What a week!

• What a week!‏

5/27/13

Hola mi buenisima familia! Como han estado?

This week has been so awesome! So much has happened! Well… I don't even know where to start. Actually, so on Saturday, two days ago, we made our first baptismal date!!!!!!!! So actually it is funny, because a few weeks ago we were knocking doors and this lady was outside with her grandaughter and husband. We started talking but they were really busy but we asked if they would be interested in having us come back and the lady literally said the phrase "como no?" (which means why not?) I knew it was a good sign! Because when ever we do practice teaches and we extend a commitment I always say como no but I never thought people in real life would say that to us!!! So then we went back one day and she was asleep... but then we got to meet on Saturday and had a really powerful lesson, the spirit was so strong. She had a good knowledge of the Bible and prophets and apostles, and so she really understood the concept of authority on the earth. She just kept asking those golden questions that showed that she really was interested and understanding. Well then it got towards the end of the lesson and we were extending a baptismal invitation and she said yes, then we asked how about the 29 de Junio and she said yes!!! It was so exciting! It was only our first lesson with her, so we have got a lot to work on, but she has real intent and I am so excited for her.

Another awesome finding experience was last.. um I don't remember the day, but we were walking around an apartment complex that a lot of Hispanics live in and we had knocked on a potential investigators door, but they weren't home and as we were walking down the stairs at the bottom there was this guy and so we asked how he was and he said good, then he kind of lingered, not in a creepy way, but like he was anticipating a conversation so we asked his name and then just got talking. His story was crazy, well he is up here working and his wife and all his children are still in South America, but he had to come up here because where he lives he couldn't get work to support his family. We talked a bit about the plan of happiness and got his information so we could come back another day. As we were getting ready to leave he said that he really believes that God puts people in our paths to help us at the very time we need them. Not to patting ourselves on the back, but I really know that God puts us in peoples paths, or puts those people in our path that really need to hear that he loves them. I don't know what it was that we shared, but it must have been something that he needed at that time, and I am grateful that we could bring that spirit to him.

There are so many more things that I want to share, but I guess I will just have to save those for another day. :) Oh but one super exciting thing that is happening this week!! So on Saturday Sister Chappell, who is the PR person for the Church in Houston called us, and actually her husband is one of President Pingrees counselors. Well anyway, she called us and asked us if we could go with her to Houston to the something Brown convention center for the Houston Hurricane convention! Because the church has a booth there for 72 hour kits and food storage, and she wants missionaries to be working at the booth to hand out fliers and talk to the people there! We are so excited!! So it is us and one other Spanish speaking companionship that get to go!

Well, the work is moving forward! I am so grateful for this opportunity! It was so exciting to hear about all the geelz farewells and such! I am so excited for them to get out here! It is not easy, but it is so so worth it! Give them all hugs from me. Pues, I love you all! Thank you for the support and love! Remember to trust in God because he's got great great things in store for you if you trust in him! Reemplaze miedo con fe!

Les Quiero, Hermana Draper

Gato gift...

HOLA, HOLA, HOLA!

 FINDING...

• buenas dias mi buenisima familia!‏

5/20/13

Hola hola hola!

 Another week has come and gone and I can hardly believe it! It has been an awesome week though! So as I said, we go finding a lot! We are constantly trying to increase our teaching pool. My "motto" for this week has jokingly been the words of good ole Alma.. "Oh that I were an Angel".. .Seriously. We talk to so many people and sometimes I just wish I could force them to see how this is going to bless their lives… but as it says in Alma that's a totally vain desire because people have agency. So anyway… but we still have the chance to talk to so many people that are so ready and are so willing to accept it! Remember the man from the "miracle bladder story"? Well we got to meet with him and he was actually in the middle of mowing his lawn when we walked up, and he just turned it off and said it could wait and gathered up his family to listen! The lesson went really well and the spirit was really strong. Even all the little kids kept interest for the most part! At the end he said that he really needed to figure out for himself the truth (obviously) because his family is Catholic and don't really approve of the Mormons, so we will keep praying for soft hearts!

Then actually another interesting opportunity we had was yesterday. We met this individual when knocking a few weeks ago and he said he didn't have time right then but he would have time in 15 days…  very exact. So obviously we wrote down his information and returned in 15 days! We went over and he started the lesson saying "so what is the big difference between you and Catholics". Well, we never like to sit there and point out the differences, we just like to teach in the correct way, so we had a prayer and then as we started on the restoration and how God gives us families and he came right out and said so what do you believe about marriage? because mine is "solo en la tierra" meaning only on the earth. Well! What an awesome opportunity to introduce temples and how we have the proper authority of God to seal families for time and for all eternity! After that he seemed very interested in our message. Again, like everyone he said he was Catholic and it would be hard to change, but him and his wife said they want to keep learning and we have another appointment this week.

Okay, I don't have a lot of time, but I did want to share one more story about the most amazing 15 year old girl. So we knocked on her trailer one day and right off the bat she seemed pretty interested. So we had a return appointment for this past Saturday. We walked up and she was sitting there with a bunch of her friends and cousins. I thought she was going to tell us to come back another time but she told all her friends that they should stay and listen! The lesson went so good and they loved that Joseph Smith was close to their age when he found the truth too. We have another appointment tonight with them so hopefully it can keep going so well!

Well, I love you all so much! Thank you for the love and support. I am so lucky to have such incredible people in my life. I hope that everything is going well, I pray for you all the time. Remember that when you trust in the Lord he will direct thy paths. So reemplaze miedo con fe!

Te quiero,

Hermana Draper

 Junior, the cat and Hermana Gato...

"With my Homegirl, Idaly..."

"Just talked to you yesterday..."

The day after Mother's Day.....

 TEMPLE DAY!!

 The Zone at the Temple

 

• long time, no talk, eh?‏

5/13/13

Hola Familia!! Well... it's been about 12 hours since we last talked... but I guess I can find something to share. :) Well Scott complained that I need to share more stories, so I will try and be better at that! It was interesting because my companion and I were talking about how we never know what stories to share because there are miracles that are happening all the time out here that they are often taken for granted, or not acknowledged. Which is no bueno. So some things that happened this past week.

Last monday, since p-day ends at 6, we were finding in a trailer area and we came across a lady who is probably in her mid-twenties. She has a husband and a young baby. We introduced our selves and pretty much right off the bat she said, do you baptize? She said that she had wanted to be baptized (not into Mormonism in specific) because she never had been, and wanted to find a church that would be good to raise her son in. Well. Imagine our excitement when we very first meet a person and they already want to be baptized and go to church! We explained to her that we don't baptize children until they are 8, and she totally understood, and we talked about the restoration. She was so interested and really wanted the missionaries to come back and keep teaching her!! It is amazing how God really does prepare those people to receive the word! Unfortunately... as always… she speaks English, so we had to refer her to the English missionaries. But we will be keeping her in our prayers because she is so ready! Then that night… (since it was p-day) we were carrying in a few gallons of water that we had bought at the store earlier (because Texas tap water is not Utah tap water, or as my companion would argue it is not Washington water). Anyway, I was tired and didn't want to make multiple trips, so I have multiple jugs in my arms... as we got in the door and I tried to close it, one of the jugs slipped out from under my arm and exploded open on the floor of our entry... Thank heavens my companion is an extremely patient person... as we attempted to mop up the whole gallon of water that was on the ground. *picture included* …

Another awesome thing from this week is that we got to go to the Houston Temple!!! That is definitely a perk of having a temple in your mission. We get the chance to go once every transfer. It is such a comfort to be able to go and really just feel at peace and feel God's love. After a pretty stressful few weeks, it was nice to be able to have that escape for a few hours to be there. As I sat there though I just kept thinking of people, like our investigators for example, that I want so badly to be there with me. It is such a great blessing!! I was thinking about what Bob Haight had said to me just before I came out about how we really need to focus missionary work not just on getting people to the waters of baptism, but also to the temple!! Well. Yes. Then another story. So we were out finding, and then we were supposed to have a dinner appointment so we headed for the car, and then we needed to find a gas station to use a restroom. So we were driving in a different direction than normal and we saw a little area of trailers that we hadn't noticed before! We went to the gas station, and then since we had a little time to spare before dinner we wanted to just knock a few trailers in that area. The first man we talked to wasn't too interested, but he told us that nearly every trailer had Spanish speakers!! So we went over and talked to a man washing his car and he started as many conversations do.. "soy catolico".. that means I am Catholic. Well we kept on talking and we introduced the Book of Mormon and he started to seem a bit more interested. Then Hermana Glauser shared a scripture in 3rd Nephi about how we are imprinted on his hands and it was almost as if a light switched on. He had to continue with his chores, but we set up a time for tomorrow with his family and he really emphasized how we need to make sure we call to remind him so that they will all be there. As some of the missionaries call in our mission.. this would be a "miracle bladder story" because if we hadn't been going to the gas station we might not have seen those trailers!!! So we keep praying that we might be able to help him feel the spirit and really realize the blessing this will be for him and his family! God has a mysterious way of putting us on the path to find those who are ready to receive his word. I am so grateful for this opportunity to share it! La iglesia es verdadera! Dios es muy amoroso! Te quiero muchisimo. Y tenga una buenisima dia. REEMPLAZE MIEDO CON FE. porque Dios siempre tiene un GRAN plan. :)

Te Quiero,

Hermana Draper

·         FW: mother how art thou...?‏

Suzie Draper

5/13/13

Hey mama! It was so good to talk to you yesterday. :) One thing that I was going to tell you that I didn't because I was trying really hard not to cry was a little blessing from the temple this past week. I don't really know how to share this over email but I just wanted to say that I now know that God really does send his angels to lift us up. I know that even when you might not be right here, Grandma and Grandpa Rogers are. I just had that impression in the temple and thought I should share it with you. At night I always snuggle pooh bear a little tighter, how grateful I am that I brought him! :) But I love you so much. Thank you for all the amazing things that you do.

Te Amo, Hermana Draper

So sad.... spilled water.

HOLA!

5/6/2013

• HOLLAAAA‏

Wow. Its been a week already?? I can hardly believe that! It has been a great week though. A lot... like a lot of knocking doors but we have been able to also get a lot of return appointments! It is just key to talk to everyone and you always hear an interesting story. Texas truly is in the Bible belt. I haven't met a single person down here who doesn't believe in God and Jesus Christ. Sure their beliefs might be a little different.. but everyone loves God. Well at least those I have met so far! And it is great! I'm trying to think of what has happened the past week.. a lot of conversations where I catch about every 10th word.. but that's okay. Spanish is coming.. I just have really learned how much I have to rely on the spirit that I might say something somewhat related to the topic. It is funny because a lot of the Spanish speakers we talk to initially are so confused why these two white blonde girls are talking about Jesus in Spanish... but I guess it just shows the power of God!

One cool miracle we had this past week, so we had originally had appointments with investigators at 7 and at 8 and within a short time both of them cancelled! We weren't sure what to do because in our area it isn't really smart to go finding after dark, so we prayed and shortly after an Hermana in our ward called us and asked if she could make us food and have one of her friends over that we had taught a few times but had been really hard to get in contact with!! at 8:00!! How awesome is that? The power of prayer. And the lesson went really well and we are going over again tonight to teach again! The work is moving right along. I am loving it down here. The members in our ward are incredible. They are so willing to help out and reach out to those who are having a tough time, even if it is the missionaries! I am gaining a better understanding that with God all things are possible. So just reemplaze miedo con fe!

Te Quiero, Hermana Draper

P.S. I pray for you every night. D&C 100 is the best and I know that God is looking over you all. We just need to trust in him. soooooo reemplaze miedo con fe.

te quiero muchisimo. muchisimo. muchisimo.

su gatito.... hermana draper.