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I really don't have a whole lot to write this week... Unfortunately not a whole lot happened.
Monday was one of the good working days after Pday. We only had one lesson but we went to see Maynor and Paty de León to have FHE with them and a member family. It was a really good FHE and I was the one who did the spiritual thought about the Atonement. Afterwards we played a couple of silly games, but one of them was really fun! Unfortunately, it required me to stand up and dance like Shakira. For anyone who knows me he or she would know that I cannot dance at all. It was rather embarrassing, but it was fun! Paty made what are called "rellenitos" which are plátanos (plantains) filled with mashed black beans(I don't know what they're called in English...Colton told me they are refried black beans, IDK) and then you fry them. They were actually REALLY good. And that is coming from Andrew Anderson LaPray. I eat so many things I would have never though of before the mission. It's crazy. We also had some delicious watermelon! (That reminded me of the song Chariot by Gavin DeGraw because he says "and seedless watermelon"). So that was my Monday night!
Now comes the boring section. I was sick with "gripe" which is really just a cold but it drained me of ALL energy and I slept almost all day Tuesday (we didn't leave the house) and all day Wednesday. We left for District Meeting and then for like, an hour that night. On Wednesday night Chava got sick and so we stayed in the house almost all day Thursday as well. BUT... on the good side I did a TON of reading in the Old Testament. I made it all the way through Deuteronomy in like, a day! I went from Numbers 30 somthing to Joshua 3 in two days! It was legit and kind of boring, but oh well!
On Friday we didn't really have a lot of lessons and we had weekly planning, but it was just nice to be outside again! Other than that, not much.
On Saturday I watched someone kill a rooster with her bare hands and ate it about 1 hour later. It was crazy cool! I also climbed a wiskil tree to get some wiskil for lunch (there is no description for this vegetable) and while I was up there I broke a branch I was standing on... oops. Anyways, the soup (caldo in spanish) was really good, but the meat was really tough. We had a few other lessons that afternoon, one with Jessica and we talked about Patriarchal Blessings and how we would like her to prepare to receive hers when she feels the time is right.
Sunday was just a good day. Church was really good, I don't know what made it so special, it was just a good day at church. After lunch we went and saw familia Ortiz and gave Hna Mercedes a blessing (the Fam Ortiz is the previously mentioned "Angry Nicaraguan" family). It started raining like crazy while we were there and so we waited a while and then we went up to see Maynor and Paty de Leon. We had a nice talk with them about The blessings of Eternal Marriage and an Eternal Family and then we ate some fruit, mostly watermelon (I think that was it...) oh!!! And we ate some corn on the cob. Delicious.
Today we went to a mall called Tikal Futura and we went bowling! It was cool. Ok... so yesterday I was writing a letter to a friend and I randomly started talking about forgiveness, offense, and the pride cycle and it got me thinking about the Pride Cycle of the Scriptures which is Blessed State, Pride, Bondage, Humility/Redemption, Blessed State, Pride, etc. etc. Sometimes we fall into another pride cycle. I call it "The Guatemalan Pride Cycle" becuase that's where I first noticed. It starts with "Happiness". Everyone is happy. Phase 2 is "The Offense" someone says or does something to offend another. Phase 3 "Pride" Both parties refuse to ask for forgiveness and apologize. Phase 4 is "Forgiveness" which leads to Happiness. There is a very easy way to avoide Phases 2 and 3. When someone says or does something "offensive" you must CHOOSE NOT to take offense. This means automatically forgiving someone for what he or she said or did which leads immediately back to happiness. We lose so many opportunities in blessings in the phase of pride that we are the exact opposite of happy. It is terrible and I hope we can all avoid this pride cycle by CHOOSING NOT to take offense and forgiving others their trespasses IMMEDIATELY.
Love, Elder Andrew Anderson LaPray
Monday was one of the good working days after Pday. We only had one lesson but we went to see Maynor and Paty de León to have FHE with them and a member family. It was a really good FHE and I was the one who did the spiritual thought about the Atonement. Afterwards we played a couple of silly games, but one of them was really fun! Unfortunately, it required me to stand up and dance like Shakira. For anyone who knows me he or she would know that I cannot dance at all. It was rather embarrassing, but it was fun! Paty made what are called "rellenitos" which are plátanos (plantains) filled with mashed black beans(I don't know what they're called in English...Colton told me they are refried black beans, IDK) and then you fry them. They were actually REALLY good. And that is coming from Andrew Anderson LaPray. I eat so many things I would have never though of before the mission. It's crazy. We also had some delicious watermelon! (That reminded me of the song Chariot by Gavin DeGraw because he says "and seedless watermelon"). So that was my Monday night!
Now comes the boring section. I was sick with "gripe" which is really just a cold but it drained me of ALL energy and I slept almost all day Tuesday (we didn't leave the house) and all day Wednesday. We left for District Meeting and then for like, an hour that night. On Wednesday night Chava got sick and so we stayed in the house almost all day Thursday as well. BUT... on the good side I did a TON of reading in the Old Testament. I made it all the way through Deuteronomy in like, a day! I went from Numbers 30 somthing to Joshua 3 in two days! It was legit and kind of boring, but oh well!
On Friday we didn't really have a lot of lessons and we had weekly planning, but it was just nice to be outside again! Other than that, not much.
On Saturday I watched someone kill a rooster with her bare hands and ate it about 1 hour later. It was crazy cool! I also climbed a wiskil tree to get some wiskil for lunch (there is no description for this vegetable) and while I was up there I broke a branch I was standing on... oops. Anyways, the soup (caldo in spanish) was really good, but the meat was really tough. We had a few other lessons that afternoon, one with Jessica and we talked about Patriarchal Blessings and how we would like her to prepare to receive hers when she feels the time is right.
Sunday was just a good day. Church was really good, I don't know what made it so special, it was just a good day at church. After lunch we went and saw familia Ortiz and gave Hna Mercedes a blessing (the Fam Ortiz is the previously mentioned "Angry Nicaraguan" family). It started raining like crazy while we were there and so we waited a while and then we went up to see Maynor and Paty de Leon. We had a nice talk with them about The blessings of Eternal Marriage and an Eternal Family and then we ate some fruit, mostly watermelon (I think that was it...) oh!!! And we ate some corn on the cob. Delicious.
Today we went to a mall called Tikal Futura and we went bowling! It was cool. Ok... so yesterday I was writing a letter to a friend and I randomly started talking about forgiveness, offense, and the pride cycle and it got me thinking about the Pride Cycle of the Scriptures which is Blessed State, Pride, Bondage, Humility/Redemption, Blessed State, Pride, etc. etc. Sometimes we fall into another pride cycle. I call it "The Guatemalan Pride Cycle" becuase that's where I first noticed. It starts with "Happiness". Everyone is happy. Phase 2 is "The Offense" someone says or does something to offend another. Phase 3 "Pride" Both parties refuse to ask for forgiveness and apologize. Phase 4 is "Forgiveness" which leads to Happiness. There is a very easy way to avoide Phases 2 and 3. When someone says or does something "offensive" you must CHOOSE NOT to take offense. This means automatically forgiving someone for what he or she said or did which leads immediately back to happiness. We lose so many opportunities in blessings in the phase of pride that we are the exact opposite of happy. It is terrible and I hope we can all avoid this pride cycle by CHOOSING NOT to take offense and forgiving others their trespasses IMMEDIATELY.
Love, Elder Andrew Anderson LaPray
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