Hello familia!
Well, so weird that school is done for you guys!! Let summa' begin I guess. I had a cool moment the other day, we had gotten in from working and just getting ready for bed and all that and had one of those "Wo I`m in Argentina" moments. In the beginning of my mission those were super weird, but I was happy to feel like everything was normal this time. Knowing that this is where ya belong and that you`ve gotten used to the culture and the living-style is such a blessing! This week to was a big week for Argentina. El 25 de Mayo es el dia de La Patria here!! Argentina has 2 independence days so the other day we were able to celebrate the first and in July will be the other. They have awesome traditions here. We saw a lot of Gauchos and traditional Argentine style you could say. They spend the days in family normally eating a bunch of food. Here when there is a holiday or something big like that they usually get together for an Asado or a huge BBQ, comen Empanadas and this year was my first time trying a traditional dish called Locro. Locro is a super heavy food... don`t eat lots! Fa learned that the hard way. It`s like a huge stew with everything that you could imagine inside. Meat, vegetables and fat! :) haha and above it all you put a spicy sauce that they make up! Good stuff. This last week was a.. set back for me and Elder Prestwich as far as our "physic" goes. We had the brilliant idea in order to get a couple other lessons in and to schedule good with some investigators that we have we decided on Wednesday that we would have 2 lunches! Dumb. The first hermana served us un montòn de pasta and the other hermana served us some Raviolli. When holiday comes around Argentina it`s bad!
Well this week we had a huge blessing: Monica came to church!! We stopped by Saturday night and had una charla franca and basically told her that she had to come. Si o Si she had to get there and it would bless her. She said that she had great time and she felt a little "new" to everything, but other than that all good! We were able to help bring a few less active families too- it was the most people that I`ve seen in Bosques for the time that I`ve been here.
Well we got a big birthday coming up! A shout out to Sky-man! Happy Birthday buddy! :) Hope that you have a good day! On Wednesday we have to cool opportunity to go to a fireside with Elder Cook so I`ll make sure to let you guys know what he says and how that goes next week!
I wanted to share a scripture that I found that meant a lot to me this week!
12 For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.
Our week went completely opposite of what it was last week. That was rough. We did everything as we should have, but recognized as we look back that our hearts were maybe not as in play as they could have been. I learned a great lesson on the passion that we need to have for the things that we each do. It is good to go through the motions, but wouldn`t it be better to do it with a strong motivation. We learned that sometimes things won`t turn out how we want, but if our hearts and minds are involved the Lord will fill in the rest. It will all work out. This week I hope that we can all DO what we should, but that we do it with all that we have- make the most out of everything.
Gotta get going, have a great week! Take care
Love ya
Elder Jolley
Monday, May 27, 2013
Monday, May 20, 2013
Buenos Dìas!
Este año, estoy màs celoso del clima que ustedes estàn recibiendo y el clima que you estoy entrando. No me gustaba, estoy recordandome de eso. Ha. La semana hacìa mucho frio. Nosotros tenìamos un problema con nuestra ropa y no hemos tenido ropa limpia por una semana y media. Por suerte, y por la primera vez saque mis termicos! Bendiciòn de los cielos! El Señor siempre da en momentos de necesidad. :)
We`ve had an a amazing week! Incredible. Elder Prestwich and I have noticed great improvements in our work which has opened great doors and has helped us see great blessings in the work. Things that we`ve been taught ALL our mission we`ve been able to put into effective practice and, well we`re a little bummed that it took a year and a half to do so, but are still content! How much we should value experience! Though we still have a long way to go to be the missionaries that the Lord needs us to be, we have the surety that we`ll learn some precious lessons with every step of the way. We worked especially on our planning this week. We have to been the dueños of our time! We added a little "math" (eh eh) into the mixture to help us get an idea of our potential. Ha I was glad to know that that learning served a purpose after I graduated! :) Anyway, with all that and living and working with a little more faith we were able to have an incredible week- reach our potential and exceed what we had placed for goals! Elder Prestwich, looking back on the week realized how much our Heavenly Father's hand had influenced our lives, it was as if we didn`t work at all sin embargo we had the best week of the transfer! It was a special lesson on faith for the two of us. When we put in our part and know what we need to do then act in all diligence the Lord works miracles and makes our live's burdens light!
We had a whole bunch of new experiences and new investigators. We found a few families and continued working with a couple of the families that we`ve found in the previous weeks. To start out I just want to tell a funny story about a sweet hermana in our ward. We were at a family home evening and she told us that she had the impression to make a lunch for the other missionaries in our ward- when they didn`t show up she was a little bit sad. She then proceeded to reach in her purse and pull out two pieces of fried-chicken! YUM! :) She told us as she ripped the chicken in pieces that her hands were clean and would offer instead the chicken to me and my companion! Haha. It was delicious! I`ve never had better purse chicken in my life and I was pleased with that spiritual impression! Haha. Okay that was my funny for the week! We had a really great experience Thursday I believe. We were at the end of the night having had a couple of our citas not be home. We had a couple more things to do to reach our goals and as we were walking, this kid walked out and gave us the nicest saludo that I`ve had from a stranger. His name is Maxi. He had heard that there were a couple "Americans" walking around in Bosques and to have met us he was thrilled and wanted to know exactly what we were doing. We talked with him and his family for a minute and when we asked if we could share something with them they let us in and we had a great lesson with them!! Norma (the mom) and Maxi are catholic, but don`t really know a whole lot about religion- they love to listen and are very open to listening to us. We actually had 2 appointments with them this week and when we came back the second time Norma commented to us that, "I NEVER let people into my house, ever! But there is something different about you guys and something tells me that what you do is good and will be positive in my life!" We were very grateful and even more excited for the opportunity that Heavenly Father had given us to meet them. We had really been placed in the right place at the right time!
Fernando y Diana- I think I told you guys about them?.. Anyway we had a lesson this week with them to talk about the plan of Salvation. We were planning to wait to invite them to be married for another cita this coming week, but as we talked about getting to the celestial kingdom and be with our families, it was something that they wanted!! We explained that they could as they got baptized and such like that- it was kinda just a "robot" response kinda thing, but the spirit was SO strong in the lesson and told us that we needed to invite them to be married, to begin taking those steps to be a family eternal! It was awesome. A very powerful lesson and tonight we go back with them and hope to be able to get a date for them to get married this week! We`ll see how it goes! :)
Well time is short, I wish I could tell you guys everything that goes on but I can`t right now even scratch the surface! Maybe I`ll get the recorder again and send a little bit more details next week! I hope you guys have a great week! :)
All my love,
Elder Jolley
Este año, estoy màs celoso del clima que ustedes estàn recibiendo y el clima que you estoy entrando. No me gustaba, estoy recordandome de eso. Ha. La semana hacìa mucho frio. Nosotros tenìamos un problema con nuestra ropa y no hemos tenido ropa limpia por una semana y media. Por suerte, y por la primera vez saque mis termicos! Bendiciòn de los cielos! El Señor siempre da en momentos de necesidad. :)
We`ve had an a amazing week! Incredible. Elder Prestwich and I have noticed great improvements in our work which has opened great doors and has helped us see great blessings in the work. Things that we`ve been taught ALL our mission we`ve been able to put into effective practice and, well we`re a little bummed that it took a year and a half to do so, but are still content! How much we should value experience! Though we still have a long way to go to be the missionaries that the Lord needs us to be, we have the surety that we`ll learn some precious lessons with every step of the way. We worked especially on our planning this week. We have to been the dueños of our time! We added a little "math" (eh eh) into the mixture to help us get an idea of our potential. Ha I was glad to know that that learning served a purpose after I graduated! :) Anyway, with all that and living and working with a little more faith we were able to have an incredible week- reach our potential and exceed what we had placed for goals! Elder Prestwich, looking back on the week realized how much our Heavenly Father's hand had influenced our lives, it was as if we didn`t work at all sin embargo we had the best week of the transfer! It was a special lesson on faith for the two of us. When we put in our part and know what we need to do then act in all diligence the Lord works miracles and makes our live's burdens light!
We had a whole bunch of new experiences and new investigators. We found a few families and continued working with a couple of the families that we`ve found in the previous weeks. To start out I just want to tell a funny story about a sweet hermana in our ward. We were at a family home evening and she told us that she had the impression to make a lunch for the other missionaries in our ward- when they didn`t show up she was a little bit sad. She then proceeded to reach in her purse and pull out two pieces of fried-chicken! YUM! :) She told us as she ripped the chicken in pieces that her hands were clean and would offer instead the chicken to me and my companion! Haha. It was delicious! I`ve never had better purse chicken in my life and I was pleased with that spiritual impression! Haha. Okay that was my funny for the week! We had a really great experience Thursday I believe. We were at the end of the night having had a couple of our citas not be home. We had a couple more things to do to reach our goals and as we were walking, this kid walked out and gave us the nicest saludo that I`ve had from a stranger. His name is Maxi. He had heard that there were a couple "Americans" walking around in Bosques and to have met us he was thrilled and wanted to know exactly what we were doing. We talked with him and his family for a minute and when we asked if we could share something with them they let us in and we had a great lesson with them!! Norma (the mom) and Maxi are catholic, but don`t really know a whole lot about religion- they love to listen and are very open to listening to us. We actually had 2 appointments with them this week and when we came back the second time Norma commented to us that, "I NEVER let people into my house, ever! But there is something different about you guys and something tells me that what you do is good and will be positive in my life!" We were very grateful and even more excited for the opportunity that Heavenly Father had given us to meet them. We had really been placed in the right place at the right time!
Fernando y Diana- I think I told you guys about them?.. Anyway we had a lesson this week with them to talk about the plan of Salvation. We were planning to wait to invite them to be married for another cita this coming week, but as we talked about getting to the celestial kingdom and be with our families, it was something that they wanted!! We explained that they could as they got baptized and such like that- it was kinda just a "robot" response kinda thing, but the spirit was SO strong in the lesson and told us that we needed to invite them to be married, to begin taking those steps to be a family eternal! It was awesome. A very powerful lesson and tonight we go back with them and hope to be able to get a date for them to get married this week! We`ll see how it goes! :)
Well time is short, I wish I could tell you guys everything that goes on but I can`t right now even scratch the surface! Maybe I`ll get the recorder again and send a little bit more details next week! I hope you guys have a great week! :)
All my love,
Elder Jolley
Monday, May 13, 2013
Hola familia!!
Thanks so much for the call! I loved it! It's the best talking to you guys! haha don`t make fun of the accent! Elder Prestwich and I were trying last night to detect the accent cause his family said the same thing! Ah well. No, but it was so great to see you guys, ya look good and I`m glad that we`re still funny to each other! We are really blessed with the family that we have. I was especially grateful for the prayer- you have no idea how much that meant and ALL the prayers that I receive from the family at home. Kendyl sent me a quote, "You can`t make it on your own. You need the help of the Lord." From your prayers I feel that help and it is an amazing blessing.
Well I`ll give ya a small fun down of the week to get ya caught up a little bit. I mentioned a little bit about Monica who wasn`t able to make it to the church.. that`s always a bummer. With her goal to quit smoking, she needs it so much and we want her to have it. Right after the call we went to her house to check on her, make sure everything was alright. Turns out on Saturday she came down with a fever and was`nt up for any type of activity. We were able to have a small, but great lesson with her last night. We shared a scripture- 2 Nefi 31:17 and explained to her a little bit about steps we take to become happy in our lives. We were planning on taking it one way, but the spirit took us the completely other direction to answer a question that she had asked us earlier on in the week. We saw when a heart is truly prepared to receive something because when we answered her the first time it wasn`t the same.. but tonight we saw her touched by the spirit and a huge "click!" We ended up last night finding and committing her and her 2 kids to a baptismal date in June. The moment was right for everyone and it was a goal that we had, trying to get a time with her kids and share with them.
The spirit has played a huge role in our lives this last week. Our goals have been to get our day goals- ha imagine that! No, but we`ve been working on our commitment to the Lord. We have gotten into the habit of evaluating ourselves and promising the Lord that we will put in our part. On Saturday we had a very special experience. We had got caught up most of the afternoon in a "service project" that was kinda not a service project.. complicated story, but we got out at like 6 o`clock and still had TONS to do in order to complete the day like we promised. We worked through our plans and didn`t have any luck. At like 8:30 we decided to stop and pray for guidance to know what to do! A name came directly to our minds and when we went we had a great lesson with an hermana that is returning to activity in the church. She had been thinking of a friend and wanted us to pass by and be able to work with her- that was the last goal that we were waiting for! Ah.. we went back to the apartment SO happy and felt so blessed for the guidance that we had been given. The spirit really has been a huge blessing this week!
Well, time is short but I wanted to share with you guys a great couple of scriptures that I found this week in my Book of Mormon reading (I`m a little behind- I get super caught up with all the great things that I`m finding, but we`ve got still like 40 days to finish :) wish me luck! ).
Thanks so much for the call! I loved it! It's the best talking to you guys! haha don`t make fun of the accent! Elder Prestwich and I were trying last night to detect the accent cause his family said the same thing! Ah well. No, but it was so great to see you guys, ya look good and I`m glad that we`re still funny to each other! We are really blessed with the family that we have. I was especially grateful for the prayer- you have no idea how much that meant and ALL the prayers that I receive from the family at home. Kendyl sent me a quote, "You can`t make it on your own. You need the help of the Lord." From your prayers I feel that help and it is an amazing blessing.
Well I`ll give ya a small fun down of the week to get ya caught up a little bit. I mentioned a little bit about Monica who wasn`t able to make it to the church.. that`s always a bummer. With her goal to quit smoking, she needs it so much and we want her to have it. Right after the call we went to her house to check on her, make sure everything was alright. Turns out on Saturday she came down with a fever and was`nt up for any type of activity. We were able to have a small, but great lesson with her last night. We shared a scripture- 2 Nefi 31:17 and explained to her a little bit about steps we take to become happy in our lives. We were planning on taking it one way, but the spirit took us the completely other direction to answer a question that she had asked us earlier on in the week. We saw when a heart is truly prepared to receive something because when we answered her the first time it wasn`t the same.. but tonight we saw her touched by the spirit and a huge "click!" We ended up last night finding and committing her and her 2 kids to a baptismal date in June. The moment was right for everyone and it was a goal that we had, trying to get a time with her kids and share with them.
The spirit has played a huge role in our lives this last week. Our goals have been to get our day goals- ha imagine that! No, but we`ve been working on our commitment to the Lord. We have gotten into the habit of evaluating ourselves and promising the Lord that we will put in our part. On Saturday we had a very special experience. We had got caught up most of the afternoon in a "service project" that was kinda not a service project.. complicated story, but we got out at like 6 o`clock and still had TONS to do in order to complete the day like we promised. We worked through our plans and didn`t have any luck. At like 8:30 we decided to stop and pray for guidance to know what to do! A name came directly to our minds and when we went we had a great lesson with an hermana that is returning to activity in the church. She had been thinking of a friend and wanted us to pass by and be able to work with her- that was the last goal that we were waiting for! Ah.. we went back to the apartment SO happy and felt so blessed for the guidance that we had been given. The spirit really has been a huge blessing this week!
Well, time is short but I wanted to share with you guys a great couple of scriptures that I found this week in my Book of Mormon reading (I`m a little behind- I get super caught up with all the great things that I`m finding, but we`ve got still like 40 days to finish :) wish me luck! ).
Enos became my hero for the faith that he exercised and for the blessing promised to all of us when we have the dedication to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives.
27 And I soon go to the place of my rest, which is with my Redeemer; for I know that in him I shall rest. And I rejoice in the day when my mortal shall put on immortality, and shall stand before him; then shall I see his face with pleasure, and he will say unto me: Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the mansions of my Father. Amen.
Preach my Gospel teaches us that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is centered on the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, His death on the cross and resurection, that because He was lifted up, "all men should be lifted up" as well. IF we like Enos continue in faith and live to let Christ and His atonement enter our lives we will change. We will look forward to the day "with pleasure" when we can enter into His rest, having been made clean and receive powers and glories from our Heavenly Father! I know that this church is true. I know it! This Gospel is real and produces real happiness and fulness of joy, I`m sure!
I love you all! :) Thanks for the call and I hope that we continue as a family to live this amazing gospel!
Have a great week!
27 And I soon go to the place of my rest, which is with my Redeemer; for I know that in him I shall rest. And I rejoice in the day when my mortal shall put on immortality, and shall stand before him; then shall I see his face with pleasure, and he will say unto me: Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the mansions of my Father. Amen.
Preach my Gospel teaches us that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is centered on the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, His death on the cross and resurection, that because He was lifted up, "all men should be lifted up" as well. IF we like Enos continue in faith and live to let Christ and His atonement enter our lives we will change. We will look forward to the day "with pleasure" when we can enter into His rest, having been made clean and receive powers and glories from our Heavenly Father! I know that this church is true. I know it! This Gospel is real and produces real happiness and fulness of joy, I`m sure!
I love you all! :) Thanks for the call and I hope that we continue as a family to live this amazing gospel!
Have a great week!
Elder Jolley
Monday, May 6, 2013
Hola!!
YES!! it worked. The whole week I was worried that the recording wasn`t gonna work. Glad you guys liked it. I felt super dumb doing it but that`s alright. Afterwards we listened to a recording that Elder Prestwich's family had sent him and it was kinda cool that whole system of writing. Well we`ll be able to up it a step next week with skypers! Alright here`s the deal, we tried calling the guy today about the whole schedule and we couldn`t get a hold of him soo.. we`ll bank on faith that we can head over there. I`d say at like 2 o`clock my time would be better cause by the time we get done with church stuff and get over to his house we`ll be looking at around that time! 2 o`clock be there or be square right? haha. I`m super excited to be able to talk with you guys and hope that all works out well this time!
This week we`ve been super blessed to be able to get work and plans done and were able to have a productive week. We`re a little flacito in the progressing investigators and investigators with a baptismal date right now.. everyone that we are finding is having to go through different marriage or divorce issues! What a pain that is and how much it cripples missionary work! We are working with 2 great families. One of the families I`ll tell ya about is Gaston y Yesica (Shesica) and their 3 kids. We have just began working with them. They were a contact that we did a couple weeks ago who have turned out being super open to listening to us. We`ve been helping them to read the Book of Mormon and to say family prayers. They are really poor and have hit some family troubles so our goal is to help them be able to recognize the Gospel Spirit in their lives. We went by on Saturday and they told us that they had been praying as a family for new job opportunities earlier in the week- well Gaston was fired from his job... oops! Well, they found out that God hears them but they were a little confused on His answers. I think it is that initial trust that we all need to form as we come closer to Christ that they are developing. Every time we go over there and are able to pray with them there is a very special spirit that we feel. Ha we love Gastons "aaah" after saying amen as if a huge burden has been lifted from his back. We have an appointment tonight where we should be meeting with a few of his buddies that want to hear about the Gospel.
Monica is a capa! We are still trying to help her get to that baptism date. She isn`t coming to church.. urg! But we think we have perfect thing to help her this week so that she can`t resist! Ha. Well she`s still been progressing a ton this week. She took it up a notch and accepted to live the word of wisdom. She is a pretty narly smoker! She has always been and after several attempts to stop smoking she kinda gave up. We brought this hermana with us, Hermana Rojas, who is like 45 years old but she acts like she`s 17! haha She talks like all the pibes on the streets! We get such a kick out of being with her. Anyway, she came with us because she also was a smoker. She expressed such a sincere desire to help Monica out and got a little emotional when she heard that Monica was willing to give it a try. It was special for me to be there and to see that our Father in Heaven has provided a greater help for this daughter of his. She has tried tons of things without a lot of luck and what a blessing to have been about to give her a greater reason to hope for change!
Alright I`m short on time! NO! but I want to share a really cool experience that we had last night. We went to a less- active members house and got talking to him. It has been awhile since he`s been to church and we were imagining whatever reason but as he began to share with us about his family and the things that they had passed through to the point that going even into the chapel broke the guys heart... wow, my mind changed completely! It was obvious that the guy had been through so much pain y la verdad es que nosotros tambièn felt his pain. We asked him a few questions and tried to figure out what role God still played in his life. Last night was just a good testimony builder of the Atonement for me! First I know that my heart was changed and the love that I could feel for the hermano wasn`t my own and what he was able to share with us, that God had been with him every step of the way, sustaining him and eventually taking the pain away over time was impresionante! He is very willing and open to making his way back to church now and wants us to talk to his family now! I think this week I`ve seen just the great miracles that God has sent us in preparing the way!
...he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.
12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.
I wanted to share with you guys this scripture. It is one of the most simple, but most powerful ways to describe the role of our Savior. I too know that He took upon Himself our pains and difficulties, He bled from every pore to know us and gain compassion for us. I know that He knows how to comfort us!
I`m excited to talk this Sunday! I hope you have a great day and I`ll be seein' ya soon!
Mucho amor y un abrazo fuerte.
Elder Jolley
This week we`ve been super blessed to be able to get work and plans done and were able to have a productive week. We`re a little flacito in the progressing investigators and investigators with a baptismal date right now.. everyone that we are finding is having to go through different marriage or divorce issues! What a pain that is and how much it cripples missionary work! We are working with 2 great families. One of the families I`ll tell ya about is Gaston y Yesica (Shesica) and their 3 kids. We have just began working with them. They were a contact that we did a couple weeks ago who have turned out being super open to listening to us. We`ve been helping them to read the Book of Mormon and to say family prayers. They are really poor and have hit some family troubles so our goal is to help them be able to recognize the Gospel Spirit in their lives. We went by on Saturday and they told us that they had been praying as a family for new job opportunities earlier in the week- well Gaston was fired from his job... oops! Well, they found out that God hears them but they were a little confused on His answers. I think it is that initial trust that we all need to form as we come closer to Christ that they are developing. Every time we go over there and are able to pray with them there is a very special spirit that we feel. Ha we love Gastons "aaah" after saying amen as if a huge burden has been lifted from his back. We have an appointment tonight where we should be meeting with a few of his buddies that want to hear about the Gospel.
Monica is a capa! We are still trying to help her get to that baptism date. She isn`t coming to church.. urg! But we think we have perfect thing to help her this week so that she can`t resist! Ha. Well she`s still been progressing a ton this week. She took it up a notch and accepted to live the word of wisdom. She is a pretty narly smoker! She has always been and after several attempts to stop smoking she kinda gave up. We brought this hermana with us, Hermana Rojas, who is like 45 years old but she acts like she`s 17! haha She talks like all the pibes on the streets! We get such a kick out of being with her. Anyway, she came with us because she also was a smoker. She expressed such a sincere desire to help Monica out and got a little emotional when she heard that Monica was willing to give it a try. It was special for me to be there and to see that our Father in Heaven has provided a greater help for this daughter of his. She has tried tons of things without a lot of luck and what a blessing to have been about to give her a greater reason to hope for change!
Alright I`m short on time! NO! but I want to share a really cool experience that we had last night. We went to a less- active members house and got talking to him. It has been awhile since he`s been to church and we were imagining whatever reason but as he began to share with us about his family and the things that they had passed through to the point that going even into the chapel broke the guys heart... wow, my mind changed completely! It was obvious that the guy had been through so much pain y la verdad es que nosotros tambièn felt his pain. We asked him a few questions and tried to figure out what role God still played in his life. Last night was just a good testimony builder of the Atonement for me! First I know that my heart was changed and the love that I could feel for the hermano wasn`t my own and what he was able to share with us, that God had been with him every step of the way, sustaining him and eventually taking the pain away over time was impresionante! He is very willing and open to making his way back to church now and wants us to talk to his family now! I think this week I`ve seen just the great miracles that God has sent us in preparing the way!
...he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.
12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.
I wanted to share with you guys this scripture. It is one of the most simple, but most powerful ways to describe the role of our Savior. I too know that He took upon Himself our pains and difficulties, He bled from every pore to know us and gain compassion for us. I know that He knows how to comfort us!
I`m excited to talk this Sunday! I hope you have a great day and I`ll be seein' ya soon!
Mucho amor y un abrazo fuerte.
Elder Jolley
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