Hola from la boca,

 

By the way, if you don`t speak spanish, la boca means "the mouth" in spanish.  Its a great name for an area right?  Haha its called the boca because its at the mouth of a port here in Buenos Aires.  All the buildings are really old and fancy looking, and there are even like old warehouses or houses that have been taken over by people and there are tiny rooms all inside.  These are called conventillos.  Its kind of like miny villas all over the place, but they aren`t dangerous.  Most of the members here live in conventillos and we`ve been having a lot of success teaching this week.

 

I did divisions this week with Elder Bruce, who is from San Clamente, California.  He`s actually from the same ward as Trevor Ellsworth, a friend of mine from BYU who`s serving in Germany right now.  He`s the man.  We found a bunch of new investigators, including a reference from a member that is showing a lot of potential.  His name is Lucas.

 

We`re also teaching the mother of a member.  Her name is sister Chamorro (I don`t know her first name haha).  The crazy thing is she`s super excited about the church and wants to get baptized, but she has to get married first, and her husband isn`t too stoked about it yet.  But, she`s been bringing friends to church like every week and we`re teaching some of her friends as well!  I love it!

 

We also have an investigator who could be baptized in any moment.  His name is Matias and he just needs permission from his dad, who doesn`t live with him.  We`ve been praying for him a lot and we`re hoping to be able to see his baptism this weekend.

 

Ok so the investigator from Haiti, Junior, didn`t come to church.  But, we`re still working with him, especially so that he can have some friends to support him in the church.  He knows its true, he just has social pressure to not join!

 

Haha we had a funny experience yesterday.  We were walking in the street headed to an appointment and a man stopped us by saying, "Hola Elderes."  We stopped and he said, "So, are we going to go visit some people?"   Haha he was a member visiting the boca for his work and decided to go with us for 3 hours and visit people!  And, not only was he a member, he was a well-studied institute professor.  His name is Marcelo.  Afterward, we said goodbye and he just left into the crowd.  I was like wow, man, i`ll probably never see him again, but he just helped us bigtime on my mission.  Which, reminds me of a few verses in the book of Mormon that I read over and over this week:  Moroni 7:29-39

 

29And because he hath done this, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased? Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither have ^aangels ceased to minister unto the children of men.

 30For behold, they are subject unto him, to minister according to the word of his command, showing themselves unto them of strong faith and a firm mind in every form of ^agodliness.

 31And the office of their ministry is to call men unto repentance, and to fulfil and to do the work of the covenants of the Father, which he hath made unto the children of men, to prepare the way among the children of men, by declaring the word of Christ unto the ^achosen vessels of the Lord, that they may bear testimony of him.

 32And by so doing, the Lord God prepareth the way that the^aresidue of men may have ^bfaith in Christ, that the Holy Ghost may have place in their hearts, according to the power thereof; and after this manner bringeth to pass the Father, the covenants which he hath made unto the children of men.

 33And Christ hath said: ^aIf ye will have ^bfaith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is ^cexpedient in me.

 34And he hath said: ^aRepent all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me, and be baptized in my name, and have faith in me, that ye may be saved.

 35And now, my beloved brethren, if this be the case that these things are true which I have spoken unto you, and God will show unto you, with ^apower and great glory at the last ^bday, that they are true, and if they are true has the day of miracles ceased?

 36Or have angels ceased to appear unto the children of men? Or has he ^awithheld the power of the Holy Ghost from them? Or will he, so long as time shall last, or the earth shall stand, or there shall be one man upon the face thereof to be saved?

 37Behold I say unto you, Nay; for it is by faith that ^amiracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men; wherefore, if these things have ceased wo be unto the children of men, for it is because of ^bunbelief, and all is vain.

 38For no man can be saved, according to the words of Christ, save they shall have faith in his name; wherefore, if these things have ceased, then has faith ceased also; and awful is the state of man, for they are as though there had been no redemption made.

 39But behold, my beloved brethren, I judge better things of you, for I judge that ye have faith in Christ because of your meekness; for if ye have not faith in him then ye are not ^afit to be numbered among the people of his church.

 

Good stuff!

Also, yesterday Boca Juniors played a soccer game in our area.  They lost, so afterwards, all of the fans stormed the streets all heated and drunk.  Luckily, we were finishing up.  But, Elder Tapia is a huge boca fan and it just so happened he came to this area!  At one point we walked by the stadium and you could hear the chants of the fans.  He was going crazy!  haha I just laughed.

 

Today we went to Florida street and I ran into Tomàs Yovera!  He was selling flowers for valentine`s day and I was super excited to see him.  It was awesome.  He called his family immediately and I talked to them on the phone.  I`m way blessed to be in the same zone so many times!

 

Well, I love you guys and hope you are all doing great.  The Lord is working a marvelous work and a wonder here in Buenos Aires.  

 

Con amor,

 

Elder J Hales

KTF