November 18, 2013

Dear Dad,

May I present the best week of my mission. I don't quite know what brought it on, it all started with a scripture. 1 Chronicles 28:20, it's kinda different in spanish. In english it says Be strong and of good courage. In spanish it says anímate y esfuérzate, which translates to something like, get happy and put forth an effort. So we did that. We had a lot of faith, worked hard all week, and then on saturday we found a sweet old lady named Brenda who was just sitting in her house with a broken ankle waiting to be baptized. She had already been taught everything but could never get baptized because her husband didn't want to get married. Her husband passed away, she stopped going to church, and eventually everyone forgot about her. She fell and broke her ankle, bought a little dog for companionship ( a chihuahua named willie) and sat back for a year. Then we showed up and slapped a baptismal date all over the situation. This was the very first day of my mission that I got all the daily goals, took long enough, but it's finally been done, haha. Also we found a mother and daughter that same day who were very interested. I was stunned, it was so miraculous. I didn't believe there could be a repeat. Sunday we found a family of four, also had been taught everything, all very intelligent, they have some girls about ellie and bekah's age, we hit it off super well. All complete miracles. My testimony about personally living the gospel grows yet again. When your personal commitment to follow the Savior is high, you will accomplish His purposes, whether that means baptize a bunch of people or become a convert yourself. I am too happy this week. I learned so much, and so much of it came from having a good attitude. We're gonna try to get a little more miraculous in the week to come.

How awesome about the activity. It's so weird to think that Ellie is in young women.

I am really excited for Christmas haha, hopefully it's better this time around. Have a good time, my dear family, I am so grateful for all your prayers and support. Hasta la vista, baby.

Andy

November 11, 2013

Thanks for the email mom, it is very exciting. I am a very big fan of what President Gardner said, it really is true. I really learned about learning on my mission. We had a super exciting week too, a lot of miracles that I think are the result of a good attitude and feeling the urgency of this work. Walked a bit faster, talked a bit differently to people, and we get two golden families referred to us by people, a recent convert gives us 8 referrals, it's the best. Really gave me a refresher. I kind of needed it, like I told you, I've only had two companions in the last 9 months, sometimes things start to feel kind of dead because there is not any change. Whatever, I know it's for a reason, God's plan is perfect, I've realized how much he took care of me while I was growing up. It's really quite astounding.  Thanks for the part you had in my crianza! Love you mom, see you at christmas!

Elder Pyper 

Nov. 5, 2013

Dear Everyone,

We had an interesting week. A couple trials. I had my heart broken by a couple investigators. Also the changes came, and for the second time in a row, I am going to have a companion for three transfers. That is hard, no matter who your companion is. It's kind of interesting, I trust a lot in the lord, but sometimes I have no clue what he's thinking, haha.

I am starting to miss a lot of stuff. The top three however, are food, company, and music. Really no one can sing down here. Me and Elder Zuñiga did a musical number at our baptism last week, butchered it hard, and we made like half the congregation cry, haha. It's good and bad at the same time. I would enjoy chili right now as well.

So basically, the challenge of having a companion for so long is you get to know each other too well. It is a little difficult to see your companion as a representative of Jesus Christ when you know all his imperfections. So I'm gonna have to work extra hard to focus up. 

Something that might be interesting for you to know, dad, is that I used to hate numbers when I got here. I swore I would never count my baptisms, have a personal baptismal goal or anything like that. I've now seen that man grows only with his higher goals. I counseled with the Lord and together we set a goal for the amount of souls that I want to bring to his kingdom, and I know this is going to help me to grow to my maximum potential. If I want anything in my mission, I want to become a man who can set a goal, make a plan, and execute it, excercising faith, making adjustments to the plan, and accepting the will of the Lord. Honestly the part I need to work on is the diligence in planning. I like winging it too much. But there's something interesting I've learned out here.

Love you all, have a great week, I will talk to you again on Monday!

Andy

Oct. 28, 2013

Dear Family,

So we baptized the greatest convert ever last week. She overcame more opposition than anyone I've ever seen to get baptized. She is a wonderful old lady, she's almost blind, but can kind of see. It's a crazy story, which I don't even come close to having time to write. But I will write the whole story on paper and send a picture of it or something. But it was my first person that I baptized personally in more than six months, a really special experience for me. I'm trying to send a pic, we'll see if I can get it to work.

It was true, the last week was a little crazy. But we saw a bunch of miracles this week, including the coveted investigator that finds the missionaries. So we invited him to be baptized. He accepted.

I was totally thinking about that halibut the other day. I would love to go fishing, but dang Dad, I have a decision to make. I will get home on the 29th of august, i think. BYU starts the 2nd or 3rd of september. I'm not sure if I'm willing to make that turnaround so quick. Also, within the next three months, you guys need to decide if you want to come get me or not. They're gonna give me the trunky call soon. Well, not soon, but in three months. Just a heads up. 

I learned so much this week about the holy ghost. It is the power through which we are sanctified, and the power through which we keep our covenants. We can keep our covenants through no other power. Not even willpower. Ain't gonna do it. It kinda changed my perspective on keeping the spirit around. Sometimes I'm too funny for my own good and drive the spirit away. But perhaps I have to trade a good thing for a better thing.

Love you all, try to be like Jesus!

Elder Pyper