GREETINGS FROM ZILLAH

Greetings from Zillah

9 November 2010

How is everyone doing?

I want to thank you for all the emails and uplifting things that you send to me. They truly boost my spirit and help me to be a better missionary. So this week has been crazy in Zillah. It is amazing how things can be so up and down on a mission. I mean everything was great as far as the work goes but the emotions were high this week. We helped at two funerals, another lady had her brother die, that same lady had her dog stolen, our Ward Mission Leader's two dogs got hit by a car, we had a few more drunk people try and argue with us, and one of our investigators dropped us because she "says" she got offended. It is crazy how much can happen in one week. On the other side of things, we found five new investigators this week, had like six people tell us we could come back, built a lot of ward trust and met someone who knew my Grandpa Rogers before he died. I told you this week was insane.

So I will start off with the crazy stuff first and then go into the cool stuff. So those two funerals we helped at turned out to be great. One of them was for the lady that I talked about last week. It was a great service and the family was very appreciative. I ended up talking with the family for a long time and just listened to the stories they told about their grandma. It was cool and it reminded me of the few funerals I have attended. The spirits were high and they knew what was going to happen to her and where she was. The other funeral we helped at was different. The man who died was the only member in his family. It was a feeling of sadness there and it seemed like everyone there could only think of grieving. That funeral was a good chance to share the Plan of Salvation though and that we know what happens after we die. We are not in the dark and left alone to wonder in confusion. It is an amazing blessing in all of our lives. The lady whose brother died is just this nice eighty year old lady named Wilma. She is just as sweet as can be. She is a member but has a hard time getting to church because of health issues. Elder Worwood and I had this strong feeling that we needed to go over and visit her so we did. It turns out that she had just found out her brother had passed away. We just sat there and talked with her and she was so grateful that we were there to talk to. She said it helped a lot. It is amazing how we can be sent to those people who need a visit. The same kind of thing happened with our WML(ward mission leader). We decided we needed to call him and talk to him. Turns out he had just found his dogs on the side of the road and he was really shaken up. That night we decided to make him brownies and take them over to him. We said a prayer and just talked about how the work was going. Our WML, Bro Kunz is amazing and just a stand out guy. He helps so much and it makes it so easy when you have a WML that you can work well with. The worst part out of all these things was that one of our investigators dropped us for a stupid reason. So it is a part member family and we are trying to get her baptized. She wanted the kids to go to church but didn't have a ride for them. So we got a ride for the kids and they had a great time. The one who was giving the kids a ride asked them a good question. He said "if your mom thinks church is so good, shouldn't she be here with you? You should try and get her to come next time." That’s all he said and the mom used that as something to get offended by and now doesn't want us coming back. I mean I guess it wasn't all bad but when you see someone that is so close give up for a stupid reason like that, it hurts. We tried to talk to her about it but she wasn't going to have it. Those were the crazy things that happened.

Now let’s get into the awesome, amazing things that happened. We have been trying all transfer to find new people to teach. We have tracted our butts off and just been giving it our all. We have tracted like half of Zillah already (I know it is small but that is still a lot) and had a lot of people tell us to come back. So we went back to that family that we helped move in, the Kelly family. We just went to see how they are doing and ended up talking with them about religion and about what we believe. We gave them a copy of the Book of Mormon and asked them to read it and to pray about it. They said they would and we are going to try back later this week. We also went back to this other ladies house that we had talked to on the street. She had seemed semi-interested so we took her up on it. When we got there we ended up teaching her husband and his friend for like an hour. They are way interested in learning about the Book of Mormon and seeing if it is true. So we have an appointment coming up on Thursday. Then on Sunday after church we were going to go see this guy but felt we needed to go try this other potential instead. We had a tough time trying to get in contact with her before but felt she would be home. So we go over and it turns out she was going to go out but for some reason decided to stay home for a little longer. We taught her the first lesson and she is going to read and pray this week. She lives like right next to the church and she said that she had always wanted to see what it was like in there. So we invited her to church and she said she would be there. The blessing are coming through and I am so grateful for all this work. We had out baptismal interview for Brandon Yanez last night and it went great. He will be baptized on either the 20th or the 27th. We are just waiting to see when his whole family will be in town and can make it. We have been having a tough time getting in with the Place family but we get this call today and they said they need us to come over today to help them with something and they want us to share a lesson as well. I was so happy to see that they want us to come over and share a message. The work here is going great. I know that it is the Lords work and if we will rely on Him the blessing will come.

Okay, now to the story of who I met that knew my Grandpa Rogers. So I was on exchange with Elder Mellen. He is in my district. I was down in the Sunnyside area and we went to dinner at the Weaver's house. We were talking and getting the pleasantries out of the way and she asked me where I was from. I asked her and she said Fort Collins. I simply said I had family there and told her it was the Huntsman’s. She said which one. I told her my aunt Gale and uncle Keith. She just got this bright look on her face and told me she was best friends with their daughter Leslie and how she knows my mom and how when she was at BYU she was acting as a care giver for my grandpa before he passed away. It was so cool to sit and talk to her and just talk about family that we both knew. It is a small, small world.

Well, things are going great here in Zillah and I thank my Heavenly Father everyday for the blessings that He gives me. I know it is around Thanksgiving but I am truly grateful for all that I have; for this beautiful planet and especially for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that He is there and that He loves each one of us. He is there for us in the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. I love my Heavenly Father and have grown very close to Him while I have been on my mission. We each need to work on that relationship everyday and find out what He truly means to each of us. I love you and hope you all have a great week. Be safe and remember to live without regrets. As we replace fear with faith and recognize what our Heavenly Father has done for us, it will help us to see how each of us are truly blessed and that He lights our paths through times that may be dark or dreary.

Have a great week,

Elder Draper