February 27, 2012

Hey Guys,

Hey so this week has been pretty good. I have learned a lot about patience this change. I can't believe it is almost over changes are like the 12 or something like that. I will most likely be leaving this city. Which is kind of exciting. This weekend has been pretty interesting. We started off doing divisions on Tuesday and Wednesday, I was with Elder Brown again.  I was the senior comp since it was in my area.  A lot of work but I did pretty good 5 lessons with member which is more then Elder Brown has had in one day.  In one lesson with a 19 year old girl, I told her she could get baptized on Saturday but then she didn´t show up to our next lesson so she hasn´t gotten baptized yet. I am starting to get worried all our baptisms are falling through and one investigator just told us that she wants to stop listening on the phone 20 minutes ago. We are going to her house in an hour to see whats up.  Also on Thursday we went to find an Investigator Jóse at his work as a nanny. When we knocked on the door the mother or boss answered she is 23. She let us in.  It was her birthday and she has two kids. Jóse was there but we just talked to the mother. She left her husband for abuse and was dating someone else.  Anyway a few hours earlier her ex showed up and punched out her boyfriend in the street in front of her house in front of their kids. To top it of her ex is a member menos activo.  All we could do is comfort her she didn´t really know what to do one of her kids is 5 and will probably remember this, the other is 2.  It was pretty sad, we have gone back a couple of times to help out around the house.  Second story.  We were eating lunch at the bishops, in the middle of lunch someone knocked on the door looking for us. He was in his late 20s and he told us he wanted to talk to us. He then told us he was a member and a x missionary.  He served in SLC south Spanish speaking. He is from Mexico.  Anyway we talked to him for a while to see what was up, because you could tell something was. He then started balling in front of us on the street. We told him we would come by in a few hours. When we got to his house he told us that his life had fallen to pieces. After his mission he went back to México for a few years before getting a job in the states. While working he visited his converts, while doing so he met his wife at the time 16.  Long story short she got pregnant they got married. He started to drink and smoke and then there where more problem with the law and what not. They then moved here because she is from here.  Now she is gone.  She left him.  They have 2 kids.  We are still trying to help him.  We don´t know how much is true but he seems sincere in wanting to change his life, we can´t do much since he is a member but we have visited him a couple times. He came to church but he is so sad. When we read about Alma the younger and his pain that is how I picture his pain, he is distraught. He knows what he has done was wrong and it is killing him. We will see what happens, but super sad. Other then that not much has happened. Played soccer a couple times with the ward but to do es tranquilo. That's about it Chao Chao

Love,

Elder Wray     

February 20, 2012

Hey Guys,

This week has been really short. Lots of lessons 16 with members which is a lot.  A few weeks ago we were only getting 2 or 3.  No baptisms this week and maybe this week coming either.  Are investigators that are close are tricky.  Ones mother doesn´t want her to be baptized but she is 20.  The second has had some previous sins that he has to tie up and the third doesn´t understand very well.  So we will see.  In the next two weeks at least.  I had Zone conference this week which was really good.  During the conference President ask some of the Latinos to bear their testimony in English.  Most of the time it was only 3 sentences.  I told Elder Navarro he was going to do it.  He did and it was about 5 minutes.  When he sat back down he asked if it made sense I just laughed, it was perfect.  But other then that this week was short, with a lot of work.  We are having a lot of success but I think both of us feel like we are not working very hard not sure why.  Other news I made Pineapple burgers today with a sweet sauce taken from Elder Bradshaw. They were really good.  Oh and I bought a watch today.  Since I don´t want to use mine. Vamos a ver si es bueno o no. Those pictures are of First my zone. Last two- us at a ward activity.  It was a going away party for Elder Bradshaw, Fleming and Dayna who went to be a short time missionary with a sister in our mission.  Spanish is still slow I hope it picks up soon.  Those days where we speak a lot of Spanish I can tell I speak better and faster.  The problem Elder Navarro wants to learn English and since he knows more English we speak a lot of English. There are a lot of days when I am really tired of him, a lot of time when my patience is tried. He sings him self to sleep some nights which is really hard to deal with, but he is teaching me a lot. And Mom don´t worry so much he is fine.  Anyway I have to go sorry if this email is so disjointed it was interrupted a couple of times. 

Love 

Elder Wray

Oh Yeah, there is a song down here that everyone listens to it's called Nossa Nossa asi voce memat by Michel Télo I like it, I thought Elizabeth might to. It's Portuguese I think. Check it out.

February 13, 2012

This week has been crazy. Really long and exhausting.  Our numbers have shot through the roof since Elder Navarro came. He works hard and we are having a lot of success. He knows how to set goals and achieve them. It's hard putting two people together from different cultures though.  I'm learning to adjust.  He love to share or at least when I share. Sharing is something I still struggle with. He is a good missionary and a great teacher and is helping me become a good missionary. We speak a lot of Spanish some days and a lot of English others. My vocab is still really small. He speaks about a 5 out of 10 in English and I speak maybe a 3 in Spanish.   I get the structure now for the most part I just have to expand my words.  Anyway we should have a baptism if not this Saturday the next.  Or goal was five for the month but I don´t think we will get more then 3 or 4 we didn´t find enough people soon enough.  Also tell Kate feliz Cumple año even though it is late.  My pictures are of The chicken pot pie I made today. Everything is homemade even the biscuits.  First try very good but I haven´t quite got the biscuits down yet. I also made french toast this morning with homemade maple syrup I got from the ZLs.  The second pic is Elder Navarro with his pants. I took him for a journey through the jungle to get to a lesson on time and he jumped off this small bridge dam thing and that's what happened. The Third is how hard it rained for almost a week. Anyway that's about it form me, not much for investigators except we have found some old ones and some new good ones. Also a kid form Utah showed up in church on Sunday. He served his mission here in 06-07 some of his registros are still in our carpeta de area. He is still single and traveling alone we gave him a hard time.  Anyway have a good week love you all.

Love

Elder Wray

Also a member told me my face has gotten fatter since I have been here. I guess I need to work out harder.

February 6, 2012

Hey Guys

This week has been a pretty good one. My new comp is Elder Navarro from Chile. He knows quite a bit of English which is kind of nice but all we do is speak Spanish in the street. In lessons he speaks so fast it is hard to understand him some times. He is a great teacher and a hard worker. He was the Trainer to Elder Larson form my group (MTC) he keeps saying Elder Larson is going to change the mission. Their numbers are ridiculous. I hope to learn a lot from him on how to work. ç We finely found a girl we have been looking for for the last 2 weeks. She is 13 but looks and acts like a 17 year old. That happens with a lot of girls here for some reason. But she is so ready to be baptized it is crazy. She has come to church by herself for the past 5 weeks or so, her aunt and uncle are members. But when we committed her to be baptized she said no she promised her cousin who is on a mission he could baptizer her when he gets home, which is when I get home. Super frustrating. But we will work with her. Having a Latin comp is way different. People seem to accept us better. But I am not going to lie they are not the neatest in houses. He just throws his stuff where ever he wants which is kind of frustrating. I guess I will just learn to deal with it. We played soccer today as a district which was a lot of fun but I got fried. My neck is so red. I have never worn sun screen here, but I have also never been burt but with out my hat I just burned.

This change I am going to work so hard. We have huge goals to save the area. All of Salto is dieing. It use to be the promised land for baptisms a year or two ago but now it is really struggling. So we are going to work really hard. These last few days I have come home exhausted not from walking but from having so many lessons. Although Sunday before church we walked at least 3 miles to find people for church. We had hoped for 7 and only found 2. But things are looking up. Anyway have to go. te amo mucho. Que tangan un buen semana. Yo tengo que aprender mas español y mas sobre el evangelio y las escrituras. Que Pasen bien. 

Con Amor,

Elder Wray

P.S. Not sure how right any of that is.