Monday, December 30, 2013

Transfers

That was the highlight for me too! It was really great seeing everyone! (The Christmas call)

Lots of good food this past week! A lot of members feed us! 

Haha I told dad about the package! Funny story. It was picked up by a member of our branch. I got it! THANK YOU SO MUCH! Really made my day getting that! I loved the pictures and the ties!

So transfers are Wednesday. Elder Santos is being transfered to Guadeloupe to be a Zone Leader there. My new companion will be Elder Pratt. I'm excited, I heard lots of good things about him! Also, we are getting sister missionaries down here! First time ever in French Guiana! I think it will be really good for the branch, really will spark some of the work. Elder Santos and I are apartment shopping. 

We set another baptismal date with one of our investigators. Her date is the 18th! Keep her in your prayers! Hopefully a couple of others in January as well! 

Not much new! It's a blessing to be serving here!

Love you! 
Elder Fraley

Elder Call (he's one funny kid!)

Christmas Eve lunch at the Baksh family! They look a little scary, but they're awesome! For some reason, the Guyanese don't smile in pics...
Pres. D'Abreu's son, Moroni 
Elder Santos and Moroni 
Giant anaconda! We came out of church yesterday and saw a crowd of people next door. There is a little river down the street, and this giant anaconda thing was found in it! Biggest snake I've ever seen! They got it out with that tractor.
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Christmas Call

We got to Skype Elder Fraley on Christmas Eve, at about 1:30 pm our time. He was supposed to call at 1, but he had some technical difficulties. But it all worked out and we were able to talk to him for about an hour. It was the best Christmas present! He looks so good and he's just amazing. I could tell he was excited to see us all...he kept smiling and laughing. It was great to see that he's happy. He said going on a mission was a great decision, he loves it and loves the people. He said he has gained some weight. They haven't had much luck with investigators. They are teaching a 9 year old girl but her mom won't let her get baptized. Elder Fraley loves his companion, they get along great! 

Audrey got Emily and Nolan on Skype so they could see and talk to Aaron too!







Thursday, December 19, 2013

Pictures

Elder Fraley did not say much in his email on Monday. It was short responses to questions. He did say that he gets to Skype us on Christmas Eve and that he worked with Elder Miyasaki and Elder Call while Elder Santos was in Trinidad for leadership training. Also they have two investigators coming to church. One of them is a teenage girl who loves going to young womens. And that's pretty much it! He did send some pics though!

crazy home-owners

Elder Miyasaki

Doin' Service


At the beach

This bus is sick, it's decked-out!

Monday, December 9, 2013

Game Night

Sometimes Elder Fraley's emails are hard to follow because he basically just answers my mom's questions or responds to something she said. So I'll try to put in a little info so you know what he's responding to.

Haha Howdy! I could use some snow actually. Released huh? Interesting. I bet he's relieved! He was and will continue to be blessed for his service. (My dad was just released from his calling as stake executive secretary)

(My mom asked how the ham he made for Thanksgiving turned out) Haha the ham was alright! The pineapple/brown sugar stuff didn't really turn out haha wasn't sure what I was doing (the brown sugar down here is weird).... Still good though! 

(A new person in my parent's ward gave a talk on Sunday and he went to the West Indies mission, English speaking) Ask him who his mission president was? Gamiette? Robinson? I've met both of them. Cool story about Gamiette. He's an amazing guy.

Nothin new with our investigators. They're having trouble progressing. One girl is still coming to church! She's been to church 4 out of 5 weeks! She still doesn't know if she wants to be baptized or not. Very timid girl.

(My mom gets the West Indies Mission newsletter and it said that Elder Santos was going home this month) Elder Santos still has about another year. That was a misprint. That was Elder Sosa who went home. We got a laugh out of that too! You'll get to meet Santos this Christmas. 

Love you too! You're in my prayers as well!

Love,
Elder Fraley

This is from the email he sent me:

Week's been alright! One of our investigators is still coming to church! She's really shy. Our investigators are struggling with the progression. It's tough. We've met some really great people. Played dominos with an old couple we contacted one night, it was their "game night". Shared a message then I asked if we could play with them! Said, "Loser get's baptized"! (They're Catholic... and plan on dying Catholic) Guess who won! Yup, this stripling warrior. Smoked 'em! I don't think they took the whole baptism thing seriously... ah whatevs. Hopefully we'll get to play them again. That was fun.

other than that, not much.. haha. Sang for a assisted living home with our branch choir. That was a really neat experience! Touching. I sent mom those pics!

Sounds like everything is well with you guys!

Love you! Talk to you soon!

Elder Fraley

We drive safe
My sailor hat! (the FedEx package Dad sent)
We sang carols for a nursing/assisted living home!


The branch choir

Safety first!


Monday, December 2, 2013

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was alright! Not too bad, these Elders are great!

Can't believe it's already December! Where is the time going? It's easy to get lost in the work!

Also can't believe Dad has a beard! Does Dad still have his calling? Haha

We celebrated Thanksgiving last Monday, it was good!

Haha it's easier going door to door with a plaque on that's for sure! Have you guys seen, "The Work of Salvation"? if not, watch it! :)

That was very, very thoughtful of Caitlyn. She's great! Haha give her a hug for me! I miss surprising you with flowers! Its the best! I miss telling you about my day! Good memories (his friend Caitlyn came over last week and surprised our mom with flowers! She's so sweet!)

Can I get more pics? some without me in a shirt and tie? haha there's that USB in one of my boxes that has a bunch of pictures on it of some friends. It's nice being able to show investigators that we're normal people too. 

I was reading through Nate Parker's e-mail, and he puts mine to shame. I just forget everything to say.. Very happy to hear about his baptism! 

Elder Santos and I are great! Working very hard. Unfortunately, we're having trouble getting our investigators to progress. We've had 3 investigators that had baptism dates that are no longer investigators... It's been a little rough. 

However, we've met some really great people recently! A 15 year-old girl has been coming to church! Still working on a date. 

Well, time to go. Love you! 
Elder Fraley


The 4 Elders (Elder Fraley, Elder Santos, Elder Call and Elder Miyasaki) made Thanksgiving dinner. Aaron made the ham.


These pictures are courtesy of Elder Call:





Elder Call's birthday party

Doing Great!

Written on 11/4/13

Dear Family,

Missionary life in Guyane is just peachy. We're currently playing RISK right now, just chillin'. And I just realized, by the time you get this, this will all be outdated...so, yeah.

Not sure what to write. Last couple of weeks have been slow(ish). One of our investigators is no longer an investigator, said she misses her church, doesn't want to continue with the lessons...what a shame. She came to church 5 weeks in a row, including conference. Never did read and pray though.

Hopefully we'll get a baptismal date with another investigator.

Celebration 2015: 
Will be 25 years since the West Indies have been open for missionary service. Cultural celebration. Every six months, each country will hold cultural competitions (dance, music, culinary). Then, in July 2015, all the winners from each country will be flown out to Trinidad for the big competition. General Authorities might come out in 2015. Should be exciting.

Not much new...

Last week of the transfer...time flies. Can't believe I'm a 12 week trained missionary!

Did a companion exchange with Elder Miyasaki Saturday. Good learning experiences. He's a great, lovable guy.

Read a cool scripture recently, D&C 15:6. Added perspective on the work. It also helped increase my love for those I serve.

Throughout the week, I think of things to tell you guys, but come p-day, I forget most of it...

Don't worry about me, doin' great! :)

Not much of a letter writer...sorry.

Love you!

Elder Fraley

12 week missionary

I'm sorry that there hasn't been a post for 17 days! Holy cow. My computer has some sort of virus and I keep forgetting to take it to my dad to look at it! So here are the last 2 emails we received! They are super short, he never gets very detailed. It's hard getting information out of our missionary! 

 From November 19th: Yeah, got our transfer calls Saturday, and everyone is staying. We have several baptisms planned for this next transfer! Can't wait, praying with all of my heart! It's crazy to think I'm almost 19! I'm a 12 week missionary now, done training. I haven't taken any recent pictures... Sorry, I'll try to be better with that. Elder Call and I, and Miyasaki and I went on exchanges this past week! Good learning experiences! A lot of fun! Great missionaries. We've been making some créole dishes. Soo good! Hopefully I can remember to make them when I get home! Take care Love you with all my heart too :)
 Elder Fraley

 From the 25th: This last week was great! We were really blessed with the teaching! We met some really great and prepared people. In response to info that my dad has a beard: Haha He's growing a beard? and Pres. Jacobson is ok with that? ;) I heard that in Trinidad, they have a bishop with "rasta hair". I was shocked to hear that. We'll be celebrating Thanksgiving today. Sort of. A lot of people down here know about Thanksgiving. They don't celebrate it but they think it's the coolest thing. Time is going by pretty fast. The language is alright. Hopefully we'll have some baptisms this transfer! It will be skype for Christmas Love you! Happy Thanksgiving!
 Elder Fraley

A picture Elder Call sent us. Aaron was splattered with spaghetti sauce!