Hello all! I’m writing from my usual computer in a blistering hot Honduras. It’s been fairly cool this week for here, but today we are back to the normal humidity and heat.
Congrats to Caitlin. I didn’t study all that hard for my AP tests and got 3's on both, but it’s much better to get a 5 because the college credit is for a higher class. The general populace here wanted Holland to win as did I. It’s only because Holland had gone twice already and lost both times, whereas Spain hadn’t ever gone, and I didn’t want them to win on their first try. But no biggie.
Dad tells me that the girls have a super girly car. The ford focus... not my style, but the informer explained that it was a steal. I suppose it’s appropriate; girly car for girls. Makes sense when you really think about it.
We had a long week of hard work and it paid off, we had 9 investigators in church and we hope to baptize several before I leave the area at the end of the month. Last week I bought you all jerseys, but I’m afraid that they may be a tad big on most of you (with the exception of dad... I’ll bet it fits perfect), but they are way cool. I still want to get some other cool Honduran things for you guys. I was thinking bags for the girls, but I don’t know what for dad (mom being included in girls') I’ll probably get three different style bags and you will all have to fight over them, and for dad...? A sweet chumpa? I’ll send a picture of one so you can see. Just let me know!
We continue to work, and I’m doing my best to work even harder as the time comes to an end because I know that the last few moments of the game are what are most remembered. No regrets. Leave it all on the field. Any other sports phrase applicable. One of our progressing investigators lives on the streets and sells little cards that have psalms on them and things of that nature. He’s been on the streets for seven years; ever since he got deported from the states for murder (he is innocent he assures us); he was a drug dealer. But he is so humble now and loves the Book of Mormon. We hope for the best!
Hope all is well in the hot, hot, heat just as it is down here. Tell the girls to write me for once.
Love you all!
Sunday, July 18, 2010
July 4, 2010
Hey mom!
The emergency was that the zone didn’t have money and the reimbursements didn’t come, so I reimbursed everybody with my money so they could live until the end of the month. As a zone leader I get sent a certain amount of money every week to pay for the small things the church covers like transportation, but the church hadn't sent me the money for some reason, so I had to take matters into my own hands. No worries.
So the Spanish family didn’t go to church this week, and they hid from us yesterday when we went by... it’s really saddening the way that all of a sudden they did a huge 180 on us.
Moving on to the new president: president Veirs is about five foot six, way loving. He is hilarious. He gives huge hugs--almost comparable to dad's, just that president Veirs is fairly short....,
He is from Rancho Cucamonga , California and is a chiropractor. Oh, and he got me permission to come home for classes, but we don’t know when ill be coming home still.
Sorry for the short email. I love you guys.
Thanks so much for all the love and support. Tell the girls I say hello!
Love you, mommy!!
Michael
The emergency was that the zone didn’t have money and the reimbursements didn’t come, so I reimbursed everybody with my money so they could live until the end of the month. As a zone leader I get sent a certain amount of money every week to pay for the small things the church covers like transportation, but the church hadn't sent me the money for some reason, so I had to take matters into my own hands. No worries.
So the Spanish family didn’t go to church this week, and they hid from us yesterday when we went by... it’s really saddening the way that all of a sudden they did a huge 180 on us.
Moving on to the new president: president Veirs is about five foot six, way loving. He is hilarious. He gives huge hugs--almost comparable to dad's, just that president Veirs is fairly short....,
He is from Rancho Cucamonga , California and is a chiropractor. Oh, and he got me permission to come home for classes, but we don’t know when ill be coming home still.
Sorry for the short email. I love you guys.
Thanks so much for all the love and support. Tell the girls I say hello!
Love you, mommy!!
Michael
June 28, 2010
Letter for Grandma Della:
Dear Grandma Della,
I wanted to take this opportunity to cordially and lovingly thank you for helping me to serve the Lord with a full time mission. My time is coming to a close now and I have been working as hard as I possibly can to be able to bring souls unto Christ, and I feel successful. I hope all is well with your recovery. My prayers are with you. I know that the gospel is true and that the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ sacrificed himself as ransom for us all. I now have a testimony of The Book of Mormon; it is the word of God. It, more than anything, is what has allowed me to understand the fullness of the Gospel of Christ. I love you very much.
Elder Arntsen
Elder Brown and I are working super hard and have found a way sweet family of 4 from Spain that have come to church for two weeks in a row now. They are way sweet and intelligent. So we are going to baptize them in a few weeks. Apart from that it’s been a challenge lately to find people to teach, but we are working super, super hard to find 'em, and we are. What’s going on in the world these days? Hope all is well!
Elder Arntsen
Dear Grandma Della,
I wanted to take this opportunity to cordially and lovingly thank you for helping me to serve the Lord with a full time mission. My time is coming to a close now and I have been working as hard as I possibly can to be able to bring souls unto Christ, and I feel successful. I hope all is well with your recovery. My prayers are with you. I know that the gospel is true and that the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ sacrificed himself as ransom for us all. I now have a testimony of The Book of Mormon; it is the word of God. It, more than anything, is what has allowed me to understand the fullness of the Gospel of Christ. I love you very much.
Elder Arntsen
Elder Brown and I are working super hard and have found a way sweet family of 4 from Spain that have come to church for two weeks in a row now. They are way sweet and intelligent. So we are going to baptize them in a few weeks. Apart from that it’s been a challenge lately to find people to teach, but we are working super, super hard to find 'em, and we are. What’s going on in the world these days? Hope all is well!
Elder Arntsen
June 21, 2010
OK, so I don’t have much time right now, but wish father a happy father's day. My new comp is Elder Brown from Blackfoot, Idaho. Wwe have lots in common, so we'll rock it out.
Everything is going well in the area. We got a reference of a family from Spain, and they are sweet. I’ll write more in depth next week.
I love you !
Everything is going well in the area. We got a reference of a family from Spain, and they are sweet. I’ll write more in depth next week.
I love you !
June 14, 2010
Busy week indeed!! I don’t think I’ve ever worked so hard as this week! We have been on spiritual highs and rockin’ up this Hondo land! We’ve been knocking on doors like crazy! And we´ve found some decent investigators that didn’t’ come to church yesterday, but we´re working on it!! We found a way cool joven (young man) that is super catholic, but really understands that if he receives an answer that the Book of Mormon is true then he has to stop going to the Catholic church. The only problem is that he is a huge soccer fan, and, as I’m sure Caitlin has let you all know, it’s world cup time right now, so he is a little less enthused about going to church at 9 am when there is always a game at that same time.... but we also have a sweet family that we are working with. And lots of support from the bishop. He is so cool. I plan to keep up contact with him over facebook.
And Elder Beach has a change, but we already knew it. He has been here for 6 months already and only has one change left in his mission. After which I only have one a well... scary thought huh? But I’m staying super focused, no worries.
How is everything with you guys then? It’s been ridiculously hot and also raining like crazy when it does rain. One would think that the rain would cool everything off, but it just makes it way hotter. The people are super hyped for world cup, but have no aspirations of winning... even the players are just excited to have qualified, but don’t really plan on winning. Not the attitude I was taught when having to do with sports, but oh well. With the gospel the attendance dropped drastically last week because of the games. I only hope it doesn’t affect baptisms and the work in general.
Love you guys!!
And Elder Beach has a change, but we already knew it. He has been here for 6 months already and only has one change left in his mission. After which I only have one a well... scary thought huh? But I’m staying super focused, no worries.
How is everything with you guys then? It’s been ridiculously hot and also raining like crazy when it does rain. One would think that the rain would cool everything off, but it just makes it way hotter. The people are super hyped for world cup, but have no aspirations of winning... even the players are just excited to have qualified, but don’t really plan on winning. Not the attitude I was taught when having to do with sports, but oh well. With the gospel the attendance dropped drastically last week because of the games. I only hope it doesn’t affect baptisms and the work in general.
Love you guys!!
Jun 7, 2010 E-mail
Hey guys sorry for writing so late. We had a busy day today. Since we baptized so many last month president invited us to play soccer with him today, and then we had some errands to do so we ran a tad late. I’ll write lots more next week though.
I had a great week of hard work that didn’t really pay off because most of our investigators aren’t progressing, but we aren’t getting discouraged. Just keep on keepin’ on. My time with Elder Beach is about up. There’s a week and a half remaining in the change. I’ll fill you in better next week though!!!
Love you!
I had a great week of hard work that didn’t really pay off because most of our investigators aren’t progressing, but we aren’t getting discouraged. Just keep on keepin’ on. My time with Elder Beach is about up. There’s a week and a half remaining in the change. I’ll fill you in better next week though!!!
Love you!
Monday, July 5, 2010
May 31, 2010 E-mail
So.... we baptized a family of 4. Making the month of May a high point in the zone with 7. We passed our goal so Elder Beach and I are pretty pumped up. We have had a rough week ‘cause it’s been raining so much so we’ve been in and out of hiding from the rain and making sure the house doesn’t flood. We are way low on investigators right now, but we´ll conquer that this week so we can baptize some people this month.
Everybody is getting ready for the change in presidents, and even president Cruz is getting baggie... well at least a little. It’s just like when you know you´re about to leave and area. You just get this feeling like, "I’m leaving anyway..." and prez is feeling like that right now. Supposedly missionaries feel that way as they finish, but that hasn’t set in quite yet.
It’s been way hot lately, and it’s just worsened by the rain. But we´re battling it out.
This week we have interviews with President and also Elder Martino and Elder Ochoa are coming for a visit so we get to have a second zone conference this change. More spiritual uplifting motivation for the best mission in the world.
Hope all is well in the desert.
Love you guys!!
Michael
Everybody is getting ready for the change in presidents, and even president Cruz is getting baggie... well at least a little. It’s just like when you know you´re about to leave and area. You just get this feeling like, "I’m leaving anyway..." and prez is feeling like that right now. Supposedly missionaries feel that way as they finish, but that hasn’t set in quite yet.
It’s been way hot lately, and it’s just worsened by the rain. But we´re battling it out.
This week we have interviews with President and also Elder Martino and Elder Ochoa are coming for a visit so we get to have a second zone conference this change. More spiritual uplifting motivation for the best mission in the world.
Hope all is well in the desert.
Love you guys!!
Michael
May 24, 2010 E-mail
So here’s some huge news-- my first convert is sealed for time and all eternity!!! I sent a picture of the happy couple and me at their wedding (they were sealed in the Guatemala temple right after). I baptized him on Roatan. Eddy. He lives in an area in the zone and since we are ZL´s we went to the wedding... duh. It was sweet. So that the biggest and greatest news of my mission so far. It blows my mind.
Elder Beach and I are working way hard. And living life to the fullest. The zone is a tad rebellious, but it’s just cause were both gringos in a predominantly Latin zone, and we are also both the zone leaders, we have a family of 4 that should be baptized this weekend, but the mom has to kick her husband out of the house first. She is willing to but hasn’t done it yet.
Apart from that I’m just stoked for Eddy having been sealed last week. It’s unbelievable the progress that he has had.
Love you guys!
Elder Beach and I are working way hard. And living life to the fullest. The zone is a tad rebellious, but it’s just cause were both gringos in a predominantly Latin zone, and we are also both the zone leaders, we have a family of 4 that should be baptized this weekend, but the mom has to kick her husband out of the house first. She is willing to but hasn’t done it yet.
Apart from that I’m just stoked for Eddy having been sealed last week. It’s unbelievable the progress that he has had.
Love you guys!
May 17, 2010 E-mail
Everything is going really well here. We had a baptism of three on Saturday and Elder Beach and I are working really hard.
The jerseys are easy enough to find, the only question is if you want real jerseys or fakes. Real ones cost like 55 bucks each or something like that, but I can get fake ones on the street for 15ish. I’ll put a picture of the jersey color options.
We´re still having some tough times in the zone and I feel like most of the elders have a problem respecting. I don’t want them to revere me or anything, but just some common respect from one individual to another would be great. I mean it’s a tad over the top when they hang up the phone on you while you are calmly explaining a rule they ought to follow...
But hey. . . nobody is perfect. I’m doing my best to be patient and loving, but I suppose I hold everybody up to standards that I hold myself to, and that isn’t fair since they aren’t me. Epiphany! Have to work on that this week.
Get back to me on the jersey thing!
Love you. See ya!
The jerseys are easy enough to find, the only question is if you want real jerseys or fakes. Real ones cost like 55 bucks each or something like that, but I can get fake ones on the street for 15ish. I’ll put a picture of the jersey color options.
We´re still having some tough times in the zone and I feel like most of the elders have a problem respecting. I don’t want them to revere me or anything, but just some common respect from one individual to another would be great. I mean it’s a tad over the top when they hang up the phone on you while you are calmly explaining a rule they ought to follow...
But hey. . . nobody is perfect. I’m doing my best to be patient and loving, but I suppose I hold everybody up to standards that I hold myself to, and that isn’t fair since they aren’t me. Epiphany! Have to work on that this week.
Get back to me on the jersey thing!
Love you. See ya!
May 10, 2010 E-mail
Dear family,
I’m sure you all laughed. In case you didn’t know I enjoy making others snicker at what I say and do. Just an F.Y.I. so this week was pretty normal. We had 11 investigators in church yesterday and three people that will be baptized this weekend.
Just go ahead and give me a call tonight if dad’s home. Like right around 930 my time. Yeah I’ll just end my email here and await your call this evening.
Love you!
I’m sure you all laughed. In case you didn’t know I enjoy making others snicker at what I say and do. Just an F.Y.I. so this week was pretty normal. We had 11 investigators in church yesterday and three people that will be baptized this weekend.
Just go ahead and give me a call tonight if dad’s home. Like right around 930 my time. Yeah I’ll just end my email here and await your call this evening.
Love you!
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