Hey Family!

Man this week went a lot better. We've seen some good progress in some of our investigators and I had the opportunity to baptize Aylen! That was amazing. The Spirit was so strong and I can really feel the Lord helping me and guiding me with the Spirit as I strive to work hard and be obedient.

Baptism! Aylen was a bit nervous before and we had to do it two times cause her foot popped out the first time haha. After we got out of the font, she said quietly to her mom *Mommy, I feel free.* She´s so cute and carries the Spirit so strongly. What a cool experience!

One more picture with Elder Moraes, her brother David, and her mom Ema. Great family!

Couple stories. So last week as we were tracting, one of our appointments fell through, so we went to visit a recent convert named Amalia. As we walked up to her apartment building, we saw her walking up to the door with a cast on her leg and her daughter helping at her side. Pobre cita! She´s a bit old and had fallen last week and broke her foot. With all the rain lately, the elevator was broken in the building, and she lives on the fourth floor. So we had her daughter go get a chair, and Elder Moraes and I carried her up four floors of stairs in the chair. I think I need to work on my cardio cause I almost passed out at the top haha... I was trying not to breath as hard as I wanted to so I wouldn't offend Amalia haha...but she´s definitely not malnourished, I´ll just leave it at that :) We then taught a lesson to her about the Sabbath day, because she is a bit inactive. Halfway through the lesson we realized we hadnt even invited her non member daughter (who was doing dishes in the other room) to participate in the lesson. IDIOTS. She came into the room a few minutes later and sat down with us. We then slowly transitioned to the restoration... which was a bit of a stretch coming from our Sabbath day lesson, but hey... you gotta do what you gotta do. The lesson turned out great and her daughter Angeles was really interested, asking the perfect questions the whole time! I love how the gospel answers every question with clarity.

The gift of tongues has been coming into play quite a bit as well. Holy moly. Last week there were a couple times where during a lesson I would talk and my Spanish just felt so natural. It was so weird and as I was talking I just kept thinking *wow...this is super weird.. but I like it..* ha I think the gift of tongues drains your language battery power really fast though because this weekend it's like it all left. I was forgetting how to say the simplest things. I´m tellin you guys... ups and downs.

One of my favorite things is street contacting. You would not believe the variety of characters you can find on the street. For example: Jose Luiz. As we walked home from an appointment we saw a man walking along,  next to his back with four chairs stacked on the back, a tv strapped to the front, and a covered basket on his other arm filled with bread (at  least I think it was bread... it very likely could have been drugs.. but we´ll give him the benefit of the doubt and say bread :)). We approached him and talked to him about the gospel. He was very friendly, like most people, but the thing about Argentines (or maybe Latinos in general) is that they love to chat. People will go off on huge rants about who knows what. We will ask someone a question like ¨do you believe in God?¨ Then they will reply, and five minutes later be talking about how their grandmother lost her leg and the strange behaviors of their friend's dog. It´s so hard not to start laughing haha, but it keeps me entertained out here. So anyway, as we were talking to Jose Luiz. Every time he said something, he would start the sentence with *mi nombre es jose luiz...* then go off on a random tangent. Haha! He told us his name maybe 7 times. I almost cried trying to keep from laughing my head off. Man these people..

One of my favorite parts of the mission is studying. I look forward to it every day. I started into Alma this last week in the Book of Mormon. Ahh it's the best. I´m so grateful for the example of ancient prophets like Alma the younger and to be able to read the stories that apply so well to our daily lives. With the help of the spirit, the Book of Mormon brings so much light and understanding of gospel principles and the way in which we need to live our lives. Paraphrasing Joseph Smith: It is the most correct of any book on the Earth and anyone may come closer to God just by reading it.

Like Nephi, my soul delighteth in the scriptures, and my heart pondereth them continually. I´m so grateful for the word of God in my life and for the opportunity to share it with the people of Argentina.

Les amo mucho. Ciao :)

Elder Jolley

Our investigators Cristian and Gisela with their two girls, Augustina (Ago) and Abigail (Abi). They're not married, but we're working on it. Last week we celebrated Ago´s birthday with cake and ham + cheese sandwiches (don't ask.. it's just Argentina..). Ago is the youngest and turned 4. She was bouncing off the walls all night and being so cute haha! Abi is baptized and knows a lot about the gospel. Gisela is awesome and super funny. Cristian is a nice guy, but also super crazy. He seriously has two sides to him. We teach these guys a lot, they´re great.

Cristian and Gisela

Ago (left) and Abi (right). *foto loca!* - Ago