HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Sorry, this is out of order... it got misplaced.

Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 2010 12:26 PM
Subject: happy halloween!!

Well, happy Halloween everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween. I heard that it was just a complete down pour in Utah on Halloween. Well it was good up here. We didn't really do a whole lot because we had to be in at 6 o'clock on Sunday and no one was home or wanted to talk to us on Saturday so it was a rough time. Holidays for missionaries are tough but oh well. It was still fun. We went to the ward trunk-or-treat. Of course we went out and bought a ton of candy to give out. It was fun. We were thinking about just dressing up as missionaries or JWs but we decided to be festive. So elder Worwood carved a pumpkin and put it on his head and I just went with a nice mask. The only problem was that we forgot there were going to be little little kids there and I actually ended up scaring a couple of them. It was kind of funny. I never realized what a great missionary opportunity that was though. There were a few non members there and a few less actives that never come that showed up. It was a fun time.

This week was a little bit slower than last week but we still had some awesome and unique experiences. We will go with the unique ones first and end with the awesome ones. So on Wednesday we went to try and see this part member family. We go by and the husband (he is a member) opens the door and comes out and talks to us. He says that she is not feeling very good and the he took her to the hospital and they gave her a shot. When they got home the wife went to sleep and she was still asleep. He even said she might not be dead. We just kind of shrugged that off and said we would try back later. So it is Saturday night and I get his call from that part member’s phone number. (you can see where this is going) So I answer and it turns out that she had actually died. I have never had to deal with that on my mission. I mean sure give me a shovel and I can dig a six foot hole but this is something totally different. I did take something cool away from it though. As I was talking to her, all I could think about was how lucky we are to have the knowledge of the plan of salvation. I don't remember what I said to her that night but I just remember the feeling that came over me as I bore witness that the Plan of Salvation is true and that she would see her mom again and that all would be well. We referred her to the bishop and they got that all taken care of. We decided it would be good to go over the next day and talk with them a little bit. We didn't really give a formal lesson but we just gave them a chance to talk about it and see if we could help out in any way. It was different though. I am so grateful for the knowledge that we have from the church and the peace it brings.

We ended up having to teach the 5th Sunday lesson as well. We were struggling to think of what to teach but we decided that we would use this experience in the ward to teach about the blessings that come from the knowledge of the Doctrine of Christ. It was a very spirit filled meeting and it turned out great. That is another thing that I am so grateful for is the spirit that leads and directs us. We had another District meeting this last week and it was all about the Spirit. It was learning about recognizing and relying on the spirit. It is so important that we each actively seek the spirit in our lives. We cannot afford to live without it.

So now to the cool stories. I had an experience that showed me that if you will be diligently seeking you will be lead to those people who are prepared. It was Saturday afternoon and I was on exchange with Elder Anderson. We were walking around the Zillah Ward trying to see people. When we were planning the night before we set a goal to find three new people to teach. I knew that we would find them I just didn't know who they would be. So we had planned to see this family that told us we could come back and I was thinking okay maybe it will be these three, but they ended up not being home. So we are walking away and see this moving truck up the street a little bit. We both just got this feeling that we needed to go and help them. So we go up and offer to help. They say sure so we take off our suit coats and jump right in. It turns out that another church group was supposed to come help them but they bailed on them. When they found out we weren't from that group they couldn't believe that we just happened to be there at the right place at the right time. We asked if we could come back and share a message with them and they said they would love it and they actually had some good friends that were members of the Church. I thought that was way cool and was just like cool some new people to see and wasn't even thinking about the goal we had set. Helping them move took up all afternoon and so we didn't get to see any more people but guess how many people moved in? You guessed it, three. It took us about two minutes to realize that fact and all we could do was stop and offer up our gratitude to our Father in Heaven for placing us in that area at that time to meet the Kelly family. We are going to go back this week and visit them. I can't wait. Oh, I almost forgot. It gets better. So we are in church on Sunday and there is this family in our ward who plays tennis and their kids are on the high school team. It just so happens that one of the Kelly boys is way good at tennis and wants to be on the high school tennis team. I mean, come on, it doesn't get any better than that. It was just cool to see how when we allowed the Spirit to be the senior companion and listened to where the Lord wanted us to go we were able to find a family that our Heavenly Father prepared for us to see. Wow. I didn't realize this much happened this week.

So another cool story about being lead by the Spirit involved the Place family. We hadn't been able to see them this last week because they had canceled. I was a little worried because we had pushed them a little bit the last few lessons. So we were planning and we got this urge that we needed to go to their business and see how they were doing. So we go down there and end up talking with them for like an hour and just had a great visit. It just turned out that they were sick and they really appreciated us coming down and seeing them. He even called us later that day and thanked us again and said they couldn't wait until their next lesson (which is tonight). So we will see how that goes. This week was just full of great times. I love my mission and I am so grateful for every one of these experiences that are placed in my path. I know that this is the Lord's work. We have to allow him in it. As Elder Holland would say "this is not burger king, you can't have it your way".

I hope you have a great week. I love you all and pray for you every day. I hope you always remember to live worthy of the Holy Ghost. But not only just live worthy but actively seek him and most importantly, LISTEN. Listen even when you may not understand. Follow his guidance even though it may seem a little odd. Our Heavenly Father knows what is best for each of us. We just have to do our part. Remember that as we replace fear with faith, He will send the Holy Ghost to help us in every situation. We need to have a testimony for ourselves if these things are true. I know I have found it for myself and everything that has happened on my mission has only built that. My feelings for the Church and the Gospel principles can only be best described as a fat kid on a cupcake. I ALWAYS want that cupcake. I hope you find that love for yourself.

The Zillah Missionary,

Elder Draper