Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that is correct. As of today, the 5th day of November 2012, Elder LaPray has officially hit 10 consecutive months as district leader in the Guatemala, Guatemala City North Mission. I'm pretty sure it's a mission record. 10 months and 8 changes. At the end of this change I will have 11 months exactly as district leader.
On Tuesday morning Elder Bobadilla and I left towards a place called El Subín to meet up with the elders from La Libertad because we did a "surprise" division. It wasn't exactly anything we were planning on, but we did it anyways because it was definitely necessary. Elder Simon and I were in Sayaxché for the day. Things had been a little rough so we did a division so that I could talk to him about the mission and try to help him "relax". The stresses of missionary life are pretty high especially when you can't communicate everything you want to your companion, so we talked about it, and then went out to work. Our first visit was with Alicia. Elder Simon had a little bit of trouble understanding what Alicia was saying, so I did most of the talking, but that's normal. She had read the two chapters we left her of 2 Ne 2 and Moro. 8. She has a lot of "sincere desire" and "real intent" but she still hasn't gotten a firm answer as to whether or not the things we are sharing are true or not. We later got some referrals from the Relief Society president and her daughter, had our missionary correlation and ended the day with a lesson with Sergio. Sergio had spent the last week in Cobán where he asked his mother's permission to be baptized and for the moment has said no, but I think that it just confirmed more his desire to be baptized. While he spoke to his mom about his desire he told her of the new TRUTHS he had learned while speaking with us, such as the manner of prayer. It was a cool experience and incredible to see the light of Christ growing within him as our visits continue! I know that when he finally has the chance to be baptized he can be a strong member of the Church!
On Thursday night we had another lesson with Sergio and we read 1 Nephi 6 and 7 with him and then did an overview of what we read and he really is great at remember details about what he read and capturing information, and Spanish is his second language! I am writing this after I wrote the next 3 paragraphs... I was wrong. We did the previous stuff on SATURDAY with Sergio. On Thursday we had an EXCELLENT lesson about the first half of the Plan of Salvation!! Just absolutely AWESOME!!!
Saturday was a good day! I feel like it will come out better if I just quote my journal...
"It was a good Saturday! This morning we had good study time. I'm finishing up my lesson 3 plan and then I'm planning on going through lesson 4 and 5 quickly to hopefully finish Preach My Gospel in Spanish half way into next change. After lunch we went to fam. Hernández Tum, but they weren't home, so we went to contact. The first man we talked to was a 23 year old named Elmer. He didn't seem too interested, but as we finished the contact E. Bobadilla asked if he knew anyone who might be interested in our message and he sent us to his neighbors, Dilia and Lesbia. What a great opportunity! 3 years ago they listened to the missionaries and they were both transferred. We had a nice first visit lesson and helped answer some questions they had about the Book of Mormon. We then went to visit Jorge and Alicia, whom we met last Saturday. At the beginning of the lesson I wasn't overly hopeful because he began speaking about emigration, however, after we began the "teaching" we seemed to have his full attention as we explained the message of the Restoration. At the end of the lesson we asked if he would be baptized if God answered his prayer and told him this is His Church and he said that he would. He then asked if his children would be able to be baptized as well if they knew this is God's church and we briefly taught about how children don't need baptism until they are older.
"So with Jorge and Alicia we ended talking about baptism. When we left it was raining just a little bit. By the time we got to the school in La Virgencita it picked up so we took shelter at the school. In the end we ended up soaked. We later walked to visit Sergio drenching wet, but had a good lesson in which he asked what the requirements are for baptism. Interestingly enough, I had studied that in the morning. We walked home in the cold rain and for the first time I was cold in Sayaxché!"
Sunday was a great day as well! After church we prepared Brandon for his baptismal interview on Wednesday because on Thursday he will be baptized!! After the interview we prepared the baptismal service agenda and he has asked me to baptize in the river "La Pasión". I am so excited for him to be baptized! And will be going with the youth to do baptisms for the dead in the first weekend of December!! It should be great!!!
Everything in Sayaxché is going wonderfully and I am LOVING the work! Time is slipping away quickly, and I am just trying to do everything I can with the remaining time!! The Church is true, and the book is blue!! (and the other ones we use are different colors depending on your tastes :)
Love,
Elder Andrew A. LaPray
On Tuesday morning Elder Bobadilla and I left towards a place called El Subín to meet up with the elders from La Libertad because we did a "surprise" division. It wasn't exactly anything we were planning on, but we did it anyways because it was definitely necessary. Elder Simon and I were in Sayaxché for the day. Things had been a little rough so we did a division so that I could talk to him about the mission and try to help him "relax". The stresses of missionary life are pretty high especially when you can't communicate everything you want to your companion, so we talked about it, and then went out to work. Our first visit was with Alicia. Elder Simon had a little bit of trouble understanding what Alicia was saying, so I did most of the talking, but that's normal. She had read the two chapters we left her of 2 Ne 2 and Moro. 8. She has a lot of "sincere desire" and "real intent" but she still hasn't gotten a firm answer as to whether or not the things we are sharing are true or not. We later got some referrals from the Relief Society president and her daughter, had our missionary correlation and ended the day with a lesson with Sergio. Sergio had spent the last week in Cobán where he asked his mother's permission to be baptized and for the moment has said no, but I think that it just confirmed more his desire to be baptized. While he spoke to his mom about his desire he told her of the new TRUTHS he had learned while speaking with us, such as the manner of prayer. It was a cool experience and incredible to see the light of Christ growing within him as our visits continue! I know that when he finally has the chance to be baptized he can be a strong member of the Church!
On Thursday night we had another lesson with Sergio and we read 1 Nephi 6 and 7 with him and then did an overview of what we read and he really is great at remember details about what he read and capturing information, and Spanish is his second language! I am writing this after I wrote the next 3 paragraphs... I was wrong. We did the previous stuff on SATURDAY with Sergio. On Thursday we had an EXCELLENT lesson about the first half of the Plan of Salvation!! Just absolutely AWESOME!!!
Saturday was a good day! I feel like it will come out better if I just quote my journal...
"It was a good Saturday! This morning we had good study time. I'm finishing up my lesson 3 plan and then I'm planning on going through lesson 4 and 5 quickly to hopefully finish Preach My Gospel in Spanish half way into next change. After lunch we went to fam. Hernández Tum, but they weren't home, so we went to contact. The first man we talked to was a 23 year old named Elmer. He didn't seem too interested, but as we finished the contact E. Bobadilla asked if he knew anyone who might be interested in our message and he sent us to his neighbors, Dilia and Lesbia. What a great opportunity! 3 years ago they listened to the missionaries and they were both transferred. We had a nice first visit lesson and helped answer some questions they had about the Book of Mormon. We then went to visit Jorge and Alicia, whom we met last Saturday. At the beginning of the lesson I wasn't overly hopeful because he began speaking about emigration, however, after we began the "teaching" we seemed to have his full attention as we explained the message of the Restoration. At the end of the lesson we asked if he would be baptized if God answered his prayer and told him this is His Church and he said that he would. He then asked if his children would be able to be baptized as well if they knew this is God's church and we briefly taught about how children don't need baptism until they are older.
"So with Jorge and Alicia we ended talking about baptism. When we left it was raining just a little bit. By the time we got to the school in La Virgencita it picked up so we took shelter at the school. In the end we ended up soaked. We later walked to visit Sergio drenching wet, but had a good lesson in which he asked what the requirements are for baptism. Interestingly enough, I had studied that in the morning. We walked home in the cold rain and for the first time I was cold in Sayaxché!"
Sunday was a great day as well! After church we prepared Brandon for his baptismal interview on Wednesday because on Thursday he will be baptized!! After the interview we prepared the baptismal service agenda and he has asked me to baptize in the river "La Pasión". I am so excited for him to be baptized! And will be going with the youth to do baptisms for the dead in the first weekend of December!! It should be great!!!
Everything in Sayaxché is going wonderfully and I am LOVING the work! Time is slipping away quickly, and I am just trying to do everything I can with the remaining time!! The Church is true, and the book is blue!! (and the other ones we use are different colors depending on your tastes :)
Love,
Elder Andrew A. LaPray
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