Share the Gospel

Hello everyone, how are you all doing?

Im doing great! Im getting to know my area a little better we can work on more roads now and we wont get lost. Im working good with my companion, we are teaching well together now we know our strenghts and we teach with a lot more power now!

One thing i learned this week from my mission president is that it is hard to share the gospel when you dont have a name tag on. As missionaries we are always asking the members to invite their friends to come to church, we are always asking the members to invite their friends to family night. But President Cordner taught us that it is hard to do this things when your not a missionary and sometimes as missionaries we forget that it is hard. But also he taught that the more missionary practice and help the members share their testimonies they will. It is hard the first time to invite your friend to church. But it is important for the members to do this because it has so much for power. How can we do this?

First Fear of inviting somome to church or sharing your testimony does not come from God, it comes from Satan. Becaue Satan, he doesnt want you to share the gospel becasue he knows it will bless the lives of the people you talk with. But it is scary to do this, one thing i would say it to practice, share your testimony to your family first, your brothers, your sisters, then try with a friend. knowing that this is what God wants you to be doing and that the spirit will guid your words into the hearts of your friends. I know that as you do this the spirit will be with you and you will help the lives of others. 

I challenge you to invite one person to come to church this week! first practice then Invite a friend. If you are reading this and are not a member, i invite you to go to church this week. Talk with somome who lives their and go to church with them! 

I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Draper

Sao Jose

Hello everyone! How was your week? I hope it was great!

Transfers were last week, I was transfered from Ranieri to Sâo José. I am opening the area with my new companion Elder Araújo. He is brazilian he speaks a little english,actually he speaks pertty well english, he is from Minus Gerais. He is super funny because of how he speaks and he says a lotof short funny stuff in english. He has a year and 7 months on the mission and is the DIstrict  leader in my district. I split the area with the zone leaders but we live in different houses so its just me and Elder Araújo in one house.

We are opening the area which means that  the missionaries that were there beforeus both left and we came there at the same time. so we dont know the area or the members or anything. But is okay. In my new area its closer to the big city.  I eat Macdonalds for lunch one day haha. but it is way better  in the United States, it also gave me a little bit of a stomach ake probably because it is so different from Rice and beans. 

But i have learned this week with everything new  again, new companion new area new everything to rely on the lord. To have faith in him that  everything will be okay in the area, that we wont get lost that we can help these people in our area as well recieve the gospel. But also how we always need to rely on him not just in the mission field. Jesus is always here for us, we always have an opportunity to talk with God through prayer whenever we want. He is always here for  us. We are his children he would do anything to give us blessing. But also that we need to be ready to recieve these blessings. It you ask your parents for 5 dollars and run  away  really fast as they are reaching in there bag to give you 5 dollars do you think they will give you the 5 dollars? I think not because you ran away. Heavenly Father works the same way, we ask for things in our prayers everyday.Whatdo we  do after we ask? Sleep? Use our phones? How can he bless you  with things if we are not ready to recieve them. He always wants to bless us, so we always need to be ready to recieve them! Im thankful for his help always!

I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Draper

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter Everyone! I hope you all had a good week last week!

Everything is Going really good here in Brasil. This easter sunday was great. We had great talks in sacrament, about the Savior and about his love he has for us. We were able to bring people to church and let them feel the light of christ. 

Easter here is a little different  than in the U.S. They still have eggs and chocholate eggs and all the treats. But this year the championship of the state of Sao Paulo for soccer. So it was everyones two favorites teams. Everyone was watching the games in the bars and eating BBQ in the streets and everyone watching the game. We were in our house and all of a sudden we hear fireworks an yelling and screaming, the whole town blew up! Which means one of the teams scored haha the whole town lights up. 

I love easter! I love how we have a holliday to remember the resurection of our Savior. He suffered and died on the cross for the sins of the world, Why? Because he loves EVERYONE. if he didnt love everyone he wouldnt have done this for everyone. I try to think of the pain he felt, i think of the worst pain i have felt in my life and i dont want to go through that again. but then there is Jesus who felt the pains for EVERYONE at the same time! 

But what is better is that he was resurected. Jesus Christ lives, he is here for me and he is here for you. He lives so he can help you in your trials, all your trials. He has felt all of your pains all of them. all the pains that you dont want to go through again. Jesus is always here to wipe away your tears. He loves eveyone so much and is always here to help. 

I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Draper

My Email Works!!!

Hello everyone! I hope you all are well and had a good last 4-5-6 weeks i dont know how long my email hasnt been working. But it works now and i hope it stays working!

The last few weeks have been great. The weather has not been as hot, but it still rains. Im still in the Zone Ranieri, in the area Ranieri B super good area, lots of good people. My new companion is Elder Galvâo He is from Manaus Brasil. He is the Zone Leader in our zone. He is a super hard working missionary and i and learning lots from him.

Conference was awesome, i really love when we have the opportunity to listen to the prophets. Its is super awesome becuse they are really prophets of God, they know what is best for us and how we can come closer to christ, this is super important because its only through Jusus Christ we can live with Heavenly Father again. I know That as we listen and study the words of the prophets we can be guided in the right direction, we can feel the spitit more in our lives, and we will have more happieness inour lives also. Im so thankful for them and all they do to help us. They help so much, but they only help if you let them.

I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Draper

Week 16 Prophets and Apostles

Hello everyone! I hope your week was great!

This week was great! The days are hot in the mornings and rainy in the evenings. hot then cold. Its kinda like wyoming! 

This week Elder Uchtdorf Came and talked with our mission and the Sao Paulo South mission. I loved it mostly because he spoke in English but just the love he has for all the missionaries and all the world. Its cool to see that the apostles of the lord are normal guys that like to joke but are also so serious and very spiritual. 

I love How we have the opportunities to listen to the Prophet and the Apostles we have their talks on our phones and we can read them whenever we want that is so awesome! 

I hope you all have a great week! 

Elder Draper

Week 15 Talking with my Family

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful week!

So the new rule of being able to talk with my family started this week!  

Sorry i dont have a lot of time because of trying to set everything up with my family. 

I had a great week! Its not as hot now its starting to cool down a little bit. 

I saw a tooncan in the trees which is really rare in the city.

Heavenly father loves you and you can always pray to him everyweek and everyday. He wants to help you all you have to do is ask! 

 

Sorry for it being so short! 

Have a great week!

Elder Draper

Week 14 Rain and Blessing

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great week!

This week on tuesday their was a huge rain storm! It rained monday night and all of tuesday. I was wet and tired and ready to get into bed tuesday night after walking in the rain all day getting in my warm bed. I say my prayers and hop into my bed...... it was WET! My whole bed wet. My sealing was leaking and all this water has been going on my bed all day. All was good though we had an extra matris and i slept on that for a couple days untill everything dried out. 

This week I had the opportunity to give 3 blessings. It was super hard to do it im portuguese but with the help of Heavenly Father and my companion I was able to do it. I love having the opportunity to help these people here. 

Also this week, after lunch on thursday this woman came up to us and said, I was taught by the missionaries 2 year ago but i moved, I have been looking for the missionaries to teach me again. It was amazing! We taught her, she still loved it, she loved church yesterday, and we will continue to teach her this week. So wonderful!! The lord blessed us!

Hope you all have a great week!!

Elder Draper

Week 13 Super Bowl!!

Hello everyone! I hope the Super Bowl was good for you all!

People here dont really watch the super bowl because it started at 10 Oclock here. And the kids first day of school is today. But i hope it was a good game. 

In The CTM the Instructurs would always say you will have a brazilian companion and probably brazilian roomates maybe one american roomate because 70% of the missionaries are Brazilian. But now I still have my american companion, and live with elder Sugden, Elder Fernandes finished his mission, and so an Elder replaced him. And guess what? He is American!! Its crazy! 4 Americans in the same house haha its a lot of fun! 

I Love the power of the Book of Mormon. Just it one book we can know so much. I love the promise its has at the beginning and the end. Its so powerful and it is so true. I love it because even if we have read it already, we can gain a stronger testimony, and an even stronger one the next time. 

I love the Gospel and being able to help the people here come closer to Christ. I love seeing how it can help families come closer, bring the spirit into homes, ANd the light of Christ into lives. So wonderful!

I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Draper

Week12 End of my First Transfer

Hello everyone, 

I hope you all had a wonderful week!

I finished my first transfer, I still dont know much portuguese but i know a lot more than i did 6 weeks ago. 

Because it was the end of my first transfer, the missionaries that also finished their first transfer had a breakfast with President Cordner at his house. Sorry Grandma and Grandpa Mckee but their house was more fancy than yours. They had a security gaurds if front. a swimming pool. elevator, and a their parking lot was under the house. really fancy. 

We had breakfast with them, it was nice to eat american food again. But my favorite part was the testimony meeting we shared after. I love President Cordner and his testimony. I love it mostly because he cries like I do. Everyone in my ward knows that. But its so wonderful and even though its in portuguese i understand him and the spirit is awesome. 

Earlyer in the week our ward in Ranieri had and acttivity called master chef. To be honest it looded pretty lame and the biginning but it was super fun, with a lot of different foods and smiles and fun. I love the power a ward family has. Wards are so powerful and have the spirit so strong. Im thankful for the ward family that i have in Riverton they are so wonderful and have a great spirit also. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week, stay safe in the snow. 

Elder Draper

Week 11

Hello everyone, I hope this week was well for you,

We had a mission tour this week, so Elder Parrella from the 70 came and toured our mission. We were able to have a divitional with him. He spoke in portuguese so that was wonderful, I wrote so many notes.... but even though i didnt understand everything,  I still felt this love for us.

On saturday we had a meeting with the Bispo like we always do, and ant the end he asked us to speak in sacrament meeting. When he asked all i understud was will you do that  elder draper, and of course I said yes because i would love to help, but I didnt know what i was doing. after my companion told me I was speaking in sacrament the next day. 

Sunday comes I prepared my little talk i had, we brought our investigators to church and right as we walked in President Cordner was there. So my first portuguese talk was infront of my mission president. It went fine My companion said he could understand me. And members of the ward said they liked it, just being nice. They are so nice here!

I know the lord helps in all things because i would not be doing what im doing without him. He wants to help us in our trials and loves us so much. He has blessed me so much in my life. Im also thankful for his prophets and apostles he has called on the earth to help us as well. I love studying their words too. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Elder Draper

Week 10 Brasil

Hello everyone, 

Not a lot happened this week.  

When we got home on wednesday night we were about to say our prayers right as we got to our house and a lizard jumped in between me and my companion. It went into an old shoe, we caught him in a cup, it was a real lizard, but a wyoming desert lizard but like the ones on tv that are like these poisnos lizards are red and dont touch the skin because it burns you, or whatever they say on tv. but i though it was pretty cool. The catapilars really do burn you when you tough them though, I also drank coconut water straight from the coconut saturday, then split it open and eat the inside, it was not very good because they eat the coconuts hear when they are ripe, not brown and hairy but they are green and new. it didnt tast like coconut that is on candy. 

Sao Paulo is known for the lightning and thunder. Saturday we were right in the middle of a huge storm. Lightning was stricking on top of the mountain we were at the bottom of, it was super loud ive never heard lightning strike like i did then. It was so loud and also so cool! 

How wonderful is it that we have a purpose in life. God loves us so much, He does because we are his children. He would do anything for us. Through prayer and having faith that he will answer, he will answer. sometimes it may not be the answer you want, because God knows us better than we know ourselves because he created us. 

I hope you all have a great week!!

Elder Draper

Week 9 New Year 2019

How was everyones First week of the New Year? I hope it was a good one!

Its different for everyone, On January 1st we saw a fire during our moning run, so we ran to help. It was so sad seeing people lose almost everything they have. Others get new thing, job promotions and raises. This one Irma got a promotion in her job so now she doesnt have to work on sundays and she can go to church. Bad things happen to people somtimes and good things happen to people sometimes. We dont get to pick when the good or the bad happens but God does. When we face the bad we  need to show our faith in him that He will help us through that hard time. He gives us hard things to make us stronger. When we have good things happen to us we need to thank our Heavenly Father for the blessings he has given us. Both good and bad, it is best to pray to our Father in Heaven. He is our Father and Fathers like when their kids talk with them and when they ask for help or advise. 

Im so thankful for My earthy father and the help he has given me. He teaches so well, and without his help im my life I would not be who I am today. I am also thankful for my Father in Heaven and the help he has given me in my life. Without him I would have no life. He helps me in times of need and I love that i can talk with him whenever I want. 

Brazil is good really hot, nice people, and I cant thank my Heavenly Father enough for the blessings he has given me in my life. 

Have a wonderful week!

Elder Draper

Week 8 Christmas

Hello everyone, 

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and a happy new year tommorrow.

My Christmas was wonderful, My family sent me with some gifts that were kinda a pain to carry aroud but im so glad they did because it made me so happy. Me and my Companion Played uno christmas eve, eat candy and opend our presents from our families. A night full of love and fun. We also have Christmas Pancakes for breakfast Christmas Morning.  

What a wonderful time of year we have to make goals for ourselves to make us better people. Thats is why we set goals, to push ourselves to be better. 

One thig i learned this week is doing things that are hard is not a bad thing, its not a thing that we should avoid. We shoudnt seek out the easy path. When we take easy paths it doesnt make us better, they keep us the same. 

When you lift weights, to get stronger you need to lift more weight or do more reps, or do somthing that is harder so you get stronger. If you do the same amount of reps and the same weight your are not going to get stronger, you are going to stay the same. 

Sometimes life is hard. Sometimes we may face hard things in life. We should not avoid this hard times, but face them. As we try our best to take on our trials, we need to ask our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ to help us. If you really want their help, you will ask them, you will ask with all your heart, and they will help you. That doesnt mean they are going to do it for you, or that your trials from you, but they will help you to become strong enough, and become a better person to overcome your trials. 

The Church of Jesus Christ can be hard somtimes. But Christ will help us become better people.

I hope you all have a Happy New year, and set goals that you would like to see yourself make this year, them make a plan to accomplish this goal. 

Happy New Year! 

Elder Draper

Week 7 Merry Christmas

Sorry for not emailing last week but I had no time. I left the CTM and am in the mission field now.

I have only been here a week and it has already been so wonderful. My area is called Ranieri, the people in Ranieri are so amazing and so nice. 

It is so hot and I sweet a lot, but it attracts the people because they will bring us in their houses and give us water, but them we can share a message with them, it is wonderful. I wish i could tell you all the experiances that I am having but honestly i dont know what is going on. We teach a talk to a lot of people. I am getting really good at smilling and waving. 

Well there is one experiance that i know what happened. 

So yesterday i was able to have my First Baptism. It was so wonderful to have a white Christmas this year. After the baptism you could just see the shine and light she had, it made me so happy that I was able to Help this girl come closer to her heavenly father. The People here really need this wonderful message i have to share. I cant really speak a lot but i try. i try to bring the spirit and to help as much as I can. 

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas season, and remember your Savior Jesus Christ, the greatest gift this word has ever got.

Faliz Natal!

Elder Draper

Week 5

Hello everyone, I hope you are all well and had a great week!

This week was amazing, lots of love and full of the spirit. We had to move classrooms because there is a bigger group of missionaries comming, so we moved to a smaller room because we only have one week left in the CTM. 

Sence it is my last week here i want to talk a little about the CTM. It is an amazing place where the spirtit is so strong! You learn how to love others, learn languages, and it is one of the most happy places i have been in! I am still very happy even though there are bugs in the showers, rice and bean at every meal and what sounds like gun shots out side, they think they are car backfires, but im not sure. The shower and sink and drinking water presher is really bad.  It has been wonderful here and I would go through it again if it meant i could learn and grow as much as i did sence ive been here. 

Today I actually had a goal with my District to go thoughout today as if the Savior Jesus Christ was by my side, it has only been a few hours but I already feel even more happy and have more love for others it is so amazing!

I also finish 2 Nephi this morning and I would Challege all of you to read the last few chapters from chapter 25 to the end, If you dont have a book of book of mormon to read you can find it on lds.org, I hope you all can read it and fell the love Nephi and the lord has for all of you! 

Com Amor 

Elder Draper

Week 4

What a wonderful week! I want to start by saying sorry for last week and not having it be very long. Also how i love the brazil missionaries they are so amazing. I did divisions last week so i had a brazilian companion and we taught other missionaires all in portuguese. Most of the Brazil missionarries were recent converts and they have such strong testimonies of the gosple of Jesus Christ. My companion for divisions was Elder Sabadini whe was baptised at 16 and now he is 18 serving a mission. He is so good a teaching, and we taught a wonderfull lesson even though i was the only one who spoke english. Also my roomates they are so amazing and love to help me learn portuguese. 

December has started and I hope you all can light the world with all your wonderful spirts you have. 

I was also able to go street contacting on saturday. They dropped us off on the mosty bussy street in Sao Paulo, there were soccer games going on inder big buildings and people everywhere and I tried my best to speak my little porguguese i know and have conversations with the bussy people of sao paulo, It was a great experience and a humbling one because i thought i was doing good with the language but now i know im not even close. 

The CTM put up christmas lights in the Garden we have and it is so beautiful. i wish i could send pictures but sorry CTM rule. 

I hope you all have a great week and share your light with others. 

Elder Draper

Week 3

Hello everyone, I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, My thankgiving wasnt the same but i am thankful for the people who tried their best so make it like home for me. 

I had divisions last week so I had a brazilian companion and we taought three days in a row in portuguese, it was really hard and my companion didnt speak english at all so it was hard to prepare for the lesson. 

I thought i had more time but i was wrong so i will say more next week. 

hope you had a great week!