The day after Boxing Day email

Sharing some laughs with the Amaya family Christmas Eve
Elder Rios being his funny self
Everyone's getting their cameras ready for the group shot...
"Merry Christmas!"

It's all smiles on Christmas Day at our home after our phone call with Ryan

Boxing day is traditionally the day following Christmas when wealthy people in the United Kingdom would give a box containing a gift to their servants. It's a public holiday in Canada as well. All libraries were closed so today we got a late email from Ryan:

Merry Christmas again!!

That was such a fun phone call!! Haha now having gone through 2
Christmas phone calls, the one from last year was way weird for me.
This year it seemed more normal, I guess because I am used to only
talking to you twice a year, or because everybody changed more during my first year. Anyways it was great to hear your voices and it has rejuvenated me for the time I have left.

Yeah Mom I was thinking about the same thing you were on Sunday. This being my last Christmas as a missionary and Blake's last with the family for 2 years. I think it was inspired that we were just 2 years apart, so we can have 4 straight years of being reminded of the importance of missionary work. Blake is in for the greatest experience of his life! I know it was hard before I left too, but this is exactly what I needed in my life.

Ok so nobody told me that the NBA just started up again!! How did that work out? Will there be playoffs? Just wondering ;) Yeah so Sunday was a pretty relaxing day. Right after the call we went to church and had a special music and the spoken word type program, and I think that it was a church-wide thing. Then we had dinner with the Morales family: pasole, tamales, chicharon. I don't know them very well but we had a really nice time. Yes we went by the Amayas on Christmas eve right before dinner, and she shared a sweet message about what the gold, frankincense and myrrh represent. It was nice to be in the home of members to get a little taste of being with family for Christmas. I was able to write the Corbins a thank you yesterday, so grandma and grandpa will be next Monday but if you could tell them thank you for me in the mean time...Like I said on the phone, Heavenly Father has blessed us so much, I can't believe it. When Elder Christofferson came to our mission, I remember him saying something like the mission puts you way in debt with Heavenly Father, but He is not collecting. Wow thank goodness ha. I know that all He requires is a broken heart and a contrite spirit.

Nothing much really happened during the week. We talked to a man from Peru for quite a while, trying to resolve his doubt of Joseph Smith having 10 wives ughhh. He was so hung up on that even though he loves the teachings of our church. We could have argued our point all day long using the scriptures, but it just turned into a back and forth thing. We brought it back to the BoM and he is not willing to read and pray to find out if he was actually a prophet. Missionaries are called to teach the elect, so we dropped him. There are a lot of promising things happening though. Remember that man Fanor we found, and he and his wife Adeleida got baptized this summer? Their 18 year old son is now getting baptized on the 8th!! So sweet to see the chain
reaction happen just by inviting one person to learn about the gospel. Luisa and her son Brandon came to church and they loved it! We went by their house and sang a Christmas carol, and the husband who is against any religion really appreciated it, which is not like him. Hopefully he will start to come around!

Well I hope that you have a safe trip to Utah and all have a happy New Year! I know Blake will have the time of his life in Provo this winter!

Thanks for all of your love and support and letters :) Love you all!

Elder Draper

Feliz Navidad & Merry Christmas from Canada

I don't know where Ryan's pictures are - I guess floating around in cyberspace - but sadly they never got to me. I decided to post a few of our last Christmas together (in '09) for the next 4 years. Blake started his papers this week and as excited as I am to have another son serving a mission, it has made me start dreaming about what Christmas 2014 will be like with all my kids home...they are, no doubt, the best presents that I've ever received. May the infinite love of our Savior abide within our hearts and homes this Christmas season and always...

Feliz Navidad!!

Well I love my new area and all the new people I get to work with! Today we are going to eat lunch at La Casa Latina, it's the traditional Christmas lunch made for the Spanish Zone by the Menjivar family at their restaurant so I'm looking forward to a feast!

I hope everyone is having a great Christmas season and I am SO excited to talk to you all this Sunday! The time has gone by so fast since the May phone call. So Christmas Eve we will be with the Jaramillo family...they are Colombian and they got baptized this past March. It is a single mother and her two teenage daughters. Our district of 6 missionaries will be there. Then Christmas morning I am going to make a big breakfast for Elder Brandon and I. I'm thinking either a more traditional one, like banana pancakes with eggs and Canadian bacon (ha) or a latin theme like huevos rancheros and arepas. We'll see what I buy today at the store. Then yes we will be calling!! Elder Brandon's family is calling at 10 Cali time and you are up at 11...yesss! Then hopefully after we will have the baptism of Luisa (she is having a ton of opposition right now, mostly fear, so keep praying that she makes her date!) then after we will go to the Morales family, who are from Mexico. They are a family of like 6 or 7 so it'll be a blast being around so many people.

I didn't know that the NBA started up again!!! Dang too bad about Kobe...don't know what to say! Another Tiger woods?? Quien sabe. So this week was pretty slow as I was just trying to get to know the area. But we did have our branch Christmas dinner and I had a lot of fun there. I will have to explain all the ward and stake stuff again to you on the phone. I didn't switch branches or stakes. It is the same, but I cover a different part of the city that's all. I'll explain it all Sunday. I am going to be sending a package in a few weeks. It is just going to have stuff I want to send home, keepsakes from the mission basically. I didn't have time to get anybody anything this year so I apologize! I still love you the same :)

I love my new apartment oh my gosh! Such an upgrade...I am sending pictures today (*no pictures ever showed up in my inbox from him). I don't have the address, but we live on Canfield Rd SW. It's like 11743 or something. But hopefully on Sunday I can report on some investigator lessons we have lined up right now for this upcoming week. I thought that as the mission goes on, it would get easier because of all the knowledge and more experience I've gained. But, the Lord puts more on your plate and expects more faith, so that is what I have been noticing lately. Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven, and throughout our lives we have to continue to make more (and bigger) sacrifices to receive the blessings. I'm grateful I've been able to learn that principle. I have learned how it all works...I know that right now I am building up the kingdom of God and that is the only thing I really care about right now...as I put that first, everything will happen the way God wants to. Anyways I will save some of this to talk about Sunday. Have an amazing week!!! I hope that it goes well for you and that you have opportunities to ponder about Christ and share His love with others.

Merry Christmas!!!

Elder Draper

4 more Transfers to go!

Ryan's ready for his close up
Ryan was watching an old church video and look who he saw - Peter Vidmar, the Olympic gold medalist was our old Bishop in the Santa Margarita Stake. He still looks the same!

Que onda!!

Dang this has been a crazy day so far!!! Transfers don't ever leave a lot of time for emailing so I'm just warning you in advance. Yes I am moving to the Foothills Stake with Elder Brandon, who I served with here last June. We will be in the far south west part of Calgary. Anyways he just got called as the second ZL so now we can really talk about where we need to improve and how to help strengthen the Spanish Zone...right on! That will be a fun Christmas apartment for sure. I don't have the exact address yet but I'll find out by next Monday and let you know.

Yeah Mom I've known my release date since I started my mission haha. Last day of May...I'll talk to you about it on Christmas Day. I don't have any time left so I wil try to write fast...

Luisa is doing great! We finally got her out to church this Sunday and honestly I have never been happier seeing an investigator at church. She loved it! She even brought her 9 year old son Brandon! During the week we asked the Primary to do a lesson on baptism, so we could get Brandon a little more interested in doing that. After church we asked him what he learned in church and he said they learned about going under water or something haha. Baptism! He said that he want to be baptized like his mom too! So both of them should be good to go for Christmas day :) It has been so great teaching them. We picked up a new couple from Mexico this week, Marta and Josue. She is super prepared too and hopefully will be baptized on the 25th. Next week I will update you on the Foothills area and the new investigators we'll be teaching.

I got your Christmas cards and thank you for the extra money! Everyone looks so grown up! I love my family!!! Ok so I gotta go, these days are going by so fast...oh and Elder Brandon's parents are going to call at 11 am our time, so 10 in California. The only time you could call would be right after that, at noon our time, 11:00 am your time. We have church at 1 and baptisms after. SO plan on that! We get 45 minutes so that's perfect. I'll email you my number next week.

Love you all!!! Have a great holiday week!!!!

Elder Draper

Hey Nick! Wow weird stuff happening in the NBA!! Hopefully the lake show gets some good trades. I can't believe we are here again for your birthday! I remember last year so clearly when you got the priesthood. Keep doin work man! Come prepared with some things to ask me on Christmas...and we gotta speak spanish to each other! Love you Nick!!

Thanks for writing Dad! Thanks for your testimony about the Atonement. It is such a great blessing to know that we have that to fall back on, that Christ knows how to succor us and as the scripture says "always has his arms of mercy extended" to us. It has been neat to see and experience how the Atonement can take effect in my personal life. I didn't really know how to take full advantage of it before the mission. I love you so much and thank you for all that you have taught me. I am always remembering little things you always say to me :) Have a great week and get ready for CHRISTMAS!!!! Cuidate

White Christmas anyone?

A fresh snow fall is so pretty - easy for me to say as I enjoy living in sunny southern California!

The spiffy Spanish Zone elders won cleanest cars award this month!

I don't think I've seen Ryan look more happier than in his mission pictures

Que onda?!

What an amazing week!! It was full of miracles and this next week is going to top it! That was a neat experience you had mom! Thanks for sharing that with me. Yeah it is just the craziest thought, even for me, that for 2 years I am walking up to random people and telling them about the restoration of the gospel...I don't know if that will ever set in for me! It is so much fun though and it just really makes you feel so good knowing that you are doing what Jesus Christ would do. You know how much I love trips to LA, so that was fun to hear about and see the pictures. All the girls that I knew look basically the same, just older. There seems to be a lot of new faces though!

I have not gotten the Christmas card, and Sis. Pitcher is holding the Christmas packages until December 14 at transfers next week, so that is when I should get everything. Maybe you should send packages through USPS because it isn't fun paying money for every package I get. Yeah transfers are next week, I am pretty sure I'll be moving. 7 months in one area is a veryy long time, that is about 1/3 of my mission! We'll see where the Lord needs me. Sooo, this week was basically amazing like I said. The blessings are pouring in. Here is the first miracle we had, and I will just cut and paste it out of my email to President:

We were working with a lady named Luisa a while back (she's the lady who we gave a blessing to, but she wanted her husband to do it). A couple weeks ago her husband answered the door and was very upset, telling us to never come by the house again. That shot our spirits down but we decided to respect his decision. Last Monday night we had the strongest impression to put Luisa's name down at 1:30 pm, right after DDMs. When went by, she answered and lets us in. We made sure that her husband was home, and yes he happened to randomly be home, but he was not sitting in the discussion with us. She asked us why we had not passed by in a while, so I guess her husband did not tell her that he had kicked us out basically. Anyways we get talking about a few different gospel topics, and Luisa says that the doctors still do not know what she has, and she is wondering why God has not taken her yet. She says "Well I have not been baptized before, and I know that I need to do that". We firm her right there on the spot and she accepts 100% to be baptized on Christmas Day! It was really neat to see that sudden committment and we are excited, she has changed so much this week. Her 9 year old son should be joining her in the font, but it is not quite a firm date yet for him. Seriously though, how interesting is it the way the Lord works. I thought all hope was lost with Luisa, but the Lord knew all along the situation and kept prompting us. We had been praying that her husband's heart would be softened, and now he doesn't say anything about us coming over and teaching Luisa. She is so prepared! And yes we did get in and were able to teach Diana and her family. We took Sis Amaya with us and her son Brian who just got back from his mission! (I now understand how mom is going to be when I get home haha, but I mean that in a good way mom!) Her husband was working, but her 3 kids (13, 11, and 9) listened in. The lesson was all over the place. We planned on the plan of salvation with all the rough times their family has had with cancer, and about half way through it switched to the Doctrine of Christ, then it went into apostasy and restoration so we could explain authority to her. Then all of a sudden she looked at the time and said they had to go, so the kids jumped up and started to get ready to go. Then the Amayas began to exchange info with her, and we had not fulfilled our purpose yet in inviting them to be baptized! So I got her attention and said this was the most important part of the lesson! So I started to go into it and we invited her and her family to be baptized on the 25th of December....and she said yes! She wants to do it, but she said she wants to talk to her husband, she wants to have her kids learn more before they make that decision. Probably the biggest issue is that she is having surgery on Dec 16 and again in January, so she is on pool restriction right now! We are praying so hard that the Lord will make something happen so that she with her family can be baptized on Christmas Day.

So there you go, it was a pretty legit week. Just sayin. Heavenly Father is really blessing His children in this area, and I have been an eyewitness. White Christmas anyone??

Real quick mom...you can call us Christmas day between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm for 45 minutes, so figure out what time would be best! (so between 9 and 1 your time) love you!!!

Love you all!! Have a great week!

Elder Draper

Going into the 4th quarter! 6 more months!

Elder Dutson took me out for ice cream on my 18th birthday - 18 months and going strong!
Say cheese Elder Dutson :)
I think he's trying to make his best Kobe face in his favorite Kobe sweatshirt

Que onda!?

I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and were able to enjoy the time together! You all looked good in the pictures mom sent. You know that I was thinking about all of you too as we had our dinner...I miss spending this time of the year with you! We had a pretty fun "gringo Thanksgiving" as it was called. We went to the Lucambio house and had a hugeee turkey, carrots, corn, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie. It was really good, but I came to the conclusion that really what makes thanksgiving a thanskgiving is who you are with. They are a very nice family and it was a great day!

Yeah I guess you could say my stomach has become stronger, physically and as far as eating sketchy stuff. I thought I was a garbage disposable before the mission, but now I seriously am willing to try anything, because it usually tastes good haha. We didn't eat anything crazy this week though. The turkey and trimmings were a nice taste of back home.

There is no specific date for the Calgary temple dedication yet...probably in the fall. I totally have to take a trip here to the temple this time next year, because our recent convert Rosi is getting married to her boyfriend (and fellowshipper) Jose! I got to see her last night at a baptism and it was so cool to hear about her engagement. Obviously it will be a civil one, but in one years time they will be going to the temple together! Baptism is truly just the first step, to see these people progress in the gospel while you are still in the mission is amazing. I have not heard back from Hayden. I have a feeling that he didn't know he needs two stamps to get a letter here but we'll see.

So this week was pretty good. Things are still going slow, but I know that everything happens in the Lord's time. So we went by Herbert this week. He opened the door and said "Well let's get this over with." That threw Elder Dutson and I off a little bit and kinda worried me that he was going to shoot us down. So we sit down and he says "Well what do you have to say?" Again, I feel shot down. Finally we are able to get a conversation going, and long story short he told us he is a member of the church already. When he was 16 he got baptized in El Salvador, and has been inactive ever since then basically. He said he loved his time in the church, but his life took him in another direction. His wife and two kids of 14 and 19 aren't members. It was a very spiritual conversation as we testified to him that God had not forgotten him, and that He inspired us to go by and and bring him back into the fold. He said after the busy holidays he is going to come back to church and invite his family to join with him. How cool! We thought they were all non-members, but then to hear the whole story and what had happened in his life. It is pretty awesome to be a part of something that is bigger than you, something that you can't see how it happens from above the field.

As we were leaving Thanksgiving dinner, we got a call from Sis. Pavon and she said they were with a lady that was diagnosed with cancer and asked for a blessing, so we shot right over there. We met Diana from Colombia and her family of 5. We gave her a blessing and afterwards we found out that she really appreciated it. We are going to be teaching her and her family this Wednesday! It seems like the Lord is preparing this family and we hope that we can help them see the importance of being baptized and accepting the gospel in their lives. We are also going to be teaching a little boy that turns 8 this week, not technically a convert baptism but it will be fun to teach a child. This past week we picked up a new investigator, Mauricio, from Monterrey, Mexico. He LOVED the plan of salvation and wants to join the church with his finance from Brazil. The only problem is that he will be in Mexico during the holidays. In January he committed to come to church and be baptized. I think that is about all of the major updates for now. It is crazy that I turned 18 this past week (in mission time that is)!! It has flown by for me, and now it is time to echarle ganas and do work in the 4th quarter!

All I have left to say is I love you and get ready because I'm working on a long list of questions for our phone call on Christmas Day! Thanks for everything you do for me and have a great week!

I love you all!!!

Elder Draper

Happy Thanksgiving family!

Cold and clear winter night in the city
View of me typing my weekly emails from the library between the adult non-fiction rows
The Calgary Temple is moving along!
"Cevichi" is a Peruvian dish we had with Amalia. It has everything from the sea in it; optopus, squid, snail and all other sea critters!

YO!

Wow sounds like you had an amazing trip to the bay area! I'm glad everybody had a fun time and enjoyed themselves on mom and dad's anniversary trip haha. By the way congrats on 22 years mom and dad! Holy cow that's sweet that dad was able to track down where he lived (in San Jose) on his mission! 30 years later crazy!

Our week was pretty good...better than last week for sure ha. Yes I got the package so thank you for that! Those are some of my favorite power bars so I guess it was really worth the extra costums charges:)

We did a few interesting things this week. We have been trying to find a way of using family history in our finding and teaching efforts. So we took a trip across the street to the family history center, and I know some people reading this are going to laugh (I would) but it was really cool! This lady showed us how to get started and how it all works. The Spirit of Elijah definitely hit me and now I think it would be way fun to actually do it a little. I found an ancestor a couple hundred years back that needs his endowment and sealing...I am totally going to do it for him! So that was a surprisingly fun trip.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday were officially the first days of winter I think. The temp dropped to -19 Celsius, and with windchill -30. It's gonna be a longgg winter haha. By Sunday night we were cold and tired and did not have a single investigator lesson. We decided to go by this older lady we have been working with, Vilma. She let us in and we had an amazinggg lesson! The Lord has definitely been working with her the last 2 weeks we have not been able to find her at home. The lesson was so spirit driven and she told us that she doesn't want to take the decision of baptism unless her 20 something year old son decides too. But, we extended her the 25th of December to be baptized with her son, and she said she would work towards it, especially because she will be out of school on the 14th I think. So hopefully they will be the first 2 people we have lined up for baptism to complete the zone goal of 25 on Christmas day! Then right after we stopped by this potential family, Sandra and Herbert. Last week Herbert said he was dealing with a major family issue and couldn't let us in. So yesterday when we stopped by Sandra answered and we talked to her about how the message we have blesses families and helps them through trials and have a happier home. Her response was "That is exactly what we need right now...come by Tues. at 5:30". Another example of the Lord preparing His children. We have a new investigator lesson on Tuesday as well with a Mexican named Mauricio and his fiance. He is super interested in the church. Another solid investigator we have is Alexander from Colombia. He lives downtown and we should be setting a baptismal date with him on Saturday. Things are going, just slower than what we would like.

My favorite scripture...hmmm good question. I think over the course of the mission it has become Mosiah 3:19, but lately...Alma 42 is pretty solid haha. But yeah I wish I could just have a camera attached to my head 24/7 so you can really see all the things we are doing, I know I leave out a lot of details. So many crazy experiences, spiritual moments, and just funny or awkward times that you'll just never get to see. The mission is SO amazing and such a blessing. I'm grateful for the things I've learned here in the field and from you back home. It has made me such a better person (hopefully) and has grown my desire to do God's will.

Thanks for everything and have an awesome week!

Love Elder Draper :)

Dad that is such a sweet story! Man that was so awesome to hear about and pumped me up to go find somebody like that to convert! Now that I have been serving a mission and have had similar experiences, I understand and appreciate stories like that so much more. It is really incredible the relationships you build with people as you teach them the gospel in their home. I am stoked to hear all of your conversion stories pretty soon! Plus hearing stories like that remind me that these 2 years are actually real and effect the rest of my life (it is sometimes easy to forget that). Thanks for sharing that, I felt really good reading it :) Thanks for your example and everything that you have done for me over the last 20 years. I'm grateful for our friendship and the experiences we have together on earth. I hope you have a great week!! Good luck with work and stay warm down in Cal ;) Love, Ryan

Monday November 14, 2011

Enjoying the ward activity
The temple wall :)
Menudo - his lunch this afternoon to keep him warm and full

Hello family!

Hi there and sorry that I'm late getting this email off to you. Every single computer at the library was being used by these older people taking a computer seminar or classes of some kind. It's been like this the past two weeks so you can probably plan on this time for the next little while. Elder Dutson and I already got our shopping done this morning so afterward we'll have the afternoon for hoops. It is getting to be so cold for me. It's still bearable but barely! Snow should officially hit this week, probably tonight actually. I can promise you that I will miss a lot of things about my mission but the winter is not one of them!

This week was a little bit more tough for us teaching wise. There were lots of mission trainings and meetings, so we had a hard time getting things going with our pool. We were not able to meet with any investigators, but we have a great week lined up with investigator lessons. Haha yeah pretty crazy about the packages you sent. I knew that that could not be right...$250 dollars for protein bars, Cheez-itz and oreos? That's never happened before.

The elders in the south east had a baptism yesterday, so obviously that was the best highlight. Hopefully we will be the next ones with a baptism. We do not have to teach english class anymore because the stake called some member teachers, thank goodness. It was just wasting our proselyting time and we really need to be knocking doors instead. Yeah we set our clocks back, that was amazinggg. The sun comes up by 7:30 am and it sets around 5:15 pm yeah basically the same as home. In the middle of winter it will be down around 4:30 pm if I remember correctly. Yeah tracting at night now is very demanding and when the doors are opened we feel the heaters and hope to get invited inside. It is always better to have appointments set up so you know you'll be inside and warm.

Yeah I have no idea about when you do classes registration, housing and all of that jazz. I was going to ask Alexa if she could run by the admin office and ask for me. New foods this week...well it isn't new but for lunch today we had menudo...you can look up what that word means because I'm not really sure but it tastes good. I sent some pics of it too. We have not had to cook too much lately, because we have been getting an overload of dinner appointments which is always great. But cooking has definitely become a hobby of mine. The latest things I've learned to make is what they call pita tacos. You heat up a pita bread, slice it down the middle so you can open it up and make a taco, then throw in some ground beef and whatever else you want. They are pretty good with a nice spicy homemade salsa.

Okay I will try to get a zone picture soon. We have zone conference on thanksgiving day, so that will be my best bet. Yeah I honestly can't think of much for Christmas. Ok maybe to reach our goal of 25 baptisms on Christmas Day but I don't think you can wrap that up for me! What I appreciate most is just letters and hearing from you like that. Yes a tan will be my first item of business haha it is insane! Sounds like you have a pretty fun trip planned to San Fran! That will be so awesome for dad to visit his mission. I wish I knew more about dad's mission, I don't ever remember seeing baptismal pics or hearing crazy stories.

Sorry I really don't have too much to share from this week. We have 4 or 5 investigator lessons set up and hopefully will be teaching a new mexican family that just got here last week! That was a pretty cool miracle how we found them...just going by an old potential investigator who had moved. Anyways I gotta go ball it up but thanks for all that you do and know that you are in my prayers!

Love you all!!!

Elder Draper

Monday November 7, 2011

Downtown Calgary at night with the Calgary Tower all lit up
Sad news this week, Nely one of Ryan's converts passed away from a stroke. Her husband survived a stroke years ago and now he is left a widower.

Nelly on her baptism day with Ryan and Elder Rudd

Que honda!?

Yeah that is pretty crazy how much time is left mom! I better step it up and take advantage of the time remaining! Thanks for all of the packages plus the ones the way!! It is so nice to get things from you and to just hear from you. It is a great morale booster for me so thanks!

This week was pretty good. Yes hard to beat a baptism week. Some sad news though to start: Nely who got baptized last December passed away on Saturday. She had a major stroke and was not going to be able to talk/walk, but she ended up dying during the night. That was pretty hard on me and I have been reflecting a lot on how precious our time is here. She was not progressing in the gospel very well, because she wasn't able to get to church much with her husband but I know she had a firm testimony. I know that she is getting a great chance now to learn a ton about the gospel and is converting other stubborn baptists in the spirit world (she was a die hard baptist so we were so surprised when she finally was baptized). I was also thinking this morning in the shower...we gotta share the gospel with Erica! I have been thinking who I want my first prospect to be back home ha. She was the first person who popped in my mind, so let's come up with a plan and get her and her family baptized! It sounds like Dad is on fire right now, so maybe he can pull some Spanish out of his back pocket and preach la palabra to her!

We had a pretty legit miracle this week. It was 8:30PM on Friday night, I was burned out from the day and just wanted to call it a day. We felt like we had to knock this one door that we were pretty sure was Spanish. We knock it and this kid around 20 answers. He goes and grabs his mom and tells us to come in because of the cold. We start talking to her and we learn that her name is Vilma from Colombia. She looks very fragile and has some visible health problems (one of those holes they cut into smoker's throats ouchhh). She tells us that we could not have come by at a better time. She was looking for God and we happened to show up. She asks us to just leave her something to read, because she had no time (she is back in school studying so she can hopefully get a better job). We ask for just 20 minutes and she lets us sit down. She has no idea about her purpose living, so we talk a lot about the plan of salvation. We fulfill our purpose as missionaries by inviting her to come unto Christ through baptism, and she says that she can't compromise her religion (catholic). It was one of the most spiritual lessons of my mission, and she felt it too. By the end of the lesson we got her to commit to meet with us again this week and to pray about what we are asking her to do. She is such a sweet lady and we both feel the Lord has prepared her to receive the gospel at this time. It is so much fun to teach people who have softened hearts, and she definitely has one. Our investigators closest to baptism, Luisa and Brandon, are seeing major opposition from her husband. We stopped by 2 nights ago and he told us never to come to their house again. Luisa definitely has interest, because when she opens the door her face lights up and she is so excited to talk to us. We fasted that his heart will be softened, so we will see what happens I guess.

Anyways I guess that is it for this week. I love you all so much and pray that you have a fun safe week!!!

Love, Elder Draper

Two wonderful baptisms Sunday

The field is white already to harvest...
Amalia's baptism in the Spanish Branch on Sunday with her son, Renzo who baptized her
Rosa's baptism in the Spanish Ward on Sunday with her fellowshipper Jose who baptized her

Elder Draper enjoys a little treat on Halloween to top off a month full of teaching and hard work...and after a lot of prayer and perseverance, the blessings came!

Home made tortillas - oh and I spy the pumpkin halloween lights I sent him in the back ground

HELLO FAMILY!!!!

Wow what a weekend and week! First transfer news: I am staying here in the central as the lone zone leader with Elder Dutson, and I could not be more excited! Wow we are so happy, I have really come to love Elder Dutson. We get along perfectly and we have made some BIG plans for this next transfer, so we are pumped to be together and make things happen. Elder Brandon is still the district leader here in the Spanish branch and Elder Nielson is going back up to the west area to be the second district leader. They will be such a great support.

No it didn't snow yesterday but on Friday morning it snowed for like 15 minutes, very lightly, so I guess you can count it as the first snowfall. It is really has not gotten terribly cold yet, still sunny but with a cold wind. I am happy about that haha. Saturday night we dropped by the ward Halloween party for a few minutes but had to leave pretty quick to go meet with Amalia. Halloween was pretty fun day for us. After pday we changed and went out to Fatburger and brought it back to the house to eat...it is one of only 2 in the whole city, and I had no idea it was here! That was the best treat we got for sure and it tasted just like the ones at home. Then we just went back and hung out really, watched a church movie and had a great night.

But of course the highlight of the week was the baptisms of Rosa, Manuel, and Amalia! Rosa has progressed sooo much in just 2 weeks and it was so much fun to see that. She actually moved up north yesterday, so President Archibald told us to baptize her into Crescent View, rather than the branch here in downtown. So it was interesting that we were able to go up there to baptize her into my old ward. Her baptismal service was shared with Manuel Reyes, the father of a member Emmanuel Reyes. Rosa's fellowshipper, Jose, had to dunk her about 5 times because her dress kept popping up out of the water. So that baptism was at 5:00, and of course it started at 5:20. Amalia's baptism started at 6:30, so at about 6:10 we had to speed down to the Foothills stake center, about a 30 minute drive, to make it on time. We finally got there and everybody was waiting for us, so we took a quick picture with her and the service started right away. The Spirit was so strong and I had a really special experience. We were standing at the top of the stair case in the font, so we had like a side view of the baptism. As her son was saying the baptismal prayer, they were looking right into each other's eyes and I don't know why but that was such a powerful manifestation of the Spirit. I'm sure the veil was very thin and that her husband was there too. What a powerful moment. Seeing the gospel change the countenance of Amalia was one of the best experiences of my mission. Right when she came up out of the water, with a grin from ear to ear, she said "I'm a Mormon now!" Man what a day. It was crazy trying to get everything to run smoothly and to make it to both baptisms, but it all came together for a very successful day. We are still working with a few families and getting them to meet with us.

Other than that things are going so well and we are so excited for this next transfer! Thanks for all of your love and support and prayers and packages! Have a great week!!!

Hey Nick! Haha your picture with the pajamas made me lol! It looks like you have grown a little bit lately...nice! Nice work on the field...do they have you playing foward or midfield? Yeah when the Lord sends you on a assignment to preach the gospel in a certain language, He always gives you extra help. Yeah so keep working hard so we can speak Spanish together in less than 7 months! It'll go by quick. Keep up the good grades and have a great week!

Con amor,

Elder Draper

Calgary Chinatown

There are a few Mandarin Chinese speaking elders in his mission. Calgary has 4th largest Chinatown district in Canada so there must be a lot of members mingled throughout this part.

Who wouldn't want to eat here?!

Talking a little walking tour of this part of the city...

This week is transfers so Ryan will email us on Tuesday to let us know where whether he'll be staying or moving on to a new area.

Two months and a day until our Christmas call!

Here's a few older pictures that were on his SD card...

Elder Draper and the Spanish Zone
Elder Draper with Elder Rios, Juan and Elder Rudd
Random shots of Calgary
We don't see trees this color in California
Beautiful double rainbow
Visiting the church book store in Cardston on their September trip to the temple
Looks like life is good!

Good Morning!

Another amazing week in the books. The time is going by so fast! Yes hopefully you can tell by the SD card that I am still Ryan haha. Life is going great and I cannot complain. Today is shopping day - grocery shopping first then off to the Chinook Mall to hang out. We always finish off pday with some hoops so should be good. Sounds like you all had a great week as well. Tell Rachel congrats about getting her braces off. We are excited for the holidays too and already have the Christmas CD's playing in our car. I can't believe our phone call is already two months away, it seems like it will be the last one because the Mother's Day call will be two weeks before I get home...I don't know what I will have to say!

Good job dad! Glad to hear your talk went well in the Spanish ward Sunday. We should totally be speaking companions when I get back! That would be so much fun to do that in a different language together. Yeah Spanish wards are so much more relaxed and laid back I think. Especially here in the branch because the attendance is pretty low. I want to go to a Spanish ward like 1 every month or so just to keep up my Spanish. I really have no idea what is going to happen at transfers next week. I could see myself going to the Foothills Stake with Elder Brandon, with him becoming the 2nd zone leader. We will see I guess.

Yesterday was great, both of our investigators who are getting baptized next Sunday showed up to church so that was huge! This past week was pretty solid too. Rosi and Amalia are progressing well and are all still set to be baptized! They came to all 3 hours really enjoyed it. Rosi has stopped drinking coffee after having 2 or 3 daily, pretty sweet miracle. The Spanish North elders taught a man named Alex this past week, and he is working towards baptism for the 6th of November. The best part is that he is moving downtown this week...our area! On Monday we challenged Sis. Amaya to find us somebody to teach within 7 days, and she found somebody after 3 days! It is a Colombian lady and her husband with 2 small children. We are teaching them tonight for the first time! I have never seen a more successful member missionary than Sis. Amaya. She knows how to do work. This week we met a bunch of Spanish families that have agreed to hear our message, so we really excited to just bust open this area this week. Luisa is seeing some opposition from her husband, but she is still very close to accepting a date for baptism.

Not much else to report on. The weather is really nice for this time of year, but of course it is already too cold for me. This time last year was freezing and snowing so at least it is better second time around. Hopefully this means that we have a short winter. I just sent some more pictures but I think they'll take a while to get to your box. Well I gotta log off mom but I love you and thanks for all that you do! You are amazing and I can't wait to talk to you!

I love you all and pray for you every day! Take care!!

Con amor E. Draper

Greenie prank

Welcome to Calgary Elder Rios!

Pretty picture of what the storm unleashed - looks like Cafe Rio ice cubes :)
Crazy Calgary weather! Not the kind of picture I really like seeing but happy they avoided crashing into the car that skidded out in front of them.
The story behind this picture is shown in the video below...

NBA or Church Ball?

I choose this!

Monday October 17, 2011

Hello hello!

To answer your first question, this week was definitely a 10!! The quick news is that we have 2 baptisms scheduled so far for the 30th of October!! Amalia is the first one...we went by on Tuesday and showed her the movie On The Way Home. It is about a little girl that dies and the family takes the missionary lessons and is baptized. At the end of the movie she said she really liked it. We asked her what she felt like God wanted her to do based on the movie, and she started going off about praying and reading the scriptures, etc., which is true, but not quite the answer we were looking for. I told her that He wants her to come back to Him, and the only way you can do that is...then she cuts me off and says "baptism, yes I know and I will do that very soon". She started talking about work and how she can't get Sundays off, etc. Right then I ask her if she believes that God answers her prayers. She said yes, and we committed her to kneel down right there and pray and ask specifically if God wants her baptized on the 30th. She was all for it so we all knelt down. She didn't say anything for like a minute, and we all look up and it is obvious that she saying a silent prayer. Her son and daughter and law wanted to tell her something, but we motioned to them to let her continue to pray. After 8 minutes on our knees (I was counting), she looks up and says "ok". We sit down and ask her "Well what did He say?" She says that the answer was yes! Then we made sure by inviting her for the 30th, and she accepted! It was one of the most powerful experiences of my mission.

Then the next day we taught a lady named Rosi from Mexico. We read 3 Nephi 11 with her and it was amazing to see the power of the Spirit and the Book of Mormon working on her. We talked about what it says in the chapter, the authority to baptize, the way to perform it, and the doctrine of Christ. All we did was asked her what she thought she needed to do, and she said "I need to get baptized I guess". So we invite her and she accepts for the 30th of October! I'd be thankful with those but no, yet another miracle: It was about 8 PM on Wednesday and I did not like the plans we had made to finish off the night. We felt like going by this one potential investigator instead, Luisa. So we go by at about 8:30 pm. She has never let us in her home, but we have talked to her on the doorstep a few times. She opens the door crying and lets us in. After about 3 minutes of siting in silence, she says that she is sick and has problems with her health and the doctors have no idea what it is. She was scared that it is cancer, and between the fear and the pain she was having one of the worst days of her life. Well, it is apparent that the Lord wanted us here at this time, and she said she normally would not have opened the door, and her husband actually told her not too, but she felt like she needed to do it. We talked about the priesthood and offered her a blessing. We explained how blessing have two parts, and we asked her who she would like to do each part. She looks over at her husband and asks him to give it. Of course he said he has no idea how because he does not hold the priesthood, so we did it. The blessing said according to your faith you will be completely healed, so we are still trying to help her show more faith (by accepting baptism). They have a 9 year old boy too so we are really pushing to get them baptized on the 30th as well.

On Saturday I went on exchanges with Elder Brandon to the Foothills stake. They had an appt with a 9 year old investigator down in High River, about 45 minutes south of Calgary. The appt was not confirmed, so he did not really want to head down there, but I felt like it needed to be done. So we get down there and he is by himself so we can't go inside the house. We get back to the car and decide to go by a Spanish speaking member there, just so we don't waste this long trip. We are driving over and I spot a Latino man walking down the street, and I felt this strong urge to talk to him, but we continue on. We pull up to the house of the member and right then this member happens to call us asking about this 9 year old boy and how he is progressing. Well during the conversation we find out that he does not live at the house we are parked out front of anymore. Just as he explains that, we see this same Latino man that was walking down the street enter into this house where the member used to live!! We recognize that as a sign and go knock the door. This man answers the door and lets us in right on the spot. His name is Marvin and he is from Guatemala, been here four years without his family. We teach him lesson 1 and he recognizes the Spirit and how good he feels, and he accepts to be baptized on the 30th of October! The Lord guided us 45 minutes out of the city to rescue one of his children. My testimony of following through on my inspiration has been strengthened so much, because that is usually the Spirit. The whole zone is doing great and seeing lots of miracles!

Yes I got your letter and the SC cards, thank you!!! Today we are making tortillas! Did I send you that recipe from Sis. Salazar? We tried it yesterday and they turned out amazing, so we are going to make a ton today. Then we'll just play basketball as usual. I sent my sd card a few days ago, so it should arrive this week, you will have plenty o pictures off that so I don't have any today. Thanks for your love and support, it really pumps me up and gets me excited to get back to work!

We usually hold English classes twice a week, and we kind of rotate teaching it. ISO 7X is working very good actually, I love it. I am still right at 160 lbs, I feel very lucky haha. Once I am home I will put on a little more weight, but I don't want to do that here ha.

I better head off mom but I love you! Life is great! The gospel is true! I hope you all have a wonderful week!

I miss you and love you!!

Elder Draper