Part Member Families and Feeding the Homeless

Dear Friends and Family,

Despite my preconceptions, the English program is pretty awesome! We were able to visit a lot of members this last week and they are all so nice. Church on Sunday reminds me of a Utah ward.

I really dont have a whole ton to report on this week: the work is what it is and I'm so greatful for my companion Elder Glines because we have so much fun together! I have grown to love missionary work and I give the credit to him!

I just want to give you my testimony of daily prayer and scripture study. It might not seem like a huge deal, but the diligence that it takes to do it is what qualifies us for the blessings. If you aren't reading in the scriptures everyday and praying, please do it TODAY. You will have greater power to overcome your temptations and to do what God wants you to do. I love you all and I want to thank you for your support and for all that you do for me!

Love, 

Elder Arkoudas

A portion of his Email to his father:

I do have a quick thought on Fasting, something President Griffin has talked about that I think is super interesting. When we fast, it should be a way for us to think more about Christ. I'll share a little snippet from a talk they have us read out here, maybe you can get something from it.

In  Australia  missionaries  would  come  to  me  frustrated  with  their efforts  to  overcome  their  lustful  thoughts.    They  had read  Preach  My  Gospel.    The  book  suggests  that  the  mind  is  like  a  stage.    In  our  minds  there  can  only  be  one  actor on  stage  at  a  time.    So  if  the  actor is  a  lustful  thought,  we  can  push  this  bad  actor off  the  stage  by  choosing  to  have  a wholesome  thought.    In  our  minds  we  can  choose  to  recite  a  hymn  or  scripture  or  prayer.   The  missionaries  would  often  tell  me  that  they  were  trying  to  follow  this,  but  they  were  still  having  lustful  thoughts.     I would  give  them  three  bits  of  advice. First,  I  would  share  that  I  have  spent  my  entire  life  trying  to  do  this  very  thing.    I  have  tried  to  watch  myself,  and  my thoughts  and  words  and  deeds.    Sometimes  I  have  had  moments  of  victory.    Yet  the  hormones  in  my  body  are powerful.    The  thoughts  keep  coming  back. Over the  years,  however,  I  have  noticed  something  important.    Because  I  have  tried  so  often  to  fight  the  battle,  it  is now  a  habit  to  fight  the  battle.    May  I  repeat  that?    Because  I  have  tried  so  often  to  fight  the  battle,  it  is  now  a  habit  to fight  the  battle.   This  means  a  surprising  transformation  has  occurred.     The  negative  thing,  lustful  thoughts,  has  become  a springboard  into  the  presence  of  God.  The  negative,  lustful  thoughts  trigger  me  into  the  positive  and  spiritual  work  of entering  into  the  presence  of  God.   

In that light, it is the same with fasting. The negative thing, or hunger, really becomes a positive thing IF we focus on Jesus Christ everytime we have the temptation to eat. Instead of just feeling hungry, we can change the attitude of fasting by simply creating the habit of thinking of Jesus Christ whenever we are hungry. Then fasting becomes a time when we can focus more on Christ than on any other time.

I have such a strong testimony of fasting! I don't know if you remember, but right before the Leyva family got baptized, Brother Leyva couldn't get work off and Sister Leyva still wasn't too sure about being baptized. They had to go to church the next 2 weeks in order to be baptized on their scheduled day, but Brother Leyva had to work and he said that it would be impossible to get work off because it was mother's day and that was an extra busy day. So we taught them about fasting and invited them to fast with us so that they would be able to come to church. They agreed and that Satuday we fasted. It was also the day that we biked about 25 miles and did a service project and by the time that we went in for dinner that  night, we just collapsed on the ground and slept. The next day at church though, they both showed up! From they way they explained it, Brother Leyva just told his boss that he needed to leave for an hour and his boss told him he could and so they came to church. It was so much a miracle that it convinced Sister Leyva that she needed to be baptized and still to this day she talks about that story.

I hope that all of this helped. I'm not really sure what to say about fasting, other than it works. President Griffin has said that fasting is even the secret of this church and I hope that you'll be able to find what you're looking for. Love you dad!