November 14, 2011

Como están? Well I have survived a week here. It has been an adventure. I was suppose to have a baptism the day after I got here but it ran into a few snags and probably wont happen for a few years now. And we were suppose to baptize an 11 year old girl this Saturday but she didn´t come to church so that was moved which was disappointing. It has been a long week but also short. I understand more and more about missionaries now. We met a few in the MTC serving in Argentina and they always looked like they had been through war. Their shoes were destroyed and clothes dirty and I always wondered why they didnt´ fix it. I know now there is no time or if there is there is no point you are just going to get dirty in ten minutes. Anyway our apartment is crazy. It is probably one of the nicest houses I have been in besides a few members but we have an ant problem, a spider problem and a couple nights ago we left our window open and we had a huge cockroach like the size of my thumb fly in. I killed it. All so I don´t know if I told you about our shower but it is like showering in the rain. Things here a good though I am having a lot of fun! Everyone is really pretty nice. We pretty much knock doors from 1 till like 4 or 5 then go to lessons. It is long and tiring and we don´t really find a lot of people. One day it rained here all day and when I say rain I mean poured. We ran to get lunch at a members house and all I used was an umbrella which was a good choice my pants were drenched in like 5 minutes and Elder Bradshaw's coat lasted about 10 minutes before he felt the rain through it. After we got back I used dads trench coat which worked well. The one good thing about the rain is that it is really cool. It is usually really hot and it isn´t even December or January yet. Some of the members say it gets to 50 some times which is crazy. Anyway things are good I understand more and more Spanish each day and can speak a little bit more each day. Amazingly I am never really scared to go into a lesson the people are all really understanding. Oh one more quick story. We had lunch with to old lady's. We get there and they pull out a small pizza and I thought it was going to be a good lunch. Well that was gone quick then she pulled out this salad out of the fridge. I was thinking how am I going to get that down. It had peas, lettuce, squash (which they put in everything) and a hole bunch of other stuff. Well it turned out to be alright but they always ask if you want more and every time I say a little bit. But I must not know enough Spanish because they always give me more then the first time and I have to find room. Anyway I have to go good luck on the house. I love you.

Love 

Elder Wray

November 7, 2011

Well I have been here for about 3 days now and it is great! 100 times better then proselitismo. On Friday I woke up at 3:30 in the morning and jumped on a bus to the airport. We landed in Uruguay around 8 or 9. Oh yea I also had to fast because we were getting blood work done. After we landed the AP´s met us and then put us on a bus to the stake center next to the temple. We dropped off our bags and then went and got our blood tested and peed in a cup and had our teeth looked at before heading back to the temple then to Presidents house for lunch. After lunch we headed back to the Capilla to meet our companion. They had us line up and close our eyes then people came behind us and sang Called to serve then we turned around to meet our trainer. I have Elder Bradshaw form Cedar City Utah. He is about 5 5 and is a legend in the mission. I am going to be his last comp he leaves in February. He is a legend because he worked the Offices for 8 changes which is about 11 months which is ridiculous. After ward we threw my bags back on the bus and headed to bus station. Our area is in the city of Salto which is a 5 in a half hr bus ride from Montevideo. So we got on a bus and arrived at around 12:30. It was cool to see the country it had been so long. When we first got to Uruguay the city looked so clean and the houses were really nice but that was just that area of Montevideo. Our area is really close to Argentina it is right across the river which I can see form our porch. We live on the 4 floor of an apartment complex. It is apparently really nice but it is probably the worst living space I have ever lived in anyway. One thing were luckily have is an air conditioner which we can only use for a little before bed to save money. It is so hot here! It is only like 85 right now and I am dieing. The members say it gets up to 50 some times which is so crazy I think I will die. I don`t know how Ben is going to do it. One reason it was so hard probably was because it was fast Sunday so going without water has never been so hard. On Saturday we woke up and did our studies then went to a members house for lunch. It was way cool I will have to tell you there story later but we had some good food. After lunch we went to a new convert Fabrisio who is 17 and talk to him and his friend. And I taught my first lesson on POS. It was pretty hard but the people are really understanding. Then we visited a lot of other people a couple members. Sunday was church which was a fun but super hot. We had ward counsel at 8 then when to pick up Fabrisio up for church at nine he lived like half a mile away. He was asleep so we walked back. My Comp is playing the piano for the primary program so I got to listen to them which was fun. After each song some of the boys would come and sit next to me which made the teachers mad. Afterward we rushed home to finally break our fast and start weekly planing which ended at 6:30 then we headed back out and found an inactive on accident. She hasn´t gone to church in like 5 years but we taught her family. Then a man let us in who happened to be neighbors of the other missionaries in our ward. He said he has never met missionaries before so we taught him the first lesson and are going back on Tuesday. Anyway today is pday so it has been pretty chill. We went to Centro and ate lunch at a pizza joint which was good. We can spend about 100 pasos a day which is about 5 us dollars but we get 3000ish a month so it is not that bad. Anyway Pday is about to end and I have to get to work good luck with everything. 

Love 
Elder Wray
 
P.S. I get to wear a straw hat which is kind of cool I will have to send you a pic. I look dorky but it is nice. I am surprised I haven´t been burnt yet. Also try to send every ones weekly letters. Also thanks for writing yesterday.

November 3, 2011

This week has been an adventure.  Any glad to hear things are going good at home. Anyway the days have been all the same till Saturday. For Proselitismo we finally went to a new area. It was one of the nices areas I have seen here which was to bad I wanted to go some where poor but anyway our bus drive got lost and we thought we would let the Latinos take care of it because they know more Spanish. Little did we know they can´t read maps. So we were dropped of like two miles form our area. But we didn´t know that for like 30 minutes. Then I had to pay 2 pasos for a new map at a kiosko. After about an hour of walking we finally made it to our new area. We talked to a few people because we only had like an hour and a half instead of like 5. One lady we talked to for like 20 minutes and taught her the first lesson. She was catholic and right in the middle of the first vision, where it says and I saw to personages, she say Oh that's was just the Holy Ghost, which was kind of to bad but we committed her to read el folleto. After we talked to her we went back to the bus. When I got on Elder Simpson has a big smile on his face and he asked if I knew hermana Clark. He had seen her on the same street I was on only five minutes later which is to bad but she gave me a note which was cool. Then the one of the knew kids behind me was oh yea I forgot. When I was on the way here I met an elder in the Ontario Airport going to Brazil who said to say Hi. He and Elder Clark had the same flight to Dallas. It was way cool to get hellos from two of the Clarks in like 5 minutes. Anyway the rest of my week has been good listened to a great talk from Elder Holland, then found out Elder Christopherson is going to be here at the CCM in a week and a half which is to bad I miss him but I am ready to leave. I love the CCM but I am tired of sitting in a chair all day. Anyway I leave tomorrow morning at 5. I have to get up at 3 which stinks but oh well. Can´t wait to see what it is like. Anyway got to go good luck love you.

Love,

Elder Wray