Transfers!

Yeah, Elder Wade got transferred back to Guadeloupe. I'm with Elder Pratt again. haha That normally doesn't happen, but my theory is that since we were able to spark and revive French Guiana together, he thought we could do it again in St. Martin. Elder Russell went home. Elder Santos is going home this transfer. Elder Dayton is in French Guiana. Things are changing! It's sad to see missionaries leave and go.  

Haha I'm glad you liked the video. Haha 

Did you get all the other photos? And as far as the address goes. Send everything to Emily's apartment. That might be easier. 

Hurricane clean-up is good! Lots of service. It's great! We've got more service planned for this week, but I think it's slowing down. Mostly everyone has everything figured out and cleaned up. 

The  sisters had a baptism last Saturday. Another eventful week. 

I'm excited to get to work with Elder Pratt again! I think we'll see some baptisms together. 

Well, take care! Je vous souhaite une bonne semaine! Merci en tout cas! Je vous aime!! (From Google translate, so maybe not quite right, but this means "I wish you a great week! Thank you anyway! I love you!")

A bientôt! (See you soon) 

Elder Fraley 

Hurricane Gonzalo

Bonjour! 

Glad to hear you're all moved in? Any pics of the new house? How you likin' it? 

What a week... "Wasting and wearing out our lives" in service. Spent the entire week doing service and hurricane clean-up. One of the best weeks of my mission. There is no greater work. 

I have been truly humbled. I just can't believe some people live the way they do... I didn't think it could get worse than it was, until the hurricane. Nearly brought to tears, seeing people lose EVERYTHING from that hurricane and seeing houses and property destroyed. I never forget some of the things I've seen....

Monday was the hurricane (Gonzalo)

Tuesday, spent day at church cleaning up the property. Trees were destroyed and up-rooted. So we spent the day pruning, cutting, pulling, and cleaning. 

Wednesday we went around helping people all day. Pretty exhausting day. Lots of cuts and scrapes. But I wouldn't want it to come from anything else!

Thursday was a bit of a break, especially for our bodies. Had planning and meetings all day. 

Friday we put a roof back on a ladies house. It was completely ripped off by the winds and storm. The whole house received flooding and water damage. More cuts, scrapes, and burns. 

Saturday, we went to the Zoo and cleaned up the fallen trees and branches there. I'm surprised the building is still standing because just about every  tree was either up-rooted, split in half, or mangled and broken in one way or another. Several relief and service groups showed up for that. But I honestly think we did the most work. Unfortunately, there's still a LOT to do there. So we'll be back. 

looks like this week will be similar. Lots of clean up to do. Sister Derr will send lots of pics. 

Transfers.. Elder Wade is going back to Guadeloupe and I'll be with Elder Pratt again

Well, got to go! Love you! Take care!

Elder Fraley

Just some of the damage...

Courageous servants of the Lord VS the biggest dog/bear in the Caribbean!

Bonjour! ça va?

Yeah, I'm not sure what it was. I just had a bad night. But I'm good now. Back to normal. (Aaron was really sick one night last week...maybe food poisoning or something.) 

Yeah! The Sunday before General Conference, we went over to their place (Emily and Nolan's abode) and created a mission plan with them. Sister Derr's assignment was to bear her testimony to one more person each week. So the first week, 1 person. Second week, 2 people, and so forth. She also had 2 weeks to share the Book of Mormon with her friend. I'm very proud of her too!

Yeah, can't wait to see those pictures! How's Dad's foot doing? Fall break!? Wow, Thanksgiving is just around the corner!

Yeah he told me about that. I had no idea he was interested in that either. (Jonny joined FBLA at school) 

That's something I miss, Autumn! Fall weather, colors, and smells... 

So I realized I hardly ever share stories... So I will try to share experiences more often. But this past week, we had an experience of faith and diligence. 

We teach a boy who lives half the way up a huge hill. Around 8:50 on night, we got done teaching him and had 10 min to continue working. We looked up the rest of the hill and saw a big house at the very top. The hill got a lot steeper towards the top. It would probably take another 5 or 7 min just to hike up it! But since we're fearless, we accepted the challenge! About 3/4 of the way up, we contacted another house. A guy came out telling us he wasn't interested and that we were crazy to be contacting at this hour... He also went on to inform us that nobody was home at the house on the top. But since we're courageous servants of the Lord, we kept going anyway. We were greeted by 4 barking and very angry dogs. We got close enough to call in, without stepping into their territory. We called in and from around the corner, the BIGGEST dog/bear in the Caribbean(at least) came around the corner. We took a couple steps backward and shielded our bodies with our bikes. We swallowed and straightened our ties and recovered the distance that we had lost from the house and called in again. The dogs barked louder and the bear got closer (It was twice the size of the Beast from the Sandlot). Finally, a woman came out. We greeted her and explained why two white men in white shirts and ties had knocked on her door this late at night and that we would like to share our message with her. She gave us a rdv for another day and we got out of there as quickly as possible. Good times.

Love you! Have a great week! 

Elder Fraley

I found a baseball diamond!! It just might be the only one in this mission... I was freaking out.. haha

Also found this sign on the French side! weird...

The Lord is blessing us!

FYI: Aaron's new address is now posted on the contact information page! 

Conference was good! I got to watch Priesthood session and the last session in English. I liked Eyring's talk too. I was reminded of you as he talked about his mother. Watched most of it in French because we had investigators and members there who spoke French. 

(Last Friday Emily went teaching with Elders Fraley and Wade) Working with Emily was great! I think she really enjoyed it! Finally got to work her this past Friday. I think she had a great experience. I could tell bearing her testimony like that, was something very new for her. But towards the end of the day, she was able to bear it and testify of things with much more confidence. Emily has a video that she will send to you. 

The work is steadily increasing. The Lord is blessing us for our efforts: faith, diligence, and obedience.We were able to work with plenty of members this past week as well. We're seeing an exponential increase with our numbers as well. The members here are very kind. Church is a little different. I'm used to church being very family like. Everybody here gives each other "bisou's" (Kisses on the cheek).  Americans kind of do their own thing. They've been doing it for so long that they just keep to themselves. They're just too busy. But sometimes, you just have to make time. I know, easier said than done. But as your faith and testimony increase and strengthen, and as you gain and experience a more intimate relationship with the Lord and His atonement, it becomes less of a chore and more of a priority and way of life. Elder Bednar described it perfectly.

What's new? Elder Wade's quote of the week: The church is true, the book is blue, and Jesus was a Mormon

Love you all! Love you the most, Mom and Dad!

Que Dieu vous benisse (May God bless you) 

Elder Fraley