missionaries learn two things here in La Gran Buenos Aires Norte Mision, English and how to do the Rubix Cube" - Elder Arrowchis
With love,
Elder Arrowchis
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
September 20, 2010 Teaching with the Spirit
So, stories from this week. We had zone conference on Wednesday and we learned a lot. It was all about the doctrine of Christ, asking inspired questions and planning with the spirit. Before we would just teach all the principles and we would plan by filling up the agenda with investigators and references based on what area we were going to be in for that day. El presidente showed us an example of how to teach a lesson only by using questions!
If you read those scriptures I sent you will see that it is all over the Book of Mormon. So now we are trying to use more and more inspired questions to teach according to the persons needs, and then we teach the doctrine once they come to the conclusion that this church is true on their own. It is really cool and really powerful when it works. My trainer is slightly upset because he says he wishes he would have learned this earlier in his mission. We are also planning by praying for every investigator that we have individually, or in other words, we finish planning what we are going to do tomorrow for an investigator, say a pray for the next one and start throwing out ideas until we reach an agreement (revelation). That too is really cool.
On Saturday we went to look for a reference that other missionaries had given us. We couldn´t actually find their address so we thought it didn´t exist. The missionaries told us also that they lived in front of a farmacy, so naturally as we turned to leave we saw a giant farmacia sign. So we went to the house in front of it and luckily someone was leaving. We asked to speak to their mom, she came out and said that she wasn´t who we were looking for and that she couldn´t talk because her sons weren´t there. Then what happens? Her sons drive up and we start talking with them.
After talking about our message a bit they told us where the person we were looking for lived and we walked to their house. All the houses here have gates around them and this one was especially big. We were just going to write the address down because they wouldn´t have heard us if we clapped, but luckily a kid opened the door to leave. So we asked him if we could talk to the person we were looking for. He said yes and they came out. Then we talked and he even admitted that he didn´t believe our story of finding him was a coincidence. The Lord guided us perfectly to find that family.
We were walking on Sunday and passed by another reference from a member. She wasn´t there so we decided to go to the family who gave us the reference. Guess what, she was there with them and we found out that the family didn´t go to church because they were sick and nobody had come by to give them the sacrament. So we offered to do it and broke some bread there for them. Then we had an amazing lesson full of the spirit and the investigator accepted the challenge to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it to see if it is true. She even prayed after our lesson. The Lord really is guiding the missionary work, and we are just here to do what he tells us to.
You really don´t know what you are missing out by not having Alfajores there. ;D
Love, Elder Arrowchis
If you read those scriptures I sent you will see that it is all over the Book of Mormon. So now we are trying to use more and more inspired questions to teach according to the persons needs, and then we teach the doctrine once they come to the conclusion that this church is true on their own. It is really cool and really powerful when it works. My trainer is slightly upset because he says he wishes he would have learned this earlier in his mission. We are also planning by praying for every investigator that we have individually, or in other words, we finish planning what we are going to do tomorrow for an investigator, say a pray for the next one and start throwing out ideas until we reach an agreement (revelation). That too is really cool.
On Saturday we went to look for a reference that other missionaries had given us. We couldn´t actually find their address so we thought it didn´t exist. The missionaries told us also that they lived in front of a farmacy, so naturally as we turned to leave we saw a giant farmacia sign. So we went to the house in front of it and luckily someone was leaving. We asked to speak to their mom, she came out and said that she wasn´t who we were looking for and that she couldn´t talk because her sons weren´t there. Then what happens? Her sons drive up and we start talking with them.
After talking about our message a bit they told us where the person we were looking for lived and we walked to their house. All the houses here have gates around them and this one was especially big. We were just going to write the address down because they wouldn´t have heard us if we clapped, but luckily a kid opened the door to leave. So we asked him if we could talk to the person we were looking for. He said yes and they came out. Then we talked and he even admitted that he didn´t believe our story of finding him was a coincidence. The Lord guided us perfectly to find that family.
We were walking on Sunday and passed by another reference from a member. She wasn´t there so we decided to go to the family who gave us the reference. Guess what, she was there with them and we found out that the family didn´t go to church because they were sick and nobody had come by to give them the sacrament. So we offered to do it and broke some bread there for them. Then we had an amazing lesson full of the spirit and the investigator accepted the challenge to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it to see if it is true. She even prayed after our lesson. The Lord really is guiding the missionary work, and we are just here to do what he tells us to.
You really don´t know what you are missing out by not having Alfajores there. ;D
Love, Elder Arrowchis
Monday, September 20, 2010
September 13, 2010 Acting on Faith
Alright, first about being compañero mayor. It was interesting, being responsible for my own area without the knowledge of someone else. Planning is extremely difficult because I don´t have too good of an idea of where I should go during the day. Also, revelation most of the time doesn´t hit you like a "duh, that´s what we should do right now," so I´m learning a lot more about acting on faith. It was cool to not be the worst at Castellano though, and I noticed what it is like to train. For instance, whenever I don’t understand something I turn and look at my compañero to translate. When I was with Elder Kelly in my area he would do that to me, and the confusing part, I understood almost all of what was said. The spirit definitely blessed me with the gift of tongues and the interpretation of tongues. Something I did like about spending the week with Elder Kelly is that his trainer does 100 contacts a day or something like that and so he was still accustomed to doing that. He showed me how to just go up and talk to people. It still is hard for me to do them but I have seen that they work.
One example is that we were walking by someone in the street and he was looking at us the whole time as he walked the other way. I have determined now that whenever somebody is staring at us we need to go talk to them, so I did a 90 degree turn and walked straight to him and started talking. He basically gave me his direction so we could go by his house sometime, and that never happens. Can you say, prepared? And that´s not all, while we were talking to him a lady came up to us and started talking about how inactive she is and how she has desires to go back to church and how she carries her triple combination with here that the missionary who baptized her gave her with his testimony in it.
So despite feeling inadequate, we had some success during the week. I did that for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and then Friday night and Saturday I was doing divisions with Elder Dewitt in our district in his area. He has 8 months in the mission but he only has 3 weeks in his area and didn´t have a map, so we got lost a lot. But I did learn that Christ is directing this work and that the spirit will guide us to those who are prepared to receive the gospel in our areas. I went to his area without anything for the rain, because it was hot all day, and then it suddenly started raining. So naturally I got soaked that night. During that time though, after I was good and drenched, we were stopped trying to figure out where we were and how to get to where we wanted to go. If you know me well then you know that when I am in a miserable situation (such as being completely wet) I lose my inhibitions and act out more. So we were standing next to a sewer ditch (uncrossable) and a chico was walking on the other side. So naturally I yelled across the ditch asking where a certain street was. He showed us and then walked across from us until we found it. Then my companion started talking to him and it turned out he lived right in the direction we were headed, so we asked if we could enter and share a message. He accepted right away. Next we proceeded to teach, but we did so horribly. It was a complete mess. But he was so interested that he was basically teaching us how to teach him. We invited him to the church but couldn´t remember the address, we invited him to be baptized but couldn´t remember the next date he could have his baptism so he went and got a calender for us. I also felt the spirit strongly and the thought came to my mind "This is one of my children. Teach him." People don´t come more prepared to hear the gospel than he is. Now here is the miracle. After we left it stopped raining and I know why. It rained so that we would find that boy of 19 years, because if I hadn´t been miserably soaked and had lost my inhibitions, I wouldn´t have yelled across the sewer ditch asking for directions. I would have stood there and maybe glanced at him while my companion pondered some more. That is how I know that Christ is directing this work and as long as I am doing what I am supposed to He will guide those who are prepared to me in a way that I will meet them.
We do have an oven, but it is horrible. We don´t have a clean bake pan, so I used a pot. Now we don´t really have a pot because yes I did bake the apple cake and the center was actually not bad, especially with dulce de leche on it, but the sides and bottom were charred black, thus leaving the pot charred black. So yeah, I hope you can´t wait for me to return so I can cook for you... This week we plan on buying hamburgers and going to Pablo Nogués (Area in our District) to watch "The District: 2" with the other Elders in our District. A lot more ice cream parlors are opening up and we found one that is pretty cheap, so we might pass by there too.
It is raining, but during the week it was hot and humid and I was sweating. It seems that I am doomed to always be wet here in Argentina. But I still love the clouds everyday. Honestly they are better than a painting. It is also cool that I am understanding the members more. They are hilarious here! For example, we were in a meeting with the branch presidency and the president received a text from a member and didn´t want to respond so as he was closing his phone he mumbled the spanish translation of "eat it." Presidente Musmano, que capo.
Okay, if you are looking for something to study, try this:
The leaders in the mission have been receiving training this past week during the day on how to improve their teaching. Read these chapters and verses and look for a pattern that we are implementing now in the mission on how to teach.
- Lord is teaching =>D&C 50:13,15,17,19,21
- Spirit is teaching =>1 Nephi 11:2,4,10,14,16,21
- Nephi is teaching =>1 Nephi 15:8,10,11,12,15
- Aaron is teaching =>Alma 22:7,10,12
Love you and am praying for you,
Elder Arrowchis
One example is that we were walking by someone in the street and he was looking at us the whole time as he walked the other way. I have determined now that whenever somebody is staring at us we need to go talk to them, so I did a 90 degree turn and walked straight to him and started talking. He basically gave me his direction so we could go by his house sometime, and that never happens. Can you say, prepared? And that´s not all, while we were talking to him a lady came up to us and started talking about how inactive she is and how she has desires to go back to church and how she carries her triple combination with here that the missionary who baptized her gave her with his testimony in it.
So despite feeling inadequate, we had some success during the week. I did that for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and then Friday night and Saturday I was doing divisions with Elder Dewitt in our district in his area. He has 8 months in the mission but he only has 3 weeks in his area and didn´t have a map, so we got lost a lot. But I did learn that Christ is directing this work and that the spirit will guide us to those who are prepared to receive the gospel in our areas. I went to his area without anything for the rain, because it was hot all day, and then it suddenly started raining. So naturally I got soaked that night. During that time though, after I was good and drenched, we were stopped trying to figure out where we were and how to get to where we wanted to go. If you know me well then you know that when I am in a miserable situation (such as being completely wet) I lose my inhibitions and act out more. So we were standing next to a sewer ditch (uncrossable) and a chico was walking on the other side. So naturally I yelled across the ditch asking where a certain street was. He showed us and then walked across from us until we found it. Then my companion started talking to him and it turned out he lived right in the direction we were headed, so we asked if we could enter and share a message. He accepted right away. Next we proceeded to teach, but we did so horribly. It was a complete mess. But he was so interested that he was basically teaching us how to teach him. We invited him to the church but couldn´t remember the address, we invited him to be baptized but couldn´t remember the next date he could have his baptism so he went and got a calender for us. I also felt the spirit strongly and the thought came to my mind "This is one of my children. Teach him." People don´t come more prepared to hear the gospel than he is. Now here is the miracle. After we left it stopped raining and I know why. It rained so that we would find that boy of 19 years, because if I hadn´t been miserably soaked and had lost my inhibitions, I wouldn´t have yelled across the sewer ditch asking for directions. I would have stood there and maybe glanced at him while my companion pondered some more. That is how I know that Christ is directing this work and as long as I am doing what I am supposed to He will guide those who are prepared to me in a way that I will meet them.
We do have an oven, but it is horrible. We don´t have a clean bake pan, so I used a pot. Now we don´t really have a pot because yes I did bake the apple cake and the center was actually not bad, especially with dulce de leche on it, but the sides and bottom were charred black, thus leaving the pot charred black. So yeah, I hope you can´t wait for me to return so I can cook for you... This week we plan on buying hamburgers and going to Pablo Nogués (Area in our District) to watch "The District: 2" with the other Elders in our District. A lot more ice cream parlors are opening up and we found one that is pretty cheap, so we might pass by there too.
It is raining, but during the week it was hot and humid and I was sweating. It seems that I am doomed to always be wet here in Argentina. But I still love the clouds everyday. Honestly they are better than a painting. It is also cool that I am understanding the members more. They are hilarious here! For example, we were in a meeting with the branch presidency and the president received a text from a member and didn´t want to respond so as he was closing his phone he mumbled the spanish translation of "eat it." Presidente Musmano, que capo.
Okay, if you are looking for something to study, try this:
The leaders in the mission have been receiving training this past week during the day on how to improve their teaching. Read these chapters and verses and look for a pattern that we are implementing now in the mission on how to teach.
- Lord is teaching =>D&C 50:13,15,17,19,21
- Spirit is teaching =>1 Nephi 11:2,4,10,14,16,21
- Nephi is teaching =>1 Nephi 15:8,10,11,12,15
- Aaron is teaching =>Alma 22:7,10,12
Love you and am praying for you,
Elder Arrowchis
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