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Thursday, January 10, 2013

January 7, 2013


Subject: It's a New Year!!!
New Year's Eve was pretty normal. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just a whole bunch of fireworks. Boring. On New Years Day, Elder Hill and I met a former missionary from our mission named Spencer Wixom. "While sitting down a car pulled up and the driver said, 'Hi guys!" E. Wixom, now Spencer, and his wife Kenzie. He was looking for Hna Zoila, but she moved since he was last here. We ended up talking to them for about 20 minutes about missionary work and Sayaxché in particular. Spencer told us one Sunday they had almost 80 people in church! with 15-20 investiatros! but none of them were baptized, so we asked him where they live to see if they're now ready to accept the Restored Gospel. Interestingly enough, this morning I was reading in Preach My Gospel the experience of a siter missionary who served in the same mission her sister had served in a few years prior. After a few months she was in one of her sister's old areas and was told by her sister to visit some former investigators who were then taught and baptized by the younger sister. Hopefully this can be the case with E. Wixom's former investigators!"

The rest of Tuesday was also poretty decent. We had two really great lessons with a member present in each. One lesson with Mirian, and the other with familia Guillermo, who were new investigators this last week! They are a GREAT family! "I'm hoping and praying that Heavnely Father has finally led us to His prepared family".

On Wednesday we did divisions with the missionaries in La Libertad. I was with Elder Simon in La Libertad and Elder Hill was here in Sayaxché with Elder Ramos. Elder Simon and I had a great day in La Libertad!

On Thursday morning I did a baptismal interview for their investigator, Leti. Interestingly enough, I had given her son a baptismal interview 2 months ago! She is a great leady who is well prepared for baptism!

Friday was a dud day! We have been having a really hard time getting success going int he area, but we are workiing super hard to get things going!

Saturday we went to the "village" Las Pozas to teach our recent convert Brandon, It was fun, but Elder Hill has been getting sick, so we took the rest of Saturday off so that he could rest, same with Sunday. But, we're working ahrd and we are DETERMINED to have success! This is our last week of the change, and then it's time for my last change! SO crazy!!

Love you!

Elder Andrew A. LaPray


December 31, 2012


For those who weren't at my phone call, IT'S STORY TIME!!


So, on Christmas morning Elder Hill made us breakfast, pancakes and eggs! Delicious! As we were getting ready to eat I got a phone call from the mission nurse letting me know that an elder in my district was sick and asking if I could get some medicine to him because the stores would be closed due to Christmas, so as soon as breakfast was over we got dressed and what not, and headed out the door!

It was SILENT as we left the house. There was absolutely NO movement in Sayaxché. As we got to the river, there were 2 buses on the other side of the river, waiting for people to head out. We were the first 2 to arrive... we waited... and waited... and waited... and after about 45 minutes one of the bus drivers decided to try his luck with the 4 of us and see if he could get more people en route. Finally, about an hour and 45 minutes after leaving our house we arrived to La Libertad, a trip that should have taken tops 45 minutes, but we were able to deliver the mess, talk to them for a bit about Christmas and what not, and then around 10:30 we headed out to come back to Sayaxché. 

The chances of us finding a bus were about 0.00000000001% so we went straight to the main road (which took us 20 minutes walking) to try to hitchhike a ride. Well, we were throwing up the thumb for about 15-20 minutes with no luck and it was now about 11 o'clock and we were stuck 22 miles from our house, and my family was going to be calling in 6 hours. It was decision time. We needed to know if we needed to start walking or not. Elder Hill suggested a prayer, so pray we did, asking direction about whether or not we should begin walking or whether we should stand there and just keep asking for rides. At the end of the prayer we stood silently for about 30 seconds or so, looked at each other, and confirmed the truth we weren't all too ready to accept... "Get walking". So, we started the 22 mile journey from La Libertad to Sayaxché on Christmas day. 

We had walked about 200 meters when we saw a Mitsubishi SUV coming fairly quickly... We had just arrived to a perfect pull out point, stuck out our thumbs, and they honked and whizzed past us! And stopped! The cabin was full, but they offered us a ride in the cargo area, and I was not at all too picky about riding in the cargo area of that Mitsubishi! As soon as we got in, Elder Hill and I both took a moment to pray and give thanks for the wonderful blessing our Heavenly Father had given to us! 

That was the biggest story of the week!!

On Friday we had a great lesson with Noemí who has really been progressing! She had great questions for us about the Plan of Salvation and she seemed to really accept the things we were teaching her. We had another lesson the next day to explain the Plan of Salvation from beginning to end instead of just her questions so that she could understand it all! She has a great desire to learn and grow and change! It's awesome! We were also able to find 2 great families that same day!!

On Saturday Elder Hill and I felt like marriage counselor! It's interesting how when you walk around in a white shirt and tie and put on a nametag people just look at you as if you were to have all these insights and knowledge about everything! I've never been married in my life! Yet a couple of 33 years of marriage asked Elder Hill and I for advice and opinions on marriage!! Definitely not what I expected. However, being in a constant companionship helps us as missionaries prepare for the day in which we WILL be married and have to do much more than co-exist with our companion, we have to reach eternal marriage! It takes a lot of work, and I'm glad to be preparing now!

Love,

Elder Andrew A. LaPray

December 24, 2012


This has honestly been one of the hardest weeks of my mission.

Unfortunately, I squandered away my interenet time doing other, less important things. Sorry.

I didn't want to go into many details anyways, but Elder Hill and I have honestly been doing everything we can to try to work with members and teach in their homes, and just be the best missionaries we can be, and for some reason this week everything we had planned to do fell. I think we were able to have 3 of our planned citas, and the rest were all "out of the blue"... and there weren't that many "out of the blue" ones either.

I wrote something in my journal on Thursday I would like to share with you all.

"This just has not been our week at all! Our study time was well used today, but it seems that every appointment we have falls through. I know it's not because we're being disobedient or don't know how to plan, it's just that the Lord wants us to learn a lesson and He is placing us in other paths to meet other people we didn't know we needed to find, and the best way is to get us moving in the right direction, moving from plan to plan and contacting, but in the moment it's frustrating."

That about sums up our week. Elder Hill and I really get along great!

I hope you don't think that because of this email I'm "getting trunky" or that I don't want to be here or anything like that, it was just one of those weeks where nothing seemed to work out, but we have been working hard! Last night we talked about the things we are going to do differently this week and it's going to be AWESOME! There is great potential in Sayaxché and we are going to achieve it!

Love,

Elder Andrew A. LaPray

December 17, 2012


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

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