Elder Brayden Jolley

Querida Familia!! :)

Shooot.. looks cold there! Ha. :) (that just cursed us for a storm!) Glad to hear from you guys and love all that I hear!! Today in Buenos Aires it has been a fantastic day and we´re coming off a EXCELLENT week! This last week I felt more love than ever in my mission, I felt like it was for everyone and for everything. I think the experience that stands out the most was a lesson that we taught to some less active members while on exchanges. The familia Leva. It´s a part member familia that have kinda gotten "lazy", they believe in everything that the Church teaches buut just want to live in the world for a minute! It was a blessing to not look at them weird and ask what is going through the "coconut?!" We listened to them for a minute and felt to share in Helaman 5:10-12 (mama if you could please insert that :) ).

10 And remember also the words which Amulek spake unto Zeezrom, in the city of Ammonihah; for he said unto him that the Lord surely should come to redeem his people, but that he should not come to redeem them in their sins, but to redeem them from their sins.

11 And he hath power given unto him from the Father to redeem them from their sins because of repentance; therefore he hath sent his angels to declare the tidings of the conditions of repentance, which bringeth unto the power of the Redeemer, unto the salvation of their souls.

12 And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

As we read these versículos WOW what an incredible spirit entered into the room. Not knowing the family I felt like they were my own. We testified to them that the key to a future of happiness is based on Jesus Christ and in DOING what He wants us to do! We felt like we were only sitting in place of the Savior in that lesson. I don´t know if they ended up going to church like we invited them to but the whole week was filled with special moments like this one! As I´ve been able to pray and study, focusing only on others, it has deepened my understanding and love for my mission purpose! Serving a mission is the greatest thing!! :)

This week it´s been kinda crazy back and forth between areas. To help the zone lograr la Visión de la Misión, we´ve put the goal to do an exchange with each of the areas in our zone and get to know the missionaries and get a feel for how they work and be able to get to know them better. We got two done this week and they were fantastic!! I changed with 2 American Elders in our Zone, stayed in Villa Elvira for one of them and left the area for the second. I´ve been in Villa Elvira almost 6 months now and it was nice to see some other terreno but there is nothing like being at home! (Stayed in an apartment with carpet! :) was super tempted to take a nap on it! haha) Unfortunately I wasn´t there for the appointment that we had with Emanuel and Mikaela.. it´s been kinda tough to find them and sit down and talk, it´s been something that we´ve been trying to fix with all our investigators, but Elder Villalba was able to have a really great lesson with them. They heard the message of the Restoration and were able feel the spirit! You can tell they want to change and respond to the spirit so we´re super excited to be there to help them. We´ve got a couple of citas planned with them this coming week so we´ll be sure to let you know next week! Thank you so so much for keeping them in your prayers and for the people of Argentina. We are working hard to continue to find. The Lord must have "sowers" of the word and what changes I´ve seen in my life and in those around me as we do every little thing that the Lord requires of us.. We have the 9th of February as a goal for our whole Zone to baptize. I´m confident that we´ll do it! :)

Want to wish Mam a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY! (I´m excited to be able to write to you on Monday but this is a little heads up!) Love you Mom! Have an incredible day! :)

Thanks for all that you guys do! I love you tons. Saludos a la familia y les mando un gran abrazo!
Elder Jolley