Editor’s note: Many are familiar with my daughter, Sara Arkell, also known as The Piano Gal. Sara has been called to serve in the New York Syracuse Mission. This is a series on her weekly letters that we will be posting on the site for those who wish to follow along with her mission. You can read her previous emails here. My son, Evan, also recently began his missionary service in the Argentina Bahia Blanca Mission and his email is below Sara’s.
Transfers were this week. I GOT TO SEE SISTER ASTON AGAIN. I saw her at the end of the hall & ran so fast to give her a hug! Oh my goodness I’ve missed her! We’re now going to be at the same zone conference because she got transferred to a different zone which I’m so excited about!
I’m now in a trio. What a growing experience that is! It’s tricky to adjust to the dynamic of a trio in all aspects of missionary work but I’m hopefully going to learn a lot Sister McPhie, my new companion, is from Idaho and she’s been on her mission for 5 months! She sings a lot so hopefully we’ll do a song together this transfer!
We are still doing a lot of finding because we haven’t found anyone who is ready to accept the gospel yet! But we have a couple of people who said we could come back in a week or so. We met the cutest little girl named Erin!! We knocked on the door and a lady answered and said she wasn’t interested in hearing a message about Jesus Christ. But then this 7 year old girl poked her head out and said “um, yes, I’m interested! I wanna hear a message!” It was the CUTEST THING EVER. We talked with her a little bit about how Jesus loves her, very simple stuff. And the mom ended up saying it’d be okay if we stopped by again sometime! yay!! That brought me a lot of joy!
We made my mom’s infamous homemade Oreo cookies this week & delivered them to members in the ward. That was fun! We delivered them to some families that might need some extra love!
On Friday night we literally couldn’t stop giggling we were calling people on the phone and leaving lots of voicemails. It got to the point where we would have to stare at the wall to leave the voicemail because we would start laughing and not be able to talk if we were looking at each other. That was a fun night! You truly can find joy in missionary work even when it’s really difficult!
Yesterday marks exactly 4 months until I officially finish my mission & will be home! Time is going by way too fast. There were quite a few missionaries who completed their missions this transfer and we always get the privilege of hearing their departing testimonies. So inspiring! One of the Elders this time said “The most meaningful life is a life with the gospel of Jesus Christ.” I know this is true!!
Let me know if there is anything I can pray for this week! God is aware of you!!
Elder Arkell in Argentina
¡Hola todos! ¿Cómo andan? I’m writing from Argentina. It’s way different here than in the CCM. Who woulda thought?
But anyways, last Monday we woke up at like 4 to get to the airport on time for our flight. It was kinda rough because the night before I stayed up too late playing 21 on a mini-hoop with some of the other elders in my district. Was fun though.
The 9 hour flight wasn’t too bad because I slept for some of it and then just ate and read scriptures. I was in the window seat and no one was in the seat so I could just stretch out and relax. It was a linda experiencia. I got to fly over the Andes! That was awesome! Such a great manifestation of God’s power.
Then when we landed we were bussed to a hotel and it turns out they didn’t have any rooms reserved for the missionaries going to Bahía Blanca so we just waited outside and in the lobby for 2 hours until they gave us rooms. Yeah, I’m confused too.
The next morning my comp and I skeptical through our alarm until 6:45 and we were supposed to be in the bus by 7 so we were in a big rush but we made it. Then we had another 1 hour flight to Bahía Blanca.
My mission president is awesome! When we got to the mission home they give an orientation things and then they gave us food. It was soooo good. I can’t remember what they were called, but they were del cielo.
I was assigned to serve in Mar Del Plata. If you look up pictures Google it’ll show you the nice tourist part of the city, but that’s no where I’m at. I’m in the hood basically. We call it “la villa.”
The members here are awesome! Super nice and welcoming. Especially this one dude, he complemented me and said “Su inglés es muy bueno.” It meant a lot. Jajaja
It’s been really hard here to be honest. I’ve been homesick and have been finding it hard to want to be out here. As I’ve been praying for strength I came across in my studying Alma 17:10 -11.
“And it came to pass that the Lord did visit them with his Spirit, and said unto them: Be comforted. And they were comforted. And the Lord said unto them also: Go forth among the Lamanites, thy brethren, and establish my word; yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls.”
God is always with us. If we are patient when we go through hard things, we will be blessed. Anyway, ¡Tenga una buena semana! Love yall.
Elder Arkell