Weddings and Baptisms

Dear Friends and Family,

Again, don't get your hopes up too high--we didn't see any baptisms this week--those will come next week.

This week has been a fulfillment of prophecy and an absolute miracle. Our investigator Marlene finally got married, ¡y era pachanga! Thank goodness for that. Immediately following the ceremony, we pulled out our tablets and marked off the "living the law of chastity" button on our teaching record. It may have been a little inappropriate, but it was a great victory for us. She is completely ready and is going to be baptized this Saturday. ¡Que alegre!

We also had the baptismal interview for Jose Carlos and he is the most prepared person I have ever seen in my mission. He's more solid than half of our members (and our members are super solid). When we asked him if he knew about Thomas S. Monson, he told us that he had watched General Conference with a member family back in April and when he heard President Monson, he felt the Spirit so strong that he wanted to come to church. I just get more and more dumbfounded everytime we talk to him. He literally walked into the church 5 weeks ago, and is now preparing himself to be baptized this coming Saturday as well.

Ok. Biggest miracle of the week. Remember how just last week I said that we would see 5 baptisms July 29th? Well a couple weeks back, we had found a woman named Rose--we were just driving and we actually got lost looking for a potential investigator, but we felt to knock this door and the woman (Rose) told us that we could come back. Well that appointment fell through, so we decided to call her one night. We just scrolled through the phone and found a contact that said "Rose" so we pressed call. Immediately Elder Wightman asked me, "What if it's not the same Rose?" and I responded, "Well, we'll just set up a time to meet with this Rose too..." Yea, it was a different Rose; but we set up an appointment for the next day and thought nothing more of it. Well the next day came and we got a big long text from Rose, talking about all the problems she was having with no food and no money and if there was anyway the Church could help. So we stopped by Rose on the way home from our service at the Food Pantry and brought over a couple boxes of food and they were all so greatful. We were a little wary at first, that maybe she was just trying to get money from the church, so we told her right off the bat, "Rose, if you want to get out of this situation, you need to give your life over to God." After that, we taught the Restoration and committed not only her, but her 3 oldest kids also to baptism and they all said YES! Well there's 4 down for the 29th.

We then (on Friday) went and visited our investigator Christian and put him on date for the 29th too. Before he was kind of an eternal investigator, but we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he explained it to us perfectly. The question just came up, "Christian, will you be baptized by someone holding the Priesthood Authority of God?" and, after a while of thinking about it, he said, "you know, I don't think I could ever say no to that question." So there's 5 for the 29th, just like the Lord promised.

Now I know I talked about Artemio last week as having a date, and we ran into a little hicup with him, but we'll get him. He's already got a testimony, he just has to work through some things and he'll get baptized.

It has been an absolutely fantastic couple of days. You can tell when you're about to do something good when you can just feel the opposition mounting against you. It's kind of an unsettling feeling, but I read a fantastic scripture this week that has helped me understand opposition a little better. It's in Alma 61:12-13 and it says,

       12 We would subject ourselves to the yoke of bondage if it were requisite with the justice of             God, or if he should command us so to do.
       13 But behold he doth not command us that we shall subject ourselves to our enemies, but               that we should put our trust in him, and he will deliver us.

I think a lot of times, we become content with our circumstances and with our trials. We think, "Well, God just wants me to learn something so I should just sit here and be patient and everything will work out." "Well, this mission just doesn't baptize a lot of people, so I'll just be content with working hard and if a baptism comes, I'll be greatful for it."

This scripture hit me like a brick, that a lot of times--if not everytime--God wants us to learn by OVERCOMING our trials. He wants us to work to get out of the rut we are in. We need to say, if God wants me to suffer and submit myself to the "yolk of bondage" then I'll do it, but I will try with all my power to overcome this trial, while putting my trust in God that He will deliver me.

God doesn't want us to suffer, he wants us to change. I hope that we call all in some way or another begin to measure up to those expectations.

I love you all and I pray for you everyday!

Elder Arkoudas

*5 Baptisms*

Dear Friends and Family,

Long story. We did not have 5 baptisms this week (sorry), so just let me explain a little bit.

This week was our mission tour where Elder Gaverett from the Quorum of the Seventy came for a visit. He was a super nice guy and it was an awesome conference, but at the end of it, he asked us why we were only planning a month ahead. The average time it takes for an investigator to get baptized is about 6 weeks, so he challenged us to plan ahead AT LEAST 6 weeks for baptisms. Let me tell you, Elder Wightman and I left that conference inspired and the next day--during our weekly planning session--we made some goals and set some plans.

We had originally decided to just try and get all of our investigators a baptismal date, but as we prayerfully selected baptismal dates for these investigators, the date "July 29th" just kept coming up for every single one. So we prayed a little harder and a little more specifically, and came up with the big number 5! So hold us accountable: we will have 5 baptisms the 29th of July!

Just to prove that point, I'll tell you the story of Artemio Guerra: one of our investigators. Artemio was found about a year ago drunk on the side of the road by my old companion Elder Hale and his companion. They started teaching him but he always said that he was Catholic and that he didn't want to be baptized again. He still had that attitude when we went to teach him on Saturday. We went over baptism--what it is and how it's a covenant. We went over Priesthood Authority and how he needs to be baptized with proper authority. Nothing. Finally, (and Elder Wightman deserves the credit for listening to the Spirit on this one) my companion just said something like, "Artemio, we aren't trying to get you baptized just because we want to; Baptism is a blessing, and it will only help you get closer to God."

Artemio just sat there for like 5 minutes thinking to himself until finally he said something like, "I like that a lot. You both are always happy. All the Mormons are always happy; in fact I've seen nothing but happiness in the Mormon church. And I want to be happy. Why not be baptized?"
I was 100% speechless. He even wrote it down so that he would remember to "prepare myself for baptism the 29th of July". Now do you believe us???

I just want to bare testimony of the truthfulness of this Church. If you don't belive it, give it a try and you'll realize that you are happier and closer to Jesus Christ. I have a firm and bold testimony that Jesus is our Savior and Redeemer. He can offer us a better life than anything the world can offer. I've seen my life without Him, and take my word for it, it is so much better with Him.

I love you all and I know that God will bless you if you seek to do what he wants you to do.

Elder Arkoudas

Pic. 1: and neither one of us got a ticket

Pic. 2: our Branch's Dia Del Padre Luau!

Milagros y Milagros y Milagros y Milagros

Dear Friends and Family,

This week: definitely in the top 10 greatest weeks of my life. It all started with a whole lot of service.

I don't know if you remember the woman Zelma who I talked about before (the woman we found when we felt prompted to go back to the car) but she is still studying strong with the other Elders and so Tuesday morning, we pull up to the other Elder's apartment for our usual early morning tennis and they tell us that Zelma is getting evicted from her house Tuesday night and needs help moving right then and there. So we ditch our normal tennis routine, and at 6 in the morning we head over to Zelma's to help her move. I'm pleased to announce that within 3 hours we had removed, packed, unloaded and put in storage ever large piece of furniture in that house, and it was an entire uhaul full of stuff! Good morning exercize!

The rest of the week was a great experience with finding and following the Spirit. Friday we started our daily planning session and I felt a really strong prompting to go to a very specific neighborhood that day at a very specific time. The only problem was that it was about 10 miles away and we were on bikes. We went anyway.

As we got there, the first person we wanted to stop by wasn't there...but we talked to their neighbor Christina and she was super nice--said we could come back another time.
We then went to visit someone else...also not home; but as we were walking down the street, we bumped into Maria and Sarai sitting outside in their front yard holding a yard sale. They were pretty hesitant at first to hear us out, but as we talked more and more about the Book of Mormon, they both became very interested and let us sit and teach them the Restoration. The coolest part was that they both lived clear on the other side of town and were only there to help their "cuñada" with her garage sale. If we wouldn't have been there at that time, we probably never would have found them.

Saturday and Sunday just prove that Elder Wightman and I are really not doing anything, we're just really blessed. Saturday we got a call from a member up in Naperville who is here for the summer doing door to door sales. She said that she met a lady who really wants the missionaries to come over. One referral---cha-ching! Sunday we got a text from a girl Lucy in our branch that just said, "Elders, Help me!" She explained that her boss really wants to learn about the Book of Mormon and about the Church but she didn't know how to go about it. She set up a lunch with us so that we can make a plan of attack (maybe not the best term...) on how we're going to dunk this guy (also maybe not the best term...). So there's one more member referral---double cha-ching!!!

And I can't go this week without giving an update on Jose Carlos. Most prepared individual I have ever seen in my mission. Just a quick backstory: we were just sitting in church one day, minding our own business when a member came up to us and said that they had brought their friend to church and that we should talk to him. He has been friends with this member family for a while and has come to church before. He says that everytime he does, he feels a peace that he wants for his life and he wants to know how he can have that forever. So we about fall over ourselves setting up lessons with him and today, during Sunday school, we talked about baptism. Later, just before our lesson with him, he tells us, "Elderes, today during the class, something told me that I need to be baptized. I think I'm ready to make that promise with God." Bare in mind, we met this man 3 weeks ago and he is on track and excited to be baptized the 1st of July. I love this Gospel!!!

Something I realized this week (ok, two things) is the importance of the Book of Mormon and the importance of Church in the eyes of those who are not members. We kept track this week: we handed out 12 Books of Mormon and our average is usually like 2 or 3. We also were able to invite more people to Church and our members--because they are incredible--made everyone feel at home. There is absolutely no harm in inviting friends and family members in just coming and seeing for themselves if they like it. It is our duty as members to MAKE SURE THAT THEY LIKE IT! We are the Church of Jesus Christ, we are his diciples and we had better act like it. There is a fire growing inside me that just makes me want to stand on a soap box and cry repentance with angelic zeal and It's all due to hard work and love for God's children.

I know that this church is true. Good luck trying to convince me otherwise. 1 John 5:9 says, "If we recieve the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son." The witness of God will always win out and that gives us something to place our hope. Trust in God and everything just seems to work itself out; trust me--It's changed my life!

I hope you all have a fantastic week and know that I love you all. You're all witnesses of Jesus Christ and you can all help someone become one as well! God Bless.

Elder Arkoudas

Pic.--Tennis Clan

Pic. 3--Spanish Conference

It is HOT!!!

Dear friends and family,

Illinois is roasting me! It's gotten up in the 90's the last couple of days and of course they were the days that we were on bikes! I have got a pretty spiffy watch tan-line and I'm sportin' a pretty fantastic farmer's tan. I'm loving it!

This week was a pretty great one! We had another lesson with our investigator Jose Carlos and it was another learning experience for me on just letting the Spirit take the reigns. Jose has a baptismal date for July 1st and he really wants to get baptized, so we need to teach him a lot in just a little bit of time. We both went into that lesson with a really specific plan and I even thought in my head something like, "I think the Spirits going to have to take a backseat on this one so that we can teach everthing on time". Yea, I know, What were you thinking Elder Arkoudas!?

Well about 10 minutes into the lesson, Jose looked bored and the member we had invited was about to fall asleep. Now I was thinking something like, "well, we blew this lesson, might as well wrap it up..." but then I immediately thought of repentance. Who's to say that we couldn't repent right there in the middle of the lesson and turn it over to the Spirit? So I said a little prayer in my head asking for forgiveness and for Heavenly Father to help us fix this mess, and literally, not two seconds later, a question popped into my head. I asked the question and Jose lit up--complete 180 turn around. More questions kept flowing and one by one, every single thing that we had planned on teaching fell into place.

I think a lot of times we think that we need a fresh start in order to repent and that is just not true. God wants us to repent today and he wants us to change right now! We don't need to be perfect and we don't need to change a lot, but we need to stop waiting for new chances to start again; when we make a mistake, we need to turn around as soon as possible and correct that mistake. I know that if we do that, God will bless us--it may not be 2 seconds later--but it will come and I think the second we agree to align our will with God's, he offers his council to us and helps us to preform his will.

One more cool experience from this week. We had decided to stop by a couple in our area to see if we could turn them into investigators and as we started walking down the street towards their house from our car, I got the very distinct thought to go back to the car and grab an English Book of Mormon. As we did, just a couple yards, we "bumped" into a woman, Zelma. We started talking to her and she lit up when she realized we were missionaries. We talked to her a little bit about the Book of Mormon and then got her address and phone number and parted ways. We gave that information to the English Elders the next day and now, just 3 days later, both Zelma and her boyfriend have baptismal dates for the 19th of August! Isn't the Spirit just so cool!?

Elder Arkoudas

    *Below is an excerpt from his letter to his dad this week *

Dad,

First of all, to make sure you know, moving from Montana was the best thing that could have happened to me and it was DEFINITELY for the best! But now looking back, I would not mind moving back to Montana. In fact, when people ask me where I'm from, I say Montana (because everybody just assumes that I'm from Utah and I like to prove people wrong). I also have realized that I want to live somewhere where not everybody is Mormon. But anyways.

As I was reading the part about "aspiring to the honors of men" in your email, I thought of a story that I heard about a month ago. I don't have it word for word so I'll just give you the gist...

There was a return missionary who had given a talk in church at a ward in his stake where after, the stake patriarch came up to him and asked him "why don't you belive in teaching by the Spirit?" He gave him a scripture to read and then just left him there in the chapel. Well, later that night, the Bishop from his ward called him and told him that they wanted him to speak the next Sunday. This return missionary tried to get out of it, but the Bishop told him that he was going to speak, he could pick whatever topic he wanted and then he hung up.

All week this return missionary stewed over what to speak about and how he was going to teach by the Spirit. He said that he wanted to give a good talk so that he could impress his parents, the ward, and some friends that were coming to watch him but he decided that he was going to leave it up to the Lord and so he studied his scriptures, he prayed about it and then Sunday he showed up to Sacrament meeting with absolutely nothing written down, not even a topic. As the Sacrament was passed and as the young men returned after to sit with their families he thought to himself, "at least just pick a topic!" But instead, he thought, if the Lord can give me a talk, he can give me a topic also. So this young man starts speaking and proceeds to give a 20 minute talk without a single note written down.

After his talk, instead of people coming up to him and telling him how good his talk was,  a man came up to him and said, "Do you know that you quoted almost an entire paragraph from my patriarchal blessing in your talk?" A lady approached him and said, "I have had a question for 30 years and have not been able to find an answer until I listened to your talk today." Finally, a man came up to him and said, "I have some things that I need to fix and I have not had the courage to do anything about it until after your talk today. I am going to go talk to the Bishop right now".

I love this story so much and it has become an example for the rest of my life. I think it is so powerful when we sacrifice our own will and desires and maybe even our pride to allow the Spirit to work in us and I think that we will always receive blessings for it. I'll include a story that I had with this just this last week in my weekly email but I know that when we just sacrifice ourselves and do the Lords will he will use us and bless us.

I love you dad and I am so grateful to receive your emails. I hope that everything goes well with you and I guess just don't worry about the kids, just make sure that they serve missions and God will fix them. He sure is fixing me!

Love you!

Elder Arkoudas