"It's like it's the work of the Lord... or something like that :)"

The Miracle ice cream!!!

6/23/14

Hola Familia!

Well. What a week. Time is just... zooming. But it's because every moment is full of miracles! Well, we also found a new family and they are incredible! A mom, dad, a two year old and one on the way! (Just like Deni!) How we met them is that we were going to an appointment with an investigator, and we noticed a house behind the others that we had never noticed before! There were two people outside working and we wanted to stop and talk to them but we were already running late to our appointment (shocker…) so we went on. Well, our appointment fell through and so we were determined to go back and talk to them. But by the time we got back they were gone! Well.. why not knock? So we knocked and they welcomed us right in and gave us delicious cold water. We taught a brief Book of Mormon lesson and they seemed really interested to learn more! We left them with their own copy and a return appointment, we couldn't stop by as late as they wanted because the hermano has work, but he said he would come home early that day just for us! When we went back to our return appointment, he had read from the intro through to 1 Nephi 3!! He explained it all perfectly to us, even about Joseph Smith and Angel Moroni! We taught them the powerful first lesson and they both seemed to really get it and the importance of a living prophet! They committed to pray to know and to be baptized when they know! I am so grateful that we could go back and find them! It was the perfect moment too, because the hermano normally doesn't get home until super late, but he just happened to be off that day. Wow. It is no coincidence that we met them at that very moment. With another baby on the way they have been wondering how they can really raise their family right, and so as we talked about the blessings that the restored gospel offers families, they saw that this could be exactly what they have been looking for!

Also, the Lord just never seems to surprise me in how he just... looks out for us. For example.. there are so many ice cream trucks that drive around the neighborhoods.. and I always want ice cream. But I never have cash at that moment. Well, the other day we had been walking all day... and an ice cream truck came out of nowhere… I was so ready to get some when I realized I didn't have any cash. Then the guy stops, and asks if we would like some. I explained I didn't have any cash and he said not to worry because I was working for the Lord so it was free. What? An ice cream sandwich has never tasted so good. It's the simple things. :)

As for everyone else, they are doing fantastic! The Mendez' are doing better than ever. We had been worried to ask Carla if her husband knew that she was going back to church, since he was deported, because he is the reason she went inactive in the first place. Well we finally got the perfect chance to ask when the girls ran off to the bathroom and she said that he actually wants to start receiving the missionaries!! Because he is so amazed by all the things the girls are learning and how they are progressing. We are sending the missionaries to him down in Mexico! They are totally going to be sealed in a few years, and be an eternal family!!!

Also, Miguel. He's just great. He is preparing to be baptized. And he is inviting everyone and their dog to learn about the church too! That's what happens when we are becoming truly converted and taste how sweet the fruit is! You want everyone to taste it too!

One more thing, I started the Book of Mormon again with the Atonement in mind, and it is crazy to see that even doing it again there are new insights, but one theme that I've loved is really that of trust. Just trust him. It's like a best friend has to do things to gain our trust. Well the Atonement is the biggest sign that he has earned our trust! So we need to treat him so! I love 2 Nephi 22:2 "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also has become my salvation." So what do we need to do so that he too can "become our salvation"?

I hope you all have a wonderful day and week! Things are huuumid here in texas but we just keep trucking on. Life is so good. Trust in the Lord and just replace fear with faith. It's all going to be okay. :)

los quiero,

Hermana Draper

 

ALL I CAN SAY IS THAT I LOVE TO BE A MISSIONARY!!!

 On exchange and yes, with a self timer!

 Maria Lopez. Oh, Maria Lopez. She told us last week that she was thinking about quitting this whole Mormon thing and going back to Catholic... then she remembered how good she felt when she got the Holy Ghost and she said she just couldn't give that up. So she is staying... phew!!

eight of the eleven Noria children. I love this family.

6/16/14

Hola Familia!

Wow. What a fantastic week. Seriously I love being a missionary. So many miracles. And we just found out, we are both staying!! So I will be finishing my mission in the beautiful land of Aldine :) But I seriously cannot wait for this transfer because the Lord has got so many great things in the works! So yesterday we had five investigators at church!! The Mendez family is officially reactivated and they are doing so good! They are reading the Book of Mormon every day together, saying their prayers, and even though they had a special Skype scheduled with their dad that's in Mexico yesterday, they at least made it for sacrament before. Now we are just getting Leslie ready for the big day! Also, Miguel has just been the greatest on-going miracle. He is so solid and so incredibly prepared. We had an amazing lesson with him this past week, and every time he shares experiences I can just see how the Lord has been preparing him for this moment in his life to receive the fullness of the gospel. And it is so cool that he recognizes that. He is so grateful that the Lord put us in his path at this time so that he could be ready. He also was able to come to the baptism this past weekend and he loved it. He is so determined to read the Book of Mormon and receive his own witness of its truthfulness, so he too can take that big step of faith with confidence. Yesterday, he even brought his mom and his son to church with him, and both of them loved it as well! We are meeting with them tonight and teaching the plan of salvation, and I can't wait! This past week we also went on exchanges! And I finally got to go to the Heights! It is a cute little area right by downtown Houston, and I got to serve with my baby Hermana Miller again! We had some awesome lessons and experiences. But then a lot fell through and we found ourselves knocking around in a different area. We were about to go back to the car when we saw some guys down the street a bit. We really try to talk with everyone in our path, because they are there for a reason, so we walked down to talk to them. As we approached he shouted, "ya'll latter-day saints??"... okay. no one ever asks us that. They either say Mormons… or Jehovah's witnesses. We said yeah and he explained that he's been wanting to come to our church because he's seen it on TV... he also has wanted to read our book… okay. It's fine. What if we hadn't walked down to talk to him??

Well… there is so so much more I want to say… but the library is super busy and the computer is about to kick me off. Just know that the church is so true. And we can all know it by reading the Book of Mormon and praying. And the blessings that come from that knowledge and acting on it are infinite!! This past week as a zone we read all of preach my gospel in a week searching for how we ourselves can be spiritually awakened and also how we help others in the process and we came to the conclusion of five steps. We have to humble ourselves and realize our need to change, then we have to go to the word of God, we have to have a facilitator, we have to act in faith, and then rely on the spirit. I wish I could explain it more eloquently right now, but I invite you all to read Enos with that in mind. It will bless you I promise!

I love you all so much! Have a wonderful week! Remember to replace fear with faith! The Lord is always there with His hands stretched out; we just have to act in faith to accept His love and help.

los quiero,

Hermana Draper

el verana ha llegado... hooray!!!

 Hermana Rosa Maria Garcia after our appointment

Yadira's Baptism. Carla and the girls after the baptism.

6/09/14

Hola Familia!!

What a week!! I think I say that every week.. but really. This one? Miraculous! Remember the Sunday night miracle from last week? Well… one of them… Well we had another awesome lesson with him, and he just wants to be baptized. He is reading. He is praying. And yesterday... he came to church! And he loved it. He stayed for the whole block and was even going to stay for the fireside, but had a family thing come up so he had to go. But church was seriously incredible. We had someone from the high council speak, who had learned Spanish on his mission, so he wasn't super comfortable in Spanish. He had said he had his whole talk written out word for word, but he just felt so impressed to leave his notes aside, and bear with him. He then gave the most incredible talk and I felt like the whole thing was directed right at our investigator. I just kept hearing him say "si hermano" under his breath.. probably refraining himself from standing up and shouting amen! Then we went to gospel principles and the whole lesson was about baptism and it answered a lot of the questions that he had had. Then we heard from the elders that he was super interactive in priesthood, and he is planning on coming to the baptism that they are having this Saturday to see how it is. He is so incredibly prepared and he just wants to learn more of the doctrine before he takes the big step. Also on Saturday we had a ward baptism for one of the members daughters who turned eight, we had a chance to talk with her a lot about baptism and she was so excited! We got to take advantage of the event also and invite Carla and the girls, because they are almost reactivated and Leslie is getting ready for baptism! They have been a constant miracle as well. We watched "finding faith in Christ" with them and I think it really helped the girls realized the reality of it all! Also this past week, we were able to take Hermana Rosa Garcia out with us. She is so incredible. She has been a member for about ten years and when she met the hermanas, she didn't know how to read. But she followed along with them as they read the Book of Mormon to her, and the day she received the Holy Ghost she was able to read on her own. I'm telling you... the church is true. Well she has such a strong testimony and so we were taking her to an appointment, and they weren't there. So we tried another investigator, and they weren't there. Then another… and another… and nothing! I was so sad because she was so excited to get to share her testimony and no one was home. Then a name of an investigator that we hadn't tried for a while popped into our head and we headed over there. And she was leaving.. But there was another investigator that lived on that street that wasn't really progressing, but we figured why not? It went perfect. Seriously. The whole thing just flowed. The two hermanas just hit it off and they related so well. The problem this investigator was mostly having is "leaving behind the traditions of her parents".. well the member had faced the exact same problem when she was baptized but she just testified so boldly of the truthfulness and the impact it has had in her life. And the eternal blessings that she will receive. God always has a perfect plan. Sometimes it just takes us a little longer to catch on to what it is :).

Life is so so good! This is the Lord's work. If we just show him we are willing, he will show us where he needs us. Never forget who you are, whose you are, and just replace your fear with faith in him! I love you all! Have a good week and happy fathers day!

los quiero,

Hermana Draper

TEMPLE WEEK!

 LOVE THE TEMPLE!

The rain came down and in ten minutes it was flooding! luckily we had our rain boots when the flash flood hit!

6/02/14

Hola familia!!

What another wonderful week of miracles!! I could list a million reasons for why I love serving in the Texas Houston Mission.. one of those reasons... THE TEMPLE! We weren't able to go last transfer because of the cleaning schedule, so it had been 3 long months since we had attended. I am so grateful for the true peace and love that we feel when we are there.

I think last night from 7:30-9:30 was the most miracle filled of the whole week! Well... that's debateable, but it was definitely up there. Earlier on in the week we had tried to contact one of our potential investigators, and instead met her son who said he had looked into a lot of different doctrines, but he just felt confused, so he said he would love to meet with us! Well our appointment was at 7 but he wasn't there, but his mom called him and he asked us to please please wait, so we did and meanwhile his mother fed us quesadillas and we talked about her about the restoration and she really seemed interested! When he got home we had such an incredible lesson and the apostasy and restoration were so powerful for him! That lots of those different doctrines that he has studied do have great parts of the truth, but no one had the FULLNESS, that's why it had to be restored!! He is so excited to read and very determined to pray to know the truth. It was an incredible lesson, but because we started sort of late, it went kind of long and we showed up to our 8:00 appointment at... 8:40... It was also with a potential investigator that we had met in the street the week before. Well we got there and she gladly welcomed us in! She said she was so worried that we weren't going to come! She also said that she had gone to lots of different churches but just never felt like they were quite right. We taught the restoration and she felt so strongly about the importance of having a living prophet because there is so much confusion now!! Both of them excitedly committed to be baptized by someone who has the authority when they know that it is true! Aye. This is the Lord's work. There are soooo many prepared people! We just have to trust that the Lord will put them in our paths and OPEN OUR MOUTHS!! But I love what President shared in his letter this past week, it was a quote from Elder David A. Bednar that said "The future growth of the Church will not happen through just knocking on strangers' doors.  It will happen when the members, along with our missionaries, filled with the love of God and Christ discern needs and respond to those needs in the spirit of charitable service". I know that if we are truly seeking to develop Christlike love for all of God's children and to serve him, even more will be prepared and ready to receive the fullness of these blessings. We aren't here building up a church, we are here helping God's children receive peace in this life and eternal salvation in the next! President shared that if we "strive to increase our capacity to love in order to be more effective instruments in God's hands". I love being a missionary and I love that missionary work doesn't stop at 18 months. Maybe I won't be knocking on strangers doors at 8:40.. but It's a lifetime calling as a disciple of Christ.

I love you all so much! Have a wonderful week! Happy hurricane season :)

los quiero,

Hermana Draper

IT'S RAINING FISH....

 With the Pinhrees at their last Zone Conference. I love them!

 Dear Arturo before he left for Seattle. With Hemana Sandoval.

My sweet, sweet Maria Nunez. This woman is so incredible and so converted. She just can't be baptized because her husband will not give permission. One day he will.

5/27/14

Hola familia!

Well whaaat a week it has been. I am just so grateful to know that we have a Heavenly Father that loves us so, so much and has a perfect plan for each of us... we just have to find the courage to give up our will and follow His!

Well to update you on our golden investigator from last week... he moved back to Seattle... I know right?? Ah. But it is okay. Because the church is in Seattle too! This last week we had the chance to have three awesome lessons with him. After teaching him about the plan he was actually a little mad... "how did I reach 50 years without anyone ever telling me this??". But he was so grateful and humble. And in the last prayer of our last lesson he said one of the sweetest things that really changed my perspective. He thanked God for having put people in his life to pull him out of the darkness. He had felt that his whole life he had been lost, and finally for the first time he saw that there was a light. How bright and happy is the gospel?? How can we not share it??

We also saw a huge miracle with one of our potential investigators. We had met her over a month ago, outside sweeping her porch, and she really seemed super interested! But every time we had an appointment she never had time or was never home. So this last week we said a prayer and said that it was the last time we were going to try for a while, so if she is prepared, let us have a lesson. Well, we get there and she let's us right it! We dove right in to teaching the restoration and she ended up teaching us what a prophet was! And then after she asked that if they were so important back then, why don't we still have prophets?? Well… we are getting there! When we talked about Joseph Smith and Thomas S. Monson she said that it only makes sense! She agreed to be baptized and is so excited to read in the Book of Mormon!

Well we have to get going, but just in reference to the subject of the email... it is literally raining buckets here... but also we met the most amazing man on the side of the road and he shared the most incredible latter-day manna story. He started by asking us if we believed in the story where the fishermen hadn't made a single catch, and then the Lord commanded them to cast their nets on the other side and they had too many to bring in. We agreed, and then he shared his story. So he grew up in a little pueblecito in Mexico, and his family was at the point where they literally had only a few beans left to eat. After praying and praying a rain came in... but what fell from the sky..? Well water obviously... and fish. He said they gathered nearly 2 baskets of fish. What? Whoever says that miracles have ceased is wrong. I know that God is a God of miracles, and that He can do anything according to our faith. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week! I love you all so much! Keep reading in the Book of Mormon. Keep praying. Keep replacing fear with faith. Life is just so good.

los quiero demasiado,

Hermana Draper