Hey Family!!

Okay... maybe the whole hospital thing came out a little "critical", I´m doing good I promise! :) Thank you so much for your concern and for your love! I think one of the things that characterizes so perfectly the plan of our Father in Heaven and of this Church in general is LOVE! I couldn´t be more grateful for this special attribute and for the many ways that it is felt in my life. From what I´ve heard and what the people think is that because of how "heavy"the food is here in Argentina and the amount of flours and other types of ingredients that are used here that it could be that my body had some allergic reaction that in a way "paralyzed" the regular movements of my intestines causing them to be... full... and to swell up! They´ve had me on some pills and other medications to stimulate the normal rhythm of my intestines again and to help things move along. Haha we´ll talk about the treatments when I get home, they should make for a good family laugh! There is nothing like a mission to help you to be able to experience, like you guys put it, new things that all have a lesson! I´m doing well though and not anything long lasting! If anything I´ll just have to check if it was some kind of allergy.

Shoot, time flies so quickly! It sounds like you had a great time at Lagoon and.. Go Riser (I´ve done some soliciting down here to put in my part for the open house that ya had, so we´ll see if we can land ya some projects)! Thanks for all your stories and great experiences that I get to hear about! :) I love to here about em all! Things right now are great and to answer some of your questions Pops, right now we are doing great as a zone, we came off of a great week! We had 4 great baptisms in the zone and was a really rewarding thing to hear of the experiences that they had in helping others to come unto Christ. Responsibility wise, I feel like I´m still in the fast seat, trying to learn as I go. Elder Mines and the rest of the zone leaders are a huge help in giving me support and being examples in how we can manage the Lord's vineyard. I´ve learned that unity is a key ingredient to a successful team. If all gears are not spinning at the same time then our productivity begins to slow down or can end up causing further damage to the other members of the team. As a leader it is important to learn our duties and then to act in all diligence so that our part of the vineyard is well taken care of. I feel humble in the calling that I have and really blessed to be learning so much from everyone else. I love the scripture in Proverbs 27:23: Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds. Right now I´m learning how to center my mind on others. So many times I believe we can feel unqualified and unprepared for the responsibilities that the Lord sees fit to give us. We all have been given special lessons and gifts even from the counsels in heaven to be prepared for all service that we would give in our time here. I have learned that the best way to progress is to center all that we do on the needs of others. Study for them, work for them, love them and when we do this we progress in our own lives. It is a great blessing to be able to be serving a mission! :)

Well this week we had a super great week, we found GOLD! Since I´ve been here I´ve had the strongest feeling that there are people who are waiting for the Gospel of Jesus Christ to come into their lives, I´m so sure of this knowledge, not only for us but for the whole Zone. (In each occasion that we can talk with them we try and emphazise this point!) We found here in Villa Elvira a couple great families! One lady that we found is named Luisa. She was a contact that I had the other week when we went out on divisions- the truth is that I didn´t know the area really well and thought it was the house of where our appointment was- but it turned out well!! We passed by again and before we said anything she was opening up the gate and inviting us to come in.. not to shabby! She is a perfect investigator!! She listens so well, asks questions when she doesn´t understand and takes our invitations to read the Book of Mormon as if her life were depending on it! We met with her a couple of times before she left for el campo to spend the weekend. Tomorrow we should have a lesson with her again! I´m very excited to see how much she has been able to progress.

The other family we found has been a little bit longer of a process. At first the family was a reference from a member in our ward. When we passed by the first time she was just leaving, but got the chance to talk with the mom named Lorena. She talked a million miles per hour and just about the most depressing things... kinda a stress case! We listened to her for about 15 minutues (I guess the errands weren´t so important which was a blessing) and really grew to have empathy for her and the things that her family was going through. We expressed to her that we understood her and just tried to express how much we cared and wanted to help. At the end she looked at us really weird and said,"ya know, you guys are strange. You transmit a feeling of peace that I´ve never felt in my life." Apparently something had changed her mind and she set up an appointment with us for the next day! We´ve been back to see the family a couple times. They are 4 in their family and all are great. The dad, Favio, Lorena, Juan Cruz and Constansia! Each time we go over there we experience the most hectic household that you could imagine. The kids are all over the place and won´t listen to the parents and the parents are ripping their hair out cause of work and kids and who knows what else but at the end, I can feel the spirit stronger than any other time in the day- they have gone quiet and are listening intently and there is a peace that can´t be explained. I have gained the strongest testimony with this family of the witness of the spirit and the power of this companion that we have! His presence is essential in our lives and without Him we really are left "in the world." I´ve come to appreciate the family that we have and the peace that is in our home, but even more the power that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has to change and accommodate the environment for this special witness of our Heavenly Father to testify of the truth. I´m so certain that we are going to help them with all we can so that they accept baptism and this peace into their lives daily!

It´s a beautiful spring season right now and we are enjoying all the new signs of live here in Buenos Aires! :) Temperatures are coming up and there is a new hope for what is possible in our lives. Yo se q estamos en La Iglesia Verdadera. Sin ninguna duda nosotros tenemos las ordinanzas necesarias para la eternidad de nuevo restauradas en la tierra. Jesucristo es nuestro esperanza por el nuevo comienzo que estemos buscando en nuestras vida y la única esperanza por lo que queremos lograr en la vida que viene. Yo se que mi Salvador ha resucitado y ha roto las ligaduras que nos tengan cautivos, podemos progresar y llegar a ser como El Hijo de Dios.

1 Corinthians 15:

14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.

17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.

19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

Yo se que Cristo se ha levantado y ha tomado sobre si la gloria de su Padre para hacernos herederos y ganadores en nuestras vidas!

Que tengan una semana maravillosa!
Elder Jolley