New Changes!!!

Howdy! What is going my friends?? I hope that all went well for you guys this week and that you can sit down for a few minutes and read this email. It has been a pretty good week. Super long, it seems, but it went pretty well overall. We had a good experiences and had a lot of fun, like always. But before I start, just want to thank you all for reading and caring about what goes on in my life. I know that as I work here in Hernandarias I can help the people that live here, but I also hope to help and maybe even inspire you all at the same time. But enough of that...

First….new changes this week from the prophet!!!  We can call home every week now, instead of twice a year!!  That is so insane and wonderful! Here in Hernadarias, we don’t have computers that have cameras we can still call via the Google Hangout.  I will be able to see and hear my family, but they won’t be able to see me.  This is an amazing change and it will be great for missionaries and families!

So, after spending Pday in Santa Elena last week, and eating some pretty good Asado with the rest of the Zone, we stayed the night there and had Divisions with the Zone Leaders the next day. Sadly, we weren’t able to get too much done. Let me explain. In the morning I left with Elder Rasmussen and we went to visit one lady, but she wasn’t home. But then, we had to go back to the pench to pay this one guy for bringing us a tank of gas. So the way most houses work here is that they don’t have direct gas line to their stoves. People just have to buy tanks every once in a while and then that is hooked up right to the stove. Honestly, that was super crazy to me because I have had direct line gas my entire mission and in all of my penches. So, we had to pay that guy to give us a new tank of gas, and then we had to go to the Hermanas pench and spend basically the rest of the day there with them. In all of the Hermana’s penches they have security alarms, but the alarm of the Hermana’s was broken. Two guys came to fix it, but for them to be there with the Hermana’s, at least one companionship of Elders has to be there too. And, because the fixing took the entire day, we were there the entire day with the Hermanas. Not exactly what we had planned for our day but we just had to roll with it and make the best of the situation.

This week with Pablo we were able to meet with him once, but he unfortunately wasn’t able to come to church. But, for the one small meeting that we had with him, we were reading together in 2 Nephi 31 and learning about the Gospel or Doctrine of Christ. It was going really well, he was super into it and it was a pretty good lesson, but then about halfway through the chapter, he had to leave. So we had to end it with a quick prayer and we tried going back again the next day, but he was busy. A little lame, but we are not losing hope. He is having a really good time with the lessons and starting to develop the every day habits like reading and praying. He’s starting to understand a lot more. He is a great guy, super nice and kind. We are just hoping to meet with him a few more times this week and for sure get him to the church this next Sunday. 

One of the less active members here in Hernandarias recently fell and broke her ankle, so we went to visit her this week and we were just chatting and getting to know here and her family a little bit more. In the entire family there is about 8 members or so, but they are all inactive except for one of the daughters named Milagros who just turned 19 years old. So we are always trying to help them be more excited and motivated to go to church. But, for this visit, we just got to know them and then gave a blessing to the mom. It was fun because Elder Mitchell had only stood in on one other blessing his entire mission, so I made him do the actual blessing part for the hermana who broke her ankle. I did the anointing and Elder Mitchell gave a very good, very short blessing after sealing the anointing. It was a little funny, but he did his best. I remember how nervous I was to give my first blessing in Spanish. Actually, for only having a few months in the mission, he speaks really great Spanish. It makes my life a little bit easier and teaching a lot more enjoyable. 

With Manuel this week, we were able to talk to him a few times. We, of course, listened to a few songs and ate a bit of his peaches. But, we were also able to talk about the scriptures and teach him too. First of all, we taught him about the Word of Wisdom. It was a pretty easy, straightforward lesson because he doesn’t have any problems with any of it. He doesn’t drink, smoke, chew, huff, puff, inject, use, snort, or partake of any of the substances that are mentioned in the Word of Wisdom. He says that it messes with his singing voice. We weren’t about to argue with him, so it was a pretty good lesson and in the end, he committed to continue keeping himself clean of those things. But on a different night we were talking to him and he has a song that he sings called "La sin corazon" which means "the woman without a heart." Every time he sings the song, he goes off on a rant about his ex-wife and how she cheated on him for years and how she is the devil and how he didn’t do anything wrong but that it was all her fault. So, after yet another one of those rants, we talked to him about Forgiveness and loving others as Jesus loves us. It was a good way to help him, and he did admit that sometimes he gets a little carried away. Then, for the weekend, he went to Santa Fe and told us that he wasn’t going to be back until Monday. So we invited him to church in Santa Fe and gave him the address and hours for the meetings at one of the churches in Santa Fe. It was going to be amazing for him to go, especially all on his own in Santa Fe, but we just saw him last night and he told us that Sunday morning he woke up and his ear was hurting so bad that he had to come back to Hernandarias that morning. So that was a bummer. But he said he really wanted to go. We’ll make him come with us this week. 

There was one afternoon, kind of like last week, when we had exhausted all of our plans and decided that we had to go contact in an area that we hadn’t been to before. So we went way out there and started contacting. The first door that we knock on... nothing. And it happened like that for a few houses, until we clapped at one house and this guy comes out smiling. He invites us to sit down with him outside his house and we started chatting for a little bit. His name is Juan and he lives at home with his girlfriend and their two daughters. He is super nice and funny and is always laughing. So we get to know him and then planned to go by the next morning. When we passed by that morning, we sat down with him and chatted for a little bit more and then shared with him the message of the Restoration. It was a great lesson and he participated well and agreed to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it is true. But, because we had only known him until then, we asked if we could get to know his girlfriend and children also. So he called his girlfriend out and we met her and started talking for a little bit and now it’s not going to be weird between us the next time we go by. I am super excited to start teaching this family and share with them the Gospel that has brought so many blessings to my life. I already love them. 

Alright, one last thing before I end this email. I can’t remember if I’ve said anything about the Bolivianos that live here in Hernandarias, but they have a store here that sells some pretty fake clothes, but apparently there are a few of them that live here and two of them are members. The missionaries had previously meet with them, but it’s been a long time since that happened. So we have been trying for the past few weeks to put ourselves in contact with them. But last week, we were walking down the street about to head to the pench for lunch when one of the Bolivians ran up to us from behind and asked us for our number so that his cousin, who is going through some pretty hard stuff right now, can talk to us. We of course were happy to give him our number, but we didn’t hear from the guy until this week when he called and invited us over to eat lunch with them on Wednesday. So we went over and ate some super good food that made me think a lot of Elder Gonzales and then after we had a great lesson. We started the lesson at about 2 or 230 ish, but we didn’t end until about 4ish. We had learned that they had a few family members who had died recently, so we were impressed to teach the Plan of Salvation. It went great. We taught all 5 of them, two of which are the members that we have been trying to get with for a while. They all participated, paid really great attention, and all asked great questions. It was probably one of the best lessons I’ve had my entire mission. Then, after we ended talking about the Plan of Salvation, they started asking about the Book of Mormon. So we shared with them a little bit of the story of Joseph Smith and the Restoration. When we gave them all Book of Mormons, one of the girls was really interested and started to read it immediately. They are great people and I am really excited to start teaching them also. 

But yeah. Other than that stuff, we have been meeting with a few other people and contacting more and trying to start to teach more and more people. We are having a lot of fun together and trying to make the Hernandarias Experience as good as possible. 

Also, this week we went to a great Fish restaurant down by the river. We bought one of the dishes that brings out plates full of all different types of fish cooked different ways. It was a bit expensive, but totally worth it. Something that Dad would love to eat... (WINKY FACE)

I’d like to end with a small Spiritual Thought. I was reading this week in the talks from this last General Conference and the one by M. Joseph Brough was one that really caught my attention. I love how he mentions that no matter what, hard things will happen to us. We will have trials. We will have problems. We will have tests and difficulties. But, it’s how we let these things affect us that is really important. That is actually one of the themes that I’m starting to see in the latest General Conference. But, I just want to leave you with my testimony that I know that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ and through his Grace, we can over come anything that happens to us. We can always have hope. Like it says in John 16, that we should not fear, for Jesus has overcome the world and is willing to help us do the same. 

Thank you and love you all!

Until we meet again...

Chau

Elder Haley

Zone Conference in Santa Elena eating Asado.

The restaurant on the river with the fish

Added a little greenery to the pench!  Pretty hard to kill a cactus!

Remember last week when I mentioned the leather I bought and the scripture covers I ordered?? Well, here they are.  He only drew on them with a sharpie!  The next picture is what I showed him and he said he could do it...not quite the same.

Here are the pictures of the pench that I promised. It is small but we make it work!