New Book of Mormon Videos!

Well alright, alright, alright...

This week sure was a fun one, but not going to lie, we weren’t able to get too much work done. This week consisted of traveling, working on financial problems in the Branch, and visiting less active members. 

So here in San Cristobal we are helping our Branch President a lot with his responsibilities and duties that come with his calling. He is a great, humble man, but does not understand too much about technology and things of the sort. So, every time that he needs to do something church related in the Chapel, we are there to help him. So this week we had a bit of a problem with the Finances here in San Cristobal and we ended up spending a fair amout of one day helping Presidente Lisardo sort it all out. It was quite the process and we even ended up calling in a friend (my dad), but in the end we solved the problem!!

Then, also, we had to go all the way to Santa Fe for Elder Smith to do some tramites so he doesn’t get kicked out of the country. It was good to see a few friends in the mission offices and hang out a bit. 

This week we were able to talk to a few other less active members. We are trying to look for the part member families here so we can work on both of our objectives, Reactivation and Missionary Work. There are quite a few, but we are trying to help them be more interested in the church and coming back, and especially to help a few of the members of the family to chose to be baptized. It’s a bit tough right now in San Cristobal, but after last weeks attendence was high, we are a bit more enthusiastic. 

But this week was a historical one. The new Book of Mormon videos were released!! I remember when they were announced! And that was about 3 years ago or so when I was still in High School haha but if you havent seen the first video, watch it!! It’s right here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edg-0hAM3iA  

I just want to end with my testimony of the Book of Mormon. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that through this book we can come to learn more about God and Jesus Christ. I know that Joseph Smith was the Prophet that translated the Book of Mormon. I know that if one choses to read the Book of Mormon and to pray to know that it is true, they will also be able to know that it is true.

Thank you all for the love and support.

P.S. Elder Robinson is ending his mission in a week. Gracias capo por ser tan buen de un misionero y por ser uno de mis mejores amigos. Te quiero mucho amigo!!

Chau 

Elder Haley

First s'more on my mission!

Working with the Menos Activos

Hi

This week was a pretty decent one. We are seeing some blessings here in San Cristobal and having a bit more success!!

So this week we had divisions with the Zone Leaders here in San Cristobal. They helped us find a few new people to teach and Elder Packer helped us find a few of the people that the other Elders had be teaching but that we weren't able to find. So that was a good time, especially to have some time with other missionaries. Being the only two missionaries here in the entire town is a bit tough. I love Smith, but we need more people here hahaha. But other than that, they were here for about a day and we had a good time with them. 

Another thing that happened this week was a small activity that we did with a few members from Rafaela. The District President, Presidente Peralta (who was also my Branch President during my times in Rafaela) came with his second counselor and a few other people to help us and a few members here in San Cristobal go and visit a bunch of less active members. We could only work for about 2 hours or so, but it was really good! And we saw the fruits of the efforts! Yesterday in church, we had 18 people come!! So that was about 10+ people than what we had last week! Amazing! So we are starting to see a bit of improvement and progress in that part of the work.

Sadly, we still don't have too many investigadores that we are teaching. We are having a bit of luck and success teaching first lessons, but its just really hard to find them again for the second visit. But don't worry! We are trying our hardest to be able to find the people that are prepared here in San Cristobal. The field is white, and we are thrusting in our sickles. 

Also, last week as we were visiting a Sister, I noticed that she had 3-4 copies of the Saints book in her house. I asked her why she had so many, and she said that she was going to offer them to the other sister missionaries that we replaced. But she offered them to us instead! So now I'm reading Saints! I was going to wait until I got back to read it, but this is even better! Haha I can't believe just how awesome the book is. There are so many great stories that we can find and truths that we are taught through the experiences that the early Saints had. I love the diligence and faith that they had in the first few years of starting the Church. To think that if they hadn't worked as hard as they did, we would not have the blessed opportunity to now have the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I appreciate the sacrifices that those faithful early Saints had. 

As I have been reading Saints and working here in San Cristobal, I have been reminded of two things, both of them being in Ether 12. First, that Life is not easy. Like it says in verse 27, God lets us have trials and problems in our lives to help us learn and grow. I have seen that in my own life, and as a missionary, and in the lives of others. I understand that God does not want us to hurt or feel punished, but that through our trials we can grow to be better people and better disciples. And second, found in verse 12, that God will only come to us, show himself to us, and work miracles among us, if we first have faith in Him. Like in the stories found in Saints. The Saints were persecuted and mobbed, but when they showed faith, they were saved from their afflictions. 

I know that in our lives we have trials and challenges to help us learn to trust God and become more like He is. I know that these things are true. And I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

Thank you all for all that you do!! Love you all!

Chau

Elder Haley

We like food!

Package arrived after almost 3 months! S'mores! I put the insoles in my shoes before taking a picture.

Baptisms pending...

Well howdy people. 

This week we finally got some people to teach and had good lessons and experiences. It was a great time! Lets see...

So this week we found a really nice family to start teaching. The parents names are Carlos y Yoana. They have 6 kids, the oldest being 8, and Yoana is about 8 months pregnant. So they have quite a bit of work to do with all of them. But they are a really sweet family. Carlos was home one afternoon and we started to teach him the Restoration. It went pretty well and the Spirit was really strong. But just before we got to Joseph Smith and the First Vision, Yoana showed up with a few of the kids too. So we were able to end the lesson with both of them. It was a good lesson and they liked it a lot. Carlos seemed really interested in the Book of Mormon and said he would be able to read a bit before we passed by again. Sadly, the next time we went by, he had to go to the dentist because of a really bad tooth problem that he had. So that was unfortunate, but we are hoping to get with them again and teach them a bit more before their new baby arrives haha!

We also taught a really good lesson with a member family. We were visiting a family and the 20 year old son had a friend over and the friend just started talking to us about religions. So we started to talk to him and answer all of his questions and we started to talk about the Restoration. During the First Vision the Spirit was so strong and there was just a complete silence. It was really cool. He was really excited to accept the Book of Mormon and it was awesome to see. We just hope to be able to find him again and be able to teach him more. He is super cool and has a lot of potencial. 

Other than that we haven’t really had too much happen for us. We are just working hard to find new people to talk to and teach. So contacting A LOT and trying to visit all of the less active members. But, we are trying to soak up the relaxation of the Pday so we can get back at it again for the week that’s coming up. We are going to have divisions with the Zone Leaders here in San Cristobal and we are just trying our hardest to finally get some real, progressing investigadores. 

I’m doing really well here and trying to just bust out the last bit of my mission. Crazy! Thank you all for all that you do and for always loving and supporting me. 

Talk to you guys later!

Elder Haley

Hail in San Cristabol

Ohhhh boy how are you all doing today?? Well, it’s me again for another update on my life. It has been a pretty good week. We are getting more used to the new area and trying our hardest to find new people to teach. But, to be honest, Pdays here are a bit dull. Not too much to do in a small town like this, and not too many people to pass the time with. But, Elder Smith and I have been trying to take advantage of it and we just got done with a nice, Argentine Siesta. Ha ha.  Just kidding. So not too bad a day so far. But let’s see... what happened this week??

Well Elder Smith and I are kind of starting from scratch here in San Cristobal. So we don’t really have too many people that the previous missionaries left us. So we are just trying to find as many people as possible. Most of the time we are contacting and contacting and contacting just about all day. It’s a bit tough, but we are trying to visit a few members at the same time and try to get some references from them too. But, luckily we ended up finding a few new people to teach this week. We are going to try to get the follow up lessons going this coming week, but for the most part, the work is going pretty decently. 

Last night we went and did some visits to a few members with the Branch President, Presidente Lisardo. He is a really good, humble, and faithful man. He is always willing to help the missionaries and is a real example of charity to us and to the all of the members here. So we visited a few members that weren’t able to make it to church yesterday and shared some time with them and then shared a small scripture and spiritual thought. It was a great experience and I have already grown to love Presidente Lisardo. In one of the visits, I shared the scripture in 3 Nephi 13 verses 31 to 34:

31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32 For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient is the day unto the evil thereof.

After reading the scripture and a few thoughts, Presidente Lisardo shared an experience that he had in relation to the scripture. He shared with us that the other day he and his family didn’t have anything to eat and he was worried about what he would do to provide for his family. But, just in his moment of need, the Lord blessed them in a miraculous way. A few days before this happened, Presidente Lisardo had bought a few raffle tickets from his children for a raffle that they were doing in school. The prizes for the raffle included a few items of food. So, the day that Presidente Lisardo was worrying about his family’s food, the raffle was drawn. And miraculously he was drawn as the 2nd place prize winner. He was able to receive an entire chicken and a salad to help feed his large family. What a great experience and great testimony builder for the exact scripture that had been shared. I was filled with the Spirit and Presidente Lisardos experience helped me build my own testimony also. 

We also had the chance to watch a special conference with the prophet, President Nelson here in Argentina. He was in Argentina’s capital,  Buenos Aires, and we watched the transmission here. We still didn’t have internet in the church building, so we went to one of the Cyber cafes. It was a pretty hot day and the room we were in didn’t have any air conditioning nor fans. So we were kinda baking there in our seats. But we were still grateful for the opportunity we had to listen to the Prophet and here is councils. It is always a great blessing to listen to his words for us. But I also really enjoyed the message given by the Sister Nelson. In her message she talked about her experience as she sacrificed her time playing scrabble on her phone to start doing more Family History work. I loved the way that she motivated me to work on my family history work. And although I don’t have too much time on my mission, not to mention how inexperienced I am at Family History work, but I have a goal to be able to work hard and be more invested in my Ancestry work once I return from my mission. But in the meantime, I invite you all to take the time to read the talk entitled "The Joy of Redeeming the Dead" and to consider how you can become a part of the great work for your ancestors. 

Welp. Not much else happened this week. So I’d just like to leave you all with my testimony of the Plan of Salvation and our role in it. I know that God has a plan for each and every one of us and that we have the blessed opportunity to receive and accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ into our lives. I know that my Savior lives and that he has helped me become a better person and has helped me realized and find my purpose in life. I am grateful for the chance that I have to share the wonderful message of the Plan of Salvation with others and help them change their lives for the better as well. I know that power of the Atonement is real. And I share these things with you all in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Oh and it hailed this week for about 20 minutes and then out of nowhere it just stopped. So that was nuts. I’ll try to send the video....

Thank you all!!

Chau

Elder Haley

Melting listening to the transmission of the Prophet's visit to Argentina

Presidente Lisardo

Pyramid adventures

Etched my name in the brick!