Hey Mum!
This week was incredibly busy and crazy!
It's so good to hear that you are getting to spend some good time with the kids! I remember bumming around all summer long... good times. Sounds like it was just a solid week.
Wow! Is he really looking a lot like me? He must be a pretty good looking kid! JD
That rodeo looks like it was a good time. Was Mindy up to escape the brutal Arizona heat? My companion Elder O'Hare is from Gilbert Arizona and he always explains just how hot it is down there. Crazy.
The Book of Mormon is amazing. It truly is a blessing. I love studying it. I have also been going through the Topical Guide and reading every reference to Jesus Christ in the standard works. It has made my personal study SO spirit filled! I will often times get choked up because of the way a certain verse or passage makes me feel. I love the scriptures.
I know Mom. Time is going too fast. COULD SOMEONE PLEASE SLOW IT DOWN JUST A BIT!!
This week was like I said... crazy. On Tuesday I went on exchange with an Elder called Elder Gehring. He is the first Zone Leader from the South Mission that I got the chance to go with. It was a blast! We had a really good day. We taught Andrea (who is the sister of two amazing recent converts) and she told us about a time when she was sitting in Hyde Park reading the Book of Mormon and she saw loads of butterflies floating around. So she prayed and told him that she would know the Book of Mormon was true if he just made a butterfly land on the Book of Mormon. She waited for a bit, but it didn't happen. So she thought "Oh well" and went home. The next day she was in her room and she pulled the Book of Mormon out to read a few chapters. She set it down on her bed and left for a few minutes and when she came back there was a butterfly sitting on the Book of Mormon!!! IN HER ROOM!! God waited to answer her prayer in a way more powerful way! She had never seen butterflies near where where she lived before. She really is awesome. We also taught Will who passed his baptismal interview and is getting baptised tomorrow. He is such a legend. We got to eat at Franco Monca Pizza too. Which is always great. When we visit London, I will definitely take you all there.
On Wednesday, we spent the whole day looking for and taking care of a missionary that ran away. That was a hard day.
On Thursday, we went on exchange with the Crawley Zone Leaders (Also from the South mission) It was great to get to know them better. They are great. I went with Elder Rosenvall and it was his first ever AP exchange, so I was honoured to go out with him. We had loads of fun and worked our guts out. We were just running around London at top speed! We found a cool American girl to teach as well. From Indiana.
On Friday, we taught this guy from Italy in his house. Serving in this YSA ward we hardly ever teach in peoples homes, so it was a rarity and pretty fun. Even though it smelled like smoke and mold there and we stood up for the whole lesson. He was Italian! I don't know how much he understood, but it was great. The we helped Guadelupe, Manuela, and Andrea move house. We had to take like 3 trips in a tiny car (a Hiyundi iX20) to get the job done, but they were super grateful and fed us great food afterwards. Then we had an amazing dinner appointment with the Rees'. They are one of the senior couples in the office and they are just incredible. Elder Rees was a patriarch and Sister Rees has one of the craziest and most amazing conversion stories I have ever heard. They made a great home cooked meal and we had a great gospel discussion. Then we had to watch a webinar from SLC. Wow. it was pretty boring. Mom. I hope your webinars are not boring.
Today, we played basketball and football with the Elders Quorum of the Britannia ward. Then we went shopping to Costco with President and Sister Checketts. I love them both so much. It was so fun to go with them. We went around and spent £1, 100 on food at Costco!! Wowza! Then we ate hot dogs and got gelato. It was the most American thing I have ever done on my mission. Costco is pretty much the same over hear! I saw the jelly beans and they reminded me of you! Haha!
So, that was our week. Pretty great. I absolutely love being a missionary. I have learned so much in this past week. I feel like there are constantly big life lessons that I am meant to learn before I go home. My companions have taught me so much. Members have taught me so much. President has taught me so much. I just love learning and growing.
Something I have been thinking a lot about is prayer. I want to improve they way I pray again. We pray so much as missionaries that it is difficult to keep ever prayer sincere. I have found however, that when you do, your day goes better and you just feel the Spirit throughout the day. I have come to know that the phrase in the Book of Mormon "Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings and he will direct thee for good" is absolute truth. How great it is that we can commune with a loving Heavenly Father. I know that he hears and answers every sincere prayer. I know that miracles will come as we petition the Lord. I was able to experience that first hand as we were searching for the missing missionary on Wednesday. This really is the Lord's work.
Till Next Week! Love ya!
Elder Draper
Belief is the reason we go on a mission. It is the motive for preaching about Christ and sharing/Proclaiming his love. Faith is understanding we are children of God and our Heavenly Father. May this definition of faith bless you in your life. Faith is defined again and because faith has an inherent joy it gives us a solid foundation that we finally have the peace we have been searching for.
ReplyDelete"Many believer's feed themselves on what God hasn't done. When I dwell on what hasn't happened, I create the atmosphere for the spirit of offense to arise and to thrive. When I dwell on what hasn't happened, I legitimize unbelief. I live with a sense of justification, for not believing God.
Faith in the purest sense is the ceasing of resistance. even when there's no physical evidence, when the other evidence is present. Not feeding ourselves on what God hasn't done Faith in it's purest form is the absence of resistance
Heaven is a place where everyone is celebrated, some are more honored but everyone is celebrated. All men and all women shall be judged on the light which they have received. Heaven is a permissible culture. God's nature is eternally permissible. These statements protect us from credit.
Faith in the purest sense is the ceasing of resistance, even when there's no physical evidence, when the other evidence is present. Not feeding ourselves on what God hasn't done. Faith in it's purest form is the absence of resistance. Faith doesn't deny a problems existence, it denies it's influence. He or she was someone whom aridity and desolation never disturbed for he or she had a deeply rooted, and a vigorous faith.
Now we can act as we have always dreamed. Now we can act as we have always been. Now we can step into the light and gather the sunlight instead of blocking out our possibilities. Instead of blocking out our joy. Variety will bloom in/under the sun. We can show off our best, we can enjoy other people's gifts. We can blossom where we stand upon the joy that faith provides us. Upon the joy that faith inherently has, which blossoms the entire field of flowers"
.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDYaxabUfkA - The Definition of Faith