Mission Conference and Saying goodbyes

Well, this week was a little down in terms of lessons and new investigators, but it was a good one none the less. But, anyways, about this week and what we did. 

Tuesday. So Monday night we traveled to Santa Fe for the huge mission conference on Tuesday. We stayed the night in the pench of Elder Mamani, my last companion and Trainer. It was pretty good to see him again after a bit of time. Santa Fe is a lot louder than Rafaela so I didn’t sleep too well, but the next morning we got up and going and made it to the huge Chapel that the Conference was held in. It was super awesome to see a bunch of the guys I haven’t seen since the MTC and also to finally meet some of the people I’ve heard a lot about. Also, the talks that Presidente and Hermana Perez gave were really amazing and super powerful. It is sad to see them go, but also really exciting to send them back to their families in Chile and to receive a new Mission Presidente and Wife. The Assistants made a few goodbye videos for President and Hermana Perez that were really fun and in one of them they had pictures from close to all the baptisms that the mission has had while President Perez has been here. He is an amazing man and I’m grateful for the time I had to know him and learn so much from him. Hermana Perez is also a truly wonderful woman and I will always look at her as an example of Charity and Love. So we learned a lot at the Conference, especially about how to stay focused on the mission and not being Trunky. Talking to everyone from the mission and getting to know a few more people was awesome too. When we got back to Rafaela that night, we went to see Gabi (USA exchange student), who wasn’t home, but we talked to him Mom who is really starting to warm up to us and even has been asking us to pray for her daughter and other members of her family. It’s amazing to see how hearts can be softened and how when people just talk to us, they realize that Mormon missionaries are just normal people. Weird how that works.

Wednesday. 

In the morning, we went to 2 de abril and finally found Gabriel again after a few weeks, but we still couldn’t teach him. He is a really great guy and has a lot of potential, the only thing is that it’s hard to find him at his house. Actually, tha’ts a problem that we are having with just about all of our investigators. During the siesta, we had our weekly district meeting and it was a kind of sad one because Elder Duval and Hermana Ceron gave their "Farewell Testimonies" in their last district meeting of their missions. They were good testimonies. I love hearing testimonies from the older missionaries because they usually have much more power and spirituality to them. That night, we went by to see Adrian again and he gave us some good ideas for places to visit on Pdays. Most of them we won’t be able to do, such as pain tballing and flying in a plane, but others will be fun to visit, like a local taxidermy museum and art galleries. We also shared a short scripture with him to thank him for his help with my teeth problems and his friendship in general. We shared Matt 25: 35-40 and related it to them and how by helping us, they were really helping the Lord. Adrian and Liza really seemed to appreciate that. They keep on telling us that they can feel a different "energy" when we come over and how they forget all the bad things that are happening in their lives, and we are trying our hardest to help them recognize that they are actually feeling the Holy Ghost. Here is the scripture:

35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Thursday.

For the morning, we visited a few people that weren’t home, but talked to one lady that we have visited before. She has been really nice and pretty interested in what we have to share, but sadly she told us that she can’t let us into her home because her husband is basically forbidding us from going inside their house. So, even though she wants to hear us, we still aren’t able to talk to her right now because her husband doesn’t want to listen to us for anything. But, we have planted the seed so to speak and hope that in the future, she will have the opportunity to hear someone else. That night, we had a noche de hogar in the church and we invited Adrian who was able to make it. It was great for him to be there too because for the activity, we watched the Joseph Smith biography movie and it really helped him understand more of his role in the Restoration and really just who the heck this Joseph Smith guy really is. He really seemed to appreciate the spirit that we all felt.

Friday.

In the morning, we did our big Limpieza (cleaning) of the pench to end the Transfer and get ready for the new transfer. I am staying in Rafaela again for this transfer! There is work to be done! We got down and dirty and cleaned really well so that the spirit will be able to reside in our pench. But other than that, nothing really happened the entire day because for the afternoon, I was with Elder Duval in the hospital because he had some really bad stomach pains. So we were on divisions and I was stuck in the hospital with Elder Duval, waiting for our turn to see the one doctor that was on duty that night. Honestly, I really hope that I never get sick enough to have to go to the hospital here. A root canal was good enough for me and I don’t think I want anything more serious than that to happen. 

Saturday

In the morning, we had a lesson with a kid named Mauricio who once upon a time was really close to being baptized but ended up backing out of some reason, but now has a desire to be baptized and we are more than willing to help him with that. He is a good kid and we are going to have a lot of fun teaching him and helping him prepare for his baptism. That night we went to an area we hadn't been to before.  We found two people that are really amazing and we are planning to meet with more this week. One is named Neli and is a really sweet grandma who was really happy to learn about the Plan of Salvation. She had lots of questions and we can’t wait to meet with her again this coming week. I can’t wait to see where things go with her. The other person we met is a guy named Lucas who we actually barely talked to, but seems to have a lot of potential. We taught him about the Restorationa and gave him a Book of Mormon and he seemed excited to read it and Pray to know if it is true. I love it when we actually have lessons! The gospel is so much fun to share!

Sunday.

Yesterday, we didn’t have any investigators in church with us, but it was still a good Sunday nonetheless. We taught Tommy, Hermana Palota’s grandson about the priesthood and learned more about ministering in Elders Quorum. The only part that wasn’t really my favorite part was having to say goodbye to Elder Duval and Hermana Ceron. Elder Duval has been a great Zone Leader for me and an even better example of a true missionary. I wish to have his dedication and love for the people as he does. He really did serve his mission to its fullest. If you’re reading this Elder Duval, thank you and good luck with life, we will meet again. We ate some ice cream in the terminal to send them off and even though it was sad, I’m happy to see them off and to have been part of their missions. Lifelong friends are being made on my mission.

So yeah that was the week, not too much, but it was still good. Oh ya-my tooth. I have an appointment this week just to check up on it, but it should be fine. I haven’t had any problems since the root canal and they don’t think anything should be wrong, but we will find out more this week.

Gabe so far is progressing well and has been praying, but was in Cordoba this weekend so we couldn’t bring him to church. The same with Gonzalo, who has been reading and praying every day this week. We hope to really see some progress with them and get close to the baptismal font with both of them. 

The World Cup has been quite the focus of talk here. Argentina isn’t doing too hot, but that doesn’t keep people from pointing out that the USA didn’t even make it….. But we are still cheering on Argentina from the streets. 

Thanks for everything and can’t wait to hear from you and share even more experiences next week. 

Love ya all

 Elder Haley

Ciao

Entire Santa Fe mission missionaries and Mission Presidency

 Elder Robinson...

Some of my fellow missionaries who were at the MTC with me

Fun at the park...

Official Santa Fe Mission sign at the mission home

Group picture at the terminal saying goodbye

Last ice cream (for now) with Elder Duval.  Kilo of ice cream in 5 minutes...

Not the most conventional week...

Yeah. This week was a little out of whack, but we still got work done and looked for people to teach. Nevertheless, we didn’t have too many lessons this week. We have a lot of people to visit, but literally no one was home. So that was pretty lame, but after fasting yesterday, we have hope for this coming week. 

Monday

After pday last week, at the very end of the day, we stopped by our good friends Adrian and Liza. They noticed that my tooth was bothering me, so, being the absolutely amazing people that they are, they looked up two or three dentist offices and Adrian told us that the following day, he would go in, personally, and set an appointment for me. They were absolute blessings for us, especially me, this week. 

Tuesday

In the morning, I was eating breakfast, still not having showered yet, when we got a phone call from Adrian. He told us that a dentist office had time to see me, but that we had to be in the office immediately. So we hurried and got dressed and raced with Adrian to the dentist office. On the way, he told us that he had told the office that he was my Uncle and that i am his "sobrinito" and that he really needed me to get looked at because I was in a lot of pain. So I got in, they looked at me, took an x-ray to look at my molars, and said that they couldn’t really find anything wrong. They did detect from a few tests that it was probably my far back molar on my upper right side. But, they didn’t want to do anything without knowing exactly what the problem was, so they set up another appointment with a different office to get a full, 360 x-ray of my face. So that was the morning. For the afternoon, we didn’t have much happen for us. We stopped by one of our investigators, Patricia, but she wasn’t home, but her granddaughter gave us some hugs and a painting for each of us. Luz is the sweetest little girl I have ever met. But at the very end of the day, we talked to Gabe, the kid who was the exchange student in the USA. We bought some burgers with him from a place called the Pájaro and then taught him a lesson in the Church. It was really good and he absolutely felt the Spirit. He ended up committing to Read the Book of Mormon and also pray to know if our message is true. He is a reallly awesome guy and we have a lot of hopes for him. 

Wednesday. 

First thing in the morning, we got my full, 360, panarama x-ray that was pretty fun. It took less than 10 minutes to go in, do the picture, and leave. So it was pretty good. For the morning, we went to 2 de Abril, but didn’t have too much success. For lunch, we had ravioles with HNA Palota and also had a kind of Liver stew. It wasn’t too bad actually. Elder Robinson could barely eat it though. For the rest of the day, we didnt have too much happen for us. But, we did receive a text from Adrian that had some pretty big news. He told us that the doctor looked at my pictures and decided that I needed to get a root canal! So that was pretty crazy. The appointment was set for the following day because our “Uncle” Adrian was really good with the secratary.

Thursday

We had my Root Canal Thursday morning. Right before, we said a prayer with Adrian and, even though he still says that he doesn’t believe in God, we KNOW he feels the Spirit. The operation went just fine and with out any problems. It wasn’t as bad as people make root canals out to be. Elder Robinson and Adrian had fun watching me as I got my face drilled into, but I honestly don’t have anything bad to say about my first, and hopefully last, root canal in Argentina. Also, that morning, we woke up and we didn’t have any hot water. So that we fun too. That night, we had dinner with HNA Soledad and her family for her birthday. She is now 71 years old and still has time to go. We had some really good tuna salad, chicken with noodles, and for dessert, flan. 

Friday. 

For the morning, we had to get haircuts and that ended up taking all morning. We had a little time to talk to people, but nothing really came out of it. For lunch, Elder Robinson and I made some really good mac and cheese. In the afternoon, we didn’t have much happen. We have a lot of referrals from the other missionaries that we are trying to visit, but it seems that no one is home when we pass by. That night, we had a noche de hogar that went really good. Gabe was able to come and had a good experience. Afterwards, in the plaza, he did some parkour for us. Sadly, I forgot my camera. 

Saturday. 

In the morning, we went to 2 de Abril, but no one would answer us because the Argentina World Cup game was on for the Mundial. The only people we talked to were old people that didn’t have TV’s, but it was still really funny and cool to see how everyone watches the games. We knew that Argentina scored a goal because we heard what sounded like canons and a lot of car horns go off. We are not allowed to watch the games but it is fun to see that literally EVERYONE tries to watch it. GO ARGENTINA!

For the afternoon, we visited a few members and recent converts. Emiliano is still doing really good and we hope that he can start school soon. And to end the night, because I guess that hadn’t done enough for us already, Adrian and Liza made dinner for us. It was awesome to spend sometime with them and pray and share fun stories and experiences. They are really great people. 

Sunday.

We gave talks in church yesterday and it went really well. I spoke on Love and Charity and Elder Robinson spoke on Service: they worked pretty well together and it was a good meeting overall. We visited HNA Soledad again and taught her about the Sabbath Day because she hasn’t been to church in a while. She usually blames it on the cold, but we are trying to help her understand that we should do everything in our power to get to the church on Sundays. And, during the entire day, we were fasting. We fasted to have more success in general and that we can have the courage to talk to people and share the gospel with them. 

I can’t wait to share all the great things that happen this week with you all next week. We are trying our hardest to find the Lord´s elect and help them receive more blessings.

Tonight we head to Santa Fe for a huge missionary party to send off President and Hermana Perez. It’s going to be awesome to have all the missionaries in one place and see the guys from the MTC.

Pictures: I like food. 

Love you all

Ciao

Elder Haley

Cheesecake with Adrian and Liza

Homemade Mac & Cheese with Bacon

Noquis

Sweet treats

Argentina Root Canal...

MOM POST::

Last Monday on Elder Haley's Pday he said his tooth had been hurting him and ibuprofen wasn't helping, or gargling salt water or essential oils.  He was worried about seeing a foreign dentist but we encouraged him to not waste any time getting it looked at. He called the Mission Office and they told him to call a dentist. So...the journey began last week.  Crazy thing is he had a 100% clean dental exam a month before he left. The root canal in the x-ray of his front tooth is from his basketball injury.

Adrian was such blessing to him. Adrian also kept Matt and I up to date on how the appointments were going and sent some videos and pictures through text message. He was taken care of by Heavenly Father by sending Adrian to them.  Adrian sent some beautiful texts, in his best English to ease our worry before, during and after the procedure. One of the texts before the procedure:

"He is a great guy, has been enduring the pain and continue working and walking, he is very strong." 

This is the text we received Sunday morning:

“Hi Alison and Matt. how are you?

Last night Elders Morley and Dylan came to our home to take a dinner. Morley feels great, without tooth pain. We were happy to have them here, healthy and smiling. (Tooth Mission accomplished! at moment at  least).

I really enjoy the energy they spread, hard to explain, a mix of innocence, purity and happiness, something I call energy came from the Elders. They lightning our home, we are lucky to have the chance to spend time with them. Sometimes things are very tough here, but the act of been here lightning our life, and at least for that moment I forget all the bad things that are happening in our life. They are enjoying its mission and work do hard for it, and We... We are proud of being a little little little part of its mission.

Have a nice day guys, and Happy Fathers Day!!!”

We KNOW that Elder Haley stayed in Rafaela this transfer and that they made contact with Adrian again just a week before his pain started for a reason.  Heavenly Father knew the events that would transpire and placed people/doctors/a companion in the right place to help Morley through this.  How blessed he/we are!

Enjoy the pictures and vidoes sent by Elder Haley and Adrian!

So far, we understand all of it is covered by the Mission Medical.  We have yet to hear any different.  

Night before the procedure are Adrian y Liza's and his pain medication

*love*

Waiting to get started

Adrian y Elder Robinson

We are witnessing blessings!

So it turns out, that if you work hard and try to have success, you do! How 'bout that! It’s crazy! But I am very happy to say that we are starting to see the fruits of our labors here in Rafaela! Yay!!

This week was a little crazy and out of the usual system that we have, but it was still really good and I’ve learned quite a bit.

Back on Tuesday, the morning was almost completely taken up by a visit we made to a member lady of the Branch. Her name is Anita Gaudiño y she is one of the sweetest ladies I’ve ever met. We were just going to drop off her Tupperware from when she gave us lunch, but when we got there, her grand-daughter was sick so we gave her a blessing. Then afterwards, she basically recounted her entire life to us and all the hard things she has gone through with her husband’s death 6 years ago and different illnesses that she has suffered. It was kind of sad to hear, but then to see how well she has dealt with these things is a real eye opener, especially when I think that my trials are hard. But with all of her stories and experiences, we ended up spending nearly the whole morning at her home. For the afternoon, we just went out to visit people and had a lot of good experiences. I was on divisions with Elder Duval because Elder Robinson had to do a baptismal interview. But we meet a lot of really nice people who we might end up teaching. Two people that we talked to were the parents of a kid we are trying to teach. The kids name is Juan and he is really cool, but the problem is that he is in a school that takes him out of town all week so we are only able to talk to him on the weekend. We talked with his parents for a while and they are really awesome! They told us that Juan has been studying the Book of Mormon in the very little free time that he has and that they would be very open and willing for him to take the lessons from us. They are actually antiguos investigadores themselves, so that was really nice to hear. And at the end of the night, we had a really weird and also amazing and cool experience. We had an appointment with our investigator named Gabe. He is the one that was a foreign exchange student in Pennsylvania. But we taught the lessons with the Assistants too! They were in town because they did divisions with the Zone Leaders on Wednesday and didn’t have anything to do on Tuesday night. So we picked them up and taught Gabe half of the Plan of Salvation. He was really interested and had lots of good questions. 

Wednesday in the morning we spent a lot of time running around trying to get some rent problems figured out because we are kind of in the process of changing apartments and the money situation is a little mixed up. But we spent a little of time in the 2 de Abril neighborhood before having lunch with HNA Palota. We talked to two kids that were really cool, but other than that, we didn’t have much success. Then in the afternoon, we walked just about all over our area looking for people and trying to make appointments, but for the most part, we didn’t have anything happen for us. Then we ended the night on the bus ride to Santa Fe to do divisions with the Assistants in their area. 

Thursday was spent entirely in Santa Fe which I actually loved. I love the city of Santa Fe and all the people and huge buildings. It’s not much different than Rafaela, but it always makes me really feel and realize that I’m ACTUALLY living in Argentina. Crazy. But I was on divisions with Elder Oldham who is a really awesome guy and an amazing missionary. He has been an Assistant to the Mission President for the last year or so, so he has a lot of advice to give and knows how to get work done. We visited a lot of people and had one lesson with a lady named Luna and another with a guy named Jonas. They are both really great people and love the gospel, so it was cool to teach them. Then, in the night, because Elder Robinson and the other assistant, Elder Christiansen, accidentally went over on time in a lesson, we missed our bus back to Rafaela. So I went on another division with an Elder named Elder Moreada. He is a really great guy and super funny. He is from Brazil but was born in Israel so he knows Portuguese, Israeli, and Spanish and can also understand just about all of English. We were in his area and his area is the Villa of Santa Fe, so pretty sketchy, but still really cool. 

Friday morning, we took the earliest bus from Santa Fe to Rafaela at 7 in the morning. For work in the morning, we went to 2 de Abril again and talked to one guy. But then we were invited to the wedding of the investigatores of the Zone Leaders. It was a cool experience to be at an Argentine Wedding and to throw some rice at the Bride and Groom. Afterwards, we had big lunch for them and ate cake, pizza, hamburgers, churipan, and a lot of soda. I left feeling very stuffed. For the night, we went around looking for people again, but ended up having one lesson with Gabe and taught him the second half of the Plan of Salvation. It went really well! He always has great questions and is actually interested. 

In the morning on Saturday, basically all we did was play basketball with the Zone Leaders and Gabe. The Zone Leaders meant to have a bunch of investigatores there and we were going to play basketball and afterwards have a kind of lesson/discussion thing, but only Gabe, our investigator ended up coming. But it was really fun! In the afternoon, we went to the Baptism of the Zone Leaders, the same people that were married the night before. It was really good and really fast, but they had a good experience and it was great to share the day with them. Afterwards, we made the trek out to Gonzalo's house. He is the nephew of our District President and we are trying to get him baptized. He is a really good guy and only wants to feel completely sure about his decision to be baptized. We talked about repentance, the atonement, the Holy Ghost, and persevering to the end. We had a really good experience and answered a lot of his questions. He promised to come to church the following day and is really making progress!

Sunday morning we had Gabe and Gonzalo at church, and they both had great experiences! We had really good talks by the two young women in our branch and both Gabe and Gonzalo appreciated the spirit that was present. We were really happy to see how much they learned in sacrament meeting and in our classes together. The only thing that would have made it better is if President Nelson was there himself. ha But it was a good time at church. Then, during the afternoon, we visited a bunch of members that weren’t at church including Soledad, Ariel, and Alma. Soledad wasn’t there because of the weather and because she is just old. Ariel and Alma couldn’t make it because they were sick. So we gave Soledad the sacrament and then did blessings for Ariel and Alma to help them feel better. Other than that, we didn’t really have any lessons.

Adrian has been really sick and still doesn’t have a job, but we finally made contact with him! Yay!

We have really seen some blessings this week in terms of lessons and progression of investigatores. We are trying to work better with members and get some more references from them. 

My English fast has been going pretty bad actually. Being around Gabe so much has been really hard because he loves English. But I will be better this week. 

Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts. Like always, I love hearing from you guys and can’t wait for what this week brings. Love you all!

Ciao.

Elder Haley

Gabe is crazy and awesome!

Making tacos with Gabe at his place today

Baptism and wedding of this awesome couple

Basketball with Gabe

Rooftop of the Pench in Santa Fe 

Sunset in Rafaela

El ayuno es real!!

Bueno, primero cosa que quiero decir es que esta semana pasada, yo comencé un ayuno. Pero, no un ayuno normal, un ayuno de Inglés. Entonces, por esta carta, todo va a ser en Español. Capas que no, pero vamos a haber. 

Entonces, este martes pasado fue mi seis meses! WooHoo!! Vamos la misión! Pero si, porque fue mi seis meses, quería hacer algo bien para ayudarme y especialmente, mi Español. Entonces, yo tenia que pensar en que quería hacer. Yo pensé en el CCM (MTC en Inglés) y que allá, hariamos ayunos de Inglés. Y tambien, mi presidente de rama nos dijo que durante su mision, el hizo un ayuno de Ingles con su compañero y ellos pudian ver todos de los bendiciones. Entonces, ahora, estoy haciendo un ayuno de Igles por 40 dias y espero que este va a ayudarme mucho. 

Actually, I’m wrong, I’m not going to do that for email. Technically, I’m not speaking English, so this is fine. But I just don’t really have the time to write it all in Spanish. 

For Tuesday, we went out in the morning and had a really good lesson with a guy named Gabriel. He is the dad of the kid we were actually looking for, but his son wasn’t home, so we taught him instead. He is a really quiet guy, but asked some good questions and understood a lot. We ended up committing him, so he has a baptismal date for the 23 of June. Then for the afternoon, we had a bunch of plans that kind of fell through, but we ended up finding a few people to teach and it was all really good in the end. 

Wednesday for the morning we taught HNO Mario again. What a stud. Love the guy. Then we talked and got to know one of the granddaughters of HNA Palota. Her name is Jessica and we are trying to help her get reactivated, especially because she just had a baby girl and is really wanting a blessing for the baby during church as soon as possible. So we are talking to her because since HNA Palota loves the missionaries, she wants one of us to do the blessing. We don’t know who she wants to do it yet, but it will all end up working out. For the afternoon, we just went out and tried to talk to a few antiguos, but for the most part, no one was home. So we ended up visiting a few members and had some good experiences. All the members here are super cool people and they are all funny. So it is fun to go and share some stories or talk and then end with a scripture and spiritual note. We are also trying to work with the members to help them, help us. We have been learning a lot about Alma and Amulek in the Book of Mormon and how as missionaries, we are Alma and the members are Amulek. So, when we don’t have success, we need to "enter the town by a different way" and work with the members to find new people to teach. 

In the morning on Thursday, we contacted a bunch of people and meet a lot of super nice people. Most of them are all super catholic and don’t want anything to do with us, but it is always fun to share a little message with them and bare our testimonies. And for some reason, when ever we contact a house, they almost always answer the door in English. So it kind of throws us off. They usually just say something small like "Hello! How are you!" But still, I guess its still super obvious that we are white Yankees from the USA. In the afternoon, we actually had a LOT of citas to go to and had to speed walk everywhere. So we were pretty well tired by the end of the day. We talked to one guy named Gonzalo who is the nephew of the distict president here. He is a super awesome guy and crazy funny. He is just about the only nonmember in his family so we are trying really hard to get him to really feel the desire to be baptized. He tells us that he knows the church is real and everything, but he doesn’t want to be baptized yet because he feels a little scared that he is going to end up messing up really bad and do all the wrong things and sin a lot. We are trying to help him understand that if he does the right things now, it will be easier for him to do them after and he will even have a companion to help him a long the way, The Holy Ghost. At the end of the day, we talked to and taught a guy named Gabriel. He is super awesome and even knows English (Like I said, we only find people who speak English, and with my new ayuno, it’s hard). He is 18 but looks like 25 because hes been able to grow a beard since he was 15. He was a foreign exchange student in Pennsylvenia last year. It’s funny because he looks almost American and everyone thinks he is from the USA. We taught him the resteration and he is super interested!

Friday in the morning, we looked for a few people to teach and vistied some members. They were all good and nice, but the best part was one lady named Olga. She is super nice and we couldn’t talk for too long, but we basiclly taugt the first lesson about the restoration right outside her home. She committed to read and pray and we think she has a lot of potential. Then in the afternoon, we had a lesson with Patricia. She is super awesome and I can’t remember if I told you guys last week, but she told us that she has actually been looking for us for a long time. And she was super excited to see us on the street one night and that we talked to her. Talk about prepared!! We taught the Plan of Salvation with HNA Palota there too and it was all really good. We used a lot of the Book of Mormon and she loved it all. Later that night, we had an activity for the church and Gabriel the 18 year old was able to go. He is so awesome and literally everyone loves him. Then afterwards, we could teach him a little bit and answer a few of his questions. 

In the morning on Saturday, we went to 2 de Abril, the toughest and roughest and most dangerous neighborhood in our area. Its not too dangerous in the mornings, so we only go then. We taught one lady named Laura. She is a really nice lady and was very gracious to let us in. We had met with her one time before, and had given her a pamphlet of the Plan of Salvation so this time, we taught lesson 2. It was a little crazy and all over the place, but we know she felt the spirit and learned a lot, especially about the Atonement, because she has had a lot of super crazy and super hard things happen in her life. It was good. Then in the afternoon, we were basically all over the place looking for old investigadores and contacts, but ended up not having a lesson. We did go by Gabi again at the end of the night and invited him to church and told him that we were going to come by and walk with him to church. 

Sunday was all good too. When we got to Gabi´s house, there was a note on the door that said: “hey guys, sorry but I didn’t get to bed in time last night so it’s going to be hard for me to wake up. But I’ll be there later. Sorry if you guys had to walk here. Cya.’ Oh, and it was all in english too because he is a boss. So we went to church and it was all good except none of our investigadores showed up, until Gabi did half way through our second hour class. But he ended up loving it a lot and learned more about the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Priesthood. The members loved him and were really good helpers too. Later that night, we had a lesson/blessing for a mom of a member. She is pretty old and just lost her son(not the member) so she is feeling really sad and lonely. So we gave her a blessing of comfort and counsel and then taught her and her friend the Plan of Salvation. They both loved it a lot and were very interested, especially in what will happen to us after this life. 

We haven’t heard much from Lucas in a while, but we are going to try going by his house this week. Adrian kind of dropped off the face of the earth. The last time we heard from him, he sent us a text that said "even though we aren’t believers, we would love it if you guys would pray for us. Tough times here for us". We have tried going by several times, but he hasn’t been home. We will keep trying.

So yeah. We witnessed many blessings. Especially since, if you didn’t remember or notice, we hadn’t had investigators or lessons for a few weeks. But now, after our fast and many prayers, we have found a lot of really good people and have lessons everyday. 

Also, it I is really freaking cold here! I never thought that it would be cold here in Argentina, but it’s bad. Especially since the cold here is humid. So we actually have to leave with sweaters, coats, and sometimes scarfs and gloves. Super bad.

My birthday package arrived this week.  It is SO awesome!  Thank you for everything!  I can’t wait to wear my patriotic ties.  The spices are awesome and I LOVE all of the pictures.  Everyone we teach asks us about our families back home now I can show them pictures of my family and America.

But we are doing good now and happy with all of our experiences, good and bad. We are learning a lot and witnessing miracles everyday. 

Love you all!

Ciao

Elder Haley

Singing my happy birthday on at the party for 25 de Mayo

                                       

Stick pull game at the party!

6 months on the mission meal!

How about that tan line!?

Sweet jerseys!

My birthday package from home!

Some of my gifts. Thank you!