Happy birthday Elder Draper - #21

The Spanish Zone eating at Gaucho's a Brazilian barbecue restaurant
Ryan's last comp from Spain, Elder Rodriguez
The front of our apartment

Holaaaa!

Thank you all for the birthday wishes! There is so much going on right now that I honestly have not even thought about it. My first week with Elder Rodriguez is up there with one of the most miracle filled weeks of my mission! It was 100% revelation that he came here to this area. He has been out for almost 11 months. It is pretty interesting to live with somebody from Europe. The way he lives the day to day life is completely different to what I am used to ha, but it is fun. He went off track during his teenage years but came back a couple years ago and decided to serve a mission, so he has a super solid testimony.

We taught Victor on Wednesday, and it was the first time I can remember that I straight up cried in a lesson. Wow. Elder Rodriguez has gone through some of the same things that Victor has gone through with his dad, so he really was able to help him out. Everybody was in tears, and it hit me when I starting telling Victor how much I loved him and how grateful I was for our friendship. This weekend he has been praying and thinking and today he is going to inform us if he is getting baptized this Sunday! We have a ton of faith and feel confident that his answer will be yes. We were blessed with the opportunity to teach a new family of 4 from DF Mexico, the Gonzalez family. Super prepared! They are praying as a family as well about being baptized on the 13th of May, Mother's day. We also picked up a couple from Colombia who is interested in coming to church and is reading the Book of Mormon. The way we found these two families are
stories in and of themselves. We found soooo many new people to teach this week. I wish I had more time to help them get into the water!! We def have our work cut out for us.

This weekend is full of good dinners with members, so I know I will be taken care of. I think that is it for this week. Today we are going to have a barbeque and play soccer...27 degrees celcius!!!!! So warm and sunny. Go Lakers!! I'll be praying they get through to the conference finals, that's sweet! Time is quickly dwindling down...it is getting crazy! Well thanks again for the birthday wishes and prayers!

Thanks for the email dad. That poem is very true! I have learned that principle as a missionary. We make plans for people, according to the knowledge that we have about them, but then you get in the moment and a curve ball comes, and you have to follow the Spirit to get you through it. It actually happened several times this very week. Everything else sounds great though! I hope I can make a smooth adjustment and keep up doing the little things of the Gospel. I am sad to leave the field, but I know Heavenly Father has prepared me for the next phase in my life. Should be great! Thanks for all that you are to me. Yeah, that'd be nice to work this summer, thank you. Well I guess we will be talking in a couple of weeks on the phone! Love you!

I love you all!!!

Elder Draper

PS today I received this email from from President Archibald:

Elder Draper,

Well, you served hard time as the zone leader. All of which the Lord was thoroughly mindful of. You were diligent and obedient. That was a laudable achievement. Thanks for your determination in all that you did through those times without a companion zone leader. You did yeoman duty and it was duly noted and recognized. You should have a most welcome and enjoyable last transfer as you seek for miracles and focus on one area. Love you.

President

Down to the last transfer - 6 weeks to go

The temple is getting close. They just installed the maple leaf stained glass windows. There's still not date set for the opening house/dedication.

Here we go! Well I'm not going, I'm staying in the same area!

My last transfer begins today! I can't believe it came this fast. I am no longer in leadership after basically a year. I am so excited to be a normal missionary again and being able to focus on our area. I am staying in the Foothills stake and my new and final comp is Elder Rodriguez from Andalucia, Spain. I was praying to have a native speaker kill me off (missionary lingo) so I can fine tune my Spanish before I go home. I have to help him with English though too, so hopefully we can find a balance. He is a really nice kid and of course connects well with the people because he is native. I am pumped! Today we are going to Gauchos the Brazilian BBQ place again (like Tucanos) for lunch. I will be sure to take pics with all the members. I don't think I will get to see Rocky this transfer. I will invite him for sure to my farewell fireside May 30.

So you want to know what happens next transfer and the going home process? Ok on Wednesday May 30 we are in the mission home all day, and they give trainings to help you get ready for the world again, like girls and school and work. Then there is a nice big dinner, and a fireside at the chapel down the street. We get to personally call and invite anybody in the area that we want during the 2 weeks leading up to that day. They show a slide show of us and then we bear our testimonies. I am only going to speak Spanish for sure. Then we probably stay up all night talking and the AP's drive us to the airport bright and early.

My talk went really well! I felt inspired to base it on the talk by Elder Perry from April 2011, "Perfect Love Casteth Out All Fear". He talks about how we need to advance the understanding of the church, even though it is much more well known in the world, and how loving our friends will take away all fear in sharing the gospel. Probably my last talk in Spanish :( Brendin was baptised Sunday. He is Canadian and a friend of Oriana Amaya. The only reason we went was because Victor (our investigator) went. We weren't able to teach him this week, but now have an appointment for tomorrow. We have an amazing lesson plan for him, about the gift of the Holy Ghost, so we are confident it will go well. We had a pretty neat miracle this week. We felt prompted to visit this English member family in the stake directory, the Kirkmans. We met them and Bro. Kirkman is from Europe somewhere but grow up in Colombia, so he speaks spanish. His wife is chinese. They are actually moving to Irvine pretty soon for a new job, so we got talking a lot about that. Really nice couple. Anyways we asked them if they know any Spanish people and they said no. Then we get into the lesson and share lesson 1 with them, and invite them to find a Spanish speaking person to teach in the next 7 days. All of a sudden he is like, we just rented out the basement last week to a Colombian couple and a single man, I'll invite them. We were like what!? So tonight we have a first lesson set up with those 3 people! We met a Mexican family at ESL, a family of 4, and the wife came up to us and asked about the church and said she is looking for a Christian church. She has breast cancer and is interested in going to church again. We are teaching her, her husband, and her two kids tonight as well. They are so warm and friendly, I connected to them very quickly. I have a lot of faith that we can help them become converted to the restored gospel. That is really about it from this week.

It's kinda funny, my two children here, Elder Rios and Elder Dutson, are now serving together in the Central, where I trained them! My posterity is doin work haha. Well the mixed emotions are becoming more and more intense. Bro. Davis sent me a really nice email. Please tell that I really appreciated that and we'll talk in a few weeks. What he said really made me want to be a missionary forever. Tell him thanks for that too! This has just been the best experience of my life seriously. I always catch myself reflecting on the experiences I've had and lessons I have learned. We were talking with Victor's parents this weekend over dinner about the mission and the changes that it helps you make. What really hit me is that as missionaries, we receive so much spiritual strength. Like, it is so easy and natural for us to pray and study the scriptures and make good decisions. Apparently, when you return that "easiness" is taken away from you. I don't want that to happen to me! So that kind of scared me when Bro. Morante explained that principle. But I know I am now ready to go back into the world and keep the gospel the foundation of my life. I can't thank Heavenly Father enough for His mercy and long suffering for me. I am just so excited to continue in my progression here on Earth and become like Him.

That's my sermon for this week haha. I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week! Thank you all for your wonderful examples to me :) Nos vemos!

Elder Draper

7 more weeks!

A family tradition of Spanish Missionaries - these are the 3 flags for the Draper boys. Mexico for dad, Canada for Ryan and El Salvador for Blake. Cool pic Ryan!

Hola!

Happy Easters to all of you too! It was a very good day at church for me, pretty normal. For Easter dinner, Nacho Libre made us some of that bean soup...yeah haha. Actually, we were supposed to have dinner with the Trevinos, but they bailed on us last minute. So we had to eat a frozen pizza at home. The life of a missionary haha, it's all good. Yeah tell Blake I served with Jeff Walker, he was a fun companion. Big into sports so we got along well.

This week was a little slower than normal. We stopped by Victor on Wednesday and found out some pretty revealing news. He told us why he has not accepted a baptismal date yet. He has some hard feelings towards his birth dad (who we thought was dead). Basically, his dad is not a very good person and the talk on Sunday morning by President Uchtdorf touched Victor and inspired him to forgive his dad and better that relationship. I'm grateful for the guidance of our living prophets! Anyways, Victor really opened up and it was an emotional lesson for all of us. Forgiving people is very difficult, but it lifts so many burdens. He is going to write his dad a letter this week and take care of business, because he told us he wants to join the church so bad, but first has to clear this up. Hopefully that process happens quickly. So, the 15th for him is looking slim, but he is now on the right path to baptism. Such a solid kid, I love him. That was really about it for this week. The Vargas family should be coming back today, so we will call them and confirm our next appointment for tomorrow. The last few days I had this same prompting to get in contact with this Mexican family that attends an English ward. They are hard to find at home, but we finally got to talk to them yesterday. The wife answered the door and it was apparent that she had some other Spanish family over for dinner. She came outside and shut the door for a more private conversation. She told us that the family they had over were good friends of theirs, and the wife is veryyyy interested in meeting with us. She has had some issues lately and is looking for that inner peace. The husband is anti-religion, but nonetheless we will be teaching the wife this week! Just a cool little prompting from the Spirit. I have learned how to recognize those better now. The key is really just being in tune with the spirit and creating an environment within yourself that will allow you to recognize it. Good stuff eh?

Just going to grab lunch and head to the chapel to ball. Last week we were outside and played soccer so that was fun. The weather was perfect. Yes tell dad that the man at Moores Clothing offered me a really nice deal on the suits. I got a lighter gray suit for 600 bucks and I got another 600 dollar dark brown suit for free!!! They are really nice, so I will have two with me when I come home. Also, do I need to bring the big snowboarding bag and hanging bag home? I'm just trying to consoladate everything I can. Tell Mason congrats on the call, I'm excited he's going Spanish speaking too.

Well that is about it for this week. On Sunday I have to give a talk in sacrament, so pray for me! Next week is transfers as well, so we'll see where I am going to die! My guess is I stay and get a new comp. Have a great week, I love you all!

Elder Draper

We have another foreign Spanish speaking Missionary!

Making home made flour tortillas with the Trevino's

Opening Blake's mission call! Ryan was with us in spirit....and spoken word!
Happy family - happy day
Blake's friends from Helaman Halls
After getting the phone call set up Blake is ready to open...
Elder Blake Riley Draper you are called to serve in the El Salvador, Santa Ana/Belize Mission!

Proudly points to his mission in Central America on the map where all the guesses were...the guy who guessed Blake's mission right received his call to the exact same mission on the same day Blake did but he opened it earlier that week.
Where else better to eat than Los Hermanos? So happy to have our 3rd Spanish speaking missionary in our home!

WOW! Congratulations Blake, uh Elder Draper I mean!

I don't even know what to say this week!! Mission calls are so much
fun!! Blake is going to have the time of his life serving in Central
America (I am only a little jealous haha jk). It has been fun for me
thinking about that and how inspired our mission calls are. I have
been reading D&C, which of course has tons of revelations through
Joseph Smith about where the Lord wants certain elders to serve. That
still happens today, and I have a strong testimony that the Lord needs
Blake in El Salvador/Belize. Amazing! Yes, 2 of my converts, Nely and Luisa, are from El Salvador, and I have taught many others from El Salvador. There are also a lot of members from there. Most of them came up here in the 80's and 90's during the civil war I think. Never have taught anybody from Belize though. Nice work Blake!! Honestly I would just rather keep talking about his mission call, but I guess I will give a little update about me too.

Conference was amazing of course! I had a weird feeling though, just
because by next conference, I won't be a missionary and Blake will be
in the MTC...kinda crazy! But yeah there were a couple talks that
really helped me and brought comfort as I prepare to make a big
transition in my life, back to the world. It is such a blessing being
in the mission field because I feel so protected, but I know that that
will go away. My favorite talk was probably the one on Sunday where he talked about how missionaries like getting letters haha. No I'm not
sure what my favorite was yet, but all I know is that when President
Monson went up to close the conference, the Spirit overcame me and I
received another sure witness that he is a prophet of God. It was a
memorable spiritual experience for me. There is no way I would never
do anything against what he teaches, he will never lead us astray.

Anyways we were able to get Victor to the Saturday afternoon session
and priesthood session. We taught him in between, and had an
incredible lesson. We helped him see that he already has a testimony,
because he believes everything is true about the church. He is just
scared of going inactive after baptism. Priesthood session enlightened
him big time and he is going to prepare for baptism on the 15th of
April! Pretty exciting stuff for sure. In between sessions on Sunday
we taught that new Venezuelan family of 4 for the first time. It was
incredible!! I continue to become better at teaching by the Spirit and
being more bold with people. The first vision was the climax of the
lesson, and Irilda was in tears. They immediately asked how they can
know if that was true, because the Bible talks about false prophets,
so that question was a great lead in to the Book of Mormon. They are
pumped to read it and ask God if it is true. They are going on
vacation to the states this week, so we won't be able to teach them
again till next Tuesday. Solid family though. We had interviews the
day Blake opened his call. This is classified information haha:
President told me that it was probably time for me to be released as a
zone leader this next transfer cycle. It has been an incredible
experience for me, I have grown so much because of it. The key to
leadership is love and service, I think that is what it means to be a
leader. Well, the reflecting back on what I have learned on my mission
is starting to happen slowly. I commit to the Lord everyday though that I will give it all I can till the end, because of what He has done for me. This Gospel is true, and is has been restored to the earth by heaven's direction. Nothing can take that knowledge away from me.

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!!

Elder Draper

A wonderful week in Calgary

Heidi was baptized by her father who was baptized only a month before
Families are forever!
Ryan making friends with the Morales family pet ;)

YO!

This week was amazing! We came, we saw, and we conquered!! Tons of incredible miracles...it was a week full of high lights basically. The first one was that Heidi was baptized yesterday!! At the start of the week there was zero signs of it happening...Luz the mom really wanted to have her wait awhile. But, on Wednesday Franky (Marisol's son), the member who brought them into the church, went over and talked to them, and said something good because that is where the permission was given. So we had just a couple days to plan the service and get her interviewed. It was easily the most spiritual baptisms I have been to. The people we assigned for the talks were super inspired and just brought the Spirit so strongly. And then of course to see a recent convert, (her father) in the water baptizing his daughter and blessing the sacrament earlier for the first time was awesome! So that was sweet, and on Wednesday we are going over to their house to eat tacos al pastor, one of my favorites. Last week we put a random English member in our plans and stopped by. The lady is pregnant and I think for that reason was a little grumpy at us haha. She did not want to set up an appt. with us, so to get us off her back she said look elders our neighbors next door just moved here from Venezuela, go for it. That was all we needed. We walked over and two teenagers answered, Marlo and Brandon. They went and got their mom Irilda. We talked to them for a few minutes and set up a return appointment for Saturday. We brought our new branch missionaries, who are from Venezuela as well. We were not able to teach anything, because the two families hit it off really well and talked for a longgg time (I am not going to say how long haha) but we found out enough about them. The husband is Jimmy and they are a super friendly and nice family. They don't believe in the Catholic church, which I always love hearing ha. But they said since they have been here in Canada, they have not attended a church. Irilda told us that the very day we knocked the door and met them, she had mentioned to her husband that they needed to join a Christian church here in Spanish...interesting huh? Then she told us that a lot of her loved ones have passed away, and she said she has a "feeling" that families are supposed to last forever, and not end when we die. We were able to talk about how we are probably the only church that teaches that doctrine, and we got them super excited about meeting with us. They wanted to come to church yesterday, but were not able to. We are pumped to start teaching them! Those were the two big highlights, among other great things too but not enough time for me to share it all.

My personal study this morning was very revelatory and the Lord was definitely teaching me this one principle. The culmination of it I guess (wow that's a big word for me) was when I read D&C 64:33-34. That hit me big time. We cannot give up on choosing the right and making righteous decisions, even when it seems like nothing is coming of it. God is eternal, and so are His blessings for us. We put a timetable on everything, but that is not how eternal life is. Just keep enduring righteously, and trust that He is aware of your sacrifices. We are already in debt to Him, but He is not keeping track. So I guess that turned into the spiritual thought of the day haha.

I already told Blake, but my guesses for him are Australia and Texas Spanish speaking. I didn't pick those because I had strong feelings like when I picked Canada, honestly they were just the first 2 that popped in my head. I don't know how I am going to focus this week! I am super excited for him. Darn you couldn't wait one more day to take me to Daughtry too! Haha that will be a fun couple of days for you, I am jealous! You never told me how his new album turned out, I assume that is what he is playing.

About a new suit, yes mom today I plan on going to Moores and getting a new suit and maybe a new white shirt, so I might need a little extra money in the account. Also, do I need to bring home the snowboarding bag and church clothes bag? I am hoping to come home with just a backpack and sending the rest of the stuff home through the mail, but if you need the luggage let me know.Thanks for the heads up on my homecoming speaking date on Fathers Day, I am glad I don't have to write a homecoming talk while I am still out here then...I have some time to think about it. I would like a BYU basketball update also if that is ok. Anyways, I better get going but good luck to Blake! I will be expecting to hear where the Lord needs him as soon as you can get the news to me!!

Love you all and have a great time at conference!!!

Elder Draper

10 more emails to go

In front of Ranchman's Restaurant the bar where they filmed the movie Cool Runnings - also known as the party headquarters for the Calgary Stampede

Happy St. Patty's Day back to y'all!!

Just when you think the good stuff is going to happen, the opposition sets in....big time!! But it's alright, I have gotten used to it ha. I emailed this to President so I just attached it here:

We taught Estefania yesterday and had maybe the most spiritually edifying lesson I have been a part of it. Basically, we asked her to pray at the end of the lesson, and she prayed to Jesus and was not specific about baptism, so we had her do it again. She prayed correctly and asked so specifically, and I felt the Spirit very strongly. Normally, when we do a Spirit recognition with her, she says she feels "normal", probably avoiding her true feelings, but this time she actually expressed a spiritual experience she had during the prayer. She felt like the Spirit filled her and actually moved her to a different location in the room, but when she opened her eyes, she was still in the same place. We asked her what that meant and she said she did not know. Well, she knew what that meant, and we testified boldly that that was an answer from God. She denied it as an answer for baptism, even though she specifically asked about that. She said she has felt that way before asking about other things. Well there is not much more we can do there, she got her answer and openly denied it. Very, very sad, but Elder Brandon and I walked out knowing we accomplished our purpose, and the Spirit bore witness of it. The Lord taught me a great deal through teaching her, and my testimony was strengthened. We will see what happens.

So we dropped her :( But, there is nothing else we can do with her. Opposition with Heidi as well. Her mother still feels like she is not ready to be baptized. Luz still wants to get to know the church before she gives permission. But, we are again doing everything in our control to speed that up. We asked the Relief Society president to visit them Tuesday, branch missionary couple to visit them Wednesday, and elder's quorum president Friday. Huge blessing, so hopefully Luz will give us that permission this week! Miguel got the Aaronic priesthood yesterday so he is pumped and supportive of Heidi getting baptized. They are just the coolest family though, I gotta come back next year whenever they get sealed. Victor is progressing very well. He is so innocent for a 19 year old, sometimes I feel like I am teaching somebody much younger. We are meeting with him tomorrow and are going to help him see that he already has a testimony of the gospel and needs to take that step of faith in being baptized. But other than that, we found a couple of new FAMILIES to teach. Super sweet finding miracles. The Spirit is essential in this work, actually the only thing you need to see the miracles. Hopefully new solid investigators on the way this week. I interviewed a 14 year old for baptism on Saturday (I interviewed his mom 3 weeks earlier), and he was totally ready, but yesterday woke up feeling bad apparently and not ready, so it got cancelled. Probably just scared or nervous, but hopefully it happens soon...

Rachel you looked great at Mormal!!! (I want to use a better adjective than "great", but that might sound weird coming from your brother haha). Looks like you had a great time dancing and being with your group of friends.

Thanks for sharing that experience mom. I too have gained a testimony of inspirations like that and other profound types of revelations from God. The gift of the Holy Ghost is probably the greatest blessing we have on Earth...somebody to comfort, guide, protect, teach. Pretty incredible, and taken advantage of many times by us.

Well that is all the time I have this week, kinda crazy I will only be sending 10 more emails! I love you all and hope you have a great week. Man, so excited for the next mission call in our family. Good luck Blake! :)

Love,

Elder Draper

A visit from an Apostle yesterday

Love this picture with Elder Quentin L. Cook! Such an amazing man!
Smiling in short sleeves - happy the Canadian winter has been so warm this year :)
Good ol' Elder Soliz getting ready to hoop it up with Ryan on Pday
On the way to the temple last week

Good morning!

Sheesh what a great week. Maybe one of the happiest most fulfilling weeks of my mission. We just got after it and worked our tails off...it feels so great. Yesterday was pretty cool because we had a special stake conference with Elder Quentin L. Cook. We got some great 2nd row seats and were right there in the action. He spoke about past prophetic counsel we have received, and how they came right before big problems struck, like Hinckley warning us to get out of debt, then a few years later the economic crisis hit. Very uplifting talk, and of course he bore a powerful testimony of Christ and his Atonement. Through "special spiritual experiences", he knows that Christ fulfilled the Atonement. After the conference, he walked off the stage and everybody ran up to him. It took him 20 min. to get to the foyer, shaking every one's hands. It wasn't until he got out to the foyer that I got my chance to shake his hand! I went up to him and he asked me how I was doing up here in Canada and if I was getting fed well haha. Then a member in our ward quickly snapped a photo of us with him! Pretty neat!! It was funny, we walked out with him and the stake president, and both of them got into the stake president's huge Toyota Tundra (super weird seeing an apostle of Jesus Christ sitting shot gun in a huge, raised truck haha), and while they were backing up to leave, the stake president backed right into a pole!!! Haha the look on Elder Cook's face was priceless. GOOD TIMES!

Ok as far as investigators: Heidi, the daughter of Luz and Miguel Baca, should be getting baptized this Sunday. We are going over to eat tacos al pastor with them tomorrow and teach Miguel how to perform the baptism (he receives the priesthood this Sunday). Last night we taught Victor Morante again (he was officially adopted this week by his aunt and uncle!) It was an amazing lesson! Last week we gave him a plan of salvation pamphlet and he read the whole thing and answered all of the questions that it has, also read all of the scripture references. He basically taught us the whole thing! We read with him out of 2 Nephi 31 where God himself says to repent and be baptized in the name of Christ, but Vitor said he doesn't feel he needs to be baptized to show God he wants to follow Christ. He just does not understand the doctrine of baptism well enough, so that is our focus for Wednesday. But, he is very humble and said a great closing prayer asking to know if that if God's will for him. We are super confident that he will be ready to be baptized on the 25th of March, as long as he makes the decision. Estefania, we weren't able to teach her this week, but will be visiting her tonight. I felt like we were kind of attacking the Catholic Church too much last lesson, even though we just pulled out scriptures to show her. We are going to focus on the Restoration and the Book of Mormon, because if she can strengthen her testimony of those things, she will be more willing to change. We want to try to build her faith in Christ rather than destroy it. We are doing absolutely everything we can for these 3 people to get them into the waters of baptism this month. We'll see what happens.

It is super warm here, so I am having a blast being outside walking around and talking to people. The last few months have been spent in the car, and it is hard to feel like a missionary doing that. So this week has been super refreshing for me. There was one baptismal date set in the zone this week, for next Sunday. So we just need 4 more from our zone in order to complete our share of the 100 in the mission. Let's do it!!

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week.

Love,

Elder Draper

P.S. Travel plans are here!!! I got an end of the mission packet with that included. We gotta figure out what we wanna do the day I get back, because I land at 12:15 pm!!!!