Elder Morley Haley Santa Fe Argentina Mission: Crazy hot and awesome

Hola gente! Como andan? A mi, estoy transpirando pero mal y no tengo mucho tiempo para escribir. Pero, por lo menos ustedes pueden leer este en sus hogares bien y frios y disfrutar que no estan moriendo aca en Argentina como yo.

Sorry for the late email this week and the worry it may have caused. The internet at the cyber place has been knocked out until today. So yeah, legit, it’s so dang hot here right now. This entire week has been hot, except for when it has rained. In which case, it was hot AND rainy. So that has basically been my life this last week. I’ve been sweating like crazy, but Elder Mitchell and I haven’t let that stop us from having a great week.

We were able to have a bunch of lessons this week, which has helped me feel nice and excited about this new area. Coming to Hernandarias, I was expecting to not have too many people to visit. That we would be walking in the streets all day and contacting the same 5 people a few times every week. But, it turns out that the area is actually a whole lot bigger than I first thought and Elder Mortensen and Elder Mitchell have done a really good job of finding people to teach. So this week we have met with a few people and taught a few good lessons. Just to make things a little bit shorter, some of the people we have taught this week are named Pablo, Hernan, Dilan, Yamir, Jonathan, Nestor, Antonio, Carlos, Miguel, Manuel and Ricardo. Just to name a few. Let alone all of the miembros menos activos that we have visited this week and other members too.

Another one of the guys that we have met with this week is a guy named Manuel. He is probably in his late 50’s or 60’s and is quite the interesting person. He has been meeting with the missionaries for only a short time now, probably only a few weeks, but we are having quite a bit of fun with him. His favorite thing to do when we come over is to play music. He plays the guitar and sings, while Elder Mitchell, who is a great percussion player, plays Manuel's homemade Turtle. Yep that’s right, he plays the turtle. Manuel made a small kind of drum instrument out of a turtle’s shell and that is what Elder Mitchell plays. So, while Elder Mitchell plays the turtle, Manuel plays his Folkloric guitar songs and sings, practically yelling at the top of his lungs. The first song that he played nearly scarred me right out of my seat when we first started singing! He is now trying to teach me how to sing the songs. It’s a little harder than I thought it would be, but I’m trying to figure it out. By the end of this transfer I should be good enough that the three of us can ditch Hernandarias and start a tour across all of South America. Just kidding. He also loves to make us eat some of his homemade peach dessert stuff. I’ll send a picture. He literally goes out into the wild forest wilderness that surrounds all of Entre Rios and harvests pounds and pounds of wild peaches at a time. Then he brings them back to his house, skins and boils them, then eats that every day. He says that he is sick and tired of eating them every day, so he gives a lot to us to help him finish up all that he has. But, he really is a great guy. Even when we dresses up in his crazy Folkloric clothing, he is a very nice and humble man who is honestly interested in what we have to share. We are in the process of teaching the first few lessons, but he says that when we reads the Book of Mormon he enjoys it and feels the Spirit! What a great man!

But speaking of the wild, that reminds me of something else that is different about Hernandarias. Although in town is just about the same as everywhere else that I’ve been, outside in all directions is lush wilderness and green lusciousness. It’s a lot different than Santa Fe. I’ve heard that most of Entre Rios is super hilly, but here in Hernandarias isn’t too bad. I haven’t noticed too much as far as differences in the people and the culture, but I think the people here are a little bit nicer than my last two areas. Blessings!

Also, here in Hernandarias there aren’t very many members. Not only are we not a Ward, but we aren’t even a Branch. This is the first Organized Group that I have ever been in. We don’t have a church building to meet in, just a really small building. There are about 14 people that come to church, three active families. The Primary (children’s class) has 2 kids and their mom is the teacher. It’s a bit different from being in Santo Tome with something around 100 members attending every week. But, that does change too much of what we do here. I will say that I am excited about giving more talks here in Sacrament Meetings. I haven’t had the opportunity to give a talk since my time in Rafaela, but just this week, we were asked to give talks. I spoke on the Sabbath Day and Elder Mitchell gave a great talk on Tithing. It was a good way to introduce myself to the members that I hadn’t met, and also to share my testimony. As of right now, we have 3 active male members who possess the Melchizedek Priesthood, and to become a Branch, we need at least 4. So we are working hard with a few of the less active members, and at the same time, looking to teach more worthy men and fathers of families to teach and baptize, so that in time they can come to be worthy priesthood holders also. So yeah. The work here is going great.

As far as my companion, Elder Mitchell is a great guy and a hard working missionary. We are really getting along great, which is a huge blessing seeing as how we are the only two missionaries within 2 to 3 hours of here. So we are trying our hardest to talk to everyone and really listen to the Spirit to have it direct us to where we are needing to go and find people who are prepared to listen to us. Elder Mitchell’s Spanish is super good for the short time that he has in the mission. We have been able to do really well during lessons and contacts so that both of us can share and teach with each other.

Now for the Spiritual Thought...

One of the scriptures that I've been thinking about this week is in 2 Nephi 25 verse 23 which says

23 Porque nosotros trabajamos diligentemente para escribir, a fin de persuadir a nuestros hijos, así como a nuestros hermanos, a creer en Cristo y a reconciliarse con Dios; pues sabemos que es por la gracia por la que nos salvamos, después de hacer cuanto podamos;

(oops, sorry it’s in Spanish...mama, please send the English version)

23 For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.

I’ve been able to use this scripture a few times this week to help a couple of the people we are teaching. One is having a hard time quitting the cigarettes. So we shared with him the principle of Grace. I’ve been very blessed in my life through the power of Grace and Mercy. I cannot describe in words, neither in English or Spanish, just how grateful I am for Grace and the enabling power that it provides in my life, especially as a missionary. I have seen the miracle of Grace play a factor in so many lives, including my own. The principle of grace used to be kind of fuzzy to me before, kind of like I somewhat understood what it meant, but not really. But on my mission, through different study sessions, General Conference talks, and lessons from Sunday School or mission conferences, I have come to understand the words of Brad Wilcox when he says that "Jesus doesn’t make UP the difference, Jesus makes ALL the difference." I would like to bear you all my testimony that I know that as we give all our effort to help other people, to obey the commandments, and to come closer to Christ, as we give it everything we’ve got, literally leaving us exhausted and tired at the end of the day. It is through the power of Christ’s Grace that we are saved, yes, even "after all we can do." I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Until next time

Chau

Elder Haley