OOOOOOOOOOOOH my good golly this week sure was a little
nuts, but in the end, IT WAS SOOOOOO FLIPPIN GOOD!!! Oh boy where do I start.
Well, we all got pretty sick, but FML Penno is progressing better than ever! Man,
I LOVE THEM!! Alright, so, for the week in total, day by day, lets get into
it.
Tuesday.
In the morning on Tuesday, we had a choque de Fuerza in our
area, but it didn’t go too well. The Hermanas got a few contacts, but the other
Elders and Elder Grandon and I struggled pretty bad. Legit, there was
absolutely no one in the streets where we were working in. Pretty weird because
it wasn’t a holiday or anything, just that no one wanted to talk to us, so they
all stayed inside. Then, when we tried going door to door, legit, no one opened
their door. NO ONE. It’s probably the first time in all of my mission that that
has ever happened. But, it’s okay. After lunch with a member, we had Reunion de
Distrito, and that went pretty well. Right now, the other Elders are working
with the daughter of a Less Active lady, and she is progressing really well.
She has a lot of good friends in the Ward and she already has 3 lessons now, so
we are coming pretty close to doing her entrevista bautismal and setting
everything up for her baptism! Yeah! The Hermanas are working really hard in
their area, but are having a little bit of trouble finding people to progress
really well, but we are helping them know how to work better in their area and
how to use their time a little better. After that, we had a bit of time to read
and study the scripture together. This week, we read together in Mormon 9, a
super good chapter that covers just about everything. It was a good meeting.
After that, we had to wait in the church a little bit for the Elders from the
Offices to come by and drop off some pamphlets and bug spray and other things
for us. So that took a little bit of time, and after that, we went to go see a
few other people, but not too much to report, other than a super amazing Noche
de Hogar with the FML Penno. We went by their house and walked with them to the
house of our Ward Mission Leader. When we went to pick them up, Noelia told us
that she had already made it to ALMA. Yeah! Flipping ALMA in the Book of
Mormon. Dang. She also told us that the Sunday of General Conference, she
watched the afternoon session of Conference at home. Gosh dang. But, the family
home evening went pretty well. We were able to talk to them about Temples and
Eternal Families, and also the Word of Wisdom. It was great. They understood
everything, and they already have goals to work with the other groups of the
church and do fundraisers so they can attend the Ward Temple Trip in December.
In the end, we were sure to ask who already knew that they were going to be
baptized. Big surprise, Noelia said she was going to, and also Ari and Fran.
But, at the time, Jose still wasn’t too sure. He didn’t tell us that he wasn’t
going to be baptized, but he just said he was "undecided." So, we
didn’t spend too much time talking about that because we didn’t want him to
feel too zeroed in on. But yeah. That’s basically all for that night. The two
families got together pretty well. It was a good time all around.
Wednesday.
In the morning, we started divisions with the other Elders,
and this time I went with Elder Cortes. In the morning, we went to a lesson
with Mari, and it went super good. When we showed up, she had been reading and
praying and was feeling really good. In the beginning, we asked her how she
felt about Conference, and she said she really loved it. But she also had a few
questions. And of course, one of them was why we don’t drink or smoke. So, we
taught her the Word of Wisdom, and it was pretty good. Basically, no matter how
thoroughly you explain something, Mari will always ask why. But, we were
working pretty well to answer all of her questions and to use scripture to back
it up. Elder Cortes is a wizard with the Bible. He knows all the good
scriptures. Its pretty great. Then, we also talked with her about the Gospel of
Jesus Christ and explained to her Faith, Repentance, and Baptism. It was great.
She really liked it, although she is a little scared of baptism. Not because of
water or anything to do with the baptism itself, but because she knows just how
important and meaningful it is, so that is actually really good because she
doesn’t take her baptism lightly. But, in the end, we were able to invite her
to be baptized, and she accepted the baptismal date that we presented, which
was the 27th of October. But, she did say that she had to pray to know if it
was what God wanted for her to do. So yeah, pretty dang good lesson. After
that, we had lunch with a member family and had some noodles and sauce. It was
pretty good, but you’ll see what that stuff did to us. All four of us Elders
ate it. But, after lunch and after studies, we went back out to work. Jonathan
had texted us that told us that he wasn’t going to be able to meet with us, so
we went to see a few other people instead. We went by the FML Varino to see if
they could help us have a Noche de Hogar in their house for the following night
with FML Penno, and they said we could! We planned a few things with them and
then headed out again to work. This time, we went by to see Fabian and we
talked to him for quite a while about all sorts of stuff. We honestly didn’t
teach him anything, but Elder Cortes got to know him and we tried to talk to
him a little about coming to church, but we couldn’t really get him to focus on
stuff other than video games. So that was pretty lame, but we invited him to
church and he told us he would try. After that, we went by the FML Amarilla to
pick us a few Pre'Pizzas that we had bought from them and to just talk with
them for a little bit. They are doing well, but HNO Amarilla has to get another
surgery done on his wrist to fix a little bit of nerve damage. So that stinks because
it’s been a few months now since he has been able to do real work around the
house, let alone work at his actual job and provide for his family. But, they
don’t let that get them down. Their two missionary sons are still doing really
well, and they are always super proud to talk about them and all the success
that they are having. It’s amazing to see. They are one of my favorite
families.
Thursday.
Well, this is where that lunch from Wednesday becomes important.
The night of Wednesday, I woke up feeling pretty sick, and lets just say... it
wasn’t pretty. So, I stayed inside all morning and half of the afternoon. The
crazy thing, is that the other Elders got sick too. Elder Delgado and Elder
Cortes both got sick during the night, but amazingly, Elder Grandon didn’t.
Dang Porteños. But, being sick wasn’t too bad. I mean, obviously it stinks that
we weren’t able to leave and work, but I was able to take a few good naps and
also catch up on a lot of my journal writing that I had gotten pretty behind
on. So that was the bright side. But, in the afternoon, we still had our NDH
with the FML Penno and FML Varino. So, even though I wasn’t feeling the best,
we were able to leave and take them to the house of FML Varino for the lesson.
Luckily, HNO Varino was able to talk a lot and share a lot of his conversion
story, because I was not feeling up to talking too much. But yeah, FML Varino
was able to share a lot of their conversion story, including that HNO Varino at
first wasn’t too excited or ready to be baptized. This was perfect for Jose
Penno! It worked out perfectly because Noelia was able to open up a little bit
and HNA Varino was there to help her and HNO Varino was there to help Jose with
a few of his doubts. Not to mention that Francisco was getting along super well
with the Varino boys. But, still, in the end of the lesson, Jose wasn’t too
sure about if he wanted to be baptized yet. And, also Ari was having a few
doubts too. But, we told them that they had to pray personally to know, and not
only think about it. They had to ask God too. So, they told us that they would
do it and that the next day, Friday, they would have their answers for us. This
was important because we needed to know who was going to be baptized a week before
the baptisms so we could do the interviews on Saturday. But yeah, a pretty good
night.
Friday.
Friday morning I woke up feeling pretty good, or at least a
lot better than I did the morning before. But, sadly, Elder Grandon was feeling
super bad after eating something at the NDH the night before. So, another day
stuck in the pench. Not too exciting, but it is what it is. Like the day
before, I was to catch up on my journal writing and get through my week or so
of missed journal entries. Also, I got a whole lot of studying and reading
done. I’ve started to read the Old Testament in my free time. So, I read that
all the way through Genesis. Dang, the Bible is pretty awesome. It’s also
really nice to review all of the stories, because I obviously remember them,
but I had gotten some of the details messed up. I also got a bunch of studying
done in the Book of Mormon. I freaking love it!! I’ve started to get really
good at marking my scriptures and I love how meaningful every scripture is. I’ve
also been following up on the invitation that Hermana Westover gave us in Zone
Coference to mark the scripture of every chapter that stood out the most to me.
It has been going great and I’ve noticed how much more focused I am on what I’m
studying as I seek out the scripture that means the most to me. But that was
the day. Staying in the pench and not doing too much. But! Like the FML Penno
had told us, they told us who was planning on being baptized. At first, we got
a text message from Ari telling us that she was super sad to say it, but that
she just wasn’t ready to be baptized yet. But then, a few minutes later, we got
a phone call from the entire family, and Noelia asked us what time the
interviews would be the following day. We told them that it could be at any
time, but it depended on them. They told us that THE ENTIRE FAMILY had decided
to be baptized and that they were all ready for the interviews the next day.
YEAH!! While we were still on the phone with them, Elder Grandon and I didn’t
scream or shout, but you can bet your butts we did as soon as we hung up!! So
amazing. I was so happy to hear that they were ready to be baptized, especially
because they would be doing it all together! I love them so much. So we called
Elder Loveridge, the Zone Leader, and told him that the interviews would be the
next day during the Siesta. He told us that he would be able to come and do
them. Yay!
Saturday.
In the morning, we had accidentally set up two things. First,
was a lesson with Mari. The other was an activity at the church to play Rugby
with investigadores and less actives. But, because Elder Grandon and Elder
Cortes still weren’t feeling the best, especially not good enough to play some
rugby, they went to the lesson and Elder Delgado and I went to the activity. It
was pretty fun though! Not too many people came, but it still worked out pretty
well. We played with the Ward Mission Leader, Jose and Francisco Penno, and an
investigador of the other Elders named Tomas. We played all morning and because
it had rained the two days before, we were slipping and sliding a little bit in
the mud. But, Jose and Pancho had a lot of fun and we were all laughing and
messing around together. After we were all tired of running round, we went into
the church and played some Ping Pong. It was great. Oh, and at the same time,
the Young Women and their Moms were having an activity of their own. So Ari and
Noe were there too and they had fun with the other girls and got to know them
too. We had some pizza and juice and it was a grand ole time. Then, during all
of this, Elder Loveridge, came and we were able to do all of the Interviews.
All four of them were pretty nervous, but they had studied well and knew
exactly what we had taught them and they were more than ready for the
interviews. And, they all passed! It was great. They all seemed so much happier
after the interviews. More relieved and not so scared or nervous. It was great
to see. Then, we said bye to all of them, and we headed back to the pench so
Elder Delgado could shower and we could go out and visit some people. But, when
we got back to the pench, he decided he didn’t feel well and we had to stay in
the pench for another afternoon. A little frustrating for me, but I was able to
get even more studying done and it worked out in the end. Gosh dang I love the Book
of Mormon!! I also wrote a letter to Alma and Ariel back in Rafaela that will
hopefully get to them pretty soon because from what Elder Robinson tells me,
they aren’t doing the best right now. But, I hope the letters can get to them
and help them remember that I love them. But yeah, other than that, not much
happened.
Sunday.
It was a really dang good Sunday! In the morning, both the
FML Penno and Mari were able to come to church. All of the lessons were
amazing. In Elders Quorum, we talk about how everything that we do should be
connected to the Atonement of Jesus Christ because it is the most important
part of the Gospel, of the Church, and of our Lives. So, we read a few of the
quotes from General Conference and talked about why those things were important
and how they were connected to the Atonement. In our class of Gospel
Principles, we talked about Missionary Work. It was super good too and we were
able to discuss how we, as members of the Church, can be missionaries too.
Then, in the Fast and Testimony Meeting, they were able to announce the
Baptisms of the FML Penno. Also, during the other classes, Ari had a good time
with the young women, Noe and Mari both learned a lot in the Relief Society
class, and Pancho, of course, had fun with the other Primary kids. It was a
good set of Sunday Meetings. We were invited to have lunch with our Ward
Mission Leader and I made some Pancakes for them and used the last of my supply
of peanut butter. After that, we went out to work and finally we were able to
have a lesson with Jonathan after not having a lesson with him all week. It was
pretty good this time around. Together, we were able to read in Ether 12 and
Jonathan really liked it. He was super interested with the story of the Brother
of Jared, so we gave that to him as homework for the next time we go by. Then,
afterwards, we just got to know him a little better and we were able to talk
about fishing and school and just hang out for a little bit. After that, we
went by to see our friend Dante, the guy who comes to English Class, and he is
doing pretty well. He has found some work, but has been pretty sick, so he hasn’t
been able to read any of the Book of Mormon that we gave him a while back.
Also, we went by the FML Maciel and dropped off our clothes to be washed and
spent the rest of the night there. It was a pretty good Sunday. Nice and chill.
So there is the week for you guys. Not too much excitement,
but a lot of really good news with our investigadores, especially with FML
Penno. Thank you all for the love and support you give me all the time, and for
reading these super long and repetitive emails. I know they aren’t the most
interesting, but if you like them, then I’m glad. Also, thank you all so much
for all the prayers in my behalf and for all the other missionaries in the
world. You might not think they mean too much, but really, we can feel the
faith and trust that you have in us. So yeah, thank you again.
See you all next week with news and details on the Baptisms
of FML Penno. Love you all!
Chau
Elder Haley
Some pretty awesome flowers in bloom all over town
Found a dead dog...and thought the Plan of Salvation pamphlet was appropriate
Some awesome missionaries :)
Elder Loveridge and his companion in town to do baptism interviews
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