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