December 21, 2010
ISMAIL!!!
This week has been GREAT! Sorry I didn´t get to write a lot yesterday.
We did a lot of teaching (almost doubled our previous lessons) and it really seems like we´re going to keep that up. We´ve got a great teaching pool and there were even a ton of investigators in Church on Sunday. It´s so great to see even though I know it´s not me making those changes in peoples´ lives.
Ismael got baptized on Saturday and it was really amazing. Two hermanos helped him get into the font (he walks with a walker so he needed a lot of help) and then they baptized him in a chair. While we were waiting for him to get dressed we watched part of the video "Special Witnesses of Christ." I HIGHLY recommend it for Christmas. It´s just so powerful and amazing and I really felt the Spirit.
Afterwards, the Bishop bore his testimony and he said, "I´ve been to a lot of baptisms in my life, but this has been one of the most special," and it was really SO special. You could see difficult it was for Ismael to get in the water and get baptized, but that just reinforced how much he real wanted it and how important he knew it was. It´s probably hard to get a 69-year-old man all the way unter that water!
Then yesterday we had "Super P-day" (that´s why I didn´t write :) IT WAS AWESOME!!! We got to play sports so Hna. Tingey and I spent the whole day tearing up the frisbee field and diving after volleyballs.
Well, the whole morning. We only had 3 hours to play, but we really took advantage of them! After that we had an asado, a talent show at night and then a fireside with President. In the talent show we sang "Silent Night" in 4 languages with some missionaries from my zone and then during the fireside I got to accompany an Elder playing "O Holy Night" on the violin (HE played the violin, I played the piano, for those who are confused :). It was just a great, amazing day and it really got me pumped for Christmas.
So, happy first day of summer to all of you popsicles up there. Enjoy the snow for me. I´ll be down here thinking cold thoughts and hoping I don´t melt. I heard it´s even hotter in Tandil so now I´m grateful to be in Mar del Plata.
Thanks for the prayers and I love you all so much! I just love the missionary work and Hna. Collette and I are learning a lot together and seeing a lot of miracles. One more transfer in Mar del Plata and we´re going to do the best we can with our time here! (But everyone keeps telling me I´m just going to the other Mar del Plata area to die, haha)
Love,
Hna. LaPray
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
December 13, 2010
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
Man it´s been snowing like crazy here this week! Ok that was a lie. Admit it, I know some of you believed me for a second. It´s getting HOT and the tourists are coming in. Luckily, not that many people want to visit the smelly port. But we have been having fun with mom´s christmas package. And we´re not even peeking! Just opening everything on the day we´re supposed to. Thanks, Mom!
This week we´re just going to be getting Ismael ready for his baptism... He´s excited about it and so are the members. It´s been a long time since an adult was baptized in this ward. And then next I think we´re going to have a family!
We had another lesson with Vanesa and she told us that she read the Book of Mormon and prayed and feels like it´s true. She told us that she feels like God has been calling to her to come back to him and that she needs to make some changes. She´s still a little afraid to go to church because she knows she´s going to get baptized after that, but she´ll get there. The thing here is that EVERYBODY is Catholic. There´s a lot of social and family pressure to stay Catholic. But she and her husband and their two great kids are all going to get baptized! That just means that I HAVE to be here next transfer.
We had a great week and we can really see the miracles and the changes in peoples lives. We can also see the people who aren´t willing to make changes and how much harder everything is for them. Life with the gospel is just so much easier! The Lord has provided the way, we just need to follow him and then we can be happy FOREVER! Missionary work is amazing and it strengthens my testimony every day of how much everyone needs ALL the truth in their lives. Everyone. There is one truth for every person on this earth. And it´s there waiting for us. And there is always more truth to find. Through studies in school and in the scriptures, there is ALWAYS something new you can learn! So keep learning and growing!
Happy birthday to Baba (today!), Stephanie, and Nathan!!! (And anyone else I might have missed... haha!)
I love you all!
-Hna. LaPray
P.S. Apparently having only 7 months left makes the members tell me "¡aaa, falta poco, hermana!" That basically means that they think I only have a little bit of time left and they ask me more about home and school and boyfriends. Don´t worry, I´m not trunky.
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
Man it´s been snowing like crazy here this week! Ok that was a lie. Admit it, I know some of you believed me for a second. It´s getting HOT and the tourists are coming in. Luckily, not that many people want to visit the smelly port. But we have been having fun with mom´s christmas package. And we´re not even peeking! Just opening everything on the day we´re supposed to. Thanks, Mom!
This week we´re just going to be getting Ismael ready for his baptism... He´s excited about it and so are the members. It´s been a long time since an adult was baptized in this ward. And then next I think we´re going to have a family!
We had another lesson with Vanesa and she told us that she read the Book of Mormon and prayed and feels like it´s true. She told us that she feels like God has been calling to her to come back to him and that she needs to make some changes. She´s still a little afraid to go to church because she knows she´s going to get baptized after that, but she´ll get there. The thing here is that EVERYBODY is Catholic. There´s a lot of social and family pressure to stay Catholic. But she and her husband and their two great kids are all going to get baptized! That just means that I HAVE to be here next transfer.
We had a great week and we can really see the miracles and the changes in peoples lives. We can also see the people who aren´t willing to make changes and how much harder everything is for them. Life with the gospel is just so much easier! The Lord has provided the way, we just need to follow him and then we can be happy FOREVER! Missionary work is amazing and it strengthens my testimony every day of how much everyone needs ALL the truth in their lives. Everyone. There is one truth for every person on this earth. And it´s there waiting for us. And there is always more truth to find. Through studies in school and in the scriptures, there is ALWAYS something new you can learn! So keep learning and growing!
Happy birthday to Baba (today!), Stephanie, and Nathan!!! (And anyone else I might have missed... haha!)
I love you all!
-Hna. LaPray
P.S. Apparently having only 7 months left makes the members tell me "¡aaa, falta poco, hermana!" That basically means that they think I only have a little bit of time left and they ask me more about home and school and boyfriends. Don´t worry, I´m not trunky.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Garbage roasting o'er an open fire......
December 6, 2010
Garbage roasting o’er an open fire….
Kind of like chestnuts, but usually people just roast garbage here.
It´s their way of "cleaning" and boy does it just get me in the Christmas spirit!
Hna. Collette and I are both kind of weirded out by this "hot Christmas" thing so we´re doing our best to sing Christmas songs and decorate the apartment and... stay cool. But I´m sure we´ll feel more Christmasy as it gets closer. We´re pretty excited to celebrate our first Christmases in Argentina!
We´re just busy here getting Ismael ready for his baptism and fighting the rest of our investigators to get them to church... Ismael was so funny yesterday. It was his first time going to our ward and an hermano asked if he wanted to come back next week and he said, "YES!
And the week after and the week after that and the week after that..."
haha. He really loved it. He especially loves the classes because he´s allowed to make comments. He keeps saying, "MUCHO mejor que la católica" (MUCH better than the Catholic). He´s just so great!
Today for P-day we went to a birthday party of a little boy in our ward who turned 5. His mom wanted us to come to talk to all her non-member friends. She´s so great! So she introduced us to a lot of them, and they were surprised at how normal we were. haha. Maybe they´ll let us in their houses now to baptize their families... But one of this hermana´s (Claudia´s) sons had a friend there and he wants to come to mutual now and we´re pretty pumped for him.
We have pretty great, funny things happen almost every day but I always forget to write about them. We only speak Spanish in the street, so Hna. Collette says some funny things sometimes. Like, "I feel dangerous" instead of "I feel scared" and she talks about her "nietos" (grandchildren) instead of her "sobrinos" (nieces and nephews). I wish I had more funny stories like that... too bad I already knew a lot of Spanish when I got here. And then there are the times when she starts speaking to me in French instead of Spanish because she gets confused sometimes... Those are fun, too. And just the random, funny things we see. Like a man crawling out from under the fence of the golf course, saying "buen día," and walking away like it´s normal. Or when a little boy was screaming and flapping his arms around and chasing his little, terrified dog all over the yard. We laugh a lot and have a lot of fun. But I guess Canada (you know, my old roommate from Canada) doesn´t like those stories so much. She wants to hear more about the suffering... Well, just so you know the mission really is hard, but the good times more than make up for that.
What´s the point in talking about the hard times?
I love it here, and I´m thinking about not coming home. You better start giving me some reasons to come back there. (Yes, Dad, capitalism is one reason to go home.) I do love you all, but I think I love this work more! We´ll see what happens in a few months when President tries to kick me out of Argentina.
Love,
Hna. LaPray
Garbage roasting o’er an open fire….
Kind of like chestnuts, but usually people just roast garbage here.
It´s their way of "cleaning" and boy does it just get me in the Christmas spirit!
Hna. Collette and I are both kind of weirded out by this "hot Christmas" thing so we´re doing our best to sing Christmas songs and decorate the apartment and... stay cool. But I´m sure we´ll feel more Christmasy as it gets closer. We´re pretty excited to celebrate our first Christmases in Argentina!
We´re just busy here getting Ismael ready for his baptism and fighting the rest of our investigators to get them to church... Ismael was so funny yesterday. It was his first time going to our ward and an hermano asked if he wanted to come back next week and he said, "YES!
And the week after and the week after that and the week after that..."
haha. He really loved it. He especially loves the classes because he´s allowed to make comments. He keeps saying, "MUCHO mejor que la católica" (MUCH better than the Catholic). He´s just so great!
Today for P-day we went to a birthday party of a little boy in our ward who turned 5. His mom wanted us to come to talk to all her non-member friends. She´s so great! So she introduced us to a lot of them, and they were surprised at how normal we were. haha. Maybe they´ll let us in their houses now to baptize their families... But one of this hermana´s (Claudia´s) sons had a friend there and he wants to come to mutual now and we´re pretty pumped for him.
We have pretty great, funny things happen almost every day but I always forget to write about them. We only speak Spanish in the street, so Hna. Collette says some funny things sometimes. Like, "I feel dangerous" instead of "I feel scared" and she talks about her "nietos" (grandchildren) instead of her "sobrinos" (nieces and nephews). I wish I had more funny stories like that... too bad I already knew a lot of Spanish when I got here. And then there are the times when she starts speaking to me in French instead of Spanish because she gets confused sometimes... Those are fun, too. And just the random, funny things we see. Like a man crawling out from under the fence of the golf course, saying "buen día," and walking away like it´s normal. Or when a little boy was screaming and flapping his arms around and chasing his little, terrified dog all over the yard. We laugh a lot and have a lot of fun. But I guess Canada (you know, my old roommate from Canada) doesn´t like those stories so much. She wants to hear more about the suffering... Well, just so you know the mission really is hard, but the good times more than make up for that.
What´s the point in talking about the hard times?
I love it here, and I´m thinking about not coming home. You better start giving me some reasons to come back there. (Yes, Dad, capitalism is one reason to go home.) I do love you all, but I think I love this work more! We´ll see what happens in a few months when President tries to kick me out of Argentina.
Love,
Hna. LaPray
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Blessings are coming down like rain.....
(please note that this post is out of order)
November 1, 2010
Blessings are coming down like rain….
We´ve had a lot of blessings this week! And maybe just a little bit more rain. And a LOT more wind... I´ll send a picture of our halloween costumes and wind hair.
First off, I realize the past 2 weeks I´ve said that we´re going to get a baptismal date with Aurelia and didn´t say anything more about it... well, we got it! She still needs to stop smoking, but we´re working towards November 14th! She says she doesn´t feel ready, but she wants to be ready and we know she can be. We gave her a Bible this week to go along with her Book of Mormon and she was really happy about it and it makes her want to read the Book of Mormon more now that she can look up the footnotes in the Bible.
We also have another baptismal date with Iara! The other picture I´m sending is me with her. That is a rainy-day hair picture. I´m just learning all of these new hair styles!
The rain brings lots of blessings, though, because people are more likely to say "poor girls! come in out of the rain!" as opposed to when it´s just cold and they say "ah, it´s cold!" and just close the door in our faces. So we found a new family to teach that way. They´re really great and normal and the HUSBAND (yes, they are already married) has a steady job and a new car. That´s definitely a first for me in the mission. We usually teach very humble people. But they´re a great family and both parents are interested in learning more and seeing the organization we have for the youth. As well as another family (ALSO already married!) that we found. So we´re really excited about the work right now and the ward is, too, because a lot of the investigators we´ve found have been coming to church. This has kind of been a dead area for a while, but it´s really picking up! There are tons of people out there just waiting for us!
Also this Wednesday we got to pass through an Argentine census day. It´s even more special than the world cup because it only happens every 10 years. What they do is they make you stay in your house until they come knock on your door and ask you where you´re from and how old you are and what your floor is made of and if your bathroom is a bathroom or a latrine... Welcome to my mundo... So that was fun just sitting in the house all day. Good thing I´m used to it!
On Wednesday we discovered another new activity that we love (like yelling at the dog 2 floors down). We really enjoy reading the Old Testament like Yoda (from Star Wars) talks. Give it a try sometime! Yes, we get bored...
Another highlight was Stake Conference. Our mission president came and told everyone that if they had 5 stakes in Mar del Plata we would be eligible for a temple. Of course that got everyone really excited because we already have 2 and they´re about to divide into a third. Hopefully I´m here for the division--I think that will be fun. The conference was FULL though and on a rainy day (a lot of Argentines don´t go to church when it´s rainy because they just can´t get there). I can´t imagine what it would have been like if it was a nice day! We wouldn´t have been able to fit everyone! So now everyone is excited about missionary work because they want a temple. We got a bunch of member references that day and set up times with them to go visit their friends. It was great! Way to go Pres!
We also had a really great ward activity on Friday. The youth put on a talent show and a lot of them brought non-member family and friends.
The cultural hall was full and the youth did great! We didn´t get to stay the whole time, but we heard it was great and we also got some good references from that! Aurelia loved it, too. She loves the church and everything she learns... and that is why we´re going to baptize her :) And Iara participated. She´s pretty much already a member, she just needs to get baptized.
This is such a great area and such a great work! There are people waiting for us, we just need to let them know that it´s us we´re waiting for! Be a good friend and share the gospel :) I love you all and thank you for the prayers!
-Hna. LaPray
P.S. In case you didn´t notice in the picture, we were each other for Halloween.
November 1, 2010
Blessings are coming down like rain….
We´ve had a lot of blessings this week! And maybe just a little bit more rain. And a LOT more wind... I´ll send a picture of our halloween costumes and wind hair.
First off, I realize the past 2 weeks I´ve said that we´re going to get a baptismal date with Aurelia and didn´t say anything more about it... well, we got it! She still needs to stop smoking, but we´re working towards November 14th! She says she doesn´t feel ready, but she wants to be ready and we know she can be. We gave her a Bible this week to go along with her Book of Mormon and she was really happy about it and it makes her want to read the Book of Mormon more now that she can look up the footnotes in the Bible.
We also have another baptismal date with Iara! The other picture I´m sending is me with her. That is a rainy-day hair picture. I´m just learning all of these new hair styles!
The rain brings lots of blessings, though, because people are more likely to say "poor girls! come in out of the rain!" as opposed to when it´s just cold and they say "ah, it´s cold!" and just close the door in our faces. So we found a new family to teach that way. They´re really great and normal and the HUSBAND (yes, they are already married) has a steady job and a new car. That´s definitely a first for me in the mission. We usually teach very humble people. But they´re a great family and both parents are interested in learning more and seeing the organization we have for the youth. As well as another family (ALSO already married!) that we found. So we´re really excited about the work right now and the ward is, too, because a lot of the investigators we´ve found have been coming to church. This has kind of been a dead area for a while, but it´s really picking up! There are tons of people out there just waiting for us!
Also this Wednesday we got to pass through an Argentine census day. It´s even more special than the world cup because it only happens every 10 years. What they do is they make you stay in your house until they come knock on your door and ask you where you´re from and how old you are and what your floor is made of and if your bathroom is a bathroom or a latrine... Welcome to my mundo... So that was fun just sitting in the house all day. Good thing I´m used to it!
On Wednesday we discovered another new activity that we love (like yelling at the dog 2 floors down). We really enjoy reading the Old Testament like Yoda (from Star Wars) talks. Give it a try sometime! Yes, we get bored...
Another highlight was Stake Conference. Our mission president came and told everyone that if they had 5 stakes in Mar del Plata we would be eligible for a temple. Of course that got everyone really excited because we already have 2 and they´re about to divide into a third. Hopefully I´m here for the division--I think that will be fun. The conference was FULL though and on a rainy day (a lot of Argentines don´t go to church when it´s rainy because they just can´t get there). I can´t imagine what it would have been like if it was a nice day! We wouldn´t have been able to fit everyone! So now everyone is excited about missionary work because they want a temple. We got a bunch of member references that day and set up times with them to go visit their friends. It was great! Way to go Pres!
We also had a really great ward activity on Friday. The youth put on a talent show and a lot of them brought non-member family and friends.
The cultural hall was full and the youth did great! We didn´t get to stay the whole time, but we heard it was great and we also got some good references from that! Aurelia loved it, too. She loves the church and everything she learns... and that is why we´re going to baptize her :) And Iara participated. She´s pretty much already a member, she just needs to get baptized.
This is such a great area and such a great work! There are people waiting for us, we just need to let them know that it´s us we´re waiting for! Be a good friend and share the gospel :) I love you all and thank you for the prayers!
-Hna. LaPray
P.S. In case you didn´t notice in the picture, we were each other for Halloween.
I'm dreaming of a white Christmas......
November 29, 2010
I’m dreaming of a white Christmas………
Ok just kidding, I´m not really. I´m going to be perfectly content with my hot, humid Argentine Christmas. But Hna. Collette and I are excited to start singing Christmas songs and decorating the house!
We´ve been working a lot this week... We got a reference from some Elders in another ward. His name is Ismael and he´s going to get baptized in a couple weeks! He´s old and doesn´t walk really well, and at first we were worried he didn´t really understand what we were talking about, but he´s showed us that he really knows what´s going on and he´s been to church twice and he´s really excited to get baptized.
We´re just worried about how we´re going to get him under the water... we´re thinking about inviting a really big Elder to come baptize him... haha.
We´ve also been working with a couple families and gotten some more baptismal dates with them. They´re just all so great and we´re excited to help them be eternal families! We´re going to teach Iara´s dad today and we´re really hoping it goes well! Iara´s mom is excited because he already likes us and she feels like he´s softened up more since Iara´s baptism.
The mission´s great and we´re really working our butts off here! It´s so great and the church is true!
I love you all!
Love,
Hna. LaPray
I’m dreaming of a white Christmas………
Ok just kidding, I´m not really. I´m going to be perfectly content with my hot, humid Argentine Christmas. But Hna. Collette and I are excited to start singing Christmas songs and decorating the house!
We´ve been working a lot this week... We got a reference from some Elders in another ward. His name is Ismael and he´s going to get baptized in a couple weeks! He´s old and doesn´t walk really well, and at first we were worried he didn´t really understand what we were talking about, but he´s showed us that he really knows what´s going on and he´s been to church twice and he´s really excited to get baptized.
We´re just worried about how we´re going to get him under the water... we´re thinking about inviting a really big Elder to come baptize him... haha.
We´ve also been working with a couple families and gotten some more baptismal dates with them. They´re just all so great and we´re excited to help them be eternal families! We´re going to teach Iara´s dad today and we´re really hoping it goes well! Iara´s mom is excited because he already likes us and she feels like he´s softened up more since Iara´s baptism.
The mission´s great and we´re really working our butts off here! It´s so great and the church is true!
I love you all!
Love,
Hna. LaPray
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
It smells like fish here.....
November 22, 2010
It smells like fish here……
That´s what Hna. Collette said when she got out of the taxi when we got to our apartment. And Hna. Collette is the name of my new comp. She´s from New Mexico (the NEW one) and her cousins are the ones in our ward in Idaho! Small world, huh???
So this week has been great. Hna. Collette is trying to get ahold of the language and she´s doing a great job. She´s actually fluent in French (she lived there for 4 years) and she was really surprised when she got called Spanish-speaking. But she´s doing really great and she only gets Spanish mixed up with French a TINY bit :)
We´ve been working a lot to find new investigators and we found an especially great family this week. Lili and Rocky (like Balboa) are the parents and they have two kids (Tomas and Kevin, 13 and 8). Lili has been looking into a lot of churches because she really wants something for her kids and family and she really loved the idea of the youth programs. Unfortunately we found them on Sunday afternoon, so they couldn´t go to church in the morning, but they´re excited to go next week. We´re going to have another lesson with them on Wednesday and hopefully get a baptismal date.
Aurelia isn´t progressing as much any more... we´re going to have a fuerte lesson with her today to see if she really wants to or if she just wants to be our friends... hey, it´s like a DTR of missionary work! It´s going to be great!
The work is a lot different with a newbie... she´s not afraid to talk to people, but it´s definitely weird being the only one who understands and can respond to the questions. It´s weird being in charge of everything all the time, so I´m slowly making her in charge of more stuff, but don´t tell her! I want it to be a surprise and then by the end of the transfer I can just be cruising along and she won´t even realize it!
Well, I´m about out of time, but I love you all! The church is true and you should share something about it with your neighbors!
Especially you, Mom and Dad. I know those neighbors aren´t Mormons...
Love you!
Hna. LaPray
It smells like fish here……
That´s what Hna. Collette said when she got out of the taxi when we got to our apartment. And Hna. Collette is the name of my new comp. She´s from New Mexico (the NEW one) and her cousins are the ones in our ward in Idaho! Small world, huh???
So this week has been great. Hna. Collette is trying to get ahold of the language and she´s doing a great job. She´s actually fluent in French (she lived there for 4 years) and she was really surprised when she got called Spanish-speaking. But she´s doing really great and she only gets Spanish mixed up with French a TINY bit :)
We´ve been working a lot to find new investigators and we found an especially great family this week. Lili and Rocky (like Balboa) are the parents and they have two kids (Tomas and Kevin, 13 and 8). Lili has been looking into a lot of churches because she really wants something for her kids and family and she really loved the idea of the youth programs. Unfortunately we found them on Sunday afternoon, so they couldn´t go to church in the morning, but they´re excited to go next week. We´re going to have another lesson with them on Wednesday and hopefully get a baptismal date.
Aurelia isn´t progressing as much any more... we´re going to have a fuerte lesson with her today to see if she really wants to or if she just wants to be our friends... hey, it´s like a DTR of missionary work! It´s going to be great!
The work is a lot different with a newbie... she´s not afraid to talk to people, but it´s definitely weird being the only one who understands and can respond to the questions. It´s weird being in charge of everything all the time, so I´m slowly making her in charge of more stuff, but don´t tell her! I want it to be a surprise and then by the end of the transfer I can just be cruising along and she won´t even realize it!
Well, I´m about out of time, but I love you all! The church is true and you should share something about it with your neighbors!
Especially you, Mom and Dad. I know those neighbors aren´t Mormons...
Love you!
Hna. LaPray
Monday, November 15, 2010
Salvageando.....
November 15, 2010
Salvageando….
Get it? Wilding. Yeah, it´s not THAT funny. But anyway, she´s gone and I´m sad--she was a really great companion. Hna. Wilding and I worked really well together but I guess now it´s time for me to grow up and have an hija. I´m excited to train. Yes, I know who I´m training, but I can´t tell until next week in case Mom lets it slip to her parents and then they tell her when they talk to her in the airport and then it will just ruin the awesome slideshow President does with the newbies. So my hijita will find out who I am on Wednesday and the rest of you will get to know next Monday! I´m sure the suspense is killing you.
So this week Hna. Wilding did a lot of despediring (saying goodbye...there´s a little bit of Spanglish for you) but we still got a few good lessons and Aurelia and Solange came to church! Aurelia has a baptismal date for Sunday, but she still needs to stop smoking. Solange really loves everything, but still needs to get baptized. The greatest thing about them, though, is Luisana. Solange´s 2-year-old daughter who calls us "nana" (her way of saying "hermana"). She´s so cute and she loves the nursery and we´re just so excited for their whole family! They are great and we love them a lot.
I´ve been getting ready this week to talk to everyone all the time...because I´m not sure how much Spanish my companion will know :) Probably not a lot, because President told me I should learn Spanish really fast... dangit.
Speaking of President, we had zone conference on Friday and it was amazing. He talked a lot about Elder Christofferson´s "Living a Consecrated Life" talk and we talked about how we are working to build temples here in Argentina. He showed a map of the mission with "Temple of..." over each city. I thought, "But Tandil is tiny, how could they ever get enough members for a temple?" But then I remembered that it´s twice as big as Idaho Falls and almost 4 times as big as Provo, and they both have temples! But a Bahía temple could totally happen within the next 10 years and that would be AMAZING and it would be so great for the future missionaries and the members here... I love zone conference so much and the mission president and his wife are great. I want mom and dad to be able to meet them some day... they´re learning English! They will TOTALLY be able to talk to you next August. :)
So now I´m just hanging out with Hna. Tingey today until Wednesday morning until we get our hijas! This work is so great and I´m so happy to be here! I love you all!
Love,
Hna. LaPray
P.S. Hna. Tingey and I totally taught a German nun about the restoration this morning in the street... it was AWESOME.
Salvageando….
Get it? Wilding. Yeah, it´s not THAT funny. But anyway, she´s gone and I´m sad--she was a really great companion. Hna. Wilding and I worked really well together but I guess now it´s time for me to grow up and have an hija. I´m excited to train. Yes, I know who I´m training, but I can´t tell until next week in case Mom lets it slip to her parents and then they tell her when they talk to her in the airport and then it will just ruin the awesome slideshow President does with the newbies. So my hijita will find out who I am on Wednesday and the rest of you will get to know next Monday! I´m sure the suspense is killing you.
So this week Hna. Wilding did a lot of despediring (saying goodbye...there´s a little bit of Spanglish for you) but we still got a few good lessons and Aurelia and Solange came to church! Aurelia has a baptismal date for Sunday, but she still needs to stop smoking. Solange really loves everything, but still needs to get baptized. The greatest thing about them, though, is Luisana. Solange´s 2-year-old daughter who calls us "nana" (her way of saying "hermana"). She´s so cute and she loves the nursery and we´re just so excited for their whole family! They are great and we love them a lot.
I´ve been getting ready this week to talk to everyone all the time...because I´m not sure how much Spanish my companion will know :) Probably not a lot, because President told me I should learn Spanish really fast... dangit.
Speaking of President, we had zone conference on Friday and it was amazing. He talked a lot about Elder Christofferson´s "Living a Consecrated Life" talk and we talked about how we are working to build temples here in Argentina. He showed a map of the mission with "Temple of..." over each city. I thought, "But Tandil is tiny, how could they ever get enough members for a temple?" But then I remembered that it´s twice as big as Idaho Falls and almost 4 times as big as Provo, and they both have temples! But a Bahía temple could totally happen within the next 10 years and that would be AMAZING and it would be so great for the future missionaries and the members here... I love zone conference so much and the mission president and his wife are great. I want mom and dad to be able to meet them some day... they´re learning English! They will TOTALLY be able to talk to you next August. :)
So now I´m just hanging out with Hna. Tingey today until Wednesday morning until we get our hijas! This work is so great and I´m so happy to be here! I love you all!
Love,
Hna. LaPray
P.S. Hna. Tingey and I totally taught a German nun about the restoration this morning in the street... it was AWESOME.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
I'm going to be a mother!
November 9, 2010
Well, sorry I didn´t write yesterday... I was in Bahía Blanca. No, we didn´t have transfers, I just had to go to a leadership meeting because apparently President wants me to corrupt a new missionary.
(Mom it´s going to be Hna. Collette or Freeman. And both of them are coming to Mar del Plata, so I´ll meet them both :) So we had a GREAT day in Bahía and learned a TON and totally used what I learned today in a lesson and got a baptismal date with a guy named Nicolas. I just love the things we learn! With all these changes we´ve been having we needed more training to be trainers, district leaders, and zone leaders because the new missionaries are being taught differently now in the MTC. I hope that makes sense, I spent two nights in a row in a bus and I haven´t gotten a lot of sleep... Fortunately I got permission today (directly from my friend, Present :) to let you all know I´m alive.
But I´m really excited to be training. I´m a little nervous, but mostly excited. My hijita and I will have a couple great transfers here and we´re going to use all the things they taught us in the leadership conference! So it means Hna. Wilding is leaving, which is sad, but Hna. Tingey and I will both be training here and it´s going to be great. Hna. Wilding will leave on Sunday and then Hna. Tingey will come stay in my house for a couple days until the hijas get here on Wedesday morning.
Other than that, we had a baptism on Sunday! Iara finally got baptized after about 5 months of investigating and EVERYONE was very happy, especially her mom. She was just so prepared and she has such a great support system with the other young women. The church is so true and we´re hoping to have some more baptisms here soon!
My birthday was good... we pulled into Mar del Plata at midnight and the Elders sang me happy birthday, then we got home and the Hermanas sang to me, and then I woke up at 6:30 that same morning and I already felt like my birthday was the day before. Birthdays aren´t that special on the mission... it´s just another day to work! But my district leader brought me an alfajor to the district meeting and we put a candle in it and it was kind of like a party. Birthdays just aren´t cool any more... hahaha. But thank you for all the peanut-buttery candy, Mommy! You´re the best!
Well, I´m exhausted... I love you all though, and thank you for the prayers. I´m definitely feeling them! I´m praying for you!
Love,
Hna. LaPray
Monday, October 25, 2010
No more P-day!
October 25, 2010
No more P-day!
No, we didn´t have more mission changes, my companion just decided to get out of bed and stop having p-day every day :) haha, so Hna. Wilding is doing a lot better now (she got her stitches out on Friday!) and we´ve gotten out to work a little more, and she says starting tomorrow we´re going to work all day, every day. So we´ll see how she does! I´m excited to get out of the house more. There´s only so much you can read in the Old Testament before you just get depressed and juggling gets frustrating... But I´m getting better, and I just got through King Solomon´s reign!!! (Why do the good kings always end so bad???)
So this week we had a lesson with our investigator, Aurelia, whose 8 and 9 year-old daughters just got baptized. We had an FHE with an Hermana from the ward and we watched "The Testaments" and Aurelia really loved it. She loves the church´s focus on families and how we really help youth stay strong and not get into drugs. Now we just need to get her baptized... she just doesn´t feel "ready." She totally is, though, so we´re going to set a baptismal date for her when we see her tomorrow. She´s so great, though, and she knows the church is true and it´s something she needs!!! I was talking her on the way to the FHE and she was saying how sad it was when the other Hermana left (the missionary who was here before me) and I told her it´s hard to leave because we get attached to the people, especially because of this message we share. She just kind of looked at me for a second and said "Sí, tiene que ser..." (It HAS to be that.) She´s so great!
Some of our entertaining this that have happened this week:
1. There´s a dog who lives in the house on the ground level behind out apartment building. When we stick our heads out the window, he freaks out an barks at us. I got in some quality dog-bothering time this week.
2. Argentine construction... they´re re-building the building out the OTHER window of our apartment and really they´re just making a mess.
They work from about 10-3, with a lunch break from 11-12:30. I´ve decided to be an Argentine construction worker when I grow up.
So I´m having a great time here and loving the work we get to do! haha. We have some great investigators with baptismal dates... we just need to actually get them to church on Sundays so they can get baptized at the end of the transfer!
I love you all. Thanks so much for everything you do for me. Keep those prayers coming!
Love,
Hna. LaPray
No more P-day!
No, we didn´t have more mission changes, my companion just decided to get out of bed and stop having p-day every day :) haha, so Hna. Wilding is doing a lot better now (she got her stitches out on Friday!) and we´ve gotten out to work a little more, and she says starting tomorrow we´re going to work all day, every day. So we´ll see how she does! I´m excited to get out of the house more. There´s only so much you can read in the Old Testament before you just get depressed and juggling gets frustrating... But I´m getting better, and I just got through King Solomon´s reign!!! (Why do the good kings always end so bad???)
So this week we had a lesson with our investigator, Aurelia, whose 8 and 9 year-old daughters just got baptized. We had an FHE with an Hermana from the ward and we watched "The Testaments" and Aurelia really loved it. She loves the church´s focus on families and how we really help youth stay strong and not get into drugs. Now we just need to get her baptized... she just doesn´t feel "ready." She totally is, though, so we´re going to set a baptismal date for her when we see her tomorrow. She´s so great, though, and she knows the church is true and it´s something she needs!!! I was talking her on the way to the FHE and she was saying how sad it was when the other Hermana left (the missionary who was here before me) and I told her it´s hard to leave because we get attached to the people, especially because of this message we share. She just kind of looked at me for a second and said "Sí, tiene que ser..." (It HAS to be that.) She´s so great!
Some of our entertaining this that have happened this week:
1. There´s a dog who lives in the house on the ground level behind out apartment building. When we stick our heads out the window, he freaks out an barks at us. I got in some quality dog-bothering time this week.
2. Argentine construction... they´re re-building the building out the OTHER window of our apartment and really they´re just making a mess.
They work from about 10-3, with a lunch break from 11-12:30. I´ve decided to be an Argentine construction worker when I grow up.
So I´m having a great time here and loving the work we get to do! haha. We have some great investigators with baptismal dates... we just need to actually get them to church on Sundays so they can get baptized at the end of the transfer!
I love you all. Thanks so much for everything you do for me. Keep those prayers coming!
Love,
Hna. LaPray
Monday, October 18, 2010
Another week of P-days!!!
October 18, 2010
Another week of P-days!!!
Hermana Wilding got her gall bladder out! And I got to see it! It was kind of like a dis-inflated balloon and it did have little stones inside it... just a little bigger than a grain of sand. Funny how such tiny things can cause such terrible pain... but now she´s recovering and I´m acting as her maid. The mission president and his wife came up to be with us for the surgery, so it was fun to get to know them for the day while they were my companions. I still say that President is crazy (but funny). He just tells jokes all the time and scares Hna. Wilding about her surgery... haha. And then he discovered that I brought wheat crackers to the hospital in case I got hungry and he keeps making fun of me for that... His wife is pretty much the opposite. She´s very calm and serious but she talks a LOT. But she loves us and we love her. So we had a fun-filled day in the hospital.
It was interesting contacting people with the mission president as my companion... He´s really great at talking to people and being friendly and getting them to trust him. I need to be more like that...
That night, I went to sleep with the other Hermanas in Mar del Plata, which means that I stayed with Hermana Tingey! She was in my district in the MTC so we had a good time catching up about everything that´s happened since then. It was a very missionary-like sleepover. At about 9:30 we started talking about investigators and what teaching methods we could use and we were all out by 10:30. My life is very funny, haha.
Then on Saturday some youth from the ward came over to help us. One of the girls stayed with Hermana Wilding in the house (she was on bed rest) and the other came with me to teach a lesson about the Holy Ghost to two convert girls who were getting confirmed the next day. Their grandma, Aurelia, was there for the lesson, too and we really felt the spirit, and tried to help her understand that she could feel that same spirit ALWAYS after receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I wasn´t really sure how effective the lesson was in the end, though, because she´s very shy and doesn´t know me that well, but she was there for all of church the next day, which apparently doesn´t happen very often. So tomorrow we´re going to walk the block to her house to invite her to get baptized. I´m feeling really good about her and we´re both excited!
Other than that, I´ve been in the house cooking and cleaning and taking care of my companion. I´m studying a lot... and I decided to learn to juggle. I started a little in Tandil, but I didn´t keep it up and just now I´ve decided to try again. It´s frustrating, but I can do it! Maybe in my homecoming talk I´ll juggle for everyone :) Good thing I still have a LOT of time to learn!
Thanks for all the love and support! I´m praying for you!
Love,
Hna. LaPray
P.S. What is a carbuncle? That word is in the Book of Mormon... we looked it up in Spanish (because sometimes the translation helps with the definition) but we don´t know what a "carbúnculo" is, either...
Another week of P-days!!!
Hermana Wilding got her gall bladder out! And I got to see it! It was kind of like a dis-inflated balloon and it did have little stones inside it... just a little bigger than a grain of sand. Funny how such tiny things can cause such terrible pain... but now she´s recovering and I´m acting as her maid. The mission president and his wife came up to be with us for the surgery, so it was fun to get to know them for the day while they were my companions. I still say that President is crazy (but funny). He just tells jokes all the time and scares Hna. Wilding about her surgery... haha. And then he discovered that I brought wheat crackers to the hospital in case I got hungry and he keeps making fun of me for that... His wife is pretty much the opposite. She´s very calm and serious but she talks a LOT. But she loves us and we love her. So we had a fun-filled day in the hospital.
It was interesting contacting people with the mission president as my companion... He´s really great at talking to people and being friendly and getting them to trust him. I need to be more like that...
That night, I went to sleep with the other Hermanas in Mar del Plata, which means that I stayed with Hermana Tingey! She was in my district in the MTC so we had a good time catching up about everything that´s happened since then. It was a very missionary-like sleepover. At about 9:30 we started talking about investigators and what teaching methods we could use and we were all out by 10:30. My life is very funny, haha.
Then on Saturday some youth from the ward came over to help us. One of the girls stayed with Hermana Wilding in the house (she was on bed rest) and the other came with me to teach a lesson about the Holy Ghost to two convert girls who were getting confirmed the next day. Their grandma, Aurelia, was there for the lesson, too and we really felt the spirit, and tried to help her understand that she could feel that same spirit ALWAYS after receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I wasn´t really sure how effective the lesson was in the end, though, because she´s very shy and doesn´t know me that well, but she was there for all of church the next day, which apparently doesn´t happen very often. So tomorrow we´re going to walk the block to her house to invite her to get baptized. I´m feeling really good about her and we´re both excited!
Other than that, I´ve been in the house cooking and cleaning and taking care of my companion. I´m studying a lot... and I decided to learn to juggle. I started a little in Tandil, but I didn´t keep it up and just now I´ve decided to try again. It´s frustrating, but I can do it! Maybe in my homecoming talk I´ll juggle for everyone :) Good thing I still have a LOT of time to learn!
Thanks for all the love and support! I´m praying for you!
Love,
Hna. LaPray
P.S. What is a carbuncle? That word is in the Book of Mormon... we looked it up in Spanish (because sometimes the translation helps with the definition) but we don´t know what a "carbúnculo" is, either...
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Happy P-week!
October 11, 2010
Happy P-week!
So this week I have been celebrating something I like to call "P-week". Because every day except Tuesday has been like P-day! I got here on Monday REALLY early in the morning, so we slept for a couple hours. We worked Monday afternoon and Tuesday, but then Wednesday was P-day. Thursday we had planning and district meeting, then we stayed home the rest of the day because Hermana Wilding wasn´t feeling well... The same with Friday, then Saturday, and then Sunday we went to church and came home to rest after... and now they changed P-day to Monday, so it´s like I really AM on vacation! Don´t worry, I´ve been getting a lot of personal study time. I think I´ve read every Ensign released since 1985... and an Elder in Olivarria was getting the Friend and New Era from his family and when he was done, he passed them on to Hna. Wilding, so I´ve read all of those, too. And I´m working on Jesus the Christ, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Book of Mormon, and the Old Testament. So we decided she really has these stones in her gall bladder because we´re going to find a really tough investigator soon and I´m going to need to have the scriptures MEMORIZED. But "fortunately" she thinks she passed another stone, so the surgeon feels like this is a little more of a critical situation and she´s going to have an emergency surgery sometime this week (Thursday, Friday or Saturday). So we´re excited for that!
The mission has been changing a lot of stuff since Elder Aidukaitis came (and apparently he´s coming again in the end of the transfer) and recently they changed what we can and can´t do on P-day. We´re thinking it might be helpful for the messy Elders, but we´re just confused. This morning, we cleaned the entire house, did all our laundry, and wrote all the letters we needed to, but we were still done before 1 pm. With the new rules, we can´t go sight-seeing around our area because President wants us to focus on those things that we... already did in the morning. So we just weren´t sure what to do for the next 4 hours of P-day and decided we just needed less free time, hahaha.
We do have one great investigator here that I´ve met so far. Her name is Iara and she´s 12 years old. Her mom is a recently-reactivated member and... we´ll find some way to work with her dad who is not a member of the Church and, for now, not interested. But the other Hermanas have been working with her reading and praying and she´s had a couple falled baptismal dates, so for now we´re deciding to focus on her testimony and once she really knows the Book of Mormon is true, we´ll try to get her baptized in the end of October. But she´s really great and Hermana Wilding says that she has had a LOT of personal growth and the gospel has really changed and helped her, so we know she´s ready to get baptized. Now just she needs to know that she´s ready. She´ll know soon :)
I love you all. Congrats, Andrew, on Guatemala! Secretly, that´s where I really wanted to go. I have a couple friends who served there--I gave their names to my dad, so ask him about that. You´re going to love the mission and the people. I know you didn´t ask for any words of advice, but I´m going to give some anyway. :) JUST BE OBEDIENT. It will eliminate more problems than you can imagine and you can be an example to MANY more people. And the Lord can "unlock the windows of heaven" to give you blessings and help His children! ¡Obediencia es la clave!
Until next week,
Hna. LaPray
Happy P-week!
So this week I have been celebrating something I like to call "P-week". Because every day except Tuesday has been like P-day! I got here on Monday REALLY early in the morning, so we slept for a couple hours. We worked Monday afternoon and Tuesday, but then Wednesday was P-day. Thursday we had planning and district meeting, then we stayed home the rest of the day because Hermana Wilding wasn´t feeling well... The same with Friday, then Saturday, and then Sunday we went to church and came home to rest after... and now they changed P-day to Monday, so it´s like I really AM on vacation! Don´t worry, I´ve been getting a lot of personal study time. I think I´ve read every Ensign released since 1985... and an Elder in Olivarria was getting the Friend and New Era from his family and when he was done, he passed them on to Hna. Wilding, so I´ve read all of those, too. And I´m working on Jesus the Christ, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Book of Mormon, and the Old Testament. So we decided she really has these stones in her gall bladder because we´re going to find a really tough investigator soon and I´m going to need to have the scriptures MEMORIZED. But "fortunately" she thinks she passed another stone, so the surgeon feels like this is a little more of a critical situation and she´s going to have an emergency surgery sometime this week (Thursday, Friday or Saturday). So we´re excited for that!
The mission has been changing a lot of stuff since Elder Aidukaitis came (and apparently he´s coming again in the end of the transfer) and recently they changed what we can and can´t do on P-day. We´re thinking it might be helpful for the messy Elders, but we´re just confused. This morning, we cleaned the entire house, did all our laundry, and wrote all the letters we needed to, but we were still done before 1 pm. With the new rules, we can´t go sight-seeing around our area because President wants us to focus on those things that we... already did in the morning. So we just weren´t sure what to do for the next 4 hours of P-day and decided we just needed less free time, hahaha.
We do have one great investigator here that I´ve met so far. Her name is Iara and she´s 12 years old. Her mom is a recently-reactivated member and... we´ll find some way to work with her dad who is not a member of the Church and, for now, not interested. But the other Hermanas have been working with her reading and praying and she´s had a couple falled baptismal dates, so for now we´re deciding to focus on her testimony and once she really knows the Book of Mormon is true, we´ll try to get her baptized in the end of October. But she´s really great and Hermana Wilding says that she has had a LOT of personal growth and the gospel has really changed and helped her, so we know she´s ready to get baptized. Now just she needs to know that she´s ready. She´ll know soon :)
I love you all. Congrats, Andrew, on Guatemala! Secretly, that´s where I really wanted to go. I have a couple friends who served there--I gave their names to my dad, so ask him about that. You´re going to love the mission and the people. I know you didn´t ask for any words of advice, but I´m going to give some anyway. :) JUST BE OBEDIENT. It will eliminate more problems than you can imagine and you can be an example to MANY more people. And the Lord can "unlock the windows of heaven" to give you blessings and help His children! ¡Obediencia es la clave!
Until next week,
Hna. LaPray
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Summer vacation!
October 6, 2010 Summer Vacation!
Hey everybody!
So President has decided to keep me going on my "tourism mission" and now I´m in Mar del Plata! I´m with Hna. Sandy Wilding from Round Rock, Texas (yes, Daniel, THAT Sandy Wilding) and she is GREAT! She´s getting her gall bladder taken out in a week or two, so that´s kind of a bummer, but we still work well when we can and I´m so excited to be here! Our area is called Puerto, which means port, and it makes sense because we´re about 5 blocks away from the major port here. There are sea lions (they call them sea wolves here), a nice beach, the ocean, lots of crazy boats, and TONS of people. I thought BAHÍA was big, but it was nothing compared to this! But our area is nice and I´m excited! We do have to be home before 8:30 every night because it´s a little more dangerous and the people here are a little more creepy, but I like it.
Everyone says that I´m on the "tourism mission" because I haven´t been more than 2 transfers in any area (and even less than that in some). Most Hermanas with 4 areas are at the end of their mission, but not me! So I´m hoping I´ll stay here a few transfers... like at least 3, but you never know what´s going to happen...
I don´t really have anything exciting to write... Hna. Wilding was on bed rest for a week, then these last two weeks she´s been building up her strength again, and yesterday was her first full day of work in a long time, so we´re doing a lot of contacting to find more investigators. But she thinks I´m good luck because we´re setting a lot more appointments and getting a lot more addresses than she usually gets, so the work should pick up here soon. They do have some good investigators now progressing towards baptism, but they need a little more attention because it´s been hard for the missionaries to get to them. But now that she´s feeling better, we can do a little more. Then she´ll have her surgery, rest for a couple days, and when she feels ready again, we´ll baptize everyone here!
Today for P-day we went to the port and saw all these sea lions... and did you know they have claws on their back flippers and they smell really bad? Also, just this morning our neighbors broke a hole RIGHT in the wall of our shower so now our bathrooms have a window between them, so I am going to my first zone meeting in Mar del Plata smelling like stinky fishy sea lions. Awesome, huh??? Anyway, we also saw the ocean and decided our area extends all the way to the west coast of Africa. So we have a lot of work to do...
I love you all! Thanks for the prayers and support and letters :)
Love,
Hna. LaPray
Hey everybody!
So President has decided to keep me going on my "tourism mission" and now I´m in Mar del Plata! I´m with Hna. Sandy Wilding from Round Rock, Texas (yes, Daniel, THAT Sandy Wilding) and she is GREAT! She´s getting her gall bladder taken out in a week or two, so that´s kind of a bummer, but we still work well when we can and I´m so excited to be here! Our area is called Puerto, which means port, and it makes sense because we´re about 5 blocks away from the major port here. There are sea lions (they call them sea wolves here), a nice beach, the ocean, lots of crazy boats, and TONS of people. I thought BAHÍA was big, but it was nothing compared to this! But our area is nice and I´m excited! We do have to be home before 8:30 every night because it´s a little more dangerous and the people here are a little more creepy, but I like it.
Everyone says that I´m on the "tourism mission" because I haven´t been more than 2 transfers in any area (and even less than that in some). Most Hermanas with 4 areas are at the end of their mission, but not me! So I´m hoping I´ll stay here a few transfers... like at least 3, but you never know what´s going to happen...
I don´t really have anything exciting to write... Hna. Wilding was on bed rest for a week, then these last two weeks she´s been building up her strength again, and yesterday was her first full day of work in a long time, so we´re doing a lot of contacting to find more investigators. But she thinks I´m good luck because we´re setting a lot more appointments and getting a lot more addresses than she usually gets, so the work should pick up here soon. They do have some good investigators now progressing towards baptism, but they need a little more attention because it´s been hard for the missionaries to get to them. But now that she´s feeling better, we can do a little more. Then she´ll have her surgery, rest for a couple days, and when she feels ready again, we´ll baptize everyone here!
Today for P-day we went to the port and saw all these sea lions... and did you know they have claws on their back flippers and they smell really bad? Also, just this morning our neighbors broke a hole RIGHT in the wall of our shower so now our bathrooms have a window between them, so I am going to my first zone meeting in Mar del Plata smelling like stinky fishy sea lions. Awesome, huh??? Anyway, we also saw the ocean and decided our area extends all the way to the west coast of Africa. So we have a lot of work to do...
I love you all! Thanks for the prayers and support and letters :)
Love,
Hna. LaPray
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Happy birthday to......
September 29, 2010
Happy birthday to…..
Sam! Happy birthday to that little cousin of mine! Tell him to go on another lawnmower ride with my dad (Mom will appreciate it). Then maybe he can do a few more chores with him... like wash the dishes, mop the floors. As long as he´s with Uncle Brad he´ll do it, right???
It´s been a week with lots of walking here. Our area is HUGE (pretty much half of Bahía) and it just so happens that all of the people who talk to us live in opposite corners of the area, or so it seems. And it´s been getting warmer. I´m really glad I brought the bladder for my backpack... Us missionaries from the frozen north aren´t used to these humid Argentine springtimes. It´s also been really sunny, and I´m starting to get the funny missionary tan lines. And you should all know how I love the funny feet lines (remember my Chacos?) and I just think you should know that I´m getting the lines again, but this time in the shape of a proselyting shoe. Don´t worry, I´ll send pictures in a little bit because I know you´re all just dying to see.
This past weekend we had a service activity cleaning the Parque de Mayo. And I´ve gotta say, the people here really need me to teach them the Word of Wisdom... I think I filled at least 3 large garbage bags with cigarette butts and broken beer bottles. But now, thanks to the Mormons, the park is cleaner (and safer, less glass to cut your feet on!). The Bishop thought it was really funny that my companion and I were there in pants and he kept taking pictures saying, "You can send these to your family to show them that you´re actually doing something here!" So I guess it´s kind of sad that the Bishop doesn´t think we´re doing anything... haha. But it was a fun activity and afterwards we all drank mate (meaning they drank mate and my comp and I drank water) and talked for a little.
Also this weekend we visited an inactive old man. Turns out he´s actually quite crazy. But he read our palms, so that was cool. I´m going to get married twice, have 2 kids, and have a lot of money.
Transfers are this Sunday. Conference this weekend!!!! I´m so excited to listen! Hopefully I have more exciting stuff to write next week.
Love,
Hna. LaPray
P.S. We´re visiting Magalí and Martín tonight to change their baptismal date!
Happy birthday to…..
Sam! Happy birthday to that little cousin of mine! Tell him to go on another lawnmower ride with my dad (Mom will appreciate it). Then maybe he can do a few more chores with him... like wash the dishes, mop the floors. As long as he´s with Uncle Brad he´ll do it, right???
It´s been a week with lots of walking here. Our area is HUGE (pretty much half of Bahía) and it just so happens that all of the people who talk to us live in opposite corners of the area, or so it seems. And it´s been getting warmer. I´m really glad I brought the bladder for my backpack... Us missionaries from the frozen north aren´t used to these humid Argentine springtimes. It´s also been really sunny, and I´m starting to get the funny missionary tan lines. And you should all know how I love the funny feet lines (remember my Chacos?) and I just think you should know that I´m getting the lines again, but this time in the shape of a proselyting shoe. Don´t worry, I´ll send pictures in a little bit because I know you´re all just dying to see.
This past weekend we had a service activity cleaning the Parque de Mayo. And I´ve gotta say, the people here really need me to teach them the Word of Wisdom... I think I filled at least 3 large garbage bags with cigarette butts and broken beer bottles. But now, thanks to the Mormons, the park is cleaner (and safer, less glass to cut your feet on!). The Bishop thought it was really funny that my companion and I were there in pants and he kept taking pictures saying, "You can send these to your family to show them that you´re actually doing something here!" So I guess it´s kind of sad that the Bishop doesn´t think we´re doing anything... haha. But it was a fun activity and afterwards we all drank mate (meaning they drank mate and my comp and I drank water) and talked for a little.
Also this weekend we visited an inactive old man. Turns out he´s actually quite crazy. But he read our palms, so that was cool. I´m going to get married twice, have 2 kids, and have a lot of money.
Transfers are this Sunday. Conference this weekend!!!! I´m so excited to listen! Hopefully I have more exciting stuff to write next week.
Love,
Hna. LaPray
P.S. We´re visiting Magalí and Martín tonight to change their baptismal date!
Friday, September 24, 2010
My accent is changing!
September 22, 2010
My accent is changing!!!
So I have some GREAT news from this week! We were in a taxi going home last week, and Hna. Acosta and I were talking when the taxi driver asked her where she´s from. We talked about Paraguay for a little and then he asked, "Y ¿vos sos de Bahía?" (You´re from Bahia?)... but then I explained I was from the Estados Unidos and he told me I spoke great Spanish. Then we got out of the taxi and I told my comp "that was weird... my accent is definitely North American" and she told me that it´s not really that noticeable! So I was REALLY excited about that. One of my mission goals is to come home talking like an Argentine...and when I got here I thought it was going to be impossible, but now I have more .hope for the future.
We went on more divisions this week. This time I went and worked with Hna. Abarzua in La Falda. She has been companions with Hna. Tingey and now she´s Hna. Seegmiller´s companion (both from my district in the MTC). She´s from Chile and she´s really sweet and nice and obedient.
And she´s an amazing teacher. It was a lot of fun to work with her for the day and learn from her. And she cut my hair! Just a little bit, but my first hair cut of the mission. I trusted her to do it because she went to beauty school before the mission and she´s not Argentine (I am convinced that Argentines don´t know how to cut hair).
The work continues here as usual... Martín came to church on Sunday, but Magalí had to work so she couldn´t... But Martín really liked it and made lots of friends and they´re both coming this Sunday. We have to change their baptismal date, so they´ll probably get baptized between conference sessions.
Other than that, we´ve been "killing" investigators who weren´t progressing and looking for new ones. There´s a lot of work to do here!
I am so glad to be here in Argentina. The Church is true! And that´s why I´m here. I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live and they love us. They want us to be happy. Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer, and thanks to Him we can return to the presence of our Heavenly Father and live with our families forever. And be happy for eternity... I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ was restored through Joseph Smith and that this gospel is what we need to be truly happy. I know that we have a prophet today on the earth, and he is Thomas S. Monson. He, his counselors, and the 12 apostles are special witnesses of Christ. They have the authority to lead and guide us in these latter days. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. Through it, we can recieve inspiration and spiritual witnesses of eternal truths. I love this gospel and I love this work. We all have a special responsibility to help our brothers and sisters on the earth who don´t have this happiness and truth that we have. I hope that we can always remember these things and do our best to follow the example of our Older Brother, the Savior of mankind, Jesus Christ.
I love you all and I´m praying for you.
Love,
Hna. LaPray
My accent is changing!!!
So I have some GREAT news from this week! We were in a taxi going home last week, and Hna. Acosta and I were talking when the taxi driver asked her where she´s from. We talked about Paraguay for a little and then he asked, "Y ¿vos sos de Bahía?" (You´re from Bahia?)... but then I explained I was from the Estados Unidos and he told me I spoke great Spanish. Then we got out of the taxi and I told my comp "that was weird... my accent is definitely North American" and she told me that it´s not really that noticeable! So I was REALLY excited about that. One of my mission goals is to come home talking like an Argentine...and when I got here I thought it was going to be impossible, but now I have more .hope for the future.
We went on more divisions this week. This time I went and worked with Hna. Abarzua in La Falda. She has been companions with Hna. Tingey and now she´s Hna. Seegmiller´s companion (both from my district in the MTC). She´s from Chile and she´s really sweet and nice and obedient.
And she´s an amazing teacher. It was a lot of fun to work with her for the day and learn from her. And she cut my hair! Just a little bit, but my first hair cut of the mission. I trusted her to do it because she went to beauty school before the mission and she´s not Argentine (I am convinced that Argentines don´t know how to cut hair).
The work continues here as usual... Martín came to church on Sunday, but Magalí had to work so she couldn´t... But Martín really liked it and made lots of friends and they´re both coming this Sunday. We have to change their baptismal date, so they´ll probably get baptized between conference sessions.
Other than that, we´ve been "killing" investigators who weren´t progressing and looking for new ones. There´s a lot of work to do here!
I am so glad to be here in Argentina. The Church is true! And that´s why I´m here. I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live and they love us. They want us to be happy. Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer, and thanks to Him we can return to the presence of our Heavenly Father and live with our families forever. And be happy for eternity... I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ was restored through Joseph Smith and that this gospel is what we need to be truly happy. I know that we have a prophet today on the earth, and he is Thomas S. Monson. He, his counselors, and the 12 apostles are special witnesses of Christ. They have the authority to lead and guide us in these latter days. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. Through it, we can recieve inspiration and spiritual witnesses of eternal truths. I love this gospel and I love this work. We all have a special responsibility to help our brothers and sisters on the earth who don´t have this happiness and truth that we have. I hope that we can always remember these things and do our best to follow the example of our Older Brother, the Savior of mankind, Jesus Christ.
I love you all and I´m praying for you.
Love,
Hna. LaPray
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
I don't have a witty title for you this week, sorry
September 15, 2010
Another good week here. The weather is REALLY warming up, and I don´t want it to get any warmer. It would be nice if it would stay like this for the summer. I´m pretty sure I´m going to die in summer.
This week we´ve been changing up our investigators a little. Getting rid of some that aren´t progressing and trying to find new ones who will. And we found some great ones! Marlene, who let us in her house because whenever she passed "those boys" on the street (meaning the Elders) they always smiled and said hi to her (not common in Argentina... or anywhere except Idaho Falls). She wants to read the scriptures with her family and pray with them.
And Magalí and Martín. They are REALLY special. Magalí is from the Dominican Republic, and she listened to the Elders there and went to church a couple times... but that was about 20 years ago. She was working, cleaning a house in the other Hermana´s area when they knocked on the door. She told them, "I don´t live here, but please come to my apartment!" So they passed the reference to us and we found her! She let us in and told us that she had always gone to the Catholic church, and then she studied with the Jehova´s Witnesses, and then she went to an Evangelical (is that a word? it´s "evangelica" in Spanish) church, but she never really felt like any of them were right. When we went to the second lesson, we took a Sister from the ward for the lesson and it was GREAT. In the end, she asked us what happens to her family that weren´t baptized but have already died, and the Hermana testified about the spirit world and work for the dead and Magalí cried a little. Martín is great, too. He´s 11, but he really listens and understands well. He asks great questions during the lessons to show that he´s listening, like, "Why would God tell them not to eat the fruit if he really wanted them to?" Good kid... we challenged them to get baptized, and they´re going to! The 25th! We´re really excited for them.
Other than that, work continues as normal. We played futbol again this week for P-day and ate some choripan (bratwurst) with our district. I have a huge bruise on my leg, and I´ll send a picture that you can kind of see it in. We´re planning a ward activity for the week after General Conference and we´re going to invite all of our investigators and baptize them all. And then the rest of the people in our area. And then the rest of the city, and the rest of the mission, and then Argentina. Just wait, it will be in the Ensign next month. "Hermana LaPray and Hermana Acosta baptized the whole world this month. They broke some kind of record." Just watch for it.
I love you all, and I´m praying for you. Take a friend to a ward activity then give them a Book of Mormon. And befriend a less-active member.
Until next week,
Hna. LaPray
Another good week here. The weather is REALLY warming up, and I don´t want it to get any warmer. It would be nice if it would stay like this for the summer. I´m pretty sure I´m going to die in summer.
This week we´ve been changing up our investigators a little. Getting rid of some that aren´t progressing and trying to find new ones who will. And we found some great ones! Marlene, who let us in her house because whenever she passed "those boys" on the street (meaning the Elders) they always smiled and said hi to her (not common in Argentina... or anywhere except Idaho Falls). She wants to read the scriptures with her family and pray with them.
And Magalí and Martín. They are REALLY special. Magalí is from the Dominican Republic, and she listened to the Elders there and went to church a couple times... but that was about 20 years ago. She was working, cleaning a house in the other Hermana´s area when they knocked on the door. She told them, "I don´t live here, but please come to my apartment!" So they passed the reference to us and we found her! She let us in and told us that she had always gone to the Catholic church, and then she studied with the Jehova´s Witnesses, and then she went to an Evangelical (is that a word? it´s "evangelica" in Spanish) church, but she never really felt like any of them were right. When we went to the second lesson, we took a Sister from the ward for the lesson and it was GREAT. In the end, she asked us what happens to her family that weren´t baptized but have already died, and the Hermana testified about the spirit world and work for the dead and Magalí cried a little. Martín is great, too. He´s 11, but he really listens and understands well. He asks great questions during the lessons to show that he´s listening, like, "Why would God tell them not to eat the fruit if he really wanted them to?" Good kid... we challenged them to get baptized, and they´re going to! The 25th! We´re really excited for them.
Other than that, work continues as normal. We played futbol again this week for P-day and ate some choripan (bratwurst) with our district. I have a huge bruise on my leg, and I´ll send a picture that you can kind of see it in. We´re planning a ward activity for the week after General Conference and we´re going to invite all of our investigators and baptize them all. And then the rest of the people in our area. And then the rest of the city, and the rest of the mission, and then Argentina. Just wait, it will be in the Ensign next month. "Hermana LaPray and Hermana Acosta baptized the whole world this month. They broke some kind of record." Just watch for it.
I love you all, and I´m praying for you. Take a friend to a ward activity then give them a Book of Mormon. And befriend a less-active member.
Until next week,
Hna. LaPray
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Divisions and Zone Conference!
September 8, 2010
Divisions and Zone Conference!
We had another great week here! As we keep working, we keep finding investigators! Weird, huh?
This week we found Graciela. Her son has prostate cancer and she wants to know why. A lot of people have that question. "Why do bad things happen to good people?" Fortunately, we have the answer if they really want it. (A lot of people don´t really want to understand why.) But Graciela did. I told her about how Mom had cancer and right after Baba did, and how now Mom thinks that she got cancer to help Baba. (You said that once, right? haha, maybe I lied. But I´m pretty sure you said that.) We taught her the Plan of Salvation, but only until we talked about baptism... then she cut us off to ask if she could come to church and get baptized. We told her, "NO!" Ok just kidding, we told her "Sure, I guess, if you really want to." Except she´s going to Buenos Aires for a while to be with her son during his treatments and everything... so we´ll have to wait for her to get back. The Lord really is preparing people for us out there!
Now the news you´ve all been waiting for... divisions! Sorry, Hna. Seegmiller and I didn´t embarrass ourselves. We had a GREAT day together and we got to talk about everything we´ve done in the past 4 months. She´s just so much fun to be with and we work and teach really well together! And we understood everything the people said to us! So it was cool to see that we actually have learned some Spanish here. And we contacted some crazy people... like the lady who told us that we don´t have faith if we haven´t seen the Lord give someone a new heart (like... a literal heart transplant) and the old guy who wanted to marry us because of our blue eyes (we told him no). But it was a great day, and I hope we get to do it again some day. We probably will.
And we also had Zone Conference with Elder Aidukaitis (one of the 70). It was AMAZING. He talked about having good goals, increasing our faith, elevating our hope, and being more diligent. And he has a cool accent (he´s Brazilian, but he speaks a lot of Spanish and even more English). I can´t even explain all the things he taught, it was so powerful and I left really WANTING to do EVERYTHING better. Every once in a while he would come up with an "excuse" to not have baptisms like, "Yeah, we can´t have a baptism this week because our investigator hasn´t gone to church" and then finish with something like, "Because that´s too hard for God, he can´t get people to go to church." Maybe it´s not as funny when I write it, I´ll just say you lose a lot in the translation and blame it on my poor English. But it was funny. And it´s true, we need to have more faith and God will give us the people who are ready or help the people who we´re already teaching. He also told us to think about how our goals would be if we were working one day with the Savior. And we realized that we can improve our goals, haha. It was such a great conference.
I´m glad to hear that everything is going well at home. Tell Aubrey to study hard and not go too crazy at those BUY-I parties. And tell Shawn to enjoy married life. And enjoy your winter while I suffer through an Argentine summer. I heard that Bahía Blanca sits in the bottom of a hole, so the heat just kind of sinks in and the wind won´t even help us in the summer. I´m really excited. (Not really.)
I love you all and I can´t wait to hear from you!
Love,
Hna. LaPray
Divisions and Zone Conference!
We had another great week here! As we keep working, we keep finding investigators! Weird, huh?
This week we found Graciela. Her son has prostate cancer and she wants to know why. A lot of people have that question. "Why do bad things happen to good people?" Fortunately, we have the answer if they really want it. (A lot of people don´t really want to understand why.) But Graciela did. I told her about how Mom had cancer and right after Baba did, and how now Mom thinks that she got cancer to help Baba. (You said that once, right? haha, maybe I lied. But I´m pretty sure you said that.) We taught her the Plan of Salvation, but only until we talked about baptism... then she cut us off to ask if she could come to church and get baptized. We told her, "NO!" Ok just kidding, we told her "Sure, I guess, if you really want to." Except she´s going to Buenos Aires for a while to be with her son during his treatments and everything... so we´ll have to wait for her to get back. The Lord really is preparing people for us out there!
Now the news you´ve all been waiting for... divisions! Sorry, Hna. Seegmiller and I didn´t embarrass ourselves. We had a GREAT day together and we got to talk about everything we´ve done in the past 4 months. She´s just so much fun to be with and we work and teach really well together! And we understood everything the people said to us! So it was cool to see that we actually have learned some Spanish here. And we contacted some crazy people... like the lady who told us that we don´t have faith if we haven´t seen the Lord give someone a new heart (like... a literal heart transplant) and the old guy who wanted to marry us because of our blue eyes (we told him no). But it was a great day, and I hope we get to do it again some day. We probably will.
And we also had Zone Conference with Elder Aidukaitis (one of the 70). It was AMAZING. He talked about having good goals, increasing our faith, elevating our hope, and being more diligent. And he has a cool accent (he´s Brazilian, but he speaks a lot of Spanish and even more English). I can´t even explain all the things he taught, it was so powerful and I left really WANTING to do EVERYTHING better. Every once in a while he would come up with an "excuse" to not have baptisms like, "Yeah, we can´t have a baptism this week because our investigator hasn´t gone to church" and then finish with something like, "Because that´s too hard for God, he can´t get people to go to church." Maybe it´s not as funny when I write it, I´ll just say you lose a lot in the translation and blame it on my poor English. But it was funny. And it´s true, we need to have more faith and God will give us the people who are ready or help the people who we´re already teaching. He also told us to think about how our goals would be if we were working one day with the Savior. And we realized that we can improve our goals, haha. It was such a great conference.
I´m glad to hear that everything is going well at home. Tell Aubrey to study hard and not go too crazy at those BUY-I parties. And tell Shawn to enjoy married life. And enjoy your winter while I suffer through an Argentine summer. I heard that Bahía Blanca sits in the bottom of a hole, so the heat just kind of sinks in and the wind won´t even help us in the summer. I´m really excited. (Not really.)
I love you all and I can´t wait to hear from you!
Love,
Hna. LaPray
Friday, September 3, 2010
Dust in the wind....
September 1, 2010
Dust in the wind….
There´s been a lot of wind here. Ok so there´s ALWAYS a lot of wind here, but with the changing seasons there´s more. But I guess it´s blowing away the cold and bringing the warmer weather, so I shouldn´t complain. But there is a lot of dust in this wind. I don´t know where this city keeps all it´s dust, but it´s all escaping out into the street and into my eyes and nose and ears and mouth. But it´s ok! Soon the wind will be gone and I´ll have the terrible heat to complain about!
This week was pretty normal. On Monday we had a family home evening with an inactive girl and her mom (who is an investigator) and they fed us a TON. We ate pizza and tarta (like an empanada, but huge and cooked in a pizza pan) and CAKE. A gigantic chocolate cake with cream in the middle and dulce de leche and chocolate on top. It was probably the most delicious food I´ve had on my mission, but I got so sick after. I´m on a strict "rice, white noodles, and cheese" diet. Luckily it was the last thing we did that night and I could go home and sleep.
This woman, Carmen, investigated the Church a few years ago, too, and she says she loves to see how the missionaries get fatter after being in this zone after a couple months. So we already know that her goal is to fatten us up. But it´s ok, because she´s an amazing cook, and the more we eat, the more she likes us, so hopefully if we eat enough chocolate cakes she´ll get baptized!
We also visited with a recent convert named Oscar. He got baptized in February and he LOVES the church. He´s older, about 70, and very educated. He´s a university professor here in Bahía and he loves to study. When we first met him, he said that a lot of his life he felt a lot like Joseph Smith. He investigated a lot of churches, but none of them convinced him. But then he found "the Mormons" (because of a Sister in another ward) and WE convinced him. haha. So he got baptized. And he wants to know everything NOW. He loves to study, but he gets a little impatient with himself sometimes. We go over to study with him and answer his questions, but the members are great and help him a lot with that, too. I want to find more investigators like him!
But investigators like him come through the members. So all you members of the Church out there, go find an Oscar for the missionaries!
I´m loving the work here. I love to talk about the church, and I get to do it all the time now! I was talking to one of the Elders the other day, and he said something like, "When you feel sorry for yourself, you can look around and easily find someone who´s worse off. Like sometimes I say "Poor me, I have to walk around in the street all day and talk to people!"" But then I cut him off and told him that´s a BLESSING! So now he has to find something else to complain about. In 2 days we´re doing divisions with the Hermanas in the other zone... and I´m going to work with Hermana Seegmiller for the day! So we´re going to see if we´ve actually learned anything. Especially with Spanish. I FEEL like I´ve learned a lot, but I´ve always been with companions who speak better than me... so we´ll see if we have any uncomfortable silences or awkward pauses on Friday. But I´m really excited to get to work with her! It´s been a long 4 months since the MTC days...
So tune in next week to see if we made fools of ourselves in divisions! I´m sure I´ll have some good stories, even if we don´t make fools of ourselves. Hna. Seegmiller and I always had fun together.
I love you all!
Hermana LaPray
Dust in the wind….
There´s been a lot of wind here. Ok so there´s ALWAYS a lot of wind here, but with the changing seasons there´s more. But I guess it´s blowing away the cold and bringing the warmer weather, so I shouldn´t complain. But there is a lot of dust in this wind. I don´t know where this city keeps all it´s dust, but it´s all escaping out into the street and into my eyes and nose and ears and mouth. But it´s ok! Soon the wind will be gone and I´ll have the terrible heat to complain about!
This week was pretty normal. On Monday we had a family home evening with an inactive girl and her mom (who is an investigator) and they fed us a TON. We ate pizza and tarta (like an empanada, but huge and cooked in a pizza pan) and CAKE. A gigantic chocolate cake with cream in the middle and dulce de leche and chocolate on top. It was probably the most delicious food I´ve had on my mission, but I got so sick after. I´m on a strict "rice, white noodles, and cheese" diet. Luckily it was the last thing we did that night and I could go home and sleep.
This woman, Carmen, investigated the Church a few years ago, too, and she says she loves to see how the missionaries get fatter after being in this zone after a couple months. So we already know that her goal is to fatten us up. But it´s ok, because she´s an amazing cook, and the more we eat, the more she likes us, so hopefully if we eat enough chocolate cakes she´ll get baptized!
We also visited with a recent convert named Oscar. He got baptized in February and he LOVES the church. He´s older, about 70, and very educated. He´s a university professor here in Bahía and he loves to study. When we first met him, he said that a lot of his life he felt a lot like Joseph Smith. He investigated a lot of churches, but none of them convinced him. But then he found "the Mormons" (because of a Sister in another ward) and WE convinced him. haha. So he got baptized. And he wants to know everything NOW. He loves to study, but he gets a little impatient with himself sometimes. We go over to study with him and answer his questions, but the members are great and help him a lot with that, too. I want to find more investigators like him!
But investigators like him come through the members. So all you members of the Church out there, go find an Oscar for the missionaries!
I´m loving the work here. I love to talk about the church, and I get to do it all the time now! I was talking to one of the Elders the other day, and he said something like, "When you feel sorry for yourself, you can look around and easily find someone who´s worse off. Like sometimes I say "Poor me, I have to walk around in the street all day and talk to people!"" But then I cut him off and told him that´s a BLESSING! So now he has to find something else to complain about. In 2 days we´re doing divisions with the Hermanas in the other zone... and I´m going to work with Hermana Seegmiller for the day! So we´re going to see if we´ve actually learned anything. Especially with Spanish. I FEEL like I´ve learned a lot, but I´ve always been with companions who speak better than me... so we´ll see if we have any uncomfortable silences or awkward pauses on Friday. But I´m really excited to get to work with her! It´s been a long 4 months since the MTC days...
So tune in next week to see if we made fools of ourselves in divisions! I´m sure I´ll have some good stories, even if we don´t make fools of ourselves. Hna. Seegmiller and I always had fun together.
I love you all!
Hermana LaPray
Thursday, August 26, 2010
The wise man built his house upon the rock.....
August 25, 2010
The wise man built his house upon the rock…..
This morning I was studying and I came across a scripture that made me laugh. Look up 3 Nephi 11:39-40, and then imagine the primary song if it was written like that. That is why I laughed.
We´ve had a good week. My stomach is getting better, but I still have to watch what I eat. It´s no fun! I want to eat everything! I´m losing weight, and the purpose of a mission is to get FATTER! But some day I´ll get fatter again. We´ve been going over the list of the members, and this week we had about -20 baptisms of people who have moved or died or just plain don´t exist. So I´ve gotta start getting to work to find some people to make up for the losses! We also had a Relief Society activity and it was really fun. We made blankets for a refuge house and it made me want to make my own blanket. So get ready, Mom, when I get home we´re making blankets! Also, we had transfers again!
My companion and I are still the same, but now there are only two of us in our tiny little house instead of 4. And now we´re the only Hermanas in the Zone. But with transfers, Hermana Seegmiller came to the other zone in Bahía Blanca!!! I got to see her when we picked her up in the terminal and then we ran into them today downtown. President Detlefsen wants us to do transfers with them once a month, too, so I´ll get to work with her! It was really good to see her.
I´ve also been reading the General Conference talks for "language study." I want more than an hour of gospel study every day, so I read the Ensigns in Spanish as an excuse to learn more during language study. Everyone should go back and read the talks from the last conference, especially the one from Elder Eyring. They´re so great!
This week we had an amazing experience in a lesson. We have an investigator named Luis whose wife died not too long ago of a brain hemmorhage. He´s been really depressed, and he´s looking for consolation, but he doesn´t know how to find it. The first time we talked to him, he wasn´t really interested. We tried to talk about the Plan of Salvation, but he kept talking about other stuff and asking us other questions and we left the lesson frustrated. After that I prayed my guts out for inspiration for the next lesson, and by the time the next lesson rolled around I hadn´t gotten anything. But I thought, "Oh well, I´ll do my best," and we started to teach. This guy really loved his wife. They were together for 60 years and her death was a surprise. He told us, "The day she died, she gave me her hand. I thought it was for affection. I didn´t know it was her farewell..." And then I started to cry. I told him that his wife didn´t want him to be so depressed. That both she and God wanted him to have consolation, but that he had to look for it. I testified that they can be together forever, but he has to be worthy of it. Then my companion testified of all of that. She told him that by praying and reading the Scriptures and coming to church he can have some consolation. Then we sang "Families Can Be Together Forever" and he offered the closing prayer and it was REALLY from his heart. We ended the lesson all crying, but the Spirit was there so strongly. He´s going to read the Book of Mormon and he´s going to pray, but he´s still afraid to come to church. We´re going to work with him more.
But this gospel is really what he needs. It´s what everyone needs.
It´s how we can deal with this life and all the challenges we have. It is everything. I don´t know what I would do or who I would be without it. The Church is SO true and it´s such a blessing. So appreciate it!
I love you all and I´ll write again next week!
Love,
Hermana LaPray
The wise man built his house upon the rock…..
This morning I was studying and I came across a scripture that made me laugh. Look up 3 Nephi 11:39-40, and then imagine the primary song if it was written like that. That is why I laughed.
We´ve had a good week. My stomach is getting better, but I still have to watch what I eat. It´s no fun! I want to eat everything! I´m losing weight, and the purpose of a mission is to get FATTER! But some day I´ll get fatter again. We´ve been going over the list of the members, and this week we had about -20 baptisms of people who have moved or died or just plain don´t exist. So I´ve gotta start getting to work to find some people to make up for the losses! We also had a Relief Society activity and it was really fun. We made blankets for a refuge house and it made me want to make my own blanket. So get ready, Mom, when I get home we´re making blankets! Also, we had transfers again!
My companion and I are still the same, but now there are only two of us in our tiny little house instead of 4. And now we´re the only Hermanas in the Zone. But with transfers, Hermana Seegmiller came to the other zone in Bahía Blanca!!! I got to see her when we picked her up in the terminal and then we ran into them today downtown. President Detlefsen wants us to do transfers with them once a month, too, so I´ll get to work with her! It was really good to see her.
I´ve also been reading the General Conference talks for "language study." I want more than an hour of gospel study every day, so I read the Ensigns in Spanish as an excuse to learn more during language study. Everyone should go back and read the talks from the last conference, especially the one from Elder Eyring. They´re so great!
This week we had an amazing experience in a lesson. We have an investigator named Luis whose wife died not too long ago of a brain hemmorhage. He´s been really depressed, and he´s looking for consolation, but he doesn´t know how to find it. The first time we talked to him, he wasn´t really interested. We tried to talk about the Plan of Salvation, but he kept talking about other stuff and asking us other questions and we left the lesson frustrated. After that I prayed my guts out for inspiration for the next lesson, and by the time the next lesson rolled around I hadn´t gotten anything. But I thought, "Oh well, I´ll do my best," and we started to teach. This guy really loved his wife. They were together for 60 years and her death was a surprise. He told us, "The day she died, she gave me her hand. I thought it was for affection. I didn´t know it was her farewell..." And then I started to cry. I told him that his wife didn´t want him to be so depressed. That both she and God wanted him to have consolation, but that he had to look for it. I testified that they can be together forever, but he has to be worthy of it. Then my companion testified of all of that. She told him that by praying and reading the Scriptures and coming to church he can have some consolation. Then we sang "Families Can Be Together Forever" and he offered the closing prayer and it was REALLY from his heart. We ended the lesson all crying, but the Spirit was there so strongly. He´s going to read the Book of Mormon and he´s going to pray, but he´s still afraid to come to church. We´re going to work with him more.
But this gospel is really what he needs. It´s what everyone needs.
It´s how we can deal with this life and all the challenges we have. It is everything. I don´t know what I would do or who I would be without it. The Church is SO true and it´s such a blessing. So appreciate it!
I love you all and I´ll write again next week!
Love,
Hermana LaPray
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
I REALLY need to come up with a new diet.....
So this week I thought I´d try the "pneumonia diet" again, but instead of pneumonia, a gastro-intestinal problem. It´s basically like the pneumonia diet, where I can´t eat a lot, but this new diet involves...not retaining what I DO eat (to put it delicately). So basically I´ve been between my bed and the bathroom all week. We went to the doctor on Friday and he gave me some medicine and told me I could eat white rice, white noodles (without sauce), white crackers, and polenta (this corn mash stuff--it´s yellow, not white). And I have to drink a lot of water. So I´ve been getting better, but I´m on this rice diet for a month and I can´t enjoy all the amazing food Argentina has to offer! I mean, what´s the point of being in Argentina if I can´t even eat the food??? Ok so I guess there are still people to teach here...
But we have gone out to work a little this week, too. And we found a new investigator! Her daughter is a less-active member who left the church because people said bad stuff about her behind her back. Gossip is probably the main reason people go inactive here, and it KILLS me.
This SHOULD NOT happen, but it does and it´s terrible. It seems like every time the bishop or branch president has to speak, he always talks about saying nice things. Remember: "If you don´t have anything nice to say, don´t say nothin´ at all!" But she says she still believes everything that she was taught, and she´s considering coming back to church with us. Her mom has a lot of interest in religion, but doesn´t like to commit herself to doing things... but they´re both great and I think we´re going to have success with them.
Other than that, life continues like normal. I wanted to send pictures this week, but this computer doesn´t have a USB port... So next week you can all see how fat I am getting. Or maybe I´ll start losing weight with my gastro-intestinal disease of death! Wouldn´t that be nice? Also, I turned 6 months old yesterday. Can you believe that? And today for P-day we had a zone activity and we had a little competition and my team TOTALLY won because of my incredible doctrinal knowledge. Ok maybe that´s a lie. But we did win and I did help!
Sorry this email is so short, I don´t have much to say this week! And don´t worry, Mom, I´m fine. I´m getting better every day. They always tell us not to write home to our moms when we´re sick, but MY mom is sensible and won´t freak out. Right? RIGHT???
Anyway, I love you all! Keep going to church and take a friend (you know, who hasn´t been baptized yet).
Until next week,
Hna. LaPray
But we have gone out to work a little this week, too. And we found a new investigator! Her daughter is a less-active member who left the church because people said bad stuff about her behind her back. Gossip is probably the main reason people go inactive here, and it KILLS me.
This SHOULD NOT happen, but it does and it´s terrible. It seems like every time the bishop or branch president has to speak, he always talks about saying nice things. Remember: "If you don´t have anything nice to say, don´t say nothin´ at all!" But she says she still believes everything that she was taught, and she´s considering coming back to church with us. Her mom has a lot of interest in religion, but doesn´t like to commit herself to doing things... but they´re both great and I think we´re going to have success with them.
Other than that, life continues like normal. I wanted to send pictures this week, but this computer doesn´t have a USB port... So next week you can all see how fat I am getting. Or maybe I´ll start losing weight with my gastro-intestinal disease of death! Wouldn´t that be nice? Also, I turned 6 months old yesterday. Can you believe that? And today for P-day we had a zone activity and we had a little competition and my team TOTALLY won because of my incredible doctrinal knowledge. Ok maybe that´s a lie. But we did win and I did help!
Sorry this email is so short, I don´t have much to say this week! And don´t worry, Mom, I´m fine. I´m getting better every day. They always tell us not to write home to our moms when we´re sick, but MY mom is sensible and won´t freak out. Right? RIGHT???
Anyway, I love you all! Keep going to church and take a friend (you know, who hasn´t been baptized yet).
Until next week,
Hna. LaPray
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Transfers….what???
August 11, 2010
Yep, we got transferred. The Elders´ area was too dangerous for them, so we switched. So now we´re in Bahía centro and it´s different. This is a very pretty, quiet city, especially where we are now.
Unfortunately, transfers with Elders means moving into a dirty house with pretty much everything broken, so we´re working on cleaning everything and getting rid of all the broken tables, plates, windows, and whatever that moldy old thing was I found under my bed...
But I really love this new area!!! The ward is full of old people--it´s the first ward that was ever formed in Bahía Blanca--but there are some great, young leaders who are really animated and excited to help us. A lot of the single sisters are excited to have sister missionaries in the ward because they can´t have Elders in their house to eat. So we have lunch every day and we´re always invited over to eat cake and drink hot chocolate. So far I haven´t gained weight in the mission, but we´ll see what this transfer does to me :)
We still live with the other Hermanas, but this apartment is a LOT smaller and has a lot more problems... it´s going to be interesting to see what happens at the end of the transfer (in a week and a half).
One of the Hermanas is going home, so President Detlefsen might just close this area. Or he might close another area (for the Hermanas). I really hope I get to stay! It´s great here. Especially now that the weather is warming up. We played some futbol today with the Elders for P-day and I think I´m about ready to go pro. I´m pretty much better than Messi. And MUCH more humble. But really, I´m loving this warm weather because it means there are more people outside to talk to :) And they don´t have the excuse that it´s too cold outside to talk about God :)
Mari in Tandil got baptized this week. Hna. Kjar still hasn´t sent me pictures, but she promised she would. I´m sad I wasn´t there for it, but I´m glad that we could find her and bring her the FULNESS of the gospel! And in a year she can go to the temple and be sealed to her husband for time and all eternity--because that´s what we´re here for.
To prepare ourselves and learn for ETERNITY. And that´s a LONG time.
So work hard to deserve it!
Hopefully next week I can tell you how it´s going with investigators and everything. But I´m excited to go out and work to find some people to tell you about!!!
Have a great week, and tell Shawn not to get cold feet on Saturday!
And remember to put up that cardboard cutout of me. I sent the pictures to Summer. Shawn and Summer LaPray... :) I get an older sister! I´m so excited!!!!
I love you all!
Love,
Hna. LaPray
Yep, we got transferred. The Elders´ area was too dangerous for them, so we switched. So now we´re in Bahía centro and it´s different. This is a very pretty, quiet city, especially where we are now.
Unfortunately, transfers with Elders means moving into a dirty house with pretty much everything broken, so we´re working on cleaning everything and getting rid of all the broken tables, plates, windows, and whatever that moldy old thing was I found under my bed...
But I really love this new area!!! The ward is full of old people--it´s the first ward that was ever formed in Bahía Blanca--but there are some great, young leaders who are really animated and excited to help us. A lot of the single sisters are excited to have sister missionaries in the ward because they can´t have Elders in their house to eat. So we have lunch every day and we´re always invited over to eat cake and drink hot chocolate. So far I haven´t gained weight in the mission, but we´ll see what this transfer does to me :)
We still live with the other Hermanas, but this apartment is a LOT smaller and has a lot more problems... it´s going to be interesting to see what happens at the end of the transfer (in a week and a half).
One of the Hermanas is going home, so President Detlefsen might just close this area. Or he might close another area (for the Hermanas). I really hope I get to stay! It´s great here. Especially now that the weather is warming up. We played some futbol today with the Elders for P-day and I think I´m about ready to go pro. I´m pretty much better than Messi. And MUCH more humble. But really, I´m loving this warm weather because it means there are more people outside to talk to :) And they don´t have the excuse that it´s too cold outside to talk about God :)
Mari in Tandil got baptized this week. Hna. Kjar still hasn´t sent me pictures, but she promised she would. I´m sad I wasn´t there for it, but I´m glad that we could find her and bring her the FULNESS of the gospel! And in a year she can go to the temple and be sealed to her husband for time and all eternity--because that´s what we´re here for.
To prepare ourselves and learn for ETERNITY. And that´s a LONG time.
So work hard to deserve it!
Hopefully next week I can tell you how it´s going with investigators and everything. But I´m excited to go out and work to find some people to tell you about!!!
Have a great week, and tell Shawn not to get cold feet on Saturday!
And remember to put up that cardboard cutout of me. I sent the pictures to Summer. Shawn and Summer LaPray... :) I get an older sister! I´m so excited!!!!
I love you all!
Love,
Hna. LaPray
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
We don’t have lights, we don’t have water, our pets HEADS are falling off!
August 4, 2010
Ok so our pets heads aren´t falling off, but we were without light and water for a couple days this week. Luckily, late yesterday afternoon our lights came back on and we could finally shower. The entire city of Bahía Blanca heaved a sigh of relief.
This week we´ve been finding new investigators! Which means we´ve been walking less and I´ve gotten a little fatter. But life is good. Investigators are good! We found a woman named Mabel and her daughter, Shilda. At first Mabel just let us in because she says she talks to every religious person who comes to the door. She said, "You´re people, too, and everyone forgets that!" So I´m glad that someone remembered that I´m a person, too... Seriously, it was nice. But we taught her the Restoration and she really loved it. She said her husband doesn´t like to talk about religion, but hopefully we get to meet him and change his mind. She also likes how nice and clean the chapel is on the outside and really wants to see what it´s like on the inside :) We will show her the inside of the baptismal font some day soon...
We also found a man named Juan Maria (Yes, Maria is a common middle name for men... it´s a Catholic thing...). His wife died 2 years ago.
He doesn´t go to any church, but he wanted to talk to us anyway. I still haven´t figured out why... but he ALSO loved the Restoration and wants to come to church because he doesn´t like being in his house (too many memories with his wife...). We´re going back to teach the Plan of Salvation and I´m REALLY excited. He´s a good guy, and he has a really nice dog.
We´re still working with Lilian, too. Her son turned 11 this week so we went over and had a little party. The problem is that she still can´t come to church on Sunday... She says she´s arranging her time (because she has to visit her husband in jail) but she does want to come to church and she knows she´s going to get baptized. We committed her to stop smoking and she´s doing GREAT with that. She really wants to be an example to her kids.
Also, the night the lights went out we were in a lesson with another one of our investigators. His name is Julio and he´s about 75 and VERY Catholic, so I´m not sure why he talks to us, either. His whole family are members except for him, and I think he really knows the church is true, he´s just afraid of making this change in his life. Well, usually during the lessons it´s very hard to bring the spirit because he likes to argue... But the lights went out right before the opening prayer and that was a great blessing. The whole family gathered together around the table and we prayed and sang hymns and bore our testimonies and the spirit was STRONG. We´re really hoping that will help him progress.
And also our whole house is sick. Well, my companion and Hermana Peña.
My comp. has a bad cold and Hna. Peña has a stone in her gall bladder... but she goes home at the end of the month and she´s going to be operated on in Perú. So the other day they were both really bad and we went on divisiones (sp?). The two sickies stayed home and the two... healthies... went out and worked. And we found a new investigator! But in the other Hermana´s area... But finding new people is still good, no matter what area you´re in.
That´s all I´ve got for you this week... I hope everyone is still praying, reading your scriptures, going to church, and paying your tithing! Have a good week!
Love,
Hna. LaPray
Ok so our pets heads aren´t falling off, but we were without light and water for a couple days this week. Luckily, late yesterday afternoon our lights came back on and we could finally shower. The entire city of Bahía Blanca heaved a sigh of relief.
This week we´ve been finding new investigators! Which means we´ve been walking less and I´ve gotten a little fatter. But life is good. Investigators are good! We found a woman named Mabel and her daughter, Shilda. At first Mabel just let us in because she says she talks to every religious person who comes to the door. She said, "You´re people, too, and everyone forgets that!" So I´m glad that someone remembered that I´m a person, too... Seriously, it was nice. But we taught her the Restoration and she really loved it. She said her husband doesn´t like to talk about religion, but hopefully we get to meet him and change his mind. She also likes how nice and clean the chapel is on the outside and really wants to see what it´s like on the inside :) We will show her the inside of the baptismal font some day soon...
We also found a man named Juan Maria (Yes, Maria is a common middle name for men... it´s a Catholic thing...). His wife died 2 years ago.
He doesn´t go to any church, but he wanted to talk to us anyway. I still haven´t figured out why... but he ALSO loved the Restoration and wants to come to church because he doesn´t like being in his house (too many memories with his wife...). We´re going back to teach the Plan of Salvation and I´m REALLY excited. He´s a good guy, and he has a really nice dog.
We´re still working with Lilian, too. Her son turned 11 this week so we went over and had a little party. The problem is that she still can´t come to church on Sunday... She says she´s arranging her time (because she has to visit her husband in jail) but she does want to come to church and she knows she´s going to get baptized. We committed her to stop smoking and she´s doing GREAT with that. She really wants to be an example to her kids.
Also, the night the lights went out we were in a lesson with another one of our investigators. His name is Julio and he´s about 75 and VERY Catholic, so I´m not sure why he talks to us, either. His whole family are members except for him, and I think he really knows the church is true, he´s just afraid of making this change in his life. Well, usually during the lessons it´s very hard to bring the spirit because he likes to argue... But the lights went out right before the opening prayer and that was a great blessing. The whole family gathered together around the table and we prayed and sang hymns and bore our testimonies and the spirit was STRONG. We´re really hoping that will help him progress.
And also our whole house is sick. Well, my companion and Hermana Peña.
My comp. has a bad cold and Hna. Peña has a stone in her gall bladder... but she goes home at the end of the month and she´s going to be operated on in Perú. So the other day they were both really bad and we went on divisiones (sp?). The two sickies stayed home and the two... healthies... went out and worked. And we found a new investigator! But in the other Hermana´s area... But finding new people is still good, no matter what area you´re in.
That´s all I´ve got for you this week... I hope everyone is still praying, reading your scriptures, going to church, and paying your tithing! Have a good week!
Love,
Hna. LaPray
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
It's Warm!
July 28, 2010
It’s Warm!
These past couple days have been unusally warm! It´s been really nice.
One morning I even left without my coat. But the members assured me that this is uncommon, and it should start getting cold again tomorrow. But at least there´s only one month left of winter!
We started off this week right by eating some good old fashioned American TACOS! (Ok they´re Mexican, whatever, I make them American style). Everyone here loves tacos (probably because they have a Spanish name and they´re not common) and when I told the other Hermanas that I knew how to make them, they went a little crazy. So I made them and we ate them and everyone was happy.
This week we taught Lilian the Word of Wisdom, and she really loved it. She doesn´t drink coffee (which is really rare) and she only drinks tea every once in a while. She also doesn´t drink anything alcoholic (even MORE rare). She smokes, but she´s wanted to quit for a while to be a better example to her kids. Now that she knows it´s part of the gospel, she knows she can do it and she really wants to. We just need to get her to church! She said she´s going to visit her husband on Saturday this week so she can go to church in the morning on Sunday.
I talked to Hna. Kjar the other day, and she told me that Mari (the woman we found in Tandil with the Book of Mormon) is getting baptized on August 7th! She´s really excited. I think she´s probably the most faithful person I´ve ever met in my life.
Yesterday we found another new investigator, Monica. She was a reference from a member, and when we went to our appointment with her, the member was already there! They´re good friends and apparently she´s over there every day. We taught the restoration, and when we shared the scripture about apostasy in Amos 8:11-12, I felt impressed to tell her that this is what she was feeling right now. She had a hunger for something spiritual, to know that God really does love her and her family, and that this is the true church and the Holy Ghost can witness that to her. After I said that she got really mad and said that she had prayed to the Virgin Maria for 20 years to bless her family, but nothing had ever happened and last week she got sick of it and threw away all of her saints. She said she was sick of the Catholic church and all the other churches that rob the people. Then the member bore her testimony about the church and how it really is true and nobody gets robbed by the General Authorities. Then we taught the first vision, and she said that she felt really peaceful and loved. I guess she really was looking for something, but I had no idea. Good thing the Spirit is here for us, to give us the words we don´t have! She´s really excited to read the Book of Mormon and come to church to feel the Spirit again, and she wants us to baptize her kids. She has an 18-year-old son and an 11-year-old daughter. So you members out there, go visit your non-member friends and invite the missionaries over! Lessons are SO much better when you go with a member friend!
The Church is true! The Book of Mormon is true! If you´re not doing anything right now, go read it! You´ll always learn something new (the Prophet promised us that). And the Book of Mormon is IMPORTANT. It´s a really big deal. Give one to a friend. Two friends. Fill the world with it!
I love you all, and have a good week!
Love,
Hna. LaPray
It’s Warm!
These past couple days have been unusally warm! It´s been really nice.
One morning I even left without my coat. But the members assured me that this is uncommon, and it should start getting cold again tomorrow. But at least there´s only one month left of winter!
We started off this week right by eating some good old fashioned American TACOS! (Ok they´re Mexican, whatever, I make them American style). Everyone here loves tacos (probably because they have a Spanish name and they´re not common) and when I told the other Hermanas that I knew how to make them, they went a little crazy. So I made them and we ate them and everyone was happy.
This week we taught Lilian the Word of Wisdom, and she really loved it. She doesn´t drink coffee (which is really rare) and she only drinks tea every once in a while. She also doesn´t drink anything alcoholic (even MORE rare). She smokes, but she´s wanted to quit for a while to be a better example to her kids. Now that she knows it´s part of the gospel, she knows she can do it and she really wants to. We just need to get her to church! She said she´s going to visit her husband on Saturday this week so she can go to church in the morning on Sunday.
I talked to Hna. Kjar the other day, and she told me that Mari (the woman we found in Tandil with the Book of Mormon) is getting baptized on August 7th! She´s really excited. I think she´s probably the most faithful person I´ve ever met in my life.
Yesterday we found another new investigator, Monica. She was a reference from a member, and when we went to our appointment with her, the member was already there! They´re good friends and apparently she´s over there every day. We taught the restoration, and when we shared the scripture about apostasy in Amos 8:11-12, I felt impressed to tell her that this is what she was feeling right now. She had a hunger for something spiritual, to know that God really does love her and her family, and that this is the true church and the Holy Ghost can witness that to her. After I said that she got really mad and said that she had prayed to the Virgin Maria for 20 years to bless her family, but nothing had ever happened and last week she got sick of it and threw away all of her saints. She said she was sick of the Catholic church and all the other churches that rob the people. Then the member bore her testimony about the church and how it really is true and nobody gets robbed by the General Authorities. Then we taught the first vision, and she said that she felt really peaceful and loved. I guess she really was looking for something, but I had no idea. Good thing the Spirit is here for us, to give us the words we don´t have! She´s really excited to read the Book of Mormon and come to church to feel the Spirit again, and she wants us to baptize her kids. She has an 18-year-old son and an 11-year-old daughter. So you members out there, go visit your non-member friends and invite the missionaries over! Lessons are SO much better when you go with a member friend!
The Church is true! The Book of Mormon is true! If you´re not doing anything right now, go read it! You´ll always learn something new (the Prophet promised us that). And the Book of Mormon is IMPORTANT. It´s a really big deal. Give one to a friend. Two friends. Fill the world with it!
I love you all, and have a good week!
Love,
Hna. LaPray
Villa Serra!
July 21, 2010
Villa Serra!
I have very little time left, so I´ll be quick...
We had a very busy week. All the investigators here just got baptized, so we´re starting over. We spent this past week walking all over the place looking for new investigators with little success... But we´re going back to a lot of them this week, so we´re hoping we´ll find a lot more!
We have one great investigator--her name is Lilian and she really wants to get baptized, but she goes every sunday to visit her husband in jail.... He drove the get-away car in an unsuccessful bank robbery... haha. But she thinks that he´s going to be ready to accept the gospel when he gets out and he´ll want to get baptized. She will hopefully come to church on Sunday, because she promised us she would!
She actually almost joined with the Jehova´s Witnesses, but she found out they don´t celebrate birthdays so she stopped talking to them.
Yeah birthday parties!
Other than that, life is work as usual. Work, work, work!
I attached 2 fotos... the first is me and Hna. Acosta, and the second is me studying in the morning with my trusty blankie and bag of oranges!!! Yum!!! (Mandarinas)
I love you all! Thanks for the prayers and always remember that the church is true! Talk about it with your friends!
Love,
Hermana LaPray
Villa Serra!
I have very little time left, so I´ll be quick...
We had a very busy week. All the investigators here just got baptized, so we´re starting over. We spent this past week walking all over the place looking for new investigators with little success... But we´re going back to a lot of them this week, so we´re hoping we´ll find a lot more!
We have one great investigator--her name is Lilian and she really wants to get baptized, but she goes every sunday to visit her husband in jail.... He drove the get-away car in an unsuccessful bank robbery... haha. But she thinks that he´s going to be ready to accept the gospel when he gets out and he´ll want to get baptized. She will hopefully come to church on Sunday, because she promised us she would!
She actually almost joined with the Jehova´s Witnesses, but she found out they don´t celebrate birthdays so she stopped talking to them.
Yeah birthday parties!
Other than that, life is work as usual. Work, work, work!
I attached 2 fotos... the first is me and Hna. Acosta, and the second is me studying in the morning with my trusty blankie and bag of oranges!!! Yum!!! (Mandarinas)
I love you all! Thanks for the prayers and always remember that the church is true! Talk about it with your friends!
Love,
Hermana LaPray
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Me fui!
July 14, 2010
Me fui!
So I´m not in Tandil any more. Now I´m in Villa Serra in Bahía Blanca. My companion´s Spanish is perfect, even though she´s been out one transfer less than me. She´s from Paraguay. And my roommates´ Spanish, too. They´re from Perú and Argentina. I haven´t spoken English since Sunday afternoon. It´s a little weird. Ok that´s a lie, my district leader wants to practice his English, so I passed him the dats last night in English. We thought I´d stay in Tandil 1 more transfer, but we´re short on Hermanas in the mission, so we´re getting moved up to Senior Companion really quickly... I have a lot to learn, but I´ll learn fast and these will be some good transfers!
We had a good last few days in Tandil. One day we went to a little town called Rauch and helped the Elders make some contacts. And we found 7 new investigators in one afternoon. Seriously, we got in every door we knocked. It was incredible, and I decided I´m moving to Rauch. But not forever. Just while I´m on my mission. We got the call on Friday for transfers and they told us, "Pack your bags, Hermana LaPray. You leave on Sunday at 6." But not those words exactly, and in Spanish. And I said, "No way, you´re joking." And I thought my district leader was pulling my leg and I still kind of feel like he is. I miss Tandil, but I know I´m going to love my new area and I´ll never want to leave.
This area is even more villa than my last (villa=ghetto). There are even more dirt roads and more metal houses and more places where people will stab you and take all your money. But it´s good. I´m in a ward now, so that should be fun. My companion and roommates are really fun and they´re being kind and helping me learn Spanish by speaking it all the time. Ok so sometimes they know some random, weird words in English that their old companions taught them (like "thanks" and "I gotta go pee") but everything else is in good ol´ español! I´m excited for this transfer. It´s going to be great and I´m going to learn a lot! And now maybe I´ll have a funny accent when I call at Christmas:)
I love you all! And hopefully I´ll have more exciting stuff to write next week.
Love,
Hna. LaPray
Me fui!
So I´m not in Tandil any more. Now I´m in Villa Serra in Bahía Blanca. My companion´s Spanish is perfect, even though she´s been out one transfer less than me. She´s from Paraguay. And my roommates´ Spanish, too. They´re from Perú and Argentina. I haven´t spoken English since Sunday afternoon. It´s a little weird. Ok that´s a lie, my district leader wants to practice his English, so I passed him the dats last night in English. We thought I´d stay in Tandil 1 more transfer, but we´re short on Hermanas in the mission, so we´re getting moved up to Senior Companion really quickly... I have a lot to learn, but I´ll learn fast and these will be some good transfers!
We had a good last few days in Tandil. One day we went to a little town called Rauch and helped the Elders make some contacts. And we found 7 new investigators in one afternoon. Seriously, we got in every door we knocked. It was incredible, and I decided I´m moving to Rauch. But not forever. Just while I´m on my mission. We got the call on Friday for transfers and they told us, "Pack your bags, Hermana LaPray. You leave on Sunday at 6." But not those words exactly, and in Spanish. And I said, "No way, you´re joking." And I thought my district leader was pulling my leg and I still kind of feel like he is. I miss Tandil, but I know I´m going to love my new area and I´ll never want to leave.
This area is even more villa than my last (villa=ghetto). There are even more dirt roads and more metal houses and more places where people will stab you and take all your money. But it´s good. I´m in a ward now, so that should be fun. My companion and roommates are really fun and they´re being kind and helping me learn Spanish by speaking it all the time. Ok so sometimes they know some random, weird words in English that their old companions taught them (like "thanks" and "I gotta go pee") but everything else is in good ol´ español! I´m excited for this transfer. It´s going to be great and I´m going to learn a lot! And now maybe I´ll have a funny accent when I call at Christmas:)
I love you all! And hopefully I´ll have more exciting stuff to write next week.
Love,
Hna. LaPray
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
More and more RAIN!!!
July 7, 2010
Yep, still rainy here in Tandil. I guess I´ve forgotten what it was like in Maryland. It rains once or twice a week and that´s perfectly normal. But we did get something a little abnormal yesterday--HAIL.
Yes, that´s right, little balls of ice that fall from the sky. We were walking to the bus stop when it started, and fortunately we weren´t out in it too long. It is getting pretty cold here! I´m really grateful for the thermal pants you bought me, Mom. I wear them every day!
So we have big news here--Alicia went to church on Sunday! She is officially "progressing"! We talked to her again about baptism and she says she feels more ready, but not quite. We went over the baptismal interview questions with her and her reaction was kind of like, "Really, that´s all they ask for baptism?" And she asked if she could choose who baptizes her. Fortunately, her husband is a priest (as of two weeks!) and he can do it! We told her to pray about her baptism and we´re going to try to get a baptismal date with her on Saturday.
She´s so great and their family is one of the reasons I hope I don´t get tranferred on Sunday.
We also talked to Neri about baptism. Her husband died about 7 years ago, and she really wants to be sealed to him. She has pneumonia and she´s 74 years old, but once she gets better she´s going to come to church so she can get baptized. She really loves the stuff we teach and loves the spirit we bring to her home. We also taught her about the gift of the Holy Ghost and how she can feel that same spirit all the time after she´s baptized. She´s really excited to be able to come to church and get baptized.
We have another old woman investigator, Mary, who really loves the gospel, too. We were knocking doors and found her. She already had a Book of Mormon and had been reading it (starting from the beginning). She wanted to know more about the Church, but didn´t know where to find anyone who knew about it. Good thing we knocked her door! The only problem is that she goes to visit her son every Sunday and for her that is more important than going to church. We´re working on that, and she agreed to come for an hour on Sunday!!
We just keep finding new investigators! The work is great here, and I´m sorry but I don´t have time to write more! I love you all. Thank you for the letters and the prayers.
Love,
Hna. LaPray
Yep, still rainy here in Tandil. I guess I´ve forgotten what it was like in Maryland. It rains once or twice a week and that´s perfectly normal. But we did get something a little abnormal yesterday--HAIL.
Yes, that´s right, little balls of ice that fall from the sky. We were walking to the bus stop when it started, and fortunately we weren´t out in it too long. It is getting pretty cold here! I´m really grateful for the thermal pants you bought me, Mom. I wear them every day!
So we have big news here--Alicia went to church on Sunday! She is officially "progressing"! We talked to her again about baptism and she says she feels more ready, but not quite. We went over the baptismal interview questions with her and her reaction was kind of like, "Really, that´s all they ask for baptism?" And she asked if she could choose who baptizes her. Fortunately, her husband is a priest (as of two weeks!) and he can do it! We told her to pray about her baptism and we´re going to try to get a baptismal date with her on Saturday.
She´s so great and their family is one of the reasons I hope I don´t get tranferred on Sunday.
We also talked to Neri about baptism. Her husband died about 7 years ago, and she really wants to be sealed to him. She has pneumonia and she´s 74 years old, but once she gets better she´s going to come to church so she can get baptized. She really loves the stuff we teach and loves the spirit we bring to her home. We also taught her about the gift of the Holy Ghost and how she can feel that same spirit all the time after she´s baptized. She´s really excited to be able to come to church and get baptized.
We have another old woman investigator, Mary, who really loves the gospel, too. We were knocking doors and found her. She already had a Book of Mormon and had been reading it (starting from the beginning). She wanted to know more about the Church, but didn´t know where to find anyone who knew about it. Good thing we knocked her door! The only problem is that she goes to visit her son every Sunday and for her that is more important than going to church. We´re working on that, and she agreed to come for an hour on Sunday!!
We just keep finding new investigators! The work is great here, and I´m sorry but I don´t have time to write more! I love you all. Thank you for the letters and the prayers.
Love,
Hna. LaPray
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Somebody still needs to tell me how Shawn proposed!
June 30, 2010
Yeah, answer that question in the heading! Ok so it´s more of a demand than a question, but do it! Especially if your name is Shawn.
Also, happy birthday to dad (today!) and Josh (tomorrow!)! Don´t have too much fun without me.
So we had a good week! As all of you should know, the world cup is going on right now, but I´m going to call it the Mundial, because that´s what they call it here and I had to think a long time to remember what it was called in English. And Argentina is doing VERY well. They have one all of their games. We went to centro of Tandil last week, hoping to get some contacts during the game, but we had no luck. We talked to maybe 10 people, but then the game ended and EVERYONE was out in the street celebrating. It was a locura (yes, that´s a word. One we don´t have in English. I think...). It was really nuts. Everyone was jumping and yelling and I need to take my camera with me next time to record a little and send it. Seriously, I´ve never seen anything like it. Everyone here takes fútbol really seriously. But I bought an Argentine flag so I could fit in. It was $10 and it´s HUGE!
Other big news--I ate peanut butter yesterday. Hna. Kjar´s mom sent her some. I didn´t know how much I missed it... unfortunately, it isn´t crunchy. But it´s still peanut butter!
This week we´ve done a lot of searching for new investigators who will progress... lots of people like to talk to us, they just don´t like to go to church... But we found someone really great a couple weeks ago.
Her name is Neri and she´s 76 years old and Catholic. She likes our church because it´s the closest to the Catholic one, haha. But we´ve been focusing on teaching her about the Book of Mormon, and she´s started reading from the beginning, and she really loves it. She said she doesn´t remember anything she read about, but she read 3 Nefi 11 and prayed about it and had the most peaceful, restful night of sleep of her entire life. She also said that she´s noticed she´s been getting a lot of blessings since she´s been meeting with us. She loves everything we teach, and she promised she´ll go to church as soon as she gets better (she has a bad cold right now and doesn´t want to go outside and make it worse. she´s old, give her a break!). She invited us in the first time because when she lived in England while her husband was stationed there in the marines, the sister missionaries were two of her best friends. So Sister Greene (and companion...) way to go! We´re going to baptize Neri the Argentine!
Also, we played soccer in the street with some kids the other day (ages 10-12) and one of them totally came to church and loved it. His Uncle is the counselor in the branch presidency, and I´ve got high hopes for him! His name is Nahuel and he´s 10.
Also this week we had a talent show for the district! They needed more acts, so Hna. Kjar sang and I accompanied her, I played a song on the piano, and I also sang. Haha. And now I guess all the members in the other branches want me to come sing in their Sacrament Meetings.
Sorry, I go to Rama 3! It was fun. There was a band that came and played some traditional Argentine music. I´m going to learn to play the guitar like them some day...
The work here is great. There really are people out there waiting for us, and we found one of them! Now we just have to go find the rest. It would be easier if they´d just line up outside the font, but then this wouldn´t be missionary WORK! So now if you´ll excuse me, I gotta get out there and baptize some people!
I love you all and I´m praying for you!
Love,
Hermana LaPray
Yeah, answer that question in the heading! Ok so it´s more of a demand than a question, but do it! Especially if your name is Shawn.
Also, happy birthday to dad (today!) and Josh (tomorrow!)! Don´t have too much fun without me.
So we had a good week! As all of you should know, the world cup is going on right now, but I´m going to call it the Mundial, because that´s what they call it here and I had to think a long time to remember what it was called in English. And Argentina is doing VERY well. They have one all of their games. We went to centro of Tandil last week, hoping to get some contacts during the game, but we had no luck. We talked to maybe 10 people, but then the game ended and EVERYONE was out in the street celebrating. It was a locura (yes, that´s a word. One we don´t have in English. I think...). It was really nuts. Everyone was jumping and yelling and I need to take my camera with me next time to record a little and send it. Seriously, I´ve never seen anything like it. Everyone here takes fútbol really seriously. But I bought an Argentine flag so I could fit in. It was $10 and it´s HUGE!
Other big news--I ate peanut butter yesterday. Hna. Kjar´s mom sent her some. I didn´t know how much I missed it... unfortunately, it isn´t crunchy. But it´s still peanut butter!
This week we´ve done a lot of searching for new investigators who will progress... lots of people like to talk to us, they just don´t like to go to church... But we found someone really great a couple weeks ago.
Her name is Neri and she´s 76 years old and Catholic. She likes our church because it´s the closest to the Catholic one, haha. But we´ve been focusing on teaching her about the Book of Mormon, and she´s started reading from the beginning, and she really loves it. She said she doesn´t remember anything she read about, but she read 3 Nefi 11 and prayed about it and had the most peaceful, restful night of sleep of her entire life. She also said that she´s noticed she´s been getting a lot of blessings since she´s been meeting with us. She loves everything we teach, and she promised she´ll go to church as soon as she gets better (she has a bad cold right now and doesn´t want to go outside and make it worse. she´s old, give her a break!). She invited us in the first time because when she lived in England while her husband was stationed there in the marines, the sister missionaries were two of her best friends. So Sister Greene (and companion...) way to go! We´re going to baptize Neri the Argentine!
Also, we played soccer in the street with some kids the other day (ages 10-12) and one of them totally came to church and loved it. His Uncle is the counselor in the branch presidency, and I´ve got high hopes for him! His name is Nahuel and he´s 10.
Also this week we had a talent show for the district! They needed more acts, so Hna. Kjar sang and I accompanied her, I played a song on the piano, and I also sang. Haha. And now I guess all the members in the other branches want me to come sing in their Sacrament Meetings.
Sorry, I go to Rama 3! It was fun. There was a band that came and played some traditional Argentine music. I´m going to learn to play the guitar like them some day...
The work here is great. There really are people out there waiting for us, and we found one of them! Now we just have to go find the rest. It would be easier if they´d just line up outside the font, but then this wouldn´t be missionary WORK! So now if you´ll excuse me, I gotta get out there and baptize some people!
I love you all and I´m praying for you!
Love,
Hermana LaPray
Monday, June 28, 2010
I Miss the Days When Microwave Popcorn Was a Miracle to Me
June 24, 2010
I miss the days when microwave popcorn was a miracle to me…
This week was another good one. First of all, we had zone conference!
We learned a lot and laughed a lot with Presidente Detlefsen. He´s just such a great guy!
Also, I got the letters from Melissa and Mariah. They took about 2 weeks to get to the mission office, and about another week to get to me. So I guess that means it takes mail at least 2 weeks to get here, then it depends on the office Elders (and we all know that we can´t depend on those office Elders...). Also, Melissa say my English are deterorating. Is the truth? :)
So maybe you´re wondering about that subject line... well, let me explain. Hna. Kjar´s mom sent her some microwave popcorn a couple weeks ago, but none of the missionaries´apartments have a microwave.
But our Branch President has one. We went to their house to eat on Monday and she brought a bag for them. I forgot that microwaveable popcorn is not normal here... in fact, you can´t really find it at all. She explained how you cook it, they put it in the microwave...and watched. Very intently. On the first pop, the Hermana jumped and screamed a little. When it started to pop more, they started cheering for it and they were disappointed when it was over. Then they pulled out the bag and they were amazed it was all popped perfectly. It was just very amusing to see two grown people (especially the Branch President!) cheering for microwave popcorn...
We are actually working, too. We have two new investigators who I´m really excited about. Their names are Neri and Laura. Neri is in her mid-70´s and she´s very Catholic. Laura is her granddaughter and she´s 20. They both listened very intently in the first lesson and really understood the need for a restoration... that doesn´t happen a lot, really. That night, we had English classes and Laura came with her sister... usually people are afraid to come to the capilla alone, but they came! Then a few days later we had another lesson with them. Neri was in bed with the flu, but she still let us in to teach her. That was a little weird, but we taught them anyway. And I don´t have the flu. But we taught them about the importance of the Book of Mormon and Neri was excited to read more about Christ. She´s very Catholic, but she´s not afraid to read a book that isn´t the Bible! And Laura actually opened it and started to read before we even left! We´re going to see them again tomorrow morning and I´m really excited.
Also, Argentina won their game on Tuesday, so they´re moving on! They played during our normal tracting hours on Tuesday, so there were a couple hours we didn´t get into any houses or really talk to anyone...
and we could hear the game from every house while we were walking down the road, and we knew every time they scored a goal. Argentines are really crazy about their fútbol! But it´s fun to be here for this. Presidente Detlefsen hopes that both the US and Argentina lose soon because he doesn´t want any bad feelings between our two countries.
That wouldn´t really help the missionary work... haha.
That´s all I´ve got for this week! Keep reading your scriptures and cheering on the U.S. of A!
Love,
Hermana LaPray
I miss the days when microwave popcorn was a miracle to me…
This week was another good one. First of all, we had zone conference!
We learned a lot and laughed a lot with Presidente Detlefsen. He´s just such a great guy!
Also, I got the letters from Melissa and Mariah. They took about 2 weeks to get to the mission office, and about another week to get to me. So I guess that means it takes mail at least 2 weeks to get here, then it depends on the office Elders (and we all know that we can´t depend on those office Elders...). Also, Melissa say my English are deterorating. Is the truth? :)
So maybe you´re wondering about that subject line... well, let me explain. Hna. Kjar´s mom sent her some microwave popcorn a couple weeks ago, but none of the missionaries´apartments have a microwave.
But our Branch President has one. We went to their house to eat on Monday and she brought a bag for them. I forgot that microwaveable popcorn is not normal here... in fact, you can´t really find it at all. She explained how you cook it, they put it in the microwave...and watched. Very intently. On the first pop, the Hermana jumped and screamed a little. When it started to pop more, they started cheering for it and they were disappointed when it was over. Then they pulled out the bag and they were amazed it was all popped perfectly. It was just very amusing to see two grown people (especially the Branch President!) cheering for microwave popcorn...
We are actually working, too. We have two new investigators who I´m really excited about. Their names are Neri and Laura. Neri is in her mid-70´s and she´s very Catholic. Laura is her granddaughter and she´s 20. They both listened very intently in the first lesson and really understood the need for a restoration... that doesn´t happen a lot, really. That night, we had English classes and Laura came with her sister... usually people are afraid to come to the capilla alone, but they came! Then a few days later we had another lesson with them. Neri was in bed with the flu, but she still let us in to teach her. That was a little weird, but we taught them anyway. And I don´t have the flu. But we taught them about the importance of the Book of Mormon and Neri was excited to read more about Christ. She´s very Catholic, but she´s not afraid to read a book that isn´t the Bible! And Laura actually opened it and started to read before we even left! We´re going to see them again tomorrow morning and I´m really excited.
Also, Argentina won their game on Tuesday, so they´re moving on! They played during our normal tracting hours on Tuesday, so there were a couple hours we didn´t get into any houses or really talk to anyone...
and we could hear the game from every house while we were walking down the road, and we knew every time they scored a goal. Argentines are really crazy about their fútbol! But it´s fun to be here for this. Presidente Detlefsen hopes that both the US and Argentina lose soon because he doesn´t want any bad feelings between our two countries.
That wouldn´t really help the missionary work... haha.
That´s all I´ve got for this week! Keep reading your scriptures and cheering on the U.S. of A!
Love,
Hermana LaPray
Thursday, June 24, 2010
We're All Wet!
6/16/2010
We’re all wet!
We had another rainy couple of days here. And it really POURED. Luckily for most of it we were in houses, but when we were in the street we definitely got wet. And when it rains here, the streets turn into mud. I´m really grateful I brought these boots--I would be muddy without them.
We´re still just moving along in the work here. We got a baptismal date with Alfredo at the end of the transfer and he´s getting married soon. We also have a "new" investigator, Andrea. She was investigating the church about 6 months ago and really wanted to get baptized, but her boyfriend doesn´t want to get married. Now she´s thinking about separating from him and she called our branch mission leader to get him to send the missionaries back to her. She´s great. She reads the Book of Mormon every day and comes to the church meetings, but she still just needs to separate. Looking at her, you can just tell that her life is hard. Whenever we go over I can FEEL her need for love in her life... it´s very hard for her, but she knows what she´s doing is right and she loves the gospel. We´re going to continue visiting with her and trying to think of little things we can do to show her we love her. Guadalupe didn´t come to church on Sunday because they had a surprise field trip for work. But she wants to come this week! So we´ll see her on Sunday. One of the Hermanas in the branch called Alicia this week and asked her if she could bring a special treat for the men on Father´s Day. Brilliant! Alicia loves to do things like that, AND it´s a sure way to get her in the church on Sunday! We need to get her to stop working and cleaning and doing laundry on Sunday. She knows the church is true, but she just needs that extra push to get her going every week so she can get baptized.
We´ve also been working hard to find new investigators and bring inactive members back. We´ve had a few Family Night´s with inactive families and we´re working with them slowly to get them reading and praying together as a family. To me, it seems like those are the two most important things. If you´re reading and praying together, then you´ll want to go to church. And if you go to church then you´re not inactive! Ta-dah!
We´re still having fun here, too. The other night Hna. Villegas drew a unibrow on a piece of paper and put it over her eyebrows and I made myself a mustache and we had a little party. And then there was the time when we realized it was time to go to bed, and Hna. Kjar and I looked at each other, looked at the stairs, back at each other, and then booked it for the stairs. We tripped and tackled each other all the way up, but in the end I won and jumped in her bed first. We definitely have some good times here. And of course I´m still stuffing myself on facturas and empanadas. Today I ate half a kilo of ice cream and it was delightful.
I´m enjoying this work. It is hard, but it´s fun and it´s worth it!
I love you all!
Love,
Hermana LaPray
P.S. Someone needs to name their baby after me. Or if it´s a boy, name him Gus.
We’re all wet!
We had another rainy couple of days here. And it really POURED. Luckily for most of it we were in houses, but when we were in the street we definitely got wet. And when it rains here, the streets turn into mud. I´m really grateful I brought these boots--I would be muddy without them.
We´re still just moving along in the work here. We got a baptismal date with Alfredo at the end of the transfer and he´s getting married soon. We also have a "new" investigator, Andrea. She was investigating the church about 6 months ago and really wanted to get baptized, but her boyfriend doesn´t want to get married. Now she´s thinking about separating from him and she called our branch mission leader to get him to send the missionaries back to her. She´s great. She reads the Book of Mormon every day and comes to the church meetings, but she still just needs to separate. Looking at her, you can just tell that her life is hard. Whenever we go over I can FEEL her need for love in her life... it´s very hard for her, but she knows what she´s doing is right and she loves the gospel. We´re going to continue visiting with her and trying to think of little things we can do to show her we love her. Guadalupe didn´t come to church on Sunday because they had a surprise field trip for work. But she wants to come this week! So we´ll see her on Sunday. One of the Hermanas in the branch called Alicia this week and asked her if she could bring a special treat for the men on Father´s Day. Brilliant! Alicia loves to do things like that, AND it´s a sure way to get her in the church on Sunday! We need to get her to stop working and cleaning and doing laundry on Sunday. She knows the church is true, but she just needs that extra push to get her going every week so she can get baptized.
We´ve also been working hard to find new investigators and bring inactive members back. We´ve had a few Family Night´s with inactive families and we´re working with them slowly to get them reading and praying together as a family. To me, it seems like those are the two most important things. If you´re reading and praying together, then you´ll want to go to church. And if you go to church then you´re not inactive! Ta-dah!
We´re still having fun here, too. The other night Hna. Villegas drew a unibrow on a piece of paper and put it over her eyebrows and I made myself a mustache and we had a little party. And then there was the time when we realized it was time to go to bed, and Hna. Kjar and I looked at each other, looked at the stairs, back at each other, and then booked it for the stairs. We tripped and tackled each other all the way up, but in the end I won and jumped in her bed first. We definitely have some good times here. And of course I´m still stuffing myself on facturas and empanadas. Today I ate half a kilo of ice cream and it was delightful.
I´m enjoying this work. It is hard, but it´s fun and it´s worth it!
I love you all!
Love,
Hermana LaPray
P.S. Someone needs to name their baby after me. Or if it´s a boy, name him Gus.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
"We got my clothes back!"
June 2, 2010
We got my clothes back in the house! The door was stuck locked, but an Hermano from the branch came over and removed the lock, and I feel comforted knowing that if anyone tried to break in our door at night, they would wake us up. It was so LOUD when he was working on the door. But now we have a hole in the wall and no lock on the door... we have the outer portón and that has a sturdy lock on it, so we´re safe until we buy a new one. We close the door with a hanger to keep out the cold. We call that "Argie-rigged." And yes, Mom, all of my garments were hanging outside. Sometimes I wonder what the neighbors think: "Wow, those girls wash a lot of white clothes, but I never see them wearing anything white..." But everything is better now!
So Hna. Perkes died on Sunday (that means she went home) and now I´m with Hna. Sharla Kjar (pronounced like Care Bear minus the bear) from Centerville, UT. She was just training Hna. Tingey, so it´s fun to talk with her about how she´s been since the MTC. She has served in Mar del Plata and Bahía, and that´s all, so Tandil is a BIG change, especially our area. She´s been out for a year, and we think this will be her last area. Yesterday we had a cita out in the campo, and after that we walked through the campo to get on our colectivo, and she LOVED it. There were no houses and just a bunch of horses and she thought it was so great because it´s more "real Argentina". She´s starting to love Tandil like I love it :) But she´s really great and we get along really well. We´re going to have a good couple of transfers here!
Today for P-day we went to an amazing buffet and I put the Elders to shame with my eating skills. I warned them, and told them I would eat more than them, but they didn´t believe me. But then I showed them...And then we played pool and I humbled them again. It was a good day. We had a lot of changes in our zone. 4 new Elders and a new Hermana.
Everyone is great and we get along well and we have a lot of fun. The mission has been hard, but it´s a lot of fun, too. We make a lot of good friends within the missionaries and members, but among the people, too. I´m really starting to love it here. Good thing it´s a rule that we have to come home when our time is up, or I might stay :) Nah, I love it, but I know when it´s time to come home I´ll be excited. But I´m not quite ready to come home :)
We´re just continuing on with the work here. We keep teaching and finding, and I think we´re going to have a couple of baptisms this month. One of the members is getting married to her boyfriend, and once they get married he wants to be baptized. Alicia is ready and we´re going to challenge her again tomorrow. Mirian loves the Book of Mormon. She prayed about it and recieved an answer that it was true. She hasn´t been to church yet because her daughters have been sick, but she wants to come and she always tells us, "When I get baptized..." We experience miracles every day and I know the Lord really is directing this work. Thanks for the prayers and support, everyone! I love you all.
Love,
Hermana LaPray
We got my clothes back in the house! The door was stuck locked, but an Hermano from the branch came over and removed the lock, and I feel comforted knowing that if anyone tried to break in our door at night, they would wake us up. It was so LOUD when he was working on the door. But now we have a hole in the wall and no lock on the door... we have the outer portón and that has a sturdy lock on it, so we´re safe until we buy a new one. We close the door with a hanger to keep out the cold. We call that "Argie-rigged." And yes, Mom, all of my garments were hanging outside. Sometimes I wonder what the neighbors think: "Wow, those girls wash a lot of white clothes, but I never see them wearing anything white..." But everything is better now!
So Hna. Perkes died on Sunday (that means she went home) and now I´m with Hna. Sharla Kjar (pronounced like Care Bear minus the bear) from Centerville, UT. She was just training Hna. Tingey, so it´s fun to talk with her about how she´s been since the MTC. She has served in Mar del Plata and Bahía, and that´s all, so Tandil is a BIG change, especially our area. She´s been out for a year, and we think this will be her last area. Yesterday we had a cita out in the campo, and after that we walked through the campo to get on our colectivo, and she LOVED it. There were no houses and just a bunch of horses and she thought it was so great because it´s more "real Argentina". She´s starting to love Tandil like I love it :) But she´s really great and we get along really well. We´re going to have a good couple of transfers here!
Today for P-day we went to an amazing buffet and I put the Elders to shame with my eating skills. I warned them, and told them I would eat more than them, but they didn´t believe me. But then I showed them...And then we played pool and I humbled them again. It was a good day. We had a lot of changes in our zone. 4 new Elders and a new Hermana.
Everyone is great and we get along well and we have a lot of fun. The mission has been hard, but it´s a lot of fun, too. We make a lot of good friends within the missionaries and members, but among the people, too. I´m really starting to love it here. Good thing it´s a rule that we have to come home when our time is up, or I might stay :) Nah, I love it, but I know when it´s time to come home I´ll be excited. But I´m not quite ready to come home :)
We´re just continuing on with the work here. We keep teaching and finding, and I think we´re going to have a couple of baptisms this month. One of the members is getting married to her boyfriend, and once they get married he wants to be baptized. Alicia is ready and we´re going to challenge her again tomorrow. Mirian loves the Book of Mormon. She prayed about it and recieved an answer that it was true. She hasn´t been to church yet because her daughters have been sick, but she wants to come and she always tells us, "When I get baptized..." We experience miracles every day and I know the Lord really is directing this work. Thanks for the prayers and support, everyone! I love you all.
Love,
Hermana LaPray
Thursday, May 27, 2010
A Rainy Week and a Broken Patio Door
5/26/2010 A Rainy Week and a Broken Patio Door
Well, from the title you´ve probably already guessed that it´s been rainy this week and our patio door is broken. It rained ALL week, and when it finally stopped I put some clothes out to dry... and when I came back inside the lock on our door broke. We can´t unlock the door to get back outside to get my clothes...Oops! "Go out the window!" you say. Well, bad news about that, our window has bars on it. All the windows here have bars on them. So we just have to find someone to fix it.
Speaking of finding someone to fix our door, we couldn´t get anyone this weekend because it´s a national holiday. Argentina is now 200 years old, which means that nobody worked this weekend. They ate and slept and cleaned their houses and went to the campo to see their distantly-related uncles. It was nothing like the 4th of July. Sure, they had asados and took days off from work, but let´s face it: they do that all the time. Maybe it was bigger in Buenos Aires, but they didn´t even have fireworks! So light off some extra fireworks for me. I know I left some at home, and they might even still be in the trunk of the Hyundai.
For the holiday weekend, we had a branch FHE. Everyone came to the capilla and we (Hna. Perkes and I) shared a spiritual thought, then we all played some crazy games together, and then we ate. Eating is a very popular thing here. And everyone makes amazing desserts. Hna. Perkes made brownies and I made bread pudding and everyone loved it.
They really love American desserts here. But here they have something called pasta flor and one of our investigators makes the best pasta flor EVER. It´s like a... pie/cake base (bready but sweet) with dulce de membrillo on top and she makes us one every time we go to her house. Anyway, she came to the activity (hooray!) and she made two, and some kind of pound cake, and I´m not sure if I mentioned this yet, but Mom, she´s going to come live with us and cook for us. Ok? So anyway, I hope everyone is content now that they know everything I´m eating. Ty requested that I talk more about what I eat for every meal.
And this week I finally learned the Argentine version of "Eenie Meenie Miney Moe" (if that´s even how you spell it). For anyone who is interested:
Ta te ti,
Suerte para mi.
Si no sale para vos,
Sale para mi.
So that was a major victory. I´m very content now and I feel like my mission is complete. Ok maybe not. I´ll keep working.
We had two really great lessons yesterday. We met with Mirian and we were talking about 3 Nefi 11 and she had a lot of questions about baptism. She doesn´t believe in baptism for children, and she thinks that people should be baptized by immersion (like Christ). I´d say those are some pretty good ideas. So we talked to her about baptism and priesthood authority, but we still need to get her to the capilla. She wants to come to the district conference this weekend, so I hope we see her there. We also taught Guadalupe. We´ve been to her house 5 or 6 times, but we´ve only taught lesson 1 and we usually just end up sharing random scriptures to answer her questions, but yesterday we came in and sat down and asked us how we resist temptation, and that led into an entire lesson 2 with her asking questions the whole time. She really understands everything well and loves what we teach. She tried to fast with us this weekend, but after about 12 hours she changed her mind :) That´s ok, I´m glad she tried. At the end of the lesson, she said she´s trying to change her work schedule to be able to go to church. She went once, but she hasn´t been able to go back.
The work here is still great. Hna. Perkes leaves in 4 days, but she´s still going strong and I´m very grateful for that. I´ll find out who my new companion is at the end of this week, and I´m excited to know who it is :) Since it´s only my second transfer and I already have a new companion, she´ll be my "step-mother".
I know I say this every time, but the mission is great. I get to meet so many great people and have all kinds of awesome experiences sharing the gospel here.
I love you all, and I hope you have a good week.
Love,
Hermana LaPray
P.S. Mom, tell Josh I got him a sweet knife with a raptor claw handle.
We talked about it on the phone. Now he just has to wait a year for it. :)
Well, from the title you´ve probably already guessed that it´s been rainy this week and our patio door is broken. It rained ALL week, and when it finally stopped I put some clothes out to dry... and when I came back inside the lock on our door broke. We can´t unlock the door to get back outside to get my clothes...Oops! "Go out the window!" you say. Well, bad news about that, our window has bars on it. All the windows here have bars on them. So we just have to find someone to fix it.
Speaking of finding someone to fix our door, we couldn´t get anyone this weekend because it´s a national holiday. Argentina is now 200 years old, which means that nobody worked this weekend. They ate and slept and cleaned their houses and went to the campo to see their distantly-related uncles. It was nothing like the 4th of July. Sure, they had asados and took days off from work, but let´s face it: they do that all the time. Maybe it was bigger in Buenos Aires, but they didn´t even have fireworks! So light off some extra fireworks for me. I know I left some at home, and they might even still be in the trunk of the Hyundai.
For the holiday weekend, we had a branch FHE. Everyone came to the capilla and we (Hna. Perkes and I) shared a spiritual thought, then we all played some crazy games together, and then we ate. Eating is a very popular thing here. And everyone makes amazing desserts. Hna. Perkes made brownies and I made bread pudding and everyone loved it.
They really love American desserts here. But here they have something called pasta flor and one of our investigators makes the best pasta flor EVER. It´s like a... pie/cake base (bready but sweet) with dulce de membrillo on top and she makes us one every time we go to her house. Anyway, she came to the activity (hooray!) and she made two, and some kind of pound cake, and I´m not sure if I mentioned this yet, but Mom, she´s going to come live with us and cook for us. Ok? So anyway, I hope everyone is content now that they know everything I´m eating. Ty requested that I talk more about what I eat for every meal.
And this week I finally learned the Argentine version of "Eenie Meenie Miney Moe" (if that´s even how you spell it). For anyone who is interested:
Ta te ti,
Suerte para mi.
Si no sale para vos,
Sale para mi.
So that was a major victory. I´m very content now and I feel like my mission is complete. Ok maybe not. I´ll keep working.
We had two really great lessons yesterday. We met with Mirian and we were talking about 3 Nefi 11 and she had a lot of questions about baptism. She doesn´t believe in baptism for children, and she thinks that people should be baptized by immersion (like Christ). I´d say those are some pretty good ideas. So we talked to her about baptism and priesthood authority, but we still need to get her to the capilla. She wants to come to the district conference this weekend, so I hope we see her there. We also taught Guadalupe. We´ve been to her house 5 or 6 times, but we´ve only taught lesson 1 and we usually just end up sharing random scriptures to answer her questions, but yesterday we came in and sat down and asked us how we resist temptation, and that led into an entire lesson 2 with her asking questions the whole time. She really understands everything well and loves what we teach. She tried to fast with us this weekend, but after about 12 hours she changed her mind :) That´s ok, I´m glad she tried. At the end of the lesson, she said she´s trying to change her work schedule to be able to go to church. She went once, but she hasn´t been able to go back.
The work here is still great. Hna. Perkes leaves in 4 days, but she´s still going strong and I´m very grateful for that. I´ll find out who my new companion is at the end of this week, and I´m excited to know who it is :) Since it´s only my second transfer and I already have a new companion, she´ll be my "step-mother".
I know I say this every time, but the mission is great. I get to meet so many great people and have all kinds of awesome experiences sharing the gospel here.
I love you all, and I hope you have a good week.
Love,
Hermana LaPray
P.S. Mom, tell Josh I got him a sweet knife with a raptor claw handle.
We talked about it on the phone. Now he just has to wait a year for it. :)
Thursday, May 20, 2010
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