I'm a really happy missionary right now.

Hola familia,

We had stake conference this last weekend. It was amazing. It was a life-changing experience for me. As a result I'm examining and studying Moses in the Pearl of Great Price. It has been opening my eyes in a lot of different ways. Another thing that has been important that I learned was I need to record all of the inspiration that I receive. I haven't been good at using a study journal in the past but I'm good at it now. I don't let a single thing go by without carefully recording it in my study journal.

At the stake conference in the leadership training session before the adult session Elder Hortin and I did a training with all of the Ward Mission Leaders. It was awesome. We're looking to see some big improvements in the different ward missions. We also put together an awesome zone meeting. It was kind of like a glorified District Meeting, haha. We got permission from President to do that instead of District Meetings last week. It got everyone really excited to go out and work.

We decided to walk to Stake Conference on Sunday instead of driving. We talked to a guy on the way and gave him our phone number. All the time finding, it works.

We're going to have to move Santos' date back a couple of weeks but he's still doing really well.

Funny story. I went on exchanges this last week with Elder Spencer. In the morning at 8:00, we went to go help somebody move from a two bedroom apartment into a one bedroom apartment. It's a long story as to why that is but it took us from 8:00 to 12:00 to finish the move. It was like death. I didn't know you could fit that much stuff in a little apartment. On top of that there were about 10-15 of us helping her move the whole time.

After that experience I've been extremely OCD about the cleanliness and organization of our apartment. You'd be proud mom. haha.

I love you all
Elder Ben Arnold

Leonardo is on fire!

Hola familia,

Exciting things are happening in Pasco. Leonardo is really on fire now. The other night while we were on exchanges again; he called up Elder Hortin to see if he could go out with them that night. So he did and they taught a couple of lessons. We also had a lesson with him and Santos. Santos read his reading assignment in Mosiah 18. We reviewed verses 8-10 with him and he committed to be baptized on the 28th of this month! He is a very humble man and is trying very hard to learn and repent.

Juan and Briana haven't been doing so well. It's been hard to get a hold of them lately. They didn't come to church last Sunday either. They've been working on getting her ID still. We keep committing them to go and get it but something always gets in the way. And apparently there are always really long lines at the DMV.

Amy, feliz cumpleanos! No puedo creer que ya tienes 22 anos. Espero que fuera un buen dia. Perdon que tu correo electronico todavia no ha llegado. Espero que llegue tu carta muy pronto. Ojala que la proxima vez que escucho de ti ya la hayas recibido. (Happy birthday! I can not believe she's 22. I hope it was a good day. Sorry that your email has not arrived yet. I wait your letter soon. May the next time you hear and you received. - translated with google translator)

Here's a cool story about finding: I was on exchanges with Elder Smith. We were knocking on some doors in an apartment complex and we saw a Hispanic lady walking down the street with several children. We decided we were going to catch up to her and talk to her. It was a long walk and we had to walk quickly but we caught up to them. I talked to her about temples and eternal families. She said we could come by and visit with her and her family. She gave us her address and phone number. We need to talk to everybody about the gospel

I've been focusing a lot lately on my personal and companionship studies. I've noticed that I've been receiving a lot more guidance and inspiration for those that we teach. Great power comes from reading the scriptures.

I love you all
Elder Ben Arnold

I love missionary work!

Hola familia,

I don’t think I told you last week but Juan Saldaña is the new Branch Mission Leader. He’s doing awesome. We already worked a lot together when he was just a branch missionary. There was also a high priests group formed! That’s one step closer to becoming a ward. We’ve been working really hard to try and get the Perry Plan up and going with all of the changes that are happening. We think that it will actually go somewhere this time. We’ve been trying to teach Juan everything that we know to help him fulfill his calling.

Recently Leonardo had been struggling spiritually. Something happened in the last week and now he’s on fire. He blessed the sacrament! I almost cried when I saw that. He was up there with Juan Saldana and with Francisco Chavez. It was Francisco’s first time as well! It was fast Sunday and like Amy it was a spiritual outpouring for me. I felt the power of the Atonement. In these last few weeks the gospel has meant so much more to me.

Another story about Leonardo: Elder Hortin and another missionary, Elder Burgin, went over to visit him. Santos, his roommate, was also there. Santos has been doing drugs. And he was high when Elder Hortin and I talked to him the first time. He felt like if he was going to listen to us that he was really going to commit himself and listen. So he threw all of his drugs away that next day and hasn’t used it since. Elder Hortin and Elder Burgin had a great lesson with the two of them. He told me later that night that Leonardo was on fire. He’s eating everything up right now and doing everything he needs to. He also got offered his old job back again. He was looking for a job in Yakima; I’m glad he found one in Pasco.

We started teaching a lady named Angelica. She was taught by the other elders when I was first in Pasco. In fact I taught her while I was in a companionship with Elder Anderson and Elder Dudoich. She’s really excited about coming to church and getting baptized only her husband is really Catholic and appears to love worldly things like alcohol more than God. We have an appointment with them tonight. We are going to be reading out of the Book of Mormon on the topic of “wickedness never was happiness”.

I can’t tell you about all the experiences that I’ve had this week but I’ve felt several times like Heavenly Father was working through me to teach and help his children. That is such a good feeling, when you comfort people and get them back on the right path.

I love missionary work!

Scriptures Equal Power

Hola familia,

The baptism of Francisco went great. He’s so solid. He’s been reading a lot out of the new Gospel Principles book. Which by the way I have enjoyed very much using. Elder Hortin performed the ordinance of baptism and I confirmed Francisco. It was a very neat experience. I felt impressed to tell him about sharing the gospel to people around the world. We’ve lately been talking about how we’re going to try and help him to serve a mission. He’s 23 years old.

Scriptures equal power. I testify with Amy. If we would just read our scriptures everyday we will always progress forward. I’ve seen too many investigators, members, and missionaries that are stuck spiritually speaking. They seem to have negative attitudes or they just don’t enjoy church as much as they used to. Missionaries may not be excited to go out and work. They just don’t have the vision. The reason is because they are not effectively using their study time or not studying at all. As we read the scriptures we receive revelation and inspiration. We receive the motivation and desire to do the Lord’s work. We are excited and have a vision about what we do. As we leave the scriptures by the side of the bed and let our busy lives be filled with things of the world we hinder our spiritual progression. There is a direct connection. Other things like church attendance and Family Home Evenings help but can not replace daily scripture study.

Today I saw an interesting contrast between worldly things and godly things. We went to the 7:00 am session at the temple. At which I was taught several amazing truths of the gospel. I received guidance in my own personal life as well in how to help those around me. Almost immediately following our temple visit we went to the mall in Kennewick to buy some new shoes for Elder Hortin. It felt so dirty inside of there, in some stores more so than in others. There was a drastic difference between the spirit in the one and the other. How wonderful it is that we have places on this earth like temples where we can escape from the filthiness of the world, spiritually speaking.

I was saying earlier that I love the new gospel principles book. The main reason is because of its simplicity. As I’ve taught the basic, simple, pure truths of the gospel in place of complex analogies or stories we see more success and have more effect on those that we teach. The spirit can bare witness of pure doctrine more than it can an analogy or doctrine that is doctrine at all but rather an opinion.

This last week we spent a large portion of time preparing for our monthly stake meeting. It went very well. There was a lot to report on. The meeting was effective because lots of action items have come from. We were able to point out many areas of weakness and strength that have influences on missionary work. We have an amazing Stake President, President Montierth, as well many other amazing, spiritual giants of leaders.

Transfers are coming up. We’ll find out what happens at ZLC this upcoming Friday. It’s strange to me again to look back on this transfer and see how quickly it has gone by. I should be staying here for at least one more transfer. I love Pasco!

Love Elder Ben Arnold

Eugene and Francisco

Hola familia,

Things have been busy this week. We had interviews yesterday, which is why we’re writing today. There was a lot of planning for that and also for a Stake Meeting coming up. We focused on teaching simple and true doctrine during interviews.

Hey something exciting. We just got back from shopping at Wal-Mart. You’ll never guess who I ran into. If you remember last year while I was in Pasco I met a man named Eugene. It was in the Panda Express. Well I saw him today. He walked past and the spirit made me recognize him immediately. I called to him and went over and started talking to him. He’s been slowly doing better. He has missionaries come and visit him frequently. This was an answer to many prayers. I wanted to be able to talk to him one more time and the Lord in his own time gave me the opportunity.

While at Wal-Mart we also got a new lamp because it’s really dark in our apartment. And my chair broke. The whole back part of it broke off. I got a new, cheap, comfortable plastic chair.

The internet is being really slow right now. There are a lot of kids on facebook and playing online games. Either they are out for lunch or they don’t have school today. That’s one nice thing about the winter. Usually we use the library when they are all in school. I might even be sending this letter to you in the mail.

We have a baptism this upcoming weekend. His name is Francisco. I don’t remember if I told you but this is the guy that during the first lesson when we were talking about the apostasy said, “So then Joseph Smith was called to restore the church so that we could have all of those things again.” At the end of all of our appointments he asks us when we are going to have another lesson instead of the other way around. He says that he loves learning the new things that we are teaching him.

We’ve been finding a lot of people to teach through the Vargas family. They have a lot of family and friends.

A lot of the training that we’ve received lately has been on finding new investigators because that’s been really hard lately. There just hasn’t been enough time with all of the progressing investigators and people on date. But we need to keep finding otherwise our pools of investigators go down.

Love Elder Arnold

Vargas family wedding and baptism