April 28, 2009
Hola familia,
It was exciting to hear about all of your adventures with scuba diving and caving. It makes me anxious to join you. I had already heard about that lady on Britain's got talent. It was pretty interesting to hear about.
I still haven't gotten to play tennis and on top of that it's raining pretty hard today. Which means I won't be playing today. Ni modo. It sounds like Matthew and Jonathan are doing pretty well. Are you guys getting tan? I'm really, really white right now. I don't see the sun very much here in Vancouver. Although our last pday was really hot and I got a little sunburned.
Good job on your talk in sacrament meeting Jonathan. You might be surprised but I haven't spoken in a single sacrament meeting since I've been in Washington. Weird huh? Thanks for your amazing letters, Jonathan. I'm always lifted every time I get them. I love seeing the return address with Mom and Dad's names crossed out with "Jonathan" handwritten above. haha.
Spanish Conference was amazing! I got to see all of the Spanish missionaries from the entire mission. So I got to see all my friends who are still in Pasco. Besides that though there was some really good training. First we heard from President Alder. His topic was faith unto repentance. He gave us lots of good ideas on how to help people act on their faith and do something about it. The thing that was great about it was that he focused a lot on the culture of the Spanish people and gave us suggestions on how to be more polite and have a greater influence. The other speaker was President Piñon. He was so sincere during his role-play examples that he even began to cry. You could feel how much he loved those who were acting as the investigators. He was also the one who translated at the Mexico temple rededication. Which was really cool because I got to watch that. It's funny how small of a world this is.
Which reminds me... Dad. I met a guy named Jacob who went to BYU and got a bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering. And he was so excited that I knew Mike Jensen. He just couldn't get over it. And what's more he is not a member of the Church. He was born in Jerusalem and his native tongue is Arabic. But he speaks English perfectly. He's going to be going back for this fall semester to get a degree in law. He's already been accepted into the program. He'll be going at the same time as Elder Dudoich. I'll try and get them to meet each other.
Raquel is doing great. She came to sacrament meeting this last Sunday. We were so excited about that. She's even been changing her work schedule so that she would have more time to meet with us. Isn't that so cool?
We haven't been able to meet with the other group of people that I talked about last time. So, no update with them.
I've been meaning to tell you for a long time. That picture where I was wearing a shrunken sweater; it wasn't mine. It was Elder Blomquist's. So you don't need to worry. I still have all of my sweaters intact and wearable.
I've been looking for the smartsensors here dad but haven't found any. I've found lots of products from competition. I'll keep my eyes open though. Our area covers pretty much everything north and west of road 500. Maybe you could find out where they are installed so I could go find them. I think Elder Tracy would love to see them almost as much as me. I've already told him all about that stuff.
Amy, you're going to be out of the MTC before you know it. Don't worry about not being ready for Spanish when you get to Chile. Because you won't be. Two months is just almost no time at all to become fluent in a language. The harder you work though, the quicker it will come. Just don't get frustrated and keep grinding away. It took me about six months to finally feel comfortable with it. I'm glad you've noticed the power of teaching with the spirit though. That is MORE important than speaking Spanish well. Just a quick example. We were teaching Raquel the other day and having a hard time helping her understand a specific principle. Elder Tracy and I were both praying that she would understand what we were teaching and then just out of nowhere we hear this, "Ohhhhh, I get it now". The spirit just, boom, put it into her brain. What we couldn't explain to her the spirit could. As long as we give it all we’ve got, the rest will be made up.
Matthew my Homie G. What's going on with you besides being busy with school, tennis, scuba diving, and caving? Tell me about Washington D.C. too. Do you still wear some of my clothes? How tall are you and Jonathan?
I love you so much my dear family,
Elder Benjamin Arnold
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
I like to pull weeds!
April 21, 2009
Hola familia,
I'll start by answering all of your questions. It is a little harder to find people to teach here in Vancouver. But Heavenly Father is leading us to them so it's still fairly easy. There are four of us Elders in the Spanish branch here. Elder Godinez, Elder Rodriguez, Elder Tracy, and myself.
I haven't yet sent that winter stuff package. I have it all packed up in a box and just need to send it. Hopefully I'll get that done really soon though. I got the Spanish Cds. They came after I got to Vancouver. But that's okay. There's a Spanish zone conference coming up, actually it's tomorrow. I'm super excited about it. So, I'll see Elder Blomquist and I'll give it to him to give to Ramona Marin. It'll be really exciting to see all of my missionary friends from Pasco again.
The family we live with are the Boyle's. They're an awesome family. I've been enjoying something that I didn't like doing at home very much. And that is weeding! Sometimes in the morning we use it for our exercise. We go outside and work hard in their yard for a half an hour. We've made quite a bit of progress already. I never thought that I would enjoy doing something like that so much. It also makes exercise and working out time a lot quicker and more fun.
I think that I'm finally going to go play tennis today!!! Elder Tracy bought himself an inexpensive racquet. We probably won't play for very long but I'm excited for it. We're also going to play ultimate frisbee and work on tuning up our bikes.
Wow, we've had such a good week. Our area is really starting to pick up. I want to tell you about a few of the people that we're teaching right now. The first is Raquel. It was an interesting story how we found her. We were tracting in some apartments. We could tell that most of the people were white. You get an eye for finding Hispanic people after a while. But there were a bunch of kids outside playing. I started talking to them and started talking about Jesus Christ and why we were there. They also loved the pass-along cards that I gave to them. I've probably given them at least 50 cards all together (we've seen them a couple of times). They pointed out all of the apartment rooms where the Hispanic people live. Which was about three I think. Well it turns out that one of them was Raquel. She was really nice to us and asked us to come back the next day. So we did. And she was there! Sometimes that's a surprise to us. She let us in and we taught her a different kind of first lesson which was led by the spirit. She started talking about how there are so many churches and that she's searched for quite a bit of her life, trying to find one that feels right. And after a while she just gave up. She got frustrated. So if you can see where we went with this, we shared with her the story of Joseph Smith. And how he had the same kind of questions that she has. We read the account straight out of the Joseph Smith History. It was so powerful and amazing. She was full of questions afterward. After answering all of them and having her be satisfied with our answers I was feeling really guided and like my tongue was loose. I got to say some stuff like, "Raquel, here is the answer you've been looking for." It was so much fun!!! Probably the time when my mind is the most focused on missionary work is while I'm teaching. Everything just leaves my mind. And the spirit just comes in so strongly. Since that day we've had two more appointments with her. Actually, maybe one. My memory isn't very good. She's making so much progress. And I can see it in her eyes when we teach her that deep inside she knows it's true.
Well, have a great week family. I can't wait to go caving and scuba diving with you in the near future.
Love, Elder Benjamin Arnold
Hola familia,
I'll start by answering all of your questions. It is a little harder to find people to teach here in Vancouver. But Heavenly Father is leading us to them so it's still fairly easy. There are four of us Elders in the Spanish branch here. Elder Godinez, Elder Rodriguez, Elder Tracy, and myself.
I haven't yet sent that winter stuff package. I have it all packed up in a box and just need to send it. Hopefully I'll get that done really soon though. I got the Spanish Cds. They came after I got to Vancouver. But that's okay. There's a Spanish zone conference coming up, actually it's tomorrow. I'm super excited about it. So, I'll see Elder Blomquist and I'll give it to him to give to Ramona Marin. It'll be really exciting to see all of my missionary friends from Pasco again.
The family we live with are the Boyle's. They're an awesome family. I've been enjoying something that I didn't like doing at home very much. And that is weeding! Sometimes in the morning we use it for our exercise. We go outside and work hard in their yard for a half an hour. We've made quite a bit of progress already. I never thought that I would enjoy doing something like that so much. It also makes exercise and working out time a lot quicker and more fun.
I think that I'm finally going to go play tennis today!!! Elder Tracy bought himself an inexpensive racquet. We probably won't play for very long but I'm excited for it. We're also going to play ultimate frisbee and work on tuning up our bikes.
Wow, we've had such a good week. Our area is really starting to pick up. I want to tell you about a few of the people that we're teaching right now. The first is Raquel. It was an interesting story how we found her. We were tracting in some apartments. We could tell that most of the people were white. You get an eye for finding Hispanic people after a while. But there were a bunch of kids outside playing. I started talking to them and started talking about Jesus Christ and why we were there. They also loved the pass-along cards that I gave to them. I've probably given them at least 50 cards all together (we've seen them a couple of times). They pointed out all of the apartment rooms where the Hispanic people live. Which was about three I think. Well it turns out that one of them was Raquel. She was really nice to us and asked us to come back the next day. So we did. And she was there! Sometimes that's a surprise to us. She let us in and we taught her a different kind of first lesson which was led by the spirit. She started talking about how there are so many churches and that she's searched for quite a bit of her life, trying to find one that feels right. And after a while she just gave up. She got frustrated. So if you can see where we went with this, we shared with her the story of Joseph Smith. And how he had the same kind of questions that she has. We read the account straight out of the Joseph Smith History. It was so powerful and amazing. She was full of questions afterward. After answering all of them and having her be satisfied with our answers I was feeling really guided and like my tongue was loose. I got to say some stuff like, "Raquel, here is the answer you've been looking for." It was so much fun!!! Probably the time when my mind is the most focused on missionary work is while I'm teaching. Everything just leaves my mind. And the spirit just comes in so strongly. Since that day we've had two more appointments with her. Actually, maybe one. My memory isn't very good. She's making so much progress. And I can see it in her eyes when we teach her that deep inside she knows it's true.
Well, have a great week family. I can't wait to go caving and scuba diving with you in the near future.
Love, Elder Benjamin Arnold
Friday, April 17, 2009
Biking in the mud
April 14, 2009
Hola familia,
I did get my Easter package. I also got one from Grandma. So I've been spoiled. I've got a lot of candy now so I'm going to be a hyper boy this week.
I've never seen the video of Amy opening her mission call. That would be cool to see. I didn't see it in the Easter package. Maybe I'll look a little harder just to make sure that I didn't miss it.
I'm loving it here in Vancouver. It has rained quite a bit but I'm really enjoying it. Amy instilled a love for rain in me. The members that we live with have been out of town for quite a while and only just barely got back last night. So I haven't had that much of an opportunity to get to know them other than just this morning.
My new companion's name is Elder Aaron Tracy. He is from California. He's been out three transfers so this is his fourth. It's really funny because we have so much in common. We're both computer nerds! We've had a few intense discussions. Just while we're driving in the car getting from appointment to appointment. That's the other thing. Vancouver is so much bigger. And there are fewer Hispanic people. It's like less than 4% population of Hispanic. Which is so much different from Pasco.
We had a really nice Easter dinner with the Reshke family. The food was great. They both served Spanish speaking missions. And they attend the Spanish branch. Brother Reshke served in Chile. So I was excited to tell them about Amy going there soon. Also President Alder, our ward mission leader, served as a mission president in Chile. So many connections to Chile. I heard that the Spanish down there is crazy. That they slur lots of words together. They also cut off practically all of their s's.
Elder Tracy and I just found this really awesome group of people that we're teaching. They are three couples that all hang out at one house. All three of the guys are out of work right now. It's so much fun teaching them. There was a time when we were teaching them that I was so overcome by the spirit that I felt like I was trembling. Everything was completely silent in the room with all their attention fixed on us. It was amazing. I don't ever think that I've taught that powerfully with the spirit.
I didn't really have any allergies in Pasco. But when I first got here my eyes started to itch and my nose was irritating me, so I had to take some medicine at first but now I feel better and it's not bothering me.
I did remember to bring my bike with me, which we have already used quite a bit. Now that's a story. Our car has to get the rear brakes replaced so we've been doing a bunch of bike riding. We'll be able to use the car again on Wednesday evening. We rode up and down some really big hills. We also rode next to some railroad tracks in the rain and mud. It was so much fun! We also watched some Hispanic people play volleyball for a while. We tried to play with them but it began to rain really hard and they stopped playing.
Have a great week, I love you
Elder Ben Arnold
Hola familia,
I did get my Easter package. I also got one from Grandma. So I've been spoiled. I've got a lot of candy now so I'm going to be a hyper boy this week.
I've never seen the video of Amy opening her mission call. That would be cool to see. I didn't see it in the Easter package. Maybe I'll look a little harder just to make sure that I didn't miss it.
I'm loving it here in Vancouver. It has rained quite a bit but I'm really enjoying it. Amy instilled a love for rain in me. The members that we live with have been out of town for quite a while and only just barely got back last night. So I haven't had that much of an opportunity to get to know them other than just this morning.
My new companion's name is Elder Aaron Tracy. He is from California. He's been out three transfers so this is his fourth. It's really funny because we have so much in common. We're both computer nerds! We've had a few intense discussions. Just while we're driving in the car getting from appointment to appointment. That's the other thing. Vancouver is so much bigger. And there are fewer Hispanic people. It's like less than 4% population of Hispanic. Which is so much different from Pasco.
We had a really nice Easter dinner with the Reshke family. The food was great. They both served Spanish speaking missions. And they attend the Spanish branch. Brother Reshke served in Chile. So I was excited to tell them about Amy going there soon. Also President Alder, our ward mission leader, served as a mission president in Chile. So many connections to Chile. I heard that the Spanish down there is crazy. That they slur lots of words together. They also cut off practically all of their s's.
Elder Tracy and I just found this really awesome group of people that we're teaching. They are three couples that all hang out at one house. All three of the guys are out of work right now. It's so much fun teaching them. There was a time when we were teaching them that I was so overcome by the spirit that I felt like I was trembling. Everything was completely silent in the room with all their attention fixed on us. It was amazing. I don't ever think that I've taught that powerfully with the spirit.
I didn't really have any allergies in Pasco. But when I first got here my eyes started to itch and my nose was irritating me, so I had to take some medicine at first but now I feel better and it's not bothering me.
I did remember to bring my bike with me, which we have already used quite a bit. Now that's a story. Our car has to get the rear brakes replaced so we've been doing a bunch of bike riding. We'll be able to use the car again on Wednesday evening. We rode up and down some really big hills. We also rode next to some railroad tracks in the rain and mud. It was so much fun! We also watched some Hispanic people play volleyball for a while. We tried to play with them but it began to rain really hard and they stopped playing.
Have a great week, I love you
Elder Ben Arnold
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Transfer!
April 7, 2009
Bueno familia,
Well, I found out what's happening this transfer. And I'm not staying in Pasco. On Wednesday (tomorrow) I'm heading over to the West side of the Mission. I'm going to Vancouver. Vancouver west to be specific. My new companions name is Elder Tracy. Not sure how you spell it yet. He's younger than me in the mission so I'll have to be the senior companion. I was hoping to go junior this transfer. Oh well. I'm excited to see a greener part of Washington. I'll miss all of the awesome friends that I've met here.
I've been cursed to move. This will be my fifth time moving. And I've only been in one area. I don't think that is very normal. I guess that I'm getting pretty good at it. Luckily some of my stuff was still packed from two weeks ago when we moved into the Strebel's.
This last week Elder Waldo has been really sick. He had a temperature of 103.8. That's ridiculous. So we spent quite a bit of time helping them go to their appointments and things like that.
Elder Blomquist and I went to breakfast this morning at Denny's, in honor of us being separated. The waitress was LDS and gave us lots of extra food. And then a guy who is a brother of some people we're teaching paid for our meal. That was so cool. We left a big tip though.
Conference was awesome!!! I loved Elder Holland's talk. The brethren threw it down this time. I also thought it was cool when President Monson said, "CEASE NOW". That was really bold. I also really appreciated Elder Perry. Talking about member missionary work. How we're an underutilized tool. And how we waste most of our time finding when that's not our calling. Hopefully that motivates people to get going on missionary work. Also the conference was broadcast to our stake center in both English and Spanish.
I still whistle quite a bit. I don't mean to; it just kind of comes out.
I'm going to send a bunch of my stuff home before I leave tomorrow. It's all of my winter clothes stuff. It has made it easier to pack.
Yeah, I did buy a tennis racket. I have wanted to play so bad. I haven't been able to use it still. Maybe I'll get to today. Maybe Elder Tracy plays. That would be neat.
I haven't gotten the Spanish Book of Mormon on Cd yet. Maybe it'll come today. If not I'll just mail it to Elder Blomquist. He's staying here in Pasco. His new companion is Elder Viera. He's from Brooklyn and 27 years old. He's been out for over a year. I'm sure that Elder Blomquist will like him.
I love you,
Have a great week, and good luck with tennis Matthew and Jonathan,
Elder Benjamin Arnold
Bueno familia,
Well, I found out what's happening this transfer. And I'm not staying in Pasco. On Wednesday (tomorrow) I'm heading over to the West side of the Mission. I'm going to Vancouver. Vancouver west to be specific. My new companions name is Elder Tracy. Not sure how you spell it yet. He's younger than me in the mission so I'll have to be the senior companion. I was hoping to go junior this transfer. Oh well. I'm excited to see a greener part of Washington. I'll miss all of the awesome friends that I've met here.
I've been cursed to move. This will be my fifth time moving. And I've only been in one area. I don't think that is very normal. I guess that I'm getting pretty good at it. Luckily some of my stuff was still packed from two weeks ago when we moved into the Strebel's.
This last week Elder Waldo has been really sick. He had a temperature of 103.8. That's ridiculous. So we spent quite a bit of time helping them go to their appointments and things like that.
Elder Blomquist and I went to breakfast this morning at Denny's, in honor of us being separated. The waitress was LDS and gave us lots of extra food. And then a guy who is a brother of some people we're teaching paid for our meal. That was so cool. We left a big tip though.
Conference was awesome!!! I loved Elder Holland's talk. The brethren threw it down this time. I also thought it was cool when President Monson said, "CEASE NOW". That was really bold. I also really appreciated Elder Perry. Talking about member missionary work. How we're an underutilized tool. And how we waste most of our time finding when that's not our calling. Hopefully that motivates people to get going on missionary work. Also the conference was broadcast to our stake center in both English and Spanish.
I still whistle quite a bit. I don't mean to; it just kind of comes out.
I'm going to send a bunch of my stuff home before I leave tomorrow. It's all of my winter clothes stuff. It has made it easier to pack.
Yeah, I did buy a tennis racket. I have wanted to play so bad. I haven't been able to use it still. Maybe I'll get to today. Maybe Elder Tracy plays. That would be neat.
I haven't gotten the Spanish Book of Mormon on Cd yet. Maybe it'll come today. If not I'll just mail it to Elder Blomquist. He's staying here in Pasco. His new companion is Elder Viera. He's from Brooklyn and 27 years old. He's been out for over a year. I'm sure that Elder Blomquist will like him.
I love you,
Have a great week, and good luck with tennis Matthew and Jonathan,
Elder Benjamin Arnold
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Elder Arnold gets spicy!
March 31, 2009
Hola familia,
I heard about the Spanish Bible. We're so stoked about it. We'll actually have something good to study out of. It's funny, because our current bible that we have contains a whole bunch of notes and things in the back that are all false doctrine. We're going to be really anxious until September. They announced it at our last sacrament meeting.
Good job on tennis, Matthew and Jonathan. You probably noticed mom but I bought a tennis racket. I've been itching to play so bad. I haven't had the time to use it yet though. So hopefully today I'll get to go and serve some for a little while.
It sounds like scuba diving was fun. I can't wait to go and try it with you. I think I'll probably be with mom and Jonathan the whole time. I always have problems with my ears on airplanes so it'll probably be the same with scuba diving.
I'm getting a little better at eating spicy foods. Since we eat some every once in a while. If you remember I never liked any amount of spiciness before I left on my mission. I even thought that those red cinnamon jelly beans were hot. Now those are nothing. So I'm making some improvement.
There were two baptisms this last Saturday. One investigator from the sisters and one from the zone leaders. It was really cool. Oh did I tell you? I've translated in sacrament meeting now once and also at a baptism. From Spanish to English. It was lots of fun. It's fun to have made so much progress in Spanish in just the last two transfers.
I guess that I have two sisters now. Amy and Andrea. I guess it'll kind of be like coming home to a new baby girl in the family. Ha ha. Just kidding. It's too bad that I'm not there to join in on the fun with Matthew and Jonathan.
We are currently living with the Strebel's. Our new address is 4820 W Margaret, Pasco WA 99301 (If anyone wants to write to Ben, he may only be at this address for a week, so send letters to his mission office address). The Matson's and the Strebel's both went out of town for a little bit so we're babysitting two houses. The Strebel's are really cool. They're good friends with the Matson's and moved into Pasco at about the same time as each other.
We'll find about transfers this upcoming Saturday. And transfer day is on the 8th, which is Wednesday. So I'll tell you what's happening next Tuesday.
Edgar and Lilian are doing really well. We just showed them lds.org. And they're really impressed that all of the scriptures and everything is online free to download. Edgar is going to put some of the scriptures on his MP3 player and listen to it at work instead of other books or music. We're super excited about that. He doesn't like reading as much because he doesn't understand it as well as when he hears it. Their son Justin is really cool. He just walks around during the lesson and he loves getting into the food. He always gives us high fives now. I love teaching that family.
Maria and Juan. We had an appointment with Maria just the other day. We had an inspired lesson with her. We were going to teach her about the plan of salvation but we diverted following the spirit. She was telling us about one of her sons that's been causing her a lot of heart-ache. So we shared Mosiah 27 and Alma 39. We read some of the highlights of the chapters and helped relate them to her situation. It was an amazing spiritual lesson. She was really apologetic about not having done the reading assignment and she promised very sincerely that she would do it this time.
Rafael and Maria. We actually haven't been able to visit them again yet. So we'll tell you more about them next week.
Well, have a great week.
I love you super a lot
Elder Benjamin Arnold
Hola familia,
I heard about the Spanish Bible. We're so stoked about it. We'll actually have something good to study out of. It's funny, because our current bible that we have contains a whole bunch of notes and things in the back that are all false doctrine. We're going to be really anxious until September. They announced it at our last sacrament meeting.
Good job on tennis, Matthew and Jonathan. You probably noticed mom but I bought a tennis racket. I've been itching to play so bad. I haven't had the time to use it yet though. So hopefully today I'll get to go and serve some for a little while.
It sounds like scuba diving was fun. I can't wait to go and try it with you. I think I'll probably be with mom and Jonathan the whole time. I always have problems with my ears on airplanes so it'll probably be the same with scuba diving.
I'm getting a little better at eating spicy foods. Since we eat some every once in a while. If you remember I never liked any amount of spiciness before I left on my mission. I even thought that those red cinnamon jelly beans were hot. Now those are nothing. So I'm making some improvement.
There were two baptisms this last Saturday. One investigator from the sisters and one from the zone leaders. It was really cool. Oh did I tell you? I've translated in sacrament meeting now once and also at a baptism. From Spanish to English. It was lots of fun. It's fun to have made so much progress in Spanish in just the last two transfers.
I guess that I have two sisters now. Amy and Andrea. I guess it'll kind of be like coming home to a new baby girl in the family. Ha ha. Just kidding. It's too bad that I'm not there to join in on the fun with Matthew and Jonathan.
We are currently living with the Strebel's. Our new address is 4820 W Margaret, Pasco WA 99301 (If anyone wants to write to Ben, he may only be at this address for a week, so send letters to his mission office address). The Matson's and the Strebel's both went out of town for a little bit so we're babysitting two houses. The Strebel's are really cool. They're good friends with the Matson's and moved into Pasco at about the same time as each other.
We'll find about transfers this upcoming Saturday. And transfer day is on the 8th, which is Wednesday. So I'll tell you what's happening next Tuesday.
Edgar and Lilian are doing really well. We just showed them lds.org. And they're really impressed that all of the scriptures and everything is online free to download. Edgar is going to put some of the scriptures on his MP3 player and listen to it at work instead of other books or music. We're super excited about that. He doesn't like reading as much because he doesn't understand it as well as when he hears it. Their son Justin is really cool. He just walks around during the lesson and he loves getting into the food. He always gives us high fives now. I love teaching that family.
Maria and Juan. We had an appointment with Maria just the other day. We had an inspired lesson with her. We were going to teach her about the plan of salvation but we diverted following the spirit. She was telling us about one of her sons that's been causing her a lot of heart-ache. So we shared Mosiah 27 and Alma 39. We read some of the highlights of the chapters and helped relate them to her situation. It was an amazing spiritual lesson. She was really apologetic about not having done the reading assignment and she promised very sincerely that she would do it this time.
Rafael and Maria. We actually haven't been able to visit them again yet. So we'll tell you more about them next week.
Well, have a great week.
I love you super a lot
Elder Benjamin Arnold
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Awesome week!
March 24, 2009
Hello family,
How are you doing? This has been an awesome week! Our baptism on Sunday went really well. The sisters also had a baptism. The two people were Ramona Marin and Maydelis Suarez. Socorro, Ramona Marin's son was the one that baptized her. And Elder Dudoich baptized Maydelis. There was a really big turn out. It was just a lot of fun. So they'll both be confirmed this upcoming Sunday.
The Pasco Library reopened today!!! Now we don't have to drive extra far to get to the library. They put in a lot more computers, which has been really nice. And the time is for an hour straight without any interruptions!!! They got new computers and the keyboards are amazing. Just thought you'd like to know that.
Tell Natalia congratulations on her baptism. I'm glad that it went so well. It's always so exciting to take part in them.
Wow, I can't believe you're so tall Matthew and Jonathan. You've both just about got me caught. Well, I was expecting this day to come anyway. I can see the changes in all the pictures that you send. Since I don't see you as often your maturity is more obvious to me.
Did I tell you about the chicken coop that we roofed? That was what I thought of when you told me about Dad, Matthew and Jonathan all working on those garden boxes.
Transfers are coming up pretty soon. They'll be on the 8th of this next month. I don't think I'll be staying in Pasco but we'll find out. I'll be sad if I do leave. Also we got a phone call that made me sad this morning. Elder Dudoich told us that we are moving out of the Matson's today. We didn't even have a clue that that was going to happen. The Matson's don't even know yet. Sad huh. I don't know what I'm going to do without them. It's going to be so weird.
Tomasa is doing pretty well. We've had a hard time getting a hold of her lately. She has been busy with her family and things like that. We're hoping that she's really close to baptism though. She loves the Book of Mormon. And understands that it is the word of God. It's just been a little bit of a struggle to get her to read on her own and pray to receive a spiritual confirmation. That's the way most people we teach are though.
We were given some cool new investigators this last week by the Lord. The first ones live next to a member who's been their friend for a long time. Their names are Rafael and Maria. Rafael loves talking about politics and stuff. He has so many ideas and theories about things. They were really cool. They both love talking. So I'm afraid we might get stuck in a long lesson with them sometime. I'm really excited to start teaching them though.
The other family we found was somebody that had been taught a little bit before by missionaries. We tracted into their door and their daughter answered. We left our number with them and asked her to give it to her parents. Then just a few days ago we got a call. Juan who was recently in jail called and asked us to come over because he thought that Maria needed to get closer to God because she is going through some really hard times in her life right now. So we went over and had an awesome first lesson with them. Elder Blomquist asked Maria to say the prayer at the end of the lesson, guided by the spirit. She started to cry during the prayer and couldn't finish. It was a very spiritual experience. We shared some comforting scriptures form the Book of Mormon. That is a powerful book and she knows it now. I can't wait to tell you about our next appointment.
We're teaching another family that I don't think I've told you about. Their names are Edgar and Lilian. They have an autistic son. We've had about four lessons with them so far. They are solid. The only real obstacle they have is getting to church. They're a little nervous about bringing their son to church. But we already have a family in the branch with autism. So we've been working on getting them talking to each to share ideas and help them feel confident.
I got your package! Thank you for all the wonderful little snacks and for the sets of scriptures. I'm excited to give them away. I don't think we'll give one to Hna Marin because she is partially blind and can't read as a result. Do you think you could find some CD's with the scriptures on them? It would be nice for her to be able to at least listen.
I sent Amy a letter the other day. I drew flowers and stuff all over it. I included a bunch of pictures with stuff written on it and then also some pamphlets from a Baptist church. I need to send you some of those pamphlets too. They’re really cool. Most of them are in Spanish.
Did you like your birthday present Matthew? I'm sorry the card was late. I thought I got it in the mail on time. I guess not. Write Amy soon. She would love to hear from you. Make it a good letter, include lots of details. Tell her how much you love her. Okay Homie G. Gracias.
I'm glad you’re on the tennis team, Jonathan. Keep working hard. Remember I only won one match my entire freshmen year. Most of the time it was a shut out 6-0 or 8-0.
It's Elder Anderson's birthday today. He turned 21. We woke him up this morning with silly string and party hats that had Dora the explorer on them. It was really fun. Hopefully we made it enjoyable for him. Then we took him out for breakfast this morning. It was lots of fun.
Have a great week. Love, Elder Benjamin Arnold
Hello family,
How are you doing? This has been an awesome week! Our baptism on Sunday went really well. The sisters also had a baptism. The two people were Ramona Marin and Maydelis Suarez. Socorro, Ramona Marin's son was the one that baptized her. And Elder Dudoich baptized Maydelis. There was a really big turn out. It was just a lot of fun. So they'll both be confirmed this upcoming Sunday.
The Pasco Library reopened today!!! Now we don't have to drive extra far to get to the library. They put in a lot more computers, which has been really nice. And the time is for an hour straight without any interruptions!!! They got new computers and the keyboards are amazing. Just thought you'd like to know that.
Tell Natalia congratulations on her baptism. I'm glad that it went so well. It's always so exciting to take part in them.
Wow, I can't believe you're so tall Matthew and Jonathan. You've both just about got me caught. Well, I was expecting this day to come anyway. I can see the changes in all the pictures that you send. Since I don't see you as often your maturity is more obvious to me.
Did I tell you about the chicken coop that we roofed? That was what I thought of when you told me about Dad, Matthew and Jonathan all working on those garden boxes.
Transfers are coming up pretty soon. They'll be on the 8th of this next month. I don't think I'll be staying in Pasco but we'll find out. I'll be sad if I do leave. Also we got a phone call that made me sad this morning. Elder Dudoich told us that we are moving out of the Matson's today. We didn't even have a clue that that was going to happen. The Matson's don't even know yet. Sad huh. I don't know what I'm going to do without them. It's going to be so weird.
Tomasa is doing pretty well. We've had a hard time getting a hold of her lately. She has been busy with her family and things like that. We're hoping that she's really close to baptism though. She loves the Book of Mormon. And understands that it is the word of God. It's just been a little bit of a struggle to get her to read on her own and pray to receive a spiritual confirmation. That's the way most people we teach are though.
We were given some cool new investigators this last week by the Lord. The first ones live next to a member who's been their friend for a long time. Their names are Rafael and Maria. Rafael loves talking about politics and stuff. He has so many ideas and theories about things. They were really cool. They both love talking. So I'm afraid we might get stuck in a long lesson with them sometime. I'm really excited to start teaching them though.
The other family we found was somebody that had been taught a little bit before by missionaries. We tracted into their door and their daughter answered. We left our number with them and asked her to give it to her parents. Then just a few days ago we got a call. Juan who was recently in jail called and asked us to come over because he thought that Maria needed to get closer to God because she is going through some really hard times in her life right now. So we went over and had an awesome first lesson with them. Elder Blomquist asked Maria to say the prayer at the end of the lesson, guided by the spirit. She started to cry during the prayer and couldn't finish. It was a very spiritual experience. We shared some comforting scriptures form the Book of Mormon. That is a powerful book and she knows it now. I can't wait to tell you about our next appointment.
We're teaching another family that I don't think I've told you about. Their names are Edgar and Lilian. They have an autistic son. We've had about four lessons with them so far. They are solid. The only real obstacle they have is getting to church. They're a little nervous about bringing their son to church. But we already have a family in the branch with autism. So we've been working on getting them talking to each to share ideas and help them feel confident.
I got your package! Thank you for all the wonderful little snacks and for the sets of scriptures. I'm excited to give them away. I don't think we'll give one to Hna Marin because she is partially blind and can't read as a result. Do you think you could find some CD's with the scriptures on them? It would be nice for her to be able to at least listen.
I sent Amy a letter the other day. I drew flowers and stuff all over it. I included a bunch of pictures with stuff written on it and then also some pamphlets from a Baptist church. I need to send you some of those pamphlets too. They’re really cool. Most of them are in Spanish.
Did you like your birthday present Matthew? I'm sorry the card was late. I thought I got it in the mail on time. I guess not. Write Amy soon. She would love to hear from you. Make it a good letter, include lots of details. Tell her how much you love her. Okay Homie G. Gracias.
I'm glad you’re on the tennis team, Jonathan. Keep working hard. Remember I only won one match my entire freshmen year. Most of the time it was a shut out 6-0 or 8-0.
It's Elder Anderson's birthday today. He turned 21. We woke him up this morning with silly string and party hats that had Dora the explorer on them. It was really fun. Hopefully we made it enjoyable for him. Then we took him out for breakfast this morning. It was lots of fun.
Have a great week. Love, Elder Benjamin Arnold
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Happy St. Patrick's Day
March 13, 2009
Hola Familia,
Buenos dias means good morning too. And hombros are shoulders. And you did spell it right. Good job! You are learning Spanish. The hardest part about learning Spanish is just learning all the words. The grammar and everything is pretty easy to pick up.
It's exciting to hear how Amy's doing. Make sure you tell me her email address as soon as you find out. Tell her that I love her. Maybe you could forward this letter to her.
That's exciting to hear that Natalia's getting baptized. We have a baptism coming up this Saturday! Ramona Marin. She's been taught for quite a while and she's an older lady. Her interview is today and that should go well. Her son, Socorro, is going to be the one baptizing her.
I sent Matthew's birthday card this morning. So it should get there on his birthday. It has all of my pictures in it as well as my old MSF, credit, card. It got compromised and I got a new one. I thought you might like to see it. Also one of the SD cards in there is one that I bought here in Washington. The 4GB one. It was only $15. It was such a good deal I had to take it.
Yes! Jonathan is a tennis player. Keep playing and working hard at it everyday and you'll start seeing the results in no time. Remember that I was a terrible tennis player when I was a freshmen (and I'm still not that good, but that's not the point). There was only one other person that tried out besides me. Lucky me.
That present for Matthew sounded just like what I wanted to get him. Hopefully he'll enjoy it and use it. I would've liked to have had one of those during high school. I would've used it all the time. So, have fun Matthew!
Invitation Sunday was kind of a bummer. Out of all the members we visited and talked to about it only one brought a friend. That was really sad. And then the talks went on forever. The first two speakers took up all of the time. And the other 4 speakers still gave their talks. So it ended up being over an hour and a half. And almost none of our investigators were there because they all had visitors and things. Oh well, it was still uplifting for those who came. Hopefully the next time it comes around it will be a little more successful in the branch. I probably won't be here next time though. That's a sad thought.
The Matson's will be moving, sometime. I have no idea when. They are going to sell their house before they move. And they still have a ton of stuff that they haven't packed. Actually haven't really even started that much. Which makes me really happy. I don't want to leave the Matson's. I love 'em to death.
Happy Saint Patrick's Day,
I love you,
Elder Benjamin Arnold
Hola Familia,
Buenos dias means good morning too. And hombros are shoulders. And you did spell it right. Good job! You are learning Spanish. The hardest part about learning Spanish is just learning all the words. The grammar and everything is pretty easy to pick up.
It's exciting to hear how Amy's doing. Make sure you tell me her email address as soon as you find out. Tell her that I love her. Maybe you could forward this letter to her.
That's exciting to hear that Natalia's getting baptized. We have a baptism coming up this Saturday! Ramona Marin. She's been taught for quite a while and she's an older lady. Her interview is today and that should go well. Her son, Socorro, is going to be the one baptizing her.
I sent Matthew's birthday card this morning. So it should get there on his birthday. It has all of my pictures in it as well as my old MSF, credit, card. It got compromised and I got a new one. I thought you might like to see it. Also one of the SD cards in there is one that I bought here in Washington. The 4GB one. It was only $15. It was such a good deal I had to take it.
Yes! Jonathan is a tennis player. Keep playing and working hard at it everyday and you'll start seeing the results in no time. Remember that I was a terrible tennis player when I was a freshmen (and I'm still not that good, but that's not the point). There was only one other person that tried out besides me. Lucky me.
That present for Matthew sounded just like what I wanted to get him. Hopefully he'll enjoy it and use it. I would've liked to have had one of those during high school. I would've used it all the time. So, have fun Matthew!
Invitation Sunday was kind of a bummer. Out of all the members we visited and talked to about it only one brought a friend. That was really sad. And then the talks went on forever. The first two speakers took up all of the time. And the other 4 speakers still gave their talks. So it ended up being over an hour and a half. And almost none of our investigators were there because they all had visitors and things. Oh well, it was still uplifting for those who came. Hopefully the next time it comes around it will be a little more successful in the branch. I probably won't be here next time though. That's a sad thought.
The Matson's will be moving, sometime. I have no idea when. They are going to sell their house before they move. And they still have a ton of stuff that they haven't packed. Actually haven't really even started that much. Which makes me really happy. I don't want to leave the Matson's. I love 'em to death.
Happy Saint Patrick's Day,
I love you,
Elder Benjamin Arnold
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