May 21, 2012

Hey Guys
We had a pretty good week this week. We found a few good investigators that we think will get baptized. Last week we found the brother of someone from the last 24 converts list and he excepted fecha(date) and came to church with his brother and brought a friend so we are excited about that. The family we have been working with is going slow but we have changed ideas and kind of just given them to the young women. They invited there girls to an activity day or something like that to go to a park and drink mate and they wanted to go, we will see what happens. We hope that it gives them more desire to go to church because one of the girls thought sacrament was boring and also they can come up with a way to bring them to church. Other then that things are good here. 

Sometimes I struggle with my comp but for the most part things are alright. Yesterday I was really mad at him because we were weekly planing and it is usually a 3 hour process that he tried to do in 10 minutes. The last step is where you talk to your comp about how you are doing as a companionship and I tried to talk to him about how even though he doesn´t like someone he needs to talk to them. He has a big problem with that and and it is a big problem for us because he doesn´t like half of the ward leaders. Which means in all our meetings I do all the talking and he puts his chair in a corner and plays solitaire on the cell phone. If I ask for his input he just says "I don´t know or sounds good." Anyway he isn´t going to change so that's fun. It was a hard planing session and I got so frustrated and angry that I didn´t even want to be in the same room as him let alone go to work, I don´t know how I finished the day yesterday something made just keep going. We are better now but I was so mad at him. Anyway enough about my companion troubles. 

I don´t know if I have ever told you guys but since my time in the mission field I have been washing my garments by hand, I hate it but oh well. I also have gone 5 weeks flushing a toilet with a bucket. Anyway I got your package it was great! The ties are nice and the sweater fits great I thought it was going to be way to small when I saw it but is was perfect. I loved Kate's letters to and the fotos some of them are so old and my hair was ridiculous. I got a letter form grandma Sue. It was a good letter, I didn't know dad had a cousin serving in England that is sweet. I also didn't tell you but 2 weeks ago I finished the book of Mormon first time in the mission I started sometime in my 5 or 6th month. I was also really sick this week,  I think I ate some bad food. My body hurt really bad and I felt like I was going to throw up for 2 days. I never did, but I only got 2 hours of sleep one night.  I survived. Yesterday I ate Mondongo (cow stomach)  for the first time it wasn´t bad, the first plate was actually really good but by the second plate not as good. It looks really gross though. It is really strange here when the trees get big enough here and dump to many leaves for the people to rake up they cut off all the branches. They grow back in a few years but it is really ugly. I also learned how much people make down here. A man in our ward makes between 600 to 1000 US dollars a month and he has a nice house for here and a TV and computer. It's crazy! I can only imagine how much people make that don´t have nice things. This man also has 2 kids living at home. Well I don´t have much else to except President and his wife came to are house last Monday and said we have one of the cleanest houses they have seen. Zone Conference was really good but I forgot my camera. Anyway choa choa got to go. Love you!

Love 

Elder Wray   

May 14, 2012

Hey Guys,

It was good to talk to you on the phone! This week has been long but we have seen a little bit of success. We really wanted to find new investigators this past week but I don't feel like we found chosen investigators. We did however get members of our family to church. Two said they were going to come but when I showed up to pick them up the oldest sister changed her mind and decided to come she still isn´t sure about Baptism but the other two have fecha(date) to be baptised. What we are worried about with them is that since they live so far out of town that we won't have members willing to look for them every Sunday. We talked to the Bishop about it and he said they use to have a bus that goes out there for people but they got rid of it because not enough people came. He said he would talk to the stake. The rest of our investigators are mas o menos. 

I am starting to feel thing slide with my comp. I am starting to lose interest in his childish and sometimes inappropriate jokes. But thankfully we will be doing divisions this week and it's zone conference so I will have a little break.  Anyway this week as you know I went to Deo(Montevideo). I wrote you last week in a part of the city called Ciudad viega Old City. We hung out there for a while before my comp and I went to Cerro norte. The most dangerous part of the mission. They only send Latinos and really big Americans there. It was a lot different from what I thought it would be. I was excepting like a really ghetto city scene but it was just a really poor poor suburb. Anyway we ate lunch with a member there, it was the only reason we went but now I can say I have been there.  When we got back to the bus station Everyone from the CCM (MTC) was there the people from the other mission it was a great reunion.  We drove back to Ciudad Viega to sign papers and after we finished we all were talking and some how I missed someone say lets get on the bus. So when I walked out of the building the bus was driving away with everyone in my mission was in it. So I went back inside and hung out with the other mission to wait for another bus. I knew almost everyone but it was still kind of weird. The other mission have better missionaries that are more obedient and more devoted to the work from what I have seen. 

Today we have to make tacos for the family of our recent convert tonight and then meet President at our house for an inspection so we can move. So, I also have to clean.  Have to go Choa choa!

Love Elder Wray

May 7, 2012

Hey Guys
 Things are pretty good here. Our week went by fast, and right now it just so happens that I am in Montevideo again surprise. I found out yesterday at 3pm got on a bus at 2 in the morning and got here at 7am. I leave at 6 but I have till 1 to do whatever I want. At 1 I have to sign papers for residency or something like that really don´t know that much about it. 


 We had the baptism of Belen. She is the sister of an active member. It was a really good baptism in closing the 2nd counselor asked if she would like to bear here testimony, she is only 9, but she did it and in her testimony she said something like being baptized feels really good and I hope my parents will follow the example of my brother and I. The parents started to cry and we hope to start teaching them. We couldn´t get anyone to church this Sunday we had 8 people lined up but in the end no one could make it which is a big loss because the other Elders of are ward had a baptism right after the meeting. Our studies are still laking but I had a really good interview with Elder Nyggard and he gave me some really good advice. I hope to learn a lot form Elder Garcia (companion) this change. He told me to practice charity which is something I'm really struggling with. But we will see what happens. 


Oh guess what for my birthday I went to tata a super market for some things and at the register just sitting there were SMARTIES form Canada. I was Thrilled and bought 3 boxes they were super expensive but I didn´t really care. Great birthday present right! 


 Yesterday was pretty funny like I said the other elder had a baptism yesterday and we had one on Saturday. We were just going to put more water in the font Sunday morning but when we got there someone had emptied the font. So during the first two meeting we were filling the font with buckets, second time in my mission. Anyway we had the baptism and it was all good at 7 we got a text that said come the church we need help when we got there the water was up to the knees in parts thankfully the Church's here are all tile but it all got taken care of. 


Foto one is the baptism, I baptized her, my first one. It was good. Pic two is the food we had a ward activity on Sunday. That was the meat it is calle mondango or something like that looks nasty right! Well it is cow intestine really not that bad it also had pig skin which was just weird. The dish was called an Holla with just a little of everything. The third pic is the same dish before I ate it. Anyway I have to go can't wait for your call at 830pm. 
Love 
Elder Wray

April 30, 2012

Hey Guys,

This week has been alright, I was exhausted and a little sick but we are having success. Miguel our recent convert is doing well and the ward is really looking out for him. His family was going to come to church this week but his mother was looking after for a sick uncle and his brothers wouldn´t wake up. We are going to continue with them. We will be having another baptism this weekend the sister of an active member. When we asked the parents for permission they said "yes" and then "if things continue we might have to get baptized to". So we are going to start with them as well. 

Things are going pretty well with my new companion besides our comp studies. They are either really short or not very focused. It is kind of hard when your comp sleeps in till 7 then at 8 decides to take a shower. By the time 9 comes around he might have started studying but doesn´t seem very motivated to do much else except flip through the liahona a couple of times. To tell you the truth I don´t know if he has a set of scriptures besides the little copy of the new testament he has in his back pack. He has had a hard life and his family has only written a couple of times but the very first morning he told me "I am pretty much trucho, I don´t think I'm going to sleep all day but in the house I am going to push the limits with music and studies and all the other stuff". The zone leaders have pulled me aside more then once to say we are really worried about him, but as of right now he is alright besides the studies and a small problem with music I had to take care of. 

There is really not much else to report on the week except I am exhausted. I still need the addresses of Mike and Hayden. Tonight a family invited us over for a family home evening and they are making an asado of some type and a cake so that should be good. I will try and take some pics. For some reason the computer won't load my pics. It is getting really cold here. The Humidity is killer everyone here is kind of a baby but it is cold. Thankfully Elder Fonseca left some sweaters. They are a little old but for now they are alright. Happy early birthday to Elizabeth I can´t believe that you are 17 already. I really don´t have much more to say. I hope you have a good week. Chao Chao.

Love Elder Wray

P.S. No puedo esperar por su llamada.