cake with the Smith'sBIRTHDAY WEEK
11 August 2011
Well hello,
This week was so enlightening. Turning 21 has opened my eyes to a whole new horizon of understanding and helped me understand some of the imponderable questions of life. Just kidding, Elder Draper is still the same old Elder Draper just one year older. It was a great week and a great birthday as well.
I will get the stuff about the birthday out of the way first. I woke up to a nice breakfast from my companions they made me eggs and toast and a nice cake. The cake was made out of ketchup, ranch, pixie sticks, and chocolate chips. It was great. That night we got to drive to Vancouver. When we got there the missionaries that we stay with had a cake for me with candles and everything. It was so nice of them. I got a sweet poster from them as well. It is an old poster for BYU football from the days of Ty Detmer. Then I got a great package from my family and letters from grandma and grandpa, the Nashifs (Stake Presidents family in Vancouver) and a couple others. It really made my Birthday awesome. I am so grateful for the chance I have had to make some very close friends.
Everything in the mission is going really well. This last week we had a once in a life time opportunity. We had Zone Leader Council and one of Presidents good friends wanted to come and see one of them. It turned out to be Elder Lesuer of the Sixth Quorum of the Seventy. He was the Stake President that called President Greer to be a Bishop and into the Stake Presidency. Just as a side note, President and Sister Greer are truly amazing and are like second parents to me. We figured he would just come to the ZLC and maybe say a few words. President told us he wanted us to meet with him. Elder Gudjenov, Garrick and I got to sit down with him for two hours and just talk with him about the Doctrine of Christ and a few other things. Just being in the same room and having an opportunity to speak with him face to face was amazing. The Spirit was so strong. He gave us some council that I will take with me for the rest of my life. One the things he spoke to us about were methods of leadership. There are a million ways to lead and achieve obedience. His point was that if we are only trying to get them to be obedient we have missed the ultimate goal. As a leader we are trying to help people want to obey; not to force them to obey or use spiritual blackmail to make them obey. Love should be the guiding principle in anything we are doing in our lives. The envelope by which we deliver any mail is love, although the contents of the envelope may vary. It was just something cool to think about. At ZLC he took some time and taught us. He spoke on how unity comes from sustaining our Church leaders. When we sustain our Church leaders their agenda become ours. After that he spoke on the importance of family and how the most powerful ordinance in this life is to be sealed as a family. That is the only way that we can be together forever is to be sealed in the temple. Then I thought about what the Prophet and Apostles have been stressing the past few conferences and it is the family. It was a great example of how someone sustains their church leaders. Elder Lesuer is one of the greatest teachers I have ever met and it was a privilege to get to sit down and learn from him.
The work in our area has been going good as well. We got to spend a lot of time in our area to go out and teach. We have been looking at our area and trying to figure out how we can get it going again. Many of our investigators have been busy with the summer and not really progressing. We had those six quick baptisms and now we are trying to find out who is next. We had some very good lessons with the Mollote family. They are so close it drives me crazy. They need this so much and I just wish that I could help them understand why it is so important. They are making baby steps though and I know they will get baptized eventually; it is just a matter of time. They said they would be at Church so we will see what happens this week.
We found a new part member family who said that we could come by and start teaching them. There are good things happening each day and I am just glad to be out here on my mission. Helping other come unto Christ is one of the greatest things that each of us can do. Those six people that were baptized are doing good. The Smith family is on fire right now and it is so fun to see their excitement and zeal for the Church. Their son Grant made a huge choice this week. He plays a lot of hockey and there was big hockey clinic this last Sunday. He is ten and decided that church is the right thing to do. He said he prayed about it and he kept hearing a voice say "church, church ,church" so he decided to follow it and go to church. On my birthday the Smith family also invited me over for lunch and had a small party for me as well.
As part of the work this last week we had exchanges on two different nights. After ZLC this last week we went back down to Pendleton and I got to go out and see people down there. The work is really picking up down there. It is fun to go back down and see that the work you do in an area is not in vain. Many of the best progressing investigators are those who Elder Liu and I found while we were there. I went with the Zone Leader who had only been there for a week or so. It was about 8:30 and he didn't know what else to do. We could have just gone and seen people I wanted to visit but we pulled over and we said a prayer. I told him to look at his weekly planning and see who the spirit says we need to go see. He pointed out Jake Lamareux. It turned out to be a really good visit with him and we even invited his non-member girlfriend to read the Book of Mormon.
We also went with all the Vancouver zones. Because there are three of us we got to go with Van North, Van South and Van West. I went with Van North and had a great time. I got to go out and ride a bike for a few hours. It was so much fun. We talked to like twelve people in two hours and found a few that were interested. There was this guy named Joseph who was waiting at the bus stop. He said he had never really had a religious background but he believed in Christ. We then got on the topic of the Book of Mormon and challenged him to read it. We got his number and he told us to call him in a couple days. The really cool part was that we rode off down the street and realized we were going the wrong way. So we turned back around and as we rode by the bus stop Joseph was sitting there praying over the Book of Mormon and then started reading it. It was way cool. I love going out with the Zone Leaders. Every time I have gone with the Zone Leaders we see miracles and have wonderful opportunities to learn and grow from each other.
I love my mission and everything that comes with it. It gets hard at times but I wouldn't trade it for the world.
We got to go to the Portland Temple this week and spend some time there. Just being at the Temple is one of the greatest blessings. The peace that is felt there cannot be duplicated anywhere else. I am grateful for the chance that I have to be serving in the Washington Kennewick Mission. The reason this email is late is because we spent P-day on the west side and went on some hikes. We got to see some of the beautiful waterfalls that are in our mission. I found out that I will not be able to extend this week but I will make the most out of the time that I do have left. It is not long enough but I know that the Lord has a plan for each of us. Remember our Heavenly Father loves us no matter what happens. We need to replace fear with faith and remember that He is there. I know that He is there and He wants to bless us. We just need to trust in Him and follow His guidance. I hope you have a great and safe week.
Love,
Elder M Scottie Draper
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