Feliz ano nuevo!!

Well hello. This week was actually super dang good. We got a lot done, taught quite a few first lessons, and now we have even more plans for this coming week or two. This week actually made me pretty happy with just a bunch of good old fashioned work, and with results from that work. 

Christmas day was so amazing.  I talked to and saw my family for an hour!!! Our connection wasn’t super great, but we made it work. They said I have an accent. I saw Drew’s new leg and saw him walk without his crutches!! It was great to hear their voices and see their faces.  I loved all of the gifts that were sent. I played my ukulele for them and also bore my testimony in Spanish for them.  I know they couldn’t understand me, but I know they could feel the spirit of what I was speaking. We had Christmas dinner with la familia Penno.  We exchanged some gifts, it was awesome. Mari also gave me a Christmas gift.  A mate mug with ingredients. She gave me a plant the helps it taste more minty. It was very thoughtful of her. Christmas in Argentina was something I will never forget.  

Wednesday morning we started divisions with the other Elders, and since we live right next to each other, we can just have divisions for all of one day, and not carry it over into the next day. I was with Elder Sandler and in my area. We left to visit a few people and hoped that we would have a few lessons. The first house that we passed by, the person was home. Her name was Araceli. She is the daughter of a lady that Elder Gonzales and I had contacted a long time ago. The mom turns out to be a former investigador who didn’t really want too much from us. BUT! Her daughter, Araceli, who is about 26 years old or so, was interested in what we had to say. So, after a few weeks of trying to find her when she was at home to set something up to teach her, we were finally lucky enough to catch her at home. She let us pass by into her backyard area and sit with her and chat for a little bit. So we got to know her, and then shared with her the message of the Restoration of the Gospel. It was a great lesson! One of the best I’ve had in a while. I really love training Elder Moore and his Spanish is actually pretty good, but having a companion who could speak and understand everything in Spanish and add to the conversation helped a lot with this particular lesson. We could really go off of each other and Araceli was loving it. She followed along super well and understood everything. She even did the one thing that I love. As we were sharing the First Vision and everything about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, she just sat there smiling, saying "Wow... I didn’t know that. That’s amazing." I love it when people do that!! And then, in the end of the lesson, we were explaining about how she could come to know for herself that what we were saying was true, and when we extended the Baptismal invitation, SHE ACCEPTED!! WooHoo! It was a great morning. The lesson did take quite a bit of time, but with this lesson, the Spirit was present the entire time. She was loving it. And I was too!! After that, we went to the pench to change quickly and head to lunch. We changed because after the lunch, we had a service project with the family that we ate with. It was a good time. Super hot and humid, but for the project we used a machete to cut some crazy tall grass and chop a few tree branches. At the end, we were pretty well tired and dirty, so we headed back to the pench, changed again really quickly, and then headed out again to visit a few people. We didn’t have too much time to visit a bunch of people before our weekly meeting with the ward mission leader, but we passed by a few people. But after that, we had the meeting, and that was the end of the day. 

We also taught and have a new investigador named Magdalena. She is super cool and the lesson went really well with her too. We had contacted her last week sometime and planned to go by again in the morning this week. We went over and started talking to her and when we asked her about the pamphlet that we had left her with, she told us that she had read the entire thing! It was great! She told us a bit of what she remembered and a few parts that she liked. She could remember most of the main, important parts. But the part that was the best was when she said "But my question is how can I know if Joseph Smith actually was a prophet?" And that’s when we said "Well! Lets talk about that!" So we sat down and went through the lesson and taught her all that she needed to know and answered her questions. It was a pretty good lesson and the Spirit was working on her a lot, even when her little baby daughter was walking around and falling and crying every few minutes. And, in the end, we were able to extend the baptismal invitation also. She didn’t accept quite as openly as Araceli, but she still accepted the invitation to be baptized IF she comes to know that the Book of Mormon and the Church are true. It was a great lesson. And, Elder Moore was able to participate a little bit more than usual and share his testimony, which he totally rocked! Even though he doesn’t say too many words, he doesn’t have to because the Spirit he brings is more than enough. 

And yet another lesson that we had was on Sunday, after the siesta. When we went by to visit a woman that we had met the day before and get to know her husband and teach them. When we showed up, Juan, the head of the house, answered the door and let us pass into his home. So we chatted for a little bit to get to know him a little more and his wife, Antonia, who we had met the day before, and shared with them a little bit more about what we do to help them understand a little more. It was a good time. They are a really great family with the mom, dad, and two kids. The oldest is a 10 year old boy and a four year old girl. We were able to talk to them and share a few laughs and about where we come from and all that, then we got into the lesson. The lesson, once again, went pretty well. We were able to teach about the Restoration again and to explain to them why there are so many different churches, and which of them is the one, true church. They were pretty attentive to what we were saying, Antonia more than Juan, but it was a great lesson anyways. In the end, we didn’t really feel the Spirit prompting to extend the baptismal invitation, but we will be passing by again soon to follow up on the commitments that they did make and also to teach them a little more and get the baptismal invitation in. 

Also, another day as we were looking for a reference from the other Elders, we were contacting and met this girl named Ingrid. She was super great and seemed to have a lot of interest, even right off the bat. She invited us in to sit down with her outside (something a lot of people do here because of the heat and the sun that turn almost all of the buildings here into complete ovens). So we sat down and started to get to know her a little more. She is a college student and likes to do what most college kids like to do. We were able to share a little bit of the Plan of Salvation with her and explain to her what the Atonement of Jesus Christ is and why it is so important to her. It was a great little time to share something short with her and set another time to pass by again. We also met her mom, who right away told us that she was already attending another church and that she didn’t want us trying to "preach" and "prophecy" to her, but that we are more than welcome to teach her daughter. Yeah, well see about that....

Oh yeah, and we are also starting to try and teach the mom of one of the less active kids in our ward. The kids name is Uriel, I think I talked about him last week. Well, long story short, he got baptized about a year ago and his mom took the lessons from the missionaries too. But she couldn’t get baptized at the time because she was living with a guy and couldn’t get married to him because she was still technically married to her old husband and just never did the divorce papers. So now she is actually divorced, but still lives with the guy. So, we are trying to get the kid to come back to the church, especially because in our ward we have very few, or should I say, almost no young men. We have 1. Well, two, but only one comes to church every week. So we are trying to get all the young men active again and also get some more young men baptized. But, last week when we passed by them and met them for the first time, the mom was a little closed. Not that she didn’t like us, but she just didn’t open up to us. We were trying to find a way to get her to open up to us a little more. So, when we visited this week, we were just chatting, talking about the weather or something super basic like that, and then started to talk to her about what she does for work and stuff like that. She told us that she cleans houses and different places like that, but her work is super hit and miss, as in she almost never has a set schedule. But, she also didn’t finish high school. So she told us that she is trying to finish school and then hopes to move on to college and take a nursing course that would be her dream job. So, as we were talking to her about that, she was really opening up to us and we were finally able to have more a conversation with her and not only us talking. So that was amazing. We then turned the subject onto the church and how she was investigating before and reading the Book of Mormon and stuff like that. It was a great little chat that we had about that. She showed us her copy of the Book of Mormon and all the scriptures she had marked and all of that. She actually seemed pretty excited when we invited her to start reading the Book of Mormon a little bit more and start praying normally. We also invited her to talk to her boyfriend about coming to church again and maybe taking the lessons again. She said she would do it, so we are hoping to pass by her again early this week and follow up on that. 

As for Paola this week, we were able to pass by a member family and set up plans for a family home evening with Paola and her daughters in the house of this member family. So we passed by a day or two before to invite Paola and her two daughters to the FHE, and they said that would go! So we were super stoked to help them meet a few members and they they would have a few people to be friends with and see in the church and not be complete strangers. But, just before the thing on Saturday night, we were passing by to pick them up and go to the house of these members, who lived just a block or two away, we were met by Paola in the street. She approached us and told us that she had to take care of her mom and wasn’t going to be able to go to the activity. Her mom was super sick from diabetes and she was the only one that was going to be able to take care of her. It was pretty disappointing.  We weren’t too excited to have to pass by the members home, just when we were meant to be showing up for the FHE and have to cancel on them. It was pretty lame, but the members were at least pretty understanding. It always stinks when we plans don’t go down too well. Hopefully we can do it again in the future. 

That’s what was going on in the week. We had a bunch of lessons that we were super proud of and happy to teach. Elder Moore is starting to become a little more confident with talking and teach a bit more. So we are getting that going and starting to see real results from the work we are doing. It’s amazing. 

I love the work I am doing here. It’s something I say a lot, but it completely true. I love the people of Argentina, I love the culture, I love the Gospel that I can share, and I especially love the Spirit I can feel as I share this Gospel. 

Love you all for all that you do inside and outside of the church. You are all amazing people, and I love you.

Chau

Elder Haley

Saying hi to Elder Moore's family during his call

Christmas dinner with Penno's

My Christmas gifts.  Forgot to include my American flag and family calendar.

Family on my computer during our call.  Drew's leg is sweet!

Crazy weird animal we saw this week.

Christmas gift from Mari.

The plant is a kind of weed that people use in their mates. You have to grow it out more and dry the leaves, but it gives a kind of minty flavor to the mate

We love pizza!

Elder Haley!

These are pictures we took of Elder Haley during our Christmas day video call.

Feliz Navidad!!!

Feliz Navidad!!! Merry Christmas!! Oh jeez, I’m going to be honest, it does not feel ANYTHING like Christmas, but I’m kind of really grateful for that. It will keep me from being completely trunky and a little more focused in this crazy time. But, this week was super great with lots of super great experiences. So let’s jump into it, because I don’t have very much time to write and want to get this thing done. Sooooo….

Tuesday we went to Santa Fe and had a super great Christmas Party Meeting Conference kind of thing with Presidente and Hermana Westover and all the missionaries in the Zone. It was kind of small, but it was actually super great. For most of the time, we were doing a program with lots of hymns and scriptures and everything. The program followed the story of Christ’s birth. We would read a few scriptures and then sing the song that went with the scripture that we read. It was super great and I felt the Spirit so strongly. I loved it so much. Then, after that, we had lunch, which was super great. The cakes afterward were to die for. Literally. I couldn’t finish one piece of each without almost passing out from being so stuffed. It was delicious so I didn’t mind too much. After that, we had a gift exchange. Elder Overall, the husband in our Elder Missionary Couple, was Santa Claus and Elder Sanchez and Elder Ocampo were his little Elves. It was super fun. We had to bring a small gift that didn’t cost too much, but it had to be able to be a gift for a guy or a girl. Elder Moore got one of the electronic Lucky Cat doll things and I bought a cool, light up, pistol lighter. But the gift exchanging was pretty fun. I got a nice picture frame. After that, if any of the missionaries wanted to, they could share one of their talents or skills. One of the newest missionaries played the piano super well. He even laid down on his back, with the piano at his head, and he played the Charlie Brown Christmas Song. It was great. Another sister missionary played her violin, and the assistants sang a super great and Spiritually Powerful song. It was a great time. I loved it even more cause I got to see my guy, Elder Robinson and catch up with him a little. It was a great conference. 

On Wednesday we went to Mari’s house in the morning and visited her. It was a good time. We didn’t really teach anything, we just took the time to visit and chat with her and get to know her even more. It was a great time, and Elder Moore could practice his Spanish a little bit. I think she really needed it because in her house she is being a little pressured about her membership in the church, but she is staying strong and firm in her beliefs. I’m proud of her. I gave her the necklace you sent for Christmas.  It made her very happy.

On Thursday, in the afternoon, it started to rain super, super, duper hard. But we figured "Eh. We can still leave." So we left. But it turns out that we were a little mistaken. We got to visit a few people before getting completely drenched, but after about an hour or so of walking around in the crazy storm, we had to surrender and had back to the pench. But don’t underestimate the rain that was going down. Because it was freaking killer. I’ll send the pictures. One road was completely flooded. Just absolutely FULL of water. And by the time we figured we would go back to the pench, we were already completely soaked, even with our rain jackets on and everything. So we were crossing that street that was flooded, and we figured it would have been about ankle deep. But when Elder Moore crossed first, it turned out to be about KNEE DEEP! It was so funny to watch him freak out and let out a little scream. I was dying laughing. We were both laughing. The storm was so loud that houses couldn’t hear us clapping by their gates. Oh the memories. On the way back, we figured that if we were going to have to be in the pench, we were going to do it right. So we bought two fish on the way back and ended up having a pretty nice fish dinner that night. Not as good as fresh caught trout back home, but it works. 

On Friday, we had a lesson with Paola. It turned out to be super good! Since the last time that we visited her, she had read a little bit of the Book of Mormon, and she was a little confused on all the details. So we reread with her. It was 1 Nephi 3 and 4. Super great chapters. She really liked them too, but of course had a few questions. I was able to help her understand just about everything. I am grateful for the Spirit that was present, because I was able to answer all of her questions and she absolutely felt of the Spirit. Strongly too! In the end, we invited her to come to church, but of course she was a little timid and shy about committing. Actually she said very directly, "I’m not promising anything" but we gave her the best invitation and promise of blessings that she could have received. So we left pretty content with what we had shared. 

Saturday was a pretty good day too. We visited a few people in Las Vegas and contacted a lot too. They are all pretty good and have potencial. The only problem with Las Vegas is finding them at home and helping them get to the church building on Sundays. But it was a good morning. We were able to share with a lot of people Light The World cards and share with them a few ways that they could light the world of someone else. In the afternoon we visited a few less active members to get the last invitations in for the following day. It was super great. Of course they all said that they would "try their hardest" to go to the church, but we just tried our hardest to make them feel welcome and want to come to the church. We found one less active member family that the mom actually isn’t a member, but the kids are super awesome and seem like they would actually want to come to church. So we are going to be visiting them more and hopefully start teaching the mom again. Other than that, we had made plans to have a kind of "fiestita" (small fiesta) with a guy that we had met earlier in the week. The guy’s name is Paulo and he has a few problems that could make anyone feel super sad. First of all, he has a kind of bone disease that has affected his feet and legs, so he can barely walk, even with a walker. He also seems to have some kind of mild mental trouble, but that doesn’t keep him from cracking a few jokes every now and then. But when we met him, we obviously talked about Christmas plans and what he was going to do for Christmas. He told us that he didn’t have any plans, but that he was going to stay at home all alone. You see, about 3 or 4 months ago, both his mom and dad died. First his dad, and then a month or so following that, his mom. He lives at home, alone, about 35 years old or so, and just seems to have a tough time feeling happy. So we wanted to help him have a good Christmas season. We planned to come by, the 4 missionaries, to visit him and have a small party on Saturday. The day before, on Friday, we had passed by to make sure that we could still go by on Saturday. So Saturday came around, we still had plans to go by, and we bought Soda and cakes and stuff like that to have a really good time with him. But when the four of us missionaries showed up, he couldn’t because he had some company over, unexpectedly, and had to visit with them. So we took the rest of the food and drinks and passed by a few other people to try and spread some of the Christmas Cheer, but no one was home. So, a little bummed out, we went to the pench and celebrated the fact that at least we tried. 

Sunday was super great. In the morning, we didn’t start church until about 10:30, so we got up and took our time a little to get ready and showed up to wait for everyone at the church, all the less active members that we had invited, and especially the investigadores that we had invited. Sadly, no one came. But hey, I didn’t let that ruin my Sunday. So we had just Sacrament Meeting and the Spirit that was present during that meeting was amazing. The Bishopric spoke, and all the talks were great, but Bishop’s was amazing. His testimony is so great. I don’t know if I’ve shared this before or not, but our Bishop is a convert of about 5 years. Crazy! He does a great job and the entire ward loves and appreciates him. After the siesta, we went to visit a few people and then afterward to a rest home with a few of the other ward members to sing a few Christmas Carols for the elderly people there. It was great time and the faces of the people living there were amazing. They really seemed to brighten a little by the end of the time we had with them. But after that, we went to visit Amelia and spent the rest of the night there visit and having fun, chatting and sharing stories with her and her family. It was a great time.

Then for Christmas Eve we were able to pass the night with the Familia Amarilla, legit one of my favorite families. They invited us to eat and spend the evening with them. We had bought the ingredients to make the Cinnamon Rolls and the Hermana was able to make them and teach us a little about how to do it. It was great. Not quite like home, but good enough to make my night. They even shared a few gifts with us. I really love them a lot. In the end, when we were about to take a picture and then leave, the Hermana went into a back room and said that she was going to "get ready" for the picture. So we waited, but then there was a knock at the door. Not going to lie, Elder Moore and I were a little scared because it was a bit late and no one would be knocking on the door. But when we opened it, IT WAS SANTA!! The Hermana Amarilla had changed into a crazy Santa costume and sneaked around, from the back door, to knock on the front door. It was so funny and great! They are so fantastic and funny and I love them sooooo much. So they gave us a small gift each, and then we were able to watch as the 3 daughters opened their gifts. So amazing. I love them. 

But yeah! That was the week. A few great Light the World opportunities and lots of great memories. I am so grateful that I had this chance to spend this Christmas here with so many great people and see the Light of the Gospel shine the lives of others. I can’t say that it’s better than Christmas at home, but I can say that I love it just as much. I hope to never forget the memories that I have collected in all of my mission, especially the ones in the times of Christmas. I love this Gospel, and I love Jesus Christ. 

Thank you all for reading.

Until next week

Chau

Elder Haley

Our Christmas lights in the pench

Elder Robinson, mi amigo

Christmas party

The sunsets are amazing

The flooded streets

fish dinner

Rest home singing Christmas carols

Gifts from home and my special stocking

Mom sent this tree that we hung up and decorated.  I also hung my personal ornaments that have been given to me. 

short email....sorry

Ohhhhhh baby, this week has been super fun and super cool. We didn’t really have too many lessons, but a few really super cool things have been going down and I’m about to tell you guys all about that. So this email is actually going to be kind of short because, we didn’t really have too much happen for us this week. But, I’ll fill you guys in on all the important stuff. 

So first of all, I finally got to pick up my Son!! It was super great. After spending a day or two with Elder Seelos and Elder Cua, we went to the Mission Offices on Wednesday to pick up our newbies. The meeting was pretty good. As the new trainers, we were able to spend a little bit of time with Presidente to have a short training with him to talk about the expectations that he has of us, as trainers, and the great responsibility that we hold. So that was super good to see just how much Presidente loves and trusts us to be the first impression of the Mission Life for the new missionaries. Then, we were able to participate in the meeting when we finally got to meet our newbies. I, of course, had to wait until the very end and be the last to meet my new comp, but it was completely worth the wait! My new companion and newbie, my son, mi hijo, is Elder Moore! From California. He is a complete stud and we hit it off from the start. He and the rest of his group of new missionaries, were in the Mexico MTC, so his Spanish is a LOT better than mine was when I got to the mission. He loves sports, is super funny, and came to the mission ready to work hard and teach a lot of people. So after the meeting and lunch, we went back to Santo Tome and dropped off his bags and suitcases and things and he got all unpacked. Then, in the little time we had before our meeting with the Ward Mission Leader, we talked to a few people in the streets and knocked a few houses. Right now, and for the next few weeks, we are going to be using literally all of our free time in between lessons and plans to be contacting a whole lot to give Elder Moore every opportunity to talk to other people and learn by experience. It was a great first day. We are going to have a lot of fun together and get a bunch of work done. 

In the rest of the time that we had this week, like I said before, we have been contacting a lot and talking to just about everyone we come across in the streets. We didn’t have too many lessons this week because every time we would pass by for our investigadores, they weren’t home, and we couldn’t get in contact with them through the phone either. So we had lots of time to get to know new people and set up a few citas for the coming days. 

On Saturday, we had an activity in the church for the afternoon to celebrate Christmas a little bit and have a big party for the Ward as a "Good Bye 2018". As part of the activity, we were going to have a small Nativity Scene done by the Primary Kids and some of the Youth. But, because the activity started super late, Elder Moore and I weren’t able to watch any of it because we had a cita just as the activity was starting. So, sadly we didn’t get to see any of that, but the other missionaries were able to get a few pictures. Also, at the activity, Luis, the husband of Maria Elena, came with her to participate. It was super great for him to be there because he actually was super against anything that had to do with the church for a long time. But, he is finally starting to open up a little more and be more willing to listen to what we have to say. Hopefully we can find him at home one of these days and finally sit down to teach him and let him know that we aren’t as completely crazy as he thinks we are. 

Other than that, this week has been super fun and interesting to watch Elder Moore and remember what it was like for me to come to the mission and have close to no idea what I was doing. It makes me realize just how much I have learned in the mission and how different I’ve become. And I’m not only talking about being a little fatter now that when I was when I got here. Just how much I have learned about the Gospel and how to love and care for other people, even if you barely know them. I love the mission so much and would never give anything up for the time that I have had here. I know I say it a lot, but I’m so grateful that I still have so much time left to find people that need the truth and help bless their lives through the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that what I am doing right now is exactly what God wants me to be doing and that, even if it hard and tiring at times, the mission has come to be one of the greatest blessings and gifts in my life. 

It also blows my mind that we are so close to Christmas and how it is super crazy hot and humid here  Even after all of my prayers for a white Christmas, and not only for more Baptisms. But, even though its not a typical Christmas season, it doesn’t change the fact the this time is one, if not THE best time to share the Gospel with other people. So be sure to get out there and serve a few people and be the kind of person that Jesus would have us be. 

Thanks for the time and for reading. Love you all! 

Feliz Navidad!

Chau

Elder Haley