Christmas As a Missionary! (and Transfers)

Dear friends and family,

It has been such an amazing Christmas and I hope that you have all felt the true spirit of the season: the love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I'm sorry that I don't have much time to write an email this week but I would like to share a couple of highlights.

From Tuesday to Saturday we were basically just trying to get people to come to Church that Sunday. We also had our Zone Christmas party that was so much fun! We went caroling afterwards and met these two girls who stopped us and asked, "are you carolers?" We said yes and they got super excited saying, "would you sing for us!? We've only seen carolers in the movies!" It was pretty fun and we even were able to share a Christmas message with them and get their contact information so hopefully we can visit them sometime soon.

Sunday (Christmas day) was so awesome! We went to Church, sang songs and ate lunch at less active members house. Their whole extended family was there and almost all of them sat around to listen to us as we shared some videos and taught them a little bit about the gospel. The highlight was when one of the uncles said to us, "Elders, I'm Catholic, but I'm open minded and I've really enjoyed these talks that we've had." That is such a great thing to hear!

After lunch we were on our way to the Bloomingdale church to talk to our families when our investigator Sofy calls us and says that her entire family is dressed and in the car ready to go to church, they just need the address. The only problem is, our church service ended 2 hours earlier. As ashamed as I am to say it, I panicked. I had no idea what to do, but my companions helped and we organized a church tour with her and her entire family. It was so cool and the spirit was so alive during that experience; even her husband Jose could feel the spirit and you could tell he was thinking pretty hard about it.

The church tour lasted until about 4:00 which I'm sure my family was pretty anxious about seeing as I was supposed to call them at 3:00. It was so good to talk to them though and to see them all; from my end, it seems like they've already grown two years and so it's crazy to think about how much more they'll grow, but it was definitely one of the highlights of the day for many reasons.

Monday was kind of a rough day: it was right after Christmas, we were all kind of missing our families and it should have been Preparation day, but because of transfers, it was moved to today. To make matters worse, we were walking and it was really cold and windy. After about 4 miles, my attitude was pretty sour and so I just got a thought, "you should sing a hymn". So I started quietly singing/humming "Onward Christian Soldures" and pretty soon, Elder Hale was singing too. Elder Vazquez joined in and the wind kept getting stronger and stronger and so we just kept getting louder and louder. It definitely helped all of our moods and I love the power of music!

That night we got transfer calls and I'm staying with Elder Hale in Bloomingdale while Elder Vazquez is going up to Wisconsin (yes, that's still in the mission). It's been so much fun with these two Elders and I have learned so much.

Thank you for all the support and prayers and I hope you all had a merry Christmas. I'm sorry I didn't have much time today but I want my Grandparents, aunts, uncles and all those who showed such great love to me this year to know how greatful I am. I'll be sure to find time this next week to email each of you personally.

Again, thank you so much for all that you've done and I wish you all the best for this new year.

With love,

Elder Arkoudas

 Our talent for the talent show this Christmas season.


 Christmas morning (pardon the antlers)

Merry Christmas Elder Vazquez

Happy 19th Birthday Sam!

No one can really prepare you to send your son on a mission. 

In your mind you think you know that it will be hard to not see them or talk to them or be with them on special occasions, but the reality of it is a lot harder than you can even imagine.

So  you can understand how great it was to receive an anonymous text, from some stranger in Illinois who didn't even leave their name, with pictures of your son eating a birthday cake...or wearing it!

So grateful for the kindness of strangers and the love they showed Sam on his birthday when I couldn't be there with him!

I'm Dreaming of a SubZero Christmas!

It's official. The temperatures have dropped below zero. I should say, the temperatures have dropped WELL below zero...and we have no car...and it is so much fun!!!

Wednesday our Mission  President called and told us not to leave the apartment unless we had a lesson, and a mode of transportation. Well we did have a lesson that morning at 9 so we, using our mode of transportation--our legs--walked a mile and a half to this lesson, which wasn't too bad, except it was -18 degrees outside. As we walked, the condensation from our breathes would freeze on our eyelashes... enough said...

The lesson was with the same guy, Albert, who has a lot of questions about deep doctrine. We're working on helping him build the basics and so hopefully we will be able to help him more this week. It was absolutely insane during the lesson though, as we were teaching him about the Book of Mormon and I felt really strongly to promise him that if he read the Book of Mormon, and prayed to know if it is true, he would know that it is true. So we promised him that and the spirit was super strong, so much so that I knew that our promise was true. It sounds average, promising what every missionary promises ever, but something I've realized is that nothing is average. Albert is his own unique soul and has real potential to recieve Salvation. It was so cool, even just for me, to see someone as Christ sees them, even for just a moment; it was truly life changing.

Thursday we woke up to some fresh snow. Like 6 inches of it. We still don't have a car at this point and the sidewalk that we walk on in order to get to the main prostelying area (which also happens to be a pretty heavily walked sidewalk) is completely covered. It's only about two miles long, so we shoveled the whole thing. Yea, we started with coats, scarves, hats, and gloves; and finished with white shirts and ties. It was a lot of work!

It was awesome, we were able to do a great service for a lot of people who use that sidewalk a lot and we slept really well that night.

Friday was our first day with the car and consequently the day we got slapped with a $250 ticket. We got lunch at Panda, parking in a normal stall, and in order to turn around, we had to pull into the only available place--a handicapped parking stall. Cars passed and we waited (in the reverse gear) for a chance to pull out. Well before we could do that, a cop showed up and gave us a ticket. As missionaries, we have to share the ticket price, so about $84 each. But don't worry, we have evidence and are building a case in our defense. We're going to fight this (maybe my debate skills will come in handy?). I'll keep you posted.

Saturday was the Christmas party for the Spanish branch. We spent the day trying to get people to come and we saw some miracles! I've started to see that miracles really come in the form of "coincidences", for example, we have this Potential Investigator named Sofy who we have not been able to contact for a while; but for some reason, we felt prompted to stop by and invite her. As soon as we got there, they invited us right in and she began saying that she was just praying to know which church she should join, which one was correct and that for some reason, whenever she has that prayer, Mormon missionaries show up. It is so cool to be an answer to some bodies prayer!

Sunday was so cold. Like, -38 degrees cold; and so what do we decide to do? On the way home, we had a competition who could stick their hand out the window the longest. Elder Hale got 45 seconds, I got 30 seconds, and Elder Vasquez got 18. I gave up because it literally hurt! Like real pain!

Let me explain a little bit what this weather is like: you can take a pot of boiling water in the air and it will turn into snow immediately, I kid you not, it works!

Best wishes this Christmas season! I'm so glad for this opportunity that I have to serve here in the North Pole--I mean Chicago! It is so amazing to gain such a greater perspective on the great gift our Savior is, but no matter how much knowledge or insight you gain for yourself, it never ever compares to the feeling you get of helping someone else gain that insight. Remember that Christ gave his all and our Heavenly Father continues to bless us. The only thing we have to give him is our will, and when we offer that to our Father, he blesses us and those around us in more ways that we can count.

Merry Christmas y feliz navidad!

Elder Arkoudas

Sorry, some of these pictures are from last week.

 The Shamim family.
  We kind of look like the Russian mafia.
Elder Vasquez was sick and we were bored...so we made a boy band.

-18 degrees outside.

Life As A Spanish Elder

Hola friends and family!

Wow, it is cold!!! But I'll get to that in a minute. First of all, wow, I love being a Spanish Elder! Elder Hale and Elder Vasquez are the absolute best and they both kill me! Elder Vasquez got sick this week and so we had to stay inside and baby him all day, but let me start from the very beginning of last week.

Monday night we had a lesson with a professional model which Elder Vasquez was pretty excited about. Elder Hale kept yelling, "lock your heart Elder!" And Elder Vasquez would keep saying, "but she's a supermodel!" It was so funny. It got a little less funny when we had to walk to her house at about 7:00 at night (it gets dark here at 4) which was about 3 miles away; but we had a good lesson and we're hoping that she will come to church.

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent tracting in about 10 degree weather and it was so much fun! No really, it was soooooooo much fun. We met this man named Albert and actually set up a lesson with him for later.

Thursday was weekly planning at the library which was another 3 miles away but this time, it was 2 degrees outside. So we bundled up and threw on almost every piece of winter clothing we had on and Elder Hale, thinking he looked like Batmen, kept walking around going, "Soy Batman! Donde esta Rachel!?" I lost it, it was so funny!

Friday we woke up and Elder Vasquez was deathly ill. We had a lesson with Albert so he toughed it out. We taught Albert the Restoration and planned beforehand, to teach very simply--not knowing that Albert knows a lot about the scriptures. In fact, he's learning Hebrew so that he can study the scriptures in Hebrew! Yea, he's awesome. But after the lesson, Elder Vasquez looked pretty bad, so we hurried home and spent the rest of the day inside. Elder Vasquez just slept (he had a fever of like 101!) So Elder Hale and I worked a little bit on Spanish and then pretty much went crazy. 

Being cooped up all day made us a little claustrophobic so we decided to go to dinner. So we practically carried Elder Vasquez down to the car and threw him in the backseat then drove to Portillos. They have something called a cake shake which is ice cream, blended with a piece of chocolate cake. They are super good and so of course, Elder Vasquez  (as sick as he is) decides to get one, along with a double bacon cheeseburger. Yea, he was throwing up all night.

Saturday we woke up and Elder Hale and I exercised while Elder Vasquez slept off his Portillos. I think Elder Hale has made it his personal mission to make me  "buff". He gives me the hardest workouts and I've kind of become addicted. Working out is so much fun in the mornings, even though we use some pillows and the ironing board as our bench. He also makes me so much food for breakfast every morning so that I can bulk up and I know that it's working, because I've gained 8 pounds this week!!!

Later we had our ward Christmas party in Schaumburg (we're working both areas for now) and it was super fun. The Elders Quorum had a musical number they were supposed to do and I guess they didn't plan very well because they came up to us and told us we were singing. OK, sure. So we sang in front of the whole ward.

Sunday we had 2 Sacrament meetings, we taught gospel principals in Spanish, had a full blown meal for Elders Quorum, and sang in front of the whole stake with our zone for the Stake Christmas devotional. I love being a missionary!

I'm grateful to you all for the love and support you've shown me and I'm grateful for this 

opportunity I have to be away from you all, only because of the greater appreciation I have for the blessing that you all have been in my life so far. Thank you for the prayers and just know that I love you all so much!

With love,

Elder Arkoudas

I've got lots of pictures on my camera which I will send next week. Sorry about that.

Elders Quorum Fiesta During Church!

 The roads

 Our Zone!

It's Winter...

 Well, it's Winter here in Illinois. It started snowing at about 9 o clock yesterday morning and didn't stop until about 8 o clock at night; and in that time, we got about 8 inches. How crazy is that!?

The week started off really good, we had a lot of miracles this week and it was good to see that right before I left. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention: the Mission President decided that it would be best if I served with Spanish companions because it looks like Elder Fong wont be back for a while, so I'm just down the road in Bloomingdale Illinois with Elder Hale and Elder Vasquez right now. This means I'll have had 6 trainers in my first 12 weeks; crazy stuff.

While I was still with Elder Royce and Elder Boetcher though, we saw lots of good stuff this week. We had a lesson with our investigator Robert Hall and he not only told us he would come to church, he actually came to church! It was so good to see him there and can I just say, the Schaumburg 2nd ward is so amazing! Everybody was so nice and welcoming and I think that went miles beyond what we could ever have done for him.

We also got a call this week from the Bishop saying that somebody had called the church and asked to speak to the missionaries. So we called this guy back (his name is Mike Patel) and he agreed to meet with us the next day! It was funny because we had a different investigator cancel with us at the same time that Mike was able to meet with us! The Lord is too good to us.

But it gets even better. Two days later, we get another call from an investigator, wanting to meet with Missionaries. Two self referred investigators in 3 days! Tis the season!!!

The only real work we did with the Spanish area this week was with a woman named Leticia. She is so nice and welcomed us into her home almost immediately. She doesn't speak any English and so I tried my best to teach her the message of the Restoration in Spanish. Despite my inadequacies, and with a whole lot of help from the Spirit, I mumbled through the lesson and she agreed to read the Book of Mormon. It was funny actually, I told her "uno capítulo" (one chapter) and she told me "no, necesito leer todo!" (no, I need to read it all!). OK, Leticia, you go girl!

I know my emails all kind of end the same, but my heart is truly full of gratitude and love for the abundant blessings of the Lord. I love you all so much and I hope you know I pray for you often.

I have a testimony of this Restored Gospel and I know that the path to true and everlasting happiness is found in this church. I know it, and I don't know how to say it any more simply.

With lots of love,

Elder Arkoudas

Last shot of the trio (well, now I'm in a different trio).

Robert Hall, my boy!

Yea, people go all out on their decorations...