April 21, 2018

Wow! Mom!  

I felt so much love from you this last week! With the handwritten package with with all the sweets I miss from the States. Literally my 3 favourite things to snack on that aren't available in the UK!  You Are an angel!  Not to mention that sweet video you sent in with the family in front of our house!  Wow!  I just felt so loved and close to you this week! 

Also! Congratulations on being so close to being done with school! You Are My hero and a great example of an amazing student!  In sure it's tedious here at the end, but I know that you can do it! You are awesome! 

My week has been hectic! I sent Dad some things we do and this week was FULL of Zone Conferences. Do you remember Zone Conferences? They Are amazing!  But MAN there is a load if work that goes in to make those meetings great! We spent Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday preparing trainings, slideshows, videos, and setting up all the projectors and tech stuff.  Im going to be a tech whizz by the time I get home!  Then We spent Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday doing the three different groups of Zones.  Wow!  Spiritual meetings! They all ended around 5:30 and then we had teaching appointments that were great in the evening! We have put some really cool people on Date to be baptised and are continuing to find prepared people!  This truly is the Lords work!  If you want to pray for some people we are teaching, you could pray for Karen, Yuen, Beryl, Will, and Tong!  

I also just want to say how much I love my companions! They are AMAZING!  They really help me to become better! 

One lesson that we had like 2 hours ago... (today was PDay and we had a great picnic in Hyde Park with our Recent Convert Don and a member called David Redpath.   We played Frisbee in the park as Well! It was just a great day! The weather was amazing! Like 20° Celsius! I'm looking grip of Ferenheight... ) Anyways, we were teaching this girl called Karen and we were teaching her the Word of Wisdom and at first when we said tea she said "WHAT??"  Then she paused and said 'No, that makes perfect sense!' And she just testified of how she didn't feel good when she drank tea and coffee.  We didn't even say anything! She just had her heart softened by the spirit! It was incredible! 

Also, our friend Yuen!  She wasn't going to come to church tomorrow, but she saw Sister Missionaries not once but TWICE today and she said it was God telling her to go to church! So cool!  

I'm so grateful for this great time to be a missionary.  I love it with all my heart.  This truly is the Lords work.  

I just want to thank each if you for writing those notes and sending those videos.  You are all absolutely amazing! I have the best family in the face if the earth.  I loved Sydney's drawing of me as Well! I love you all so much!  

You are all my heroes! 

Love,

Elder Draper 

April 14, 2018 - Zhaun-Paul and the Prophets in London

Mom,

I love you so much!  

I feel so bad that I have not really any time to write you properly!  I have been SO busy! Working so close with President has been the best experience of my life!  Plus this week we got a prophet visit that was one thing that I will Never forget! I love this work with all of my beating heart! I want to give my absolute everything! I don't have loads if time left! 

I love you so much!  

Have a great week ! 

Elder Draper

April 7, 2018 - NOW AN AP IN LONDON!

Wow!  Thank you so much for all your emails, love, and support.  This week has been wild!  Full of amazing work and learning and growing.  Some amazing things that happened this week was going on exchange with Elder Park, teaching Beryl (a lady we found in Norwich and referred to Britannia) and spending more time with President nd Sister Stevens.  I love them so much.  Things are going great. 

My companions are amazing.  It has been so much fun getting to know and serving with Elder Sharp and Elder O'Hare!  I admire then a lot.  I am so grateful to learn from them. I'm excited for tomorrow when I get back to the Britannia ward!  To say hi to all these people I haven't seen in a long time.  Also, this Thursday we will get a visit from President Nelson and Elder Holland.  What an opportunity.  It truly will be a once in a lifetime thing.  I can't wait.  

Well, I sure love you!  

Have a great week!  

Elder Draper

April 2, 2018 - Leaving Norwich

Hey Mom!  

Wow!  That. Looks. So. Fun!  The family having a grand time at the Grand Canyon!  Makes my heart swell with joy!  Maddie makes me laugh too!  Haha!  

Wow!  Conference has been AMAZING!  I haven’t had a chance to watch the Sunday afternoon session (because of the time difference, it starts at 9 and ends at 11... past missionary bed times)  Solemn Assembly was amazing.  I love President Nelson and it was a great time to really feel for myself that he truly is the Lords prophet on the Earth today!  He is amazing.  I’m excited about the changes as well!  The Lord really is Hastening his work and revealing things to his new prophet.  I love that the bridge between heaven and earth is not jammed.  That we are still led by Jesus Christ today.  It’s amazing.  

I haven’t hear President Uchdorfs Talk yet, but he is always incredible.  I loved so many.  I loved the one about failure, and Elder Bernard Talk was great too.  Feeling enlightened for sure!  During the Sunday Morning session... (5:00 for us) we brought one of our Investigators from China called Judy.  Her English is good, but in General Conference people use really BIG words!  So after, we were talking with her and she said "I couldn’t understand all the words... but I felt... warm, like light when they were talking."  She had felt the spirit.  It was such a tender moment and she looked down at the Book of Mormon we gave her and said "I just want to read this Book!"  That was a huge testimony builder.  I know that this gospel is real.  It is amazing to be a part of.  

So!  Transfers are here and I have been called away from the blessed land of Norwich.  Saying goodbye to that ward was HARD.  Bishop Carruthers and his wife were the hardest to say goodbye to.  They said I was like a son leaving!  4 1/2 months there.  That’s enough time to really come to love people.  Saying goodbye to the Investigators and Members I have come to love was pretty rough.  

I am now serving in the Britannia YSA ward... (again). I served in this ward a year ago!  Now I get to come back!  Im so excited.  I will be in a trio (having 2 companions) Elder Sharp and Elder O'Hare.  They are both incredible missionaries and I have looked up to them a lot.  So serving with them will be incredible.  There are great things ahead and I’m excited to be living in the big City again.  The work is hastening and I’m so grateful to be a part of it.  On April 12th, the President Nelson and Elder Holland are coming to visit our mission.  How wonderful is that??  I can not contain my excitement!  I can’t wait!  

Also, I wanted to let you know that I will pray for Purify with all the energy of heart!  Glad to hear there are still great things happening there.  

I love you so much Mom!  

Have a wonderful week!  

ALSO! THIS IS IMPORTANT!  My PDays will no longer be on Monday.  So don’t get anxious when there is no response in Monday’s.  For now my PDays will be every Saturday.  

Alright, glad I didn’t forget to let you know.  

Love you!  

Elder Draper 

1.  Judy (she is amazing!)

2. Elder Jeronimo sleeping through personal Study on an exchange.  

3.  Same

4.  Sister Carruthers

5.  Elder Menezes is going home, so that was his mission 'funeral'

March 26, 2018

Hey Beloved Family!  

Wow!  Thank you so much for all of your letters!  Plus, it was way cool to hear Maddie’s Sacrament Talk!  You KILLED it Maddie!  So proud!  Sydney!  Your presentation sounds amazing!  I learned facts about England I didn’t know and I have LIVED here for over a year!!  That’s amazing!  JD... your backflip skills and smoking hot cleats are both legendary.  P.S.  ASK SOMEONE, ;) 

To answer  a few questions,

YES,  I did have that interview Dad... I swear I write you about it!  It was great!  Spiritual and amazing.  

No!  No crashes!  actually right now I am the 'designated driver' so you can picture me just cruising around all of the many roundabouts in Norwich!  

I am quite frequently astounded by how quickly time goes.  This coming week is the last week of this transfer.  I can't believe it!  

On Tuesday, I had the chance to go on Exchange with Elder Amado.  He is so great!  He is from the Philippines.  It was so fun to be with him and learn from him for the day!  We had some great moments of simple teaching and testimony on the street and in the lessons we had.  Then his companion from Singapore taught us how to play Chines Checkers after we all got back to the flat.  It was a great day!

I \also got to go on exchange with Elder O'Hare this week.  I have heard amazing things about them my entire mission, but never once had the opportunity to serve around him.  He is incredible.  I'm glad we have such amazing leaders to help us grow.  We had a few great teaching opportunities (planned and unplanned) and it was great to be back in the blessed land of Britannia!  Some of my fondest memories are from my time in Britannia.

Our friends (investigators) are doing great... BUT they are all leaving Norwich for Easter break!  That makes it a bit tricky to teach them.  I'm grateful for the technology that allows us to keep in touch and help them grow their faith even when they are in Paris!  We are even getting smart phones this week.  I think it's the Samsung A5.  It is going to be so weird to have one of those... 'things' again.  I kind of like the bricks we use now.  

We have also had amazing opportunities to build relations with the wonderful Norwich Ward.  I love the members here in Norwich.  We got invited to do a missionary activity with the youth, and we are planning a missionary fireside with the Bishop and our Ward Mission Leader.  Plus, we've got a Stake-Wide fast going to be on April 8th.  Great things coming!!  The work is hastening here in Norwich! 

Don't you just love it when a word, a quote, or a phrase just really impact you.  Sometimes it comes from where you least expect it.  I have had quite a few of those this week.  One of them was "Today's 100% is only tomorrow's 99%"  I really know that we should be progressing each day.  That we can't hold yourself accountable to what was our best a year or a month ago.  That really makes me feel a sense of urgency.  I love my mission because it helps me to change for the better.  To be better tomorrow than we were today.  Progression is awesome.

Another one of those "moments" was when I read a letter from my Mission President (President Stevens) this morning.  He spoke about how around Easter time, many people go on a sort of pilgrimage.  How that helps them change and come closer to God.  Then he related it to our missions.  There is no better pilgrimage than to where the Lord has personally assigned me to serve.  I know that is true.  I love England so much.  A mission can be a time of incredible growth.  I know that it has been for me.  I have changed so much!  In a good way.  I'm grateful for an amazing mission president.  He and Sister Stevens are so Christlike.  They have played a big impact on who I have become over that last year and a bit.  

I know that putting our complete trust in the Lord is the way to find joy here in this life.  I know that He is at the helm.  One of my favourite members (Brother Will Barber) in the Norwich Ward put it so well.  He said " I have questions, everyone does.  I'm grateful that 'Does the Lord love me' and 'Do I matter to Him' are not one of them."  I know that my Redeemer lives.  Joy is what that brings to me.  I love being able to spread that around to the people here in Norfolk.  As we put our trust in the Lord it will always work out in the end.

Thank you so much for all of your wonderful support!  

Well, I sure love you!  I hope that you have an amazing week!  

Elder Draper

P.S.  sorry for only doing 1 good email this week... it’s sort of to everyone!  

PDay rushing yet again!

March 19, 2018

Hiya Mom!

Wow!  I can't believe that you will graduate in just 3 weeks!  That's crazy!  I know what you are talking about with that exhausted feeling!  It seems like that has become a part of my life.  I have come to love it though.  I want to go through my mission knowing that I gave it every ounce of energy I possibly could.  That I held nothing back.  Not even a drop.  That kind of tired is satisfying.  When you can feel great about how you have served throughout the day.  It sounds like it was quite a good week back there!  From the sound of it Maddie is really enjoying golf and boys.  JD is loving track and especially Frisbee (can't blame him, I have been converting all my companions to love Frisbee!  It's the best!) but seems to be having less of a good time with girls.  Sydney loves her little turtle with all her heart.  Which is just adorable.  I'm so grateful for how amazing Purify is doing.  I am going to repent and start praying more frequently for that wonderful business!  I love hearing that it is doing so well!  So many exciting things!    

This week had an amazing start to it. That amazing start was interviews with President and Sister Stevens! This was one of the best mission meetings I have ever experienced. Having a spiritual boost right of the bat really sets up the week to be incredible! Our meeting together as a Zone was very special. It was simple, it wasn't overly long, but it really did have the spirit. I felt it there so strong. There was just tangible excitement and unity there that transitioned into the entire week! This really was an incredible week for the Norwich Zone! 

We were able to feel that excitement and have that hope in our own area! I feel the highlight was meeting with our friend Crystal from China. She is amazing. At the beginning of the transfer, she expressed to us that she felt like she didn't have enough faith. That she literally felt nothing when she prayed. Well, we focused on sincerity and we have seen her faith just blossom! Reading and explaining Alma 32 really helped with that. We encouraged her to just talk to God like He is her best friend. She looked surprised and said "What? I can talk to God like that??" Since then she has expressed feeling a real difference when she prays. Feeling actual peace. Now, she is working steadily towards baptism in April! That really is amazing to me. I know that God hears and answers every sincere prayer. That hope that he will answer us, in His way and in His timing is just exciting. 

We also spent a majourity of our week living what is taught in Mosiah 2:17!  We got to help loads of different members of the Nowich Ward this week.  We helped Brother Will Barber (my favourite member) strip wallpaper off of his new house!  It felt like the good ol' days of my childhood going to work with Dad!  haha.  We also took apart some desks and organised a shed for the Harper family.  (they are American)  Then lastly, we volunteered with Brother Bob Barber to go help another church clear weeds and debris from their parking lot.  We showed up and just fought back a jungle!  It was awesome!  Then they took us to their little church hall and gave us soup!  It was awesome.  Here in England it is so sad to see that the county is becoming more and more secular.  When old religious English people see us "youngsters" being so passionate about our beliefs it just blows them away.  That is the power of restored truth.  When all the other Christian faiths are dwindling, the Church continues to grow.  Amazing.

Elder McMurray and I have really been working well together. We have been enjoying serving together. He is an amazing missionary. I really am blessed to get to learn from him. He is SO good at analyzing and determining why things are the way they are. He has really opened my eyes to that side of missionary work. I'm so grateful for that. He is just crazy smart. He is from Moapa Valley Nevada... I'm not sure exactly where that is.  Have you ever been?

It really has been a great week.  Our Zone is doing great!  We put 11 people on date to be baptised just this week!  It was amazing!  The work is hastening and I am so grateful to be a part of it.  To have the privileged of standing shoulder to shoulder with the best life this world has ever known.  How great is that?  Christ is so close to this work.  I love that feeling of being led.  It's amazing to see how His hand really is in the details of each day as long as we put our trust in Him.  I know He lives!  The Book of Mormon is amazing.  I love sharing it with people every chance I get.  On the train, on the tube, at the grocery store, on the street.  It really is truth.  Translated by a Prophet of God.  

Well!  I hope that you have a fantastic week! 

Love  you loads!

Elder Draper

March 12, 2018

Wow!

Those amazing updates make my heart leap with joy!

Wow!  What a week!  MLC, Zone Conference, and an Exchange!  With all of these going on it truly went by at the speed of light.  I can’t believe we are already 2 Weeks into the transfer.  

Back to the topic at hand, Zone Conference was truly wonderful.  I am so amazed at the simple and powerful way the President Johnson taught!  It was incredible.  So many wonderful insights.  I loved his take on how being submissive to the Will of the Lord created faith and power.  I love that.  Plus the Ether rollercoaster ride is something I’ll never forget.  Thank you so much for the training you gave on faith.  Making a careful inventory of where I am in my faith has been so helpful!  

I was able to go on exchange with Elder Smith, and he is amazing.  Really a great missionary!  We had a powerful lesson with our friend Angie and were able to put her on Date!  

I know my testimony has grown a lot this week.  It has grown as we have focused on gaining and building faith.  I am so looking forward to seeing you tomorrow and talking more!  

I sure love you Mom!  Send the family my unwavering love!

Elder Draper