Elder Morley Haley Santa Fe Argentina Mission: First email in 2019!

Yooooooo what’s up my people. This is Elder Haley, tuning in for this week’s review in Argentina. Let’s just say, the work is going pretty well. The people we are teaching still don’t want to be coming to church, which is honestly pretty frustrating, but that just means we have to work even harder. But y’all know how it goes, so let’s jump into the week.

This week we have been passing by quite a few people and we actually had a bunch of really good charlas and lessons with a few of our investigadores. Our investigadora that is progressing the most right now is probably Magdalena. This week we had two lessons with her. First was a lesson when we just talked more about the Book of Mormon and answered her questions about that. We also read with her the introduction to the Book of Mormon and that helped her understand a little more, even though she told us that the introduction was the same thing that we had explained in the previous lesson. It was a great discussion that we had and she seemed to be really interested. But, because she hadn’t read in the Book or Mormon since the last time that we passed by her, we left with her the same invitation for the next time that we went by. Sooo, skip ahead a few days and we went back again. At the beginning of all our lessons we like to just sit down and chat for a little bit to get to know the people we are teaching a little better and also to try to find if there is anything else that they specifically need. It’s always really nice and fun to share experiences and plans for the future and everything. But, the discussion that we had was super good this time too. We asked her about her reading assignment, and she told us that she had read! It was great. She had read all of the witnesses and the testimony of Joseph Smith and all the way up to 1 Nephi 4. She even remembered all that she read too! So we talked about that and she was super interested and told us that she really wanted to read more. Then, after that, we taught her the Plan of Salvation. The discussion was, once again, super good. We were able to ask her a few things, and she answered all the questions really well. She also had a few questions for us, that we were able to answer too. But, in the end, we got through the entire lesson and she seemed very satisfied with what we shared. We also talked about what we do in the church on Sundays and she told us that she was really wanting to go because she felt that since she hadn’t received her "answer" to her prayers, she thought that it would be a lot better to go to the church and look for her answer there. We completely agreed! It was amazing. She really understands how it all works and how she can benefit from what we teach. But, when it came down to Sunday morning, she wasn’t able to come to church. From the last lesson that we had, she told us that her boyfriend would be able to take her to church. So we planned to call her the night before, just in case, but when we called, her number wasn’t working, which was really wierd because it was the same number that we had used to talk with her before. So we don’t know what happened and what kept her from coming to church, but we are going to pass by her as soon as possible and try to figure out what had been going on and make sure everything is okay.

Other than Magdalena, we are still teaching Paola too. But, this week we weren’t able to get in and teach her because her mom is still not doing too well and she is always having to take care of her and never has time to meet with us. And, at the same time she isn’t able to read the Book or Mormon or think and ponder about what we have been teaching her. So that is super lame, but we are trying our hardest to stay positive and hopefully we can catch her at a good time this coming week to be able to teach her and get everything nice and in order. But, for now, it looks like we are going to have to not focus on her too much.

We are also trying to start teaching a family that we met this week. The dads name is Mauro and the moms name is Leonela. They are super great and super nice. We met Mauro on the bus last week and have been trying to find his house. After finding where he lived, we learned that he had actually just moved, but luckily he was still in our area. So we finally found them and we were able to sit down and chat with them for a while. We were able to explain what we do as missionaries and about where be come from and about our families and a little bit about who we are. They explained to us a little of themselves too. We learned that they are super devoted to an Evangelical church and go not only to the public meetings that take place 3 times a week, but that they also go to "Prayer Meetings" about 2 or 3 other times a week also. It’s great to see just how faithful they are, we are just trying to teach them the true gospel to be faithful to. But sadly, since the first time we passed by, the rest of the week we weren’t able to teach them. But, the Leonela seems to have a lot of interest in what we do and what we have to share, and Mauro seems open to hear us too. Even if it is only because he is a really nice, religious man. If we do get into their house to teach them this week, we are going to make it a really great, Spirit packed lesson that leaves them pondering about what we shared. They are a great family, we just want to set them on the path to Eternal Life, where they can spend the rest of forever as a family.

We have also been trying really hard to get a menos activo family active again. They are the converts of Elder Peña, one of my old Zone Leaders from my time in Rafaela. They have been members for about a year or so now and haven’t been to church for a few months. So, we are trying our hardest to give them all the opportunity to come to church and receive the blessings that come from that. We had planned a family home evening with them on Wednesday, but there ended up being a really crazy rain storm that got us suuuuper wet and when we got to the house, we clapped as loud as we could, but the rain us too strong and the family couldn’t hear us outside. But, we had passed by again, later in the week, and invited them to come to church, but yet again, they were not able to come, for one reason or another. But hey, what can ya do? Well keep trying and hopefully they will finally be willing enough to drop all pride and shame, and just come to the church to feel the Spirit.

We are trying to teach a few other people too, but for now, I don’t have too much to share on that.

BUT! This New Year has brought the first Sunday with the new schedule of two hour church. Let’s just say that it’s going to take a little bit of getting used to. BUT! This week was the week for Sunday School and guess who taught the lesson lead the discussion¡¡ You know it! Noelia Benitez! Or, because many don’t know that her last name actually isn’t Penno, it’s the mom to my convert family! It was great. She was definitely a little nervous and uncomfortable with the assignment, but she actually rocked it and lead the discussion really well. Adding a few of her own thoughts and also leaving everyone else to a few thoughts of their own. She is going to get a lot more comfortable with the calling, but I am actually really proud of the great job she did on the first attempt!

Spiritual Thought of the Week:

I took a few days this week to read one of the best, "get down to the business" scriptures in the Book of Mormon. I studied Alma 5 this week. It was amazing. I can’t tell you just how great that chapter was for me this week. I took one of the verses and changed it to my mission experience a little bit. It was the verse 27:

27 Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God? Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble?

That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem his people from their sins?

I took this verse and changed it a little to say something along the lines of, "If you were called to go home from the mission today, could you say that you had been sufficiently humble, faithful and hard working?" So that is something that I have been thinking more about, just how hard I should be working, as if every day were my last here in Argentina.

That’s basically all that happened this week, but it was a pretty great week all in all. We are still hoping to improve even more this coming week, but thank you all for the prayers, love and support that you are always sending and sharing. I am really grateful for the blessings and help that we receive as missionaries to be able to find people to help and teach. We would never be able to do it on our own. Thank you all.

Chau

Elder Haley