We drink mate and have random, dead fish in our freezer...

 Yooooo whats up family and friends!! It’s me, your favorite missionary, Elder Haley here with what happened this last week of my life in Argentina. It’s been a pretty good one and I hope that I can fit everything into this email. Actually, like I said last week, we found out that Duval’s old word processor isn’t broken, so emails are going to be a lot easier to send now.

Alright, last Monday, after P-Day ended, we had a really fun and awesome Noche de Hogar with the Familia Quiroga. They are a member family with the mom and dad and 4 daughters. So it was pretty crazy. We had a good Spiritual time when we talked about just how important the family is and how we can help one another in our homes through prayer and scripture study. Then we had the games part and one of the girls, named Alma, shared one of her matching card games and we taught them how to play Don’t Eat Pete. They really liked the game because they could all yell really loud. And then they taught us Tuti Fruti, which is a really fun and intense kind of category game. I had a lot of fun with them. And of course, they had 4 pizzas for us to eat together, so we left full and happy. 

Tuesday. We taught a few people and had a pretty productive day. We taught Andrea and Belen in the morning, the mom and sister of Rodrigo. Sadly, Rodrigo wasn’t home, but it was still a good lesson. We taught them about the Restoration and they had a lot of really good questions and comments. They understood all about prophets and priesthood and how Jesus restored his church on the earth through Joseph Smith. And then we invited them to read the Book of Mormon and afterwards pray to know if it is true and they both said they would. We also asked them that when they found an answer, if they would be baptized, and they said yes! So now, we have all of the Familia Suarez preparing to be baptized! Before District Meeting, we made some homemade peanut butter with the help of Elder Sandler and then used that to make some No-Bake Cookies from one of Elder Robinson’s recipes from home. It was super good and now I know how to make peanut butter from scratch. Afterwards, we visited Hermana Soledad and she was happy to see us, and us to see her. She made us some Mate Cocido and added some dehydrated milk powder, so it was a terrible milk gray color. But now, I can testify that the gift of tounges is real because it honestly didn’t taste too bad. Ha. We also visited Gabe on Tuesday night and he is doing alright. He still isn’t convinced that God is real, so we taught him about King Lamoni and Ammon and also told him that if he is reading, praying, and keeping the commandments, to the best of his ability, he will find his answer. He is a really good kid.

Wednesday we went to Santa Fe in the morning for some tramites for Elder Robinson. Remember, it takes about 2 hours, sometimes a little longer, to get to Santa Fe by colectivo (train). So we left first thing in the morning. We got there, he signed two papers, they took his fingerprints, and we left after about 5 minutes. So a 2 hour long trip to do 5 minutes of work. Kinda ridiculous. But, we got to see a few other friends who were doing tramites too and it was a good time. By the time we got back to Rafaela, we were able to visit Emiliano. He is such a good kid. I love him a lot. I decided to give him one of my BYU-I shirts in exchange for one of his shirts that I like a lot. It will be a cool recuerdo. Then, we were invited to eat with Gabe and his mom and it was super good. We had Milanesas de Pizza y Pure de Papas. Muy rica!

In the morning on Thursday, we went out to find a few contacts and references, but didn’t have too much success. We also stopped by the Familia Suarez, Andrea, Rodrigo, and Belen to see how they were doing. They are all good and happy. We invited Rodrigo to the English Class that we teach, and he said he would go. So after lunch with the Familia Palota and studies in the pench, we had plans to visit a lot of Contacts and other Futuros Investigadores, but sadly, almost all of them either weren’t home or weren’t able to talk to us at the time. But, it was okay anyways. We brought Tommy Palota )HNA Palota{s grandson= and Rodgrigo to english class and they had a good time. Afterwards, we asked Rodrigo if he had been reading and praying and he said he read a little bit of Nephi 1. Yay! He also accepted our Baptismal invitation and is excited for that day to come. After all of that, we went by to see Adrian and Liza really quickly because it was Adrian’s birthday on Thursday. We didn’t have much time to talk, but made plans to cook and eat hamburgers on Saturday. 

On Friday, really the only thing that happened was a noche de hogar activity in the church of Juan de Garay, one of the Ramas (branches) here in Rafaela. We have three Ramas, but one two chapels. So our branch, Rafaela, and the branch of the ZLs (Lehmann) share one building while the other (Juan de Garay) has a different one really far away from ours. We had invited a few people to the activity, one of which was Rodrigo, our super awesome investigator. At about mid-day we got a phone call and it was him asking us at what time the activity was and where. So we told him and made plans to have him catch a colectivo that we were going to riding on and that we would go to the activity together. So, the time came for the colectivo to pass where he was meant to be waiting, and he wasn’t there. But then, when we got to the church building, he ended showing up! He wasn’t able to catch the colectivo because he was taking care of his little niece. But his sister gave him a ride on her moto. So he came and had a really great time! The Hermana Missionaries did a really good job with the activity and everyone had a good experience. Afterwards, we were talking to Rodrigo and following up on him to see if he’s been reading and praying and he said he’s been doing both! But when we asked if he has been able to ask God to know if its true, he said no, and that he doesn’t have to... So I asked him what he meant, and he said that he doesn’t have to because he already knows. He can tell by the way we talk about the Book of Mormon that we know that it is true. He figures that we wouldn’t come all the way from our homes to Argentina just to lie to people about some dumb book. So obviously, it’s true. He also said that we could have knocked on anyone else’s door and talked to them, but we knocked on HIS door and talked to HIM and HIS family. He knows that we are sent from God and are messangers of the truth! How awesome is that! Such a huge blessing in my eyes.

Saturday was a pretty unorthodox day. We had an English Class in the morning that no one showed up to. We usually try to invite anyone and everyone to the classes because close to all of the kids here are learning English in High School so they need some help and It’s a good way to meet other people. But usually, no one shows up for them unless we are the ones that bring them to the classes. So we are probably going to stop doing the classes twice a week. After waiting for a little bit at the church for the class, we went looking for a few contacts and futuros investigadores who weren’t home either. Then we went over to the house of Adrian and Liza and made some Cheeseburgers. We were finally able to do the cheeseburgers after having talked about doing them for the last few months. So we had lunch with them to celebrate Adrian’s birthday and also Friends Day, which was Friday. We had a good time, like it always is when we get to talk with them. In the afternoon, we had a meeting with all of the missionaries in Rafaela to plan a big activity in a few weeks. We are planning to do a Talent Show with all three of the Ramas, which is going to be a good way to invite menos activo members and other investigadores to the church. After that, we didn’t really have any appointments planned, but we were able to visit a few people and teach a few mini lessons. One of which, was with a really cool lady named Maria and her younger brother and two sons. The kids have about 12-14 years each and they are super funny. Maria is really interested in what we have to say, but is always really busy so it’s hard for us to meet with her. But, we hope to be able to meet with them more in the future. 

Sunday morning, we went looking for Rodrigo and his mom and sister at their house, but they didn’t answer the door. So we went to church without any investigadores, but that’s okay. It was still a pretty good set of meetings and classes. We listened to a talk from a young woman about the Sabbath Day and another sister spoke about the talk that Presidente Uchtdorf gave about the Wonder Dog and his crazy journey back home. In our classes, we learned about the Doctrine of Christ, and in Priesthood, we learned about why bad things happen in the world and if it really is the will of God. So yeah, a pretty good time in the church. In the afternoon, we didn’t really do anything too big and special. We just visited a bunch of people. We talked to Soledad for a little and shared something about Temples with her. We stopped by to see the Familia Quiroga and we read all of 2 Nephi 2 with them. It was really good and afterwards we played a few rounds of Tuti Fruti. Afterwards, we stopped by Familia Fernandez and Ariel and HNA Estela weren’t home, so we talked to Alma for a bit outside. She just got home from being in Santa Fe after 2 weeks for vacations. So we had some time to visit a few other Antiguos Investigadores and some futuros. We were able to contact a few houses and talked to a few people, but not much to recount from that. Just doing what missionaries do, talking to lots of people and trying to help them. We were never able to find Rodrigo at his home or contact him through phone calls, so we don’t really know what happened this morning, but we are sure everything is fine and he just slept in was all. 

Some other notes from this week. We just found out today that Presidente Westover has changed the rule for drinking Mate. We are now able to drink mate in our penches. So that’s pretty nuts!! So tonight we are going to end the night with some mate and it’s going to be a good time. But don’t worry. The email was sure to emphasize that it should not be the focus of our work nor should it be a waste of money or time. But it is going to be cool to finally be able to do that!

Also, this week, we opened our freezer to find a dead fish lying in it. At first we were confused as to if we were in the right pench or if we were accidentally opening some random persons freezer, but it ended up being that the ZLs had found a dead fish lying in the middle of the road one morning and decided to take it to their lunch appointment and later put it into our freezer. Quite the surprise for us. 

So yeah, that was the week. I’d just like to end with a little kind of Spiritual note. One of the things that I studied was the talk by President Eyring this past General Conference titled “His Spirit to be with You.” The talk was a lot more powerful than I remember it being, I really enjoyed the Spirit I could feel while I read and studied his words. It helped me realize that at times, I’m not exactly focusing on the Spirit or trying to listen to the promptings that I could be receiving. So, from this talk, I learned that I should really be trying harder to seek out those Spiritual guides, and not doing my own thing. I’d also like to invite all of you to do the same, to really look for the ways that the Spirit might be affecting your life and then make the effort to follow the promptings or enjoy the Spirit when it is present. 

I would like to end with a small note on the reason why I’m here serving a mission in the first place. I would have to say that the real reason is that I know without a doubt that God, my Heavenly Father loves and cares for me. I know that becuase Heavenly Father loves me, and because he loves each and everyone of us, he wants us, his literal children, to be happy and have better lives. So, because I know this, I want to be someone that helps other people have more happiness and more blessings in their life, and what better way to do that than to share the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ with other people. That is why I am here in Argentina, to share the happiness and joy that I know can be found through the Church of Jesus Christ. I know and love God and Jesus Christ and am a representative of them. I am here to share the message of truth with other people so, in the end, they can live in happiness and joy for the rest of eternity while in the Heavens with God. That is why I am here. And I share these things with you in the name of our Savior and Redemer, Jesus Christ. Amen. 

Con Amor,

Elder Haley

Noche de Hogar with the Familia Quiroga

"Don't Eat Pete" game

Cooking in our pench

Members drew pictures of Elder Haley y Elder Robinson

Rodrigo at our activity

Finally cheeseburgers with Adrian y Liza

Holy fantastic week! WooHoo!

Yeah. This week was a good one. It was full of blessings and good experiences. I’ll try to get all the juicy info in this weeks letter. The good news is that we found out that the word processor that Elder Duval left behind actually works, so this next weeks email is going to be a good one too. 

So yeah.

Tuesday.

Sadly, in the morning, we were stuck running around trying to get things figured out for the Old and New Penches. We had to drop the keys of the old pench off, but we still didn’t get energy (power) for our new pench. Luckily, the ZLs have been taking good care of us. Then, in the afternoon, we had a lot of really good plans all set up. We were walking all over the place, but we are pretty well used to that by now. But we shared a little bit of time with a guy named Cristian Santa Cruz, a member who needs some help get back to the church. Other than that, we were just talking to people in the streets and finding new people to teach. We ended up finding quite a few good contacts and hope to meet with them in the future. 

Wednesday. 

In the morning, not too much happened for us, but we were able to find and talk with a family that has been less active for a while now. They are a family of 5, the Mom and Dad, a son who is 13, a daughter who has 7, about to turn 8(!!) and a new baby boy of 4 months. They are really funny and are also trying to reactivate themselves to the church. We had a really fun time sharing stories, I was able to share pictures of my family, and in the end, ended with a scripture and prayer. We hope to stay in contact with them and have more times like that. In the afternoon, we worked in one of the areas that we haven’t worked too much in in the past, but after the choque de fuerza last week, we have a lot of good contacts and other people to visit. We also made contact with a menos activo guy who used to be a really great and active member, but, after moving, went inactive for a few years. But, now, he wants to come back, and we are more than ready to help him do that. His name is Juan Diaz, and even though he hasn’t attended church for a while, he told us that he has read the Book of Mormon 2 times and the book of Principle of the Gospel book 3 times. So really, the only problem that he has is just coming to church. He was also divorced from his wife and is now married to a lady who isn’t a member, but has interest in the church and they want to meet with us to get the things all figured out on Sunday, and maybe baptism for her. 

Thursday.

On Thursday, we were on divisions with the ZLs and I was with Elder Peña in his area. We had a really good day, lots of walking and talking in the streets, but ended up teaching a really good lesson to a kid named Ariel who has a lot of potential. We also found a really cool family that has a lot of interest, or at least they liked talking to a good looking American and an even better looking Mexican for a little bit. But, while with Elder Peña, I was able to learn a lot about how missionary work gets done. A lot of times, we just have to open our mouths. This week, I learned that normally, when poeple don’t want to talk to the wierd Mormon missionaries, it’s just because they haven’t talked to us before, but have heard from a lot of other people about us. But when we talk to them and just have a normal conversation, they really seem to open up when they find out that we are actually not that different from everyone else. So yeah, just opening my mouth and having a normal conversation with people before trying to say anything about God or being Missionaries, because if you open the conversation with that, everyone is going to run away or slam the door shut. We had all sorts of people to talk to. Most of whom were contacts and future investigators. We were able to talk to almost all of them and set up citas for the next two nights. We also taught the first lesson to a guy named Facundo right outside his home and he was really interested. Also, talked to one lady, who at first didn’t want anything to do with us, but when we started talking to her about our message, she was really interested and wanted us to come back later. We will be happy to do so!!

Friday.

Yeah. Friday was a freaking bomb day. We had plans to meet with the Juan Diaz guy, but he had to cancel last minute. So we talked to a lady that Elder Robinson and Elder Sandler had talked to the day before. Her name is Graciela, but she told us that we can call her Natacha, because everyone else does. She is a really sweet old lady who has a lot to say, but was also very interested in listening to us and what we had to say. We taught her the First Lesson and had a really good discussion. She understood a lot about it, especially about the Book of Mormon. Actually, when we offered to give her one and invited her to read it, she told us that her son had one packed away somewhere in her home. But, she took the one we had until she found the other one, and was more than happy to commit to reading it. WooHoo! We also invited her to pray and ask if what we taught was true and asked her that if she received an answer and knew that what we taught was true, if she would be baptized on the 4th of August. She was surprised but said that the 4th is her mothers birthday. She didn’t exactly agree to ba baptized yet, but did say that she would pray. But how cool would that be??  We also found a really good family named the family Suarez. They are a pretty big family, but we were only able to talk to the Mom, Adrea, and two of her sons that are living with her. Rodrigo has 15 years, and Belen has 13 years. They are all really cool and we had a good time talking with them and setting another lesson up with them. Rodrigo also promised to come to church with us, so we made plans to go and look for him before chruch. 

Saturday.

In the morning, we had to run some errands like going to the doctor because Elder Robinson was bit by Facundos dog. It turns out that he was fine, mostly because the dog was the size of his foot, but it is mission rules to get it checked out, just in case. So we were running all over the place trying to take some money out for a few bills that needed to be paid. But, we ended up having a really great lunch with Gabe and had a good time with him. He has been praying to know if God really exists, but was honest when he told us that he hasn’t received an answer yet because he hasn’t been praying enough or with enough effort. It’s a good lesson for me to see that prayer is more than just saying words. It’s meant to be heartfelt and more than just saying things to say them. We had all sorts of plans, but just about all of them fell through, but we still were able to talk to a lot of people and set more citas up for the future. 

Sunday was a really good way to end the week. Rodrigo came to church with us and Gabe came on his own. We were glad to hear that they ended up having a really good time. Rodrigo is really interested and we have plans this week to go back and teach all of their family and talking to them about their baptisms. They are a realy good family that will be blessed a lot by the gospel. In the afternoon, we were all over our area and ended visiting a lot of members and setting up some noches de hogar. 

So yeah. Basically, this week was really good. I know that I don’t really get a lot of good spiritual experiences in these emails, but I’m trying to share some of the biggest things that happened. I will work on more spiritual content too!

Oh! We finally got light today!! After two weeks in our pench, we finally got some electricity running. But now, we have to get our water heater fixed. But, as long as we are working hard, everything will work out well.

Love you all

Ciao

Elder Haley

Long line for delicious churros

Our wall of Jesus pictures

Surprise empanadas and still no light...headlamp...

Gabe playing violin

Dinner & lesson with Gabe

Elder Robinson....

ha!

Gabe and Rodrigo at church!!

FOOD!

Pday!

POWER!

Eating with the ZL's.  Again!

Moving, 4th of July, and Zone Conference

Holy cow. This week kinda kicked me in the rear! It was super busy, but we sadly had barely any time to work because we were all over the place doing things for our old pench and moving into our new one. I’ll get the details in, but lets just say this: I’m tired. 

Tuesday

In the morning, we went out and talked to a bunch of people and actually had a really good and successful few hours. We talked to one kid that has a bit of potential, and now that all the schools and kids are on vacations, its going to be easier to find people in the streets and at their houses. We ended up finding a few good future investigators. Then in the afternoon, we did just about the same exact thing. We made a bunch of plans and just went out looking for people. It was actually a really good afternoon. We had a lesson with a guy who has been really inactive for a few years, but just recently, came to our Elders Quorum President and is wanting to reactivate himself. So we met with him and had a good time. His name is Christian and he has two jobs. One is at a factory of some kind for clothes or something, and the other is as a hired DJ for parties and big gatherings. So he is super fun, but still really intersted in the church and scriptures and things like that. Then, afterward, we had a lesson/dinner with Matias, Gabii and their mom. It was really fun and we were able to share some time talking about baptism and the sctiptures. Then, when we got home, we had to pack our pench and clean a lot so we could move out the following morning. It was a pretty good day. 

Wednesday. 

Well, Wednesday was nuts. In the morning, we hired a moving crew and helped them move out our pench and get the things into our new one. The new pench is a lot better, cleaner, bigger, and right in front of the church. It is also the same complejo de apartamentos that the ZLs are in, so we are neighbors with them just down the hall. The move took all morning and it wasn’t too bad, except that we had to do that all morning long and didn’t have any time to leave and do some work.  Luckily, we were still able to make it to HNA Palotas house for lunch after the move. Then we got our haircuts done at a new barber shop just under our pench. The guy is super funny and cool, but also kinda crazy and out of his mind. He shared with us all of his crazy theories of why the earth is flat and how NASA is all a lie and we never actually made it to the moon. In the afternoon, we had to leave and go to the Rent place to take care of things for the Old and New pench for a few reasons. But the biggest is that in our new pench, we didn’t have any light, power, or gas. So yeah. Actually, we still don’t, but hopefully we can get it all sorted out tomorrow. Don’t worry mom, everything is okay. We have been showering and cooking at the Zone Leader’s pench until ours gets figured out. But between that and getting things all settled in our old pench, we didn’t have much time to work, so not too fun of a day. But, at the end of the night, we were still able to celebrate the 4th of July a little bit and make some burgers and get ice cream to celebrate America. 

Thursday. 

In the morning, we had to go with the people and get the pench looked at. So that took just about all morning, so yet again, not a good morning because we couldn’t go out and work. And in the afternoon, we had a choque de fuerza in the Hermana´s area. We had the elders and hermanas in town for the afternoon so they could be here for the zone conference the following day. So it was yet another day outside of our area. I was in divisions with Elder Gomez for the afternoon and we did a whole bunch of walking in the hermana´s area to help them find new investigadors. We did get some contacts, but other than that, not much happened for us.

Friday

Zone Conference!! It was a great time, especially to finally meet Presidente and Hermana Westover. They are super amazing and have a real spirit and an amazing story. So what happened is that they were already in the MTC preparing to leave on a mission to Spain. But they got a call and they were told to come into the Church Offices and Head Quarters. The husband wife who were called to be our mission president: Presidente Hientz, had some really big health problems, President and Hermana Westover were called in an emergency. They talked to Elder Anderson, and later to President Oaks himself. They were told that because of complications, they were going to be called to be the Mission President and wife of our mission. So, instead of serving a year and a half in Spain, they are going to be here for 3 years. So that’s crazy. But, we are absolutely happy they were able to come here instead. They are wonderful and I can’t wait to learn and get to know them even better. Then, in the afternoon, we did another choque de fuerza and I was with elder Vergas, who only has about 3 months left, but doesn’t let that keep him from being a great missionary and teaching me things. He is actually 25 and is a great missionary. I also forgot to get a picture with Presidente and Hermana Westover. 

Saturday and Sunday. 

Not much else happened for us these days. We looked for people and had a few good contacts, but not too much other than that. We are trying to activate a few menos activos, but aren’t having too much success in the search for new investigadores. But, we are going to hit this week with new spirits and really get down to business. I can’t stress enough how important and welcomed all of your prayers are. I know that I wouldn’t be able to do any of the things I’m doing here in Argentina without the love and support of all of you back home, or where ever you are. Thank you so much and keep up the good work and all that you do.

We finally found a good, fast cyber station. And I get to use the tv screen computer for today!

Update: Gabe is not doing too well, but Adrian is still his crazy self. We visited him last week and shared the “Because of Him” videos, but they still don’t want to accept the Gospel. What we have basically decided is that they are really amazing people and will be baptized, just maybe not right now. But, we are still going to keep the friendship and contact, but not focus on them as much. Thank you for the letter for Adrian and Liza, I will get it to them as soon as possible. But thank you even more for the prayers and fast. It really does help, even if not in the big, great ways that we may expect. 

Con Amor,

Ciao

Elder Haley

AMERICA.  Sunglasses and ties from home

American dinner on 4th of July

 4th of July ice cream

breakfast burritos!

Jesus picture wall at the ZL's pench

new shirts from mom, thank you!!

The backs...our home states with an arrow to Argentina.  The Argentina flag at the top.

New cyber station we found

Neuvo Presidente!

Well alrighty then. This week was a little crazy and all over the place. I feel like we were kind of running around everywhere, but yet again, I’m really learning a lot and growing in the gospel at the same time. 

So last Pday, for the afternoon, I was on divisions with Elder Dressen from my group from the MTC. We got to the mission at the same time and it is really fun to see how well other missionaries get work done and learn from them. He and his comp were in town because the entire country had a strike on Monday for the collectivos here. So they were stuck in Rafaela after transfers. Thankfully the strike didn’t last very long. We visited a few people and found one lady that has a lot of potential. It’s going to be fun with him in the Zone this transfer. 

Tuesday morning we had to go back to the dentist to finish the work on my root canal. And of course, our Uncle Adrian accompanied us. Apparently, last time they drilled into my face, it was basically only half of the entire process. She only had time to take the pain I was having away. On Tuesday, they finished the work, and not going to lie, this time it wasn’t my favorite thing in the world. The treatment took close to 3 hours and by the end, we didn’t have much time left in the morning, and after having my face drilled into for 3 hours straight, I wasn’t feeling pretty. So we took the little time we had and I rested a little in the pench. Luckily, I was feeling much better after studies, so the afternoon was actually pretty good and fun. We visited Hermana Soledad and it was really funny because when we showed up, she was really, really happy to see us. We hadn’t visited for about a week and she thought that we had left the area and were gone for good without stopping by to say goodbye. So we had a good laugh about that. Both of her daughters were there and told us that they had received calls from Soledad. Apparently, she was crying about how we had left her forever. So it was good to see her. Afterwards, we talked to Matius, the kid that we usually visit once a week. He is such a boss and really smart and funny. We reviewed a lot of what we had taught him before, and he remembers close to everything. Then we shared a little something aobut Samuel the Lamanite and he really liked that story. Its always a good time when we teach Matius. 

Wednesday in the morning we had to go to the terminal to buy some tickets for our colectivo ride to Santa Fe that night. I had Tramites on Thursday and we had to travel Wednesday night. But that morning, we by to see Mauricio, a kid we are teaching in 2 de Abril. He was once really close to being baptized, but ended up backing out for some reason. But now, we are trying to reteach him all that he learned before and prepare him for baptism again. We taught him about Prayer, and somewhere in the lesson, we asked him, “Would you rather speak to God or to Messi?” and he said Messi. But then said, “Wait no, it doesn’t matter, because Messi is God.” Messi is an Argentina futol player. Crazy Argentines. That night, we talked with the really sweet old lady named Neli. She is really interested in what we have to say, but always seems to be busy. But, she also says that her grandson is interested too. So, we are hoping to get in a lesson with the two of them and get two people taught at the same time. That night, we traveled to Santa Fe and stayed in the Office Pench which is always a good time. Especially this time, because I was doing tramites with 2 or 3 other elders from my same group from the MTC. 

Thursday morning we woke up at 4am to travel to Rosario. It was a pretty long day full of traveling and waiting in Tramites offices. It was pretty lame over all, but it was nice to have time and talk to guys from my group that I have only seen once since the MTC. We shared all sorts of stories and experiences and it made what would have been a very lame day into a good day. We also ate some really good food in a Peruvian Restaurant. I got a kind of steak thing with rice and it was spicy and amazing and delicious.

Friday morning we had to get our money for the next transfer from the bank, and it sadly took close to all morning because there were long lines, and when we finally got to the ATMs, they weren’t working for us. So we had to go to other banks and then take the money all they way back to the pench. But, we still got some contacting done, and met a few people that we hope to talk to with a lot. One was a kid who we hope to bring to our English classes and the other a lady that works as a nanny for a family. Both have a lot of potential and we hope to stay in contact with them. For the afternoon, we made contact with a reference that we had received from the other missionaries here. His name was Jose and is a really great guy. He told us that he used to be really crazy into drugs and had even lost his family and house because of his addictions. But, he finally decided that enough was enough and that he is finally changing his life. He tells us that his family is the most important thing in his life and that he hopes to find a church to help him change his life for the better. How happy were we to hear that! We can’t wait to see the great steps that he makes with the Gospel. We also had a lesson with Gabe. We had a really long lesson, taking close to 3 hours, and taught the Commandments, specifically The Word of Wisdom and Law of Chasity. He told us that he is going to try his hardest to keep these commandments, but that it is going to be hard for him. We promised him that he can do it, especially when he is focusing on prayer and reading the scriptures. He is a really good kid and can definitely feel the spirit when we go by. 

Saturday. In the morning, we had a blessing to give to a young man and his mom. The guy had an accident about a month ago that put him into a coma. He was been in stable condition, but has been bed ridden and unconscious for over a month. So we gave him a blessing of health to help him recover faster and return to full heath. We also gave a blessing to his mother, who is having troubles keeping after her son and work at the same time. Oh, and on top of it all, she also has cancer and has to take care of her own health problems. It was a very spiritual experience and we were happy to help others. That afternoon, Argentina played in the Copa Mundial (World Cup) against France. Sadly, they lost and the entire country was sad and angry. Literally no one was out in the streets during the game that was also during the siesta. It was fun to see how crazy the people go when Argentina scores though. Literally, people freak out and scream. Crazy stuff. That night, we visited the Fernandez family and they aren’t doing the best. They have all been sick for a while now and haven’t been able to go to church for a few weeks now. But, we talked with Ariel and we had a good 10  minutes together. We hope to see them in church this next week and will be visiting them often to help remind them of the meetings. 

Sunday was Fast Sunday and we fasted for a few reasons. First, for Gabe so he can have more help and strength to keep the commandments that we taught. Second, for the guy in the coma. That he can recover soon and his mom can have more peace. And lastly, that we can be lead to find more people this week. We also had the opportunity to bear our testimonies and I bore mine on the Prophet and how I know that he is the President of the Church and that Jesus is acting through him. After lunch and studies, Elder Robinson had a really bad headache, so we had to stay in the pench for a little bit so he could rest and nip his pain in the butt. Then we visited with the Familia Palota and also Emiliano. All are doing really well and we had a good time with all of them. Then, to end the night, we stopped by Gabe and watched the Because of Him videos. they are so powerful and amazing. I love Jesus so much!!

So yeah, a pretty good week I would say.  We will meet our new Mission Presidente this week at District Conference, that is exciting.

On thing that I decided to work on is the power that I teach with. It seems that I have kind of gotten into a routine of just saying words during lessons. But, I’m trying to work more on testifying and preaching with the power of the holy ghost. I really saw the difference when I focused on that, and can’t wait to see the things that happen this week as I work even more with this goal. 

To end with my testimony, I know that this is the Church of Jesus Christ and that we can be blessed every day for our actions and obedience to the commandments and laws of God.

Thank you for everything you guys do for me and for the church wherever you are. 

Love you all,

Elder Haley

Ciao

American Street sign.  La Plata means The Money. I am holding a peso

Police car?

artwork from Elder Robinson

Empty streets during the World Cup game vs France and siesta

Sunday dinner.  We cook well!

Gabe!

Lion's Club in ARGENTINA!

Amazing spicy food!

Mural with Book of Mormon

World Cup hat and jersey

Nitendo?

We tried to make homemade rootbeer with the extract you sent.  We tried to use soda water...but it didn't work out very well.  Dry ice is impossible to find.

Sunday fun.

Teaching the Tree of Life