(So I sent him an e-mail after SKYPE to find out how his week went and how everyone was progressing so that's why it is so short.)

 

Yeah! It was so weird. It was good to be able to see and talk to everyone again. I always enjoy it. 

Yeah so N who we have been working with for a while, J also who we have been working on, and a new one who's name is M. She is the sister of an investigator so we should have a few here soon! I am super excited for them. We had a great week. I went on an exchange with Elder Christensen which was rather interesting. We had a great day though. And it was so funny cause we went to Jimmy Johns for lunch and we here a voice say, "I'll take care of it elders." So turns out it was the area 70. Elder Koons or Coons. Not sure which way so we talked to him and his wife for a while. They were just shopping at King of Prussia mall. We also had lunch at the Desmond again which is that really nice place the Bro. M takes us to. It was so good! We had a great zone training also on Thursday. There were some great trainings and I really learned how I can be even better. You never stop learning that is for sure. But everything went really well this week and we are excited for this week as well. Just so hard to think that this transfer is almost over! I love ya momma!

                                                  Our last SKYPE!!!

Love, 

Elder McArthur

May 2, 2016

Hey Momma! 

So hard to believe. I told B he has me for one more month. He said, "Don't threaten me!" Lol. Yeah the new place is much better than where we were! Bigger, nicer, more updated. So we are happy! Yeah I told that to Elder Jensen because I seriously feel like we just skyped and yet it's been about 5 months ago. We will figure out a time and everything cause we are still not exactly sure! 

So this week. It turned out to still be good! I got a bad stomach bug but I think from something that I ate. I was throwing up and had diarrhea and I think I actually had a fever too. I was freezing cold. I don't know why I keep getting sick! But I'm feeling better. Still recuperating but I feel much better than the other day. I think I dropped a couple pounds. But anyways! So N finally made it to church! She was so happy to be there. We are seeing her again tomorrow, and she is still on track for her baptism on the 22nd. J and J will be there next week for sure. They actually fed us dinner on Saturday. I'll send you some pictures that I took with there little son. He loves us and he is like one of my favorite little kids. We set J with a date of June 12. She is just trying to figure out her schedule so she can come to church now. So we have two more baptisms on the way! We finally taught M last night and she is awesome. We are excited about her. Hopefully we will get her with a date too but before I leave! The kid was not home yesterday but we are going to try to catch him this week. So we had a solid week. I just was down for a few days but we finished out strong cause we still taught 14 lessons. We had a great testimony meeting and I really felt the Spirit strong. A couple people just bore there testimony of the missionaries and thanked us missionaries. I don't really get emotional but I did a little bit and while I was translating. We also had a great lunch with Bro. R this week. He just texted to see if we were hungry and asked if we wanted to have lunch with him. You have to meet the R's. They are the best. He is just a good role model as well of hard work like dad. So we had a good week. Me and Elder Jensen are doing some good work over here we feel. 

I was so oblivious to what missionaries really did. I never knew the struggles or anything or just how they lived.

Bro. R just got called to be the Stake Young Men's president. He said in the stake and others that they are just losing youth before and after missions. He told me if I go less active when I get home that he will hunt me down lol. But I said I will not I promise! 

Oh! You need to check on Two Brothers two on Lds.org. It is amazing! Let me know when you do. It is a whole series. Well I'll send a few more pictures! Love ya momma and talk to ya on Sunday! 

Love, 

Elder McArthur 

                                                 With Brother R.

                                             Rainbows!

April 25, 2016

 

Hey Momma! 

So hard to believe. I feel like April just started but now it's already ending. Elder Hillstead started his mission on a bike! I loved just walking and taking SEPTA in Philly. I miss that! Having a car has its ups and downs. It would be rough in the summer! The weather is perfect right now up here. But I know it will start to heat up as we get closer here to June. 

Yeah so we had an excellent week! N is progressing well and not drinking any coffee and told us how she really wants to get to church. Satan keeps holding her back because this week her daughter had to go to hospital so she was not able to come yesterday! But other than that she is doing very well. Bro. H, our ward mission leader, came out with us to see her. You have the meet the H's too cause they are the best. He just got back from Africa hiking a mountain. Mount Kilimanjaro.  J and J are doing well. Sister S in our ward has a daughter who just got home from her mission on Tuesday from Argentina . In the Buenos Aires mission. Not sure if it was north or south. She came out teaching with us Saturday so that was cool. She seemed like she was a very good missionary but the accent is way different. We have to go by A and we could not see M because we did not have a man! We tried to get one but no one could so we rescheduled but she should be super solid it seems like. We just found lots of new investigators this week. But we will see where they go! We did get to see J, and she is progressing very well. We just have to get her to church and get her set with a baptismal date! I feel we worked real hard this week for sure. The Lord blesses you as you are obedient and I have really seen that. This one kid literally just asked who we were this past week and said he would like to meet with us. That will be this week so we will see how that goes! I also went on an exchange this week with a Elder Payne. He is from Vegas and has been out for almost a year and a half. He is a great elder. 

 

We had a funny dinner with the M's too who are a young couple in our Ward. They are from Utah, and their daughter is so cute and has so much energy. She loves to play. Bro. M said when Sister M was pregnant that when her daughter was like a pea size but had legs that they were just kicking. The doctor said, "look, she's dancing!" Lol I laughed so hard cause you would have to meet the daughter. 

 

Oh! And we had interviews with President. They were great! He shined our shoes as a gift and expression of love to us. He is such a great man. He asked if I was getting trunky lol. I said I'm honestly feeling ok! He talked a little about marriage and how I will have to bring whoever I decide to marry up to meet them. And it was good to talk to Sister Anderson. She is just the sweetest lady ever and best mission mom. She needs an award for it. S who just go off his mission drove us down. We should be going to Philly again soon with Elder Weisler and Elder Hopkin. Bro. R is going to take us again. So that was a lot of my week! Just a solid and fun week! Oh and Elder Jensen has been out for 10 months. He is great and we get along real well! 

It is so true because some just do not and won't change not matter what which is ridiculous. I never realized how stubborn people are. I feel I have changed and allowed myself to be change because I know I needed it.

Well we will figure out the time and everything as it gets even closer for Skype. I feel like we just skyped so it is hard to believe it is already here again! Time goes to quickly. Well I love ya momma and I think I have some pictures to send also! 

Love, 

Elder McArthur 

 

 

April 18, 2016

 

Hey Momma! 

They do go by too quickly. Wow! So they are really winding down now. Yeah! We are trying to figure out if want to do it (SKYPE) at B's or somewhere else so we will see. Yeah at least I will have that trip and it will be in the D.C temple! Which I already went to once and it's amazing. It is such a huge temple. I just know I am going to be so awkward. I never understood why missionaries were so awkward around girls until I became one.  I feel like I have changed a bit. Just in different ways and how I really think about things. 

Yeah I just finished it (Book of Mormon)! So I've restarted. It is a short time but I will do it! Elder Weisler said if you read 10 pages a day of D&C that you can finish it in a month. So I'm working on all of it! Also finishing Preach My Gospel again.

Yeah so I wanna say 13 or 14 (lessons)? Some cancelled on us that we were supposed to have. We were not able to see J this week, but we did see N and set her for a date of May 22! She should definitely get baptized on that date. We really feel she can make it. J and J are doing well. They are coming back around and really trying to come and progress. So we will see what this next week brings! A had to cancel, and we did not see R. But we will this week! However, we found an awesome lady M. She is from El Salvador and she seems very interested. We talked with her for a bit last night cause there was not man so we set an appointment. We also met her two daughters who were on there way to moving down to Atlanta. One just graduated from Penn State and is going for a masters. They lived in Dallas for a while also! The girls looked like twins but were a year apart so I talked to them about that. We would teach them too if they were not moving! So we are excited to teach her and hopefully her husband. So lots of good things happening right now. I want to say that was one of the best things and the lesson we had with N cause she is really doing great. Basically stopped drinking coffee. On Tuesday we had a great meeting again for all the district leaders and so I saw a Elder Hillstead, Weisler, Hopkin, and Riley! And some other good elders who are friends now too. It was so great! Just learned how to be better district leaders and how we really lead out. They related us to the bishops of wards. I learned a lot and it was super good to see all of them. I'll send you a few picture too. 

My district is doing pretty well. A few struggling missionaries, but I'm just trying to work hard and lead by example. I will be doing some exchanges here soon with the elders to help them out cause their area is struggling pretty bad. I love the elders but there comes a point in your mission when you just have to let the Lord change you. You have to. And just work work work! The biggest motivation is probably district meetings. That is where they learn and have to learn how to apply it. So I try to really think and pray about what they need and what I will train on. We also have interviews tomorrow so I can get some good feedback from President. 

Did you get the picture from Sister Alvarez? We went to help them move a couple of things this morning and she made us a super good breakfast! I won't eat for the rest of the day because of that one haha. Me and Elder Hillstead could not believe that it has been that long ago because me and him are the oldest Spanish elders in the mission right now! Elder Weisler is excited to hang out after the mission. Well I love ya momma and I will send some pictures to you here in a bit! Talk to ya again soon and looking forward to skype! 

Love, 

Elder McArthur 

April 11, 2016

 

Hey Momma! 

I can't believe it! Time flies! 

It was a great conference and I have looked over some of the talks again because they were very inspirational and powerful. Wow! I did not know that they were going to split the stake. I don't even know what to expect coming back at all because of course I will not know anyone in the Ward but that's ok. I'm excited to meet a lot of them. I feel they never talk about things that they had planned but that is ok because that happens in lessons all the time! Which it is always cool to see. The Lord really brings so many things to our memories and I have seen that throughout my mission. I am about to finish the Book of Mormon again! I have about 15 pages left. My goal is to read it once per transfer. Which will be hopefully two more times.

I definitely will! I will be reading a ton. I feel I enjoy learning and studying so much more now than I ever did. I will be working hard for sure. I will not know what to do with myself though when I get home honestly. But it'll be good to catch up on lots of things I don't write! 

Yeah!  We taught 17 lessons this past week. We should finally hit 20 this week. N is progressing well but we have a couple new people for this week! Ones name is A and he is the boyfriend of a member and the other is R. He is a referral from the assistants actually. So we are seeing him tomorrow. We are excited for this week. Everything is going very well! People have just been giving us referrals. It is so crazy that Elder Weisler is the new assistant but he is awesome and a great missionary. Elder Beebe went to Scranton! So up north. But he is enjoying it. I think the best thing about this week was all of the referrals. Also lots of less actives at church yesterday! One of them is the R family and we visited them yesterday. He has two snakes and Elder Jensen is terrified of snakes. So Brother R says, "the Lord has brought you to me to help you overcome this fear." Lol. In the funniest voice so he brings them out and then one started slithering towards him and he about peed himself! It was so funny! So that was a good visit. Just lots of progress. We saw J and J and things are looking a little more up for them. J is starting to gain a little more of a desire and now she said she wants us to go teach her sister also which is awesome! So plenty of people to teach write now. It has been a total miracle with all these people. Just have to trust in the Lord and that he is listening and answering your prayers even if it takes time. J is trying to change her schedule a little so that way she can come to church but other than that she is great. I do keep a journal. I was lacking for a while actually but have picked back up and have not missed a day in over a month. It helps me out to and it feel good to write down what happened in a day. 

Yeah I was not cause they gave a younger one a chance to do so but then he got transferred and now I am again (a district leader). He wants me to really help out the district and motivate them. Get some confidence behind them because I have found that there are lots of people who really lack confidence and just don't trust and believe in themselves. But it's like Elder Holland said, "we get credit for trying." That's even if we fail. 

 

Well I love ya momma!

Love, 

Elder McArthur 

                                            A little snow again!

April 4, 2016

 

Hey Momma! 

So! Conference was definitely super awesome for me. I love what President Utchdorf said in the Priesthood session, "Pride is easily provoked, short tempered, selfish, hides weaknesses under excuses, impatient, etc. Contention will fade if we become humble." It makes me take a look back and see how I can change to become even better cause it is hard. But I remember when they talked about things not being easy. I have worked really hard on patience but wow it can be tough. I wanna say it was President Nelson who really talked about realizing the power that we have as Priestholders but how we have to really remain worthy of using it and not just get casual with it. There was some cool experiences that I really liked which he shared. Lots of good inspiration and a very spiritual weekend for me. I really enjoyed Elder Renlund's talk also and how he said that "murmuring" is the modern "childish whining." I thought that was hilarious! I took plenty of notes and everything. 

So it was a great week for us! We taught a lot and did lots of service. N watched conference and J too! We actually watched the last session with Bro. C and her which was good. Cause we talked about it afterwards. Teaching is going well but nothing really new to update you on yet. Well! I guess we did have a great lesson with N on the word of wisdom. She is a big coffee drinker so it won't be too easy but we know that she can do it and she does too. We took a good member with us who is a convert but has been a member for a while and he used to drink a lot of coffee and stuff too so he was really able to empathize with her. Helped a ton! Oh, so during conference sessions, we had an awesome lunch with Bro. M. He took us to the place called the Desmond. He has been in the hospital for a bit but got out just recently. He feeds us fairly often.  Everything is moving along well in the area. N and J should be getting baptized soon! Last P-day was super awesome. We went on a tour of Independence Hall and checked out some good sites. He bought all of us lunch at a Reading Terminal Market. It was super fun. Bro. R is the best. He even brought a hot-spot with him so we could email while we were in the car. We worked out with him this morning again and then picked up another Elder just for the day. His name is Elder Barton. He is super cool and is serving up in Hazleton in the area I was in. He also served in Spring Garden with a Elder Wasden. Bro. R also took us to Panera Bread. He is too good to us. We have some good stuff tonight also. A lesson with N and a good dinner with the Ms. They are the one from Louisiana. We are still teaching E and he has been coming to church and everything. I think something that strengthened me a lot was just conference because it lifts me up and sometimes I feel they are talking right at me. I think this week we taught 12 but last week was 17. We average probably 15 right now. 

So Elder Beebe is getting transferred! It's pretty sad cause we worked super well together and got a long real well. But I am staying. I will probably go home from here which I am totally ok with. We will not know who our comps are till tomorrow or anything. I saw the assistants today and they said I will love my comp. Elder Weisler is the new assistant! 

I can't believe it is just winding down! Elder Weisler is so excited though to hang out after the mish. It has been awesome to be around him again. Oh! And I got called to be District leader again. For the 4th time lol. Cause I was not last transfer but I am again this transfer. I guess President needs me to help out some elders coming in is what they said. 

I'm glad Cody is ok though! That is so crazy that that happened. I hope the older gentleman heals quickly. I think that was the best things for those Elders though. I can not even imagine that happening here or something. 

I am excited to see Jordan and Daniel for sure. It will be so far after going 2 years without seeing everyone! I don't even know what to think. 

Well I love ya momma! I'll send some pictures. Talk to ya soon! 

Love, 

Elder McArthur 

                                                             Sopas

                                            Philly temple progressing!

March 28, 2016

Hey Momma! 

We had a great time down in the city today. But luckily Bro. R was nice and bought our lunch.

Yeah! I have read about it on Lds.org. (the bombing in Brussels with the missionaries) Wow! I didn't know Elder Hillstead knew him. That is crazy. There has to be some sort of reason. That is just so scary and what is happening over there. Cody was the first one I thought of so I checked to make sure I did not see his name. I definitely am aware. I just can't imagine how that will impact them but it seems the missionaries stayed strong. 

We had a great week! Plenty of people at church this week. N is still doing great. We are still teaching E, and he actually is already ordained an Elder! But actually now we are teaching his work partner. She is very interested too and we also got another new investigator! Her name is J. She is the girlfriend of a less active who is slowly starting to come back now, and it would be so cool because he could baptize her! N would definitely be the closest to baptism I believe right now. This week we taught 17 lessons so it was a great week. There is a less active lady that we are teaching and she had a son on a mission who actually just returned home! On Wednesday. He is basically helping her get re-activated. His mission completely changed him and he is going to start helping us out so we are excited. His name is S. J who is J's wife finally came to church! He ended up having to work. We were pretty bummed about that, but we are going to see them again this weekend. It is just hard to believe that transfers are coming up! We had a good Easter. Our dinner cancelled actually cause sister S, the wife of the family that was going to feed us, got sick. But luckily another member just called and said to come over to eat so of course we went. But it was definitely a different Easter. Just did not really feel like it. But we had some great lessons this week. I don't really have some crazy spiritual story from this week but I definitely feel I'm listening to the Spirit easier and really trying to just let it guide me because it does all that time. I'm just excited for General Conference honestly cause I love hearing from the Prophet and Apostles. 

Translating doesn't make me nervous but it helps my Spanish a lot. I am trying to really continue improving and I love it. It is very tiring though for sure. 

 

Time definitely keeps flying! Hard to believe we will be skyping so soon again. I have some pictures to send home so I'll send them. I'll tell you more about our day today next week and all of that cause I'm kind of short on time. I'm glad Dad enjoys it out there. Sounds like it was definitely meant to be! Well I love ya momma and I'll send pictures! Talk to ya soon! 

Love, 

Elder McArthur

                             Adam's Easter dinner, tamales.

                           Adam with his gecko friends!  I told him to leave those there please!