12 October 2010

Well hello,

All I can say is that is has been a crazy week in the Washington Kennewick mission. So like I said last week, I was getting transferred and we had no clue where we were going. So we show up to the transfer site on Wednesday morning. It took awhile for everyone to get there so the anticipation was killing us. We all gathered around Elder Black who had the list that would decide our fate for the next six weeks. He started reading off the names and it was like Christmas morning! Of course our zone was the last zone to be read so I had to wait the whole time. Finally he said “Elder Draper, you are being transferred to...”. I bet the anticipation is killing all of you as well. I am now in the Zillah ward in small town Zillah, Washington. It is between Yakima and the Tri-cities. When I say small town I mean it. There are only about 3000 thousand people here. We cover both Zillah and Granger but they are one ward. There are orchards everywhere and it is just a great small town. One problem is that there are like twelve different churches that I have seen so far. To give you an example of the atmosphere here, remember in all the old shows where it talks about town shutting down on Fridays because of the high school football game? It happens here. We know because we were out on Friday and no one was home. So we went up towards the high school and it was packed. It happened to be homecoming week for Zillah. It was a fun game. Zillah and Granger were actually the two schools that played and Zillah destroyed Granger like 50 to 8. Everyone in town knows everyone and everyone is related somehow. It is crazy but it is great.

The next crazy thing about this week, besides the fact that I was being transferred, was news from the Zone Leaders. So I show up in Yakima and about ready to drive to Zillah when the Zone Leaders came up to me and said "so they told you that you are a District Leader now too, right?" I just said sure and played it off. So now I am a District Leader. But wait, there's more. My companion Elder Worwood and I got doubled into this area. That means that we are both new. So neither of us know what is really going on and to top it off the last elders didn't really leave a whole lot of records for the people they were teaching. So we are running around like chickens with our heads cut off. Elder Worwook is from Ferron, Utah and has been out for 21 months. He came from Vancouver as well. but it is amazing. I love this place so much. It reminds me of Utah. The weather here is a lot dryer than Vancouver and it is just starting to get a little colder. It is just a fun place. The work here is slow. They have two or three people that they are teaching but we are going to need to do a lot more finding. We tracked for like three hours yesterday. We found a couple but I can tell that this is really going to be a test for me. This week has been the hardest and most stressful week of my mission. We have great members in our ward that help us out, Elder Worwood and I get along great and most importantly we are lead and guided by the Lord. Some of the members here are just old stubborn people that have been in this town for years. There is a lot, I mean a lot, of less active work to do here. Some members just have crazy stories. Like one of them used to train roosters for cock fighting, the Bishop is the high school football coach and he just happens to live right next to the Zillah water tower. There is a kid in the ward who broke his arm because he ran straight into a wall and we have another guy who has had like eight heart attacks and plays it off like it is nothing. It is the best place ever and I am just really excited to be here. We live in this huge town home by ourselves, we have a car and it is just great.

One of the new people we are teaching is the Place family. They are amazing and they are really ready. The husband is a member but the rest of the family is not. The lesson we had with them last week was great and we have another return appointment with them tonight. Those are really the only people that we are teaching.

That's about all that is happening with me. Just getting adjusted and getting to work. The work always moves forward. It is strange that I am in Zillah though. The members that I lived with for a few days in Oakhurst, the Franklins, told me that they were from Zillah. Well at least Brother Franklin is from here and that if I was ever there I would have to go try and get his parents. Who knows, we are going to try and find their house this week. We also have already done service for like four people. It is great. We went out into this cherry orchard and got to help the ward chop down dead cherry trees for this guy who has cancer. I have a feeling we will be doing a lot of that. Also on Sunday, we got to bear our testimony to introduce ourselves. It was fun and I was like at least we didn't have to teach or anything. I spoke to soon. So we go back to Gospel Principles class and the teacher wasn't there. So I jumped right up and taught the lesson. It just so happened that we talked about missionary work that day so it was good. I am grateful for the ability to fake it until I make it. Apparently the class really enjoyed it though because we have had like four people come up and tell me it was great. It is great being a missionary though. Sometimes you just have to do that. I don't think I can think of any other things from this week. It was defiantly hard but it was amazing at the same time.

I hope you have a great week and remember that times may get tough and we may not have a clue what we are doing or where we are going, but as we trust in the Lord and have faith, we will be directed. It is like the Liahona. We need to have faith for it to work. We have things all around us to help direct us down the path that leads back to our Heavenly Father. We just need to use and look for them. That is part of what this life is about. We go through the hard times to get to the better times. We get through the hard times by replacing fear with faith. Before I left my last area the bishop gave me a pocket knife and told me, "no matter what happens, keep your testimony sharp like a knife." It is when it is dull that it is most dangerous. Satan would have each of us but we need to "press forward with a steadfastness in Christ" (2 Nephi 31:20). Stay safe and live without regrets.

Love your favorite small town missionary,

Elder draper

Oh my new mailing address is:

8656 W Gage Blvd, Suite #205

Kennewick, WA 99336