what what what!

hey peeps whats up.

sorry about last week i ran around town all day. and i didnt have a whole lot of time to talk to my family. and i didnt have any time to talk to you guys so i am sorry about that. 

so this last week and another week have been crazy, but i am doing well. dont have too many parasites... i hope, and general conference was fun.

someone had a rumor that they wee going to cut mission times. and all of saturday and sunday the other missionaries were freaking out waiting for the profet to tell them what was gonna go down. but nope... nothing... so that was kinda fun.

the talk that i think hit me the most was the talk by jeffery r holland. where he talks about the sacrament. i think too often we over look the simple and look for the more complicated bigger sacrifices we can make. waking up early to find time to read in the scriptures, or go do baptisms for the dead. but if we overlook the small and simple things it doesnt matter what we sacrifice.

last conference an elder talked about how obediance is better than sacrifice, and i was thinking that yes that is true... but also obediance usually requires a sacrifice. and i think obediance is better than sacrifice in that we need to give the sacrifice that is asked for. the scriptural qwuote for this is in the bible where a king brought a bunch of cows and rams from a conquered city to sacrifice. but the lord had commanded to leave nothing living and bring nothing home.

and that is why it says obediance is better than sacrifice. because the sacrifice was to bring home no spoils. and this king brought home spoils to sacrifice to the lord. a noble deed. but not an obediant one

it is interesting no vea. and do you really think the creator of the universe needed the sacrifices. no the sacrifices are like elder holland said for our benefit. to remind us of the lord. to keep us centered on the savior.

and now what sacrifices do we bring. a broken heart and a contrite spirit. i think it is interestiong it says broken heart. the first thing i think of with the words broken heart is of  sadness and lonliness. of putting your trust in someone and them letting you down. i dont actually know what the word contrite means... just kidding i just looked it up. afflicted by guilt is what it means. remorseful. penitent.

so if that is what we bring to the sacrament altar, what will we take away?

the bread is  a representation of his body, bruised and broken. the water a symbol of his blood. the sacrament is a physical representation of the atonement. how many times are we the atonement will heal all pains. cure all guilts.

and that is what the sacrament is. a time to focus on what we need to fix a time to repent and leave behind everything the savior promised to take.

i encourage you all to take elder hollands advice and treat the sacrament with more respect and reverance.

only good things will come of it.

i love you all

elder noah matthew arkoudas 

Any Pictures today?

Yes!

no subject

so this week was awesome. we worked so hard this week, but i realized that we have been working in the wrong way. we didnt have any success last week. or this week. and so we have now decided (after three weeks of nothing happening) that we need to work with the members more. i am glad heavenly father is very patient because our plan of how to get success after two weeks of no success was to work harder. wich made us feel better about our work, but we still didnt have any success. and yester day after church we litterally passed out for 2 hours because we were so tired.

so we decided to try and work smarter. and it really makes sense if you think about it. there can be 4 missionarys in our ward, or there can be a ward full of them. so hopefully this week we work smarter instead of harder. because we worked as hard as we could last week.

one thing i have noticed this week is that in the inbetween moments of our lifes, when things are good. but not great. and not the pits either. just those inbetween moments not the highs not the lows. it is easy to question, if your testimony is still there. if you have one at all. then the hard times hit and you only have your testimony to keep you going. or the high times when you walk around all day doing exactly what the spirit tells you to do.

in the highs and the lows you feel your testimony. but then you hit the ruts and you can start to question. 

i have found that those moments suck. sorry if you thought i had some advice for you. but i am only 19, and not that smart. so sorry i cant tell you exactly what you need to do in those moments.

 some thing that helpes me is to just keep pushing on and that you will hit a high or a low and then you can go from there.

i love you all. hope you have a really great week.

elder arkoudas

Quartel

so this week was awesome. we have been working super hard and we have been trying our best to reach our gols and hve numbers that show we are working hard. but we are just really struggling to get these numbes get that proof that we re working hard.

i dont eel super bd about it. i kno we are working hard nd tht with time we will find those people who we are meant to find and help the people we ar e supposed to help.

sorry this iemil isnt super long. i will tell a quick story.

so we went nd touched this door to talk with this lady daisy. she wasnt there so we headed to our plan b. as we were about to touch  this door i just felt super bad about it. so we didnt touch that door and i just felt like we should go look for this lady marisol. s we did and found out tht it is better to look for her in the night  from her sister. then i felty like we sheould go to this amilia añasgo. so we did and on the way we ran into this guy form our ward and bought some bread from him.

then we went to this family. on the way we passed this guy sitting on the side of the rod. we got to the door and as we were about ton touchit. i felt like we should go tlk to this guy. so we did nd made a pklan to go visit him in his house next week. then we went back to the familia añasgo.

we touched the door and then a little while after the son and daughter came out on their wy to school. we didnt get t talk for long, just enough to say that i hve met them now. then we felt like we shouldngo to the park to contact. we did and tlked with two young kids gave them a pamphletn and then went and played soccer with these two ive yer olds. (one was fat, couldnt run, and a cheater. and the other was a ball hog.)

and then ater playing eith them we talked to the oldersister of the one and took down her address to go find her later. s we were playing soccer this halway drunk guy came up tos and started talking to me.

he has a  pretty cool story. so he was in the quartel. wich sounds like cartel  right?  and he escaped twice, but they came and found him both times.  and then he escaped again and they just rcently caught up with him ater five years. so he cant go to his house with his kids because he doesnt want to cause trouble there. so he is living in the streets. and he really doesnt want to go back to the quartel. sounds lke cartel right? then he told us how he doesnt like the life of killing people and guns and totl. 

he showed us a scar on his chest that looks like a gunshot wound.

then he asked me where he could go to escape and where he could be free from the quartel. sounds like cartel right?

so we gve him that bread we bought and he cried and was sper gratefull. then we left and i translated the whole thing to my companion, and we were kinda reaking out.

then we went to our lunch and we asked the bishop if quartel meant cartell. and he said that it ddnt. so we didnt find a man from the cartel. quartel is the military service here. and if you volunteer you hve to stay nd finish the year. like there isnt nother option. but still a cool story.

that day ws literally lead by the spirit for the night. we never could have planned to do everything we did. and there are more things that happened that i dont have time to share.

but i was thinking about why every day isnt like that. and i relized that is where the whole "man should be engaged in a good cause and do many things of their own free will". it is our job to work nd grow closer to the spirit so when it comes with a job for us we re ready to listen and we are redy to obey.

noh arkoudas

Woah

so this week was super bien. i met my new comp. he is a great guy. Elder Baker. if you want a good picture of what he looks like, take captain america, and make him a little taller, and a little more muscly. he is super nice, and we are going to do a lot of good together.

so carnival... we were just chilling all day monday. and then turçesday same thing. but at about 1:15 i heard this crash from the kitchen. so i get up from playing the guitar. (there is a guitar in my new house... so that is chill) and as i am getting up elder baker walks out of the kitchen with a cut on his hand about the size of... let me just say it this way. your average garden pea could fit inside.  well noah called the doctor and the doctor said, no more monkeys jumping on the bed. no just kidding. he just sent us to the hospital.

Bolivian hospitals... not as clean as you want them to be, but i guess they at least know how to put stitches in your hand. so yeah my second day as senior companion and we go to the hospital. so that was fun. i hope i never have to go agiain.

but then wednesday we went to work. and BOY! did we work. we were on our feet from wednesday until sunday night. then elder baker had to go do some paper work in santa cruz. so this morning art 4 we woke up and he got on an airplabne to santa cruz. so i am alone (well in a trio with my zone leaders) and honestly i miss the guy.

i was thinking this wekk about how intelligent our heavenly father is. he made this plan for us, specifically for me, to come to the earth, live in utah, but for two years go to bolivia to help others find out about him and his son, and also to help shape me into the kind of person that can live with him again.

he has planned for me to meet people i would never otherwise have the chance of meeting. and spend these two years living the gospel. not a day goes by that i dont read, talk about, or think about his plan for all of us. it is honestly wonderful.

i hope you all have a good week and know that i love you.

elder arkoudas

"carnival" say it like this, car-knee-vall

so this monday we arent allowed to leave our house. down here in south america they have this crazy holiday... well holidays... it is like 4 days of mayhem where everyone gets drunk and has a water/shaving cream fight. so we voted as a mission and decided that we didnt want to go outside those days. no thats a joke the president told us not to go out. pretty normal occurance down here in souh america.

so if anyone has a cross word puzzle they want to send me for these next 4 days it is probably too late. and if you do send something it might make it in time for my birthday. 

this week was a good week. had some good talks with people, ate some good food. (i know i know, i always talk about food. but it is a big part of life. i´m not sure if you all know this but if you dont eat food you will die. not like right away. but after a few weeks of not eating! you will die! i was pretty scared when i found that out.)

so this week, well today actually i found out that i am leaving my area 4 de julio. i am going to stay in the city of tarija, but i will be moving to the other side.an area named rosedal. so i am pretty excited tohave a new are, but also really excited to stay in tarija. i love the people of tarija and i am am super excited to see more of the city.

but  enough about me. how are all you doing? i hope you all are benefiting somewhat from my emails, but i havent heard from a lot of you in a long time. i dont even know if a lot of you read my emails. 

please if you have time, send me an email, let me know how you are doing, tell me a story about something fun from this last week, or from the week before, or even the week before that.

please!! i am bored! i have two hours to talk to my family and friends and like half of that time i spend looking up church/ disney songs to upload to a flashdrive.(totally not illegally)

so please for the sake of my sanity, and the sake of the musical economy send me an email if you have time. it doesnt have to be a thirteen page thesis on the evolution of the formicidae. just a "hi, how are you? last week i washed my clothes by hand because i live in bolivia and i dont have a washing machine. i really enjoy hearing from you and your awesome stories about utah/idaho. it sounds like a really cool place. have a good week, elder arkoudas."

look at that not even hard. took me like 6 minutes! and i am really bad at typing, so it will probably take even less time for you.

i love you all, sorry i havent eaten anything crazier than cow stomach, i will try harder to eat... crazier... food...

wait why would i promise that?

i take it back i am going to keep eatig the food they give me and if it so happens that i find out something weird about my food i will keep you all updated.

this is now a really long email so i will send it and stop writing.

elder arkoudas

cow stomach

yep. i ate that.

i guess i spoke too soon last week when i said that i wasnt eating a lot of strange food. yeah i ate cow stomach this week.

it tastes like chiken, chews like bubble gum, and i actually wouldnt mind eating it again.

from what i can tell you are all having a fun time with winter and all. still pretty hot here, but i am enjoying it.

para que sepan i can now video call my familiy on mondays if i want. this is pretty cool change and it makes a lot of sense too. i feel like this will haelp a lot of missionaries stay in the field, what with more access to your family, feelings opf home sickness will be less.

opretty good week this week. i will send a picture of my new friend

por que les voy a mentir? si o si esta es dificile.

so this week i recieved a package. it was a box full of glasses. not like cups, but for reading and seeing better. those kind of glasses. 25 to be exact. at first i was confused, but then i remembered someone telling me they might send me 25 pairs of reading glasses, and then it was chill.

there were a bunch of letters from my old ward too. it was pretty cool to read those. thank all of you who wrote something. it was really neat to be reminded that there are people back home who havent forgotten about me.

just so you know i am doing well, my stomach is holding up to the rice and chicken that i eat most days, and sorry that there arent any weird food stories. i guess i could bring up the bones in my soup, but i dont eat those and i dont think i am supposed to, so i will just leave it at that.

hope you are are having a blast with winter. it is most definitely summer here and i dont think it will change for at least 2 years. it might not even after that, but i think i will be back in utah by thenn and so im not too worried about that.

i know this church is truly the only true church of Jesus Christ on the earth today. that isnt some magic idea that popped into my head one day, that is a choice i have made and will keepmaking for the rest of my life. joseph smith is a prophet of God and he really did see our heavently father and His son Jesus Christ. more than any thing i know that our father in heaven loves each and every one of us and he desperately wants us to come home to him.

i also know that the only way we can is by following his commandments. also by following his commandments we will truly be happy. MOSIAH 2:41   love you all hope you have a great week 

elder arkoudas

picture no picture

How you respond when I tell you I just want to see a picture of you! Funny not funny!

i met a member of the general authorities!!

and shook his hand too!!

so this week we had a good time. we worked hard, had fun, ate food that was healthy (dont worry mom i am no longer eating hotdogs every day.)  ate food that tasted good (and it didnt make me sick!!!). and we had an all around good time. now that i think about it i dont know why i was using the word we... i guess i could go back and change it to i... nah it is too late now.  to fix it would mean erasing it and going back and writing parts of it again and i´m not very good at typing so i will just leave it. 

so  i am going to start with the food. this week we found a little food truck stand pace, for these sandwiches called lomitos. it is basically an egg a thin slice of steak, onion, tomatoe, on french bread.  but oh is it good. i used to be a ittle scared of cooking, but look how easy it can be. just a sandwich made me smile. and i can unabashedly admit we went back to that food truck stand place again. the first time i was a little scared i would get sick. but no i was fine. and the second time too! so i wil probably go there again. it is only a $1.80   too. and it comes with fries.

so this week we had a multi zone conference, and elde Alonzo de the 70´s came. but it gets better. i got to shake his hand, but it gets better. he said my name, but it gets better. he mispronounced it and i corrected him, but it gets better. then he said it correct! but it gets better, then i sang infront of him! momma you would be so proud of us. we sang a prophets first prayer, but then after the second verse we had these two changos sing the first verse of come thou fount of every blessing. and then we sang the last verse of a profets first prayer to the tune of come thou fount of every blesing. and we slowly added more people until the end. and the power of that song was glorious. i could feel it like a wave spread through that whole room. and  as i was singing i felt the truth of those songs too and the spirit bore witness to me that this gospel and the story of the restoration is not some cunningly devised fable. it is proof of god´s love for us his children.

And Elder and sister Alonzo de the 70´s were there!!! i sang in front of a man who has given general conference talks!!!  

oooh momma i hope you are proud. because i am so freaking happy. i cant believe i did that. i dont normally do things like that. so that was crazy.

then Elder Alonzo gave a talk that was awesome. he started out by saying that he  is a special witness of jesus christ and that he knows he lives. he doesnt believe he lives. he KNOWS he lives. except for the way he said it was perfect. it was a little louder than a whisper. just a simple "yo sé". but that whisper hit me like a freight train. this man hasnt given his live for something he hopes is true. he knows without a doubt that everything he is a representative of is true.

i hope  one day i can have a testimony lik that. and really i kno that i can. you can too. realy the first step is to want it. faith isnt some magic gift bestowed on the general authorites, it is a choice. a choice to trust that he is there. and that trust and faith grows with time and study until you know.

elder bednar gave a talk about the brother of jared. he said that the brother of jared had faith and knowledge. and he asked the lord to touch these simpe rocks with his finger and they would glow. then as the lord touched each rock he came to understand that the lord had a finger, because that is what he asked for and as each rock one by one began to glow, his faith and understaning grew until it no longer was faith it was knowledge. and then nothing could be hid from him.

sorry there arent anymore spider stories. 

elder arkoudas

new stuff!!

i think i know what my mom always meant when she said vegetables are good for you. this week was definitely good for me. not that i enjoyed it, or that i want to have another like it, but it was good for me in the sense that vegetables are good for you. you know that later on you will be glad you had them.

basically what i was trying to say is that this week was a little rough, me and my companion get a long all right, but it was definitely work to adjust to a new companion and speaking spanish all the time. (if i am being honest mye and my trainer never spoke spanih outside of lessons.) but it is all good i grew a lot from this last week.

there is a family here that have known missionaries for 2 years. but they never made changes in there lives to progress. and with my trainer we talked to them every once in a while, but never really progressed with them.

then in comes my new comp. we talked with them kinda harshly if i am being honest. asked them what they have applied, what they have learned from their time knowing the missionaries. the answer was not much. then we asked how they felt about our message, and they said it is a normal message of christ.

that was when we wosked them a little. (wosk means to chastise. more or less.) we said that because they never acted on the things the missionaries taught they havent seen how wonderful this message is. and because they never acted they have recived the blessings heavenly father wants to give them.

after that we invited them to pray, and hopefully they do. because if they do they can start to realize that this isnt just an ordinary message. this mesage is the whole gospel of jesus christ.(that sentence souns cooler in spanish just btw) 

i had a good talk with an elder here about measuriong success. and he said that you cant measure success by baptisms. there is an elder here who has over 70 baptisms. but he is a jerk. this elder told me that it doesnt matter how many people you baptis, if you dont end up becoming more like christ through your mission.

i really liked that thought and related it to some thing the profeta joseph smith said while they were building the temple in nauvoo. he said that they werent just building a temple, they were building them selves. through their sacrifice they were becoming the kind of people who could enter the temple.

by serving a mission i invite others to follow christ by showing them the way. but what does it serve me if i dont come unto him too?

one day we were walking down this side street by our house and a taxi drove past us. as he was passing out of the corner of my eye i say a flash of what looked like water. i took a few steps and then turn to my companion and asked if the driver threw something at him. he just nodded his head and looking at his face i saw that he had some liquid all over his face.

the driver spit or threw water at us!!!

the next day we were walking down this same road and a taxi drove past us and Boom!  i get a face full of what i hope was water!!  the same freaking chango (that means monkey) threw water at us again!!

i wish i could say i walked away like peter rejoicing to be abused for christs sake, but i am going to be a honest i was a little upset.

i hope you all have a good week,

elder arkoudas