Amazing Week & BAPTISM!

Note from MOM: the following are excerpts from Zhaun-Paul's letters to his family, so all the questions he's answering are answers to questions we asked him.

This week was just amazing!  Mom!  This work is the greatest!  I love just recognizing all of the tender mercies that we see in this great work!  You are so right!  The Book of Mormon has such an amazing power.  It invites the spirit into our lives and increases our knowledge, spirituality, and personal conversion.  I love the Book of Mormon!  I just wish everyone would read it every day.

This week we were able to see Temi enter the waters of baptism!! I have loved getting to know him, and seeing him progress in his spirituality and come to know his Savior better.  It was just incredible!  He is such a cool guy!  Oh, man.  He is just a legend!  Being able to teach him was one of the greatest experiences of my life! I was just an instrument in His hands, but I'm grateful that I was able to be a tool in his masterful hands.  This work is the best!  I'm grateful for the spirit and that we're able to invite it into our lives so we can help others recognize it. Pictures below!

Oh man, missionary work definitely isn't easy.  I know however, that it was NEVER easy for Christ either.  Salvation isn't a cheap experience.  It's supposed to take something if ourselves.  As we are rejected, spat upon, cast aside, and made a hiss in a byword, we are standing shoulder to shoulder with the GREATEST life this world has ever known.  Perhaps we will even be able to shed one of the tears that he shed.  It is a hard experience, but the most rewarding experience.

(Zhaun-Paul's Dad's letter started with saying that Zhaun-Paul has been out 4 months already, and that 1/6 of his mission is over)

Hey WOAH!  Careful throwing crazy fractions around like that!  I'm just getting started!

To answer some of your questions... 

YES!  Many areas are huge, and require cars.  There's around... 5 cars in our Zone? Something like that.

Our new schedule is the basic one that was released.  It does give us more flexibility, and allows us to use agency more throughout the day.  It's been something to adjust to for sure.  I like it! 

 

My companion is a great guy.  I'm getting along really well with my new companion! He is polar opposites to Elder Botta, and is very thoughtful in the way he approaches missionary work. Both good missionaries though.  I'm grateful that I get to get both examples.  A thoughtful missionary, and a hard working missionary.  I'm just trying to pick out the best from both of them, and try to apply them to my own work.  He is a really thoughtful guy. 

I certainly do appreciate my trainer.  He taught me how to work hard and be more diligent.  He humbled me quite a lot, which I am so grateful for.  I was really prideful coming into the mission, and it's something I can always work on.  My habits have changed a LOT!  I think definitely for the better!

(Mom asked him how the members are over there to support the missionary work going on)
The members here are amazing as individuals!  Some of the most stalwart ward members of this great church.   The church is very different in some ways over here in England.  They are hit and miss with missionary work. Some of them are incredible, but we don't have a ward mission leader... and all of our recent converts don't have callings, home teachers, home teaching assignments, or new member lessons.  It is TERRIBLE!  But I love them anyways.

The weather is kind of sporadic.  Really cold one day, not so bad the next.

It's so great seeing pictures of you guys in awesome ugly sweaters!  I love you guys so much! I know that my Savior lives. I know this church is true. I am so grateful for everything that you and Dad have done for me!
You guys are the best!!

Love you so much!

Elder Draper

FAITH

I didn't really know what to title this email, and yesterday President

and Sister Stevens gave an amazing training on faith.  So that
explains that.

This week was pretty awesome!  We have had a lot of time to be out and
about finding new people to teach.  I got a few gentle reminders I've
been in Northampton a while, because some people I talked to recognise
me and remember me stopping them before!  It's pretty cool!  Sometimes
it leads to a better conversation, and sometimes people wonder why I
keep bothering them.  It's great.

Temi is doing well.  He is pretty much a master chef, and loves having
us over for a dinner and a lesson.  In church, he was talking about
how every time he comes to church, or meets with us he feels really
good vibes.  We asked him what he thought those good vibes meant, and
eventually he came to the conclusion that it was the spirit.  We
shared John 15: 26 and he was really excited.  He is just a legend.
His glaucoma is getting worse, which is really hard for him.  He is
finding lots of peace and joy in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and he
tells us all the time how greatful he is for it in his life.

We had interviews, which is where the whole zone (a whole lotta
missionaries) get together to have a one on one with President
Stevens.  During the time we are all there they give us a training.
The whole thing is an amazing experience where you are able to feel
the spirit of unity and being united in this great work.  So that was
great!

Well I think that's everything!  I know that faith is such an
important part of our lives.  David A Bednar says

"True faith is focused in and on the Lord and always leads to
righteous action. “Faith [in Christ is] the first principle in
revealed religion, … the foundation of all righteousness, … and the
principle of action in all intelligent beings.” Because acting in
accordance with the correct principles the Redeemer proclaimed is
central to receiving and exercising true faith, “faith without works
is dead.” We are to be “doers of the word, and not hearers only.”

The whole talk is amazing and I recommend it to anyone.  10/10 for a
close friend.  The talk is titled "If Ye had known Me" by David A
Bednar.  It's from the latest conference.  Faith is all something we
can work on.  Whether it's planting a seed and just starting to want
to have faith, or rekindling faith that has dimmed over the years, or
even just strengthening our faith from whatever it is currently.  I
know that as we place our faith in Christ, we will develop a desire to
follow him and it will bless our lives in the best way possible.

Love you all!

Elder Draper

Here are some pictures from a group of missionaries that need pictures
to send home on P Day.  Enjoy.

My new companion and I making cookies.

Our zone leaders fell asleep while we were making them dinner.

Hyde Park Chapel, with the iconic black taxi and double decker bus.

You don't get more English than this!

It Snowed!!!

Hey everyone!

I hope you guys are just having an amazing week!  This week has been
so fun!  It was sad having to say goodbye to my Italian trainer Elder
Botta.  I'm going to miss his passion for this work and his amazing
pasta.  My new companion is Elder Dunning.  He is from Fresno,
California!  He is a really smart and thoughtful guy.  He and Elder
Botta are very opposite.  He has a whole different approach to
missionary work, and I have learned a lot this last week!  The next
highlight was that Temi agreed to live the Law of Chastity!  He is
just an absolute stud.  His second time at church he really enjoyed
gospel principles.  It was a little weird because the lesson was about
the millennium... but Temi had a great time!
Oh yah... IT SNOWED!  I was starting to think that I wouldn't see snow
on my mission, then during Companionship Study it just started to
snow, pretty hard even!  Proper snow!
We've put a lot of time into visiting less actives in the ward.  It
has been a really neat experience being able to talk to them and find
out that they still have testimonies, but for some reason or another
they decided to not come to church.  One of the most spiritual moments
of my mission came when we stopped by a guy in our ward and he told us
that he wanted to turn his life around and asked us to continue to
meet with him.  Such a good guy.
Well, that's pretty much it for this epistle.

Have an amazing week!!

Love,
Elder Draper

Moves Week

I can't believe how fast time flies!

I just finished my second transfer!

It feels like I flew out of the SLC airport a week ago!!

Anyways, I am staying in Northampton for at least another six weeks.
I am however, getting a new companion tomorrow.  His name is Elder
Dunning!  I haven't met him yet, but I'm excited to get to know him!
It's going to be sad to say goodbye to Elder Botta!  He has been a
great example for me, and we have made so many memories that I'll
never forget!
Something way cool that happened this week is I met Temi!!  I sat next
to him on a bus when we were on our way home.  We had a really random
conversation, but he laughed a lot.  I invited him to come to church
with us the next day (because it was Saturday, and we go to church on
Sunday)  And he seemed kind of taken back.  He told me that he lives
right across the street from us, so he has seen many missionaries come
and go and lots of them have talked to him before.  One of them even
invited him to church over a year ago!  He said that something about
me got the best of him so he agreed to come.
He LOVED church!!  The members did an amazing job of fellowship in
him!  They said "Hi" sat by him, asked him questions, and it was just
amazing!  The next day we invited him to come to lunch with us and he
came!  He is such a funny guy!  He is from Nigeria, but grew up in
North London.  Last night, we taught him the word of wisdom and when
we told him about tea and coffee he stood up right then and there,
walked over to the kitchen, and just threw it all in the bin!!  What a
legend!  He is awesome!
Ian was baptised on Saturday, and Keerthy was able to baptise him!  It
was amazing for both of them and Keerthy was so excited because it was
the first time he got to use his priesthood.
Something I've been really grateful for  this last week has been
living prophets and apostles.  I love listening and reading conference
talks, and I invite you guys to read the latest conference talks.
They are modern day revelation for us!  How cool is that??  The answer
is WAY cool!!
I hope you all have an amazing week!  Love you guys!

All the best!

Elder Draper

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hey!  I hope everyone had an amazing New Year!

Man!  2016 went by SO fast!

This week was pretty great!  We had the opportunity to teach a lot! It felt like we were either traveling to a lesson or teaching a lesson.  Something that doesn't happen all that often, but I love it. Sadly this week David and Laura have kind of dropped us.  It breaks my heart because they are such amazing people.  They say they know the Book of Mormon is true and they know at Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, but they don't know if it's the right path for them... what?  I know.  We'll keep doing everything we can for them, but it does come down to their agency.  On a more positive note!  Ian is doing amazing! He came to church for the fourth week in a row, and he just loves it! We are seeing him every nearly every day because he loves learning about the gospel so much.  He has already read to 2 Nephi 6!!  What a legend!

I love being a missionary!  This is an amazing time of year to evaluate ourselves and set goals.  I love goals and know how powerful they are.  If you set faithful goals by prayer, and do everything you can to achieve them then you will do amazing things.  Even if you don't achieve your goal!

We went to this amazing family last night!  They are from Ghana, and they lived in Italy for 10 years or so!  So we got to eat traditional Ghanaian food!  They call it fufu!  It was so weird, but actually pretty good!  You don't swallow it, and you eat it with your hands!! Haha!  They are such a faithful family.  They lives in Ghana when there was a ban on the church.  Brother Danso went to each member of the church every Sunday to do home teaching!  They had to hide on plantations to partake of the sacrament!  It was amazing to hear their stories and to feel of their love of the gospel!  Plus they gave us WAY cool ties from Ghana!!

Anyways!  I hope you all have a great week and a fantastic New Year! It's a great time to recommit to good habits or start if your not doing them already!  2017 is going to be AMAZING!!

Love you guys!

Elder Draper

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Hello everybody!

I hope that each of you had an amazing Christmas!  I hope you got to spend time with family and friends, and eat some great food as well! I had a fun week leading up to Christmas!  Lots of lessons, lots of people cancelling lessons on us, lots of Christmas cheer!  For a Christmas we got to go to a lovely family, the Ryan's.  They were
super fun to be with on Christmas Day!  The we went out and visited some less active people, and people that bishop told is could be alone this Christmas.  It was such a neat experience being able to be out doing the Lord's work on his special day!  Thanks for all your love and support!  Have a happy break/New Year!

Love you guys!

Elder Draper