MTC P-day Part I - Temple Session 6:00 am

We asked for a glimpse into a typical P-day for a missionary in the MTC. Here is what we learned...first of all there's no sleeping in! He is up at 5:00 am to catch the first session at the Provo temple. Then it's off to the laundry room, 30 minutes max to email the family and then sack lunch back in the dorm. I love their matching white temple ties! To be continued...

MTC P-day Part II - Lunch time 12:00 pm

I learned that street clothes are not allowed to be worn in the MTC cafeteria. They have a picnic lunch back in the dorm. Notice the dust fly as he shows us his "awesome" room report - only a mother would notice that! After letters are written and laundry is folded P-day comes to an end at 6:00 pm. To be continued...

MTC P-day Part III: The End 6:00 pm

Back in white shirt and tie Elder Draper with man-purse packed and Preach My Gospel in hand is off to eat dinner then study, study, study until 9:00 pm. Times sure flies and he is ready to experience life in the mission field beginning this Tuesday. So many great memories of his 9 weeks of MTC life!

FINAL Letter MTC

Hellooooooo family!! This week has been the best week at the MTC BY FAR! I have so many stories to tell so hopefully I will be able to share a few...First let's handle all the business.

So Tuesday I meet at the travel office here at 6AM and I am guessing we will leave for the airport around 6:30. MY GUESS for when I will call you is around 8 AM or 7 AM your time. What number do you want me to call? I have a phone card so we are good to go. If you could just connect Alexa to the call too that would be great. Maybe she could even go over to the house I don't know. So we should have around an hour to talk, I am stoked!!!! OK here is my new address:

Elder Ryan Tyler Draper

Canada Calgary Mission

7044 Farrell Rd SE

Calgary, AB T2H 0T2

Canada

That will send letters to the mission home, then it will get to me at my first area. Once I get that address you will be able to send stuff directly to my apartment. 2 US stamps should actually get normal letters to me, rather than the international stamps. 2 US stamps are cheaper than 1 international stamp. I heard from the Calgarian here that mail takes about 1.5 weeks from Provo to Calgary, so from home mail will take about two weeks. It gets held up at the border I guess. SO we will figure it out. And if you send packages I have to pay like tariffs on them so just let me know before you send packages and we can decide if its worth paying more money for.

You have a package full of stuff on the way. I will actually send it to Alexa's house because there are a few things for her. Then she will give you the rest. I have only 1 SD card right now!!! So unless you can get me another one by Monday, unfortunately I will not send it home. I want it for the airport and my first week in Calgary. No SD cards at the bookstore here sorry. And tomorrow is Pioneer Day in Utah, a st. holiday, so we don't get mail tomorrow at all.

Yes you can send family pics haha it doesn't make me sad. I actually want to get them so I can gradually see everyone grow, rather than not recognize my own siblings when I get back! Funny Story about Vince Vaughn, I will be on the look out for him next year for sure! Tell Elder Zant thank you for that advice! He seriously is a stud missionary and I hope I can come close to him in that department. That is exactly the type of missionary I want to be.

Priesthood on Sunday was awesome. Yes our branch and another branch were combined, so there were easily 80 elders there. We taught a 45 min lesson, luckily in English, and of course the Lord got me through like He always do. I have no problem speaking and teaching now it's insane. I could speak for an hour if I had the chance. It is pretty amazing how different teaching and speaking is when you get to wear the name badge on your chest.

So quick story!! This week for the TRC we actually taught a really investigator!! My first one!! You will see a video of me explaining it in detail but I will briefly describe it. SO her name is Nicki and she is 16 years old. Her older sister is at BYU and just got baptized 3 months ago. Nicki lives in Alabama with her other sister, who is totally anti-Mormon and all that. So the past couple weeks Nicki has been here visiting her sister at BYU. (This sister is in the ward of our teacher, so that is why we got to teach Nicki). Elder Davies and I were the first experience Nicki has had with the missionaries, so we felt a tremendous amount of pressure. But of course the Spirit taught through us!! She had a ton of questions about the Atonement, and of course I barely understand the Atonement, so just did the best we could in following the Spirit and answering the questions. We taught her lesson 1 The Restoration. Towards the end she asked, "How can I know this is all true?" That is a GOLDEN QUESTION for missionaries! It was a perfect lead in to the Book of Mormon and Moroni's promise. We committed her to read 3 Nephi 11 and to pray if it is true and if this is Christ's church on the earth. My teacher will email me and keep me updated on the progress of Nicki, I hope she receives an answer the first time because she really needs the gospel right now. Anyways it was an awesome experience and you will hear more about it!!!

Ok so as I prepare to hit the field, I wanted to kind of pick a mission theme for me. I found the perfect one. Deuteronomy 8:2-3. If you replace "40 years" with "2 years" and "wilderness" with "Calgary", that is my theme. It is perfect I think. I will be tested and tried and the Lord will discover what is truly in my heart, and I hope I can prove to him that I am not here to mess around, I am here to work my butt off because he has blessed me way too much in my life. I owe Him everything I got!!

Well I think that is about it for today. Send me a dear elder with answers to my questions and stuff. I will leave 5 min again just in case you need to hear from me again after I get your dear elder. Thank you for everything guys!!! Your support is the only thing that keeps me going sometimes!! Missionary work is hard, but it is the most fun I have ever had!!!! Next time I email will be in Canada!!!! I love you all!!!

--
Elder Draper

Flying the Friendly Canadian Skies- July 27, 2010

I GOT MY TRAVEL PLANS!!!!!!!!! Elder Davies and I are leaving the 27th on the 9:45 AM flight!!!!!! We land in Calgary at 12:00 PM!!!!!! If you wanna look it up it is flight 4846 Delta. We are stoked!!!!! Send me a "dearelder" if you have any questions. We report to the travel office here at 6 AM that morning, so I will probably be at the airport by 8 no later. About an hour to call!!! My two checked bags will cost 55 bucks total so I will need to have at least that amount in my account. Anyways just wanted to let you know I got them!!! I also got the notice for a package waiting for me so I will go get that right now!

I love you all so much!!! Have a wonderful weekend!!!
--
Elder Draper

8th Letter MTC

The Calgary Countdown has begun...T minus 11 days and counting until our phone call from Elder Draper at the Salt Lake City International Airport!

Elder Draper here!

Buenos dias! I am back to my early morning email, for the 2nd to last time! It is so crazy to think I have only 1 more pday here. We are just anxiously waiting to get to Canada!!! Ok so Happy Birthday Mom!!!! I hope you are having a fantastic trip and enjoy your birthday. Actually, my goal is for you guys to not recognize me! Mom I know I will recognize you! (*I told him I'm getting so old that I hope he will still recognize me at the airport in 2 years!*) I am up to 165 lbs so Blake.....you still are behind! (And those ten pounds I have gained are not in my gut don't worry. It is spread around evenly). So I will send one last chip before I leave next week. I am actually going to send a box home with a few things. I cannot bring books outside the approved mission library so I will read that book you sent then send it home. Your trip sounded awesome!! I became the most jealous and sad when I heard about the Hummer ride thing. That sounded LEGIT! Hopefully the package you sent will come today!

So no travel plans yet. They will come either today or tomorrow hopefully. So either expect another quick email today if we get them or if it comes tomorrow, I will write a short letter so you guys will know my schedule before I can email again next Friday. As far as sending those mission logo T's to calgary I will ask President Archibald next week!!! That sounds crazy. I will be walking down the street and will walk up to random REAL people and teach them about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So exciting but a little nerve wracking too. Luckily I will have the best "people person" on my side helping me aka God. I won't have a problem going up to people and starting a conversation, just the part where I actually have to teach them something haha.

This week was really really great. On Sunday President Shelly told Elder Davies and I that we would be released this Sunday from our ZL calling. However we are being honorably released so to speak haha. He said that if he wanted the zone to run perfectly the next week, he would just keep us in until we leave. That was nice of him to say that. But he will just give that opportunity to another companionship this Sunday. I had a wonderful 3 weeks serving and hopefully I will get that chance again in the field. However, as our last act as Zone leaders, we get to teach priesthood this Sunday to our branch and another branch, so about 80 missionaries. I will let you know how that goes.

Tuesday Fireside was another emeritus quorum of the 70, Elder Halverson. He spoke about finding people in the field. Yes the new missionary program thanks to Pres Hinckley is to use the members to get investigators, alot of times that doesn't work, and we have to go back to the old school way of finding them. I learned some great techniques to use in the field. Sunday fireside was incredible. It was a musical fireside. Sister Baker, the daughter of Elder Oaks, is like a pro violinist. She played some amazing music which just pierced my heart like no other (didn't cry...kind of...maybe a little). Elder Oaks was there watching her too so that was neat. We have officially learned all of the Spanish tenses!!! SO the next week or so is all about hammering them into my brain. I have a goal of being fluent in Spanish within 3 months of being in the field. I will need lots of help but I really think it is possible. I love speaking Spanish and I am actually really really excited to come home and get to use it after my mission.

Anyways I am going to leave about 5 minutes of email time here just in case I get travel plans and I can email you again a little later today. If not you should get a letter from me before next Friday. Thank you all who write me it means so much!! Have a wonderful week and I love you all!!!!!

Love,

Elder Draper

Special Missionary Fireside with 8 Apostles

Beginning with an out-take from Avatar, Elder Draper shares his inspiring night with 8 of the 12 Apostles

Half way point at MTC

The Elders in his District on their evening stroll back to the dorms

7th Letter MTC

Sorry to keep you waiting!!! This morning was a little different. Cool pictures from your trip!! Everyone looks healthy and happy!! Thank you SO MUCH for the package! You guys seriously hooked me up with goods!!! Tons of yummy treats so thank you a ton. This morning my district of 6 elders got assigned to help with the Provo Temple renovation. So you know those huge windows that go around the temple? Yeah we went up onto that roof and cleaned all of the windows along the outside! It was so, so hot I was dying. But all those times cleaning our windows at home actually helped me with this haha! Nothing too exciting this week. Last Saturday President Smith allowed all of the missionaries to see the fireworks! So yes I got to watch them and got to hear the end of Carrie Underwood haha. It was a nice treat.

Our zone got a new district of 12 elders on Wednesday. So Elder Davies and I taught them last night for an hour and a half about planning and relationship with your companion. Branch President Shelly said we did the best job he has seen Zone Leaders teaching new missionaries so that was cool. Then after we gave them a tour of the MTC. Other than that that is about it. The speaker Tuesday was some guy emeritus quorum of the seventy. It was a really good talk about the physical evidence we have of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. This weeks lesson was so awesome! Strongest spirit I have felt during a lesson so far. Lesson 1 all in spanish. This week I was able to memorize The First Vision in Spanish, so when that point came up during the lesson, I was able to recite it by memory which was the most spiritual part of the lesson. It is funny I honestly do not have it memorized in English even! So I better get going on that.

We met en elder who is from Southern Alberta (there are a ton here). He said that during the summer there are 1000's of migrant workers who come up from Mexico to work the farms. He said a ton of them get baptized, then after summer go back to Mexico. So we are thinking that most of the Spanish we speak will be in the summers, which is only 1 and half basically. Dad I ran into Elder Simmons, Rowan's buddy. He said he kept seeing my name tag and wondered if I was related to you, so he finally came up to me. He brought a few DBH shirts so he will be reppin' you. Blake that was a funny story about all those awful coaches haha. Rachel and Mom you two are studs!!!! That is so great you were able to do that!!!! Rachel you better not visit the MTC field next week and say hi to your favorite brother ;) (*Rachel is going to attend EFY in Provo and threatened to breach MTC security*)

We are so ready to get into the field. I should get my travel itinerary next weekend! I was going to ask you and see if you can look on SLC airport for the 27th and see when my flight possibly could be to Calgary. Let me know! One thing I could use is an alarm clock with like temperature on it too. Preferably in Celsius. That would be nice so I could know the temp outside before we head out the door. As far as bedding I have no clue mom. I guess you could call the mission home and ask them what the procedure is. Also, I need to get my license extended I think. Is there any way you could do that while I am here? Let me know.

Every week I have an interview with my teachers, and we just talk about your progress and things like that. They said that I am learning and picking up on Spanish lightening quick, the fastest in the class. They said I look bored in class sometimes but I don't mean too. They said I have an on/off switch with Spanish haha. They challenged me to speak it 24/7, because I probably could. I have been blessed with Spanish so much! Because of that I am able to study the scriptures and doctrine more during my studies, which I desperately need. I have learned a ton in the scriptures. I will be done with D&C tomorrow and will now read the New Testament, which will be awesome.

Anyways I think that is about it. I am healthy, happy, and pumped to get in the field!!! I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!! I love the dear elders!!! Keep em coming!!!

Love,
--
Elder Draper

Sixth Letter MTC

Buenos dias familia y amigos!

What a sweet week!!! Thank you all for your letters and love. Mom that was cool about President Monson I loved seeing those! Well, we did not get to see him on Friday....But the fireside was insane!!!! Dallin H. Oaks spoke to us about why our church is the only true church. It was great. But it was so hard to watch him the whole time because 8 of the 12 apostles were on the stand behind him!!!! I shot a video of myself talking about it and I am sending to Alexa so you will get to see that next week! Seeing that many apostles of the Lord live in person was really a treat for sure!!!

Mom I know you are so jealous of me after I tell you our speaker at our devotional this Tuesday was Sister Dalton. She gave a great talk about virture. She really is good with speaking to the younger generation. My first full Spanish lesson was Wednesday!! It was so insane I realized I can teach the first lesson completely in Spanish! I have learned so much here!! Our "investigator" was a probably 60 year old member of the church who is a native of Chile and came to Utah on his mission way back then. By the way Chileans are known to be the fastest Spanish speakers in the world, so did I know what he said when we asked him questions? Absolutely not haha. There is such a huge difference between my teachers speaking Spanish and actual native speakers.

I finished the Book of Mormon this week! 3 weeks is a new record time for me! But I really did get so much out of it spiritually. I started D&C yesterday so anyone can follow along with me if they want to accept that challenge! I will be done reading it in 2 weeks easily. I am trying to read through the standard works cover to cover because I hear there is not much time for reading in the field, there your study time is mostly spent on studying for your investigators, rather than your own self.

Ok a cool thing we learned about this week. Starting July 7, mormon.org is getting a completely new page. There will be a place one the website where members of the church can make profiles and share their testimonies and stuff for investigators to check out. You guys should make a profile!! They are letting all the missionaries make one too so maybe you'll be able to look up my profile :)

Alright well I saved the biggest news for last......Elder Davies and I got made the new Zone Leaders!!!!!!!!!!! We got called Sunday and we are STOKED! There are currently 5 districts of about 50 elders in our zone, so that is our responsibility. Basically we are the key example for the other missionaries. We have to exemplify the class act missionary, which has really motivated me to be a better missionary. I really do love being in leadership postitions because they are all about serving others and being an example, which I love doing. My Patriarchal Blessing says I love serving others too. We also collect numbers from all the districts for how many contacts they got this week, lessons taught, and things like that. It really has been a blast being a Zone leader, and I am assuming that we will be in this position until we leave. I sent you guys something in the mail about it so you might actually get it today.

Well my computer time is coming to a close!! I don't like that haha. I love you all so so so much!!! Your letters and support motivate me every day to work extra hard and to become the best missionary I can be!! Keep me in the loop with all of your activities this week!!

Love,
Elder Draper

Um my teacher said Kobe's finger is arthritic and similar to an 80 year old mans finger? Can someone explain this? My heart dropped when I heard it haha. 3.5 more weeks until the field!