Chapter 50

I AM STAYING IN RIRIE ANOTHER TRANSFER!!!! WOOT!!!!! XD. 

 

That's super awesome that parker got ordained an Elder!  He is definately going to make an excellent missionary. XD And speaking of soon to be missionaries, that's so exciting to hear that Melanie is going to be getting her mission call! You definately have to tell me next week in your next email where she is going. XD

 

So things are pretty much going really well here in Ririe for us XD.  Like i said earlier, me and my companion found out this last week that we are going to be staying together in Ririe for another transfer, which i am super excited about because Elder Quintanilla is a pretty legit dude and we get along very well XD.  It helps when you both like anime alot hahaha ;).  But one of the exciting things that happened to us this week is with this less-active family we have been working with.  They have been coming to church for the last couple of weeks and have been turning their life around majorly, even to the point where at our last appointment they set a goal to work on getting worthy to go to the temple so they can be sealed as a family XD.  Honestly, it's amazing what the spirit can do when it touches peoples lives. XD And i don't know if i told you about this yet, but even more awesome news is we have a baptism planned for the 29th for this girl named Tiva XD. We have been teaching her for awhile now and she is super excited to be baptized XD.  Things are seriously really really reeeaallllyyy well for us here in Ririe and thanks for all the prayers because they are definately helping XD.  Well, that's pretty much what happened this last week so i am going to end this email here XD.  Peace out till next week and i will send some pictures XD.

 

With love,

Elder ---chis--->

Chapter 49

So this week was pretty much legit! As i told you last week, 2 of our investigators got baptized on saturday! XD  Their baptism was soooo awesome, especially when they came out of the waters after being baptized XD.  You could see the happiness shine forth from their faces :).  Honestly, seeing someone be baptized has become one of my favorite things, especially as a missionary because you see just how much they have drawn closer to their savior and heavenly father and the wonderful relationship they are building with him XD.  And when they are done being baptized you can see the joy and light they have in their eyes because they can feel that all their sins have been washed away and that they have a clean slate now XD.  BAPTISM IS AWESOME!!!!! hahahaha XD. 

 

Another awesome thing that happened this week is we were able to begin teaching this less-active member who really wants to turn her life around.  She called us up earlier on last week asking if we could come and meet with her because she wants to start coming to church again and wants to take the missionary discussions because she has been less-active for awhile now and wants to get foundation on the gospel once again XD.  So we set up a time and were able to meet with her and she has such a strong desire to come back to church it's awesome XD.  Honestly, i love being a missionary hahahaha XD.  The joy that comes from seeing people progress in the gospel, as they come to church/read their scriptures/and pray to their heavenly father, and feel their heavenly father's love in their life is incomparable to anything i have experienced XD.

 

So the last awesome experience i have to share that happened this week is we had stake conference on sunday! XD.  Man, was it a good stake conference too.  It was all centered on missionary work and the speakers that gave talks were awesome XD.  But the thing i liked most about it was that it wasn't all just about going on a mission, but being a member missionary where you live by reaching out to those around you and trying to share the gospel with those you know in your life.  I seriously love the Ririe Stake because everyone here is so missionary minded and are always coming up to us with friends they have that they have asked if they would like to take the missionary discussion and have said yes XD.

 

Well, That's all i have to report on this week so i am going to end this email here.  Love ya and peace out till next week XD.

 

With love,

Elder ---chis--->

Chapter 48

That's so legit that Parker is going to Arequipa!!!!!!!! I don't know if i told you this, pretty sure i did in one of my last emails, but my current companion, elder Quintanilla, is from Peru so when i told him that parker got sent to Arequipa he told me that is a, "Legit Mission!"  So you can tell parker that he is going to a Legit Mission hahaha XD.  And thanks for sending me a picture of parker opening his mission call, he definately looks super excited to be opening it hahaha XD. I know i was XD.  And Rebecca got called to Russia? That's legit dude! And you are right she definately will make a good missionary. 

So things are definately going awesome in Ririe! XD This week we found yet another 2 people to start teaching and both are really awesome people!  Honestly, it's awesome how much the Lord helps us in this work and i can see it every week.  One of the things i have noticed since being here is that we have been able to find at least one new person to start teaching every week!  And even more exciting news is we actually have 3 baptisms coming up this saturday! XD And for one of the baptisms the person has asked me to do the baptism, which i am both honored and excited to do because it will be the first person that i have ever baptized! WOOT! XD hahaha.  I seriously hope i get to stay in this area for awhile longer so i can help the work progress here even more than it has XD.

 

Well, thanks for the pictures and the wonderful news about people getting mission calls.  Peace out and love ya lots XD.

 

With love,

Elder --->chis

Chapter 47

So this week was pretty much legit!!!!  We pretty much bossed it up in our area XD.  One of the families we are teaching, this girl named Teva and her Dad Jorden, met with us this sunday and we had such an amazing lesson with them.  We taught them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End), and the room was filled with the spirit and everyone could feel it's presence tremendously.  We even invited them to be baptized at the end of the lesson and both of them accepted the invitation to be baptized! XD.  Another awesome thing that happened this week is this kid name xave, who we have been just trying to fellowship for awhile now, agreed to start taking the missionary discussions!!!! He is a legit person and we can't wait to start teaching him XD.

On Thanksgiving, we had 3 meals that day, the first one being a lunch with 2 families who did a combined thanksgiving together (The Bowers and the Johnsons.)  Then we went and had linner with the Roberts, (the ones in the picture of us eating with them.)  And then finally we went to our 3rd appointment and had dinner with a family named the Stephensons, who is our ward mission leader.  It was definately a day full of getting fat and eatting alot hahaha.  But hey, it's thanksgiving A.K.A the one day in the year where you can get fat and it's allowed hahaha XD.  We also played football as a zone that morning so we definitely had a fun p-day that day XD. 

 

The next awesome thing that happened this week is something i never guess would happen on my mission.  Brace yourself because this is probably one of the highlights of my mission hahahaha.  You ready???? K here it is...........I HAD IN-N-OUT!!!!!!!!!!!! YAYUH!!!!!!! Now i bet you had to re-read that because you are probably thinking there is no way i could possibly have in-n-out while i am in Idaho.  So it was friday and we were eating with our ward mission leader’s son for dinner at their house (Brother Jose), oh and the reason his son was the one feeding us is because Brother Jose and his wife were still getting back from their trip they took down to utah for thanksgiving so he had his son come over and feed us at his place, and after dinner we sat around for a little bit just talking. Well, while we were doing that Brother and Sister Jose got back from their trip and walked in the door and Sister Jose comes up to me and tells me that she has a suprise for me.  Well, she then proceeded to pull a white paper bag out of her travel bag and handed it to me and i instantly zeroed in on what logo was on the bag.  It was In-n-Out!  I was so excited when i saw that bag that i was like a little kid on christmas morning who can't wait to open his first present hahahaha.  And even though it had been sitting in the car for the last 3 hours it still was heaven hahaha.  I seriously love all the members here in Ririe.  They are all really nice and wonderful people.  And they also help us out so much in the missionary work here it is legit! XD I seriously hope i get to stay here for quite a while longer XD.

 

Well, that's all i have to talk about this week so i am going to end this email here.  Love you and peace out till next week XD.

 

With love,

Elder ---->chis

Chapter 46

NO WAY!!!! Alex is going to the Ukraine?!?!?  That's pretty insane dude.  Tell him i said congrats on getting his mission call and to remember that all of our calls are inspired by the lord and that he will definately learn pretty quickly after getting there that he was meant to be in that mission.  I definately have learned myself that the Pocatello Idaho mission is where i am supposed to be and i wouldn't want to be in any other mission XD.  That's also pretty insane that parker will be getting his mission call probably in this upcoming week!  Hmmmm.  My guess is going to be the Pocatello Idaho Mission.  XD.

So as of right now yes transfers are going to be the day after christmas, but there are rumors that they will be moving transfers a week earlier so the missionaries going home at that time can be home for christmas.  But that's just a rumor so don't quote me on that XD.  And man do i hope i get to spend Christmas in Ririe.  I love it in Ririe sooooo much and i want to stay there atleast 2 more transfers XD.  The work is going great for us right now, in fact we have 3 baptisms that are going to be happening in a few weeks which we are excited about XD.  We also were able to find yet another person this week to start teaching, and it was in swan valley! She is now our first person we are teaching there! woot! XD.  And even more great news is that we just started working with this less-active family this week who want to come back to church and want the lessons for their son!  The lord is seriously blessing us in Ririe and it's been soooooo legit to see this area pretty much go from having 1 person to having over 10 different families we are teaching! XD.  (If you couldn't tell by all the exclamation points i am very excited just talking about the awesomeness of this area XD!!!)  hahahaha.

Oh, and i need to tell you about my new companion.  HE IS SUPAH LEGITTT!!!!!  His name is Elder Quintanilla (Pronounced Kinta-Knee-Yuh).  He is from Peru and get this, he likes anime (woot!), music (All the same types of music i like) (woot!!), likes soccer (woot!!!), and likes video games (WOOT!!!!)!!!!! hahahaha.  So as you might have already guessed, we pretty much hit it off the first day and are getting along really well hahaha XD.  He is also a great teacher and i am super excited to be his companion XD.

Well, that's pretty much All i have to report on this week.  Keep me updated on the mission papers that are being submitted and the calls that are being received! XD.  Peace out till next week! XD

You missionary son,
Elder ---->chis

Chapter 45

I just realized how many times I have written you on my mission....45, Holy cow that's alot hahahaha XD.  Seriously, the mission is going by sooooooo fast.  For example, i can't believe i have already been with Elder Boyack for 2 transfers already.  However, I am sad to report that after wednesday me and Elder Boyack will no longer be together....... Elder Boyack unfortunately is getting transfered to Arimo on Wednesday.  But good news is that i get to stay in Ririe!!!! wooooot! I seriously love this area and i really really don't want to leave hahaha XD.  So my new companion is going to be an Elder named Elder Kitania (not sure if that's how you spell it but that's how it sounds).  All that i was told is that he is from Peru, has been out 4 and a half months, and he is learning english right now and i will be continuing to help him learn english! woot! Which means i get to practice my spanish again hahaha XD. 

Oh, so another item of report is that i am going to become Senior Companion! woot! i get to be the designated driver now!!! Oh, and that means i take lead now in planning and what not.  Oh, and did i mention that i get to be the designated driver now!!!!!!! hahaha XD.  But i definitely am looking forward to being senior comp to a more greenie companion and helping him out.  I just hope i don't mess up hahaha XD. 

So this week was a pretty legit one for me and Elder Boyack.  We were able to find yet another person to teach this week! (I have loved being able to say that every week XD)  Seriously though, the work here is booming so hardcore it's awesome!  And the story behind this new person we found this week is so legit too! So the bishop of one of the wards called us up at the beginning of the week and told us there is this lady that wants to start meeting with the missionaries and told us where she lives.  So we go and contact her and when she opened the door we got into a conversation of how she would like to turn her life around and knows that she needs to get baptized and has been trying to get a hold of missionaries for the past month but wasn't sure how to get a hold of us.  She was such a nice lady and i am super excited to begin teaching her about the gospel and to show her the many many many blessing that come from it XD.

Well, that's all that happened this week so i am going to end this email here and go get some lunch XD.  One of the members in Ririe is taking me and my companion out to lunch today to a mongolian barbeque place XD!!! super excited XD.  Well, peace out! XD

 

With love,

Elder --->chis

Chapter 44

My next transfers are actually in a week :(.  Me and Elder Boyack are scared that he might be getting transferred, which is what we don't want to happen because we are bossing up this area and want to stay each other's companions XD.  So that's cool that Elder Snow is now serving there.  And i actually know where the Iona stake is because the Elders that serve there are in my district XD.  So Elder Snow should know exactly where Ririe is XD.  So about the ballot.  I was able to get it in XD XD XD XD XD.  I was so excited to send it in hahaha.  But i am super sad that i don't get to go around wearing one of those awesome stickers saying that i voted ;( hahahhaa.

So this week was definitely a lot slower for us :(.  A lot of our appointments had to cancel this week because, it being the week after Halloween, they were all busy and weren't able to meet with us this week :(.  So lesson wise there weren't that many this week.  But that doesn't mean it wasn't an awesome week! XD.  One of our investigator families , this little girl named Teva who is about 10, came to church this week for the 3rd time now in a row XD and is super excited to come back each week now.  We also were able to find yet another 2 people to start teaching XD.  Seriously, the work in Ririe has been BOOMING this last transfer and it's an amazing sight to see all these people popup out of nowhere wanting to be taught.  And the best part about alot of the people we have found this transfer haven't even been from our efforts.  Most have been from the wards working with people and then contacting us telling us that they want to start meeting with the missionaries.  The wards here are super into missionary work and it's so awesome to see because when the members get involved in the work is when it progresses the most XD.

Well, that's all that happened this week so i guess i'll end this email here.  Peace out till next week! XD

With love,
Elder --->chis

Chapter 43

Woot! can't wait for tomorrow now to get that package with my goodies and ballot XD.  So speaking of Fall Weather for Halloween, it totally snowed on us last week 2 days in a row hahaha XD.  I have some awesome pictures of me doing awesome stuff involving the snow XD.  I will send those to you after i finish this email XD.  That's good to hear that david is doing fine in the Hurricane.  When i first heard about that hurricane and that it would hit New York my first thought was David.  But then i rethought about it and realized he would be fine because i mean it's David we are talking about, the kid who survived a snow storm in New York by buying the thinnest sweatshirt he could find.  I think he can survive a hurricane hahaha XD

You are very right, i am very excited about the work that is going on in Ririe! XD.  This week we have also found 3 more people to teach! XD.  I seriously love Ririe XD.  The work is going great, the members are super super awesome, and everyone is just awesome XD.  hahahaha.  Another cool thing that has happened is our sunday's have gotten even busier now hahaha XD.  We have appointments pretty much every hour from 2-8! It's awesome! hahahaha.  I seriously love serving with Elder Boyack.  I really get along with him and plus, we are both California Elders so we are bound to be the most legit companion known to man, especially since it's combining both the North and the South side of Cali hahahaha XD.  OH, and lastly another cool thing we did this week is we went and carved pumpkins with one of the families we are working with up here XD.  My pumpkin looks like a boss! hahaha.  Ill send you the pictures of it XD.

Well....... I pretty much have massive ADD right now and can't concentrate on emailing so if i missed anything i will add it in my email next week.  Peace out! XD

Chapter 42

Before i tell you about how awesome this week was, and man was it awesome, i have some information to let you know about XD.  Next week our p-day isn't going to be on monday, it's going to be on wed because every year for halloween we have to be locked in a stake center from 6-9, so they know where all the missionaries are in case someone random dressed up as a missionary goes out and does something stupid, so they jsut decided to combine our p-day w/ that day so on halloween we now get an all day p-day XD woot!!!!!!! XD XD.  So ya, don't be sad when you don't receive an email from me on monday because it will be coming on wed XD.

So onto this week!!!! This week was pretty phenomenal for us in Ririe XD.  First thing i have to tell you is one of our investigators came to church finally this week!!!! woot!!!!! And the best part is they loved church and said they can't wait to come next week too XD!!!!  Also, on sunday we had such an amazing day in the sense of missionary work! XD.  So lately we have been trying really hard to get to the point where our days are filled with teaching people and it happened on sunday XD.  We had 4 appointments that night, all back to back, and each filled up the hour.  So we had a teaching appointment at 4, a dinner appointment at 5, another teaching appointment at 6, and then lastly yet another teaching appointment at 7!  We had such a spiritual day on sunday and all of our appointments went really well, one of them even accepted our invitation to be baptized XD XD XD.  IT WAS AWESOME!!!!! hahaha XD.  We also were able to pick up yet another new person to teach this week!!!  It's seriously been a joy in my life being able to see the work in this area start from pretty much nothing when i first got to this area to see it now starting to boom for us XD.  We are now teaching about 9 people here in Ririe and they are all such wonderful people that have an interest in strengthening their relationship w/ their heavenly father and christ XD

I am loving serving in Ririe soooooo much XD.  I honestly can't wait till next week when i get to tell you again of the new successes and the experiences i will have had by then XD.  The Lord is definately in our every day work and it's freakin awesome seeing it first  hand how much the Lord helps us missionaries in his work XD

Well, peace out till next week XD.

With Love,
Elder ---->chis

Chapter 41

No way!!! Brother Wilson got released as young men's president?  I thought he was just going to stay in it forever hahahaha.  Man he was definately an awesome young men's president and he will be missed as one.  That's pretty insane that you guys have had to fill up more water trays the last 2 weeks [for sacrament].  I can't even imagine anymore what that's like to have so many people in one sacrament meeting hahahaha.

So this week was pretty legit.  We found yet another person to teach this week XD.  He is an 8 year old boy who's parents want him to get baptized when he turns 9, they themselves are less-active, and so they want him to go through the missionary discussions to help prepare him for baptism XD.  It was cool meeting them and to begin teaching him. XD.  Since the time i first got here to Ririe till now the work has picked up soooo much.  It's been awesome being able to see the Lord help us daily in our work here XD.  We also were able to meet with this lady who is less-active and we had such an amazing lesson with her.  We talked all about the atonement and how it is able to help us in our lives to where we can be forgiven of our sins.  The spirit was so strong in that lesson and in the end she agreed to meeting with the bishop and starting on her path back to being active once again XD.  It's seriously amazing what the spirit is able to do through us 20 year old boys who are trying their best to be representitives of Jesus Christ XD.

To answer your question for p-day we usually hang out at this member's house, in ucon, as a zone because they have an indoor volleyball court and a racquet ball court that they let us use. They also have a huge grass field next to their house that we can use for games like ultimate frizbee and what not XD.

Well, that's all that i have to report on for this week.  Peace out till next week. XD
With love,
Elder ---->chis

Chapter 40

I definately was freaking out when i heard the announcement for the change in missionary age.  And i agree w/ them making it 18 for boys.  If that rule were around when i was graduating high school i think i would of definately took them up on that one and tried to go when i was 18.  Imagine though how many more missionaries we are going to have out now because of the change in age requirement?  I mean especially the number of Sister Missionaries.  And that is awesome that Melani and Jane both are thinking of turning in their missionary papers!  A mission is definately a wonderful experience and i wouldn't trade it for anything XD.  So while on the topic of conference i would have to say that Uchtdorf's talk was also my favorite, especially the one in priesthood session XD.

To answer your question, I cover a total of 8 wards in my area (we cover the entire stake here) and the way we do dinners is every 3 days we go to a different ward for our dinners.  So pretty much every ward feeds us 3 times in one month.  Our ward mission leaders usually call people a week before or ask people at church to see if they can feed us.

So this week was a really good week for us for both fun and missionary work XD.  I'll start off with the missionary work part XD.  We were able to find 2 new people to teach and are super excited to start teaching both of them.  One of them is a person the spanish missionaries contacted while tracting and she told them she wants to meet with the missionaries XD.  So they told us about her and we went and contacted her and setup an appointment to come back.  The other person is a husband of one of the members here.  He is not a member and has taken the missionary discussions before in the past.  We went and contacted him and he told us he would like to start taking them again, which made me and Elder Boyack super excited.  The Lord is blessing us so much in this area and I am definately glad that i am serving here XD.

On to the fun part of this week XD.  So the first thing that happened is we got to go to a straw maze XD.  One of the wards here was going to a local straw maze and the bishop invited us to come so we can interact with the youth.  So we went and it was definately fun to do because we did it at night so the entire maze was pretty dark.  We cheated though hahaha XD.  We just put our hand on the left wall and followed it the entire way through so we knew for sure that we would make it eventually hahaha XD. 

The other fun, yet spiritual, thing we did is we got to watch conference as a zone XD.  And in between sessions we went and got food and just hung out so it was pretty fun XD.  I even got to see my last companion, Elder Wilkins, because the Terreton district (which was my previous one) got moved from being in the Rexburg Zone to the Rigby Zone (which i am in now XD).  Apparently they are having a tremendous amount of success back in Terreton right now and have quite a few baptismal dates, which made me super happy to hear about XD.

Well, that's all i have to report on this week so i shall end this here.  Peace out!
Sincerely,
Elder --->chis

Chapter 39

Woot it's October!!!!!!! And just like you i love October XD. Halloween is such an awesome holiday, especially as a missionary XD. We get to watch a movie for halloween and we are all hoping that it's going to be avengers hahaha XD. And wow seriously? It's going to be over 100 there today? I wish we could have warm weather like that... :( it just keeps getting colder and colder here ;(. And i have not yet broken out the hot chocolate yet but i probably will be soon XD. So i definately remember doing the primary program but i don't remember doing a flying jump of the stand when i finished my speaking part hahahaha. However, i can definately see myself doing something like that hahahaha. I mean it's similar to something else i remember doing. I remember when i got sustained in sacrament as a deacon and went up to shake bishop Kubat's hand, when i was heading back to my seat i did the whole napolean dynamite "yes" pose and then went back to my seat hahahaha XD.

That's awesome that you have a goal for this upcoming conference. You definately get more out of conference when you set a goal for learning something XD. And yes we do get to watch conference, which i am super excited about XD. I can't believe that it has already been 6 months though since the last one. The time on the mission is seriously flying by soooooo fast it's insane. I mean it feels like me and Elder Boyack have only been companions for maybe a week but in reality it's already been a month and a half!!! Oh speaking of that, transfer calls came on saturday and we found out that we are staying together in Ririe for another transfer, which we are super excited about XD. I would have to say that Elder Boyack is the companion that i have gotten along the best with and we are having so much fun together in Ririe, we hope that we get to stay together for both thanksgiving and christmas XD and celebrate the holidays together and show Idaho how 2 california boy get stuff done XD hahahaha.

So to answer your question of have i been having delicious potatoes, i shall answer w/ an awesome story that happened this week XD.  In kyle's last email to me he asked me if i had converted any potatoes yet, and unfortunately i had to tell him no :(. But on saturday we got to participate in a potato harvest and we got to take home 2 boxes of potatoes XD. So the potatoes have been converted and are now sitting in our house waiting to be eaten XD. We have already cooked a few of them and made some delicious hash browns. There is nothing like a fresh idaho potato XD.

The work in Ririe is starting to pick up for us XD. This last week me and Elder Boyack taught quite alot of people and are continuing to find more people. It's awesome!!!!! XD hahaha. The members are starting get involved in the work and one of the wards have even been doing this awesome idea of a 40 day fast for missionary work. Every day of the week a different family in the ward is fasting for missionary opportunities for 40 days and so far it has been helping alot XD. 

Other than that though there isn't any more news to report on so i am going to end this email here. Peace out till next week XD.

Sincerely,

Elder --->chis

Chapter 38

This last week was a better week for us here in the land of Ririe XD.  So the first thing that happened is we had a mission tour and one of the quorum of the 70, Elder Whitting, came down and toured our mission and had a conference with all of us XD.  It was such an amazing conference XD.  Our mission president, his wife, Elder and Sister whitting all talked to us and gave such wonderful advice.  One of my favorite things was a quote that Elder Whitting gave us XD.  He told us that "You create your own spiritual experiences."  That is so true, especially on the mission.  You can't just sit back and wait for everything to fall into your lap. You have to go out, have faith, and work for those wonderful spiritual missionary experiences XD.  He really gave a good conference for us and was a massive pump up to all of us missionaries XD.  So another cool thing that happened this week is me and my companion got to speak in one of our wards XD.  Honestly, although i still am not partial to giving talks,  the mission has definately helped me become better speaker in sacrament from all the different times that we get to speak XD.  We were both asked to speak on missionary work and we both feel like we did our best to try and motivate the ward to help us progress the missionary work in their ward XD.

So other than that though not much else happened this week :( so i am going to end this chapter here.  Love you all and thanks for all the support XD.  Peace out till next week XD.

From,
Elda --->chis

Chapter 37

So a P-day [aka "day off"] in Ririe is like this: 1) we wake up and go exercise by either going to a gym in a members basement or go play racquet ball in our bishop's racquet ball court XD.  2) go home and get ready and do our studies till 10.  3) either go shopping with our district in Idaho Falls or if we don't have anything we need to buy, which is usually, we go to the members house with the gym in it and work out some more/play ping pong or do something random XD.  4) we go do emails where ever we decide to go.  5) go to zone activity where it is being held that p-day and we usually play volleyball/gatorball/racquet ball/ultimate frizbee/basket ball/whatevs XD.  And ya that's pretty much how a normal p-day goes for us in Ririe.  XD.  Speaking of Ririe, it's pretty much becoming one of my favorite areas XD.  The members here are all soooooo nice and awesome XD and even though the work is going slowly right now, there is soooo much potential in this area and the members are very helpful in aiding in the progress of our work XD.  And my companion, Elder Boyack the super asian XD, is pretty freakin legit.  He is also becoming one of my favorite companions XD.  We definately are laughing atleast a thousand times a day hahaha XD.  So to answer your other questions, we teach on a good week for us we teach about 3-4 lessons a week, we have right now about 2 investigators, and we get meals ever day XD XD XD XD.

Brady is going on a mission to Brazil?!?!?!?! That's legit! XD You must tell him this next week in church that i said hi and to enjoy every minute of his mission because it goes by waaaaay to fast hahahaha.  Oh and congratulate him on shaving to hahaha XD.

This week we had a pretty legit lesson w/ one of our investigators.  We are teaching this family that is less-active right now and they have a 9 year old son that wants to get baptized.  So for these lessons, which has only been 2 now, the family kind of disperses and does their own thing while we teach the son and the 8 year old daughter because she also is wanting to get baptized.  But when we were about to start this last lesson w/ them the older brother came in and told us that he would say the prayer.  Then after that the older sister also came in and sat in on the lesson and helped out with the lesson.  It was a really cool/spritual experience to have and to top it off when we asked the 9 year old son to say the closing prayer he was kind of getting stage fright and not wanting to do it, but the older brother told him that he would help him out so he agreed to it and gave an amazing prayer.  We are super excited for this family and are hoping to soon have the entire family participating in the lessons because not only will they be able to draw closer to our savior and heavenly father together but they will also draw closer as a family XD.

Other than that lesson though, nothing else really happened this week so i shall end this email here XD.  Peace out till next week! XD.

Chapter 36

Dannnnggg dude.  David's taking 20 credits? He is crazy hahaha.  I remember taking i think it was 18 credits at byu and i remember how much work i had to do, so i can almost relate to what david's going through.

So this week was definately a slower one for us but it was still a good one.  We found a new family to teach and we are teaching their kids.  They are such a wonderful family and the kids are super hyper so the lessons are definately fun hahaha. XD. Also, another cool thing that happened with that family is their dad wanted us to give his oldest daughter a blessing and so we did and it was a really spiritual experience for both them and us. Another thing that has been happening in my missionary life is i am actually working out in the morning :O hahahahaha.  One of the members here has a pretty nice gym in their basement and they let us use it in the morning for our exercise period XD.  My goal is to run atleast 2 miles each morning and then do some weight lifting so i can get in shape and get a littler buffer XD hahahaha.  I also have been practicing my dancing alot lately to music that we can listen to and it definately is a huge change in music i am dancing to but whatevs XD. However, other than that though not much happened this week unfortunately so i am going to end this email here.  Peace out till next week and i will for sure make sure to do something epic this next week so i can spice up my next email. XD

With love,
Elder Arrowchis

Chapter 35

As you well know yesterday was my birthday and i guess word got around with some of the people in the ward we were eating in that it was, and when we show up they had a cake sitting out on the counter and told us how they had it left over from a wedding they held yesterday but now it's birthday cake.  So i got to have birthday cake and they sang me the happy birthday song which i wasn't expecting to happen at all on my mission hahahaha.  It was definitely a cool birthday XD.

 

So on a more spiritual note, this week was actually really good for me and my companion.  During the beginning of the week we got a text message from mormon.org saying that someone had requested the missionaries in our area using mormon.org.   So we went and contacted them and she turned out to be such a wonderful person and is super interested in investigating the gospel.  She has been going to church with her friend for a little while now and when we invited her to follow the example of jesus christ and be baptized she enthusiastically said she would XD.  So this week we not only found a new person to teach but she is pretty much golden XD.

 

So the last thing that happened this last week is we had zone conference! XD.  I got to see my last companion there, elder wilkins, and we learned so many good things from our mission president XD.

 

That's all that pretty much happened this last week so i'm going to end this email here.  Peace out till next week and you are the best mom ever XD.

 

With love,

Elder Arrowchis XD

Chapter 34

I guess the lord does send me to these places that are in the middle of nowhere because he knows i will find someway to make it fun hahahaha XD.  So speaking of middle of nowhere areas, my new area ririe is already turning out to me an amazing area and is tieing for one of my favorite areas.  The members here are all really nice and my companion is supah kewl.  His name is Elder Boyack and he is Korean, from Sonora California, and he is supah legit.  He is really funny, likes to have fun (a yellow XD) and is really focused on getting work done so he is going to be another great companion for me it looks like XD.

We actually just had a baptism here this last saturday for someone they had previously been teaching, and i got to teach them once so i helped a little XD, and it was such a wonderful experience.  The person getting baptized was this mom's daughter and when she came out of the water she told her mom that she feels really happy all the sudden.  Man it was such a wonderful experience to witness.  Baptisms really make me smile when i watch them because i know they are starting on their path to return to their heavenly father and are drawing even closer to their savior XD.  This area is going to be a wonderful area and i can't wait for the upcoming weeks XD.

So i definately can't believe that i am going to be 20 in 6 days. It's freakin blowin my mind!!!!! hahahaha.  I already planned on how im going to celebrate my birthday. You ready for this because this plan took me forEVER to think up? You ready to hear it? Well my plan is this: Wake up and yell I'm 20 and then......go on with my day doing normal missionary work hahahahaha. Genius i know XD.  Well, it's almost zone activity time and we are playing ultimate frisbee today so i am excited, so i shall end this chapter here. 

With extreme love,

Elder Arrowchis

Chapter 33

I have some sad news to announce..... I am getting transferred :(.  I really have grown this area and the people in it so it is going to be sad leaving it.  However, i actually am not going that far away.  The place i am getting transferred to is a place called Ririe and what's funny is it overlaps with my current district because a set of the spanish elders in my current district actually cover the spanish work in Ririe.  So i will probably be seeing them quite a bit hahahaha. And i will definitely get you my address next p-day so you can send me those things XD.  But ya, i can't believe that i have almost been out 8 months already either!!! The mission is freakin flying by so fast.  I swear me and Elder Wilkins had just become companions, so when i found out i was leaving i was surprised to realize it's been 3 months that we had been together.  He has by far been one of my favorite companions and i am definitely going to miss him :(.  But i am also excited to be starting a new adventures on my mission so im not toooo sad hahaha XD.  What's weird though is we will still see each other at zone conferences and p-day for emailing hahaha.  But we definitely made sure to take some AWESOME pictures which i will send to you after this email XD.  Speaking of pictures, david looked awesome/funny in the picture in his room.  Definitely was able to pull off the aviators.

Something cool that happened to us this week is got to volunteer at rexburg rush on saturday, which is this huge triathalon they do every year.  Me and Elder Wilkins got to stand at a street corner and stop traffic for the bikers that were coming.  It was pretty fun and we also got free t-shirts out of it XD.  So the next thing that happened this week is another one of the families we are teaching went to church this week!!!!! So last week we shared with them a mormon message (on mormon.org, which by the way if you have never looked at you should definitely check them out because they are freakin AMAZING!!!!) and something in that mormon message touched their hearts and from then on they have had a greater desire to learn more and are progressing sooooo much now.  I am super sad to be leaving that family and the other we have been teaching because it has been such a great experience to see them all grow closer to our savior and progress in the gospel.  This gospel rocks! XD hahaha. 

So the last thing that happened this week is me and my companion decided to get companionship ties to remember each other, but we decided to be legit and have one of our investigators named Kia make them XD.  She is a really really good drawer and we decided to each buy a blank white tie and have here draw tribal kingdom hearts designs on the ties with a sharpie.  Unfortunately she is still finishing them up and i won't get it till tomorrow so you will have to wait till next p-day to see it but it is looking really awesome XD.

Well, that's all that really happened this week so i will end this email here.  Peace out till next week! XD

With love,

Elder Arrowchis

Chapter 32

Man that's so cool that Elder Bills got to stay in the area XD.  But wait, so for transfers there they have to go to a meeting and find out who is getting transfered?  That sucks hahaha.  For us they just send us the transfer info via voicemail on our phone the saturday before transfer day.  The mission president will make a really long transfer info message about 12-13 voicemails long and send it to the APs who send it to the Zone Leaders who send it to the members of their zones.  So we get to find out the transfer info from the comforts of our apartments XD.  So i am pretty much hoping that i don't get transfered.  I have really grown to love my area i am serving in and i really love the people i am teaching so i kinda don't want to get transfered hahaha.

This week was pretty much freakin awesome!!!! XD.  First off, one of our investigators we have been teaching for awhile now finally came to church this last sunday!!!!!!!! Me and my companion were each waiting at an entrance to the chapel looking for them to show up, since they told us they would, and when we finally saw them we got really excited and sat with them in sacrament.  Some other good news is one of our investigators accepted an invitation to be baptized!!!!! He is pretty much a stud and really wants to change his life around.  He is super accepting with our lessons and is growing so much XD.  And the last thing that happened this week is i got to go to my first rodeo!!!!!!!! XD. 

So pretty much this entire last week was the Mudlake Fair and on top of that it is haying season so everyone was either at the fair grounds or haying so pretty much no one was home.  So us being the smart missionaries we are decided to go proselyting at the fair. XD hahahaha.  However, a fair up here isn't anything like the OC fair because there aren't any rides or anything, it was mostly cow/horse/pig/other animal events and people would show off them off and get judged. There was also an arts and crafts competition. We got to talk to alot of people and handed out quite a bit of mormon.org cards so it was pretty successful for us XD. But on the last day of the fair there was a rodeo and we got invited by someone who said they would pay for our ticket, so we went in and watched and it was actually pretty cool to watch.  There was steer wrestling, roping events, the bucking horse event, and a few others.  We only got to see like 45 min of it since we had a teaching appointment when it started, so we just showed up late and then left 45 min later so we could be home on time.  But it was definately really fun to watch XD.

Other than that though nothing really happened this week.  Today for our zone activity we are going to go hike R mountain so that should be fun XD.

Well i'm going to end this chapter here so peace out till next week! XD
With love,
Elder Arrowchis

Chapter 31

That's awesome that david is now back at westpoint.  I bet that took quite alot of stress off your guy's backs hahaha XD.  That's also super cool that he is staying with other return missionaries because this way when the school year starts he will actually know some people hahaha XD. 

No way! Grandpa went and saw the Dark Knight Rises? Go Grandpa! hahahahaha XD.  And that's super funny that he didn't fall asleep during the movie because i remember when we took him to see the new Pirates movie he totally was asleep for about half the movie hahahaha.

So this week was unfortunately a slower one :(.  Something cool though that did happen is we found another person to start teaching XD.  Do you remember the person i was talking about last week who called us up saying he had someone for us to teach? Well we finally got to met that person and he is super golden XD.  He is super excited about taking the discussions and really wants to turn his life around XD.  Other than that though not much happened up here in the world of Terreton.  Alot of the people we are teaching were gone on family reuinion trips so we didn't get to teach that much this week :(.  But next week should be really really awesome and i will make sure to have some crazy adventure to talk about XD.

Well, since nothing really happened this week i shall end this chapter here XD. Peace out till next week XD.

With love,
Elder Arrowchis

P.S. My new address is this:

P.O. Box 3
Terreton, ID 83450

P.P.S. Tell my dorky friends to hurry up and email me back XD, those being dylan/kyle/mike.  Steve and joseph are pretty good about writing me back XD.

Chapter 30

We are actually moving to a new house today, the people we are staying with right now have a son coming home from a  mission so we need to move out so he can move in, and i don't have our new mailing address. 

So this week was pretty much a really good week for us XD.  We found 2 new families to start teaching and one of the families we are currently teaching has committed to being baptized! XD.  Also i had some pretty legit spiritual experiences which i shall now expound on XD.  So the first one was on thursday.  We were doing our weekly planning and we set goals to find new people and get a member to go with us to our next appointment we have for one of the people we are teaching.  So right when we finish planning and are about to leave the house, someone calls us up and tell us that they have someone that wants to investigate the church!  We were all like, "Thank you heavenly father! XD".  Then, later that day we went to our dinner appointment and started doing the whole get to know each other conversation.  Towards the end of dinner they asked us where we were going after dinner and we told them we were going to go teach an investigator we have.  They proceeded to ask who it was and when we told them who it was they told us that they know them really well and infact grew up with her.  They then told us how they would love to come to our next appointment we had with her!  So pretty much in that one day we already started completing our goals! We got a new person to teach and found the member we needed to go with us to that next appointment! The Lord's Hand is definately in this work and it's amazing how often i see his help in our daily lives. 

The other awesome story i have is another testiment of how the Lord's Hand is in this work.  So we were working in Monteview that day and in the afternoon we decided to call our Ward Mission Leader to see if the person that was going to take us around that night could still come.  We were never able to get a hold of him so we just drove ourselves to our appointment we had.  When we got there, we found out that the Dad had told our Ward Mission Leader that they were going to have to reschedule our appointment because he would be the only one there because his wife and kids were going to a family reunion.  But we stayed and just talked with him and ended up having a really really really good lesson with him and helped him understand quite a few things.  So if we had been able to get a hold of our ward mission leader that day we would of been told to not go and wouldn't of had an amazing lesson with him XD.  The Lord's hand is helping us out sooo much in this work XD.

Well, that's all that happened this week so i am going to end this chapter of my AWESOME mission here XD.  Peace out till next week XD.

With love,

Elder Arrowchis

Chapter 29

That's so cool that David made it back into WestPoint!!!!! I am super excited for him XD.  But dang, that's such a quick turn around for him.  But i guess that's david for you hahahaha.  It even happened like that for his mission hahaha.  Man that's super cool that Andrew is going into the MTC on Wed.  You should definately give me his mailing address for the MTC so i can write him a letter XD.

Whow! Braden's 15!?!?!?!?!  One more year and he can get his license..... I think ill stay off the road when i get back hahahahaha ;).  So you should definately tell david to hit him 15 times for me XD.  Also, tell david that i most definately use more than just eggs and cheese :P.  The last omelette i made was a bacon/sausage/cheese omelette and it was really really really really good.  And the sausage wasn't even the kind that is packaged in a box premade almost, it was legit frozen meat that is frozen in a giant clump and you have to dethaw it so :P hahaha. XD.

So this week was pretty freakin sweet!  So first off my companion had to go to a leadership training down in poci, since he is a district leader, so i got put with another elder in rexburg, who is in my zone, whose companion was also a district leader and i got to work in his area for a day.  So in other words, Elder Arrowchis got to work in a city for the first time on his mission!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, A city in terms of Idaho hahahaha. XD  Also, while on the exchange something super cool happened.......I GOT TO TEACH A CHINESE PERSON WHO DIDN"T UNDERSTAND ENGLISH!!!! hahahaha it was such a cool experience.  So at the teaching appointment we had to have a translator that would translate what we said to him and vice versa.  What else was cool was that he was really receptive to what we taught him and he already had a baptismal date for the next day, and he ended up getting baptized! I wish i could of gone to the baptism because i heard they did the whole thing in chinese, but i was still super happy for him that he was entering into the path towards our heavenly father XD.

The other thing that happened is me and this other elder in my district, Elder Jensen, just bought this game called Cookie Fu and we each bought our own deck so we are super excited to play against each other because it looks really awesome hahahaha XD.

But other than that not much else happened this week to report on since it was a slow week for us in our area.  So i am going to end this chapter of my life here.  Peace out till next week and love hearing about what's going on with you guys back home XD.

With love,
Elder Arrowchis

Chapter 28

The first story i have for you just proves how much the Lord's hand is in this work XD.  We were working in Hamer one day and we were going to call our appointment we had for that night to see if we were still on for tonight.  Right when we hit the call button on our phone, our phone decided it wanted to run out of battery :(.  So we frantically searched the church building for a yellowpages book so we could look up there name.  We ended up finding a yellowpages book, but there names weren't in it.  So we decided to call up the member that was going to come with us to the teaching appointment and asked her if she by chance had the families number.  She unfortunately gave us the grave news that they didn't have the phone number, so we told her that we were just going to show up to the appointment anyways and for her to just plan on meeting us there like the appointment was still on.  So we go to the appointment and end up having a really really really good lesson about baptism.  At the end of the lesson they told us how grateful they were that we came over that day and how they had actually been planning on calling us earlier in the day and canceling our appointment, but as hard as they tried to find the paper we gave them with our number on it they just couldn't find that paper.  So as you can see, this appointment of ours was meant to happen and the Lord was influencing both sides so it would happen XD. 

The next adventure we had is we took one of the families we are teaching, the Phillips, to the temple visitor center this week to watch the restoration video, and man was that an adventure XD.  After the movie we had a really good lesson with them and helped them clear up some of their concerns about faith, and then we went to Reed's Dairy and got some icecream XD.  However, what made it an adventure was on the way back home XD.  So we were about half way to roberts, from Idaho Falls, and the car all the sudden started sputtering at us and slowing down.  We were out of gas :(.  So brother Phillips starts weaving back and forth to swish the gasoline around in the gas tank and try to use up as much as he can and tells us we probably won't make it to roberts.  So me, being the missionary i am, i say a prayer asking heavenly father to let us make it to the gas station in roberts (about 8-10 miles away).  I got an answer instantly that we were going to make it and everything was going to be all right XD.  So i told brother phillips to not worry and that we are going to make it, which we did XD.  So we pretty much had an unplanned object lesson about faith to tie into our lesson about faith that we had earlier that day with them XD, so it was pretty much awesome.  Oh, and that car ride was also the most fun car ride i have been on so far in my mission hahahahaha. XD. Me and my companion were both moving our bodies with the motion of the car so we made it also a fun experience hahahaha XD.

So i have to throw this random fact out there.  I pretty much am becoming a boss omelette maker XD hahahaha.  About 2 to 3 days out of the week i am now making omelettes for breakfast to improve my terrible cooking skills haahaha.  So when i am home in the future, be prepared to eat one of the most delicious omelettes you have ever tasted hahaha XD.

Well, that's all that happened this week so i shall end this wonderfully AWESOME email here XD.  Love you all and peace out till next week XD.

With love,
Elder Arrowchis

Chapter 27

So not a whole lot happened this week unfortunately, but i will still tell you what did happen XD.  First off, 4th of July was awesome and definately made Jordan's "Best Day Ever" List XD.  It was pretty awesome to see Uncle Bob XD. I was afraid that i wouldn't recognize him if i saw him, but when i saw him walking up the in the aisle of booths in the fair grounds i was like, "dude, that's my Uncle Bob!" hahahaha.  Then we went out as a zone to dinner in Idaho Falls and guess where we went?  WE WENT TO CHILIS! XD.  I had been craving Chilis for quite awhile now so when our zone leader asked us for suggestions on where to go for dinner i quickly suggested Chilis, which of course ended up happening XD.  So if you thought i was happy and excited when i told you i went to Panda Express, times that by 10 and that's how excited i was to go to Chilis hahahaha.  After that we went to the park and found a spot to watch the fireworks and man was the Idaho Falls firework show good.  However, the Disney Land fireworks show is still the best in my opinion XD.
We got to meet our new mission president this week, President Brinkerhoff, on thursday and we all had an interview with him for a few min so he could get to know us individually.  He is a really nice perrson and gave a really good training about how we won't receive specific blessings from our prayers if we don't pray for specific things.  It was really simple but really good XD.  He is definately going to make a really good mission president.

So the last thing that happened, and unfortunately the worst thing that happened this week, is my companion got sick and was in bed sick all saturday and sunday. :( . And let me tell you, being stuck inside all day when you are a missionary because your companion is sick really sucks :(.  Pretty much my only options were to eat, sleep, read scriptures, watch some movies that we get that we can share with people we are teaching, or exercise.  So during those 2 days i ended up watching the movie The Testiments in 5 different languages (English, Japanese (which by far was the best language to watch it in XD), Russian, Korean, and Chinese), reading my scriptures, and practiced my dancing quite alot. But ya, i definately don't want to go through having my companion (or me) getting sick because it really just isn't fun hahaha.

Well that's all that happened this week so I'm going to end this email here.  Peace out till next week XD.

With Love,

Elder Arrowchis

Chapter 26

So you want to know what we get to do for the 4th of July? Do you reeeallyyy realllyy want to know? Well.......... WE GET AN ALL DAY P-DAY!!!!! WOOT! hahahahahaha. Ya i actually will probably be in Menan for the 4th of july and might be watching the fireworks show there.  I will also be able to write all my friends responses to their emails on that day since i will have alot of time! XD. However i probably won't send you those responses till next monday.  But they will atleast be happy at my turn around time XD.  And what else is cool is we get an extended curfew and we will be able to stay out till 11! XD.

Well, onto what happened to me this week!  We went and taught this family that we have been teaching for a little while, named the Phillips (who are pretty much awesome), and we are going to be going to the Visitor Center with them on saturday to see the Joseph Smith the Restoration Video with them! I am super excited to do that with them because the Temple is such a wonderful place and i know they will feel the spirit testify to them there XD.

Honestly, being a missionary has changed me alot. Now, Whenever i hear about someone being baptized or someone starting to take the discussions i get SUPER excited. I have grown to love this gospel and truely appreciate how it has blessed me in my life, and it has made my desire to share this wonderful blessing with others soooo much XD. So tell Carbo hi for me when he comes over next. Man i am super jelly of you guys. I wish i could of been there to see Jackson be ordained a deacon. He is growing up soooo fast.

So a funny thing happened to me this week.  I was walking into the gas station with my companion and i saw something bright red appear on the TV screen in the restaurant next to the gas station.  When i took a closer look i realised that it said in bright white letters with a red background, "EMAIL STEVE".  Im sure there was more to that ad, but i couldn't stop laughing because my first thought was, "Hey! I need to go email Steve Stebbins!" hahahahahahaha.  However, other than those 2 stories not much has happened this week.  We are still trying to get better acquainted with the new areas we recieved (Dubios, Monteview, and Hamer) and trying to find some people to teach in those areas, so it's been a hard but fun week XD.

Well im going to end this chapter of my AWESOMELY SPECTACULARIFICAL mission here XD.

Keep being awesome and having fun XD.

With Love,

Elder Arrowchis XD

Chapter 25

So things are going great on my mission.  We just found 2 people the other day to start teaching, and one of them looks really promising, so we are super excited XD.  It's also really fun covering a ginormous area XD.  I am teaching quite a few people about the gospel and having a blast while i do it!  Coming on my mission has been one of the best choices i have ever made XD.

This last week, we were driving around in Dubios, trying to get a feel for a layout since we now cover it, and we ran into this sign next to this gate that said, "Enter at your own risk" and so we looked past the gate wondering why a sign would say that and we saw that the path led into this pit and at the bottom of this pit was a cave! We went down to the mouth of the cave and looked inside, and inside the cave we saw a little ways inside a brick wall and a steel door.  So later that day when we were visiting someone we asked them what it was and they told us it was a nuclear bomb shelter that was built back in the cold war! So that was cool to see.

My companion had some people he was teaching in his old area, which was down in poci [Pocatello], who had asked him to baptize them so this last saturday we went down to poci so he could baptize them.  While on the way, however, we decided to get some lunch and guess where we stopped and ate???? PANDA EXPRESS!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOT! hahahahaha i was sooooo happy to eat that panda express because it had been pretty much 6 months since i had had it and i was missing it alot hahahaha.  Now i just need to go to chilies, can't really go to maki yaki or in n out since they don't really have them here, and then i will have gone to all my favorite places to eat on my mission XD. 

Last week was one of the "Best Days Ever!" because the stake president came down the stairs holding a bag of elk jerky and asked if we wanted some elk jerky and my companion was like, "I have never had it before so sure" and i was like "OH MY GOSH YESSSS!!!!!! I LOVE ELK JERKY!!!" hahahaha. It was really good and made me think about all the times i eat elk jerky at my dad's house hahahaha.  But while on my mission so far i have had elk, buffalo, deer, lamb, and the only one that was really new to me was ram, which was actually really good hahahaha. 

Well, besides those stories and the fact that my mission is going awesomely great, i am out of things to write about so i will end this chapter here.

Peace out till next week!

With Love,
Elder Arrowchis

Chapter 24

That sounds like a pretty awesome stake conference! Our last Stake Conference we just had here was piped in from SLC, It was still pretty good though, but yours definitely sounds a little more awesome hahaha.  So i have already heard a little bit about that trip to go and TP Joe Wilson's house.  The young men all wrote me this last week and in a few of the letters they told me all about their adventures to go and TP a few people’s houses, one being Joe's.  However they didn't tell me that they got caught hahahahaha.  

Well, as you know this last sunday was Father's Day and i have a funny story to tell about it.  You know how i some how ALWAYS ended up with the treat that the mothers/fathers were getting in church on Mothers/Fathers Day? Well that kinda happened again in my ward here hahahaha.  Sacrament had ended and my companion and I were starting to head off to Gospel Principles class and we were intercepted by one of the Mom's who was helping to hand out the treats, which were cinnamon rolls, and hands us both one and used the excuse that we were Fathers in training. hahahahaha.  We both definately enjoyed those cinnamon rolls and accept our new titles of Fathers in training happily hahaha.

So things are still hectic here now that we cover the entire stake.  We are finally getting used to our new schedule we made of which ward we are going to be in on which day and things are getting better.  Today for p-day we are having a Barbeque with the other elders that live in Roberts and having a Board Game Party so i am definitely looking forward to it! XD

So it's fun/wierd being a district leader's companion.  Pretty much atleast once a week im doing an exchange with the other elders in our district so im with a new companion for a day every week. Like i said, it's fun but wierd.

Con amor,
Elder Arrowchis

P.S. Tell my lamo friends to hurry up and write me, the last time i told you to tell them only steve wrote me hahahaha.

Chapter 23

It is pretty cool living with the stake president, mostly because our stake president is a pretty chill person.  He isn't overbearing and wants to help out anyway he can.  It also makes it easier to find out about people in any of the wards because he has lived there his entire life XD.  So what happened this week? hmmmmmmm.....honesly, not a whole lot has happened this week.  We are still just trying to get a hang for the area and finally got our schedule figured out and we are confident that the work here is going to progress really well.  We can already see the potential this area has and we are super excited to get to work XD. 

So i guess something cool that is happening today is we scheduled an appointment for this place called dragon slayer games (it's a card/board game place that is only tues-sat and will open on mondays if you set up an appointment) and we are going to buy some boardgames, mostly settlers of catan and some expansions for it, because since we now cover twice the area and they only gave us 250 more miles than we had before, we have come to the conclusion that we won't be down to Rexburg for a few weeks at least during this transfer for p-day

But other than that nothing really has happened in the last week, so i am going to end my email here XD. I will try and do something exciting this week so i can spice up my next email XD.

Con amor,

Elder Arrowchis XD

Chapter 22

So i am a little jelly of you guys that you get to play raquet ball hahaha.  Tennis is one of the things i miss the most. However, about 3 p-days ago i got smart and went to walmart and bought like a 15 dollar raquet and played tennis with my district leader from last transfer.  It was the happiest p-day i have had on my mission so far XD hahahaha.   That's so awesome that Sue told them to "hurry up and freaking write me" hahahahaha. And it worked because Steve wrote me this week XD. Also, that game you guys played, signs, i have played that before and it is sooooo much fun.  We played it up at BYU for one of our family home evening activities and we had a blast doing it XD.   Well i guess I will tell you about my companion now.  His name is Elder Wilkins, he is from Arizona, he has 2 brothers and 3 sisters, he is super awesome, and we are going to boss up the Terreton Stake and get baptisms like no other XD. hahahaha.  He is actually the companion i have been hoping for, one that loves to have fun and joke around but who also is a hard worker and loves doing missionary work, and my guess is that i will be with him for atleast 2 to 3 transfers so i am super happy right now XD.  So the new spanish elders that they brought up to cover the menan stake, terreton stake, and part of rigby kind of stole our apartment and kicked us out, and for a few days i was super mad because i liked that place. HOWEVER, a few days after finding out they are stealing our apartment they told us we are going to be moving in with our Stake President into his basement.  They told us we will be moving in with him on Tuesday, we have been staying with the spanish elders in their apartment in the mean time, so we decided to go and talk with the Stake President and find out what the house rules are. So we go there and we find out that his house is HUGE!!!!!!!!!! The basement, which we will be staying in, has about 5 bedrooms down there and even a treadmill, which i am super happy about the treadmill because they said we could use it, and we get to use their beds which are WAYYY more comfortable than the missionary beds they give us so I am super excited hahahahaha XD.  So if you were worried about poor awesome Elder Arrowchis it's ok you don't have to worry anymore, i will be taken well care of hahahaha XD.    Well that's all that really happened this week so i will end this awesome!!!! chapter of my life here so peace out till next week!   Con amor, Elder Arrowchis   P.S. Tell david that one of the spanish Elders that came up here (him and his companion are both white washing the area, the spanish work atleast, by the way) his name is Elder Mayor and he is from Argentina! So he was super excited to see that Boca Junior jersey in my closet hahahahaha and he laughed really hard at the Ushuaia shirt. And if you want to know how to pronounce his name ask david, because it isn't pronounced like a mayor of a town.

Chapter 21

Transfers are on wed. and we got the transfer calls on saturday and they are good and bad :(.  They are awesome because like you hoped i get to stay in my area! And my new companion is going to be the new district leader of my district, since my current one got transfered, so that will be a fun experience.  So now the bad news though.... They are making my area into an english speaking area, which means i am back to speaking english as a missionary again.....But im actually fine with it for a few reasons. One, i asked president colton if i can still do my 1 hour of language study every day to keep learning spanish, and he said that it was fine.  Also, when i go on exchanges (which will happen to me atleast once a week since im the district leaders companion and he has to go on an exchance with all the elders in his district atleast once a transfer) all the other missionaries in my district are in spanish areas so i will get to still learn it/teach in spanish on exchanges.  So it wasn't a complete waste for david to send me those spanish materials.  Also, president colton said that this was just for now so Im hoping that once we get more spanish missionaries that they will open this area back up as a spanish area and i will be spanish again XD (my guess is in 2 to 3 transfers that could happen). 

But i have been reflecting on me coming to this area and i really have warm feeling that i wasn't supposed to be coming to this area to be a spanish missionary, but to serve in this area and to meet some certain families.  There are 2 families that we are teaching that i have drawn really close to and i have this unexpressible love for them and want the best for them.  So i am extremely happy that i get to stay here for another transfer and continue to teach them and help them progress to baptism! XD

Well i don't have time much time to email this week so i will end it here. All the elders in my district want to go golfing because 4 out of 6 of my district are getting transfered hahaha, so they want to do a last p-day activity with each other so i told them i would keep my emailing short this week. So unfortunately i won't be able to email david this week, but tell him i will write him next week because i will have my normal aloted time XD. Peace out till next time!

Con amor,

Elder Arrowchis

P.S. Can you tell my bum friends to freaking email me already :P. Thank you XD.

Also, please find out for me this week whether Ashley is at BYU still for another semester or at home so i can know what address to send my letter to! thank you! XD

Chapter 20

Man that's so exciting that david is home! He looks a little different now in the pictures you sent me. That or maybe i just haven't seen him in a long time hahaha.  And it feels wierd/cool to be the ONLY Elder Arrowchis in the world now XD.  Im so used to telling people that my brother is in Argentina on a mission when they ask if i have siblings and what they are doing.  I might mess up for the next few weeks when people ask, but i will adjust.

I got your package today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT'S AWESOME!!!! I will thank david more in my email to him but thank him anyway for the soccer jersey and that AWESOME Penguins of Madagascara shirt XD.  And that would be so like david to make you guys wait 25 min just so he can shave and what not hahaha.  That's so awesome that David got to see everyone and go to travbum's wedding! Tell Travbum i say congrats on the wedding/temple sealing!

So this week was a good week.  The first thing that happened was we had a spanish ward activity for the spanish branch here on saturday! And guess what i learned?!?!?! Spanish activity = SOCCER!!!!!!!!!! hahahahahaha! It was so much fun to play soccer again, and thanks to david i will look legit in my Argentinian soccer jersey at the next spanish activity XD.  And also because david sent me all those spanish materials, which i was super excited for, i will be able to better understand what they are saying and communicate back by the next one.  Seriously though, tell david i am super grateful for those spanish materials because i have been borrowing my district leaders materials but the grammar practice books all have the answers written in them so i couldn't really do them, and David being AWESOME he didn't write in them XD.  So now i will actually be able to do more than just read the BOM in my one hour of language study every day! XD hahahaha.

Another note to talk about is transfers is in a week and something huge is happening to our area! They are going to take out one of the 2 companionships in the Terreton Stake and give the other companionship the entire stake.  For example, if i stay i will cover not only Terreton and Roberts, but i will also cover Hamer/Dubios/Monteview.  And you also have to factor in that my companion has been here for 6 transfers and one of the elders in the other companionship has been here for 5 transfers so alot of crazy possibilities are available! hahaha.

Today for P-day we wen't to the zoo in Idaho Falls!!! It was waaaayyyy smaller than the San Diego Zoo but it was still alot of fun XD.

Well, I am going to end this chapter of my life here so i have time to send you pictures so peace out till next week and keep having a wonderful time.

Con amor,

Elder Arrowchis

Chapter 19

It was really awesome getting to skype home on mothers day. And i agree, skype is one of the greatest inventions ever XD. But it really was nice to see you guys and to get to talk to you.  Hey, i have a question for you. Is Ashley back home for the summer or did she stay at BYU? I need to know so i can know where to send her letter. If she is at BYU i will send it to her address. If she is home i will just have you email it to her.

Well since i just talked to you yesterday and told you everything, there isn't really anything to report on so i will just end this email here. XD

Love you all and hope you continue having a great time at home.

Con Amor,

Elder Arrowchis

P.S. Also, please let Aiden know that he is awesome and tell all the youngmen that i say Hi. Oh, and you MUST call brother Titel an old man for me the next time you see him XD. Love you and Peace out!

Chapter 18

So about calling home, I will be calling home around 3:30 and as of right now i will be using skype.  So i will talk to you guys at 3:30 and my dad around 4:15ish so be ready for me XD.  I am super excited to be calling home, i have one requirement however....Mika must be there XD.

This last week was pretty eventful.  To start off we had our stake conference this last sunday.  It was wierd because instead of the stake president and other people speaking we had our stake conference broad casted to us by salt lake city.  Have we ever had that back home? If so i don't remember it hahaha.  So, the next item of awesomeness that happened this last week is i gave my first baptismal invitation, and it was in spanish!!!!! He said he would like to but he wants to get support from his wife before he does. But it was so awesome!!!!  I even bore my testimony to him in spanish which was also awesome and went very well.  I still can't keep up intense conversations with people but my spanish learning is progressing along very well XD.

And  lastly, something funny to report on that happened this last week is we had 4 dinners on sunday hahahaha.  People kept coming up to us on sunday and telling us that we should go to their house for lunch/dinner after stake conference.  I felt so sick at the end of it all and i am really sick of eatting desert, because every dinner appointment we have they always feed us desert hahaha.  They are making it hard for me to achieve my goal of not gaining any weight on my mission :( hahaha. But i so far have stuck to that goal and haven't gained any weight XD. Oh, that reminds me i do have one more thing to tell you.  Me and  my companion are going to be starting P90X as our workout in the mornings! XD.  So be prepared to see me super ripped in about 90 days, that is if we don't decide to give it up after a week hahaha. Well, that's all that really happened this week. I love hearing what's going on back home in the ward and with you guys so please continue to keep me updated on everything! XD

Con Amor,
Elder Arrowchis

Chapter 17

The Spanish is going great.  I can bear my testimony/pray/share a scripture now in spanish with people.  I mean the testimony is pretty simple, like primary stuff, but whatevs hahaha.  So for the spanish materials, i would say you should wait on sending them till david gets home because he already plans on sending me some spanish materials so you can just ask him if those will be helpful also.  David also just told me this week that i should start reading the BoM every day so i will also start doing that.  That's awesome that you found my old scriptures!!!! hahaha

Thanks for reminding me about dylan's birthday, i had planned on getting him a present but it didn't really click with me that it's already almost May and that his birthday happened hahaha. Time seriously flies by on your mission.  I mean i can't believe that i have already almost been in my new area for 2 weeks!  So ya i already heard from Ayla this last week in a letter she wrote me about the Catalina trip.  I thought it was so funny that they got marooned on catalina for another day.

So to clarify for the branding, we don't actually get to brand them because we aren't allowed to, we just wrestle them to the ground, if they are doing it the roping way, or we push them into the shute, if they are using a shute. But wrestling them down is the most fun part hahaha. However we didn't end up branding this week, but i will tell you later on in this email what we did instead XD.

What i know so far about calling home on mothers day is we will be going to a members house to do it and i will definately be using skype to call you.  And i will make sure that i set up a video camera too so we can video call XD. I don't know what time yet we will be calling home on mothers day yet though but i will let you know next p-day when we have set up everything with the family.

This last week we got to help someone shear sheep!!!!! Just like branding cows, we didn't actually get to do the shearing because we aren't allowed to, and i heard you have to go to school to become a shearer, but we got to heard them into the shearing place and catch the baby sheep and hold them while someone feed them (which was alot of fun).  It was definately a fun experience, besides the fact that we all came away with a little bit of sheep poop on us and smelling like sheep haha.

So some other good news that happened this last week is that my name wasn't butchered during sacrament meeting on the stand for the first time on my mission! hahaha. Some other good news is that I gave a talk this last sunday and I gave a talk longer than 5 min :O hahaha. I gave a 15 min talk on missionary work and it went really well, and of course me being me i prepared that talk the morning of hahaha.

Well there isn't anything else to report on this week so i will end this chapter here.
Peace out till next week! XD

con amor,
Elder Arrowchis

Chapter 16

Ahora estoy hablando espanol!!!!!! woot! (don't know how to say woot in spanish hahaha) However, the rest of this email will be in english hahaha. So about Uncle Bob asking them if those elders knew me, those elders are actually my zone leaders and when i got to the transfer site and met them for the first time they were like, "Hey someone up in Sugar City keeps asking us every week if we know an Elder Arrowchis, i guess that's you" hahahaha.  So they told uncle bob this last week that they now know me XD.  Also, i am happy to say that i am writing this email from Rexburg in the family history center here!!!!! Elder Arrowchis gets to go to a city on p-days woot! hahahaha. Ya every p-day we come to rexburg for our zone activities and to do our shopping and emailing, so i am very happy about that XD. Also, i found out when i got here that i don't just cover Mudlake/Terreton but i also cover Roberts, which is also where our apartment is and is kind of a mini-town. Unfortunately i don't have the address for you yet but i will try and remember to write it down this coming week.
So I got to my new area, Roberts/Terreton/Mudlake, on Wed. and actually had to go on an exchange right away, so i didn't even get to work in my area on my first day hahaha.  But my new companion is AWESOME!!!! His name is Elder Negron. He is from Puerto Rico, has been out 17 months, and is awesome! He is really funny and we are getting along really well.  We taught quite a few lessons this last week, and some where in spanish XD.  However, for the spanish ones all i really did was talk for the greeting part of it (like saying hello, how are you, nice to meet you, etc.) and then sat there quietly while my companion taught because at first i didn't understand anything they were saying hahaha.  But I am starting to do a little more now and understanding more of what they say XD.  Yesterday i got really excited though because when we went into a lesson and they started speaking spanish, i could actually hear every word they were saying instead of it sounding like one big slur of words and i would hear a word i understood every 10-15 words that i knew hahahaha.  Now i just need to know what those words are that i am hearing XD.  Learning spanish is really exciting and i am going to have a blast in my new area with my new companion.

I love hearing everything that is going on back home and am glad that everything is going great with everyone!  This coming week we are going to be helping with branding so i will have more cow wrestling stories to tell, and hopefully pictures of me actually doing it with good form hahaha.

Well, Peace out till next week!!!

With love,
Elder Arrowchis, The one that likes to use XD alot. XD

Chapter 15

Something major happened this last week.....my name was picked to be in the Missionary Hunger Games.  A.K.A, i am being transfered haha.  But man God definately has a sense of humor and likes to show it in my life because he decided to change the language on the Movie he is watching of my life to Spanish! Yup, if you put 2 and 2 together you came to the conclusion that i am being transfered to speak spanish!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOT!!!!! Time to brush up on my 3 years of High School Spanish hahaha. But ya, it is a sad/happy transfer because i am sad that i am leaving Salmon and all the people here, but i am super excited that i am going to be speaking spanish now! XD. Now i can actually skype Eduardo and understand him hahaha. So I am being transfered to the Mudlake/Terreton area in our mission to speak/learn spanish XD. But it is a Bilingual area so i will also be speaking English there at the same time, so i won't be completely helpless the first few weeks hahaha. But ya, IM GOING SPANISH!!!! If you couldn't tell i am super excited to be going spanish hahaha. Something else happened this last week that was really awesome.  One of the people we are teaching came to church yesterday, his second time coming and it happened to be fast and testimony meeting, and towards the end of the hour he tapped me on the shoulder and asked if i would go up with him so he could bare his testimony! It was such an amazing experience to see because he bore such an amazing testimony about faith and it made me sad to know that i am going to be leaving in a few days and won't be teaching him anymore :(.  Well, other than those 2 major events nothing else really happened this last week so i will end this chapter of my life here. Peace out till next week!