Elder Morley Haley Santa Fe Argentina Mission: Always learning...

Hola Familia y Amigos!! Como estan_ Espero que todo fue bien esta semana pasada. Bueno, ahora por mi semana. This week has been alright, kinda slow, but we have been working hard to find new people to teach and meet with. Because for right now, we honestly don’t have too many people at all. But, we are finding loads of people and now we just have to get with them and teach them and have fun while spreading the Gospel and trying to bless lives.

First. I finally received my package. The word processor is going to be awesome. I was surprised to see a message waiting for me when I turned it on! I love everything that was sent, thank you!

Tuesday was a pretty good day. In the morning, we made our way out to Barrio Las Vegas to teach our investigator Jonathan. The guy is a total boss. He wasn’t able to come to church on Sunday, but when we showed up, he told us that he had been reading the Book of Mormon and also praying. So that’s awesome! It’s always really nice to see when people totally do the things that make them happy and will bring blessings to their lives. So we were really happy to hear that. He started with the opening prayer and then we read all of the introduction to the Book of Mormon and then we read all of the Witnesses together too. He really liked the information and had a few good questions. Then, after that, we taught and discussed the Plan of Salvation. It was a good time because, like with everything, he had a good questions and understood a lot. He was asking stuff like what happens to babies if they die and where do the people that aren’t baptized go. So we were happy to explain all of that to him. Then we set up another appointment with him for the following Friday. During the siesta, we had our Reunion de Distrito that was pretty good. I am having a lot of fun with this District so far this transfer. During this weeks meeting, we read together in 3 Nephi 19. It was really good. We all learned about how we should strive to have the Spirit with us at all times. We also learned that we can have the spirit with us at all times as we have a prayerful heart and clean minds and intentions. I learned a lot about how we should always be trying our hardest to be worthy of the Spirit, and when we do so, we will be blessed in ways we can’t even imagine or describe. In the afternoon, we walked around quite a bit looking for people to contact on the streets or occasionally knocking on doors and clapping at gates. We found a few people, but didn’t have any lessons. We also passed by a few of Elder Loveridges old investigators and made some other plans to go by and visit them too in the future. We spent part of the night visiting a member family. The family currently has two sons serving missions, so we talked about that for a little bit. Also, the dad just had a pretty big accident not too long ago when we was up on a ladder and fell, breaking his wrist and elbow. So he showed us the xrays he got and also the stitches he has from recent surgery. We ended the little bit of time we had with them by giving the father a blessing. I was able to use my new oil dropper and was happy about that.

Wednesday was a pretty long day, but I actually learned something from it and had a good time with my companion. In the morning, we went with the other elders and did some service for a member family. We moved bricks and helped them prepare to add onto their house. Then we helped them repair their refrigerator. We had a good time helping them and spending a little time in the service of others. Then we had a really good lunch with them, too. We had a bunch of homemade pizza and for dessert, we ate some really good oranges too. It was a good time and lots of fun. They also had a little baby puppy that I honestly was a little in love with. For the afternoon, I wasn’t feeling the most excited to leave and work. We didn’t have any appointments to visit people, but we made plans to visit lots of people and just look for new people to teach. But I wasn’t too excited to just walk around. But, during the afternoon, Elder Loveridge and I just sat down and talked for a little bit about why we are on a Mission in the first place and the whole reason we are in Argentina at all. Because really, the Mission is not easy. Obviously there are a lot of good times and spiritual experiences, but those don’t come without having hardships and other times when life really isn’t too fun. But we decided to just go out and try our hardest to talk to everyone we passed by. But more importantly, to be happy about it! So we tried it, and it ended up working. Not only was the afternoon more enjoyable, but we were able to meet new people who are really good and have a bit of potential. I had more fun joking around with Elder Loveridge and also just talking to other people and getting to know them a little bit more and share with them a small part of our message. So yeah, basically it was a reminder that you can turn most situations into something enjoyable if you just decide to enjoy it. It all depends on your attitude. I just needed something to hit me in the back of the head and help me remember that I already knew that.

Thursday morning I went with Elder Mario into Santa Fe to go to his Physical Therapy stuff. I basically just sat in the place just hanging out and using the time I had to think a little and read some of the General Conference talks. Then we went to the offices because the other Elder’s phone was broken. So we went there and got the new phone, but when we were there, I learned from the other office Elders that work there that one of the missionaries from my group, an Elder from Brazil, just went home. So that’s crazy and stinks a whole lot because he was a total boss. I loved him a lot. But he was having some problems with his health. But after that it gave me something to think about and have a few thoughts, mostly about how crazy the mission is and how much of a blessing it is to be here. I sometimes, often actually, forget just how important this time that I have is. I regularly forget that my short two years I have here in Argentina is very sacred and absolutely critical in my life, but more importantly, critically important to the people that I am meeting with. Obviously I still want to have fun here and make some really fun memories. But, more importantly, I am here to help other people receive happiness and salvation in and through the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am happy to be here, even though it is quite stressful or crazy or hard at times. I love Argentina and am trying my hardest to soak up the most of this experience. So yeah. Then the afternoon was pretty chill and calm. We started by going to visit a member family that has been a little inactive for a while, but then we talked with them for a little bit and made plans to go and walk with them from their house to church on Sunday. Afterwards, we went to do some service with a member and prepare to help him add on to his house and turn it into a garage for a mechanic shop so he can have more room and them get a little bit more work to help support his family. The rest of the night was spent looking for people to teach and tracting and contacting in some of the areas that Elder Loveridge hasn’t worked in as much. We didn’t have too much luck, but we did find a few good people to talk to and hopefully we can look forward to teaching them in the future. It wasn’t the most exciting day, but like always, we tried.

Friday was a pretty good day over all. We started the morning by running over to our Ward Mission Leader’s house to walk with him to our lesson with Jonathan. Our Ward Mission Leader is super young and super funny. He is 24 and is married with two kids now. So we went with him to Barrio Las Vegas and had a really good time teaching Jonathan. We taught him about the commandments, the Word of Wisdom and also Law of Chastity. For now, Jonathan doesn’t have too many problems with them. He doesn’t really drink, smoke, or do drugs. But, he does live with his girlfriend. But, he commited to live both of the commandments. So we are happy to hear that and are excited to see how well he keeps his commitments. During the lesson, it was great to see just how helpful it is to have a member come to lessons with us. If it’s something small like correcting our Spanish or giving a really good, touching story to help relate to the Investigator, lessons with members are a true blessing. We also committed Jonathan to coming to church this Sunday and made plans to either talk to a different member that lives right in front of Jonathan so they can go to church together, or that we can go look for him before church. But it was a really good lesson and morning over all. Then we had to make the very long trip all the way across all of Santoto to go to a lunch appointment with a member family. We may or may not have shown up an hour late, but it was all because of the lesson with Jonathan, so the family let it slide. During the afternoon, we had a lot of free space for looking for new people to teach, so we went by a few old investigators the Elder Loveridge had taught before and also did quite a bit of contacting. We found a few really cool people and I’m actually really excited to meet with them in the future. One was a really cool guy named Franco who has about 22 years and is super funny. We also taught English Class at the church that a few member kids came to. It was a fun time and even though they didn’t really learn too much, we were able to go over some really basic English and answer a few qustions. After the class, we were walking around and just about all of our plans fell through, but we stopped by a members house and it was actually really good. It was cool because when we showed up, the mom, who is the Relief Society President started asking us all about member families that are less active and if we had visited them or if we needed any members to come to lessons with us and all this stuff. It was actually really cool because that is literally how members are meant to be. We want the members to give us work and to be willing to help us. I love all the members here in Santoto. It really is a blessing to have so many good, faithful members who are ready to help us in just about any moment.

Saturday was a pretty tough and long day. We made some really good, extensive plans in the morning, so I was feeling pretty optimistic about how much work we were going to get done. We visited a bunch of people, and big surprise, none of them were home. So that was pretty lame. But we got quite a bit of contacting done and made our way around the town looking from people. The only problem is that it was a bit chilly and windy, so not too many people were out, walking on the streets. But, it was still okay. Just a little hard. Then we had a lunch appointment which was pretty good and delicious. It’s kinda funny to see how the members absolutely stuff you full of food until you can’t breathe, and then bring out the dessert. My studies were actually really good and I got a lot out of them. I started to reread and study all of the Conference talks, but this time I’m actually going to highlight stuff. So that has made it a lot more meaningful. Then, in the afternoon, lets just say it was a long night. It was super freaking windy and with the dirt roads here, we were being pretty well sand blasted at times. But, at the same time, Elder Loveridge and I weren’t too mad or dishearted. We weren’t let into any homes and didn’t teach any lessons, but we tried our hardest and found a few people that seem pretty well interested. So that is pretty good to see. Plus, Elder Loveridge is almost always happy and joking around, so it’s a whole lot easier to stay up beat and happy with him. Towards the end of the night, about an hour before we are meant to go home, we got a text from the Zone Leaders telling us that we were meant to go back to the penches because of a really bad storm that was going to hit. So we got back in the Pench and a few minutes after we did, the rain started absolutely dropping sheets outside. It was pretty cool to see.

Sunday. We woke up pretty dang early and headed out for Barrio Las Vegas to go looking for Jonathan and to take him with us to church. It was pretty dang muddy and sloppy and just nasty in the roads because of the storm the night before. I might start looking for rain boots in this area. But, we showed up at his house and he answered. He wasn’t too aware of what was going on because it was super early and we actually woke him up. But, we were talking to him and asked him if he was ready to go to church, and he was still pretty drowsy, but he was about to get ready and come with us. But the night before, he had been playing some futbol and he messed up his ankle, so he wouldn’t be able to walk with us. So we made the long trip all the way back to church without any investigadores, which sucks, but hey, we tried. So we made it to the capilla and had a few good classes. In Principios del Evangelio, we learned about service and the importance of it for both the people bing served, and the people who are doing to service. I really loved Sacrament this week too. It’s awesome to participate in the Sacrament here because there are enough people in the ward that it takes a while for everyone to be passed to. So I actually have time to ponder and pray and really give meaning to the Sacrament. In the afternoon, we had a pretty good time. We went to go see some contacts, but they were not home. So we stopped a member family that wasn’t in the church for meetings. So we were stoppoing by to make sure they were all okay. It was the FML Amarilla, the same one that has the dad recently had an accident and we gave a blessing to. So we wanted to make sure nothing happened with him. But, when we showed up, we were happy to find that they were all okay, but that they couldn’t go to church because the dad hadn’t gotten any sleep the night before because of pain in his arm and also one of the daughters was sick. So they all just took the day to recuperate so they could all be healthy and ready for the Stake Conference the next week. We are going to be able to attend a conference at which the Area President and one of the Presidents of the Quorums of the Seventy are going to attend and speak at. Also, we, as missionaries, are going to have a conference with Elder Rasband. It’s going to be really sweet and super spiritual. I can’t wait for it. Then, the rest of the night, we went to HNA Amelias house. She is basically the HNA Palota of Santoto. We had pizza and some really good fried donut almost things. So it was a really good day, even though we weren’t able to get any investigadores into the chruch. But it was a good way to end the week.

For pday, we didn’t do too much. We had plans to go to Santa Fe and walk around a few of the cool stores and areas, but today is a vacation day so everything was going to be closed. But were still able to do some good, fun things. We went to the Church building and played some ping pong and made some raviolis. It was a pretty good time. But then we helped in an activity for all of the youth and kids because it is a holiday called Dia del Niño. So that was fun.

One thing that had me thinking this week was about Talents. I heard somewhere this week, I can’t remember where, about how the mission is a really good time to find and develop our personal talents. So this coming week, I am going to try more to focus on my talents and try to discover what mine are. We, actually, it going to be hard to NOT find my talkents. I mean, I just have so many that it’s going to be hard to narrow them all down, but I’m going to try. But really, this is something that I feel I’ve actually been doing wrong. I haven’t really been trying to build and strengthen my talents. So, I actually need all of your help. I’m sure barely any of you actually read this far into my emails and blog posts, but if you are reading this, I am asking you a favor. I need some help finding my talents. So, if you would be willing to write me a small email that basically just says one or two things that might be my talent, that would be nice. Obviously I know I don’t have too many, but if it could be something really small and easy to help me in this goal I have. So, I’m going to work and ponder and study this week to try and determine my talents, and then, next pday, I’ll open my email and find a few emails that say what my talents are and then see if what I have written down as my talents match up with what you guys tell me. So yeah, thanks for the help!

But yeah, that’s basically the week. A few other things...

Elder Loveridge and I made some fish this week. We bought it for super cheap and it ended up tasting pretty good. We used some of my lemon pepper and Johnnys salt. The fish is called Sabalo, and I don’t know what that is in English, but I’m pretty sure it is Carp or something like that because it is kinda a total trash fish, but it didn’t taste too bad. But now, a few members have told of other fish that we can buy that are a whole lot better. Also, apparently fish empanadas are a thing. So we are probably going to try and make those this week.

Also, I decided to cut my hair pretty short. Elder Loveridge gave me a haircut, but then I just decided to buzz all of it. I did it myself, so it looks a bit sketchy, but it will work. I don’t have to look too pretty to be a missionary.

Thanks for reading and sharing my mission with me. I love getting emails from you guys. I hope everything works out for you guys this coming week and that you don’t have too much fun.

Love ya all

Chau

Elder Haley