Awesome week!

Allllllllllllrighty then ladies and gentlemen. It has been a pretty darn good week here in good ole Santo Tome Argentina. We are getting so much good stuff done and we are having a bunch of success. I love it!! Yeah! Bueno. Lets get into it!

Monday night, after Pday, we had a lesson with the FML Penno and it was super good. We taught them about the Plan of Salvation. They were super interested and had lots of questions. Or, should I say that Noelia, the mom, had a lot of questions. Noelia is basically the voice of the entire family. She talks while the others listen. But she always has really good and super deep questions that help me think. But nonetheless, we still try to teach as basic as possible and try not to get too deep into doctrine and stuff like that. But they were jumping ahead of our lesson a lot and guessing things that were going to happen and things like that. So it was a good time. We were able to teach the entire lesson and then ask them how they felt about the baptismal date that we had settled on the last time we had passed by. They all said that they were still feeling really good about it and that they would have to continue to read and pray to know exactly if it was the right thing to do or not, but they were still happy about the date and didn’t have any problems or big doubts. After the lesson, they were nice and gracious enough to share some food with us, and then Jose, the dad, gave us a ride home. 

Tuesday. 

So, we had made plans with Fabian to look for him and take him to Seminary the afternoon of Tuesday, but we received a text from the teacher of seminary that because of a country wide strike, they were going to change seminary to the morning. So, we were scrambling to get everything in order and trying to get into contact with Fabian to let him know that seminary had changed and everything, but when we went to look for him at his house, no one answered us. So we weren’t able to talk him to seminary. So, the rest of the morning, we were walking around, looking for other people to visit. We had talked to our Ward Mission Leader before and he told us about a lady that had taken all of the lessons from the missionaries about a year ago, but never got baptized. So, took the opportunity to go and visit her. It was great! We found her house and she was happy to see us and let us in. Her name is Viviana. She is a little crazy, but a super great lady who honestly has a lot of potential. I say that she is a little crazy because when we entered her house, she had painted her walls in all different colors, she had a few paintings of Indian Gods and stuff, like the ones with four arms, and she was burning those kinds of scent sticks. She was wearing a kind of gown that you would see Master Takashi from Karate Kid wearing. She also shared with us that she is very into meditating. Honestly, yeah it’s a little weird what she does, but I thought it was cool too. So, we just talked to her and got to know her better. She had been talking the lessons with the missionaries, like I said, about a year ago, and had attended church 3 or 4 times. But, she couldn’t remember much of the details of the things they had taught her. But, she did say that of all the churches that she had attended, she liked ours the most. Hmmm.... Probably because it’s the true church... But we also talked with her a lot about the Plan of Salvation. She shared a lot of her own beliefs of why we are here and where we are going to go after this life, but couldn’t remember anything of what we believe. So we shared with her our beliefs too and she was happy to see that she shares a lot of our beliefs. We left her with a pamphlet of Plan of Salvation and she told us she would look for her Book of Mormon that the other missionaries had left her, and set up an appointment for Friday. Then we had a lunch with the FML Eyras, probably the cutest little family on the face of the earth. And after that, we went to the church and had our reunion de distrito. We didn’t have much time to read together as a district, but after talking about our investigadores, we read together in our mission manuals, or white bibles, about our calling as missionaries. It was a good review of the expectations that Jesus, the Prophet, and literally everyone has of us as missionaries and representatives of the Church of Jesus Crist. After that, we had to book it out to visit Ariana, the girl that we had contacted at the very end of the day, right before the crazy drunk guy bought us some apple juice. We were running a little late, so I honestly wasn’t too surprised that she wasn’t home. So that was super lame because I thought she was going to really love our message and accept it really well. But, it didn’t turn out that way. So, we tried to look for the crazy drunk guy, but it turns out that the road that he lives on isn’t in our area and that more than likely, the house number he gave us doesn’t exist. So that’s super lame too because I was hoping for some Asado. But, we took the time to go and visit a few other people. Most of which, weren’t home either. But hey, that’s the way it is sometimes. After all of that, we stopped by a few people in Las Vegas to set up a few more citas for the rest of the week, then we went to look for Fabian. We had called Geronimo, the member kid, to meet with us so that he could be in the lesson with Fabian with us. So we met up, picked up Fabian, and even though we didn’t have Seminary, we went to the church and taught a really good lesson. It was about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it was a great, super spiritual lesson. In the lesson, Geronimo helped a lot and it was super fun to see how much he knows and to see that Fabian was understanding everything. In the lesson, we got to the part about the confirmation. I asked Geronimo to share his experience and feelings from his confirmation. The Spirit that was present, especially at this point, was so powerful. I love it!! In the end, we showed him how the 5 Principles of the Gospel all work together and make a cycle, and the cycle is called "Endure to the End." Fabian loved the entire lesson and we had a good time with him. Afterwards, because Fabian had never played ping pong before, we played a little bit of that. So yeah. We took him home after that and said goodbye to Geronimo and thanked him for the help, and headed home. Good day!!

Wednesday

In the morning, we had made a few plans to visit people in Las Vegas, so we headed out there, but we were disappointed to get to the houses, and no one was home to answer the doors and talk to us. So, we went to visit a few other people. One, was a lady named Claudia who had talked to the missionaries before, but had a few questions and doubts that she wanted to settle with us. So, we told her that we were open to questions and would always be willing to help her understand a little more and a little better. So, she asked us "Why, if there is a God, do so many bad things happen in the world." So we explained to her that God has given each and every one of us the gift of agency, and that we can use that gift to choose the good things to do, or bad things. But, that God cannot change or alter our decisions. We choose what we will do, but we cannot choose the consequences. But, that if we choose to do the good things, we will be blessed, in this life and in the next. But, if we choose to do the bad things, we will be punished, in this life and the next. She understood everything, but still couldn’t really wrap her mind around the idea that even if we are good people, that does not mean that life will be easy. So, we left her with a pamphlet of Plan of Salvation and invited her to read it and look for other questions to ask for the next time that we went by. Also, while we were in Las Vegas, we learned that a kid of about 13 years old had died the day before after being in the hospital for a few days resulting from an accident that he had while riding his moto and being hit by a car. It turns out that the kid is the younger brother of our friend and future investigador, Guadalupe. So that was super tough to hear that her brother had to die, but now we are going to make it a big priority to go visit them to hopefully give them a little bit of comfort and hope. After the siesta, Jonathan. In our lesson, we made sure to ask him very specifically how he is doing with the commandments that we have taught him. And to make it short, he’s not doing well. But, we helped him set some goals and encouraged him to remember that he is doing these things to help him prepare to be baptized. He is still reading and praying regularly, but we just need him to feel and know the importance of obedience and to also have a real desire to be baptized. After Jonathan, we went to see a few other people in Las Vegas, but didn’t have any luck finding them at their houses either. So, we made our way over to the house of Gianfranco to talk to him and see how life was treating him. When we showed up, he answered the door and seemed super serious. So we asked him what happened and he told us that his grandma was there too and that she was super sad because her brother had just died recently. So, we walked in and met her and one of Gian’s friends and talked to them about the Plan of Salvation and that yes, death is sad and it is super hard to say goodbye to our loved ones, but that we don’t have to worry because we will be able to see them again, and if we do all we should, we can be together with them as a happy family in heaven. Afterwards, we had a good time with Gian, his younger brother, and their friend. It was a good time to just kind of hang out and have enjoy ourselves with our friends. After that, we still had a little bit of time to run around and get some work done. So we went to visit the FML Varino and talk to them about their Temple trip that they had the week before. It was great because it was HNO Varinos first time going to the temple in the five years that he has been a member. They went and did baptisms and HNO Varino said that the Spirit he felt was like none other that he had ever felt before. He said that while he was in the Temple, he was so happy without problems or stress and so at peace. In fact, he was so peaceful, that he fell asleep!! Twice! It was funny, but also really good to hear that he had had such a nice experience and that they are planning to go again as soon as possible. Good time. Also, when we asked them if they would be willing to come with us to visit the FML Penno for our next lesson, they were more than willing. Yeah! It was yet another really good day.

Thursday

It was such a good day man. A bit really crazy, but still a really good day. In the morning, we went to Santa Fe to have our Conferencia de Zona. It was great to see all the missionaries in the Zone, including the one and only, Elder Loveridge, my dearest Zone Leader in all the world. It was pretty sweet. The entire conference was super good and we were taught a lot. One thing that Presidente Westover does different than Presidente Perez is that during the Zone Conference, we have a part set aside to read and study the scriptures together as a Zone and learn from one another. So this time, we read together in 1 Nephi 17 about how God strengthened the women of Lehi’s group so that they could make it through their trials. We also learned from Nephi’s example as he and they rest of his group made it to Bountiful and Nephi was directed to build a ship. It was a great time to just focus on the lessons of the Book of Mormon and to learn how to apply those lessons to our own lives. Other things that stood out from the Conf. Hermana Westover shared something to help us in our Personal Studies. She told us that for a while now, she has been reading and studying her scriptures, and after every chapter that she reads, she marks the scripture that was the most impactful or powerful for her. She marks the scripture in a color that is different than all of the other scriptures that she marks. It was a really good and cool idea that she invited us to adopt and use in our own studies. Since then, I’ve been able to read and study a few chapters for myself and have practiced this writing technique. And it’s true! It helps me a lot to stay focused and really find the scripture that would help me the most. Also, something that Presidente Westover shared with us is animated in BINGO. He told us that in this life, each and every one of us is playing a game of BINGO. Every time that we feel the Spirit or learn more of God and Jesus Christ, every time that we move closer to them in one way or another, is like putting a marker in a spot on our BINGO card. And as we go through life, we are have these experiences that help us put more and more markers on our card, until we come to the truthfulness of the Gospel or that we are converted. So, he applied this concept even more to us as missionaries. We are the ones that help the people put markers on their BINGO card. So, if we are sharing the gospel and trying our hardest to help other people come unto Christ, every action and every effort that we put forth is helping someone else put markers on their BINGO card. So, if we don’t see the end results, perhaps a baptism, that doesn’t mean that we have failed. We helped them come closer to God and put a marker on their card. I really liked all of Conference. It was fun to be able to talk to other missionaries and share experiences with them too. I also had the opportunity to have and interview with Presidente Westover. Don’t worry, nothing happened. The entire Zone was able to have an interview with Presidente. But my interview went really well. He shared a bit of advice with me and I was able to share some of my experiences with him. When we left ZC, we left as a district because none of us really knew how to get back to Santo Tome from Santa Fe and we didn’t want anyone to get lost. So we left, and we took 3 boxes of Libro de Mormons, one for every companionship. Let’s say it was an experience. We were walking in the heat and humidity of Santa Fe, carrying heavy boxes full of the word of God, and we didn’t know where the heck we were going. Luckily, we were able to find our way to the bus stop and get on our way back home. It sure was something. When we got back to the pench, we dropped off our box and made our way to the cita with FML Penno. We were late by about half an hour or more because we left Santa Fe late. But, we were glad to see that they understood completely, and even let us in anyways. When we went in, the Hermana of Noelia was there with her two children too. Sadly, it was too late to teach them, but we talked to them for a bit and found out that they have been reading and praying as a family every day. They are so amazing!!! And, Noelias sister and niece seem to have a lot of interest. They don’t live in our area, so we will have to get the reference and send it to the Hermanas, but they are really great too. It was such a long, but super great day!!

Friday

Friday morning we were meant to have a lesson with Viviana, a lesson I was actually really looking forward to. But, she wasn’t home, which was pretty lame. So, we went around to visit a few people, some members and also a few other contacts or futuro investigadores. But literally no one was home. So I was a little frustrated. But then, I had the idea of going to see Mari, our good friend that we hadn’t seen in a while. So we went to see her, and she was home and was super happy to see us. But, because she had to leave and go to work, we couldn’t talk for too long. Just long enough to get another cita set up for Sunday and to talk to her and her sons for a few minutes. It was good. They are a really good, cool family. Then we made the long trek out to have lunch with the FML Leonelo, a super crazy but super fun family. After lunch and studies during the siesta, we went back to the good ole barrio, Las Vegas. We had set up a few citas with some people, but they weren’t home either. So that was a bit lame. But after that, we went to see if we could talk with Ariana, the contact that we had that was super great. Sadly, she wasn’t home either. But, we were able to talk to her little sister, and then we set up another cita with them on Sunday. They are both really nice and we hope to be able to talk to them and maybe the rest of the people who are in their house. Then, we went to look for Fabian, so we could take him to an actividad that we had Friday night. It was an activity to help us prepare for the Conferencia de Barrio on Sunday. But, when we showed up to Fabians house, he wasn’t able to come with us because he was grounded for not going to school that morning. We didn’t go to school because his alarm didn’t go off, which was super lame. But we went to the activity anyways and it was pretty good. To start the activity, we watched the Story of John Tanner. Such a good story. I love it every time! Then afterwards, we had a bit of food and drinks. It was a good time to just be able to have some food and talk to the members and get to know them a little better. It was nice and fun.

Saturday.

Basically the entire day was dedicated to an activity that we had in a different area. We traveled to a town called Yapeyu, a town that is basically just on the other side of Santa Fe. We went for a "Mini MTC". It was super cool. We got there, after a bit of trouble finding the church building, and the first thing we did was sit down and have lunch. I mean, if the activity ended after that, it would have been worth the trip and I would have been happy. But after that, we were able to hang out with the other missionaries and wait for the next part of the day. We got all together as missionaries and as youth and every companionship of missionaries was paired with 2 or 3 youth. Then, we received a paper with some people to visit and a map to help us find our way around. And then we left. So we had a few hours of walking around with the youth to visit some people and show them what life as a missionary is like. It was pretty fun. The kids we were paired with were pretty cool. On the list of people that we were given, they were all less active members, but only a few of them were home. We actually didn’t get let into a house until the very of the proselyting time. But we were able to contact a few people and have fun walking around and answering some of their questions about the mission and how they can prepare and stuff like that. The lady that we were able to visit was an older member who had gone less active a few years ago when she lost one of her daughters. But we were able to talk to her, share a scripture, and invite her to General Conference for the next week. It was a good ole time and we felt good about what we could do in our little time of showing the kids around. Also, at the end of the visit with the Grandma, one of the kids that was with us gave his copy of the Book of Mormon that he had used for the last year of seminary that was full of markings and notes and it was a really cool thing for him to do. Then, we went back to the church and had a really amazing testimony meeting for all of the kids to get up and share some of their experiences and how they learned and grew in the few hours of being a Mini Missionary. A lot of the experiences were really amazing and super spiritual. I felt the spirit so strongly. I loved it so much. Then President Westover gave a small talk and shared some of the missionary experiences that he has heard from the missionaries lately. They were really cool. Then, after him, Elder Levrino gave a good talk too about how important it is to stay obedient during the mission and how that can affect not only us, but the work we do too. Super great activity. When we got back to Santa Fe, we took the little time that we had left in the day to go and visit Fabian. He wasn’t feeling too good because one of his dogs got hit by a car, so he went to a friend’s house to stay there for the night. So we actually talked to his mom, who is super nice. She told us that we could look for Fabian on Sunday morning to talk him to church, but that he might not be home. But other than that, not too much happened.

Sunday. 

It was a SUUUUUUUPER good Sunday, ladies and gentleman. We had so much good stuff happen for us. First of all, FML Penno came to church!! It was amazing! And, they had one of their nieces come to church! So we had 5 people in church this week. Fantastic. They loved it. Francisco had fun in primary and Ari and her cousin had fun with the young women too. Noelia was super attentive in church and had a lot of good questions, like she always does. Jose stayed pretty quiet, but that’s just the way he is. It was great to see them there. After the siesta, we went to Las Vegas to teach the lady that always calls us spies and taught her a little about the Plan of Salvation. It was super good. She is a bit crazy, but has a huge family and they could all benefit from the Gospel. So we are going to continue to visit them. As we were leaving Las Vegas, a random guy yelled at us and asked for a pamphlet to read and asked us to come by and teach him. It was actually one of the first times in all of my mission that that has happened and I was glad for the blessings that we are receiving. Then, we taught Mari, my really good friend. She is so interested in the Gospel and is super fascinated in what we believe and how she can benefit from our messages. She asked us for a Book of Mormon because we had read parts of it with her and also because she had read the pamphlet of Plan of Salvation a bunch of times and wanted the Book of Mormon more than anything else from us. It was a great lesson. We explained the Restoration and committed her to read and pray and then set up another visit. The Spirit during the First Vision was so strong, and also in the end while Elder Grandon was giving his experience of coming to know that the Book of Mormon is true. Other than that, we went to drop off our clothes at the HNA Maciel’s house and ended the night.

So yeah, it was a great week and we had a bunch of experiences. I can’t wait for this next week to get to teaching FML Penno, Fabian, Jonathan, Mari, and so many others. I also can’t wait for General Conference because last time, I couldn’t understand too well and now I can understand just about everything. Plus, it’s another opportunity to listen to the words, promises, and blessings of our leaders and Prophets. 

Elder Grandon and I are really doing good together, having fun and finding a bunch of people. I’m actually super happy and love all the work that we are getting done. I can’t believe 10 months have gone by already!! I’m glad I still have a bunch of time left in the mission. I love it here!!

Well, thank you all for the love and support. Like always, I am so very thankful and grateful for everything that you guys do for me and my family. Love you all and good luck this next week of your lives!

Chau

Elder Haley

It is SPRING here and hot...and getting cold at home!

Ping Pong with Fabian

Seeing Elder Loveridge at District Conference

Ward party and good food!

Familia Penno came to church!

McDonalds in Argentina!