KATYLAND

New companion, Hermana Tanner, from Salt Lake City... 

 

9/09/13

Pues pues pues... esta semana pasada!!

It has been so great! Miracles on miracles. So we are teaching a family that we found knocking one of my first days here! The first lesson was super solid all about the restoration and they really seemed to get it. Then the second lesson we decided to talk more about the Book of Mormon, and it was crazy! We read in 3 Nefi 11, and it was really great to show that the purpose of the Book of Mormon really is to testify of Christ, but then they had SO many questions… which was awesome. We literally talked about nearly every aspect in one sitting from why she couldn't go to her nieces temple wedding, to the fact that we can celebrate Halloween, that I will be the only wife to my husband, we can eat pork… etc... but ultimately, it was great! Everything is out in the open and a lot of their doubts were corrected. They are such an awesome family! They have two cute girls who are eight and twelve, and even though they are super catholic, they are really open to learning more. We have another lesson today, so pray for us! :)

One of my goals this transfer, that I am so excited for, is to learn more about Family History and how to teach people how to do it!! We have a Family History center, and Hermana Koerner (Hermana Woodward's companion) is expert so she teaches a class for the ward every Wednesday! This past week a lot more people came than usual, so playing a Draper, I just pretended like I knew what I was doing and ended up helping a lady in our ward find a bunch of relatives down in El Salvador. And I got on my own account and saw that we go back to the 1200's??! Drapour de Netherlands? Bien hecho familia. But that is really one of my goals to work harder with this transfer, it's like Elder..(I can't remember).. said "we need to dissolve the border between missionary work and genealogy, because it is the same great work!". Baptisms on this side of the veil are equally as important as baptisms on the other side! So it is so awesome to see people in our ward and investigators with the Spirit of Elijah.

Also, we had a tender mercy for me after dinner with one of our members. We had asked her if there was anyone that she felt could benefit from a visit from us and she said she had always wanted to send the missionaries to her neighbor, but never knew if it was the right thing to do. Well I told her of course and asked her if we could go over right then to meet her! Well... we did. Unfortunately her neighbor did not speak Spanish, but fortunately, we speak English! So we translated for the member, and got a nice little introduction. Then we sat there for about an hour and heard her whooole life story. (did I mention we were in a retirement center?). I just loved it. I just sat there thinking, when else in my life will I ever be able to have experiences like this? She was born and raised super Baptist, Texas through and through, but we had the chance to share a message from the Book of Mormon about the Atonement, and she cried, and it was beautiful. It doesn't matter where we are in life, the Atonement of Jesus Christ is what connects us all. As we were heading out we thanked her for time and she said she would love to have us come back "because from the moment [we] walked through the door, she knew we were God's people".

I am so thankful for the chance to be here. Whether we are preaching repentance to an hombre on the street (trust me, it happens) or having an awesome first lesson of the restoration, or even... the classic door slam… It is all so worth it! "That we might bring some soul unto Repentance" to know our Savior, and the love that He has for us.

Thank you so much for all the support! It really means so so much. I hope you all have an awesome week. Remember that with God all things are possible, and every trial is a blessing.

Reemplace miedo con fe!

Les Quiero, Hermana Draper