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Monday, December 10, 2012

December 10, 2012


This last week has seriously been NUTS!!!

I don't remember if I said this last week or not, but with the news of me training, I will be dying in Sayaxché as DL/trainer, which will give me a grand total in my mission of 10 STRAIGHT changes as DL, which is the equivalent of 14 months! It's absolutely NUTS! But, I am SUPER stoked!!

On Tuesday we went visiting members and investigators so that E. Bobadilla could say goodbye. It was a FULL day schedule! We left at 8 a.m. and got back at 7:00 p.m. We visited a good portion of the branch. We also had our last lesson with Darlyn ot get her ready for the baptismal interview.

On Wednesday morning Elder Bobadilla and I left Sayaxché for Santa Elena for changes. Usually we would meet up in BK to get the changes, but when we got to the ZL's house they already had changes!! I was shocked! E. Bobadilla went to an area called Tucuru in the Polochic to learn Q'eqchi'! Super crazy! I hope he does well up there! It's far away! With how blunt the Q'eqchi' people are, I hope they don't talk too much about his eye... the good news is that he has gotten over it.

I'm not sure why, but we ended up staying the day in the ZL's house. However, it gave me an awesome chance to talk to E. Ware who is AWESOME! We talked about a lot of cool/interesting topics! I think we get along so well because we have similar personalities, but not the same. They actually have the color personality test which tells you if you are red, blue, white or yellow... I took the test and turned out 22 red, 16 blue, 3 white and 3 yellow. If you haven't ever taken that test, you should! It's very interesting. Supposedly a red-blue combination is not very common, but they have some interesting personality traits that definitely describe me. I don't want to give it all away...

At about 11:00 pm on Wednesday night, my new companion, Elder Cody Hill, got to Petén! He is from Colorado Springs and is LEGIT! He goes to BYU and is in the ROTC and wants to join the army. He's tall! 6'4 and just awesome! We get a long ridiculously well! On Thursday morning we were in the bus on the way to Sayaxché and talked most of the bus ride, then we went with the ZLs to do the baptismal interviews for Friday and Saturday, and then... we had to go clean the baptismal font! What a wonderful welcome to Sayaxché, right? We spent about 2 hours cleaning the pila (font), which was super dirty, and then we went to the branch activity, and then we didnt have anyone to go out with us, so we had to stay home.

On Friday we did our weekly planning and Elder Hill met a less-active named Marvin who is doing EXCELLENTLY! He has improved a lot since we started working with him! And we had the baptism. We had a LOT of people in attendance!

Saturday was also a good day! We did our studies in the morning, got in a few contacts, and then we had the baptism. Unfortunately that was the last place we went... We were at the chapel from 2:45 until 6:30 and then we had to go home. However, Saturday's baptism was also awesome! It was really quick too! I forget how FAST the baptismal ordinance is over!

Overall, my first week with Elder Hill has been awesome! We are going to be GREAT companions and have a stellar companionship! He has such an incredible drive to work and be obedient and do everything! We went running on Friday and Saturday and I just about DIED from running on my toes. Supposedly it's better for your knees, so I ran 2 miles on my toes and my calves were KILLING me for 2 days! However, now they're back to almost normal :)

Stoked for this next week! Love you all!

Love,
Elder Andrew A. LaPray

November 26, 2012

This one is out of place...didn't realized I hadn't posted for 2 weeks.

We just finished week 5 of the change, so it's the only title I could think of! 

Alright, I've got to FLY through this email!!

I'm pretty sure time is not going to allow!!

On Tuesday morning we got a phone call from some investigators we haven't been able to see in a few weeks asking if we could stop by in the afternoon, which was absolutely incredible! That almost NEVER happens in Guatemala, so we of course went to see them in the afternoon!

Their little 5 month old son is sick, and they were looking to us for help... They don't have a firm foundation of the Restoration of the Gospel, or the priesthood, but we did what we could to explain priesthood blessings and offered one for their little son, Leopoldo. Upon seeing that blessing, they asked if the other children could also receive blessings, so we explained a little more. It was a good lesson and we went back to see them on Saturday.

On Saturday we visited them and talked about their reading of Alma 7. They hadn't gotten very far, so we read with them and talked about how Jesus Christ can help us and also about the importance of baptism for the remission of sins. They ahve a sincere interest in our message, and I am hoping and praying they can come to a testimony of the truthfulness of all we have taught and desire to be baptized!

On Wedesday we did divisions with La Libertad and I was there, so it was a lot of people I don't know, but in hopes of helping E. Ramos and E. Simon in their companionship, who have been having some struggles. More or less accomplished?

Saturday was really a good day! Like I said, we had that GREAT lesson with Jorge and Alicia (See the previous previous paragraph) and also familia Mota Mazariego, where we are teaching 9 year old Darlyn. We taught her lesson 3 and talked about baptism. They would like Darlyn to be baptized on December 8th, but the only problem is that she wants ME to baptize her, and we have changes before that... so we'll see what happens there! 

Yesterday in church I spoke on the importance of the sacrament and the renewal of our bpatismal covenants! In my opinion, it was a good talk :) But I'm only SLIGHTLY biased.

Love you all!

Elder Andrew A. LaPray

December 3, 2012


So there is HUGE news in transfers!!!! Like, Ridiculously huge! So, first things first. Elder Bobadilla is leaving Sayaxché and I am staying in Sayaxché. I am staying in Sayaxché to TRAIN again! So, it is official... Elder LaPray will end  his mission as DL/Trainer in Sayaxché! Now, perhaps even BIGGER news... Elder LaPray will no longer be leaving Guatemala on February 28th, but rather March 6th or 7th... Big news, I'd say so! Like, GINORMOUS!

As for being assigned to be trainer again, I'm honestly pretty stoked about it! Ever since about 2 weeks ago, it's what I was hoping to have happen for the end of my mission! However, It will be quite a long time in Sayaxché... 7 months.

I'm trying to think through my week and things I want to write about, but like, I honestly just don't know...

I guess I'll skip to Thursday. On Thursday morning we had a zone meeting, which was good. Hooray! One thing I'm not looking forward to about staying in Sayaxché is having to travel to Santa Elena... That kind of gets old, but oh well!

After we got back from our Zone Meeting at 3:15 we had the "Tarde de Hermanamiento". After the activity we had a lesson with familia Rodríguez, whose 2 children will be baptized next Friday. After that lesson we had a lesson with Darlyn, who will be baptized next Saturday! She is a REALLY smart 9 year old girl! She showed me her Book of Mormon the other day and I was looking at the things she marked, and she marked a lot of stuff, but things that were legitamately important, not just random stuff! She is very inteligent!

Friday was also a good day where we taught Marvin, Walfred, Alicia, Dora, and famila Rodríguez again.

Saturday at 2 a.m. I woke up and puked my guts out, which was just absolutely WONDERFUL! So Saturday was pretty much lost. We spent 90% of the day in the house. Hooray!

And then what I've already said about changes what I heard on Saturday. I'm excited to work hard my last 2 changes and 1 week. Love you all!

Elder Andrew A. LaPray