BOLIVIA

Hello everyone,

If you havent heard, my baby brother is going on a mission to Bolivia! Speaking Spanish for cryin' out loud! What a great little baby missionary he is going to be (sorry Noah, just had to give you some grief for that chin-strap you always have on;)

This week was awsome and was a very spiritual week. It seems that everytime we are spiritually enlightened, Satan seems to come around in hopes of deterring us and pushing us back down and sometimes it is a struggle to metaphorically keep your head above water. This week felt like one of those weeks and looking back, those are the weeks that we learn how to swim the best.

I want to share a little story from the Old Testament today, Its the story of Jacob's ladder. Jacob left his home behind and wandered into the wilderness with absolutely nothing. He set a rock for his pillow in absolute sorrow, not knowing what to do with his now empty and anchor-less life. Christ made It clear to Jacob that night that even though he was without earthly companionship, he always had his Savior with him. As Jacob started completely over with his life, he knew that the Savior was with him and that is what it's all about: it's just me and the Savior. There is no school work, no relationship, no business venture, no hobby that needs to tie us down and hold us back. We must become like Jacob--we must start over and let Christ manifest that He will always be with us and that He is the most important. 

I know that Christ is the only things that we need attach ourselves to in this life. There will be things that come up that demand our attention, but those hold us back or bog us down from being founded on the Rock of our Redeemer, then we need to reevaluate our lives and start fresh. I know that Christ lives and that he has been and will always be there for me and for you. Love you all and hope that you have a great week, as always.

Elder Arkoudas

Look who found me (Hint: it's Jacob Blake from Montana)

We had a few visitors this last week. I swear our apartment is like Wild Kingdom.

It's Weekly Email Time!

Dear friends and family,

It seems like this time comes faster and faster every week.

I have thought a lot about the Sacrament the last couple of weeks and this week I had a profoundly spiritual lesson taught to me. I was reading in 3 Nephi 20:8 and it says, "And he said unto them: He that eateth this bread eateth of my body to his soul; and he that drinketh of this wine drinketh of my blood to his soul; and his soul shall never hunger nor thirst, but shall be filled." As I reflected on this scripture I realized that of all the people in this world who feel that they are missing something, or feel that there is a hole left in life, Latter-Day Saints who have been baptized and who have received the gift of the Holy Ghost never need to feel that way. The Savior has promised that if we eat of His flesh and drink of His blood (the Sacrament) we will always be filled. The Sacrament is a direct connection to heaven and to the Atonement of Christ and can give us strength everytime that we worthily and thoughtfully partake of it.

Adam and Yesenia showed up late to church this last week and were not able to partake of the Sacrament and so after class, they asked, almost sheepishly, if they could go to the other ward's sacrament meeting in order to partake of those emblems. We about tripped over ourselves getting them into the chapel and I had a burning gratitude in my heart for the Spirit that has already taught them--only 1 week after their baptism--the importance of the Sacrament.

I hope that you all have a fantastic week and if you are still reading this email, not only after how long it is with a deficiency of humorous material, but also after these many many months of emails (some better than others) I want to thank you! You're all awesome!

Elder Arkoudas

Pic. 1: Youth fireside at the mission home

Pic. 2: Lunch today with "Lola" (that means grandma in tagolig)

Pic. 3: Exchanges

Pic. 4: More Exchanges

A Weekend of Baptisms

Dear friends and family,

I cannot even begin to describe how incredibly uplifting and spiritual this week (especially this weekend) was. We were able to go to the Chicago Temple with our recent convert Christi Layton to do baptisms for the dead and that in and of itself was an incredible experience. My companion Elder Champneys had brought a few family names with us and so I was able to baptize him for his ancestors and as I raised my arm to the square and pronounced the baptism, I felt this power surge through me. I realized that it had been a long time since I had used the Lord's priesthood to bless the life of someone else and in that moment there came to my mind the saying, "use it or lose it". I gained such a greater appreciation for the Priesthood that I bare and the responsability that I have to bless the lives of others with it.

Only a few hours after we returned from the temple, Adam and Yesenia were baptized. It was such a tender experience and the Spirit was so strong. Baptisms truly are the highlight of ones mission and I am so grateful that I was able to be here for their's.

I know that this church really is true. There is an undeniable feeling I get when I give a blessing, or when I work in the temple, or when I baptize someone that I have never felt anywhere else and I know that it is the Holy Ghost. In Mosiah 18:12, we read Alma's prayer just before he baptized the believers at the waters of Mormon. It says, "O Lord, pour out thy Spirit upon thy servant, that he may do this work with holiness of heart." I know that as we try our best and then cry unto the Lord and ask Him to give us His Spirit, that he will consecrate our actions for the benfit of those around us. I know that Christ can heal and cleanse us, because He has done it for me.

Love you all and hope that you have a great week!

Elder Arkoudas

1 Nephi 7:17-18

17 But it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren; yea, even give me strength that I may burst these bands with which I am bound.

18 And it came to pass that when I had said these words, behold, the bands were loosed from off my hands and feet, and I stood before my brethren, and I spake unto them again.

Hello friends and family,

This week I had many experiences that reminded me of this story in the Book of Mormon. Nephi prayed and asked the Lord for strength enough to burst his bands, but instead, the bands loosed themselves and allowed Nephi the ability to accomplish the task he had prayed to accomplish--in maybe a less "show-ey" way.

This week we had a couple experiences like that. Our investigators Adam and Yasenia--who's baptism is this coming Saturday (I am so excited!) called us Sunday morning and told us that Adam had food poisoning and wouldn't be able to come to church. This was devistating to us and so we instantly prayed for a miracle: that Adam would be healed so that he could come to church, and then we drove over to their house to give him a blessing. We did, and we said another prayer for him, and he still was not physically able to come...but Yasenia--a very shy and timid person who would never do anything without her husband Adam--came by herself, something that beforehand, she had refused to do. She met many more members at church and had a fantastic time and a great spiritual experience leading up to this coming Saturday. That, in and of itself, is a miracle!

The next miracle took place in the life of my great friend, Brother Noey Somchay. He has been investigating the church for 40 years and has always come so close to baptism, but then he always ends up backing out. On Saturday we showed up to his house with the intent of inviting him to be baptized with Adam and Yasenia this coming Saturday, but before we could even get a word out, he opened up to us about a tragic experience that had happened in his life just this last week and how much pain he was feeling. The spirit was so strong during that lesson and even though he rejected the invitation to be baptized, he grew so much in his testimony of the Savior and the next day at church told us that he had felt closer to God through this whole ordeal than he had felt at any other point in his life. We had prayed for the miracle that he would be baptized this coming Saturday and instead, we saw the miracle of someone who's heart has been hardened for 40 years, become at least a little softer.

I know that there is great power in the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I know that He suffered all of our pains and afflictions so that we would have Someone to comfort us when no one else could; so that Someone could help us repent and forgive, when repenting and forgiving seems impossible; so that Someone could help us change and become better, especially when our own strength and will to change has been exhausted to do so. I know that all that we have to do is ask Him for His help, and be willing to do whatever He asks of us.

I hope that you can all feel the Spirit of the message of Christ and know that I know that He lives. I love you all and hope that you have a fantastic week!

Elder Arkoudas

Pig in the Puddin'

Dear friends and family,

First of all, ignore the subject line, it means nothing. I guess we did have ham and potato salad for Easter dinner, and the ham was really salty and the potato salad needed more salt, so we mixed them up and it tasted great. You know what...just kidding...after typing that up, it really does make sense (if you count potato salad as pudding).

This week was great! We had transfers and I will be staying with Elder Champneys here in Woodridge for another transfer! We have a baptism coming up on the 14th, so this is especially exciting!

I gained a powerful testimony of living Prophets and Apostles this last week as we watched General Conference as I'm sure many of you did. I was having a pretty down couple of days leading up to conference and I went in with a desperate plea for help. I had written down a couple of questions that I really wanted answers to and within the first few talks, both of them were answered! I thought that I was just about as blessed as a person could get because the first 3 talks literally answered my questions word for word, but the miracle continues.

During the Sunday morning session we were watching it with Adam and Yasenia--our investigators that are getting baptized on the 14th--and for whatever reason we got distracted towards the end of the session. When we all got back together and focused again, we turned the broadcast back on right in the middle of President Benson's talk, and we were only able to get a snippet of what he said. That little snippet impressed me so much that this morning I applied exactly what he said, and my whole day changed. The ability that I had to access the Saviors atonement increased dramatically and I felt more peace than I have in a long time.

I am so grateful to a loving Heavenly father who loves us enough to give us living, breathing examples that we can follow and take council from. I know this church is true and that President Nelson is Christ's Prophet on the earth. 

Love you all greatly and hope that you can feel the peace I felt!

Elder Arkoudas

Pic1 Easter dinner and Bro Schwartz' first selfie!

Pic2 Easter baskets at the Zielinski's

Pic3 Ok, so we had to decide what chicken was supreme, so Adam and Yasenia had us taste test. The vote was 3:1 - Popeyes was victorious.