I Saw The Queen!

Hiya!

Thank you all for your love and concern!  There was an attack at Westminster, but all of the missionaries are safe.  Contacting at Big Ben is not the best because everyone there is a tourist. So we were far away and safe.  Thank you so much for all of your prayers!  

Also, I saw he queen!  Haha!  Driving with her police escorts!  It was pretty cool!

This week has FLOWN by!  I guess every week flies by.  I honestly can't believe that tomorrow I have been out for 6 months.  I have learned so much, seen so many amazing places, met so many amazing people, and yet I know that I have so much left to learn.  Only 18 months to learn it!  I want to savour every moment of being a missionary.  This really has been the best 6 months of my life!  

Man!  We are meeting an amazing girl named Xizi!  She is Chinese, but grew up in Canada.  Her faith is amazing, and her willingness to follow Christ is amazing!  She is looking forward to being baptised, and she is really, really excited to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost!  At church she had an amazing experience!  There was a wonderful talk about mothers that brought her to tears.  Then the hymn "love at home" really hit her hard.  She said that it was powerful.  Sacrament meeting really is powerful.  Something that I've learned on my mission is just how important it is.  That promise we make every week is incredible!  Then during women's conference she took notes like a mad-woman the whole time!  Amazing!  People truly are being prepared to hear the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Being in the heart of London is fantastic!  You meet all sorts of people!  We bumped into a girl named Alma and we just had to let her know she's named after a Book of Mormon prophet!  Then we bumped into a crazy Mormon fan girl that went nuts when we stopped her!  She wanted to take a selfie with us and everything!  Now she's being taught by missionaries in Whales!  

Great week here!  I really know that this is he Lords work!  I love you all so much!  

Have an amazing week!

Elder Draper

look at those matching ties!

London

Again Zhaun-Paul did not send out a broadcast to everyone, so this letter is pieces of his letters to his family

I love family history work!  I'm so happy the whole family is getting involved!  I miss being in the temple and feeling of the sweet spirit there!  Remember when we went on that road trip to the temple?  That's one of my favourite memories of all time!  Keep that up and the family will be SO protected from the adversary!  

That's amazing to hear that Maddie made varsity!  Wooohooo!  Tell her she's like tiger woods... but WAY better and less abusive!  

I am having a great day today!  I'm on the tube now on the way to the Sherlock Holmes museum! We're on our way to Baker Street!  221 B Baker Street is a real thing!  So cool!

He power of prayer is amazing!  Something that really helped me understand prayer better was the face-to-face event with Jeffery R Holland and Henry B Eyring. It is amazing!  I recommend you watch it!  Also, the Bible Dictionary has some great insights to prayer.  Also Jesus the Christ chapter 17.  From those things I've really been able to improve my prayers.  I love that Heavenly Father really wants to hear from us.  He cares so much about us.  It's just incredible.  

My area is amazing!  Serving in Britannia 3 with Elder Massey has been brilliant!  Our area is MASIVE! It covers everything inside the M25 which is a motorway that circles London.  We are only teaching 18-30 year olds who are mostly students at some of the most prestigious colleges in the world!  It is pretty humbling to have to teach people who are WAY smarter than me!  I'd like to think I am always working hard.  There's always room to go that extra mile though!  Thanks for the reminder!  We are working with around 7 people right now.  This area is much busier than my last one and we have the opportunity to teach quite often!  He's been traveling quite a lot, but when he is here we see him almost every day!  He is amazing!  Such a spiritual giant.  In one of our interviews it felt like Christ was speaking through him!  It was so cool!  Our District is the best!!  Seriously
amazing.  There is us, the Elders in our Flat, the assistants to the president Elder Burgess and Elder Falke from England and Germany and two VC sisters one from Canada and Hong Kong.  Super District that's what it is.  The Zone is e Hyde park Zone and quite honestly it is under performing.  We need to step it up to be performing at the potential this area has.  We do meet at the Hyde Park Chapel.  I go there every day!  It is such a beautiful building!  YSA is the best! These are the best of the best Dad.  Returned missionaries studying/working in London.  They are so bright and so fun to be around! Getting to know them has been one of my favourite parts of this area! Unfortunately there are quite a few less active RM we are working with.  It's so sad to see people lose their faith.  My friends seem to be doing great out there.  Seems like all of them are in Texas!  Haha! They are all legends.  I love reading their emails.  It is finally starting to warm up!  London is so nice when it's bright and sunny out!  The frisbee is awesome, but I haven't played with any members yet...that needs to change.  I don't hear from too many people through Email.  Just mostly you beloved people and Kendall haha!

Now, Alma 5.  I loved your thoughts and insights to the chapter! Especially how the path to eternal life is so simple, but not easy to follow.  I also loved that name changing! Verse 14 stuck out to me the most. I thought about myself and if I'd seen a mighty change of heart.  I was thinking what it means to have his image in our countenance.  Do the things we do let others know that we are followers of Christ striving to be like Him?  As a missionary it's so wing we are always striving to do. The topic of being stripped of pride is an interesting one for sure. When I think of that term stripped.  It doesn't sound easy and I don't think it's supposed to be easy.  I don't feel ready to stand before God either.  There are a few talks that have really helped me realize that the only way to be stripped of pride is through the Atonement. When we understand it and use it properly that is when we have a mighty change of heart.  It's so cool. I have really liked studying this chapter together.  A little father,
son scripture study really is the best! Next chapter is Matthew 26!

Talk to you then!
Love ya!

Well.  I hope you have an amazing week! 

Love,

Elder Draper

Another Week in London

Zhaun-Paul didn't send a broadcast letter, so this letter is pieces of the letters he sent to family.

Hi!  

I love that scripture!  Alma 29 is amazing!  I sympathize with Alma's desires.  I have so many scriptures that I love!  I can't even pick one.  Something beautiful that has happened recently is I have been reading Jesus the Christ.  That has made reading the Bible completely different.  I have fallen in love with reading about the life of Christ.  Trying my best to become more like Him. I had only read the Book of Mormon on my mission until about two weeks ago, but now I have a new found love for the New Testament!  (The BoM is still the best though!)  

My testimony of reading the scriptures has grown so much on my mission!  I get answers to prays through them, and several times I find myself just crying over a passage or a chapter.  I love the spirit I feel when I read the Word of God!  I just got a text from an investigator this morning about the power she felt as she read Alma 32!  How cool is that?  Amazing!  I love helping people discover the joy that comes from reading!

I am loving London!  I love seeing the sights on PDays!  I can only imagine the great stuff you got to see in Italy!  I love London.  It's my favorite city in the world.  Every time I step foot outside, I just admire the beauty that's all around me!  

I sure love you!  I know that Jesus Christ lives!  I know that because he atoned for us we can change and become better every single day!  

Love you!

Week Two in London

This week has been amazing!  I feel a little more used to the busy bustling of London.  (Except this week I did fall down the "up" escalator.  I've adapted bus finding to tube finding and it's just been a grand ol' time.  People are so shocked when you speak to them on the tube!  I love it! Something amazing that happened yesterday was a Northern Europe Broadcast, where we got to hear from Elder M. Russel Ballard.  It was so good.  He kept referencing to his talk as an epistle!  It was epic. It's really cool how the messages were tailored to the people in Europe.  The same talks wouldn't have applied to the same degree if they were given in Utah.  It really does show that the Brethren really are aware of our specific needs.

Elder Massey and I are continuing to work with members and it really has been amazing.  We have been able to meet with so many wonderful people in the ward.  I've never really had all of this one-on-one experience with so many members.  It makes Church much more fun when you know who they are and they know who you are!  There are students from all over the world in our area, so it really has been fun just getting to make know with so many amazing people.  I've really come to love them.  Plus, YSA students are legendary Member Missionaries. Most of them are return missionaries, so they really are great at inviting people to church and fellowshipping our friends!

There really is so much diversity in London.  Last week we met an amazing girl from Egypt, and a really cool guy from Venezuela! Something that I love is meeting so many people from so many different backgrounds and countries.  Sharing the gospel with all of them has been such a joy.

Something that I've really focused on this last week is prayer.  How amazing is prayer?  We get to talk with our loving Father in Heaven. Sister Stevens gave a great training in prayer.  She really emphasized that prayer is a way that we alight our will with the will of the Father.  There is so much joy that comes when we are having an "single to the glory of God."  I hope you all can take a moment to really be open and honest with Him in your prayers.  I have seen the blessings that have come from doing just that.

I love you all!  Hope you have a fantastic week!

Elder Draper