Sain uu!

What a week! Happy Birthday to Skyler, bayar khurgii to Brayden! I was able to get the email about your mission call on Thursday afternoon. Sister Ford had sealed it up, so I had a mini " mission call opening" party in the office with Elder Verdusco, Elder Wilson, and I. Estoy muy emosionado que has resivido tu llamada a Buenos Aires, Argentina y que vas a servir a nuestro Padre Celestial. Estoy orgulloso que eres my hermanito y que decidistes servir.
Como te gusta mi espaniol. Tengo el don de lenguas!

This week flown by and we've had a lot of incredible opportunities! I've included a section of my letter to President Clark that will highlight some of the experiences we've had this week. Time is super short today, but I want to write a little bit about our mission conference... especially the meeting we had with Elder Holland! As you can see from my letter to President Clark I was a great trainer this week and we missed the opening "ceremonies" to mission conference. The Conference started Friday night and went until Sunday night, full of training meetings and practice sessions, with the main event being our Saturday morning meeting with Elder Chung, Elder and Sister Pratt, and Elder and Sister Holland. It was incredible! To do it justice I'll scan the notes I made and send them to you all, I'll try to email them if I can. The things that impressed me most about meeting Elder Holland, being able to learn from him for an hour was his countenance. There was a noticeable light and spirit about him, an influence that you can't not feel. A living example to the world of the reality of Christ and His Restored Church!

Here's from my email to President Clark:

This week Elder Verdusco has begun teaching at his English Sponsor (the Suxbaatar DIstrict Police) and he will be teaching Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday from 12 to 1:30 pm. So it is a good thing to have figured out, but bad from a missionary point of view. We made great progress with our last active members this week and 3 of them attended the Conference on Sunday! We have 3 great investigators right now, 1 with a baptism date and 2 that need them! It did not happen this week because of some appointments that fell through, but I look forward to reporting that progress in "moving our numbers up" on the key indicators this next week. I have loved planning and studying with Elder Verdusco this last week as we have been planning to meet the needs of those we are teaching. The first thing he focuses on in each study period is the scriptures and principles that a investigator or struggling less active member needs to hear! He's a good example to me and though his language is not perfect he cares about the people we teach and that makes up! I'm sure you noticed that on Friday we did not attend the baptism or the mission conference opening meeting. That was a misunderstanding on my part, sorry! We had planned to go to the baptism, but I understood the meeting after to be for the new missionaries and their trainers and we had a great meeting opportunity come up with one of our less active members. This brother became a member of the church a few years ago, but fell back into old habits... when the bishop recommended him to us he was a week out from being released from prison. So I was very skeptical about how meeting with him would be! We began meeting about 2 weeks ago and received a very warm welcome into his home and have been meeting with him ever since, especially with the goal to help him quit drinking again. He remarks that he was able to quit without problems at the time when he was investigating the Church but feels like since he has fallen again he cannot cut this habit. I have realized that is one of the adversary's most powerful tools... despair. We have been meeting with him often and he was doing really well until running into old friends on the street which led to a 2 day drinking binge, we didn't know where he was or when he'd be back. Then on Friday morning we decided to stop by his house and found that he had come home and were able to come back that night, with the Branch President, to give him a priesthood blessing. I gained further testimony that perfect love does cast out all fear and that the light that this Gospel brings can dispel all darkness. By coming unto Christ in any form we feel humbled and feel nearer to Him and His love. It lifted the darkness from this brother's eyes and gave him the courage that, with help from his Father in Heaven, he can again become the saint and father he wants to be! The power of the priesthood is not just in healing the sick or in baptism, but as D&C Section 84:20-21 states, that in all ordinances and acts the "power of godliness is manifested."

I love you guys!

Elder Jolley

P.S. The fact that I know Spanish has nothing to do with the fact that I've got a companion from Spanish descent.... gift of tongues, shuu dee!