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

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.

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