Aloha,
So I am getting transferred to a new area on Wednesday, got the call last night, I won't know till then where I am going though. So interesting story to tell you, craziest thing ever........ ......... Last night about 10:30 it started raining pretty hard but wasn't too worrisome at the time. About 1:58 I hear someone BANGING on our door and I was so confused, our pad has 3 one room apartments but on the outside of the door is a hallway going to all of them with an outside door. So anyway it took me a minute to register but then I was like oh wow someone is banging on the door so we get up to answer the door and it is one of the members that lives there and he tells us to get all our stuff off the floor that our pad is about to FLOOD.... it rained so hard that water started coming in the outside door into our door and just as we got everything off the floor WOOSH it started coming in till there was about 3 1/2 inches of water everywhere. so we were up till 4 cleaning up it was beautiful... ......... ......... ......... . not. Candy has been good, So tonight and tomorrow night I will be saying a lot of goodbyes to members that I am pretty close with.. We did get to watch conference it was at 6 and 10 in the morning. It was AMAZING, Jeffrey R. Hollands talk was FANTASTIC.. what an amazing testimony. Anyway, next week I will let you know where I will be at in the mission, I'll be on Oahu I just don't know where. Anyway. Love you guys.
Elder LaPray (Spencer)
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Sep. 15
Mom,
Yes I am in Kane'ohe. The ward members here got mad at us because we don't go to thewednesday night activities at church, they do like an uke class and there are apparently a lot of non-members but we should be out working and the ward should be their since they are responsible for finding. We are responsible for teaching people the members tell us about. Remember that, MEMBERS are responsible for finding. We as members need to proclaim the Gopsel as Joseph Smith said.
No one with dates yet, working on it. Our two investigators we are working closely with haven't been able to meet with us this week but one of them Linda has completely quit smoking so she is able to be baptized by Sept. 26th. Just keep trucking a long. Our area has a lot of OLD buddhist people who don't speak english cause they are not native english tongue so that's hard and they don't want anything to do with christians so finding is especially hard as missionaries. But you got to do it anyway. Love you guys.
Spencer (Elder LaPray)
Yes I am in Kane'ohe. The ward members here got mad at us because we don't go to thewednesday night activities at church, they do like an uke class and there are apparently a lot of non-members but we should be out working and the ward should be their since they are responsible for finding. We are responsible for teaching people the members tell us about. Remember that, MEMBERS are responsible for finding. We as members need to proclaim the Gopsel as Joseph Smith said.
No one with dates yet, working on it. Our two investigators we are working closely with haven't been able to meet with us this week but one of them Linda has completely quit smoking so she is able to be baptized by Sept. 26th. Just keep trucking a long. Our area has a lot of OLD buddhist people who don't speak english cause they are not native english tongue so that's hard and they don't want anything to do with christians so finding is especially hard as missionaries. But you got to do it anyway. Love you guys.
Spencer (Elder LaPray)
Sep. 7
Yo,
It doesn't really matter whether I get e-mails or handwritten letters, it doesn't matter either way. It was a good experience last week and things have been going good this week too we've gotten a few referrals from other missionaries of people they talked to on the street who happen to live in our area. So things are good for us.
We also had some CRAZY people we talked to this week too. We were tracting near where we live on a street called Wainana Street and we were near the end of it we passed this one house because there wasn't a car there so we figured no one would be home so we walk past it and this guy comes running out of his house and was like "oh you missed me." So we started talking to him and he was telling us how he keeps the Sabbath on thursday cause he saw a special on tv about it and we were like oh yeah do you know about the mormons? and he told us oh yeah I respect you Elders. Then Elder Butcher asked if he had a copy of the Book of Mormon and the guy had this weird look on his face and Elder Butcher asked if he wanted it and the guys said "oh I'd better not....... I burned it with lamp oil as a sacrifice... " And we were like are you for real???? And we asked why he said it was a holy book that's why. Wierd guy. So weird. That kind of stuff happens more often than not. By the way Haole's (white people) are so rude here you figure like locals might be more mean cause this is their territory... wrong Haoles are the meanest people when we go tracting. locals just say no thanks but haoles always like chew us out for going up and down the streets all the time because "no one wants to talk to us." Gee.
Anyway yes we eat local food all the time, Lau lau kalua pig all good stuff. There is some stuff I don't eat like poke fish (raw fish) and other stuff but for the most part it is good. Things are going good though. Love you guys. Talk to you soon. By the way I'm almost at 3 months. weird.
Elder LaPray (Spencer)
It doesn't really matter whether I get e-mails or handwritten letters, it doesn't matter either way. It was a good experience last week and things have been going good this week too we've gotten a few referrals from other missionaries of people they talked to on the street who happen to live in our area. So things are good for us.
We also had some CRAZY people we talked to this week too. We were tracting near where we live on a street called Wainana Street and we were near the end of it we passed this one house because there wasn't a car there so we figured no one would be home so we walk past it and this guy comes running out of his house and was like "oh you missed me." So we started talking to him and he was telling us how he keeps the Sabbath on thursday cause he saw a special on tv about it and we were like oh yeah do you know about the mormons? and he told us oh yeah I respect you Elders. Then Elder Butcher asked if he had a copy of the Book of Mormon and the guy had this weird look on his face and Elder Butcher asked if he wanted it and the guys said "oh I'd better not....... I burned it with lamp oil as a sacrifice... " And we were like are you for real???? And we asked why he said it was a holy book that's why. Wierd guy. So weird. That kind of stuff happens more often than not. By the way Haole's (white people) are so rude here you figure like locals might be more mean cause this is their territory... wrong Haoles are the meanest people when we go tracting. locals just say no thanks but haoles always like chew us out for going up and down the streets all the time because "no one wants to talk to us." Gee.
Anyway yes we eat local food all the time, Lau lau kalua pig all good stuff. There is some stuff I don't eat like poke fish (raw fish) and other stuff but for the most part it is good. Things are going good though. Love you guys. Talk to you soon. By the way I'm almost at 3 months. weird.
Elder LaPray (Spencer)
Aug. 24
Sorry, I am a bit behind on posting these.
Hey,
Yes. This week is transfer week, obviously my companion is leaving me to go back home. I am staying in the Kane'ohe 2nd area for at least another 6 weeks, I will find out who my companion is on Wednesday at Transfer Meeting but as for right now all I know is I will be staying here with a new companion. Which means I will be the senior area companion, not the senior companion but I will know the area better obviously, but not very well being here only 6 weeks. I am pretty sure I don't know the area well at all, but I guess throwing me into the fire helps....
A mission is hard work, really hard work. I had no idea it was this hard, but it will be a good experience. I've gotten a lot more tan on my face and arms obviously everywhere else will get continually more and more white. It'll be great. We have some good stuff going on right now we are continuing to work with Linda Kam in preparing her for baptism we don't have a date yet because we don't know exactly when Warren her husband can become a Priest so we are waiting on that. But she is ready for baptism this time once she quits smoking which will be easy. We are doing an FHE with them tonight and sharing Elder Hollands talk "None Were With Him", it will be good rather than just sharing the missionary lessons. We have refreshed her on all of them and she knows everything she needs to know in order for baptism. We are also working with Robert Weathington, big haole guy from Texas I think I talked about him last e-mail. He didn't come to church yesterday though he said he would, but we are going to stop by him tomorrow. We have taught him about 5 or 6 times and he always enjoys it.
Sad story, this lady, Marissa who lives a ways down from us. We tracted into her like close to the beginning of the transfer and she was talking about how she and her husband were looking for a religion for their young family. Her father used to be LDS but has since become Jehovah's Witness, so he technically still is LDS but doesn't agree with it. We got a call from her last week and she said that she really wanted to meet with us and study with us but she just need to talk to her husband (who is studying J-dubs with her father) and make sure it was okay. Come to find out he doesn't like the idea at ALL, he said he feels betrayed by her, even though he doesn't like studying with J-dubs he is just afraid to offend her dad. It's a tought situation but we are going to try stopping by still to talk to Jessie her husband and find out if we can persuade him in anyway. But yeah. the work is moving forward we just have to keep pressing on. Love you guys.
Love,
Elder LaPray
Yes. This week is transfer week, obviously my companion is leaving me to go back home. I am staying in the Kane'ohe 2nd area for at least another 6 weeks, I will find out who my companion is on Wednesday at Transfer Meeting but as for right now all I know is I will be staying here with a new companion. Which means I will be the senior area companion, not the senior companion but I will know the area better obviously, but not very well being here only 6 weeks. I am pretty sure I don't know the area well at all, but I guess throwing me into the fire helps....
A mission is hard work, really hard work. I had no idea it was this hard, but it will be a good experience. I've gotten a lot more tan on my face and arms obviously everywhere else will get continually more and more white. It'll be great. We have some good stuff going on right now we are continuing to work with Linda Kam in preparing her for baptism we don't have a date yet because we don't know exactly when Warren her husband can become a Priest so we are waiting on that. But she is ready for baptism this time once she quits smoking which will be easy. We are doing an FHE with them tonight and sharing Elder Hollands talk "None Were With Him", it will be good rather than just sharing the missionary lessons. We have refreshed her on all of them and she knows everything she needs to know in order for baptism. We are also working with Robert Weathington, big haole guy from Texas I think I talked about him last e-mail. He didn't come to church yesterday though he said he would, but we are going to stop by him tomorrow. We have taught him about 5 or 6 times and he always enjoys it.
Sad story, this lady, Marissa who lives a ways down from us. We tracted into her like close to the beginning of the transfer and she was talking about how she and her husband were looking for a religion for their young family. Her father used to be LDS but has since become Jehovah's Witness, so he technically still is LDS but doesn't agree with it. We got a call from her last week and she said that she really wanted to meet with us and study with us but she just need to talk to her husband (who is studying J-dubs with her father) and make sure it was okay. Come to find out he doesn't like the idea at ALL, he said he feels betrayed by her, even though he doesn't like studying with J-dubs he is just afraid to offend her dad. It's a tought situation but we are going to try stopping by still to talk to Jessie her husband and find out if we can persuade him in anyway. But yeah. the work is moving forward we just have to keep pressing on. Love you guys.
Love,
Elder LaPray
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Letter
Hey,
So I guess I'm starting on week three in Hawaii.... crazy business. Transfers are in exactly one month and my companion Elder Jones will be pau hana (done with the work).... It is amazing how quicly time flies I have been out on my mission for over a month now. I guess I will report on the teaching/food/ living situation.
Well, first and foremost I know that I told you about the lesson with Malia, she bailed on our appointment and then we set another one up and she bailed on that one I guess her sister has cancer so hopefully we'll get it done sometime. The box/present is just sitting at our pad right now collecting dust... We do have a couple new investigators and we have about 13 lessons planned this week so far, we found a family the Gayer family which consists of Erin and Mike and they have a 2 and 1/2 year old and a 1 and a 1/2 year old. They seem like they have a lot of potential and this wednesday we have a dinner and lesson with them at their home I hope it goes well I am excited about them. We live sort of at a members house they have three apartment type things in the back and we live in one of them it is just a small studio thing with a little bathroom and a little kitchen with a microwave no oven.... sad. It's nice though and the mission doesn't have to pay for it the members let us live there for free and they've given us all sorts of food and stuff. The members here are so so so giving to the missionaries we are spoiled rotten. They take us out to dinner sometimes or deliver dinner to our pad they spend like 40 bucks sometimes. One family got us 2 pizzas from pizza hut and order of breadsticks a dessert pizza a 2 liter soda and hot wings... It's crazy. So it's safe to say that you do not have to worry about me starving, I just have to watch how much I eat, I haven't put on too much weight a couple pounds is all I put on more weight at the MTC a bunch of gross fatty stuff. So yeah most of the missionaries in our mission live with members one way or another especially in Hawaii real estate is SOO expensive, it's just expensive to house missionaries in real apartments they charge an arm and a leg.
About packages.... .... I know you get like good deals and stuff but FedEx and UPS don't forward and we have to have stuff sent to the Mission Home so it has to come through the USPS from now on, bummer I know. But the package is here I just won't get it for a bit hopefully it isn't perishable? Honolulu is about an hour away from here and we don't have a car so we can't go pick it up... oh yeah we are on bikes and on foot the mission has quite a few bikes to provide so we won't need to buy one. And the talk None Were With Him by Holland is my absolute favorite talk by any General Authority ever. I've read it like 20 or 25 times, I think it is fantastic. Anyway. Love you, hope everything is going good.
Love,
Elder LaPray
So I guess I'm starting on week three in Hawaii.... crazy business. Transfers are in exactly one month and my companion Elder Jones will be pau hana (done with the work).... It is amazing how quicly time flies I have been out on my mission for over a month now. I guess I will report on the teaching/food/ living situation.
Well, first and foremost I know that I told you about the lesson with Malia, she bailed on our appointment and then we set another one up and she bailed on that one I guess her sister has cancer so hopefully we'll get it done sometime. The box/present is just sitting at our pad right now collecting dust... We do have a couple new investigators and we have about 13 lessons planned this week so far, we found a family the Gayer family which consists of Erin and Mike and they have a 2 and 1/2 year old and a 1 and a 1/2 year old. They seem like they have a lot of potential and this wednesday we have a dinner and lesson with them at their home I hope it goes well I am excited about them. We live sort of at a members house they have three apartment type things in the back and we live in one of them it is just a small studio thing with a little bathroom and a little kitchen with a microwave no oven.... sad. It's nice though and the mission doesn't have to pay for it the members let us live there for free and they've given us all sorts of food and stuff. The members here are so so so giving to the missionaries we are spoiled rotten. They take us out to dinner sometimes or deliver dinner to our pad they spend like 40 bucks sometimes. One family got us 2 pizzas from pizza hut and order of breadsticks a dessert pizza a 2 liter soda and hot wings... It's crazy. So it's safe to say that you do not have to worry about me starving, I just have to watch how much I eat, I haven't put on too much weight a couple pounds is all I put on more weight at the MTC a bunch of gross fatty stuff. So yeah most of the missionaries in our mission live with members one way or another especially in Hawaii real estate is SOO expensive, it's just expensive to house missionaries in real apartments they charge an arm and a leg.
About packages.... .... I know you get like good deals and stuff but FedEx and UPS don't forward and we have to have stuff sent to the Mission Home so it has to come through the USPS from now on, bummer I know. But the package is here I just won't get it for a bit hopefully it isn't perishable? Honolulu is about an hour away from here and we don't have a car so we can't go pick it up... oh yeah we are on bikes and on foot the mission has quite a few bikes to provide so we won't need to buy one. And the talk None Were With Him by Holland is my absolute favorite talk by any General Authority ever. I've read it like 20 or 25 times, I think it is fantastic. Anyway. Love you, hope everything is going good.
Love,
Elder LaPray
Monday, July 20, 2009
Week One
Hey,
So I guess I have a lot to say to you ya? I've had quite the interesting week that's for sure. It's been crazy and we seen choke people since I got here. I'm going to use some hawaiin lingo in this e-mail ya? So you'll have to get used to it. Choke means: a lot, you say ya a lot like when ending sentences or asking questions.. and then I'll use dakine later which is: when you've already talked about something and it is in reference you can call it the dakine..
So my first area is the Kaneohe 2nd Area which is in the Kaneohe Zone, it's absolutely goreous over here I absolutely love it. My companion is Elder Jones, he is a good Elder and will be dying (going home) in six weeks so next transfer. I think they are preparing me to take over in Kaneohe 2nd for a while so I'll probably get a more experience companion next time but I'll be the one who knows the area ya. President Peterson is awesome I don't know what he said in the e-mail or if he just sent you the picture ya? Don't believe what he says good or bad. Everyone in the ward thinks I've been out longer than a few days or including the MTC a month, they said that they think I'll be a fantastic missionary and they are excited to have me here. Ya dakine is great though, the members are fantastic and Jones is a great trainer and father (that is how you call your posterity here) and I have a brother and a couple nephews as well. It's awesome.
Our zone is workin on becoming a zion zone and I'm the newest missionary here... There's two sisters in the Zone so we are blessed extremely in that area. Sister's are always a blessing to have in your zone ya? I love it. Today being p-day we went on a hike up to some pillbox's (old military hideouts) and that was fun it was a zone activity we as a zone try to get together every p-day in the morning and it is great.
So I'll tell you about the missionary work here in Kaneohe, our area isn't doing so hot but we're here to turn that around. We've got like 4 investigators ya. Malia, Darryl, Linda, and Preston. We've met with all of them since I've been here and they are great and we have quite a few potentials that we are going to try and see later on this week. We are hoping to have Malia and Linda baptized by the end of this transfer and hopefully Preston too if we can get through to him... Malia and Linda have both been investigating for quite some time but haven't been crazy about some of the missionaries that have taught them. We have an awesome lesson planned for Malia. It's called the Eternal Box it's basically a present we are going to give to her and inside it will have papers that say: Holy Ghost, Family Forever, Eternal Life, Peace, Happiness, Hope, Direction, and Security. Hoping it will get through to her and touch her heart and let her know that we want to give her all of those things but we need her to sacrifice as well. It should be a powerful lesson if all goes as planned. Linda is married to a Less Active named Warren Kam and when we taught them we showed them the Together Forever video and stressed the importance of families in the Gospel. We think it is her time too, we think we are the missionaries they need to be baptized hopefully. Darryl is great and could be baptized but he is on parole for four years he lives the Gospel almost perfectly minus Word of Wisdom so maybe if he lives perfectly he might be baptized earlier, and Preston we as a companionship are in the early stages with him and hope to get him progressing well over the next little bit. anyway. this is a long e-mail hopefully I answered all your questions. Look forward to hearing back from you in a week. Love you.
Elder LaPray
So I guess I have a lot to say to you ya? I've had quite the interesting week that's for sure. It's been crazy and we seen choke people since I got here. I'm going to use some hawaiin lingo in this e-mail ya? So you'll have to get used to it. Choke means: a lot, you say ya a lot like when ending sentences or asking questions.. and then I'll use dakine later which is: when you've already talked about something and it is in reference you can call it the dakine..
So my first area is the Kaneohe 2nd Area which is in the Kaneohe Zone, it's absolutely goreous over here I absolutely love it. My companion is Elder Jones, he is a good Elder and will be dying (going home) in six weeks so next transfer. I think they are preparing me to take over in Kaneohe 2nd for a while so I'll probably get a more experience companion next time but I'll be the one who knows the area ya. President Peterson is awesome I don't know what he said in the e-mail or if he just sent you the picture ya? Don't believe what he says good or bad. Everyone in the ward thinks I've been out longer than a few days or including the MTC a month, they said that they think I'll be a fantastic missionary and they are excited to have me here. Ya dakine is great though, the members are fantastic and Jones is a great trainer and father (that is how you call your posterity here) and I have a brother and a couple nephews as well. It's awesome.
Our zone is workin on becoming a zion zone and I'm the newest missionary here... There's two sisters in the Zone so we are blessed extremely in that area. Sister's are always a blessing to have in your zone ya? I love it. Today being p-day we went on a hike up to some pillbox's (old military hideouts) and that was fun it was a zone activity we as a zone try to get together every p-day in the morning and it is great.
So I'll tell you about the missionary work here in Kaneohe, our area isn't doing so hot but we're here to turn that around. We've got like 4 investigators ya. Malia, Darryl, Linda, and Preston. We've met with all of them since I've been here and they are great and we have quite a few potentials that we are going to try and see later on this week. We are hoping to have Malia and Linda baptized by the end of this transfer and hopefully Preston too if we can get through to him... Malia and Linda have both been investigating for quite some time but haven't been crazy about some of the missionaries that have taught them. We have an awesome lesson planned for Malia. It's called the Eternal Box it's basically a present we are going to give to her and inside it will have papers that say: Holy Ghost, Family Forever, Eternal Life, Peace, Happiness, Hope, Direction, and Security. Hoping it will get through to her and touch her heart and let her know that we want to give her all of those things but we need her to sacrifice as well. It should be a powerful lesson if all goes as planned. Linda is married to a Less Active named Warren Kam and when we taught them we showed them the Together Forever video and stressed the importance of families in the Gospel. We think it is her time too, we think we are the missionaries they need to be baptized hopefully. Darryl is great and could be baptized but he is on parole for four years he lives the Gospel almost perfectly minus Word of Wisdom so maybe if he lives perfectly he might be baptized earlier, and Preston we as a companionship are in the early stages with him and hope to get him progressing well over the next little bit. anyway. this is a long e-mail hopefully I answered all your questions. Look forward to hearing back from you in a week. Love you.
Elder LaPray
Friday, July 17, 2009
Made It Safe
Spencer has made it safely to Hawaii. We got an E-mail from his Mission President. Here it is, along with some pictures. :) He's doing so well!
Aloha Lapray Family,
Elder Lapray has arrived safely in the Hawaii Honolulu Mission, has done some street contacting in Honolulu, been assigned to his first area and companion and is off and running. He looks fabulous and we are excited to have him in our mission. We will take good care of him over the next 2 years--he will truly become one of our sons.
Attached are a couple of pictures taken shortly after he arrived.
Mahalo nui loa and much aloha,
President and Sister Peterson
President and Sister Peterson
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