Elder Morley Haley Santa Fe Argentina Mission: I love Rafaela!!

This week has been really really good. Quite a bit happened week, it was fun with a lot of good times. So last week when we got to our area, we found out that the pench that we had dropped all of our stuff in ended up needing a bit of some painting and the bathroom needed a complete do over. We ended up having to pack up a few things and headed over to the another pench that we have here. It was alright there for a while, but the first morning that we were there, Elder Smith took a shower as I was eating breakfast and halfway through the shower, he realized that the water wasn’t draining. The way that they had the bathroom set up, the water ended up going out the bathroom and into our kitchen. So that wasn’t exactly how we wanted to start our day, but the day ended up being super cool. All of the people that we were visiting were either people that the last missionaries had been visiting, or members whose addresses we got from a list of members that we found in our pench. So it was a pretty good time in our area this week, but sadly, we didn’t get to spend too much time in San Cristobal. Luckily, instead of working in our area, we were able to go back to one of my favorite places ever, RAFAELA!! We were able to go to Rafaela for a few days. We ended up having our Zone Council on Thursday and then we stayed until Sunday for our District Conference. I LOVED going back to Rafaela, my very first area. Zone Council was really good. It was by far my smallest Zone Council that I’ve ever had, there are only 8 Elders in the entire Zone. And it was super cool too because Elder Moore is in the Zone, in fact, he is in my old area!! I really liked ZC this time around. Hermana Westover, of course, had a really good message that helped me a lot. It was about how we have to look at the world through children’s eyes. It was cool how she related a recent event that her granddaughter had to all the missionaries. Grace, the 8 year old granddaughter of Hermana Westover has been playing the piano for a while now and just recently had a piano recital that she was super nervous about. She ended up drawing a picture about her recital to help cheer her up. In the picture, all of the people in the crowd were clapping and were really pleased with Grace and her piano playing skills. And then, when the actual recital came around, Grace had a great performance and was really proud of herself. Hermana Westover then related that to us as missionaries and how we can end up feeling better about ourselves and the work that we are doing if we just felt better and looked at the work more optimistically. That really helped me, especially as I am starting a whitewash with very little to work with in an area with a pretty small branch. But, from Hermana Westover’s message, I now have a more positive way of looking at the work that we are doing here in San Cristobal.

But the rest of the time that we were in Rafaela I was able to go on Divisions with Elder Moore (I was his trainer in Santo Tome) and I was super excited to be able to work with him. His companion, Elder Edvalson, had been sick just about the entire week, so Elder Moore just wanted to get out and work a bit, and I absolutely wanted to walk around in my old area and visit a few people. It was great to spend the time with Elder Moore and see just how much he has learned and progressed since we were together in Santo Tome. I had a great time with him, catching up a bit, laughing a lot, and just working. But, we were also able to visit a few converts of mine, including Emiliano, Alma, and Ariel. And of course I went to visit Gabe and my favorite Argentine Aunt and Uncle, Adrian and Liza. I had a great time in Rafaela and spent a lot of time chuckling at myself while reminiscing all the good times that I had there. Everyone we visited couldn’t believe how fluent my Spanish is…especially compared to how bad it was when I was there. So many amazing memories are in Rafaela. I love that place and the people that live there. I’m grateful for the chance that I had to return to visit and to really boost my energy levels and get me pumped to go back to San Cristobal and get some real work going.

Then, on Sunday, we had a historical District Conference. We were able to witness the entire District Presidency be released and a new one be sustained. I had already known the former District President, Presidente Horton, from my time in Rafaela. But what I hadn’t known is that he had served for just about 13 YEARS as District President. That is so nuts. I admire his dedication and the work that he did. I am grateful for his service and the example that he gave me. And I also know the new District President, Presidente Peralta, who was the Branch President of my Branch back in my time in Rafaela. His First Counselor was also a member that I ended up getting to know fairly well. So it was a crazy meeting consisting of many changes and also a lot of testimonies. I really enjoyed the strong spirit that was present at the meeting and also the chance that it gave me to see all of the other members that I worked with. And of course there was Hermana Palota who always served and helped us as much as possible and always open her home to us and tried her hardest to make us comfortable. I will always love and hold Rafaela as a special place and time in my Mission.

During this week I was able to see a lot of the effect that the Spirit has on people. Visiting with a few of the in active members in San Cristobal and a few of my old friends in Rafaela that don’t have the blessed opportunity of having the Spirit in their lives I saw that way they enjoyed the old feelings of peace and comfort that we brought and helped them feel as we visited them. I know that the Spirit plays a huge and very important role in our work as missionaries and I am very intrigued and curious to see how the few visits that we made this week will affect the work in both Rafaela and San Cristobal.

I thank you all for reading and hope that you are all well. Thanks for always loving and supporting me!

Chau

Elder Haley