Elder Fraley : Even the smallest of promptings can make a difference

My favorite dessert? Definitely pain au chocolat. Best fresh! Lots of investigators!

Cool story: It was getting late while contacting, around 8:30. We were tired, and the area we were in wasn't very welcoming. We were turned away every time As we drove away, we passed this Rasta guy sitting on an electrical box. Preach My Gospel encourages that we talk to EVERYONE. So I told Elder Santos to park the car, so we could go talk to him. We went and talked to him, gave him a brochure with our number on the back, and told him we would stop by later in the week. Not a very promising contact, but it was worth it. We had forgotten about "Rasta" that whole week. We were in that same area last week, and I remembered that we told him we'd come back. So, we stopped by his house. He wasn't home, but 3 women who lived next door where sitting outside, across the street. They informed us that he had left for the weekend. They asked who we were. We told them we were missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. One girl, Selina, was very interested. She asked lots of questions, and we gave her a brochure. She said she found one of our brochures on the ground earlier in the day. There are some study questions on the back that can be answered with the scriptures. But, she couldn't answer all of them because she didn't have this book, "The Book of Mormon". It turns out, that these two white Americans have that book! How bout that.. She asked if we could come back the next day. Turns out she's been wanting to change for some time now. She is struggling with some things and has been praying to God for help. That day that we showed up, she had a prompting to go sit outside. She said, she NEVER sits outside. If we hadn't talked to rasta, we wouldn't have gone up to his house, where his neighbor was sitting outside. It was Rasta's brochure that she found on the ground. We were the answer to her prayer. All from one spiritual prompting, the smallest of promptings.. " Talk to everyone"

We never know when or how the miracles will happen or take place, but as we put our faith and trust in the Lord, He'll guide us to those whom he has prepared.

I kind of butchered that story, hopefully it makes sense.

I've learned a little Creole... Just a couple of words. A lot of people speak it down here.

Got my first "missionary haircut" today. Elder Santos cut it....... Could have gone worse. Turned out alright. Who do I have to impress anyway

Well, what an exciting time to be a missionary. "The work is hastening".

Elder Fraley

This was from his email to me. I asked him what kinds of food he's been eating and if the baptism rate was high in French Guiana:

Nothing "too" yucky. A lot of "Colombo". Which is just rice, assorted chicken meat and bones, and the curry sauce stuff. Interesting. The fruit and juice here is amazing! A weird fruit, called "Star Apple" is pretty good!

Well actually, the baptismal rate isn't that high here, it used to be about 6 years ago but had been struggling recently. But, now that we're here, thats going to change :)

This is from the email he sent to my sister Audrey:

Audrey! I'm sooooo sorry :(

All of the emails I thought I sent you, somehow got stuck in "Drafts"...

But everything is great! My birthday wish didn't even make it to you... But happy late birthday! I PROMISE you I didn't forget. Missionary promises are legit. Cool thing about missionaries and promises, we have the authority to promise blessings to our investigators ( if done through righteousness) If we say something will happen, God will make it happen for the investigators.

Cool story, went on an exchange Saturday with another Elder, who struggles with obedience. Nothing extreme, but it's the little things. We were contacting for only 10 mintutes, and he got discouraged and wanted to move on. We had been rejected for about 8 straight doors. As we were walking away, I realized we skipped the bottom level. I said, "why don't we finish those last couple doors? I promise someone is waiting for us." So, he turned around kind of angry and said "fine." We walked back, and the whole way back, I prayed and prayed that someone there will want to hear our message." The very first door we knocked on. Boom! We got there name and number set an appointment to return. Power of prayer. Missionary promises are legit.

I kind of butchered that story but, whatevs.

You're great, the Lord loves you, and I love you! The church is true.

Elder Fraley