OH, SO TIRED!

JULY 4th DINNER AT ANTHONY'S

Surprise visit from my other MOM, Suzanne Keetch. She was
in Kennewick for a wedding and stopped by the office to say hi!

12 July 2011

Well hello,

So I have talked about being tired in the past, but I think this week tops it all off. On Saturday night it was all Elder Garrick and I could do to stay awake. At the same time though it was probably one of the best weeks I could have in my mission. This last week we only spent Tuesday night, Sunday and last night in our area. You think, how can that be such a great week. We had the chance to tour the mission this week and to have zone conferences with the whole mission. We had five zone conferences in five days. It was crazy to be a part of but it was so amazing. Mixed in with this crazy schedule was a few miracles as well.

I will start with the stuff that went on in our area and then I will give an over view of the zone conference.

So last Monday was the 4th of July so not a lot went on. We went to this restaurant named Anthony's with a member. He is this old guy named Brother Johnson that likes to take the missionaries out. It is this seafood place right on the edge of the Columbia River. It was so nice, it felt like we were going to prom or something. We are trying to figure out what we want and he pretty much just ordered the whole menu for us. We had oysters, Dungeness crab, clams, mussels, calamari, crème Brule, chocolate pudding/moose stuff, beef kabobs and like five different kinds of fish. We ate so much that it was hard to breathe after we were done. It was some of the best food I have ever had though. The bill was expensive but it was good.

Last Tuesday was when one of the miracles happened. We got a referral from a member for this lady named Denty. We talked to her last week and set up an appointment. We went back and found out she doesn't understand too much English so we taught her a super simple first lesson and just explained some of the basic principles. It was amazing to teaching that way because it really made us think back to the basics. Our lessons don't have to be jammed packed with information but as we teach the basic and simple principles of the Gospel the Spirit will bear witness and that is who the real teacher is. We were explaining the Book of Mormon and out of nowhere she just says "I have that book, but I can't understand it". It turns out that she had spoken to missionaries in the past but couldn't understand the Book of Mormon because it was in English. She speaks Arabic and we figured we had one in the office. So after the lesson we ran back to the office and tried to find one but there was not one there. There was nothing we could give her in Arabic. We were about to leave our new investigator without a commitment or anything to do while we leave for a week so that night we prayed and prayed for a miracle to happen that we could find a Book of Mormon. It was our second zone conference in Hermiston and Walla Walla. After lunch we broke off into different training sessions. Elder Garrick and I were doing our session and in our second group after lunch we mentioned something about needing a copy of the Book of Mormon for our investigator. We had never used that example or even talked about it with any of our other groups. Out of nowhere some missionaries spoke up and said, "We just happen to have an extra copy of the Book of Mormon in Arabic. Would you like it? It is out in our car right now." That is a miracle right there. So we have an appointment with Denty tonight and we can give her a copy of the Book of Mormon in Arabic. I love seeing the hand of the Lord in our lives.

Last night we were out and about and one of our appointments fell through. We were trying to figure out who we should see and this “potential” came to our mind. Her name is Natalie and she has two kids. We go over there and end up having a great first lesson and she is really interested in learning more. There are just miracles and tender mercies that come into our lives as long as we are looking for them. I love this work. I am excited to wake up each day and have the opportunity to go out and to do this work.

So like I had said this last week was full of Zone Conferences. One of the main things that we did was focus on the Book of Mormon. I have mentioned it a few times but for the past sixty days we have been reading the Book of Mormon as a mission. Then at zone conference we read the last chapter of it together. I was able to finish the Book of Mormon in the time that was set out and I am so grateful that I did. Last p-day I had to spend most of the day reading but I will be forever grateful for the testimony I have gained of the Book of Mormon. President would call people up and ask them to bear testimony on it. It was our third Zone conference and I had heard so many testimonies on the Book of Mormon. I was sitting there at the beginning of the meeting and just thinking about what the Book of Mormon meant to me. Right after the Book of Mormon thing was the training time for me and Elder Garrick. All of the sudden I heard a distinct voice say you need to bear your testimony today. I was trying to figure out when I could do it during our training because I figure President wouldn't call me up there because he hadn't done it the past few meetings. Out of nowhere President asks me to go up and share my testimony. I will always remember the Spirit that rushed through me as I stood and bore witness that I know the Book of Mormon is true. It truly is another testament of Jesus Christ. We had read through the last chapter again before I got up and there is a verse that just stuck out to me so much. In Moroni 10:32 it talks about how we need to come unto Christ and be perfected in Him. We focused on the Gospel or Doctrine of Christ as we read it this time. My testimony of the atonement has grown so much since I have done this. This Book helps us come close to our Heavenly Father and points us to Christ. So by this point the tears are coming and just that one part was one of the most spiritual experiences I have had. But then it got even better. This is just another witness to me that our mission presidents are inspired. We had planned to sing a certain closing hymn but he decided he wanted to have us sing the special musical number again. One of the zones sang the primary song "I know that my Savior loves me". We sang that as a congregation. When we got to the chorus, the Spirit hit me even more. The chorus goes "I know He lives, I will follow faithfully, my heart I give to Him, I know that my Savior loves me". It was one of those times where I had a reaffirming witness that I know that my Savior lives. I know that He loves us and as we give our hearts to Him and follow His teaching we can come unto Him and be cleansed. I wish I could say in words how amazing this experience was. I may not be able to exactly remember all that was said but I will always remember the feeling I had and the Spirit confirming those things that I have grown to know. My scriptural knowledge may not be amazing and my teaching may not be the best but I know with my whole heart that Jesus is the Christ and that the Church that he has set up has been restored to the earth today and that all the blessing of salvation have been restored for us to have today. The rest of the zone conferences were amazing but that one was the most powerful for me. I may be exhausted but I don't think I have ever been so excited to do missionary work as I am right now to be a part of this work.

There is one last experience from zone conferences that really touched my heart. As part of the closing remarks, President spoke about one of my good friends Chance Norquist. He is a recent convert from Pendleton that I got to know really well while I was down there. He had some medical problems so he had to come home from his mission. President told his story and I didn't realize how close of friends I had become with Chance, Elder Norquist, until now. I was with him through a lot of those hard times and now he is back out on his mission. I have seen him in his lowest of lows and now he is in his highest of high and I couldn't be happier. I couldn't help but shed tears of happiness for him.

There were so many other amazing things that happened this week but this email is already long enough.

I love you and hope you have a wonderful week. This is the greatest work that any of us could be engaged in. You don't have to have a name tag to be involved in it either. There are those people all around us who need this message. They need to feel the same joy and peace that the Atonement can bring to their lives. I know sometimes it may be scary to share the gospel with someone, whether they are a non-member or a struggling member. But as we replace fear with faith and open our mouth, it shall be filled and the Spirit will give us the things that we need to say.

I know that my mission means everything to me and that I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Stay safe this week and live without regrets. Remember the Savior is real and that He can heal even the deepest wounds, but we must come unto Him though and become perfected in Him. There is nothing that He can't help us overcome. We just have to trust Him and follow His teachings. I love this Gospel, I love my Savior, I love my family with all my heart and I love this work.

Love,

Elder M Scottie Draper