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so what a week is has been. nothing to terribly big has happened but i am enjoying all the time i can get here in the Washington Kennewick mission. i actually found out that it is where i will be spending the remainder of my mission. you think i would be sad but i will explain the experience i had a little later in the email. we have been working really hard and we are doing really well. we seem to get more and more people each day and it is really fun to see people progress. it builds my testimony as they come closer to our heavenly father and i am helping them do it. now i will give a brief overview of the days and stop on some of the bigger events of the week. last week i didn't do a week in review so i can bet you are all dying to hear how this week went. haha

Tues. 3/23
so today we got to go to the Portland temple again. i love the temple. i think this is one of my new favorite ones and it is just amazing inside. the flowers outside were all blooming and it was a beautiful day. i love going there because it is a chance for me to unwind and be in a place where i don't have to think about anything. i can relax from the outside world and just go with the flow. it is one of the boost that i needed. thats about all that happened last pday.
wed. 3/24
we have been working on this program called collect the elect. it is to help the members get excited about missionary work and to give the area a boost. we are going around to each of the members houses and sharing a missionary scripture and challenging them to contact their friends and invite them to take the discussions. we have had one really good success story from that so far and i hope to see a lot more. as i have been looking for scriptures to share with the members it seems to give me a added push to apply these things more fully into my missionary work.
thurs. 3/25
so this week i finished reading the book of mormon again. i love that book and i know without a doubt that it is true. that it is the word of god and it is another testament of jesus christ. while reading through it we were challenged to mark when god is quoted or is speaking in red and the names of god in blue. as i looked back on what i had marked i saw how much it really talks about christ and it cemented mt testimony that much more.on thursday i was reading in ether 12. that is probably one of my new favorite chapters in the book of mormon. i really like in ether 12:4 how it talks about making christ our anchor. i related that to us being the boat. we are upon the sea. what good does and anchor do us if we are not attached to it. we attach ourselves to that anchor with faith. and as we build our faith and trust that our heavenly father with help us. that chain get stronger and stronger. so when the storms come upon us in life, when the waves and wind are beating at us. we will be able to stay in one place and not get tossed around in the storm. we will be able to handle that and live to sail another day. it really was a great thing for me to realize. then a little later in the chapter where it talks about weak things becoming strong. It was just a great day and a really good personal study.
fri. 3/26
so the success we had with collect the elect was brought forward today. we taught this lady named casey today. she was brought by sister nashif and we challenged sister nashif to ask casey to take the discussions. she accepted and now we have a new strong investigator who i think will get baptised eventually. she has a really tough life situation right now but she is a really amazing lady. at her lesson we invited judith to come and sit in as well, she is another investigator. i had never heard judith bear testimony of the church until this day. i don't think judith even realized she was doing it either. she was just talking about the wonderful feelings she gets from church. we are making great progress with her as well. i love seeing people make those next big steps and progressing towards eternal goals.
sat. 3/27
so the main thing about today was that i found out i am not going to mongolia. i thought i would be sad but it turned out to be a good thing that really built my testimony. was i looked at the phone when it was ringing i saw presidents name. even before i answered it a feeling just rushed into me. i heard a clear prompting that said no matter what happens it is okay, everything happens for a reason. don't worry about it. then i answered the phone and president told me the news. then i thanked the lord for that prompting and comfort. it just reaffirmed to me how wonderful our heavenly father is and the help is is always willing to show towards us. is is truly our father in heaven and is always there for us. when we have those time where we may feel weak or down, if we have faith he will pick us up. when we feel that we can't go on, he is there. just as it says in alma 5:60, if we trust in the good shepard, he won't let any ravenous wolves come in and destroy us. i love that vesre and know it is true. we just need to push on. in the new jospeh smith movie, he is asked "how do we endure". Jospeh says "we trust in god, and push on". if we keep going and never give up, trusting in good. he will send to help that is needed. this is one of those days that i will remember for along time and has built my testimony. i have seen the growth in myself and in my testimony. there is nothing in this world that could take my testimony away.
sun 3/28
so sunday we had ward conference. i learned a lot of great things. the biggest thing was we taught a kid named daylin. he is a friend of one of the girls in our ward. he is amazing and knows so much already. to all the questions he gave perfect answers to the questions. he is an investigator and was asking how he could go on a mission. it just made me laugh. we would have taught him sooner but the high priest group leader didn't want us to for some reason. i know it is weird but oh well. we are doing it now and i can't wait to teach him again this week.
mon 3/29
monday was one of those days that you just got to move on from. nothing happened but it rained a lot. our appointments stood us up so we just walked in the rain and thats about all we did. haha. but it was still a good day. the rain builds character. just think, it could be worse, could be 40 below and snowing.

well as you can tell it was a great week and we are having a lot of success. this week has been full of great experiences and needed boosts. i am serving the lord with all my might and trying to be that best missionary i can be. my companion and i get along really well and we are just moving the work forward. remember everyone to trust in the lord and he will be there to comfort us. i love all of you and hope everyone is doing great. the lord knows each one of us and knows what we need. replace fear with faith and those things will come to you. be safe and hope to hear form you all soon. make the lord your anchor and we can get though anything. live without regrets and just be happy.
love you all,

elder m scottie draper