Monday September 26, 2011 − 1/3 to go!

His signature "I love this place" pose
In front of the missionary pad
On Saturday they were able to participate in the Calgary Inter-faith Food Bank Drive
Looks like the apples were imported from his home state of California :)
Ryan's unloading the cars...
and finally here's all the food they collected and loaded into trucks
Breakfast of champions
Blake has a RM room mate that served in Chile who drinks mate so he asked Ryan if he'd heard of it. Yep, this is just a picture of Ryan's gourd, the canister that he drinks his mate in. Both Ryan and Blake assure us, it's really not bad! (pronounced mah-tay) In fact I found this on Mormon Missions Blogspot:

"In South America for example missionaries drink maté. It is the national drink in Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, and a common social practice in parts of Brazil, Chile and eastern Bolivia. I first encounter it back in the mid1970s when a friend of mine went to Chile. He said the members pestered you and wouldn't quit until you drank it. They considered it an insult if you didn't drink it. There are special bombilla or silver straws and filters that give the drinker status based on their intricate design. Again missionaries from these countries collect bombas since they are attractive and a token shared by friends."

Heyy!

So I guess today is my 16th birthday haha. I am now a legal preacher of the gospel? Ok sorry for the lame missionary joke, I promise that is not my humor now haha. Dad pointed out that this is the 2/3 mark, and I didn't even realize it! No Mom that does not make me trunky, no worries. Things like that would make missionaries who don't want to be here trunky. I am loving life and am super happy with where I am. I understand now that it will be pretty tough to leave when the time comes. (Here’s a little explanation; I had asked him if he doesn’t like us to write about how much longer he has left…some missionary moms on the website think it’s such a bad thing to talk about, I don’t get it. You talk about how much longer you have till you report to the MTC pre-mission, what’s so horrible about talking about how much longer till you report back home? Weird, so glad he isn’t bothered by it)

Elder Brandon was made a District Leader last week so he is really helping me out! The Lord has guided us to sooo many new investigators this month, like we have picked up 9 but it’s a struggle to teach them. They are so busy and don’t answer their phone. It might help if we could text them. I think we might be able to soon because the AP’s can so hopefully it will get passed down to the ZL’s too. We have not set any baptismal dates yet, but I feel more content with what I am doing now than my whole mission, so I that makes me feel good.

Tell Rachel congrats on making JV!!! I really want to see her play and see how much she has improved since I left. I bet she has a lot! I'm sure Nick and Maddie are tearing it up too with their soccer teams. Man I love sports haha. Yes we get every Ensign in Spanish, so we are good there. I really don't know what I want for Christmas. I would rather just have a big Christmas when I get home. There are just not many things I can have as a missionary that I would ideally want so I’m good. Yeah whenever you send me an SD card I will swap up...there are some sick videos of us ballin!

This week’s menu consisted of pasole, tortas, and vuelva a la vida, all Mexican dishes. Vuelva a la vida is like a cocktail salsa thing, is has shrimp, squid, oyster, tomato, cilantro. That wasn't too great haha. Maybe Dad has had them before? You have to try tongue tacos seriously don't let what it actually is freak you out, the flavor is superr good trust me. I am coming home and cooking one up for you!

This week I was able to interview to baptismal candidates, Aris (the wife of Oracio who got baptized 2 weeks ago) and Alejandro. They both passed and were baptized yesterday which is always amazing. Ok one cool miracle: We were knocking a door that we thought maybe could be Spanish, and nobody answered. We see an Asian parked on the street so we walk up to the window to talk to her, and she rolls the window down. She is not interested, but we ask her if she knows any Spanish people in the area, and she say the door we just knocked is Spanish! So then we walk down the street a bit and feel inspired to knock another door. It turns out that a member answers, and we ask her if she knows any Spanish people, and she points to that same door we had first knocked! So we know that by the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established haha. About 30 minutes later, in a different neighborhood, we drive by a house and the construction workers look Spanish, so we pull over and chat. They aren't, and we ask if the owner of the house is home, and they say yes. So we knock the door and a lady answers, and says she is from Colombia! She tells us that she does not live there and is only helping her father move out, but said we could visit her family any time at her house. So I give her my agenda and she writes the address of her home. We get back in the car and I look at the address and say "Waitttt a minute!!!" Yes! It was that original house that we had knocked! So we are super excited to share this story with Judith and her family and help them see that the Lord led us to them in a very interesting way.

Well today we need to get some shopping done then off to play hoops. Hopefully we will be able to set some baptismal dates this week and help this investigators return back to Heavenly Father! Love you all so much and pray that you have a great week and enjoy conference!!!

Love you so much and have a fun, safe trip!

Elder Draper

Blake, Yessss that is sweet that you are starting to teach! Gotta love Mission Prep! You are going to be such a more prepared missionary than me...plus you have Riley to answer your questions and help you out! Yes I will bring mate home, I attached a picture so you can see my gourd, yeah it's pretty legit. Temple attender huh? That is definitely a calling that I have never heard of, but awesome! There is no better place to be than in the temple so that will be fun for you every week. Yep only 8 months left, I can't believe it. It feels like I just left seriously so weird. Can't wait to hang out with you again! Have a great week Blake love ya!

Canada's version of Tucanos? Yum!

Even the sewer covers are pretty

Milk and cookies are what he'd eat pre-mission but now he eats this...

Hola family!

Wow seems like everybody has so many things going on and that is great! It is a busy busy time of year for sure! This week was a little bit slower for us, but it was still lots of fun. Yeah tacos de lengua are the best thing ever! I will send some pics in a sec. It was the biggest tongue I've ever seen. It was good to see Juan Carlos randomly walking down the street and glad to hear you're keeping in touch with Alma.

The investigators with the most potential are working a ton and we are having a hard time meeting with them. Mario came to church again and really loved it, but we are struggling to find a time to teach him during the week. The last couple of weeks we have been praying a lot for a family of 4 or 5 to teach that is ready to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the prayer was answered! We knocked this door and a Filipino lady answered, she was not interested, but we asked her if she knew any Spanish people. "Our neighbors are Spanish I think", is her response. We then sprint to the next door and a lady answers. Elder Dutson starts to do a door approach in English, and she gets this look on her face like "Nope go away". Finally she says in very broken English "Sorry I really don't understand what you are saying". Yes! So I just start speaking Spanish and we end up talking to Lolita from Tampico Mexico! She has a husband, a little girl and two teenagers! She was saying that they have been here for 9 months and have not congregated themselves to a church yet, but they had plans to do so. She explains that and then is like "And then you showed up at my door! Who sent you? Where are you from?" Those are the most golden questions we could get, so we are looking to meet with them this week and get them progressing in the gospel! Just one of the little miracles we were blessed with this week. Another time we were driving down a road and a noticed a lady walking by the road and my first thought was "She is totally Mexican". So we drive up a little more and pull off in an alley and start walking around the corner acting as if we were already there, and happened to run into her haha. Her name was Cicilia and she is from SONORA!!! She accepted a family proclamation and we are hoping to be able to meet with her this week.

Those are some of the fun things that happened to us, and it is quite clear to me that the Lord is in charge of this work and He is guiding us to the people He wants us to talk to. I haven't gotten an email which means I'm staying here. I'll let you know next week what happened to the other missionaries. Well thanks for everything mom! I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!!!!

Love, Elder Draper

Thanks for the update Dad! Yeah I love that talk, it has helped me a lot here for sure. We really do not have a limit on our potential, in any aspect of our lives. A cool quote by President Archibald is "We limit our pontential by our lack of faith". I mean if we understand the promised blessings in the temple, then we'll understand what is really our capabilities. That is such a good idea to go out on a mission right after high school. That year in between is like a limbo year ya know? Kinda like how they had that little meeting before saying bye to your missionary. Not anymore. Just pull the bandaid off quick and go haha. Anyways I better get going, thanks for everything and I hope you have a great week!

Tuesday September 13, 2011

Ryan knows practically the first question I write each week will be "do you have pictures for us?" and he's pretty good to deliver on my weekly (unrelenting) request. Poor guy, I know missionaries are busy but his pictures makes all of us back home so happy. There are still many more but there isn't a long enough song to show them all...

I.LOVE.THIS.MISSIONARY. video #2

Monday September 12, 2011

Happy comps during their first transfer together - Elder Dutson and Draper

In the north east area of the city, there is a neighborhood full of southern California city names! I'll take pictures of the rest when I serve up there. This picture's for mom - Costa Mesa girl!

A random park with Avatar looking statues

We had a baptism Sunday, Horacio from Chihuahua Mexico. His wife Aris will be baptized super soon too!

Que onda!?

Today we will hit the basketball court after emailing but first things first....It looks like fall is officially here! The leaves are changing and so is the weather...it is starting to take it's gradual dip, ughhh. But luckily there are a ton of sweet miracles happening and that makes me happy! That is funny that you saw Kirby (Elder Calhoun in the Best Two Years) at the Marriott in Rexburg, he seems like kind of a nerd to me, but maybe that is just the role he always plays in the movies.

So yeah we were talking about how crazy fast the 10 years went since 9/11. I feel like that was just a few years ago, but I was in 5th grade at Wagon Wheel! The USA is the Promised Land in the Book of Mormon that is for sure. I was reading in 1 Nephi today about that and how our land will be safe and preserved for Zion unless the people and leaders become wicked and corrupt...hmmm it seems like that is starting to happen haha. Guess we'll see what happens.

Yeah mom I have been getting emails almost weekly from Facebook about my email address, I feel like a bad missionary everytime I see them so thanks for fixing that for me. To answer some of your questions, I have not made that flan yet, but I am going to buy the ingredients this week and give it a try. I make a few things we eat with members, like tacos. I am STOKED for Wednesday dinner with the Gomez family, they are from Mexico. They are going to make us tacos de lengua (tongue tacos) and to wash it down with tamarindo juice. That is a fruit in mexico that I lovee. I will be sure to take pictures! I have not heard from Nellie in a while, I am going to write her a letter and see how she is doing. Yesterday Elder Nielsen and Elder Nate had a baptism and so as the zone leader I get to attend all the baptisms in the zone! We went up north and I got to see Rocky and Rosa Zamudio (Elle's mom). She went through for her endowment last week and was talking to me about how she is struggling to sleep with them on haha. I was like yep that happens to everybody, you will get used to it soon. Good times haha.

So this week was one of the most miracle filled weeks ever! Here is a few of them: We got a call from the west Spanish elders on Tuesday night. They went over to a members home and the member had a mexican friend over named Mario, not planned at all. They ended up teaching Mario, and he is super interested in learning about the gospel! And it turns out that he lives in our area! He showed up to church and loved it, and we are meeting with him this week. He is looking for a church so we are superrr confident. Then on Friday I went on exchanges with Elder Nielsen in the north east. We got a call from Sis Gillis, a member in the north east area, saying that she felt inspired to have the missionaries over immediately, so she had us over for lunch the next day, the day I happened to be in the area on exchanges. So we share a message about the Atonement, not knowing why we are there. Bro. Gillis speaks up and says that he met a Mexican man Ruben who was interested in english classes and maybe coming to our church. He just had Ruben's number, so after the appt. I gave Ruben a call. He was interested just like Bro. Gillis said, and it turns out that he lives in our area too! He invites us over that night and we have a sweet lesson with him. He leaves for Manitoba in the middle of October, so we are getting him baptized on the 25th of September. He showed up to church, along with Mario, and loved it. Gospel Principles class was on chastity, so I decided to change it and went back and taught chapter 16 I think about the true church of Christ. So amazing! It has been really neat to see the power of faith and prayer, combined with consecration to building up the kingdom of God.

I had a few moments this week where Satan hit me hard and made me not want to do anything, but I just reminded myself of why I am here and that I have set goals that I want to acheive. That helped me rely on the Atonement and focus on the eternal perspective. Good stuff happening here! I am healthy and happy and super pumped for this next 8 months. I know what is required and I have the tools and plans in place, so now it is up to me to follow the Spirit, have faith, and work hard.

Next week is transfers so I'll email on Tuesday. Maybe they'll give me a couple district leaders to help me. Have a great week! Thanks for everything! I love you all and ciao!

Elder Draper

What up Blake? I am super excited for you! Sounds like you have a great set of roommates to hang with. That is cool that there are a couple of Spanish speaking RM's there with you. American Heritage is a beast class lemme tell you that ha. But you are much better student than me so I'm sure you will do fine. Yes tell me what you learn in your mission prep classes and askme any questions. I heard about the Y losing by 1 to Texas. Have fun meeting new people and send some pictures. Did you go to the Dallin H. Oaks CES fireside? I miss those firesides, they are sweet! Well thanks for writing and have a great week. Look forward to hearing how it goes for you...peace out love ya!

Tuesday September 6, 2011

Pictures from Saturday's trip to the Cardston Temple

Que onda!?

No I can't believe that we are in the nine month of 2011! It is so hard for that to sink in for me. Sorry this is later than usual but we had a district meeting this morning. I'll have to email president the district comment sheet, which is a summary of all the companionships this week, after I finish up your email. Yesterday was pday and we balled it up with an English district and then had dinner with a member family from Sonora. They fed us barbacoa tacos...so good! Here's that really good recipe for Spanish flan for you mom:

1 can of evaporated milk

1 can of condensed milk

4 eggs

1 spoon full of vanilla

390 C for 20 min (you will have to convert 390 celcius haha)

That would be really sweet if you could send me a DVD with all of the pictures and videos of the mission. I haven't seen them from the beginning so that would be fun to see them again!

This week was really cool. We picked up four new investigators (finally!!) They all seem pretty solid and we praying hard that they progress and are baptized within the next 2 months. Leidy from Colombia is very open and is willing to ask God if this gospel is true. Pedro and Daniela from Argentina are siblings and did not even know that our church believed in Christ! Can you believe that? I have never met anybody on my mission with that thought before. Pedro was super excited to open up the Book of Mormon and analyze it. And Amalia is the mother of a member in our ward, and she is very busy with work and cannot come to church on Sundays. She cannot leave her job until her residencia arrives, so everyone is praying that that will arrive this month so she can get baptized. We received a few more references so hopefully they turn into investigators.

The temple was AMAZING! Having gone through it now, there is no way I could live without it...I wish we could go more often. I can't think of a better place on earth to go and seek revelation, it is amazing. Mom I saw Liz in the cafeteria and she told me she talked to you, but we had to leave in order to be back in Calgary by 6:00 pm. It was super fun and I learned lots of great things. I don't think that we can do baptisms for the dead, but not sure. Rocky didn't go because he had to work, but he officially received the Melchizedek priesthood!!! He got it after 6 months of membership, which is unheard of! I can't wait to go through with him in February when he gets his endowment. I was super excited to hear that Blake was able to do an anointing! Wow that is powerful! Neat experience. He will be giving lots of blessings up at school, trust me it happened to me ha. I gave one this week as well to Amalia's husband. He is super sick and bed-ridden, I am not really sure what he has. But the blessing said that he would be healed so that he would have the opportunity to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and be able to accept it or reject it here on earth. But, he did the sign of the cross after so who knows if that will affect anything ;)

Care package...hmmm...I would like maybe some thick black socks for winter haha. I don't really need any more clothes or ties though. I'll save asking for those for when I get home. Maybe some protein and power bars. You know me very well hehe. Well I love you all so much and thanks for writing me! I hope you all have a great week back in school or enjoy not having kids in the house, whatever applies haha.

Love you!!!

Elder Draper

Hey thanks for your testimony dad! Yeah temple was way good as always. Man I think the cougs played Texas right?? That would be a big win! That talk by Elder Bednar is really, really good! I have to send you a couple of other really good talks that have helped me too...they are kind of underground talks so I don't know if you could find them on the internet...one is called "The Fourth Missionary" and the other is "Becoming a Consecrated Missionary". Both were given by mission presidents and super solid. Crazy you are getting sister missionaries, it's a first in LR2! Well have a great week and fly HOME safely!