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

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