Happy V-Day!

Greetings everyone,

Well Happy Valentine's Day! That is a fun holiday as a missionary haha not really. We have a branch FHE tomorrow so we are hoping all of our investigators come out to it. I will try to take a few pics. Yeah I am excited for Rocky to go through the temple in a couple weeks. He is taking the temple prep classes. I don't know if we are allowed to be his escort, I guess we'll see. There are a couple families that travel down to Salt Lake once a year, so yeah I will try to meet up with them after the mission. You better learn a little Spanish if you wanna meet them mom :)

Wow looks like Rachel's party was intense!! The pictures looked like everyone had a lot of fun. The youth in our ward look sooo different. I have not seen them at all during my mission so that is probably why. Good luck with the driving test Rachel!! You will do great, you have put in the effort. Don't be nervous, if it doesn't happen this week it will still happen so no worries at all :) Yes I got your Valentine package and thank you for everything! You got me every single one of my favorite candies...you know me too well! Rocann sent me one with candy too so tell her thank you for me. That was a really nice surprise!

So as far as the area goes...little bit of a knot this week in the rope but not the end of the world. We traveled all the way down to High River to teach the Lunas, and they were not home :/ They are impossible to contact sometimes. But, right when we knocked their door, I heard a Spanish lady yelling at her kids from the neighbors house. We went over and met Rosa from El Salvador. She has 3 kids and actually works with Francisco Luna. She goes to a christian church in the city but only because it is in Spanish. There could be a little potential there. Not too much progress with Sara and Diego this week. We dropped by a couple times to follow up on their reading and they have not done it yet, but not because they don't want to. You can tell they are very genuine, but change is definitely hard. She told us how she loves the Virgin Mary, but doesn't worship her. We showed her Nephi's vision of Christ in 1 Nephi 11 where it talks about Mary and we said we love Mary too haha. I didn't think that was false doctrine. But we are pretty sure she in a way prays to Mary, but at least it boosted her desire to read the BoM because it mentions Mary haha. They are excited to come to this FHE activity tomorrow. There is not much we can do with Liliana right now. She is not willing to do anything until the end of March, so we will maintain contact with her. We picked up a former investigator named Estefania. She has a super interesting situation which would take too much time to explain now, but basically she is the only non- member in her family. She goes to church every Sunday with them in an English ward, but is not baptized. We taught her this week and she fasted with us for an answer from God. She has a family concern that is the only thing holding her back from being baptized into the Church. We are teaching her tonight and we are going to make some of the boldest promises that I have ever made to somebody on my mission. We feel like we can do so under the authority that God has given us, and we feel it is His will.

Pretty crazy stuff I love it! I will tell you about it when I'm home. Well next Monday is Family Day, so the libraries will be closed. We have zone conference the next day so I don't know exactly when I will email. Tues. or Wed. for sure. But I think that is about it for this week. We saw a couple of evidences this week that the Lord is preparing people for us to teach and He really wants the members to be the ones to take the initiative and inviting. He knows that is the best most successful way to bring His children back. I hope I have that implanted in my brain and heart for when I am a normal member again. Anyways have a great week I love you all!!

Sorry mom that this missionary who sends home pictures every week is failing you today! I really wish I had some to send. I still look the same as last week don't worry haha I love you!!! Thanks so much for everything!

Elder Draper

Maddie!!! Thanks so much for writing me! That was such a nice email. That is so good that your are getting good grades I am happy for you! I know it is hard sometimes to pay attention in class, but do your best because school is very important. Good work with the Faith in God too!! Ok I will try to answer your question now sorry I didn't have time on Christmas. Yes I want to go to Disneyland, the beach, watch lots of movies, play basketball, go to the temple, malls, you name it! How about you make a list of what you want to do with me and we will do it deal? Cool. Things you didn't know about a mission? Well did you know that you don't get to sleep on a mission? We have to work ALL the time, even at night....haha jk. Well everyday I wake up at 6:30 and workout, shower, eat breakfast. At 8:00 I study the scriptures by myself. At 9:00 I study the scriptures with my companion and we plan what we are going to teach that day. Then at 10:00 I study Spanish, at 11:00 we eat lunch. At 12:00 we leave the house and start talking to everybody and inviting them to learn about the gospel. Then we come home at 9:00 PM and plan what we are going to do the next day. At that point I am exhausted and I go to bed. And then, the same thing happens the next day! Hopefully there was something new you learned about missions. Ask me more questions next week! I love you Maddie take care! Elder Draper