MERRY CHRISTMAS!

This week has been pretty sweet!

On Tuesday, we had our Christmas conference.  We got to go to St. Albans (which is a super posh town around 15 minutes from London) it was fun to drive and just see the roads and the country side.  I really love his country. President Stevens and Sister Stevens gave AMAZING uplifting talks to the St. Albans and Northampton Zones (I am in the Northampton Zone). The spirit was so strong, and I learned so much!  Them the Assistants Elder Burgess and Elder Withers (both amazing lads) gave a really good training.  After that President Stevens bore his testimony and sang a song for us... it was incredible.  This man sang in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for a reason!  The spirit was just tangible as he bore his testimony as well.  I feel so lucky to have such a great mission President.  Also, Sister Stevens may be the most Christlike person I've ever met.

Then the serious business was taken care of and the fun began!  We got to wear Christmas Jumpers and to Jumper Olympics!  It was so much fun! Then we did a white elephant gift exchange.  Good times.  It is a really cool thing when you get to gather with other missionaries. When you get to see MTC friends, meet new people, and just feel of people's great personalities!  It was so much fun!

Then, later that day, we taught the Word of Wisdom to David and Laura. It was the first proper Word of Wisdom lesson that I've been a part of, and it was just humbling to see how the Spirit was there, and they accepted to live it.  They are really changing their lives and it is just the best thing to see.  They are getting baptised! We are watching Prophet of the restoration with them, and I am just SO excited for them to see it.  They were having a rough day because they had to go to a funeral, so we stopped by with some gifts for them, with a list of Book of Mormon scriptures for them to read leading up to their baptism.  It meant the world to them, they came to church the next day, and now they are just doing SO good!

Then we had an exchange, met Ian, who is amazing!  He is just loving learning about the gospel! He reads the Book of Mormon for 30 minutes to an hour every day!  He's just a legend!  He watched the Prophet of the restoration and cried like 4 times.  Amazing.

Yah, the work is going great!  I am learning SO much, and I just love being a missionary.

Love you all so much!

See you next week!  And have a Merry Christmas!  Remember to focus on the important things in life!

Elder Draper

Jingle Bells

It's kind of funny, because before my mission I never really appreciated Christmas music.  Man!  It is SO good.  I really gotta hand it to my boy Micheal Bublé... he's got some pipes.  It's the small things that make a big difference.  Okay, now lets get back to the important things.

This week has been pretty interesting.  We had our Zone Meeting, so we got together and had some really amazing trainings on how we can help our friends progress, repent, and eventually enter into a covenant with God.  It was really good.  There are many amazing missionaries in this Zone!  There's a few from my MTC group as well, so it was so much fun seeing them again!

This Christmas season is just so incredible.  A time where we can really focus on what Christ did for us.  My mission President sent out a talk for us to study called "The Wondrous and True story of Christmas" by President Hinckley.  It was amazing.  I encourage all of you to read it.  It is one of the best talks about Christ and his Atonement that I have ever read.

We saw an amazing tender mercy as well.  We went to a lesson with our friend named Wycliff, and when he showed up he brought his friend Liam.  It turns out that Liam was one of the first people that Elder Botta (Zhaun-Paul's companion) taught in this area.  He wasn't ready to make changes in his life 3 months ago, but he is now really excited to learn more and make those changes in his life.  They both came to church yesterday and are working toward baptism in January!

I love being a missionary.  I love the people of England.  I love this time of year when we can focus on what's important in life.  I know that because of Christ death has no sting, and the grave has no victory.  I hope you all have an amazing week!

Love you!
Elder Draper
PS Check out this England fog!

LIGHT the WORLD

Wow!  It's December already?!?!

I love this time of year!  The town Centre put up so many beautiful Christmas lights and trees, and everyone seems to be getting into that Christmas spirit!  It's amazing!  It's great for missionaries because people are more open to talking about Christ.  Transitioning from talking to people about what they are looking forward to this Christmas to talking about the gospel is a pretty smooth transition most of the time.

We are teaching an amazing couple!!  Their names are David and Laura. Laura was taught by the missionaries when she was 7 years old, but when her family got baptized, she couldn't, and never did.  So she is 28 now, and her husband is 45.  They are the cutest couple!  They love Star Wars and Micheal Jackson!  They have really been amazing because they recognize the spirit working in their lives.  They came to church yesterday and loved it! They were looking at the "25Waysin25Days" calendar, and when they saw that today the 5th was to donate blood
David looked so surprised.  We asked him why, and he told us that he's been scheduled to give blood on that day for a few months!!  He doesn't believe in coincidences!  What a miracle!  We are seeing them, and we are going to watch "Prophet of the Restoration" with them!  We are so excited to see them progressing and learning how
to make covenants with God!

We had a pretty crazy experience with a lady we set a return appointment with.  We met her at the Library in Town Centre.  We started to get to know more about her, and she said she was a Jehovahs Witness.  We were talking to her about the Book of Mormon, and she said that Father Jehovah told me to only read one book, and that's the
Bible (or something like that)  When she said that Elder Botta just looked at me and started boldly testifying of the Book of Mormon.  As we both took turns bearing testimony of the Book of Mormon she seemed taken back.  The spirit was there and she didn't know what to do. Then she just stood up and left...  it was such a weird experience,
but pretty funny! Man I love being a missionary!

I hope we spend time this month trying to follow our Savior's example. The 25 Ways is an inspired program put out by the brethren. As we do those simple things leading up to Christmas, we will be able to draw nearer to Christ. We will be able to know him better, uplift others around us, and along the way feel the joy and happiness that comes from serving! Two scriptures come to mind when I think of this.  One is Alma 37:6 "6 Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise."  The things truly are simple, but by doing them are great things brought to pass!  It's a great way to share the gospel as well! The second scripture is Mosiah 17 And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."  I know that as we serve our fellow men this Christmas season, we serve our God.  Along the way we will be closer to Him and experience so much joy!  Do it!  It's amazing!  Share the video as well, it has an amazing ability to invite the spirit to people's
lives!

I love you guys so much!  I love hearing how you are doing!  Know that I'm having a grand ok' time!

Till next week!

Elder Draper

P.S.  Here are some pictures from last week and this week.  Enjoy!