This week, on Christmas Day, we had an unbelievable great call with David. We talked for about 2 hours on Skype, so we got to see him as well as hear him. And we had a great time doing it. We even did multi-location video conferencing so Lindsay and Stacey could get into the act. Julie and Emily were here with us (and Michael and Steven, of course).
As we said, the call was great. We laughed, we told stories, we asked questions and got answers. We even had spiritual moments. What a great thing to have a son on a mission!
One day later, what’s he going to talk about? This will be a short one….
A note about the computer problem he’s having with uploading pictures—I explain it the next week. He’s forgetting the S in “https://”. He’ll get it soon.
Also, I included his letter to the ward below his letter to us.
Subject: Well, look at the bright side: at 6 o'clock I'm coming into some money!
I don't know what the deal is, but whenever I try to log onto the family server to upload pictures it gives me a "we can't show this page" error. So I just have to refresh it five or six times before it works. It's kind of lame, but it works. However, I've been refreshing it for the last twenty minutes, and I haven't gotten in. So it looks like there will be no pictures this week. But you did all see me yesterday, so who can complain?
So what is there to tell? That's always the fun part about emailing after phone calls. There is just nothing else interesting about my life here. I guess I'll just write that paragraph for the ward. I think I'll send that separately.
I just realized that this email is lame. Sorry about that. But I just talked to you all yesterday. That's probably no excuse. But I hope you all have a Merry Post-Christmas, and a Happy New Year. I'll try to get a super awesome email off to you next week.
I love you all!
Elder David Arrington
Subject: Message to the Ward
My parents told me about a week ago that I needed to write some kind of short message for the ward newsletter, but I have no idea what to write. I didn't even know that our ward had a newsletter. But I guess I can start with El Salvador. I've been down here for a little while, and I've pretty much gotten used to the lifestyle. People here live in much humbler circumstances than anyone I've seen in the States, but they're still fairly well off. Everybody has what they need, and they're content. Missionary work has been going very well here. My mission only covers the three western departments of the country, which is an overall area about the size of Rhode Island, and last year we baptized just over 2000. The people are generally very open to the message that we have and are very nice even when they aren't. And they give us plenty of pupusas, so I can't really complain.
The people that I have taught here are wonderful, and I've been able to see myself grow with them. For example, we have been teaching a family that used to have some family issues. None of them were that serious, but they would just kind of fight every once in a while. We started teaching them, and they started reading the Book of Mormon individually at first, then as a couple, and then with their children. The wife, Delmi, has told us several times, that studying the Book of Mormon and praying as a family has completely changed their family, and she now has a strong desire to be baptized. Her husband, who is already a member, is working very hard to quit smoking and is trying to become worthy to be the one to baptize her. Through their examples I've begun to recommit myself to not only study the Book of Mormon more seriously, but to look for specific blessings that I receive that otherwise I may have taken for granted.
I know that this gospel is true, and that sharing it with the world is the most important and wonderful task that our Father in Heaven has given us. I'm so grateful to be living in the time of the harvest. The seeds have already been planted, and all of us get to see the fantastic blessings that come from spreading this message to all of God's children.
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