TRANSFERS COMPLETE

21 June 2011

Well this week there is not a whole lot to report.

This week really flew by. It was very busy but we were able to accomplish a lot. As I said in my last week’s email that we have been really busy getting transfers all figured out. Most of the transfers went as planned. We had a few big hick-ups but for the most part it was a very smooth transfer. I think we only had like fifteen companionships out of eighty nine that stayed the same this last transfer; so needless to say there were a lot of changes. Our other big hick-up did not come with transfers but with the new missionaries. We had planned for three Spanish missionaries to be coming in so we planned out for three Spanish trainers. We picked up all the new missionaries (which is one of my favorite parts, it is like Christmas morning) and we got them all back to the mission home. As we are talking with them and getting their entry pictures taken one of the senior couples asks this one missionary if he is Spanish. He says "not Spanish, but a lot of people have been asking me that lately". It turns out there was a little mix up so we only had two Spanish missionaries and the third was actually English. So while the new missionaries were eating lunch we did a little scramble and had to call a new trainer and figure out transfers. I am convinced that if we could handle this transfer we could handle just about anything. It truly was by the hand of God that everything was able to work out the way that it did. So transfers were last Wednesday; then on Thursday and Friday morning we spent with the new missionaries and their trainers. We give all of them a similar orientation to the new twelve week training program the Church came out with. It is an amazing program that will really help the missionaries. One of the goals is to prepare missionaries to train when they have been out twelve weeks; so pretty much be trained and then train. We have one companionship that is like that this transfer and I have a feeling we will have some more soon. Elder Sanders (old AP) and his new missionary did it this last transfer and his new missionary made leaps and bounds not only in teaching but in confidence. This is a truly inspired program to not only help their missionary work but to help them in everyday life. The training went great and we even showed them the Elder Holland talk again and I love it even more every time I watch it. One thing that I really picked out this time was about revelation. Christ told his apostles that he would be leaving soon. He was going to perform the Atonement and the Apostles needed to be ready. He kept telling them and telling them but they never got the deeper meaning and what he was trying to say. Then when the time came for them to lead the Church, Peter was not quite sure what to do. The Apostles had thirty six months with Christ to learn what they needed. As missionaries we have twenty four months to learn some of those lessons that would take us longer to learn at home. Then when that twenty four months is up we need to be ready to face the world. We need to make sure our testimonies are ready to face the new trials and temptations that will come at us. We need to be prepared so when the time comes to make a decision that we know what we need to do and that we just don't go back to "fishing" like Peter did. We make those changes once in our lives and don't change back. It applies to everyone and our conversion to the Gospel each time we go to church, read the scriptures and ultimately follow Christ. We learn what we need to do to stay on the straight and narrow path. That is what this life is all about. We need to be learning and growing so that we can make the right decisions. Each day is a time to prepare for that time when we have to make those difficult decisions. President Monson said "When the time for decisions is present, the time for preparation is past". These are just some of the thoughts I had as I watched the Elder Holland video this last week.

In the craziness of last week we were able to get out and teach some lessons as well. We were able to get four new investigators as well. One of them is a family of five that was talking with missionaries in the past and decided to meet with them again. The Ibarra family has three that are eligible to be baptized. We had an amazing lesson about the Restoration with them. They are really busy right now with the cherry harvest but they seem really interested in learning more. We had challenged them to read the Book of Mormon and they said they would. They asked us where we suggested that they should start and told us how were excited they were to start reading. We told them to start from the beginning. First Nephi is first for a reason. They accepted and we are going to go back and teach another lesson soon. Our other new investigator is a part member family. Her name is Mary Livingstone and she lives with her daughter who is a member. I think at the beginning she invited us back to be nice. So we went back and started to teach her about the Plan of Salvation. You could tell that the Spirit did touch her heart and by the end she really started to open up. She was asking all kinds of questions and just wanted to learn more and more. It is always amazing to see the Spirit work on people right in front of your eyes. You could see in her eyes when the Spirit really started to work in her heart and when she started to give place for it. I just hope that spot in her heart stays open and we can continue to teach her more.

Then finally the best news for last; Nalani Anderson is still a go. She is going to baptized this coming week. We had her baptismal interview yesterday and everything is a green light. We had our last few lessons this last week and each time she amazed me more and more. She has had some problems with smoking in the past. We taught her the Word of Wisdom on Wednesday and we committed her to live it. She told us "I knew you would ask me to live it so I will. I am done smoking now and I will not have any more of those things." We were just like “wow”, this is amazing. Then on Saturday we followed up with her and she said she just got rid of all the temptations and quit cold turkey. The first day was a little hard but since then she has been doing great. I think Nalani is seriously one of the most golden people I have ever met. She told us how she got in contact with the missionaries. She grew up SDA (Seventh Day Adventist) and her parents were missionaries for that church. She traveled the world with them as they worked. At one point she was even a lay minister and conducted bible studies for the SDA church. After that she stopped going for a little bit and when she went back to the church it just didn't feel right. She felt that the church no longer followed their own rules and kept making exceptions. So she was looking online for a church with a prophet and she came across mormon.org. She started chatting with the missionaries online and asking questions. About a week later the missionaries knocked on her door. She was a little freaked out because she had never given them her information. After they assured her they hadn't tapped her Internet or stalked her, she invited them in and she started taking the lessons. Then her husband kicked them out after he noticed she was getting a little bit more serious about it. This was all down in Arizona. After that they moved and lost contact with the missionaries and the Church. Then one day after they moved here she was with her friends going to a party when they saw the missionaries walking towards them on the street. Her friends said "hurry the Mormons are coming, they will want to talk to you". She decided to hear them though and see what they had to say while her friends all ran inside. Ever since then she has been meeting with the missionaries. She has been wanting to be baptized for awhile but her husband has never wanted her to. She has tried to ask him like four times but finally decided that if he was not going to give her permission she was going to do it anyway. She said she needs the gift of the Holy Ghost and she knows it will help her. Working with people like her is such a blessings and I give thanks everyday for the chance I have to serve a mission.

Well I hope you all have a wonderful week and are enjoying the summer vacation. It is starting to heat up here and I hear it only gets hotter. Be safe and remember to replace fear with faith and miracles will occur. I know that Nalani's baptism is a miracle and I am grateful for the prayers that were offered in her behalf. I love you and will send another email next week.

Love,

Elder M Scott Draper