25 de Mayo

Well, well, well. We meet again....today is SIX MONTHS on the mission!  Crazy!

So this week was pretty fun, but also kind of really hard all around. 

On Tuesday we didn’t have any lessons because all the people we had appointments with had to cancel for which ever reasons. But its all good. We got a lot of contacting done and found a few people that were a little interested, but not too much to account for. 

Wednesday we didn’t really have any lessons again, but we still looked for a bunch of people and are trying to talk to a few Antiguos investigadores and other less active members to get some lessons and plans rolling with them. For the most part, people usually aren’t home when we try to visit them, or are just too busy to talk at the moment or meet with us in the future. So that kinda stinks, but we are still praying and fasting to find new people to teach them about their divine identity as sons and daughters of their Heavenly Father. But yeah. Basically all we did on Wednesday was walk around a lot and try to talk to people. 

Thursday hit me kinda hard. It was just a tough day full of rejection. We had a lesson with Larena y Jose. It was all pretty good until at the very end they told us that they aren’t interested in the lessons anymore and that the only thing that they want to do anymore is have an Asado with us and talk more about our culture in the US. So that was pretty tough. they are really good people and I still love them, but at the same time, they make me really sad. But then, after that, we had to go on a really quick divisions with the ZLs because they had too many appointments. So I was with Elder Peña for the rest of the night. It was good though. I was feeling a little overwhelmed and sad but he helped me a lot. He told me that yes the expectations that President Perez and all the other leaders have for us are really big and can be stressful, but the most important thing we have to know, is that if we do our 100% best effort, we have done everything we could. So, basically, if we talk to everyone in the world and no one wants to listen to what we have to say, it is okay! They have their choice to do so! He also shared D&C 123:17, “Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.” This scripture was a good one for me at the time and will now be one of my favorites from the mission. So although the day was pretty tough, it ended pretty well. 

Friday was nothing important so we will just skip over that.

Saturday was good.

Nah I’m just joking. FRIDAY WAS MY BIRTHDAY AND IT WAS SUPER FUN. We had a pretty good day on Friday. In the morning we went to the super ghetto part of our area and talked to a few people and had a lesson with a lady called Laura. She is super interested and told us when we offered service to her to help her clean or do anything that she needed that she would much rather listen to our lessons than have us do service, so we were happy to hear that. Then, we had a big activity for 25 de Mayo, oh and if you didn’t know, it was also my birthday. So the activity was with all three of the branches here in Rafaela, and it was super cool and fun. We had one of the members from our branch do some Traditional Argentine dances with his daughters and it was amazing! Then we did the old Joseph Smith stick pull game with a few of the youth and it was super fun. Also, our investigator named Patricia made it too! She loved it and even danced a little bit. She also brought her grandkids, Jonathan and Luz who are super cute and awesome. But then, for the night, we didn’t really get too much lessons taught, but it was still a good day. Oh yeah, and for lunch, we had Locro which is a super good kind of stew that they only make on 25 de Mayo. Its super good, but also super mysterious. Basically, we don’t totally know what we ate, but it was good!

Saturday was a bit of the same as the other days of the week. We didn’t have any lessons, but we went to see a bunch of people and try to invite them all to church. We didn’t have too many people open up to us, but one lady that is kind of less active was super awesome and sweet. Her name is Anita Gaudiña and is just as sweet of an old lady as you’ll ever find. Well, other than Hermana Palota. But she was probably the highlight of the day. But like I said before, we are learning to be as possitive as we can, especially on the hard days. 

Sunday was a gooooooood day. Church was nice. We taught Emiliano in Principios because he was the only one that came to class, I love the kid so much. He is such an innocent and amazing person. He also will stand up for whatever he believes in and will always be an example to me. Then we had a really good lunch with Hermana Palota for my birthday and she made some really good empanadas and chicken. She did apologize a lot for forgetting to make the cake that she was planning to make. But the lunch was perfect without it. For the afternoon, we talked to a bunch of realy cool people and got a lot of plans set up for the following week, so we will see how everything goes. 

Today for my birthday I bought myself a new Argentina futbol jersey and am super proud of it. It is about authentic as you can buy. We also made some breakfast burritos for lunch and they were amazing.

Another really great thing I did this week was read my Patriarchal Blessing.  I am so glad I did. 

So, that is the week. Sorry for not having many pictures or videos. The computers this week are super old and lame. It takes FOREVER to upload any pictures. But next week for sure I will send more! 

Love you all and thank you all for the prayers and birthday wishes. I CANNOT wait for my package to arrive this week!

Elder Haley

LOCRO! 

Bought myself an authentic Argentina futbol jersey for my birthday!