Elder Morley Haley Santa Fe Argentina Mission: We were well fed, both physically and spiritually

Bueno so I mentioned last week that if all of the meal plans we had for this week went through, it was going to be a miracle. Sadly, they did not, but it was still a really good week.

Martes

In the morning we did rent because it was closed the day before and then did some finding because we didn’t have any planes. Lunch was with HNO Fernandez, or the Grandpa of Alma, our last baptism. He was super nice and we ate well. Then we had a short district meeting becasue Elder Mamani and I had a lesson with Pamela. For the lesson, Elder Mamani basically let me do it all on my own while he finished a Calendario Bautismal for Pamela. So it was a good opportunity to work on my Spanish.. And it went really well! I taught the Dia de Reposo and la Ley de Castidad. She understood everything I said, and I understood... close to everything she said. After that, we had entercambios with the Zone Leaders and Elder Rivera and I walked almost completely across town to the home of a less active and part member family in the Hermana missionary’s area. They were really nice and we taught them a little about the temple and how we can have peace in our homes through prayer and scripture study as a family. After that, we looked for other people to teach, but ended up ending the night at a really cool and funny member. There was also this crazy perro that was the size of a small horse. Thankfully it was friendly and calm. I was happy to get a picture with it.

Miercoles

In the morning we didn’t do very much. Elder Mamani had to do stuff on the computer so we spent some time doing that. Hopefully he doesn’t have to do anymore this week, because we loose a lot of time that we should be spending teaching and finding people to teach. Lunch was with HNA Palota and her family. They are really awesome and are always willing to do anything for the missionaries. In the afternoon, we were on entercambios again with the Zone Leaders and I was with Elder Duvol. We visited a recent convert family and then taught one of the ZLs investigators. The kids name is Artili and he is super awesome. In the picture with a couple of kids, he is the small one and I think he has his thumb up . He made us write our names in his Libro de Mormon and that was fun. Then we went to visit a family in my branch and that was fun too. In the group picture HNA Palota is the lady in the back with her grandson.

Jueves.

In the morning, I was with Elder Duvol still and we went looking for people in his area. We found a few really good potencial investigatores, and taught one lesson. The lesson was kinda interesting because when we first started talking to the guys, they were sitting on the ground in front of their house and smoking something that they told us was mariajuana. So that was kinda crazy. They let us talk to them for a little and we taught them the Word of Wisdom. It was super crazy and kinda funny at the same time, but they seemed to love the lesson and what we taught them. We got their names and one of them, Lucas, actually lives in my area. So yeah. We would have had lunch with members, but I wasnt in my area, so I couldn’t eat with the members we had planes with. But that’s okay. In the afternoon, we taught Lucas, a different Lucas than the one the was smoking weed. He was really good and my spanish was good. At the end when we asked him who he would like to say the prayer, he asked me to do it, and in english. He likes when I speak English because he is trying to learn it. So I gave the prayer in English, which felt really weird and was actually hard becasue I couldn’t remember some words and I kept wanting to say words in Spanish. At the very end of the night, we taught a new investigator, Alexander. He is really cool, 14 and has a bunch of potential. When we first met him, we gave him a Libro de Mormon and he told us that that night he opened it up to a random page and just started reading. He read the rest of that night. So that made us really happy when we heard it.

Viernes.

In the morning, we taught Ariel about temples because he had been talking with his girlfriend about them and he was kind of confused. So we did that and it was really good. At the end of it, we asked him if he would work to be worthy to attend the temple in a year and he said he would love to. He also awants to do the work for his family. So that’s really awesome!! For the rest of the day, we were preparing for his baptism at the church and then actually doing the baptism. It was really funny because he is a really, really big guy. So it took Elder Mamani a little longer to pull him back up out of the water. And Ariel later said that he was confused when he came back out of the water because his girlfriend, her dad, and Alma, her daughter, were all crying. SO that was funny and we could explain about that they were happy for him. The Holy Ghost can testify to anyone of the truthfulness of the gospel. I also gave Ariel one of my ties. It looks good on him!

Sabato

In the morning, we taught Pamela and that was good. She really wants to be baptized, but we just can’t get her to go to church. We then had lunch that a member bought for us. I had Empanadas and they were pretty good. In the afternoon, we taught Alexander again and taught him the Word of Wisdom because he has some problems with smoking. He told us that he started smoking when he was 6!! Crazy. But now he says he doesn’t want to do that at all. So that’s good. The rest of the night, we looked for people but didn’t have much luck. Oh yeah, I also write in my journal every night and when I do, I start it with the date and what day it is in my mission. So the first night of my mission I wrote 29/11/17--Day 1. So on Saturday, it was day 100 of the mission. SO, that is crazy weird and also kind of fantastically surprising. It doesn’t seem like it has been that long.

Domingo

Yesterday morning was full of good meetings and lessons at church. Ariel´s confirmation was really awesome and spiritual. He is a really huge Argenine right, and never would think that he would cry. But when we ended the blessing, he had to wait a few seconds to compose himself and that was really awesome. I feel so happy for him. Then in the afternoon after studies, I was on entercambios with Elder Rivera and we just stayed in my pench because he has to rest for a few days because of some nasty blisters on his feet that got infected. So yeah. At first I was greatful for the time to just chill out and read some Liahona or scriputers, but it quickly became really boring and he kept wanting to talk about life after the mission because he only has 25 days left or something like that. So that wasn’t my favorite. But we also talked about patriarchal blessings which was cool.

So yeah. Pretty good week. But we can always get better. Thank you to everyone and thier prayers. This week my Spanish has improved soooooo much. And I can really only attribute it to the prayers and faith of everyone back home. So thank you so much.

Con Amor,

Elder Haley