Monday April 25, 2011

Ryan's been sick so I've given him a pass from sending pictures the last two weeks. I like to post pictures with each entry so here's a picture from Easter Sunday 10 years ago of my sweet boys...

and a few from this Easter with Grandma and Grandpa Dokos

Hello Family!

Mom, thanks for the family pictures on Easter with everyone! Dad is going with the surfer hair these days, haha I like it!!! He looks like he has lost a bit of weight too. You still look great and the same mom! None of the members believe your age, just sayin'...that's a good thing! So get this: Juan Carlos Fraire got a job in Regina Sascatchawan starting next week, and Alma and the girls are going back to Mexico...super sad about them leaving. They are such a great family. Yeah I am back to normal this week finally. The week was superrr tough...so weak and sick, must have been weird to see me waddling around trying to talk to people. But I am good now, gonna enjoy the amazing warmth, and play soccer and get tan today! I should get your package today, super excited for that. Thanks for everything mom! You are the best and I love you!

Thank you for all of your testimonies of the Savior, that was really nice for me to read. To be honest (and I hope this doesn't sound like I'm not good), yesterday didn't really feel "different" for me like it did for you it sounds like. The Spanish ward is a little different. One of the talks basically called the ward to repentance, so the meeting was not very Christ focused. Then we had a quiet dinner in our apartment, nothing special. It felt like another day for me, because I guess every day of the mission is like Easter for me...really focusing on the atonement and everything Christ did for us. That perfect act is really the center piece of everything, everyone and everywhere. I have learned to apply it to my daily life, daily situations where I can turn to it and pull from its healing power. Nothing brings me down to the depths of humility more than the Atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I have a firm testimony of it, and I have felt and experienced its healing power.

So President wants us to email you my number for the phone call. It will go down on the 8th after church but we are going to have 5 baptisms that day so hopefully so we'll see how it all works out. My cell number is the exact same too! I am really looking forward to it :)

This week was tough. I came down with the flu and let's just say I had some stomach problems and had to take Pepto Bismal haha. I was super weak and just out of it, plus we had lots of disappointing news, most of it coming on Easter day. We had 4 investigators committed to church: Paty and Ernesto, Jose Antonio (Rocky's coworker) and Lourdes (remember her?) and none of them showed up. That hurt. Then, we went over to visit Martha, the prepared lady so ready for baptism, and she told us that she felt stressed with a baptism, her surgery, her Catholic mother coming up randomly to visit for a month, her school finals, etc. Super depressing, because she is ready. We have a goal of baptizing 5 people on Mother's Day, so we are going to have to pray for miracles and that the people will be put in our path. We feel we are doing everything in our power, so the Lord will do this rest. We also had interviews this week and that is always a great experience.

That was my week basically. Tough, long, but learned a lot. I am so pumped for summer to arrive in Calgary and to see some amazing miracles happen. I love you all and hope you have an amazing week! Take care!

Elder Draper