No baptisms, but the Spanish is getting much better!!

Bueno, nuestra semana fue muy larga. We didn’t teach too many people, but our investigators are progressing well.

One of our investigators is Pamela and she has been pretty good before this week, but this week she made some pretty big steps. But her life has kind of taken a down hill approach also. She just lost her job and is kinda really short on money so she doesn’t have power to her apartment or food. So she is staying with friends and family but meets us at a members house that is really close to hers. So the first lesson was just a normal lesson with her. We taught the Plan of Salvation and she really loved it. And the following day, we went to the members home and taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it was really really good. She really opened up about things in her life and I could really feel the testimony that she has and the love that God has for her. Then we offered to give her a blessing of comfort and strength because she really needs it with all the problems she is having. She said she would love one and asked me to do it! So that was kinda scary because the most I’ve done for a blessing of comfort was just stand in. So this was the first time that I’ve done a blessing AND it was in Spanish. I thought my Spanish was kind of rough, but I could really feel the spirit and knew what she needed to hear. Pamela really has a desire to be baptized, but she hasn’t been able to attend church yet. So right now, our goal is for her to be baptized on the 17^th of March. 

Another one of our investigators is Ariel and he is a really super nice, really Argentine guy. I love him so much. He is really funny and has real faith. We just taught him this morning, which is different because its PDAY, but it was really good because he just understands everything about the gospel. He understands why we have commandments and why we need to follow them. He understands the restoration. He has a testimony of the Atonement and understands that no matter what he is feeling, he is always able to have help and support through Christ. We are going to baptize him the 10th because we want him to have one more church attendance. But he says that there is no question that he is going to be baptized. That something we love to hear!

This week we also had exchanges with the Zone Leaders. I was with the new ZL, Elder Duval. He is a bit of a nerd but is a really good missionary. We didn’t have any lessons together, all of our plans feel through, but we did a lot of contacting, which is usually my least favorite part of the work. But he is really good at it. I learned a lot about how to relate to the people and be their friends, not just the “crazy Mormons with their weird Bible”. So that was really cool. 

We also had a really cool experience. We were just getting back the pench at the end of the night of the exchanges. We still had about 10 minutes before we were supposed to get back to the pench officially so we decided to go out and talk to one more person. I actually didn’t really want to because it had been a pretty long day full of walking, but we went out because it’s what we are supposed to do. So we literally went maybe 30 feet from our pench and found a really cool guy. When we first started talking to him, Elder Duval and I were just speaking in Spanish, but then he responded in perfect English. We were super surprised and super excited. He ended up being from the USA, born in LA and moved here about 4 years ago. So we were talking to him in English, which was amazing. And he was suuuuuuper funny.  Oh yeah, Elder Duval is from Utah by the way. So hopefully we can meet with him again. He works every night just outside our pench selling tickets, so I hope to get the talk even more with him

I also found a few old Liahonas and Ensigns from the 2017 General Conferences.... in English! So that is really cool. I love reading them, especially in English because I feel so smart and can actually understand literally everything they say. 

So yeah, I know that I didn’t really talk about the whole week, but I tried to give all of the really cool and good experiences. But through all the contacting and stuff this week, my Spanish has improved so much. Before, I could talk alright. I could get my point across. My biggest problem was that I couldn’t understand a darned thing that people were saying. But this week, I have started to understand just about everything that people are saying. And it’s amazing!! The gift of tongues is so real!!

About the pictures: my birthday is famous here.  It is the Independence Day for Argentina.  There are a lot of things with 25 de Mayo.  So, that is totally awesome.  A lot of the missionaries here like put photos on their planners. So I decided to do it. I love it! We just print them off and glue them on. But the picture of the temple makes me miss going to the temple, a lot. It’s going to be a hard two years without being in one.  Also, the picture of the missionary with the Army of Helaman is so powerful.

Bien, ahora voy a compartir mi testimonio. Sé que el Evangelio de Jesucristo es una bendición en nuestras vidas. Sé que a través de este Evangelio, podemos tener paz y felicidad en nuestras vidas. Puedo testificar sobre el poder de la fe y las oraciones. Amo la Expiación también. Mi misión ha sido muy difícil, más de lo que esperaba. Pero, a través de la expiación de Jesucristo, sé que otra persona ha compartido mis sentimientos. Estoy muy agradecido por esto Digo cosas en el nombre de mi Salvador, Jesucristo, Amén.

Con Amor,

Elder Haley

Transfer week...

Soooooo, this week was a little weird.

Monday, normal. We didnt have any lessons after P-day, but we did try to visit an investigator that has been out of town for a long time, who wasn’t home. But we did find a dog who is probably the same size as me if I laid down. Flipping huge, but super nice and friendly. It’s super funny because there is an old lady that lives where the dog does and she always yells at us to stay away from the dog. She says it’s a killer and actually killed a kid. So I don’t know. Kind of crazy.

Tuesday. We had a lesson with our investigator who is named Pamela. We haven’t been able to teach her for the past two or three weeks, but this week we taught her twice and they were both really good. She really likes the Plan of Salvation. We hope to get her to be baptized soon, but she hasn’t been to church yet and we need her to do that. We ended the night a little early so we could help the Zone Leaders make tacos for zone conference. The members usually make lunch, but for this one, the Zone Leaders wanted to make tacos. So yeah, we did that.

Wednesday, my first Zone Conference. Let me just say, it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. Honestly, I don’t remember what I was expecting, but I was a little surprised at what Zone Conference is. It’s really good, don’t get me wrong, but it is just different. We talk as a Zone about our goals and investigators and how we can help them. President Perez gives a lot of really good advice and guidance. We also have some time that is set apart for President and Hermana Perez to teach us. It was really good! President Perez taught about how when the set apart Leaders and Disciples of God and Jesus Christ speak by the power of the Holy Ghost and speak with revelation, what they say is the literal word of God. In the scriptures, D&C, there is a set of scriptures in section 68 about how missionaries are specific to this, and how when we speak with the Holy Ghost, we are speaking the Word of God. So that was really cool. Then we had the tacos which were amazing! After that, a lot of people in the Zone needed interviews with President Perez, so while they were doing that, the rest of us waited. While we waited, we sang hymns and talked and had some fun. So that was good. After all of it, we had a lesson with a new investigator, Veronica. She is from Bolivia and is really nice. She has been to church twice, but we have only been able to teach her the first lesson. But it’s been really good!

Thursday. Well, Thursday was tough. We had all sorts of plans to meet with people, but they almost all fell through. People were either not home, or couldn’t meet with us. So we ended up walking a lot that day. But hey, we learn the most from our bad experiences. And from this day, I learned that its a good idea to get the phone numbers of the people we are going to meet with and call them to make sure they can meet with us. 

Friday. I honestly don’t remember anything from Friday. But from what I think happened, we didn’t teach anyone. So that stinks, but I’m learning a lot about how to work hard, especially when it is hard to work. But not only that, we need to work smart, and not just hard. So yeah. Not much from that day

Saturday was kinda crazy from what I remember. We had a lesson in the morning which was really good, but the rest of the day we were walking all across town to meet appointments. So it was a tough day physically, but a pretty rewarding day spiritually.

Sunday. When I woke up and started getting ready for church, Elder Mamani said to me "oh yeah, we have to give the talks today in church." So that was a little stressfull. It is a good thing that I wrote out all the talks that I was supposed to while in the MTC. I ended up speaking on agency and obedience, or Albedrío and Obediencia. I talked about how God doesn’t give us Commandments just to make us do things. He gives Commandments as a way to protect us and guide us on the path of what is right. I also touched on how God wouldn’t give us Commandments if we aren’t able to follow them . We are always capable of following the commandments it’s only dependent on our effort and faith. And lastly, I talked a little bit on how it’s amazing how God gives us Commandments and then blesses us for doing what He asks us to do. He doesn’t have to do that. But he does. and all it takes is faith.

Monday. So yeah yesterday was transfers and thats why today is P-day and not yesterday. It was a crazy day yesterday. One of the zone leaders went home yesterday, so we had to be with his companion the entire day until our new zone leader arrived. We ended up spending the entire day in the terminal, or the bus station or whatever you want to call it. I was expecting to only have to stay for an hour or so, but with bus delays and other difficulties, we ended up staying from 9:30 in the morning, through lunch, until about 5:30. It wasn’t all bad I guess. One of the missionaries had a copy of the Book of Mormon so I read a lot of Alma, which, by the way, is amazing. So yeah. But the new Zone Leader is pretty cool. 

I don’t know why, but this week has been kinda weird. I felt like it went by really fast, until yesterday that felt like a whole week. For emailing each week, we go to a cyber station which is in a gas station, so yeah kind of sketchy. There are other places we can go. This is just really cheap so we come here. It is about 10-12 pesos an hours so like 50 cents in America.

Oh yeah. one last thing.

At the Zone Conference President Perez said to me "Elder, how is April 3rd" and I was really confused and asked him what April 3rd is. He said "New missionaries, Elder. I need you." So yeah. I guess I’m going to train in next transfer. So elder Mamani and I are staying together here in Rafaela. And next transfer, I am training a new missionary!! I am so crazy excited, but also scared out of my mind. So I would really love all the prayers you guys can give for my Spanish to improve because I’m a little freaked out about that!

Love you guys a lot, 

Elder Haley

Our Zone

Elder Grecci is going home this week-the one laying on the floor.  He is a total goofy guy. 

Making tortillas

dinner prep

Elder Gomez, and boy named Junior and me

Fried ice cream.  Elder Grecci again...a goofy guy.

Attitude

Well, this week was much better! I’m glad to say that although we didn’t have much success in terms of lessons and baptisms, I felt much better about this week. I will admitt, I had a much worse attitude about last week, but this week, I decided heck with that, and just tried to feel better about what we were doing. 

So last Monday we had one lesson, but it was a really good one. We went to visit a guy, but it turned out that he moved out and left his girlfriend after they broke up. So we taught her instead. Her name is Claudia and she is super nice. She has two kids, one about my age I think and a son about 14 or 15. We taught her the first lesson and she accepted our invitation to read el Libro de Mormon and if she prays and gets a answer that it is true, she will be baptized. So she has a date for baptism on 23 of February! 

On Tuesday, we didn’t have any lessons at all, but we did go around and try to visit people. So what I’ve been learning a lot about is that we don’t have to have lessons for us to have success. What I mean is that we aren’t complete failures if we don’t teach anyone. Sure it sucks and it’s tough, but we tried and God understands. 

Wednesday was the same as Tuesday. We didn’t get any lessons taught, but we visited some families and had some good experiences. That just builds my testimony even more about how this is so true and it is the right thing for me to be doing. If we have opposition, it just means that we are doing what Satan doesn’t want us to do. 

Thursday we only had one lesson, but it was with Hermano Avril, who is the boyfriend of Alma´s mom. So the lesson was really good. We taught the Plan of Salvation and he just really gets it. He is a really good guy and wants to be a member of the church. I know he will make a wonderful member. But other than that, we didn’t have anything else. But hey, like I said, my attitude has been a lot better about everything, so that has been cool. 

Friday was kind of crazy. We didn’t have any lesson plans, so we contacted, which I usually hate, but we met a really amazing lady. She let us in her home and as soon as we sat down, she started crying. We asked her what was wrong, and she said that she has cancer and her life is pretty tough. She can’t really move too well because she hurts a lot  She kind of just sat there and we talked. She gave us some mate teabags, which is a lot different than I thought mate would taste like, but it’s not too bad. But she is a really wonderful lady and is super nice. We ended up giving her a blessing which I was really nervous about because, you know, it’s in Spanish and my Spanish is trash. But it was actually really flipping good. I might have cried a bit during it and afterwards. But she is a really nice lady. She wouldn’t make a plan for us to teach her again, but we want to visit her again and we know she will let us in because she is a wonderful lady. 

Saturday we didn’t have any lessons again, but we did give another blessing to a brother who was having troubles. He told us a story about how when he was younger, he had an accident where his neck was kind of pressed down and he almost got paralyzed. But his spine was kind of out of wack and the doctors drilled holes in his skull and used hooks to pull his spine and stretch it back into place. So yeah that was cool to meet him. 

Sunday morning, we woke up and it had rained all night and was still raining. So at church, almost no one showed up, but it was still really good. I learned about goals during sacrament meeting and during priesthood I learned about how we can deal with our fears through faith and prayer. I thought it was a really good Sunday because I could actually understand people. It’s crazy how amazing the Gift of Tongues is! I love it!

So yeah. If you get anything from this, just understand that having a better attitude about things can completely change everything. As far as the compànionship is, we are doing much better, and I can say that prayers were answered. I also learned about myself because I’m really, really bad about sharing my feelings. But this week, I learned that its much better to just say how you feel instead of just being passive aggressive and not talking. So yeah.

As far as scriptures, I have started to read almost only in Spanish now! In the MTC and the first few weeks in Argentina, I would read a verse of the Book of Mormon and then the same verse again but in the el Libro de Mormon. It has helped a lot, but now I’m at the point that I can just read Spanish and get the gist of everything. 

Some other things about the work and Argentina:

*Tacos are amazing

*I calculated that we walk about 20 km or more a day and don’t really know what that is in miles, so maybe you can look that up. 

*This week is Carnival, and is pretty crazy. Last night, we were going home and walked through the very beginning of it, and in the words of Elder Mamani, "That is not of God!" Just imagine the Carnival like in the movie Rio, but in real life. It’s kind of crazy. 

*I get letters from the office at Zone Conference and we have one this week in Santa Fe. So hopefully I can get letters when I am there!

So yeah, a good week. Or at least better week. I hope everything back home is going well for everyone. See you in a week!  Thank you for the prayers. They really do work and are answered. I can testify of that.

Con Amor,

Elder Haley

It was a humbling week

Well, after the success and work we got done last week, I was feeling pretty good. But by the end of this week, I can safely say, that I was humbled. I’m going to be honest, we weren’t the most obedient and diligent companionship this week, and I know that had a big part in why we didn’t have much success this week.

For the rest of Pday last week, we had two lessons that went pretty well and ended the night with some good success. 

Tuesday was when the humbling started. We had a few lessons planned for the day, but they all fell through. So, we went to our backup plans, to meet with some of the other people in the area or visit a member family. But none of them were home either. So we contacted, which is basically tracting, but only trying to set appointments or get the contact info of the people. We didn’t have any success. So by the end of the day, we hadn’t taught any lessons. So, pretty bad

Wednesday was basically the same. Except we had a short service project with a couple that was recently baptized, before I was here. The rest of the day, we tried finding people to teach through contacting or from a list of members that we have in our branch. Nothing. It got so bad this week, that when we would contact people, they wouldn’t even give us a reason for not wanting to meet with us. I remember one guy who, when he answered the door and saw it was us, just waved his hand at us and shut his door without saying a single word.

Thursday was the same, also. We had some appointments set, but they all fell through and we ended up contacting some more. With the exception of maybe one or two people, we didn’t get past "hola, somos misionarios de la Iglesia de Jesucristo" before people were saying no and shutting the doors.

For Friday, we loaded our schedules with plans, backup plans, and backup plans for our backups plans. I was hoping to not have to contact at all that day, but of course, we ended up doing so. And yet again, no success at all. Okay, let me say here that I know that we succeed when we try, but I’m talking about success as in getting contacts or setting appointments. And I will also say here, that I know we weren’t having success because of our disobedience. I’m not saying that we were totally breaking rules and completely disregarding our roles as missionaries, but my companion and I were not very diligent in our studies, waking up on time, praying as a companionship, or going to bed on time. I can absolutely confess to this. But I can also tell you this: I’m done with that. I want to be better, and will be better. 

Saturday was the same also. we had an investigator with a Baptismal date for this Saturday, but we didn’t have a single lesson with her this week, so there was no way that we were going to be able to baptize her. We ended up having one lesson that day, but it wasn’t very good. I know that if we would have been more obedient during the week, we would have had more of a spirit present during the lesson and my Spanish would have been better. 

Sunday was tough. We fasted, and usually when I fast, I can do pretty well and not have any problems. But yesterday, I was just weak and tired. Luckily, we had a dinner appointment with the Fernandez family. Alma (who was baptized last week) and her mom have invited the mom's boyfriend to take lessons from us. We taught him the first lesson last Monday and shared a short message on the importance of church attendance last night after dinner. He is a really nice guy and wants to be baptized, especially after attending Alma´s baptism last week, but with his work schedule, it is kind of hard to set a date that he would be able to.

Well, I know this week was tough, but if we work harder to be obedient and follow all the rules, guidelines, and standards that we have been given, we will be blessed with success in our work. 

In my personal studies this week, I finally got to the Alma chapters with Ammon and his brothers doing missionary work. I can definitely learn from their examples, especially Ammon. I need to work hard to be obedient and find ways to serve other. I know that if I do this, I can have success and God will help me in the work I am here to do. 

Also, a few things about Argentina.

First, there aren’t dumpsters here. Or trash cans on the streets. There are poles with a kind of basket on the top that people put their trash bags on. I’m pretty sure they need to be high off the ground because if they weren’t, the perros would get into the trash and make huge messes.

Second, people here eat every part of the cow or pig. I hadn’t had any weird kind of food until the Asado last night.

I finally had Asado and it was magical.

We had: 

Potatoes

Salad, which here, is just vegetables thrown together and its always warm and salty, but still good

Bread

Chorizo, which is basically like brats back home.

Ribs, both pork and beef. Trust me, it was good.

Some other kind of meat that was really flipping good too.

And my favorite part of the meal, Riñon, which is cow kidneys. I saw it and it just looked weird and I knew that it was going to be some kind of weird part of the animal. But it was actually really good! But I mostly liked it because now I can say that I had something weird. Really salty and kind of chewy, but good!

Answers to some questions:

*How much walking do you do? I think this week we averaged about 6 miles a day, walking. Maybe longer for some of the days. 

*The members feed us, but sometimes not very willingly. Elder Mamani says that the members in other areas are a lot better about feeding us. But when they do, it is usually milanesas, which is basically country fried chicken but without the mashed potatoes and gravy. They have potatoes here, but it is more of a potato salad most of the time. Other meals are ñuquies which is like a pasta, meat, potato mash thing. Our other meals that are pretty normal.

*Dang, my favorite part is hard. Probably just actually being here in Argentina. I waited so long for my mission to actually happen, and now I can finally be here, working to help others.

*The hardest part: The way people look at us sometimes. They know who we are and just kind of avoid us. A few times this week, I’m pretty sure people actually crossed the street and walked on the opposite side of the road of us because we are Mormons. And there are some people that like to yell at us, especially me, because I’m white. I kind of think it is funny actually, but they always ask "como se dice _______ en ingles?" and I never know what they are saying so they laugh and stuff. Mostly, I think it is funny, but it gets old having people look at and treat you like weirdos.

*Does it rain a lot? There was one really big rainstorm like my first week, and I didn’t have my camera. About 10 days ago there was a really big one too, but we were preparing for the baptism so I couldn’t go and get pictures of the streets being flooded.

*It has also been really, really hot here. One guy said that it was about 40 Celsius. So, by my calculation, it was freaking hot.

Well, I will have a better report for next week, I promise

Con amor,

Elder Haley 

Asado.  Magical.

 My dinner plate

Group picture.  Elder Mamani, Alma, Alma's mom and her boyfriend

trash "baskets" that are on the streets spaced about every 15 feet