July 22, 2013 E-mail

EVERYONE!!!!

So this week was good! I don't have a bike anymore because the one I was using was another sister's and the Zone Leaders came to take it back to her so we can't bike anymore. Although and Elder in the zone collects bikes and then uses the parts to construct new ones and he said he might have a bike for me to use so that would be cool.

So the High Councilman (the one who wanted us to play the organ and gave us that awesome promise) assigned to our ward is a chiropractor and he adjusts missionaries for free! So we went today...man it was awesome! Apparently my feet were and inch off and my neck was discombobulated too. Mom, you know how you always mentioned that my neck leaned forward well it doesn't as much anymore! You also know how I can't touch my toes because I don't bend at my hips properly. Well Hermano Bills (the chiropractor) says I have a little bit of scoliosis (or however you spell it). He said I shouldn't be too worried about it as long as I exercise and keep coming to see him while I'm here, but he said that when I get home I should definitely have a chiropractor look at it. He said they would usually take an x-ray but he can't obviously now. So just an FYI I need to see a chiropractor later. I'm telling you, Mom, so someone knows because I will forget. I'm telling you, everyone else, so that I can testify of the hand of the Lord in everything! He knew that I need to go to Argentina but also knew that there are people here who I need and who need me. That scoliosis never would have been found probably if I hadn't come to Sacramento, been assigned to Tracy, had Hermano Bills as a High Councilman, and gone to his office. The Lord is in everything! As long as we are obedient, His will will guide our lives. When His will is guiding our lives-- and we accept it-- the fruits will ONLY be marvelous and leading to eternal perfection. So be obedient, strive to follow all His words, and then watch miracles unfold and godly change come about!

I feel like I had a lot more to say but, as Nephi writes, what I've said sufficeth me! THE TRUTH WILL PREVAIL! I HOPE YOU ARE ALONG FOR THE RIDE!!

 

Love you all (as appropriately as a missionary can ;D)

Hermana Arntsen

July 15, 2013 e-mail

MOMMY and Everyone else!

This week was GREAT!! There were low points but they all paid off! Yesterday we had eaten dinner at the church and finished early so we were letting in digest before going out in the heat when the other sisters (there are three companionships in our ward) came rushing in saying that they had a referral for us and she wanted to see us right now. So we got up and went to meet her. She had just returned from Mexico where she had attended a church activity. Elders had been there and one of them is from Ripon, CA which is in the mission. That Elder told his parents about her and told them to give the referral to the missionaries. So the Ripon sisters texted it to our other sisters and that's how we got it. Anyway, this woman's name is Elvira. She is BOSS! When she was 25 she was diagnosed with terminal, stage 5 uterine cancer and said "No, I'm going to live" and she did! Once she was also kidnapped for ransom which was the equivalent of $1 million and survived! Then she moved here! She is so great! She said she loves the church already and wants to be BAPTIZED!! Whoot! Then her daughter came in and joined us and asked us a ton of questions. Then the daughter’s two teenage sons came and listened and talked with us too, we gave them Books of Mormon as well. They all seemed pretty happy when we asked for a return appointment we all can't wait to go back!

This was only one miracle from yesterday which Hermana Dando and I believe to be the result of a Preisthood promise. Yesterday morning before church she and I had been fiddling on the organ just to see if we could do it and our High Councilman, Brother Bills, came up to us with the biggest smile on his face! (Just last week he said that he hoped one day to have an organist in this ward) He expressed his excitment to hear the organ in Sacrament meeting. We hastily assured him this was the first time we had touched an organ and we weren't going to be playing it during Sacrament. He promised us that if we played the organ, the Lord would bless us and help us. We couldn't let him down and had faith in his promise as a worthy Priesthood holder, so we played the organ in Sacrament meeting. We did very well, Mom, you would be pleased! That was the first miracle: we played well. Next, a less active family we have been visiting CAME TO CHURCH! We were so excited to see them! They seemed a little nervous to be back but the mom said that they intended on coming next week too! That was the second miracle, and then Elvira and her family were the third. It was a wonderful Sunday! So wonderful that the rest of the week and the low points don't matter. They are forgotten through the blessing and grace of Jesus Christ and His Atonement!

Oh, Mom you asked about the bikes. Well there again Christ has shed froth the grace of His Atonement because there is no way I was ever as good at riding a bike as I have been the last two weeks! It's actually enjoyable now!

Dad you asked about weather: last week it was in the 110s but it's cooled off to the mid-90s. There is a ton of wind here in Tracy! I love it!

Oh by the way...I cut my hair today! It's a lot shorter. I'll try and send you a photo as soon as I can. This way it will be cooler for riding bikes and more out of my way during the day.

This work is true! This work is God's! This work is marvelous! This work is wonderful! I know that as you try to take part in it in your lives you will feel the power and the miracles of God's glory!

I LOVE YOU ALL SSSSSSOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!

Hermana Arntsen

E-mail July 8, 2013

The Fourth of July was good. That's the day I got transferred again. Okay, so when I was assigned a trainer I was assigned to Sister Jackson an English speaker but to a Spanish district. Weird, huh?  Well President later came up to us and explained that there is a sister who was still in the MTC because of illness who is an English speaker and that she was expected in a week. So when she arrived she would be Sister Jackson's companion and I would be transferred to the Spanish sisters in that district as part of a trio. Well the sister came way early from the MTC, so I got one night in Ripon with Sister Jackson and then got transferred to Tracy in the morning because that other sister came early. So now I'm in Tracy with the Spanish sisters. My trainer is now Hermana Marroquin and my other companion is Hermana Dando who is being follow-up trained (training after first three month training).

It's great here. We have a car but can only drive so many miles a month so tonight we are going out on the bikes tonight for the first time. I'll let you know how that goes :P. The work is a little harder here because we can only teach people who speak Spanish. If we would be teaching them English we have to transfer their records to the English speaking sisters. So it's hard to find people we can teach. We had an investigator come to church yesterday! Yavette is in his 20s. He's pretty cool and he's a journalist or trying to be. Because he had to work though we went with him to the 9:00 ward (Spanish is at 1:00). Guess who I saw!!!!!! The Rhees's! Corwin's family! I don't think they recognized me, and I didn't get to talk to them but we're going next week again with Yavette while he tries to re-work his schedule, so maybe I'll get to see them again.

I'm excited to get to work and I'm glad to hear about your missionary experience Mom! Keep it up! And tell Dad I want to know what he did too, please! <3

In the strength of the Lord nothing can be impossible to us!

ALL MY LOVE!!!

Hermana Arntsen

Sacramento--July 2, 2013

So President and Sister Lewis gave us a little time to email you and let you know that we landed and traveled safely to the mission home. Everything is great! While we were waiting for our bags in my peripheral vision I saw a man standing behind me, not a missionary, and a felt that I should talk to him. I was a little hesitant but I finally just turned to him and said "and how are you today, sir?" Well he was wondering what we were all doing there and how missionary work worked.  He also expressed that he was in Sacramento to visit his father who is of failing health. I gave him a pass along card with the address of mormon.org on it and a picture of the temple. I told him that he could find some help and answers from the website on that card. He sincerely said he would take a look and had pleasure talking to me and another random Elder who was there. I wish I could have talked with Michael (that's his name) longer but then my bag showed up and I had to grab it and catch up with Hermana Jensen and Elder Carter. I hope that he finds what he is looking for to help him through this difficult time and that his interest in us as missionaries is satisfied through further seeking. Maybe I needed to be on that plane just to talk to Michael. Maybe my visa was delayed just to help him come closer to Christ. I desperately hope my attitude won't change but right now I feel that if Michael was the only reason that I needed to come to Sacramento, that I would be okay with that. Maybe that's even a little of what Christ felt while suffering the Atonement.... Food for thought.

Everything will be wonderful here. There are Spanish areas, so I'll probably be speaking while I'm here. Also we are a bike riding mission here in Sacramento! This will be beyond hard for me as I'm not really a bike rider, but I know I can do it!

Please don't forget to apply one act of missionary work in your lives. Unless you have an urgent appointment, I encourage and ask that you go to lds.org right after you sign out of this email and watch a talk again or review what was said in that broadcast. There's no time to lose. There're too many blessings waiting for you and others you touch. There are too many waiting and not knowing. Please, even if you don't select something from the broadcast, just do an act of missionary work today: answering a question of mormon.org, posting something on Facebook, having a chat with a friend, going out with the missionaries (I can't speak from experience yet, but I know we love it when members come and they help tremendously!), or whatever you want. Don't quote me on this but I'm pretty sure Preach My Gospel says that members constitute 50% of our effectiveness as missionaries!! HALF!! It's all you! Go make it happen!

I love you SO much!

Hermana Arntsen