Llamas family

Hola familia,

I just realized that I haven't told you about the Llamas family. I remembered to bring my journal this time so I'll copy some of it over:

11-14-09
...After hearing him I feel so much more connected to the spirit. I feel more open to receiving personal revelation.
Elder Garrett and I went out and worked together tonight. I sincerely felt a new sense of urgency. We first attended Tamara's baptism. I shared a testimony after the ordinance. Right after the prayer we congratulated her and then left. We called Felix leaving the church parking lot telling him we needed him for an exchange in five minutes. He was all for it. We visited several different people. At first nobody was there. Then we started to find people left and right: Rolando, Moises, Nancy, Brittany, Ronnie & Brandon, Gabriel, and the Leal family. That was all in an hour and a half. We were truly led by the spirit. One of those visits stands out in my mind. That is Gabriel. Just before heading back to the Leals, Elder Garrett said, "Why don't we go see that family that we ATF'd that were out playing soccer?" So we drove over there and a man, in his 40's, named Gabriel answered the door. I introduced us and began teaching how a prophet and apostles have been called. We talked to him about the grandness of the church throughout the world. That these men just like the men that walked with Christ go throughout the whole world. And that one of them would be here in Pasco tomorrow. He was taken aback. He turned to Elder Garrett and asked him, "Is this true? Is this real?" Elder Garrett responded, "Es la verdad." We committed him to come and he said for sure he would.' It is incredible what happens when the spirit guides. This is God's work. His hand is in our lives everyday.

End of journal entry 11-14-09

11-16-09
Happy B-Day Mom!
...

11-17-09
...
We had two really great lessons. We arrived about 20 minutes late to Gabriel's house. They were there waiting for us. And Gabriel had read the pamphlet. All of them seemed to be understanding very well. It was best when we asked questions. I definitely talked too much. The kids participated. And they all sat there quietly and patiently.
At the end of the lesson we gave Gabriel a book of Mormon in Spanish and the four kids books of Mormon in English. I'm very excited for this family...

11-20-09
...
Last thing we did tonight was see the Llamas family. Wow that was spectacular. When we first got there, I heard little Gabriel (junior) say, "Yes!" They immediately turned off the TV and all gathered around to listen to us. Even the mother was there. We reviewed the restoration and the Book of Mormon again. We showed them a lot of pictures from the picture book produced just recently by the church. They hadn't read from their Books of Mormon yet. I think that they will be excited to next time though.
At the end of the lesson Ana, the oldest daughter, offered the prayer. Little Gabriel is really excited to give it the next time. Also next time we're going to watch the Restoration video and the end of the testaments. I noticed also that we need to try to include Karain more often. She seems to be getting left out a little bit.
...

I love missionary work!
Elder Ben Arnold

PS I talked to Mayela Poulson again recently. In fact I tracted into her sister in Pasco. Her husband is not a member. It sounded like it was a pretty delicate situation but maybe we could get something going if we talked to Mayela.

That's crazy that dad's using facebook.

I'm pretty sure that I can call you pretty much anytime on Christmas. We'll probably hear more as it gets closer.

(Where is Elder Godinez going home to?) He lives in North Carolina. Then just a couple of weeks after going home he'll be going to Rexburg to go to BYU-I. That means we'll be able to run into him sometime since he'll be so close by.

Elder Godinez

Hola familia,

This last week has been amazing. I have grown and been fed so much spiritually. I mentioned in my last email that Elder Holland was coming to our mission. On Saturday the entire mission came to the Gage Building in Richland. Elder Perry, Elder Jay Jensen, and Elder Holland all came. We first took a picture with them in front of the temple. Then we all got to shake each of their hands and look into their eyes, which they later described as being our own personal interview. I felt when I looked into Elder Holland’s eyes that he was looking straight into my spirit. It was an experience that I will never forget.

All three of them spoke to us. Wow. I wish I could share with you all of the things that I was taught. I want to share one experience though that caused all of us to think a lot and made us cry.

This was while Elder Jensen was teaching us. He had one of those small earpieces/microphones so that he could walk around and write on the chalkboard. Close to the very end of his teaching he said, “Could I have Elder Godinez please come up and join me.” Of course I was sitting right next to Elder Godinez. He was pretty surprised and seemed a little nervous. I’m not going to say everything that happened but after Elder Godinez read a few scriptures and a small discussion with Elder Jensen, Elder Jensen did something that I will never forget. He began to talk about Elder Godinez coming up on the end of his mission. This is something that I don’t ever talk about with Elder Godinez because it is a soft spot. He loves his mission. He would serve longer if he could, I know that. Then he talked about at the end of his mission that his stake president would sit him down and he would release him. Then he would take his name tags from him. And at that moment Elder Jensen began taking off Elder Godinez’s nametags. With each one that he took off Elder Godinez began to cry harder and his head would drop lower. After they were all taken off, Elder Godinez was standing there with his head in his hands with Elder Jensen standing next to him with his arm around him, comforting him. Everybody, including President and Sister Belnap were all crying. When Elder Jensen did this, I felt something was being pulled out of me. It hurt emotionally and spiritually.

Elder Jensen was trying to teach us a point of how we can’t stop after our missions. If our mission is the spiritual high of our life, then we are doing something wrong. I’ve been caused to reflect on this experience many times. Then a couple of nights ago, Elder Godinez and I had a very spiritual experience together and we were taught even more of this principle by the spirit. I’ve never understood the importance of this work and personal progression so well before.

I believe I explained Leonardo’s situation with the letter I wrote last week. Well I had a very amazing spiritual experience with him. Sunday morning we drove over to his house to make sure that he knew about church with Elder Holland. He didn’t. So he got ready and met us over there. Come ten o’clock I was sitting next to him right in the middle four rows back from the pulpit. That was a very special experience. The joy that filled my soul in seeing his progression. Wow. Something that I can’t adequately describe.

This Stake Conference with Elder Holland was an amazing missionary experience. There were over 100 investigators at the meeting. Sitting there watching him. We are going to see a lot of fruits from that. Just from talking to a few of those people right after the meeting I am getting chills. They all felt something. They knew that he was a man called of God. Something else cool is that on that day, November 15, is the day that Juan Saldana was baptized one year ago. What a great way to celebrate.

I think I might not have been clear. Elder Holland came both on Saturday to teach the missionaries and on Sunday to Stake Conference to visit the Pasco Stake.

I wish that I could explain more of the experiences that I had this week including finding a new investigator family, who are awesome. But I am running out of time.

Love you all
Elder Ben Arnold

PS I love being a missionary!!!

Griselda, Moises and Leonardo

Hola familia,

I don't think I ever mentioned to you that Elder Holland is coming to our mission this upcoming Saturday. The entire mission is coming to the tri-cites to a mission conference. We're all pretty excited. There's also a possibility that they're talking about splitting the Pasco stake. Who knows what's really happening though. They might even just be announcing that it will be happening later, like in a year.

We were tracting the other day over in East Pasco on a street named Douglas. We went past this house that didn't really look like anybody was home and there wasn't really a front door either. It was just a glass sliding door. We were going to skip it then I remembered a trailer that I knocked on in West Pasco that was similar. And it was a really cool guy that answered and we were able to teach him a little bit. So instead of skipping the house we went and knocked on the glass door. A young woman named Griselda answered the door. It turns out they had just moved from Tennessee. And over there they had gone through three sets of sister missionaries. Woohoo, I'm really glad that we stopped by.

We had a fireside put on by President Belnap at the Gage building in Kennewick. Lots of missionaries and investigators and recent converts came, including a good number from the branch. Griselda, the Sisters recent convert, spoke at the fireside and did a great job. Everybody that went loved it. The spirit was very strong. I sat next to Elder Godinez as he translated into the transmitting device. It was easier to listen to him speak in Spanish because he was talking louder.

We’ve been teaching this guy named Moises. He is the boyfriend of Itamar, who I think I’ve told you about. Anyway, they’ve been having some problems and they’ve split up now. We’ve been meeting with Moises which meetings generally consist of us sitting there and listening to him for a while, then sharing our own feelings and counsel from the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon. Lately, it’s been harder for him to accept what we teach because there is a member who is good friends with Itamar that’s not been a good example for her. It’s been a frustrating situation for us in explaining to Moises how that could happen and still in a sense protect the face of the church. I’m sure glad that the spirit testifies to what we say. Apart from that, he’s progressing very well right now.

This last Sunday I was so excited! Leonardo came to church. I felt inspired this last week to write him a letter and leave it in his mailbox. So I did it and look what happened. I also felt very guided in what I wrote in the letter. He also came to the fireside that night. Yes! I saw an increased amount of light and happiness in his countenance. He hadn’t really been to church since General Conference. I’m really excited to tell Elder Blomquist.

I love you all a lot
Elder Ben Arnold

Staying in Pasco

Hello family,

This last week has been a little hectic. But I've also learned and grown a lot. Yesterday the work was going really slow in the morning because nobody was home or answering their doors. We ended up tracting quite a bit. Mostly all that came from that was a man told us that when we studied more about the Mormon church in depth we would very quickly leave it. And that it is a structure established by man. He got all of his references from members that had fallen away. It was pretty sad to see how blinded he was. It was one of those situations where it was really hard to keep the spirit with you. You want to just rebuke him and strike him in the heart with the spirit.

But at the end of the day we went on double exchanges with Juan and Felix. Juan and Elder Godinez went to Richland and taught a couple of amazing lessons, giving us some really good new investigators. Then Felix and I first went to one of our investigators houses who had been progressing a lot. She asked us why it had been so long since we had been over. They had kept their commitment to watch a conference talk by President Monson, so maybe we will be able to make some more progress with them.

Then we had a really good family home evening with a family that is partly recent convert. The mom taught the lesson on temples. It was awesome. Then we went and saw Brittany. We talked about eternal families and the temples a little bit. We also talked to them about getting married so they could one day take part in having an eternal family. They are going to be getting married next August just before I go home due to some situations they are in. So maybe I'll get to see them married and baptized. That would be awesome. We were blessed with lots of success last night I think in major part because we kept working all morning and afternoon without even really talking to anybody. Except for the guy that told us we were going to leave the church. haha.

Transfers are tomorrow. Elder Godinez and I are both staying together for his last transfer. I was excited to hear that. That means I should definitely stay here at least for one more transfer after that probably even two. That means I'll be in Pasco cumulatively for more than a year. Isn't that cool. There were not too many changes in the other members of the zone.

Halloween wasn't too eventful. We worked during the day like normal then went to the branch party. There was a ton of people there. Juan put on a clown show with one of his friends who was really talented at juggling and riding a unicycle. It was cool. It reminded me of my glory days wearing that little red fireman’s hat. haha.

Love you all lots,
Have a great week,
Elder Ben Arnold

Linda: Did you get snow in Pasco?
Ben: We haven't gotten snow yet. It's been a little bit colder in the mornings lately. I'll let you know when we do get it. I think normally it doesn't snow much in Pasco. Last year was a once in ten years kind of thing.

Ben: The zip line sounds scary. How high up is it? I wish I could come and try it out.
Linda: Scary? You're not afraid of anything. Let's see... David made a ladder with two ten foot boards but they overlapped by about 3 feet, so maybe 17 feet up?
Ben: You're right I wouldn't be scared. I thought I'd just throw that it in there. Haha. That sounds pretty fun.

Victor's baptism

October 27, 2009

Hola familia,

Victor's baptism went great! Devin Lybbert was the one to baptize him. If you remember Devin is his friend and the one that referred him. Then he was confirmed the next day in sacrament meeting by Elder Godinez. It was really neat.

The other night we had a lesson with Victor at the church. We watched the testaments video in the primary room sitting on one of the couches. In my personal study that morning I learned some new things about the atonement that have really made me a lot more appreciative for what Christ did for us. The spirit was really strong during a few parts of that movie and it made me cry. Even though I've already seen the movie probably more than 30 times. That's one of the beautiful things of the gospel, there's always something new to learn.

This last week we found this lady named Itamar. The morning that we found her I was trying to figure out where we were going to go tract. I was praying for guidance but I didn't feel very inspired. I eventually ended up choosing a street. While we were tracting that street we found Itamar. She's just younger than twenty. She said that she was really open to learning new things. She had just moved there two months prior. We went back for our appointment. She soaked it all up. She was involved in the lesson and was understanding everything. Then we found out that she had a roommate that is a guy. We were a little nervous to meet him. A few days ago we were out of people to visit in the evening. I suggested that we go and visit Itamar. My companion was hesitant because we weren't sure of what the boyfriend was like. Then the suggestion came again. Let's go visit Itamar. Same response. Then the prompting came a third time. So we went over and visited her. We met her boyfriend who was actually really cool. Then set up a time to go back and see them. The Lord knew that we needed to go see them. It reminds me of a couple of different accounts in the Book of Mormon. Helaman 5 and 3 Nephi 11. The people heard a voice 3 times before they understood it. It seems that is what the Lord had to do in our case as well.

The BBQ up in Basin City with the Whitby's went great. It was raining earlier in the day but it cleared up by the time we got up there. They cooked us some awesome food. I probably ate way too much. We played a bunch of sports in their huge field. It was a lot of fun.

This morning we got to go to the temple. It was amazing. It's been 5 months since I've been. I learned a lot of new things. The spirit was very strong in the celestial room. It was very peaceful and I felt like I had no worries in the world. Everything was taken off my shoulders for that little while. I'm glad that we have temples on the earth. What a privilege.

Love ya all,

Elder Ben Arnold

PS When Amy says the word pass she's referring to going by somebody's house or just to visit somebody. In Spanish you use the verb pasar to say that. Which literally translated into English means to pass.

Yeah, I'm jealous of the computer thing. I don't miss computers as much as I used to. But I keep getting reminded about them every Tuesday. That and seeing people's computers that we teach that aren't working nearly as good as they could be. If only I could help them out a little bit. Oh well.

Sick baby

October 21, 2009

Linda: I thought that Elder Becerra was your companion. When did you get Elder Godinez? Tell me about him. Where is he from, etc.
Ben: When I moved from Vancouver to Pasco is when my companion changed from Elder Becerra to Elder Godinez. He is originally from Morelia Mexico. He's lived about half of his life in North Carolina. He's really good at soccer. He's a great teacher and a really good missionary. He's almost done with his mission. This upcoming transfer is his last one. By the way transfers are in about two weeks. I'll find out not this friday but the next what's going to happen.

Linda: I just got a notice from UPS saying that your package has been delivered. When will the mission office give it to you?
Ben: I actually had to go up to the office a few days ago. So they gave it to me then. It was a bomb package. It sure made my day. I've been really excited to use all of my cool sweaters and stuff like that. It's raining today and been getting a lot colder lately. Thanks for all of the little treats. I also really enjoyed the little toys from wavetronix. Especially the little traffic light. haha.

Linda: Did you receive the postcard we sent you from Europe? You wrote in your last email, "I love it here in Pasco." That made me think of when we went to Oregon shortly before your mission and drove past your mission. I said, "Ben, look, here's your mission." You looked around and didn't look too impressed. It was funny. I'm so glad you love it now!
Ben: I got the postcard from Europe. It was pretty neat. I remember when we drove through my mission. I think I was just afraid that there wasn't going to be any people in it to teach. haha. I can't wait to show you Pasco. You will be amazed at how many Hispanic people are here.

Linda: I think you’re right. I think you had swine flu. Did you have a sore throat with yours? Was it like a cold but with fever and aches and a headache? Or did you throw up?
Ben: I had all of that. Including throwing up a little bit. That was only on one day though. After talking to some other people I'm a hundred percent sure that we did have swine flu. I'm really glad that we got over it. I plan on getting the flu shot. I don't want to go through anything like that again.

Linda: Do you need more Spanish scriptures?
Ben: I don't think I need any right off the bat. Victor is actually going to be getting a set from Devin, the member who referred him and has been teaching him with us. We have some very good prospects of people coming up though too. Could you send another set of the Book of Mormon on CD's in Spanish. I don't plan on giving them away. We just have an investigator, Luis, who can't read. I want to loan him one CD at a time to help him gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon.

Linda: Amy said her date to come home is September 28th. Do you have a date too? Ben: I don’t know.

Hola familia,
Victor is all good for being baptized this upcoming Saturday! He's been interviewed and everything. He's really just absorbed everything that we've taught him like a sponge. It's been a lot of fun teaching him with Devin and his wife. We get to practice translating so they can understand. It's kind of weird though when you're talking in Spanish and in the background you hear an echo of what you're saying in English. Sometimes it makes it hard to concentrate.

We had a very spiritual blessing of health for a baby. There is a young man in the branch who has a child but his wife is not a member. While we were over at their house both the little girl, 4 months old, and the dad were sick. She asked us if we could give their little girl a blessing. I was stunned. I've never had a non-member ask for a blessing like that. The thing that was most amazing about this situation was the mother’s faith that the child would be healed. She asked and the Lord answered. We gave a blessing to the small baby and then to the dad. During the entire blessing the baby was just so calm. Just before she had been crying and had been very fussy. Then about five minutes after when we left the baby didn't cry again for the rest of the night. And hasn't had any problems since the blessing. The mother knew that it was due to the blessing that the baby was healed. The father also felt better afterwards and made a very quick recovery. The Lord answers our prayers when we ask in faith.

This mother is now one of our top progressing investigators. She has been very open and has been keeping her commitments. I'm so excited.

For preparation day today we are going to go play sports in the rain and have a big BBQ with some members up in Basin City. In fact these members, I'm related to them. Awesome huh. I don't know if I told you that I keep finding lots of relatives up here. It's pretty cool.

Love you, Elder Arnold

Testimony meeting

Family,

This last Sunday Victor wasn’t going to be able to come to church at 12:30 so we brought him to the English ward which started at 8:30. He speaks English fairly well and understands quite a bit. Spanish is definitely a lot easier for him though. Since it was fast and testimony meeting people were of course bearing their testimonies. To be honest they were a little bit boring. There were quite a few that were very eloquent and long but I really didn't get anything out of them. Then a man, who was probably in his late 20's and who was a little scraggly looking, got up. He was very nervous and in few and stammered words shared that he had fallen away from the church but now had come back and was experiencing a lot of joy from it. He was very emotional and fought so hard to express his feelings. It wasn't very long but it hit my heart. Following him a little girl got up. She was probably about 8 years old or so. Maybe a little older. She was very calm almost monotone. She shared her testimony on the priesthood. As she began I was stunned and shocked at the things she was saying. She shared an experience of how her father and uncle gave a priesthood blessing to her little brother who had fallen down a flight of stairs. The teachings of Jesus Christ came to my mind as this little girl spoke. Be even as a child, meek, submissive, humble. These two testimonies were more powerful and influential than every other eloquent speaker that I heard that day. These two testimonies were heartfelt. They were sincere and the spirit carried the message to the hearts of the listeners. Wow. What an experience.

Update on Victor: We moved the date back to the 24th. Everything was being pretty rushed and unorganized. And we wanted everything to be well prepared and to go smooth. Ever since we had General Conference he has changed in his outlook on what we teach him. He has told us very firmly that everything we've taught him is true. I already told you that he came to the English ward. I think I told you earlier that he had a problem with coffee. He thought he was going to have a hard time quitting. The morning after we committed him to not drink it anymore he called us and told us that he had had a small cup. But that he wasn't going to drink anymore. And since then he hasn't. He told us that he thought it was going to be a lot harder than it was. The Lord supported him as he showed forth his faith. It's been a really cool experience to see the difference in him since the day I met him at Devin's house, expecting our lesson to be boring, to today where he is really excited for his baptism.

Tomorrow is Elder Godinez's birthday. He turns 23. We've been having a really good time in our companionship. I'm pretty sure that he's going to finish his last transfer, the next one, here in Pasco. So I should be here for at least a couple more. Did you know that after two more transfers in Pasco I'll have spent one year here? That's pretty intense. I love it here in Pasco.

Elder Godinez and I having been working with the Stake quite a bit recently and they're very excited about missionary work. It's all been coming from their end. They are providing a lot of support. We are expecting to see a lot of good things happen before the end of the year.

I've got kind of a sad story. We were teaching this young lady. I think I told you about her last week. She read. She's really smart and going to college. She was showing interest and starting to pick up even after just our first lesson. Her dad didn't like that we were meeting with her. So the lessons had to end. It's really frustrating when stuff like that happens. Especially with a person as prepared as she is. We're just going to have to pray that his heart is softened.

I know that this is the work of the Lord. I love listening to his prophet and apostles. Serving him in the way that I am has brought me so much joy.
I love you all so much,
Elder Ben Arnold

PS In the picture of me holding the banana is the Ramirez family over in Vancouver. They were recent converts of something like 6 months to a year when I got there. I think just recently they have been going through some hard times financially. They are a really cool family.