November 22nd letter

Elder Arko had quite the fun week! A lot has happened this past week, including his BIRTHDAY! The Elders had a District Meeting on Thursday up in a town called Växjö. After the meeting, they went back home and participated in the music and poem night they were having as a branch. Elder Arko got to hear music and poems from a cornucopia of people (including Elder Owens). Both Elder Arko and Elder Owens had a...part to play, but it's a little difficult to explain so hopefully we'll get to see the video sometime :) All who were in attendance thought it was really good.

After the music and poems, the Elders traveled to the neighboring city of Kritianstad to prepare for their journey the next morning to...COPENHAGEN!! That's right! Elder Arko has been to Denmark! It seems both President and Heavenly Father wanted to give Elder Arko a birthday present, so the Elders were allowed to go to the temple in Copenhagen

It was so much fun for Elder Arko. Being mildly lost in a foreign country, running through the snow to get to the temple on time, and having to try and communicate in Danish made for an exciting time.

They decided to go and see "The Church of our Lady"a very old Christian church where the first Kristus statue is along with statues of the apostles.

Then, they just happened to eat lunch at the first McDonalds in Denmark!A day full of history! :)

After the adventures, Elder Arko and Elder Owens were quite tired since they had to wake up at 4:20 to reach the temple in time. They enjoyed getting home to their beds that night.

The next day was Saturday and Elder Arko's birthday! They were out visiting an investigator who lives a little ways away and then Genesis' family (including extended family) invited the Elders over that night and had a little birthday celebration for Elder Arko. He received a few gifts that were really nice, this one being his favoriteElder Arko thinks this shirt describes him PERFECTLY!!! And it also says what Genesis thinks of him. They had a great time with Genesis' family and they spoiled Elder Arko with cake and everything!

The Elders are getting ready for 2 Thanksgiving dinners. They're going to have one with the missionaries in their zone on Thanksgiving and one with their branch on Saturday. Elder Arko and Elder Owens are hosting that one, but don't worry, they have help from professionals. Elder Arko thinks it's gonna be awesome! The Swedes don't really have this kind of celebration for harvest since their main harvest celebration is Midsummer since their harvest doesn't usually last this late into the year.

Luckily, they don't have snow yet, but it's been raining for a little while. The office still has Elder Arko's birthday package and hopefully he'll get it this Thursday. Elder Arko says thanks for the package and for the two ties from Amanda.

Elder Arko knows they're not suppose to start looking to Christmas till after Thanksgiving, but they've started it already :) They are having fun and it's really getting them in the Spirit so Elder Arko is excited for the Holidays.

November 14th letter

Another fun filled week has flown by for Elder Arko. The Elders had some fun traveling to Lund for sharpening. It took all of Thursday and it was rather exciting that morning since there were 6 Elders in one apartment all getting ready :) They were just in time for their train.

Elder Owens is Elder Arko's companion and he is from Arizona. Elder Owens has only been out for 1 transfer(not including this one). He has been doing really well with the language and is doing great on teaches so Elder Arko has nothing to worry about on that end. Elder Arko thinks Elder Owens is definitely pulling his own weight.

The Elders are having their Leadership Training session soon. A lot of the Priesthood leaders are traveling to Malmö or Lund to get the new booklets.

Elder Arko can't believe he'll be turning 21 this week! He's starting to feel
old...in mission age and in regular age.

The Elders have been busy nearly every day this week teaching people. It has been quite insane with how many people they've been meeting with and how much they are doing. Elder Arko has been taking advantage of every minute he has with his bed. He sends his love and thanks for all the birthday wishes!

November 8th letter

Elder Arko can't believe that a whole week has gone by! This one just flew by like it was nothing! On the subject of time, transfers are coming up at the end of November. And it has been cooling down in Sweden. During Celebration time, they hit the negatives over there (in Celsius that is, so below 32 Fahrenheit) so they've been scraping off their windshield the past few mornings.

Elder Arko was proud to hear that his parents participated in a 5k event this past weekend.

The Elders have been working with all sorts of people over there. They have new investigators, less actives, old investigators who are making progress, etc. They are still doing their Swedish and English classes as well. That is why it seems like this week went by so fast for Elder Arko!

The Elders had an encounter with Hot Pickles from India this week. Elder Arko didn't see anything that should be classified as a pickle in the jar, but whatever :) Anyway, the guys from India the Elders were having dinner with said it was "Mild" or "Medium" in India...Ha! Elder Arko had just a little bit of the pickles with a bunch of rice and is sure it gave him a fever of at least 15 degrees! The Elders also had some fun Curry stuff as well so it was quite the adventure.

Anyway, Elder Arko hopes everyone is happy and healthy and sends his love!

November 1st letter

Halloween passed by the Elders without too much of a 2nd thought. They made some jokes about planning to dress up like Jehovah's Witnesses by just taking off their name tags...ha ha...yeah, missionary jokes are stupid :)

Surprisingly, they didn't get snow this whole week. They'll be ready for it when it does come back. They just changed their tires so now they're rockin the studded ones :) It's a little early to change, but the end of the transfer is going to be around the first of December and they didn't want to take the risk of not getting it done. So, they took the car to this do it yourself lift and it only cost about 10 bucks to use their industrial lift for half an hour. That meant they didn't have to mess around with one of those stupid little scissor jacks, plus it was a lot safer.

The Elders had a great activity this week at the church with a bunch of people. All they did was play ping-pong, but they had about 15 people there and it was fun to sit around and talk. They also played around the world with ping-pong so that was really fun. Elder Arko's only regret is he forgot to take pictures. The Elders also helped teach primary this week! It was really fun for Elder Arko. They had all the kids hold some ingredient from a cake recipe (of course they were all fake or child proof in some way...they're not that stupid). The Elders had the kids combine them all to make a cake, the same way our families combine in the temple forever to make a great chocolate cake! :) Needless to say, the Elders were pretty popular among the kids after that. Elder Arko is just glad they don't have to think up something every week to keep those little ones entertained.

Guess what? Elder Arko has a plant now :)

And here is Elder Arko's vegetable and fried meatball meal :) He just keeps surprising himself with ingenuity!

October 25th letter

It has been a long week for Elder Arko. They have been doing a lot of work this week and it has felt like there is not a moment to sit down and breath so they have just been going and going. One more thing to add to the fun was they got SNOW! Okay, that was a little too dramatic seeing as how they only got a little and it didn't stay, but to make us all more worried about how 'little Jeff' is going to freeze this winter, he went ahead and took this picture while on his way to district meeting.This was out in the country a little bit so it didn't get at all that bad in town, but the Elders did have to scrape off the windshield. Don't worry, Elder Arko has a car! Plus, he still has plenty of warm stuff from last winter and it's all in good condition so not to worry. Also, don't worry about him using all his warm clothing because the members there do act like their mothers and make sure the Elders are dressing right, eating right (AKA too much), and everything else.

Along the same lines, the Elders get to change the tires on the cars from the regular ones to snow tires so we'll see how that goes. All they have is one of those dinky little jacks. They might go to a little do it yourself places that has a nice professional lifts. You obviously have to pay, but will probably be well worth the cost.

Elder Arko got to teach the institute class this week and it went pretty well. They are studying the book "Jesus Christ and His Apostles Lives and Teachings" and it's going pretty well. It has been really interesting for Elder Arko, not being one who has extensively studied the Bible before, so it's good for him.

The rest of the Elders week has been teaching people. They have a less active who is starting to come back to activity it would seem...3 Sundays in a row! They also had 2 investigators in church which was pretty good. Elder Arko thanks you for the prayers and support!

October 18th letter

Elder Arko had quite an exciting week. The Elders did their first Religion class at a local high school and it went really well. They did a short first lesson about Joseph Smith, The Restoration, and The Book of Mormon. Then, they had some good old Q and A where they got into the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity. Elder Arko thought it was a BLAST! The best part was they had visited the same students previously, but it was for their English class so the Elders didn't speak a peep of English (other than when they accidentally slipped into it) so when they came back and were practically fluent, the students were rather surprised. That was extremely fun for Elder Arko!

It is starting to get cold in Sweden. The short sleeves have gone into the closet and they don't seem to want to come out for a while. The Elders woke up to frost on the windshield of the car a couple of times this week and the temperature has been hanging around 10-5 degrees C (which is around the 40's F) for those of us who don't convert temperature too well.

The Elders also traveled to Lund for a Zone Conference and were able to receive some fabulous instruction on missionary work among many other things. Their branch also put on a music and poem night so people could play a little something or read a poem. They had about 4 or 5 people that performed, but each one did multiple things so it seems like it was a success. The Elders were only able to make it for the last half hour so they didn't see the entire thing, but it was still nice.

Now for the pictures. Here are the Elders trying to figure out an apple pie...lucky for them an investigator was helping...and...pretty much made most of it. The spice drawer was just too much to handle.

Here is the final outcome. Doesn't it look great? Well, that is all for this week. Elder Arko hopes everyone is doing great and sends his love.

October 11th letter

The Elders were having a little fun today. They had a zone activity in Helsingborg where they played American football (two hand touch). Elder Arko has missed playing that a LOT! Then, they played ultimate frisbee which was awesome as well :)

Elder Arko had a really fun experience that isn't so missionary related, but really fun, so he must share. One of their investigators told us they were going to make Kropp kakor. These things are about the size of a baseball and are made with bacon in the middle and a covering of mashed potatoes and shredded potatoes. You boil them until they floate and then eat them with lingonberries. Elder Arko knows that doesn't sound like it works, but it does.

The Elders have decided to start teaching English and Swedish classes once a week (for free) to attract people to the church. So, they will start that this Wednesday and hopefully it will be a success. They also have a religion class coming up at the local high school that Elder Arko is a little nervous for. They will have about a half hour presentation and then Q and A for a little bit so he hopes it goes well.

Other than that Elder Arko is just having fun being a missionary. They've been having some really good spiritual experiences lately and are working really hard.

October 4th letter

Conference was very enjoyable for Elder Arko. Luckily they had the opportunity to hear it in English. It was only broadcast to their church in Swedish, but the Elders were able to get permission to go into the library and stream the video live from the net. They also thought an English speaking investigator was going to be there, but sadly he didn't show up. The last time Elder Arko watched it in Swedish and he only got about a half page of notes. He realized how much better it is in your own language and now understands why the church goes through so much trouble to translate it. The Elders still haven't been able to watch the Sunday afternoon session so it's downloaded to Elder Arko's ipod so he can begin listening to it.

Well otherwise life has been pretty normal for Elder Arko. He and Elder Werner had to take all of Elder Werners stuff to Kristianstad, an hour and a half away, and then pick up Elder Arko's new companion who was coming in with Elder Werners new companion. Simple right? Well not really...they got a time 2 hours early so they ended up just looking for something to do in Kristianstad for 2 hours. It worked out in the end and Elder Arko is now back in his area with his new companion! His name is Elder Owens and is from Meza Arizona. He's been in Sweden for 2 or close to 3 months and it's been good so far. The Elders have found some new people already and may start teaching them soon.

It was way cool for Elder Arko to hear about Genesis, her Aunt, and friend going to visit his family. It is really strange because it feels like his worlds are colliding. His mission life just met his home life full force! It was really fun for him to hear about it though. The Elders were at Genesis' parents house on Sunday in between conference sessions for a visit and Genesis' family told Elder Arko, "It cost Genesis (X amount of dollars, the cost of her plane ticket) just to find out that your first name is Jeffrey"...they called him Jeffrey...it felt REALLY weird for Elder Arko to hear that again.

Elder Arko can't comprehend that he only has 2 transfers left!! The end is creeping up on him. Try not to get trunky folks! He's not :)

September 29th letter

Elder Arko is feeling much better this week. Last week was kind of the recovery week for him. About his companion, there will soon be a new on in Elder Arko's life. Elder Werner is leaving to a place called Kristianstad which is about an hour and a half away. Elder Arko will be getting a new one who has only been out for 2 months! Elder Owens is from Arizona and this will be his second area so Elder Arko is excited and thinks it will be a lot of fun! Elder Owens has a reputation of being pretty cool, so we'll see how it goes down. Yes, this means Elder Arko will be staying in Karlskrona for another 2 months :) which is completely fine by him. He's happy as a clam...(if clams really are that happy).

Elder Arko is really excited for the family to meet Genesis. He's bummed that so many people he cares so much about will all be in Utah together, and he won't be there, but that's how it is.

The Elders have had some fun teaching a few new people, but it has been slightly hard to find people since it's starting to get cold again. Contacting isn't the best idea since it has been rainy a few days and windy a lot! Elder Arko has tried to go without a jacket, but that didn't fly. It's back to fall weather which means it will be followed quickly by winter. He still has his long johns though so he'll be fine :)

The Elders have been having some good work with one lady that lives kinda far away. She is really close to quiting coffee and tea so hopefully it won't be long until she is ready to be baptized. This is another one that is a long time coming, but will be good when it happens...hopefully this next transfer! Elder Arko is way excited!

Here are some pictures of the Elders

September 20th letter

Elder Arko has had another fun week. They had zone conference in Helsingborg on the 16th and a stake conference in Malmö on the 19th. Luckily, they didn't have to travel all the way to Malmö because they had a video uplink for them in Kristianstad. Still a ways to travel, but not as bad as Malmö.

Elder Arko was really sad to hear about Max Wood, a family friend a neighbor, passing away. Elder Arko remembers that it was at the Wood's place where he was first able to participate in a Priesthood blessing. That was pretty special to him.

It's transfer week so Elder Arko will be finding out his fate this week. He's got a feeling he might be staying this time which would be AWESOME! The area is doing well and the Elders might start up an institute class or get something like that going. They also might have a few people getting ready for baptism which would be super cool.

The Elders are working with quite a few less actives right now. Sometimes people don't want contact with the ward, but they'll let the missionaries come over so it's a nice way to get in with them. The Elders work closely with their ward mission leader who is a great help to them. Elder Arko really likes him. They need to use the ward members more though. Their member teaches have gone way down which is very sad.

Elder Arko had a new experience this week. The Elders went and spoke to an English class at a high school in Karlskrona. It was fun because the kids got to learn a little about American culture and "Mormons" which was fun for Elder Arko. They also got to carify some of the 'American stereotypes' like "is everyone there really
fat?" ha ha. High school!

Well, that's all for the week. Elder Arko sends his love!

September 13th letter

This week has been a good one for Elder Arko. He had a little bit of a cold or
something the past few days which made for a really rough Sunday. Trying to stay awake when he was REALLY tired was hard. However, he is doing better now, and whatever it was seemed to be going around their district.

The Elders had some fun these past few days in a town called Ronneby. They were teaching a man who is a student they had known before. While the Elders were teaching him the first lesson, one of his friends walked in. The man just motioned him to sit down...then another friend walked in...he did the same and they sat down as well...and then a third time! So, they had 4 people in on that teach and it was a fun experience. One they don't get much over there in Sweden.

The Elder had another day where all their appointments for the day just cancelled on them, so that was kind of a bummer, but it happens. They did have some fun helping a women their branch weed and get her garden ready for summer. Other than that, not
a lot has happened. Just regular missionary work that has been good, but a little slow.

Oh! Genesis was "in röstad" or sustained a member yesterday in sacrament meeting so that was a fun little experience. Elder Arko can't believe she's a member now and thinks it's way cool!

Elder Arko has heard a missionary's letters get shorter and shorter as they near the end of their missions...isn't that strange? Well it's true in his case!

Here is Elder Arko's companion in his new bowler hat. It seems to suit him well :)

September 6th letter

Elder Arko had an amazing and busy week including a very special experience. He'll explain later, but first the trivial stuff. Elder Arko cut his hair this week so he's not all shaggy like before. The Elders helped an investigator clean out her basement so she could get rid of mold that was starting down there and that went rather well. She got rid of a lot of it so that was helpful for her.
The weather in Karlskrona has been nice and mild and Elder Arko is still wearing short sleeve shirts most of the time.

Okay, now for the big news! The Elders had one of their investigators, Genesis, call them on Wednesday and say she had something to tell them. They were a little worried and told her they had time right then and went over. Genesis and her family have a very special place in Elder Arko's heart. Anyway, she told the Elders, just basically kind of blurting it out, "I want to be baptized!" She also wanted to be baptized rather quickly...she was confirmed yesterday and baptized the day before. So, the Elders had a busy week of organizing a baptism. Her mom helped a lot and the branch really came through for them. It was such a cool thing for Elder Arko to be a part of it. Here they are right after the baptism.

Elder Arko was very excited about this. It was so cool for him to see someone who was ready to finally take the step. It was amazing and Elder Arko thanks Heavenly Father for blessing everyone involved. Elder Arko is really really happy.

August 30th letter

Elder Arko has been doing great lately, still tired, but great. It has been going kind of weird at least for their ward. They've had a rash of illnesses...not all of them are rashes though :) Seriously, they've had 2 heart attacks, 2 lung problems, 1 person that is going in for Surgery today, and 2 or 3 bad colds. Elder Arko thinks it just has to be something with the changing of the seasons. They've been lucky so far because there has been enough people at church. Last week was kind of a close call, but it worked out and yesterday was much better, back to normal.

Some sad news, James didn't get baptized. His family and actually more his tribe was very against it, but it may be more of an opportunity than an obstacle. They are hopefully going to get the missionaries to visit his family and then tell them more about the missionaries and who knows what will happen then? James is still interested, he's just in a tight spot right now.

The Elders have had a few very positive try agains and potential investigators that they're trying to help out. Since they've had more people to visit, they don't have as much time to do finding work. It's been nice for them not having to do 4 hours of finding work everyday.

So, the Elders were having a hard time deciding what to eat...so Elder Arko decided they needed to use the French Fries in their freezer(which had been there longer than Elder Werner, but weren't there when Elder Arko was in Karlskrona last time so he knew they were still good). They also have things called tallrik or plate but it's usually a hamburger Tallrik or Kebab tallrik so they made...meatball tallrik! Elder Arko got a little creative and did some fry sauce.

August 23rd letter

Elder Arko has had another eventful week. They are getting ready for James' baptism which is this coming Saturday. They've also been seeing their ward mission leader which is good. This Sunday was actually a little depressing for the Elders. They had two families that weren't at church because of some medical problems and a fair amount of people are still on vacation so there weren't many people there. That was kind of sad, but the summer is coming to a close and people will hopefully be getting back from their trips.

The church isn't as involved with scouting in Sweden as it is in the U.S. Elder Arko has heard that since the scouting program is more independent they have people with differnet standards than leaders in the U.S. so the church has tried to keep a little bit of distance between them. The Duty to God program has also changed there, but isn't in Swedish yet so Elder Arko doesn't think it's been implemented yet.

The Elders have been going through the change of trying to get more activities for the whole branch (hence the Ping Pong nights). At the last ping pong night, there were only 4 of them, but they had a fun time.

The Elders are also hoping to have some beach volleyball days the next few weeks which makes Elder Arko really excited! Hopefully they can get a good turn out from the branch.

So, Karlskrona was the center of ship building and a navel base back in the days of wooden ships and cannon balls. It still has a navel base and if the Elders have enough time, they might go visit the marine museum today. There are also a lot of sailing and motor boats there.

Elder Arko got a little bit sick to his stomach around Friday and Saturday. He just didn't feel like eating and couldn't keep stuff down. He got a blessing from the mission leader and almost immediately felt better.

They also had a zone conference this week. It was a 3 hour trip for Elder Arko and Elder Werner. They took the train instead of driving since it was so far away. They spent practically the whole day out of their area and therefore caused them to not get as much work done.

Elder Arko doesn't remember if we ever saw this picture so here it is. It was after they moved the piano.

August 16th letter

Elder Arko emailed pretty early this morning. The Elders had some scheduling conflicts so they have a teach in the middle of their P-Day. That's how it goes sometimes, but the Elders will still have fun today don't you worry :)

The Elders have a pretty eventful week coming up. They had an old investigator that has been meeting with the missionaries for a while come back and he has a baptismal date right now. It's set for this Saturday, but there is still some stuff that needs to be cleared up before he is able to be baptized. Elder Arko asks that we keep James in our prayers. Then, they also have Zone Conference this week so Elder Arko is excited to see the whole zone again.

Elder Arko is enjoying himself a lot in Karlskrona. It's very fun for him to be back with people he already knows and doesn't have to get to know everyone over again.

Time goes by so fast. Elder Arko realized something the other week. He and another sister from his group are the oldest people in the whole Zone right now...isn't that crazy?! It feels so very strange that just a little while ago Elder Arko was teasing people for that, but now...

Since the Elders travel quite a bit, they travel by train. It costs a little bit more than it would to drive, but it cuts down on the miles on the car so the mission can keep them longer. Apparently the church has a policy that they sell cars after they get to a certain mileage so for zone conference we're taking the train in.

So, the Elders had a totally awesome missionary moment this week! Elder Arko and Elder Werner were walking and saw someone walking on the other side of the road and Elder Werner said, "lets contact this guy." Elder Arko agreed and they started over toward him to talk to him. The man just kept pointing to his ears and his mouth. The Elders didn't understand at first and then it dawned on them...he was deaf and mute! Can you imagine their surprise? Elder Arko was actually able to mildly communicate with him through the sign language alphabet he learned when he was younger. It was the most silent contact Elder Arko has ever had in his life! It was really cool for Elder Arko to see something so small he learned from that long ago help them out.

So the pictures, this is from the Zone activity they had last week

This is for us to see how Swedish lawns areyep those are all dandelions...they are not "weeds" in Sweden, but very beautiful flowers. Ha! Crazy Swedes!

Okay, that is all for this week ladies and gentlemen. Elder Arko hopes you are all doing well and know that he is doing great!

August 10th letter

Elder Arko apologizes for the tardiness of his reply, but they had to email today instead of yesterday for traveling reasons. Long story short, they had a zone activity in Helsingborg! It was quite the trip and it took a while, but it was nice for Elder Arko to see the whole zone.

Elder Arko is having a bunch of fun being back in Karlskrona. He's been able to see a lot of people that remember him. Some of them have forgotten, but a lot have remembered. In answer to a question from a family member, no Elder Arko didn't get to pick where he went. It was a complete surprise for him. Elder Arko told his Mission President he wanted to go back, but doubts President remembered that little comment over 4 months. Elder Arko really does feel he was suppose to go back. There are a couple people there Elder Arko really feels he can help and has already started seeing that since he's been there. He also thinks he'll be staying in Karlskrona another transfer, but of course, there's no guarantee.

The Elders had a ping pong day last transfer in Karlskrona, but it hasn't worked out too well yet this time around. They will still try and get it going since they think it will be great fun.

That's all for this week. He promises pictures next week :)

August 2nd letter

Elder Arko had a very busy week. He and the other secretaries did transfers so they had to figure out where everyone was moving, how to get them there, book train rides for people, and make sure everyone had a companion. Not to mention pack all his stuff up and get ready to move. They also had new missionaries coming in that needed to get through the whole process. Elder Arko was beat by the end of it, but is very glad to be out of the office and all the crazy stress.

Anyway, Elder Arko is back in Karlskrona now! Using the same little library he used before to send emails! So it's super exciting for him. Things have changed a little there, but the people are the same and it's a lot of fun for him.

Getting back to Karlskrona was quite the adventure! His train left Stockholm around 3:30pm for a 4 hour ride to Lund. About 30-45 minutes into the journey, the train pulled to a stop, which was weird because there was no platform or train station in sight. Next, the loud speaker came on and someone announced that they had to reboot the train's computer. The Elders waited patiently for about 5 minutes and then all the lights went out. The speaker came on again and they were told the train was broken down and they would have to wait for another train to pick them up.

During the confusion, they opened the doors to get some ventilation going since all the systems on the train were down. They asked some of the missionaries to stand guard at some of the doors so no one would try to get off or accidentally fall out. They must have looked official enough in their ties and Elder Arko was mistaken for a train worker.

Roughly 2 hours later the replacement train pulled up along side them. Remember, there was no platform...so they brought two ladders, one going down off the train they were on and one going up onto the other train. The missionaries became impatient and started throwing their suitcases off to each other and loading them onto the other. They also started doing it with other peoples' luggage. It seemed like the train people were appreciative of their help. Oh...and it was pouring rain! The Elders made it to Lund 3 hours and 58 minutes later than expected!

Elder Arko is now safe and sound in his area. They have a few fun people they are working with already, but for the most part they have a lot of time for finding work(at least compared to the last 4 months).

Elder Arko's companion, named Elder Werner, from Idaho. He's been in Sweden for 2 months so he's still kind of young, but it's been fun so far. It should be a really good transfer.

Now for some pictures. These are from one of Elder Arko's last member dinners in Täby. It was a lot of fun and the host is always a barrel of laughs.

July 26th letter

Elder Arko is heading BACK (notice the emphasis on back) to Karlskrona! He is so extremely excited! First of all, he's excited to get out of the office, but it's really cool that he gets to go back to an area where he already knows the people! More next week...

July 19th letter

Elder Arko can't believe another week has flown by! This transfer is coming to a close! So, the Elder's week wasn't as fruitful as they thought it was going to be, but they did get a good amount of work in and saw a little bit of success peeping it's head in at them. They found 2 pretty positive investigators and they are really willing to meet with the Elders. One is quite the miracle and the Elders still have contact with him. They knocked on his door one day and his daughter was sick so he couldn't meet that day. The Elders told him they would be back the following day. The Elders were trying to decide if they had time to go out there the next day, but felt like they should. So, they went out there and it turns out he is moving now. It was something that all happened the day before and if the Elders wouldn't have gone back at that time, they probably would have never heard from him again. Crazy how that stuff works out.

The Elders have also had a ton of office stuff to do that has kept them pretty busy. They had 13 people show up this last Saturday to play soccer which was a big success! It was so much fun and they even had an investigator there that the assistants brought. It has also cooled down a little bit this week, but Elder Arko is pretty sure they're still in the 30's (85-90 F) and it doesn't feel like he gets wet when he takes a step outside, so he thinks that means the humidity is down.

Elder Arko is finally almost caught up on his journal. He's only a week behind now and is planning on falling behind again after this week, but hopefully he can keep it up. He's only missed about a month of his mission so far, so not too bad.

The Elders learned that they are going to be taking 2 days for a little trip. There is a couple that is leaving and they need a little bit of help emptying a few large items out of their apartment so the Elders get to drive to Malmö this week! It's about a 7 hour drive. It seems a bit nonsensical (that's really a word?! Elder Arko is so cool!), but the logistics behind it really do make it a very appropriate solution. Plus Elder Arko isn't going to complain about being able to get out of the office for that long and drive across the country :) Elder Arko is gonna be having fun! Plus both Elder Blaylock and Elder Heinola are going as well so it'll be really fun.

Well, that is the big exciting news for this week. He loves you all and hopes you are having a great day!

July 12th letter

It has been SOOO hot and humid in Sweden! Elder Arko told us they had the coldest winter in 20 years this past year and he's pretty sure it has gone in completely the opposite direction with the hottest summer. The past 2 weeks have been aweful!. Of course there is no air conditioning since it's never that hot there, ha! Elder Arko has been using his short sleeve shirts as much as possible as well as staying as hydrated as possible.

Elder Arko and his companions finally made it to the Temple! Elder Heinola, Elder Blaylock and Elder Yours Truly :)

President told them they could go a while ago, but it has just not worked out until just a little while ago. Tuesday to be exact. It was an awesome time for the Elders and they also had sharpening that day. Sharpening is basically like a Zone Conference. They all get together and have a nice message from the Zone Leaders and President and then do some fun activities.

Yesterday, the Elders had one of the most successful days of tracting that Elder Arko has seen since he's been in the office. They went out for about an hour and got 3 return appointments and 1 try again. Elder Arko is really excited that this
next week will give them some positive people to teach and get some coming to church.

Okay, well adieu till next week Elder Arko's family!

July 5th letter

Yay for USA's birthday! The Elders were lucky enough to get invited to a real 4th of July celebration thrown by a real American! A former missionary who is married to a Swede and has been living in California for the last few years was there on a long visit and decided the missionaries needed some real American celebrating. The Elders were fed hot dogs and hamburgers straight off the grill and it definitely reminded Elder Arko of good ole American celebrations. They also had some pasta salad and chips. The only Swedish thing they had was pear drink instead of some other type of soda. It was really fun for the Elders to sit and talk about the American way with the family that invited them over. Plus, it was right after a fast Sunday so it was a great way to break a fast.

Transfers are coming up at the end of this month. In about 3 weeks Elder Arko will probably know where he'll be heading. The way that these transfer things go down is pretty neat. Elder Arko has heard a few things about the President during his deciding time. One thing he's heard was from one of the last assistants and he said, "He's so.... Bound by the Spirit." He takes transfers very seriously and apparently a few years ago assistants did all of transfers or most of them, but President does almost all of them now. Since the assistants are suppose to be out with the missionaries and they talk with the zone leaders ever night, they usually have a large amount of contact with missionaries. Since they are in such close contact, they can help President with giving him information on how certain missionaries are doing and things of that nature. Oh, and the President also decides the group of Elders who will be training the new missionary arrivals. After he has an interview with the new missionaries, he assigns a trainer missionary to each new missionary based on how he feels. That's the gist of this whole transfer thing.

Elder Arko got the question, "Since you're in the office, have you had to deal with any problems?" That was a funny question for Elder Arko because that is kind of what they do in the office. They have regular stuff that they do and then they take care of all the extra stuff that needs to be done...which often includes a fair amount of problems. However, it's really not that bad, and since Elder Arko has been there for a little while he can usually figure out how to help most people. If he doesn't know how to help, he then pulls the "that's not my department" card and pass the buck, ha ha. Elder Arko would say they're problem solvers. Lucky for them, the Elders don't do any apartment inspections. They have all the couple missionaries do the inspections and Elder Arko believes they do that because they don't trust missionaries to rate missionary apartments honestly since they might be a little bias :)

Here's a little bit about Elder Arko's week. They had a Sister missionary training in Stockholm so the Elders had a fun time shuttling the Sisters from place to place and also getting them where they needed to be. It was really fun for Elder Arko to see all the Sisters in his group. They have also been out doing a good amount of missionary work and with an extra Elder in the office they've been able to double the work.

They have also started playing some sports on Saturdays. This week it was football! European football that is (Elder Arko knows his Dad just probably died a little inside when Elder Arko referred to soccer as football, but not to worry, it's a "when in Rome" kinda thing). So they got to play soccer and Elder Arko was a little bit sore from it the next day. It was quite the workout for him...and he even scored with a header shot :)

Well, that's all for this week kompisar (Buddies). He can't wait to hear from you all next week!

June 28th letter

This is going to be another REALLY BUSY P-Day for the Elders. They've already done their shopping, some laundry, and taken an old (apparently unsafe) washing machine to the recycling center. They will also be heading to Stockholm today to pick up some sisters that are coming in for a little while. Elder Arko is really excited because he gets to see the sisters that are in his group!

Elder Arko's past week fun adventures included: a large cleaning and de-junking of a room in the mission office, booking tickets for the above mentioned sisters' travel, one or two grilling opportunities, picking up his newest companion, Elder Heinola (a missionary that arrived in Sweden with Elder Arko...which means there are 4 of them in the office now, a Mission Conference, and MIDSUMMER!!! :)

The office seems to be rolling along a little more smoothly and the Elders have been getting a lot done, but Elder Arko is about ready to get out of there. He likes being able to help people and making a big difference, but it has been long enough :)and is ready for this chapter of the mission to close. He's ready for a change.

At Midsummer, Elder Arko danced around the May pole again! It's SOOO FUNNY because everyone just dances around a may pole. A lot of people took video and stuff, but Elder Arko was too busy having fun to take any pictures. This is the only one he has and it is courtesy of Elder Heinola.

The Elders are going to start playing sports on Saturdays to see if they can get more of the young men to come out and play with them. They have also been out on a few home teaching visits. It's been good having a third companion since one of them can go with a solo home teacher while the other two go tract or visit other less active people. It is pretty awkward for all three Elders to walk up to a door while tracting, but it's good when they have someone to go on splits with so they can get double the work done.

A couple weeks ago Elder Arko felt a little bit sick. It wasn't that bad, just a sore throat and a runny nose. It would have been nothing if he wasn't working so hard, but it was just before Zone Conferences and they had to get orders done and were busy so it hit him harder than it should have, but he survived.

Okay, that is all for this week. Elder Arko sends his thanks for all the support and letters.

June 21st letter

This has been another fun filled week for Elder Arko. There was a little non-transfer related traveling to arrange which was a bit of a curve ball for the office Elders. They also went out with the home teachers to two or three teaches and they went very well. They also placed their mission's Book of Mormon order. Elder Arko is a really good secretary. He's had quite a bit of practice since he's been a secretary in nearly every stage of of his life. And yes, he knows he's got the legs for it :)

They also had a Birthday in the office this past week. Sister Lundquist's birthday was on Friday so they had a little celebration. Elder Arko and Elder Blaylock and made a Kladdkaka for desert at her birthday lunch. Then, after a little office work the Elders got to head into Stockholm to meet up with an investigator. The investigator is from Karlskrona and in Stockholm for a visit so it was a perfect opportunity to meet up with them.

Saturday was a very big day for Sweden as Crowned Princess Victoria was married! If you think a regular wedding is trouble to plan, imagine when a Princess gets married and the WHOLE NATION is involved, eh? They were able to watch a small part of it on TV because it was a "Cultural Event" and apparently 95% of Swedes were tuned into it so it kinda put a damper on going out and trying to find people to teach. Here are a few pictures of them watching the big event.

HAPPY FATHERS DAY to all the fathers out there, especially to Elder Arko's Dad. He hopes you had a good time celebrating.

Well, that is all for this week. Love from Elder Arko!

June 14th letter

This last week was VERY busy for Elder Arko. He and the other office Elders had to get things ready for Zone Conferences so it was pretty crazy. Even today, their P-day, things just kept coming up that they had to take care of at that moment. They still worked a fair amount of time even though it's their "day off". However, they're all set for this week which should be pretty easy going with regards to the office.

They've been having a little bit more rain this week which Elder Arko is liking. It was too hot for his taste last week so it's been nice to have some cooler weather, although he;s sure he'll get sick of it all too fast. It rains on and off almost everyday, but it's been nice.

Elder Arko and Elder Blaylock had a senior couple come in this week and took them in to Stockholm for their first time. They got some paperwork done at one of the government buildings, showed them the center for young adults, and took them to see a real Swedish State church. So that was a fun day for them. The Elders had a good time helping them learn a little Swedish and teaching them about the culture of Sweden.

The Elders are hoping to visit more members this week and start a missionary program with the senior couple. They have also been trying to help the ward focus on less actives as well as doing that themselves over this weekend. They had a long list of less actives to visit, but didn't have a lot of success when it came to them letting the Elders in.

They also had a fun night of planning with the staff to replace their usual staff meeting for this coming week since it should be a little more calm this week.

Transfers are coming up in about 6 weeks and Elder Arko is almost definitely moving from the office to go somewhere else. Elder Arko loves you all and hopes you have a good week.

June 7th letter

Another fun filled week has gone by. The Elders were invited to a fair amount of houses including their Relief Society president, Bishop, and a family who lives far away. They had a lot of fun. The other office Elders were invited to a few families as well. You can imagine how it would be hard to have 4 missionaries over with a family, but it does happen sometimes. So, with their long adventure out to a member family they all piled in the van (Elder Arko, his companion, and Elder and Sister Lundquist, the office couple) and took off.

The adventurous part was when they got to the house. The family is very eccentric and eclectic (yes, Elder Arko looked up that word to make sure he was using it correctly). There were 4 of them and both the parents play instruments, including but not limited to: piano, harp, jews harp, and maybe a piccolo. It looked like a wooden recorder. Sadly, Elder Arko forgot to take any pictures while he was there, but on the way home the sunset was FANTASTICALLY red.

The picture doesn't do it justice, but Elder Arko is pretty sure there is a scientific reason why the sky is able to get so red there. He thinks it has something to do with how high latitude they are making the angle by which the sun rays hit the atmosphere and the time they get through to the clouds is quite a while meaning that the prism effect has a much better chance there (in general of course) than in other places. Who said missionaries don't think about anything but missionary work?

The Elders have been working hard with the members again to try and get the home teaching and missionary splits organized and functioning. They are all getting ready for Zone Conferences which will be going on the next 3 weeks. That means orders, trains, hotels and all that! YAY :) There ain't no party like an office party.

Things are starting to get a little more settled as people start getting the feel of how the office runs. It's fun for Elder Arko to be in the office with so much of his group around. Plus, a lot of his group members are going into those leadership positions so that is crazy for Elder Arko to see.

Today, Elder Arko successfully changed that headlight in one of the mission cars :) He felt pretty cool. Well, that's all for this week except for this picture of Elder Arko's companion, Elder Blaylock.

May 31st letter

Life has been pretty crazy for Elder Arko. He had a great time helping the new missionaries get where they needed to be, get the missionaries leaving packed, and a lot of other things. It really was quite the adventure and he will have to go through it once more.

Two weeks ago the Elders went to see the ceremonial changing of the guard in Stockholm. Elder Arko thought it was kinda funny. He says the Swedish army doesn't seem that impressive. And no they weren't dressed like vikings, but they did have very shiny and pointy hats!

After that, they went to the Vasa Museum...Elder Arko knows his father will be more interested in that than anyone else :) For those of us that don't have a history book in our head, the Vasa is a ship that was built in the 1600's and unfortunately sunk on it's maiden voyage.

It was very interesting and fun for Elder Arko to go to a real museum.

Elder Arko's new companion is Elder Blaylock. He's from Virginia and has been out in the field for about 6 months. Here he is striking a pose

The two new assistance are Elder Hanes and Elder Ahola (for those of you who don't recognize these names go ahead and check the roster of missionaries that went to Sweden when Elder Arko did. That's right, Elder Arko is in the office with two people from his group! AND Elder Hanes was Elder Arko's MTC companion so you can imagine their excitement! Elder Arko is in pretty high demand since he's training three office workers now so that's all from him for now.

May 26th letter

This is how the Elders 'calmed down' during transfers...Yep, with a JUMBO sized pizza. The four of them polished it off without too much effort :)
The pizzas in Sweden are different than the ones here. They are thinner and also have very strange ingredients like bananas and shrimp. This one had onions and ham on it which sounds a little boring compared to bananas. Next time Elder Arko wants to try a shrimp pizza.

May 17th letter

Elder Arko has Monday P-days again! Yay for e-mail writing on Sunday! However, next week, his P-day will be on Wednesday if he even gets a P-day since it's transfer week and those are always suppose to be completely CRAZY!!! Elder Arko is for sure staying in the office one more transfer and is the only one staying. His companion is leaving and the two assistants are dying (meaning they go home...they don't have cancer like some of the family thought when he used that term during the Mother's Day phone call). So Elder Arko is expecting to be the king of the office next transfer :)

Elder Arko must be quick on the emails this week. They are going into Stockholm to see the changing of the guard and some other fun stuff. They are also going on work overs with the Stockholm Elders so that should be fun for them.

This next little while is going to be quiet the experience for Elder Arko. They have the new Elders coming in at the beginning of the week. They will stay in Stockholm for about two days and then they'll ship them off to wherever they need to go. It'll be fun for Elder Arko to be on the other side of this transition :)

Right now the Elders have about 3-4 investigators that are pretty good. They just don't have a lot of time to meet so it's kind of hard to get them to progress. Sad stuff.

It was really good for Elder Arko to talk to his family again. He said he felt kind of nervous before, but it was the excited kind of good nervous that people get, so don't be offended by him saying that it was super weird to talk to everyone :) He's glad Britlee remembers him and she had some fun listening to the phone call. Also, I pointed out to him that he only has one more phone call before he's home!! It's crazy for him to think he's been out this long. He's feeling pretty old right about now.

Elder Arko apologizes for how short this one is, and sends his love...and a few random pictures...

May 8th letter

This past week was SUPER busy for Elder Arko and his companion in the office. They had many many things to do because they had a mission tour from Elder Teixera from the Europe Area Presidency, which was pretty crazy. The Mission President and his wife went down to Göteborg to meet them and they had all the missionaries from that half of the country there as well.

Elder Arko and his companion luckily didn't have to take care of everyone's travel for that, but there were a few times where they had to fix last minute problems and things like that. They also had another mission tour in Stockholm and they were a little bit more involved with the travel arrangements for that one. They helped pick people up from where they were coming in and got them to the apartments they would be sleeping in. They also delivered extra bedding and had to pack orders, orders of which they received the morning of because of scheduling conflicts, but Elder Arko works well under pressure so they got it done.

The Elders also did a large cleaning of their apartment just in case Elder Teixiera wanted to look through it. He ended up not going through it, but a few things got done that were long overdue, so it was a good thing for them to do.

The weather in Sweden has been just great. It was a little hot at the begining of the week so Elder Arko got to wear short sleeves for a few days. The day he sent his letter, it was a little overcast and a little chilly with the wind.

Elder Arko has been feeling fine. He doesn't think there has been a day of his mission where he would consider himself as being "sick". There have been a few days where headaches or some stomach uneasiness have come up, but nothing bad enough where he would say he was sick. Plus, recently his only worry is not getting enough exercise because he spends so much time at the computers or in a car. So morning workout should become a little bit more of a priority for him now a days. Sadly, some days Elder Arko just wakes up and gets in the shower to wake him up. Then, there are other days where he has to get up at 5:30 in the morning to pick people up and drop them off so they can get back into their own areas.

There are also mornings where Elder Arko and his companion has 4 visitors in their apartment and they have to feed them all. The other morning, Elder Arko made waffles! They busted out about 16 of those things and still had to make pancakes to help some people get full. He did however use a mix, so don't be fooled by how amazing it really was :) We're proud of you either way Elder Arko!

Elder Arko is hoping to get a letter sent off to Patri...Elder Arko II so he can have one while he's in the MTC. Elder Arko I thinks it will be way fun to be talking to Elder Arko II while he's going through some of the same things he went through not too long ago.

Elder Arko is very excited to talk to his family tomorrow!

May 1st letter

This week has been another roller coaster ride for Elder Arko! At the first of the week they did the "visonen" or the news paper of the mission. It has messages from President Anderson and the assistants and the secretaries (Elder Arko and Elder Walraven) put a large portion of it together. It also has all the pictures from zone conferences so it is a pretty big undertaking and it only happens once a transfer so that was pretty crazy for Elder Arko to participate in.

The Elders also had a few good teaches at members houses this week. They went on a home teaching assignment with a member and also had a member dinner and those were both really fun. There is also a Swedish holiday on the 30th of April called Valborg. Missionaries weren't allowed to go to the community celebration, but if their ward was having an activity the missionaries could attend. Sadly, Elder Arko's ward didn't do an activity because it happened to be their temple night. Instead they decided to celebrate on their own, the American way, by getting some steak and having a good old fashion grill :)Elder Arko's companion, Elder Walraven, is the one in the red. The other two are the assistants Elder Arko lives with, Elders White and Bennion (Elder White is wearing the lighter color of grey making it very appropriate since his name is white:) Yes, they all have pretty weird expressions on their faces, but they are fun guys.It felt pretty good for Elder Arko to do that again. He isn't sure why, but standing around a grill of hot charcoals was just a good feeling. They have all missed the feeling, but hadn't noticed they missed it.

Elder Arko can't believe his niece, Paizlee, is already one year old! That also makes him think about his Mother's Day call and he's getting excited about it.

The weather in Elder Arko's area has been mild. Just a bit of rain with some nice cool temperatures of 10-17 degrees Celsius, so not bad. One morning they did actually get a fair amount of snow fall, but it didn't really stick. It's just funny for Elder Arko to see flowers blooming and snow falling at the same time.

So the office there is in Enebyberg which is by Täby and it's about a 2 hour drive to the temple so Elder Arko is a little short on time. He'll look forward to hearing from some of us in a week and a day.

April 24th letter

Greetings from Elder Arko in the office (no they don't have a Dwight),

Elder Arko's week has been the same as usual. They have received a few referrals from Temple Square that have been in thier area so they had some fun getting in contact with them so far. One of them seems to be very interested in learning more, but was a little flabbergasted that two young men showed up at his front door with the DVD he ordered. Apparently he thought it would be shipped or something, but he got the real deal! The other one lives a little further out so the Elders haven't been able to visit them yet.

There are two companionships in the office, one companionship is made up of assistants (they travel around at zone conferences giving a message and do a lot of other traveling for splits and such), the other two Elders are the secretaries (who stay at the office and do things like booking tickets, filling orders, paperwork and organizing logistics of the mission). Elder Arko had the great idea to bake an apple pie for the traveling assistants. The only thing is Elder Arko didn't have any ströbröd (the translation is bread crumbs, but it's just a mix of flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder). The recipe called for 3 deciliters of that; so Elder Arko, being the genius that he is, decided to just add 1 1/2 sugar and flour each to the recipe and add a dash of salt and baking powder to make up the difference...it was a pie, but it was EXTRA sugary and...it was okay, but still very interesting :) So we have an improv baker on our hands :)

The Elders didn't have too much time for finding this week because they've been working in the office a lot and also have a fair amount of people who are investigators or potential investigators that they've been getting a hold of and setting up appointments with. Another thing is their ward seems to be getting into missionary work more. They have two appointments to go out with other members on home teaches. They also might take a few of them out tracting or contacting.

Elder Arko is now reading in the book of Jacob in the Book of Mormon and that is a book he's learned to appreciate a lot more so he's really excited to read it this time. Last time he just seemed to connect with not only what the book was saying, but also with Jacob himself. Elder Arko feels that Jacob is his 'home boy'.

Elder Arko has been thinking about Mother's Day since it's coming up :) The calender he has says "Mothers Day Elder Arko gets to call HOME!" They haven't planned their Mother's Day yet, but he will be calling home pretty early because of the time difference.

They've had little problems with the volcano over there. All the trains and buses are pretty booked up because a lot of people can't fly. They didn't have any missionaries get stranded or anything of that sort. They didn't even really see too much of an ash cloud, but it's said that when it rains if you put a white plate outside you can see the flecks of ash that come down in the rain.

April 17th letter

First off, Elder Arko received a package from his parents and grandparents and says thanks. He is really going to enjoy ALL the candy and Italian sausage.

This week has been kind of a busy one for Elder Arko. They had zone conference for 3 out of the 5 zones in the mission. The Elders in the office had to get all the orders ready for all 3 zones which was a little stressful, but not too bad. Life in the office is still interesting for Elder Arko. Sometimes it is really boring just sitting on a computer and then sometimes everything needs to be done right at that moment. It's like working in a real office, but all the employees switch around a bunch; which is not how you would run a business (says the financial secretary). It really is quite amazing that anything gets done correctly :)

Elder Arko's zone conference was good. There was an emphasis on having open communication with their companions and also receiving personal revelation during their weekly planning session so it was pretty good.

Elder Arko and his companion also had a good referral from Temple Square. They actually got to go visit her. She wants to learn more because of a missionary she met at temple square. She wanted to read the Book of Mormon. The Elders gave her one and then we told her they will visit her next week (she's going to go on a trip soon).

Well...nothing else comes to Elder Arko's mind except he recently found this picture on the computer of when his group came to Sweden so he hopes we like it! :)

April 10th letter

Elder Arko had a pretty good week! General Conference was VERY GOOD! He still hasn't had a chance to listen to the whole Sunday evening session because of the time difference and all.

The Elders have had a few good experiences with teaching. Nothing too ground breaking, but just good teaches where they help people understand more about what we believe or in some cases people accept more of the truth. It is really strange for Elder Arko being a half-time missionary because one second he is entering data into a computer until 5:00 hits. Then, the Elders go tract or teach or whatever. It's definitely not as fun as being a real missionary for him, but it's still got it's pros. Elder Arko gets to help supply the mission with all the materials they need and also helping them with travel or just information they need. Elder Arko is glad they are a small mission or there might be too much to do on the busy weeks.

And for PICTURES!! He knows we all love them. This one is pretty self explanatory :)

He got that shirt from his sister Jen (Me) and her hubby Ben :) so thanks to both you two. It caused Elder Arko to start making up lyrics about men in white while he's been walking around with that beat in his head. Maybe he should actually record it :)

This is a picture of his district this transferHe is companions with the two standing in the back and one of them is actually going to leave for home in about 3 days so :) excitingly nerve racking for him!

It is interesting for Elder Arko to see the process he'll probably go through when he gets that far along! Scary thought. They have had 2 out of the 3 Zone Conferences for the mission so far and they both went pretty well. Elder Arko doesn't get to go to all of them, but he does get to hear a lot about them. Elder Arko has his zone conference this week and it should be fun!

Elder Arko has been trying to learn Swedish a little bit better. He feels like he's hit a plateau in it so he's going to start studying it more extensively. As always it's a challenge, but he did get a compliment about how his grammar was almost perfect. He's not sure if the guy he was speaking to was just not paying attention or maybe he was just lucky, but that was cool for him.

The couple who is in the office with Elder Arko are just hilarious and really fun to be around! :) Their names are the Lundquists and they are from American Fork, Utah so right around Elder Arko's neck of the woods! Well that's all for this week! Elder Arko hopes you have a good week and enjoy the pictures!

April 3rd letter

Elder Arko has been thrown into a new world! It's really different than his normal missionary days. He feels like he's back working as an office manager at the PT clinic in American Fork, except his dress code is slightly higher. A usual day goes as follows: They wake up and have studies/shower which is normal, then they go downstairs (since their apartment is right above the mission office, not the mission home) and start data entry for baptismal records, mailing, addressing or any other random office work that needs to be done. Then they are suppose to switch back at 5 or 5:30 to regular missionaries and go out proselyting. They have a couple of investigators that are promising.

Elder Arko is living with 5 elders now instead of just his companion. There are the two assistants that share the apartment and an Elder that is going home early so they just stuck him in the office to pass the remaining week and a half. It is a lot different.

Elder Arko hasn't celebrated Easter too much yet. The Elders get to go to conference tonight so Elder Arko is excited and is hoping they'll get a lot out of it.

One of the perks in the office is Elder Arko just came back after conference and can finish up his emailing! He really enjoyed the first session. He thought it was so awesome, and loved how President Monson joked with his wife a little :) it was super cute. He also thought the whole duty to God thing sounds awesome for young men and really liked a lot of the talks and how they were so geared towards families!

Here are a few pictures for us! Just a few of the office

Elder Arko made sure to take the last picture since he always hears complaints about never seeing his face!
Elder Arko really enjoyed the pictures from Patrick's farewell! From Elder Arko to his cousin, "Patrick I'm so proud of you, It's SO awesome you're going into the MTC soon! :) don't worry everyone is nervous. Just be sure to take your time and have fun while you're there, but still get a lot of work done because it is so easy to. You need to write me a letter so I have your address and I have a few things to let you know :) K?"

Okay everyone, Elder Arko hopes you have a GREAT conference/Easter weekend and he LOVES YOU ALL!!!