Elder Morley Haley Santa Fe Argentina Mission: Hernandarias and Elder Mitchell

Yoooo what is up my people?? How has life been this last week? I hope it’s been all good for you guys, because it’s been pretty good for me too. I have quite a bit to share this week, so I’ll try to get everything into this email but still try not to make it too long of an email either. Sooooo here we go…

First of all is the news from transfers. I have been sent out of Santo Tome after 6 months. I’m going to miss it more than ever, and I am so grateful for the time that I had there and also for the people I had the opportunity to meet and the memories and lessons I now have. It is crazy that I had only been in two areas my entire first year in Argentina. I am currently in my new area, Hernandarias, which is a bit different than good ol’ Santoto. Hernandarias is in Entre Rios, the province that is right next to Santa Fe. It is close to nothing. In the middle of nowhere. It’s my first area in Entre Rios, and so far, it’s been great. My new companion is Elder Mitchell and he is from a small town in Arizona named Thacher. He is a super funny guy and we are going to get a long great. He’s got about 5 months in the mission and is just now ending his training. He has been in Hernandarias for two transfers, his entire time in Argentina. He was trained pretty well though by the Legendary Elder Mortensen, one of the guys from my MTC group. Here in Hernandarias we are the only missionaries. We don’t even have a District. The closest missionaries from our Zone are in Santa Elena, about 3 hours from here in Colectivo. Pretty nuts. But so far I am loving Hernandarias. Super small town, super tranquilo, and everyone here is super nice and knows the missionaries. It’s been pretty great so far. I’m excited for the new start and finally getting to be in Entre Rios. I haven’t notice too much of a difference in the culture and the people, but I will say that the people here are a lot nicer in general to the missionaries.

This last week was pretty full of crazy stuff to do. In the beginning of the week, on Tuesday, we had a super great District Meeting, the last one of the transfer. It was amazing and super spiritual. We talked about a bunch of stuff and read a little bit in the scriptures and everything, and the Zone Leaders were there and talked a little about what Presidente has been talking about lately and we talked about faith and trials. But, the best part wasn’t until the very end of the meeting, when we had a bit of a testimony meeting. Because it was the last meeting of the transfer, and also the last week of Elder Sandler and Elder Toledo, one of the Zone Leaders, we all took our turns to share our testimonies. All of the testimonies were amazing and the Spirit was definitely present during the meeting. Each of us talked about the mission and the things we have learned in our time as missionaries. It was a great time, very uplifting and a wonderful way to end the transfer. I really learned a lot while being District Leader! I am thankful for everything serving in Santo Tome taught me.

Then, after the district meeting, we started divisions with the Zone Leaders. We had planned that I was going to go to Santa Fe and be in the area of the ZLs with Elder Toledo, but just before lunch, we had to change plans and it ended up that Elder Toledo and I were in my area. I was a little disappointed honestly. I just really wanted to go to Santa Fe and get out of my own area for a little bit. It turned out to be a pretty good time anyways. In the District Meeting before we started divisions, we had talked about how we need to be trying our hardest every day to work and reach the goal of 10 contacts a day. Elder Moore and I have not been faithfully getting 10 contacts every day. So, Elder Toledo and I had made up our minds to contact a bunch of people that afternoon. We left the pench and talked to just about everyone that we passed in the streets. It was pretty lit actually. We ended up talking to a bunch of really great people and ended the night with 7 contacts. Not exactly what the goal was, but we had worked our hardest and seen the results. I ended the night pretty well satisfied. Then, we went to FML Pennos and ended the night having dinner with them. The next morning of divisions was really good too. We went to Las Vegas to visit a few people, one of which was Liliana, the crazy Spies lady that just had heart surgery. It was great because we were finally able to see her in person after a really long time. The last time we had seen her and actually sat down to talk was just after the surgery about 2 months ago when we gave her a blessing. Ever since then she had been super weak and in and out of the hospital for different problems that followed the surgery. But, we were able to sit down with her and a few of her kids and grandkids and just chat. After getting to know the people we hadn’t met before, we were just chatting and laughing and talking about what had been happening since the last time that we saw her. As we were talking and getting to know each other a little bit more, one of the daughters, that we had never met before, started to ask us about the different things that we do as missionaries and why the heck we would come from so far away to share messages of Jesus Christ. So we talked to her a little bit and shared a little bit of the Restoration with them and left them with a pamphlet to read. It was a good time, and the one daughter now seems to be pretty interested in our message. So we chatted a little longer and then ended with a prayer. It was a good time. Then, later in the week, after I had learned that I was going to be transferred, we went back to visit Liliana and her family to say goodbye. It was a crazy time, like always, but we got a few pictures taken and had a good time with them.

Also during the week, one afternoon we went to the house of the FML Eyras and we had planned to have a kind of pizza and brownie family home evening night. So showed up and started making some brownies. It was one of the most complicated, but amazing recipes I’ve ever seen in Argentina. It was fantastic. Super chocolatey and heavenly. So we made the pizza’s afterwards and had a good night with them. But, just as we were leaving, we were surprised to see the FML Penno pull up to the house of FML Eyras. During the dinner we had heard that Francisco had been bitten by a dog. We weren’t too sure about what was going on, but Noelia and he were in the hospital getting stitches. So we were pretty worried about them and I was planning to call them as soon as we left the Eyras’s house. But when we saw them, we were able to see how they were in person. Noe was a little shaken up, but was fine. Fran was a little shell shocked and with blood all over his shirt. It turns out that they were at a friend’s house and Jose told Fran to not get close to the big dog that the friend had. So what does Fran do? He goes and tries to give it a hug. And what does the dog do? Try to eat Fran’s face. But, he was lucky enough to pull away and all the dog got was Fran’s ear. So it ripped a good part of Fran’s ear and left him crying and bleeding pretty bad. But other than the pain of the stitches, he was a good sport and didn’t cry too much... or at least that’s what he said. Noe said they had to hold him down because he was screaming and kicking so bad. But, he’s good now and just has a few stitches in the side of his head.

We had made other food with a member family also. On Saturday we had lunch with the FML Amarilla. We had some amazing empanadas which we had bought from Sofi to help her pay for EFY. The empanadas were amazing and I ate like 10 of them, and then, because that wasn’t enough, we made some churros too. I got the recipe from HNA Amarilla and bought one of the small churro makers. I also bought a kind of needle thing that we used to fill the churros with chocolate. Soo dang good, but after the empanadas, I was stuffed by eating one or two churros. It was a great time with them and a perfect way to say goodbye. I’m going to miss them a lot. Saying goodbye to FML Penno was hard also. There were some tears. Their family will always be so very special to me. We had dinner and they had some surprises for me. They always make a frame with our name on it when a missionary leaves. They gave me a mate mug that has pictures on it that appears when it is warm. I left one of my name tags with them also. Ari also gave me a futbol jersey from the Colon de Santa Fe team here.

Another super cool thing that happened all week was at church. During the sacrament meeting I was able to stand up and give my goodbye testimony. I will admit, I did choke up pretty bad. But, I stayed strong and did shed a single tear. Okay, maybe more than one tear. It was pretty tough. During my testimony I thanked everyone for the time and the memories and the lessons I had learned. I expressed my love for all of them and for the work of the Lord. And then I shared something close to the following...

Honestly, I hate saying Goodbye. It’s the worst. I love being able to know and come close to people and become friends and always joke around and have good times. But when it comes to saying goodbye and leaving, especially an area so special as Santo Tome, even more after the amount of time I spent there, I was super sad to leave. I was thinking about it even more, figuring that if I was lucky, I would be able to see more than a few of them again, if during the mission or afterwards. I plan to keep in contact with most of them, through email and then afterwards with social media and all that. But, for most of them, it would be the last time that I saw them in this life. But then I thought about the Celestial Kingdom, and how if we were able to strong to our testimonies and our covenants, we will all be able to be together as friends and family once again in the Celestial Kingdom.

I am proud to say that a few of the members of the congregation joined me in my choking up. I am very grateful for the time that I had in Santo Tome. I learned a lot and have developed many skills and talents that I am now excited to use here in Hernandarias. I am thankful for my time with Elder Moore. It was a great experience to be his trainer, but also his friend. He is a great missionary already. I am excited to see him during the rest of my mission and catch up.

Thank you all for the love and support that you all show to me and my loved ones. I love you all.

I want to end this email now with my testimony of the Plan of Salvation. I know that God lives and that He is my and our Loving Heavenly Father. I know that each and every one of us is one of His beloved children, no matter if we are from the United States, Santo Tome, or Hernandarias. I am so thankful for the opportunity I have to share this knowledge and truth with the people of Argentina, especially now in Hernandarias. I love my Heavenly Father and want the best for His children. This is why I am in Argentina, serving a mission. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Thank you all! Until next week.

Chau

Elder Haley

Brownies...

Pizza

The Eyras little girls

My package from the Reimers family. It finally arrived in the regular mail. I was pretty excited. The Junior Mints didn't fair too well in the hot Argentina weather but they still tasted good! Thank you!