Elder Morley Haley Santa Fe Argentina Mission: First week in Argentina

HOLA!

Ok. So the plane rides to Atlanta and Buenos Aires. Holy freak. I knew things were going to be really different. Especially as a missionary, but why did it have to be this bad. On the plane ride to Atlanta from SLC, I had the pleasure of sitting next to an old, really atheist and anti-religion lady. As soon as we sat down, she looked over to me and the Elder I was sitting next to and said "I’m just so sooooooooorry for you guys" and we were thinking oh she’s nice because we have to say goodbye to our families, but no. She said "no, I’m sorry that you guys have been BRAINWASHED for your entire lives. "The rest of the flight was her trying to bash us and our religion. The elder I sat next to and I tried to be as nice and charitable as possible. She just kinda hated us I guess, but I tried my hardest to love her and treat her with charity, like a good missionary should. The flight to Buenos Aires was super long with a highlight of really crazy. It was about 2-3 o’clock in the morning and I was sleeping when I heard over the radio or intercom "Would (so and so, a doctor on the flight) please come to the back of the plane. We need your assistance." So I woke up and the doctor came to the seats right ahead of us and helped the flight attendants try to help this lady. She couldn’t breathe or something and it was kind of freaking me and the Elder I was sitting next to out. The lady puked into a bag and passed out! The doctor laid the lady down and started taking her pulse and stuff. After like 10 min, the lady woke up again, but wasn’t really talking, but she ended up being okay. How you may ask?? I’m not totally sure, but I’m pretty sure it was because of the power of prayer. When I woke up, I said a prayer. I also woke the Elder I was sitting next to and he said a prayer too. I think 2 or 3 other missionaries said prayers for the lady. And guess what, she was okay. Coincidence?? Maybe. But I believe our prayers absolutely helped her.

Okay, first day in Argentina. Basically, we were in a bus the entire day for something close to 5-6 hours. After a 10 hour plane ride from Atlanta to Buenos Aires. So that wasn’t my favorite. But the naps I took on the bus were some of the best I’ve ever had, so it was a fair trade. That night, we had dinner with the Mission president and his wife. We had empanadas (Oh my freaking goodness I love Argentina food), loads of soda-including Guarana (I love it here), and other meat and cracker stuff. The missionaries that work in the office were there also. They are all really cool. We slept that night in their pench (apartment).

The next day, Wednesday I think, we met our trainers, only after about 1.5 hours of rules and guidelines for the mission. I met my trainer!!! His name is Elder Mamani and he is from Chile. He loves to speak English, which is both good and bad for me. I can most of the time ask him what words are in Spanish, so that is good. But then it’s really easy to just speak English most of the time. But we are doing really well and speaking Spanish as much as possible and if I don’t understand something or I have a question about something, I can ask him in English. After we met our trainers, we had a really good lunch with some sort of dish thing and tons of soda. They love their soda here. And I am very grateful for that. We had to take a bus to our area, my first area. The city is called Rafaela. It is about 2 hours away from Santa Fe by bus. We bought our tickets and were waiting for about 1.5 hours. But we missed our bus. So we had to redo our tickets and wait for another 30 min. When we finally got to Rafaela, the first people we met were the Zone Leaders. Their names are Elder Grecci and Elder Rivera. Elder Grecci is from Sao Paulo Brazil and looks like he could be from the USA. Elder Rivera is from Mexico and is this big, kind of scary looking Mexican, but he is super nice and funny. Both of them have about 20 months on the mission. Oh yeah, my companion has 17 months on the mission. Elder Rivera trained my trainer. There are also sisters in the same city as us, but they go to church with another branch, so we don’t see them much. They made my companion and I a carrot cake. Oh and on Friday, the Zone Leaders and us made tacos. They were the best I’ve had in a long time, no offense mom

My first day in the mission field was pretty good. We taught a lesson to a recent convert, Mario. He is really nice. Then we walked for a mile or so and contacted some people. Then we had lunch with a nice family. The food here is really good, no matter where you go. Oh yeah and the people love to drink soda and tang juice packets. That is just about all that they drink. So I didn’t have very much water and got super dehydrated my first day. And we were in the sun all day and that wasn’t too good for me. By the next morning I felt a lot better.

Friday was good. We had a few lessons and contacted a few good people. That night, we had a lesson with an investigator who has a baptismal date. His name is Emiliano and he is a really nice kid. He is 17 and I love him already. I don’t understand most of what he says, you know, because my Spanish stinks, but Elder Mamani does. He says that if I only knew Spanish, I would understand how funny Emiliano is.

On Saturday, we had a few lessons planned for the morning, but most of them fell through. The only one that I remember us having was another lesson with Mario. He understood all that we said and committed again to live la lay de Castidad. Not that he had messed up or anything, he just recommitted. That afternoon and night, we had splits with the Zone Leaders so Elder Rivera could be with Elder Mamani for a lesson with an investigator. So Elder Grecci and I were together. We did some contacting and taught a lesson with a less active family. The mom and grandpa are less active, but the daughter, Alma, hasn’t been baptized. She is 13. So we taught the restoration and challenged the whole family to attend church the next day. They all said yes. Then we also asked Alma to be baptized. She didn’t say yes, but she also didn’t say no. So we will work with her and her family a little harder and get her to do that soon. Hopefully.

My first Sunday was really good. We got to church and I had to help pass the sacrament because there is only like 25 people that attend the branch. But it was good. I had the opportunity to share my testimony and that was really good. The lessons we had were great and I understood most of what was being said. The problem with my Spanish is that I stink at “life Spanish”, but my Church and Gospel Spanish is really good, or as least as good as it can be after 7 weeks. But when we are talking to people during contacting or just in stores and stuff, I don’t understand a thing they are saying. But during lessons and church, I understand almost everything. I contribute most of it to the Spirit. I can’t take much credit for anything about my Spanish. But the rest of the day we were walking around looking for lessons with people. We didn’t have much of anything, but we contacted two really good people.

So the culture here is different from what I’m used to, obviously, but I love all of it. Well, most of it. The families here usually don’t have cars. There will be a family with 2-3 kids, and they all fit on one motor bike. So the dad will drive, the middle kid will be behind him, mom behind the kid, and the older kid in the back holding onto the mom. The mom or dad then holds the baby, or one of the kids will sit in front of the dad. So pretty crazy. I also had my first rainstorm this week!! It was on Saturday. It started at about 10 and lasted for the rest of the day and into about half of Sunday. The rain wasn’t too bad most of the time, but at about 11 on Saturday, Elder Mamani and I were walking for a good hour straight trying to get to lessons and then back to the pench for lunch and studies, and the raid was POURING. I had my rain jacket and my bag is water proof, but Elder Mamani didn’t have anything. He was straight soaked. My feet and shoes were soaked but that’s about it. But the streets here aren’t the best when it comes to draining rain. Some aren’t terrible, you can jump over the streams on each side of the road. Some are terrible and have close to a foot of water that you have to run through to get to the other side. So we were wet and cold.

I love it here. People always ask where I’m from, how old I am, and how bad my Spanish is. They are always interested to hear about the USA and how old I am, but are never too surprised when I say my Spanish is no bueno and muy maul.

I can’t wait to hear more from you guys!

Con amor,

Elder Haley