Elder Skyler Jolley arrived home from serving a faithful mission in the Argentina, Bahia Blanca Mission on Wednesday, May 24th 2017 at 10:15 am. It truly is a privilege and blessing to be a missionary family. We are so grateful that he has had the wonderful opportunity to serve and now so grateful to welcome him home. Bienvenido a Casa Elder Jolley!

 We're ready!

On our way up to the airport

 Waiting... lots of missionaries coming home today!

Our group anxiously awaiting.

Here he comes!

Along with his buddy Elder Price.

The Best!!

 Back with his older brothers, Ryan and Brayden

 With his youngest sister Andraya... she grew a good 6" while he was gone!

With his sister Kendyl

 Missionary friends who just returned along with Elder Jolley.... Sister Estrada and Elder Price.

With Mom and Dad

 So great to have the whole family back together again!

And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.   ~D&C 84:88

Elder Skyler Jolley

returns from the

Argentina, Bahia Blanca Mission

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

You are invited to attend his Mission Homecoming on
Sunday, May 28th at 9 a.m.

Highland 25th Ward Building 

5335 West 11200 North in Highland

There will be a light brunch served at the Town Center Meadows Park Pavilion shortly after the sacrament service (5400 West 10700 North in Highland)

Don't Cry for Me Argentina

Buenas Tardes,

Currently writing you all a little late this week in the middle of zone conferences from a city named Trenque Lauquen. Just got here a few hours ago after traveling from interviews in Santa Rosa, having finished the zone conference there yesterday morning. That went well and I was able to say goodbye to a few good friends including my "hijo" Elder Christensen.

It's been an awesome week here. It was especially fun to skype with the family this last Sunday. Happy Mother's Day again to my sweet mom. As much as I loved seeing the digital version of you, I remain biased towards the opportunity to be able to see you in person : )

I probably won't write an email this next Monday due to time restraints. I might send a few pictures if I get a sec. I'll give you quick sum up of the rest of my week. Tomorrow is the Trenque Lauquen zone conference, then Friday we are back in Bahia starting transfers and going out to lunch at Villa Ventana with President and Sister Cifuentes. Saturday we have an Asado with the Bishop and his family as well as more transfer duties, and hopefully time to visit investigators and converts (definitely the Laspina family, we might try to do dinner with them). Sunday we are going to Carlos and Piru's new house in Villa Harding Green with the Martinez family to have another Asado (blessings haha). Then Sunday night all the other "viejos" arrive here to Bahia and transfers begin! We then have interviews, a couple chats, and a dinner at the mission home on Monday, then Tuesday morning we hit the airport.

Before heading out I want to thank everyone who still reads this stuff for all the support and prayers from back home, they've been felt and appreciated. It's been an amazing two years out here serving my Savior and the people here. There is nothing more gratifying than to be His representative, and I earnestly look forward to future opportunities to do so.

I testify that Jesus is the Christ. I know He lives, and that because He lives, we too can live happily both now in this life, and eternally in the life to come.

Nos vemos,

Elder Jolley lV

Buenas.

Sorry I didn't write last week. Pday adventures took up a lot of time. 

Everything has been pretty normal on this side of the earth. I am currently in Necochea for pday and prepping for the zone conference we have here tomorrow. Last week after a couple nice days of work in our area, we traveled to Mar del Plata for a zone conference with the missionaries as well as a Stake Conference presided by Elder Bragg and Elder Salas. Both went well. I didn't feel quite as "in the zone" as usual this last zone conference, but the stake conference was really cool. I loved the messages shared by President and Sister Cifuentes, Elder Salas, and Elder Bragg. They bring such an excitement to the work and make me just want to stay here another two years. 

Soo updates. Because of traveling and schedule clashes, we haven't seen Piru for like a week and a half. We keep trying to teach her, but she's either never home or we aren't in town. Shoot! We're hoping we can see her this week after we get back from Necochea. That lady needs to get baptized already cause she's been going to church for more than a month and she's progressing a lot. 

Besides Piru, we lost our investigator Alan because he became a full time truck driver. The dumb part is that he doesn't stay put so we can't even refer him to other missionaries. Shoot! Byyyye Alan :(

We've been tearing through the area book lately and have found some great new investigators. Updates to come as we see more progress from some appointments this week.

I love this work and the blessing I have to be here with these people.

Con amor,

Elder Jolley

Finally pulled off a round of golf for pday! Have been wanting to do this for a while, but the golf course is Bahia is closed on Mondays. Luckilyyy I just happended to be in Necochea today where golf is half off on Mondays! What a fun time with a great group of guys. For not having golfed consistently in more than three years, I was connecting pretty well today.

 

 Elder Thain, Elder Wineagar, Moi, Leo (convert), Elder Tannyhill, annnd Elder Tickeberg (was taking the picture)

 Rockin the double bogies at the Necochea Golf Club. #itsbeenaminute

 

 Had something stuck in my tooth... :)

 The taxi drivers helped us find a lunch spot on the way home. A nice choripan with some salsa criolla on top. Not a bad way to finish a solid pday!

 

Last Leadership Conference

Another busy week, and a lot more blessings!

The highlight of this last week was being able to accompany President Cifuentes to Olavarria this past weekend for a few meetings he had. It was just me and him so that was a cool opportunity to chat about both personal and administrative topics. Knowing I won't have opportunities like that here pretty soon is quite the bummer to me... I really treasure my relationship with him and all that he's taught me. 

The second part of mentioned "highlight" is that I was in Olavarria! I took the opportunity to do divisions with the zone leaders (Elder Mardones and Elder Rivadaneira) there who are in the same area I was for the first eternity of my mission, Urquiza! We had a great time and I was able to take some time to discuss and verify their plans in person which is always nicer than a phone call. I was kickin myself for not bringing my camera along, but as John Mayer says "you should have seen it with your own eyes... no more 3x5's" (sorry... got John on the brain... not sure why...*cough* family *cough*). I must have done something right... or there is just an anvil sized humbling trial coming up, cause I keep getting these awesome nostalgic opportunities! I even got to attend sacrament there on Sunday before returning to Bahia! I absolutely loved seeing the old area, friends, and members there. Bishop Medina was really cool during announcements before sacrament to say "we'd like to recognize the presence of Elder Jolley who served here previously, we're very excited that he's come home." haha (half the crowd probably thought "oh shoot... he's back!") ; ) They even played "En un lejano cerro fue" (figure it out) for the sacrament hymn. Wow I love that one! Also, we got to take part in the open chapel of the Independencia ward there on Saturday night. Super fun!

 Zone conference with the Bahía and Villa Mitre zones combined (about 60 missionaries at once.. woof)

 Arriving for the zone conference in Viedma. Love to catch some pretty views along the way.

Random pic w/ Elders: Frampton, Moi, Schiess, Valle, Griffith, Bruton, and Rasmussen (the son of Mrs. Rasmussen from 5th grade)

That's kind of all I can think of. Zone conferences are going well and our investigators are progressing steadily. Not too many updates besides some good lessons (had a great one about the Book of Mormon with Piru.. she was already reading Carlos's BoM before we taught her about it haha.. she's a cutie), so I'll try to give a better report on them next week!

Elder Jolley

Bday party at the Martinez house with our investigator Piru

Bday surprise in the crib with Price and Nummys.

Email from Tuesday, April 17th:

Hola amigos,

I sent a bunch of pics today so this is gonna be a short email. Transfers are over and we're back into the normal groove. The conferences started off in Tandil last week. The first one is always the lab rat conference, but it went pretty well so it can only go up from here (shout out to Shania Twain). This transfer, as the assistants, we are teaching about how to help our investigators make and keep commitments. I love this subject and am super excited to teach about it.

We saw Lucrecia for the first time in a few weeks this past week, she has a boyfriend and that's put a few obstacles in her course. She'll be fine, I'm not too worried about her, but keeping her in your prayers would be appreciated. She just needs to feel the desire and the importance of obedience.

Piru (the wife of Carlos) has now been to church twice and is loving it! We're taking it light on the subject of baptism, but she's softened up a lot too it and we're planning on her being baptized in May for sure.

Alan, who came to the open chapel, has now been to church twice and is loving it as well, he's a stud. Because of time complications we haven't met with him too much, but we will get to that more this week.

Have a fantastico week! I for one loved Easter weekend and the spirit that came with it. I know the atonement of Christ is there for us to use it freely, and I love the opportunity to do so.

Elder Jolley

This is definitely the highlight of my week! After zone conference last Friday in Tandil we went over to the open chapel in the 2nd Ward (where I served with Elder Christensen) to help out with things. I saw Sister Ortallado there, who is the visiting teacher of my converts Patricia and Belen. She mentioned to me that Patricia and Belen were super bummed that I showed up while they were gone last time. So she sends a selfie of her and I to Patricia, and after an excited phone call from Patricia, she literally showed up to the chapel in like 15 minutes haha. Man, it was just like seeing good family after a long time, it was so good to see her! We chatted and caught up for a sec, then the ward pulled a smooth move and took her through a church tour. I took the opportunity to walk through with her and that was cool to be with her and hear those messages, I think she really felt the spirit during that. Afterwards Sister Ortallado got her excited about family history and set an appointment for tomorrow (Tuesday) to do family history with her. She also invited her to come to church on Sunday and Patricia said she would love to go. So that was a good experience.

After seeing her I took off to run a couple errands and get things closed up from the zone conference we had while Patricia went home, then I drove by their house on the way back and said hi to their family! Ahh what a cool opportunity. I love that family so much. Belen ran out of the house all teary eyed, and her daughter Mìa gave me a cute little hug when I bent down to give her a high five. We were able to chat and catch up for a few minutes before we had to go. I also called Elder Christensen in Santa Rosa and had Patricia answer the phone. He was like "OHHH! Holaaaa!" Super funny. Patricia is like the older sister I never had haha, telling me stuff like "ok...you better study, and i think you should be a doctor, and you have to write, and don't forget..." She was also shared that she had been talking with Sister Ortallado and that she told her about how before this life we knew each other and promised certain people that we would find them and bring the gospel to them. Patricia and Belen told me that they felt that it was like that between me and their family and that they were so grateful I had come. I had always dreamed that as a missionary I would find such people, and what a blessing to hear that I had out of the very mouth of my converts. At the end I bore my testimony to them and we took the opportunity to say a "family prayer" together on our knees in their house, and then I took off.

P-day lunch at Bambu wit da homies (Elders Valle, Farley, Price, and Numbers)

 President Mark and Jenny Cifuentes everybody. (pic setup at the open chapel for the Tandil 2nd Ward where I served)

 Making funny "peanut gallery" comments during Sister Cifuentes' lesson with President.

 Mid-lesson candid pic during zone conference in Tandil. 

Huge fair in Tandil for Easter

(Note from the editor: sorry for the delayed post. This email came on Tuesday the 11th... Happy Easter Sunday!)

Dear Fam and Frenzz

Sorry again to those who I don't get to write back, I always print off the emails and read them, so know that I love hearing from you guys and I appreciate you taking the time to write me.

This last week was super busy on all sides of the work. We had Leadership training, leadership conference, zone conference in Necochea, a baptism, open chapel, then confirmation and the beginning of transfers on Sunday. Woo! The leadership conferences went smoothly. We're really focusing on trying to help our leaders plan more efficiently so that we can get more out of our efforts.

 New Leader Training Meeting

Leadership Conference with Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders

Traveling to the conference in Necochea this past week we stayed the night in Elder Tannyhill's house before the conference the next day. We got there a bit early and played a game of soccer with him, his investigator, and some members from his branch. We played so hard and it was probably one of the funnest games I've played on the mish. I scored a legit goal too... felt like such a big boy ;) haha. After soccer we turned in for the night. I stayed up chatting with Elder Tannyhill pretty late that night. We had some cool conversations reflecting on the mission and evaluating things about the work and a few of the things from the leadership conferences. It got me thinking a lot over the weekend about and refreshed my desire to work hard and help the zone leaders to work better and reach their goals as well. I'm grateful to have good friends who are great examples to me here in the mish.

Noelia got baptized this last Friday! After we finished up the zone conference in Necochea and a little meeting with the zone leaders afterward (Elder Tannyhill and Elder Rickeberg) we quickly headed out to make the three hour trip in time for the baptism at 7. We got there like 5-10 minutes after 7, but luckily our ward mission leader Facundo Currulef had our backs and had filled up the font and gotten all the preparations done. The cool part was that we had a "Open Chapel" last weekend and there was lots of members there prepping for Saturday and lots of them joined us for the baptism. Noelia is the nicest person and because of moving around a lot and having her baby she doesn't have a lot of friends or much time to find some, so she was really touched at how many people turned up for her baptism. I think that surprised her and she was a bit emotional about it saying she was so grateful for everyone who came. Her Uncle-in-Law and ward member Jorge Martinez (in the photo below with his wife Gabriela) performed the ordinance. It was a really special ceremony. 

This transfer is off to a good start with an additional companion and some good looking horizons for a few investigators. We've been getting more and more referrals and help from members, the wife of our convert Carlos is praying about a baptismal date, and I only have to see the Bahia Blanca airport one more time after today ;) not important though.

Transfers end tomorrow and we take off for our first zone conference in Tandil (gonna try to see Patricia and Belen again) Thursday afternoon.

Pon tu hombro a la lid!

Elder Jolley

 Say hello to the new Assistant trainee, and our third wheel, Elder Eric Farley! He's my first (and last) Argentine companion, and I'm pretty excited to have him. I met him a year ago in a Necochea zone conference when I was being trained as AP with Elder Paleka, and Elder Paleka had a transfer left. Now Farley is in my exact same spot, with a year to go, but he has to kill not just one, but two companions at once. Wow, give him a round of applause folks. Also, he speaks English so that's pretty fun. I'm gonna help him practice and he's gonna make sure I go home speaking full Argentine. Deal.

The nation went on strike for a day last week... not exactly sure why, but this is what the toll stations looked like on the freeway.