This was our first whole week together, Elder Hill and I. We are rocking it! We get along so well! Our companionship is inspired! He is a really hard worker, and always has been and always will be! I wish I could see more of what he'll do in the mission. But, I am glad to be a part of the very beginning, which are the most important months according to what the First Presidency and the Quorum of the 12 say.

On Tuesday we had a lesson with a less-active member named Marvin. He is doing really well! He has continued his reading in the Book of Mormon and is advancing rapidly and is learning a lot! He always shares with us from his reading and gives great analisis of what he reads. After we talked with him, his sister-in-law came and we had planned to teach her, so that was perfect! We did something from Preach My Gospel that is called "How to Begin Teaching" which more or less presents the purpose of our message and our visits, and ultimately presents the topic of baptism, and our end goal that people come closer to our Heavenly Father by making covenants, one of them being baptism. At the end of our visit, Elder Hill invited her, Noemí, to be baptized! She didn't quite understand his invitation, so I restated it, and she said yes! She would like to be baptized, and that is ultimately her desire, but she wants to feel prepared and that there is a change in her life, and we let her know that our purpose is to help her feel prepared and ready to make those changes in her life! It was a great experience for all of us! We hope to work closely with Noemí over the next few months!

On Wednesday morning we had our district meeting, nothing out of the ordinary. We got a hitch-hiked ride to La Libertad from Sayaxché INSIDE the cab of a pick up truck! The man driving was really nice! His name is Maguín. Elder Hill was freaking out because he saw the he had a pistol in a holster on his belt that was NOT on safety and the holster was NOT done up... I actually never saw the gun, but I wasn't worried cause he was a nice guy with whom we had a nice talk about the gospel :)

On the way HOME from District Meeting we got in the most ridiculously packed microbus EVER!... okay, maybe not ever, but it was packed! We said no to one micro bus that was pretty full, and when we said no the bus driver said, somewhat angrily, "I was going to take you guys for free, but if you're going to complain, I don't care"... but I don't think it would have been free... the next bus was more full and we went standing up for about 15 minutes and I was bending over cause I was too tall for the bus... Elder Hill was bent even more and he was on a down step. There were 30 people in a microbus built for a maximum of 16. It was just a joy and a half! I was THRILLED when I was able to sit down :)

Thursday was a good day.

Friday we had good study time, and weekly planning and then we went out to work after lunch.

Our first cita was with a couple people we contacted on Wednesday. We ended up talking to their grandpa, and when we mentioned a living prophet he was immediately closed off to our message, so that ended quickly, which was really sad!

That left us a TON of time to try contacting. We had some really good contacts though! One of the people we contacted is a man named Tomás. He was a really nice guy who is currently attending another church, but we shared with him about the Book of Mormon and gave him a copy so he could begin reading to find out if it is true. The Book of Mormon is truly one of the most powerful tools that we have in our missionary work and in our lives. We also saw Marvin and had to spend the evening in the house.

On Saturday we had the branch Christmas activity on Saturday, which was pretty successful!!

In Sacrament meeting yesterday we had 63!!! It was a record for my time in Sayaxché! I was so happy! We had a great day of work, and a great week!!

Elder Hill and I are working hard and studying hard! He is honestly the best companion I could have asked for to end my mission! We are going to work our tails off for the next 10 weeks!! Love you all!!

Love,
Elder Andrew A. LaPray