THE WORK MOVES FORWARD

BAPTISM- Zac and Zoe Lund. 28 May 2011

Hello,

It was a fun week in the WKM. I was out of the area every other day this week but it was still wonderful. I was able to see many miracles this week and participate in some wonderful teaching opportunities. An added bonus was being able to go down to Pendleton this week to teach some of the old people I was teaching and see some familiar faces. One of the hard things about going to an old area is that you can’t go around and see all the people that you knew. I mean I could but I set a personal goal that I would not do that. I am there to work with the missionaries and help them out, not to see old friends. The blessings that I have seen from this assignment have already been so amazing. I was looking back and realized that I have been doing this for a month now. It is crazy how fast time just goes by.

Well this week we had four exchanges with zone leaders. I went with the Dalles, Hermiston, Selah and Walla Walla (Pendleton) leaders. The exchanges all went great and I was able to learn a lot. That is one thing that I think a lot of older missionaries miss out on; they quite learning from those around them. They think they know everything because they have been out for a while. But we can never stop learning. When I was with the Selah Zone Leaders this week we had some very cool experiences. We had been seeing less actives in the afternoon and just trying to visit some people. It was going well, I just didn’t quite feel like I was fulfilling my purpose. That night we had two miracles though that turned that around. The first one came as we were driving away from dinner. We decided to go around the block instead of just flipping around. We passed by a person’s house that used to be on date but fell of the face of the earth. As we drove by we noticed the door was open. So we immediately stopped and went to see if she was home. Turns out she had fallen and was in the hospital for a month and was actually hoping we would come by that day. We were able to set up a return appointment for the next day. We were all super happy about that but then it got even better. We had a lesson with a lady names Lisa Riggon. Her and her family has been coming to church for like the last year and haven’t been baptized. We met for the lesson at a member’s house. I was getting to know her a little better and asked her how she felt when she was at church. She said she felt comforted. Then I asked her if she felt the same way when we met together and she said yes. She had previously expressed some concerns about Jesus Christ and the conversation started to drift into that. We brought the topic back to the feelings that she had felt and testified that it was the Spirit telling her that is was true. We were able to put her on date for July 2^nd. We promised her that as she kept reading, praying and coming to church that by that date she would be ready to be baptized and her concerns would be resolved. It was almost exactly like when we put Jennifer on date for baptism. It is just a bummer that I won’t get to teach her every week but I am grateful for the chance I had to be there to put her on date. It is so fun getting to know investigators all across the mission. It still amazes me how we can meet these people once and have a great love for them. The rest of our exchanges were wonderful, the one with Selah was just even better.

Okay but I will save the best news for last. The baptism of Zach and Zoe Lund went fantastic this week. They are just the coolest kids ever. I was able to baptize Zoe and then confirm Zach. They were so excited and you could see the happiness that it brought to them and their mom. We had a very good turnout. President and Sister Greer came as well as the office couples. It was very sweet of them to come and to see the support and the love that they have for us.

Everything else is going great in the mission. I had a chance this week to do the specialized training three more times and every time I watch the Elder Holland video I learn so much more.

I hope you all have a wonderful week. As we replace fear with faith, miracles will happen. I know that miracles are real and I know our Heavenly Father is there for us.

Love,

Elder Scottie Draper