Elder Draper > 6 Months - November 30, 2010

First a picture of something cold and kinda funny...

Now a picture of something warm and super yummy...

Hello! It is so crazy that I am in the 2nd quarter! I like the way you put that mom haha. Today is actually not a Pday for us because we are going to the temple on Saturday, so that takes the place of our Pday this week. Which means I have not seen the zone leaders so I have no clue about if I have gotten any packages or letters this week. Tomorrow at transfers I will know. Keep me updated on those DVD's I had shipped home. Yes Elder Galloway was made the new AP, the first time a Spanish Elder has gotten that call. So what happened is that there is a native Spanish speaker from Mexico that is in this mission speaking English. President Archibald switched him over to Spanish so we are even at 12 elders again. My new area is the Spanish West Area. So I will cover the Calgary West Stake. It is everything above the Bow River, and everything west of a street named Shagannappi (along that big hill in the city). I will be with Elder Jeff Walker from Orange County, Florida. Super awesome guy! He has about 7 months left in his 2 years.

So this week was the most amazing week ever!!! I will just get right down to it. It all went down on Thanksgiving day! So that morning we had an appt with a new lady named Mayra Wals, from Mexico. We taught her the restoration, and extended a baptismal invitation for the 12th of December, and she accepted! We were so shocked and stoked we had no idea what to do! Especially me because this is the first time for me. (Side note: We came back the next day to teach her, and she told us that that night she read from the BoM and had all of these bad feelings, closed the book, prayed and felt better. She also talked to her husband about her baptismal date and he flipped out and basically said no I won't support this. So in this second lesson we helped her understand that Satan will work hard on you, because he knows this is the true church. So we left with everything cool, she kept her date, and said she would pray that her husband's heart would be softened. But she called us that night and said she doesn't want us over anymore, she still has evil feelings while reading the BoM (a lie haha) and she is done. Such a heart breaker for me, but her husband has issues. One day he will come around and they will be baptized.)

Ok so back to Thanksgiving day. Later that day we had another appointment with a another new investigator, Manuel and Marisol Moreno from Mexico. They are in their 20's, and she is 9 months pregnant (due date on the 18th). We taught them the restoration for the first time, and they accepted a baptismal date for the 12th of December! They are so prepared! That is why I am kind of bummed I am headed out of the area. But it is okay because I will definitely be at their baptism! We are going to teach them today and I will ask them if they would like me to participate in any way in their baptism: baptize one of them, be in the confirmation circle, etc. I know baptisms are not the measure of success in the mission, but man do they pump you up and make you so stoked! I feel so special to be a part of their life-changing decision and it is a couple I will never forget! So they came to church on Sunday and are reading the BoM and just loving every minute. What a tremendous blessing to be a part of. It reminds me of the Mormon Message on Youtube by Elder Holland: Good things will come. (*I have added that to the Youtube messages below on the right - by Mom)

It was hard not to see baptisms for the first 6 months of my mission, but I knew it would come. I am so grateful for that. Even though I will not be in the Moreno's area I will keep you updated on their progress, because they will always feel like my investigators and future converts! We are just worried about her pregnancy haha. She needs to have the baby this week so she can recover or after the baptism.

Thanksgiving dinner was really good! Sister Lopez fed us turkey and mashed potatoes and green beans...totally American! I could not have asked for a better Thanksgiving day (besides spending it with all of you) :) My mission has been so rewarding these first 6 months. Thank you all for your love and support and prayers!!! Just know I am returning it all back to you! Have a great week :)

Love,

Elder Draper

Hearts Full of Gratitude

In front of the Newport Beach Temple doors after Ryan's endowment

We don't even know where to begin to thank our Heavenly Father for the abundant blessings our family has received throughout the year. Having a son and brother in the mission field has definitely blessed each one of our lives infinitely. Our family has become closer, stronger and grown in so many more ways than we ever thought possible last May when we all hugged Ryan goodbye.

On this day of Thanksgiving we want to echo the words of one of Ryan's "favorites", our loving Apostle President Jeffrey R. Holland, and wholeheartedly agree; we really do love you the most Elder D!

"I would like to thank every missionary who has ever labored in this transcendent latter-day undertaking we have been given. The rolling forth of the restored gospel is a miracle in every sense of the word, and not the least of the miracle is that a significant portion of it rolls forward on the shoulders of 19-year-olds! As we have seen your sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters, (and in some cases your parents and grandparents!) faithfully laboring, I have pictured the tens of thousands of others like them we have met all over the world. Clean, clear, bright-eyed missionaries, laboring two-by-two, have become a living symbol of this Church everywhere. They themselves are the first gospel message their investigators encounter--and what a message that is. Everyone knows who they are, and those of us who know them the best, love them the most."

Abide in Me Ensign May 2004

Monday November 22, 2010

Downtown Calgary in black and white...looks like the front of a Christmas card!

This Pentecostal church posts the funniest marquee messages: "Need a new life? God accepts trade - ins"

"Phil Jackson" was converted by Elder Draper and attends church in Calgary ;)

Thanks for all the emails everyone!! It is amazing to log on to 14 messages! You are my favorite! Next week is transfers so we will email on Tuesday! Around 2 or 2:30...

I will let you know about the packages. It is funny you have sent a bunch up to me, but I have only received a bill for that first one, so I guess they are charging me tariffs anymore (or maybe there is a humongous bill adding up somewhere haha!) But I think you can just send UPS and be good to go. I have no clue about why the mission asks for us mail only. Just do what you want when or how you ship it, it is working just fine.

This week was pretty good. The first week of snow always is fun though. I know I will get sick of it after a few weeks, that is what happened at BYU last year. Nely didn't make it to church, we tried so hard to convince her. Her excuse was the cold and snow. She is like next week for sure I will go, " Umm Nely, it is only getting more colder and snowy" haha but we will see. We have some new potential! As of this morning! The English elders working in our area called and said they have taught 2 Spanish families this week, in English obviously. One they tracked into and another lives in the basement of a member family in their ward. Tonight we are going to go on splits with them! So I will go with 1 English elder to one of the families, and Christensen to the other family! They said they really are interested in the message, especially because they will get to hear it in Spanish! Pray that their hearts will be open and I will let you know what happens!

Saturday night the Spanish branch in the south had an activity. It was a multicultural night, food from all different Latin American countries and dances from the countries. It was really fun. I love Spanish food. Like REAL Spanish food. Yes tex mex stuff like Del Taco and Taco Bell will always be at the top of my list, but authentic Spanish food is amazing! I am learning to cook tons of different yummy Spanish foods too!

So I don't remember if I told you, but I made a goal in the MTC to be fluent by US Thanksgiving. I am not quite 100% fluent, but I am so close! It is such a blessing and miracle to me. I have zero doubt that the Lord has helped me. I can't explain it. I can talk with a Mexican and understand him and communicate what I want to say too. It is the coolest thing ever! I am pretty excited to actually understand what all them are saying back home while gardening and stuff haha. All the members (and even Nely-the harshest of critics) always compliment me with my accent and pronunciation. I don't say that to brag, but that is the medium of how I am reminded to thank Heavenly Father with giving me this gift. So incredible!

I will try to stay warm this week. Thank you for your prayers and support! I love you all so much and miss you. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!!

Blake you're the man! I am doing alright with the cold. Yes, it is already colder here than the coldest it got last year in Provo, but that was a good prep for me. You have never felt a cold that goes all the way down to your bone like I have now. The problem is that it is only going to get way colder! I saw the album cover for Kanye in the grocery store. The name of it just fascinated me haha. The Beautiful Twisted Nightmare or something? haha sounds legit! Lakers are amazing huh? Man not being able to watch Kobe do work is hard. It has not felt like 6 months at all. Don't know how to describe it. Missions are crazy! Yes enjoy your break and Thanksgiving and I will be eating at the coolest members house so mine will be good too! I love you bro and miss you!

Nick that is an awesome story!! Wow I was on the edge of my seat just reading it! Glad you won! They will see that you are passing alot and your man will play off you a little bit. That is when you ATTACK!! Just watch Kobe. He starts the game usually by feeding his teammates, which opens up his game. Yes it is really cold!! But I have a huge jacket and I realized that I am actually going to survive this winter!!! Thanks for writing have an awesome week I love you!

The weather doesn't feel too weird haha. Provo prepped me well for the cold. I should be good for gear. I went and bought some nice boots that will help me a ton. $100 bucks but were 40 percent off so only $60. From Sears. The car takes forever to warm up. You are driving for 15 minutes and still see you breath in the car. Some cars require to be plugged in overnight and in stores, but our car is new enough that it doesn't. It isn't even that cold yet! It is going to get down to -35 celcius without windchill. At -40 degrees, farenheit and celcius are the same...We always have to go out no matter what, but sometimes they ground the cars because the roads get so bad. Walking in -20 is the best!!! Not really.

Thanks for writing dad. Have a nice relaxing thanksgiving. I am praying for you and the fam too! I love you! Take care :)

Elder Draper

Monday November 15, 2010

Glad you like those videos! Yep glad you noticed the more muscular me haha. Working out is my relaxing time during the mission I guess. Yeah last Monday we played pick up games and ElderGalloway videoed a lot of it so I will get those from him sometime.

I will be looking for that package! Man 6 months gone already. I can't describe how fast but slow that has felt. SO crazy. Yeah none of the mothers follow that rule about the packages I heard. They love their sons too much I guess! Sounds like a pretty chill Thanksgiving. Mine will be spent at the Lopez home. Sis. Lopez is like my second mom. We come by their house a lot because her husband is the ward mission leader, and she looks at our dinner calendar and puts her name on every empty space. Such a nice lady. Everyone is going to look way taller when I am back. Holy cow it is so weird! Can't even believe it.

Well another slow week here with teaching. But Nely came to church which was great!! Let's hope something happens soon with that! Friday night was the talent show for the ward. No investigators showed up which was a bummer. I shot a few videos that you will get pretty soon, once I send home my SD card again.

On Sunday I had to teach Gospel Principles class. Of course it happened to be Lesson 38 Eternal Marriage but it was fun to teach the class. I learned something way cool about marriage though! When a couple is sealed in the temple, the man is not technically sealed to the wife. Nor is she sealed to him. The woman becomes sealed to the priesthood that the man holds. SO if he doesn't keep those priesthood covenants, the woman will go to another man that is a worthy priesthood holder. Pretty interesting I think.

Oh and then last night we had a dinner appt with the Salazar family. We show up and seriously every single Mexican family in the ward is there for a huge party. They were cooking up meat and everything and the whole house was just filled with smoke from the cooking. So after we went to the stake priesthood meeting, and everyone comes up to us and says "You guys smell like Spanish stuff" haha!

So if I come back home smelling a little bit like a Mexican, you will understand. We are going to work our tail off this week in getting new people to teach. It is getting frustrating, so we are going to go insane and do work. Thank you for everything guys! I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week :)

Hey Dad! Thanks for writing! My Spanish is alright, there is so much to improve on still. Yeah my patience has improved tremendously since I have been out. You really just want to force things on people, but obviously they have agency. If we have no appointments we usually just knock doors of Spanish people's addresses that we have. Yeah we have about 10 member lessons a week, but the past couple weeks has been way lower, like 5. I don't know what they have you do when it gets really cold. We'll see I guess. Thanks for all the updates. I did not go to that training, but we did go to stake priesthood right after which was really good. The stake President here, President Thomas, is a stud. Future GA for sure. Thanks for everything dad. I love you and can't wait to hear from you!

Thanks Blake! Haha hearing about the Lakers definitely cheers me up! They are doing so good it sounds like! That sounded like a sweet mini MTC! I am so happy you enjoyed it and learned alot. The spirit is definitely the key with teaching. I am excited to hear about your bball season!! Thanks for all the support man. I love you. Thanks for being an awesome brother to me. Have a great week and keep doin' work! Love Ryan

Nick that is awesome!!! The Lakers are killing it it sounds like! Wow that is so awesome with Paul Pierce on twitter haha. I normally don't like him, but now I do because he took a stab at LeBron! Man I am so bummed I missed your amazing soccer season! League champs!? Nick you are a stud! Dang I am so happy to here about all the success you are having. I miss you! Don't get too good at sports during my mission, because I want to come back and teach you something hahaha. Thanks for writing and for the laker update. Have a great week! Love Ryan

Monday November 8, 2010

Hello my favorite people in the world! How is everything going!? I am doing pretty good. This week was long and slow, but I got through it!! The weather has been amazing!! We are so lucky!! There is supposed to be snow everywhere and freezing but it hasn't! Maybe winter won't show up because I am here haha. That mini MTC sounded so cool!!! They are getting better and better and helping the boys prepare for missions. I wish I could have gone!!

Go Lakers!!! That makes me so happy! Dang if there is a way to send video highlights or something...haha! Can't wait to watch them again.

Not so much happened this week again. Tuesday we had Zone Conference. Every Zone Conference everyone has to prepare a 4 minute talk on an assigned topic, this time it was Elder Scott's talk on Character from conference. Then President calls on 4 or 5 random people to speak right then and there, and I got picked. What did I do wrong?! haha just kidding it was really cool and I am not shy anymore which is great. Yesterday I got to give my 3rd blessing of my mission, and my 1st blessing of the sick. To a really nice lady in the ward. It was another powerful neat experience.

Met with Nely again for the 13th time and still no baptismal date. I don't know why she is way tough. She tells us she will come to church, we have a member call to offer her a ride, and then she bails. Last 3 Sundays. We'll see what happens. We have 3 or 4 families who seem interested in the message but we can't set appts with. These people have such hard work schedules obviously, like fast food and stuff, so their schedule is always changing and just hard to get in contact with them. I am just trying to keep pushing and fighting my way through. I know baptisms are no measure of success on a mission, but getting one once in a while would be a nice "pick me up" haha. I am learning so much (especially patience) so I guess that is the most important thing.

Hopefully there will be some sweet lessons I can share next week!!! I love you all and pray for you!!! Have a fun week!!!

Love,

Elder Draper

PS short email because these videos took forward to download and send! Made these two clips last Pday.

These are my best impressions of Kobe. Blake that's what I thought haha. I am still above the rim!!

Monday November 1, 2010

Mother Nature has delivered winter to Calgary

Hellllllo Draper family!!

My week was pretty much the same and my Halloween was amazing! Yes yesterday afternoon I half slept and half wrote letters. It was a really relaxing day. Ok all of your costumes are awesome!! That looked like such a fun party. I knew all along that Lindi could play the part of a black woman haha. She is straight up G!! Loved your outfits mom and dad. I leave on a mission on you get all crazy and hip haha I love it! No last year was legit too with Octomom. I dressed up as a missionary this year, yeah I know pretty original. Actually at church the 6 missionaries in the ward all switched name tags, that was the best costume we could think of without breaking rules! So I guess I was technically Elder Davies for Halloween.

Man 160 days huh? It does not feel like it at all. I used to count the days but then time goes slower. I can't even believe 1/4 is right around the corner. Elder Christensen is leaving in less than 2 months and could have his travel plans any day now. The mission just flies by, so I gotta do work! Yeah transfers will be December 1. I am praying that I stay here for Christmas. The members in this area are known as the best and I have come to love all of them.

Advice for your lesson mom: What motivates me? Hmm tough question. The mission is different than real life. My motivation sometimes is just reading past letters and looking at pictures of family. You guys are kind of my motivation! One thing I learned from my mission prep teacher is to make a list of "pick me up" scriptures. There are a bunch of scriptures that can give you the extra energy and umph that you need. I have made a list of scriptures from the BOM, D&C and New Testament and I pick a random one and read it everyday. I am reading the old testament cover to cover right now and finding scriptures there too so in a few months I will have a list from all the scriptures. That is one idea. Most of the time if you don't stay optimistic, you have rough days and rough weeks. The mission is such a roller coaster of emotions and feelings, I am sure dad knows what I am talking about. I think it is harder too being in a place that is pretty modern and like the US. Lots of technology things that can distract . So I hope that helped with what you were asking...

I don't have any pictures of me today, sorry! I would feel weird just taking a random picture of myself every week just to send home haha. Trust me, if there is a worthy picture, I snap it. Unfortunately Kristina got sick and we didn't meet with her this week. Appointments falling through has been the story of my mission. But she will no doubt get baptized asap. We received a referral on Saturday from the English elders. A Spanish family just moved into their ward last week (We don't know why they don't go to the Spanish ward, maybe they don't know) and there is a family that are not members living with them! We talked on the phone and they seem like they are looking for religion, so we'll see! There is a lady we just picked up who sounds SUPER interested. She is a referral too, named Mayra. We talked on the phone and set up an appt for tomorrow. She told us she is wanting to join a church but her husband has zero interest, but is going to let her make her decision. She seems ready for us! I will let you know how that goes. Nely and Gilberto are still slowly progressing. It was her birthday this week so we made her stuff. They are old and stubborn but we love them and are working hard with them.

That's about all I got this week!!! Go Lakers!! I love you all and hope you have a nice week!

Love,

Elder Draper

Blake, Everything is going great here man! Thanks for writing! Trust me, you don't wish there was snow. You will discover that next winter at the Y haha! Thanks for the Laker update! Ugh man I am so pumped for this season! I am feeling a triple repeat. Yep it is high school basketball season. I miss that so much. The basketball you play on a mission does not give you adrenaline moments like playing in a high school basketball game. Enjoy it! Play hard!! That's all the advice I can give. Thanks for the music update too. Sounds like some sweet stuff!! Hah I am no pro at missionary work yet. There is so much to improve on. Those Mini MTC's are super awesome though. I assume you are staying overnight at someones house? My advice is to just try to be a missionary there. No texting or anything haha. Go to bed by 10:30, wake up at 6:30, and have your personal and comp study. When I went I had a comp who was on his phone and we didn't really do what we were supposed to. You will really get to be in the life of a real missionary. Try it! You will be blessed but also have an awesome time! It will be so weird to get to stay up late and sleep in when I am home. Adjustments for sure. Well that is about it. Thanks Blake I really appreciate your support and everything. You are in my prayers. Have a good week and stay classy! DO it for Kareem! Love you, Elder Draper

Nick thank you for the purple letter - Go Lakers!! Good work on the field buddy!! It looks like you will have a tough decision to make in high school: Basketball or soccer? They are at the same season so you will have to choose, but you are ballin' in both! I will be home before you start high school so I can help you with the decision. You know what I already decided, please play basketball! Ok I'll call you Mr. Clutch, but you gotta call me Mr. Bryant! Haha listen to that song for me today and have a fun safe week! Love you, Elder Draper