Christmas, Snow, and getting grounded

Dear Family and Friends

        Wow what a week it has been! Christmas is gone and I am officially a dead Sister missionary (Missionary Slang for I have gone home sort of thing ya Not really and Sister missionaries don't really die at the end of their mission). So that is Exciting I have less than six months left to be serving here in The Nebraska Omaha Mission.

         As for the run down of my week Monday was a little crazy we were only able to see one man, his Name is Wilfredo he wouldn't let us talk he wanted to more try to teach us and dominate the conversation so I tried to teach and tactfully take control I got in a record of Ten Sentences and Elder Sharp despite trying Got only ONE sentence so we are giving him one last shot before we drop him, it makes no sense to go and listen to someone Else Ramble when I can actually go help someone grow their Faith in Jesus Christ 

        Tuesday We got one lesson in in the Evening but the Exciting thing was we found a new place to do service through a less active it is Called the Center for People in Need it is awesome we Helped out for a while there a lot of Arabs work there to build a resume and qualify them for other jobs in the future so I am Hoping to learn a little bit of Arabic from them so they feel like I am truly interested in them. a peoples Language is the key to who they are and How they think. Oh and our lesson was amazing we all learned. The Family is a part member Family and the mom has been reactivated and the kids are recent converts and the dad is still working some things out but we taught them about spiritual gifts and it was amazing, all people have a spiritual gift that we can use if we have the spirit with us and we seek the will of Heavenly Father.

          Wednesday We saw another Less active and it was good we had a good lesson with him about the Why of Church the Why of Reading and the Why of Prayer and we did in such a way where he was teaching us but he did really well on explaining his reasons for reading and praying and church he doesn't understand it really so we know we can help him with that so we now know what to teach him next time later on we saw the Member who we are Helping to quit smoke and it was amazing He gave us Christmas gifts despite the fact he doesn't have much himself so that was cool and they were heartfelt gifts and it was a very sacred moment. 

      Thursday we Saw Three People! in one day it was awesome! well back track the less active member who didn't know or understand the importance of Church his wife who has avoided us out of I think embarrassment (she has been a member her whole life and she kind of rebelled and knows better so ya) she invited us over to dinner and it was a sweet dinner she cooked some delicious food we left full and we were able to share a good Christmas message WE also Stopped by an Investigator and we helped her shovel her driveway and talked with her a little bit and retaught her the Restoration focusing on the apostasy and Restoration and we hit it I think three times we review the apostasy and restoration in that lesson alone to show it from different perspectives and angles. so ya then we found Valdo. Valdo is a member who has been working out of town for the past month or so so it was  awesome we caught him home we hope to be able to catch him again and have him over for dinner at another members house the first of January but it was a good lesson

           Friday We delivered Gifts to our less active members a copy of the book Our Heritage and then depending on if they had kids or not the Movie The Testaments or Joy to the World so that was good it was a fun thing to do and I also Video Called HOME!!

           Saturday we had one lesson and we invited him to church and he didn't come

Sunday we saw another less active we hadn't seen in a bit He is doing good he went down to Crete for church with his Mom and Cousins so ya that was disappointing but he should be coming back next week We Hope so those are my crazy adventures

We got our cars grounded because of the massive storm but we only got skiffs of snow and we got total over the course of the day maybe an inch to two inches so ya it was sad

      

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Sincerely,
Elder Logan Joseph Draper

Picture

Mary Flowers' baptism

Crazy, Birthday, more Crazy and God has a plan

Dear Family and Friends,
This week was CRAZY like really CRAZY we got nothing done like literally nothing! but we are still exhausted Ya Crazy!

Monday we met with Noe, one of our investigators, and it was a good visit. We read Alma 5 and he really liked it, so we challenged him to read the rest of the Book of Mormon to start and to find out more which is going to be awesome but he doesn't want to do much else, so that is sad.

Tuesday we  met with the member, who wants to quit smoking, and he really is progressing and starting to get things in his life set in order. He hasn't been reading his scriptures but he has been praying which has been fantastic. So we committed him to start reading the Book of Mormon again. He was super stubborn about that which was weird. So I testified of why I like to reread the scriptures and it seemed to click for him and to help him realize why, so that is cool. The power of testimony with the Holy Ghost is what changes hearts. We also got to see Marvin, one of our less actives. It is not entirely his fault he isn't back to active right now, the place he works has him on overtime for the Christmas season. So that is frustrating working seven days a week in December so we are hoping that will change soon.

Wednesday we had just one lesson with the Quirino family about the Gospel of Jesus Christ with Brother Smith and it was good. We taught it simply so that they didn't have too many questions.

Thursday was my Birthday! We had district meeting, which was good. It was on weekly planning and how are priority is on investigators, which was super good but that was also annoying because our district leader is now a Zone leader and he was like ya you need to do this be focused on investigators and Elder Sharp and I were like yes..... but when you have 50 less actives why make more of a problem by adding to that pool. So we are going to have to balance out the work with the two groups. We then went to Poncho Villa, a Hispanic restaurant, and had really good authentic food and it was delicious. So we then went and did service with the Scott Family and it was crazy. We were just continually packing. Sister Scott and her mom were just packing box after box after box and we were just placing things where they went. So it was sweet we got mostly done at 9:00 and we planned to come back the next day at 10 for two ish hours to finish the job... ha ha

Friday two ish hours turned to more like six ish hours, but we got the truck packed and the family off on their way. We then rushed to our appointment, it was great we had a good lesson with them and they expressed concerns about something they wanted to learn more about so that was awesome. We found where their interests lie. We then went and met up with William, a member, and talked with him for a little bit about his sacrament meeting talk. So that is going to be sweet next Sunday is Spanish sacrament meeting.

Saturday we had weekly planning and we did that and we got a dilemma. I got invited to go to Seward to see Mary Flowers, one of my investigators from Crete, get baptized. Well last minute when we thought we weren't going to be able to go we got a cancellation in our schedule and that was awesome! I called the Crete Elders and they said, "Ya we'll see you there bring clothes Mary wants you to baptize her."

     So I had the privileged of getting in the water with Mary Flowers and Elder Barton and Baptize her. She said, "I knew you would come, you couldn't fool me." So it was awesome. I thought I couldn't go and had almost given up hope of going but God prepared a way. He had heard the prayers of His Children and He answered. I am humbled by my opportunity to be an instrument in the Lord's hands.

Sunday we had a long day and we tried to convince the sister Missionaries to Join us in singing songs for the next sacrament meeting in Spanish. We succeed with one song in Spanish so that is good, and we were able to see a less active member who told us, Elders I'm coming back to church next Sunday so that was Awesome

 God Lives and he hears the prayers of his Children and all we need to do is learn to listen to the voice of the spirit to come to know our fathers voice in the name of Jesus Christ amen

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Sincerely,
Elder Logan Joseph Draper

Christmas is Coming the squirrels are getting fat and people are getting grumpy

Dear Family and Friends,

      I am reporting on my super eventful and uneventful week so here is my letter as elongated as I will or can make it.

       So Monday we finished emails the computers went on the fritz before that though so ya it was annoying and frustrating but it was all worked out they thought it was this complicated problem but one of the Library people just rebooted the system and it went back to normal. We were planning for three super sweet lessons and we were hoping and pretty sure they would go through but sadly that was not the case we got only one and it was good but our investigator doesn't want to progress he is reading and praying he doesn't really fully understand why he needs to come to church or even why baptism is important so we are going to have to teach him some basic things again, He knows The Book of Mormon is true so that is a good start.

       Tuesday we shared the A savior is Born video with a member who is active our only really active Hispanic member so it was good to see him and the sad thing is he has to go back to Mexico soon to finish his citizenship process so that is going to be hard on us. We also saw a member who is struggling with smoking and he is progressing he told the Bishop a friend and his Home teacher of his Goal to quit smoking so that is super awesome I know he can and will quit he just has to keep going forward. We had dinner with the Cambell or Campbell family I forgot how to spell it but the cool thing is growing up he was Neighbors to Todd Summerhays my Physics Teacher in High school, and he has a quilt of all the High schools in Utah he has been in (He did cleaning out of schools to sell their old stuff to charter schools) and in the center he has the Olympus O so I will have to get a picture with this quilt. We also got to go out to eat ice cream with a less active and her non-member husband and it was a good time visiting with them we hope we might be able to reactivate them coming up soon, but to make the day better we went around downtown during our down time and tried to pass out a Savior is born cards ya people tried to avoid us so that was sad but it was still funny to see what lengths people went to to ignore us.

          Wednesday we had a good time we helped out at the people city mission they love us because we work hard and do what we're told when we're told we then ran to a members for dinner more like drove but the same idea we had a good quick dinner of Enchiladas we then hurried back to meet up the Elders in the Mahoney area to hand over an investigator family we had received as a referral we split up and I went to teach/find some  Hispanics that Elder Vagas knew of so we had fun driving around for a bit we then met back up and rushed off to meet up with the Elders quorum President to go meet with the Quirino Family that we found and teach them the missionary lessons.

          Thursday we were at the Christmas Conference practically all day so we left when it was dark and drove there in the dark and we drove home in the dark so it was kind of weird. we Had Navajo or Indian tacos with the Sibbetts then met up with a potential investigator named Wilfredo a very impatient man the first time we met him but he was nice and we shared with him most of the restoration and he had some misconceptions about who Mormons were so we cleared that up and it was good we hope to see him again soon we might have a hard time getting him baptized due to some barriers like most Hispanics but I have high hopes for him.

          Friday all we did was weekly plan and set up for the ward Christmas party, none of the people who are technically in charge showed up so it was lame we became the wards slaves but they gave us a ton of meat at the end.

       Saturday we did service had the shortest craziest exchange ever and went ot the adult session of stake conference

       Sunday pretty much the same had breakfast with brother beck and correlation meeting and then we had a sweet team up with Chelem to see a family he knows and it was super good we are going to have to set up a time to go back w then finished some weekly planning we didn't get to do because of Christmas party  and that was our week not super eventful but very meaningful

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Sincerely,
Elder Logan Joseph Draper

Christmas is coming, A Savior is Born

Dear Family and Friends and furry creatures,

         This week has been another eventful week in Nebraska. Monday we had two amazing lessons. The first with Grace and Jose, a couple. They are awesome, they have such great questions and are so humble and rely on God for their daily bread and they want to find the truth. We read Alma 34 with them and it touched their hearts, call upon God. Then we found a boy named Vladimir. He is 18 and has been in the United States for a very short time and he has visited with missionaries before, when he lived in Guatemala. He had questions about what we teach and we took him back to the basics and asked him about God and what it would mean to him, if he had a loving Heavenly Father and our conversation went deeper than but suffice to say he almost cried and he wants to change his life around Awesome!

           Tuesday we had some good visits, first with a member who is struggling with smoking and he was well I am not sure I want to start quitting today but maybe by my birthday I will be done smoking. So we were like well start today and he was like well if God sends me a sign and Elder Sharp and I looked at each other and said well we're a sign and shared some scriptures with him about asking for signs when we are already 100% sure of what the answer is and we are trying to excuse our behavior. So he realized what he was doing and is more determined to quit so we are excited for him. We also saw a part member family they are super awesome, they are just working out some legal things so the dad can get baptized They are super cool and super sweet. They are working super hard on being good examples to their kids it is awesome!
      Well Wednesday we had three awesome lesson, first a less active and he was super cool. He is setting a New Year's resolution with is wife, if all goes well for them to start coming back to church. We then did service at the People City Mission helping organize and unload stuff, so that was fun. I got to move lots of boxes and stack tons of bread and pastries, so ya so much food. We then had dinner with the Olivers who gave us some ribs type thing, it was super good and yummy. So then we went rushing to meet up with a member to go on team ups and we had a  good time we saw an investigator, Carlos. Carlos is awesome, he has already started to change his life around, "It just felt like the right thing to do" to some of the changes he made. He is super cool, we are hopefully are going to set and start preparing for baptism this week. So he will probably be baptized in January.  Then we caught a less active family, who had been at a family reunion in Arizona and it was good to see them. We committed them to daily scripture reading and prayer.

          Thursday we had Zone training and we learned more about prayer and making our studies more effective, and making sure we are actually planning the way we are asked to. Then we went and saw an investigator, she has so many questions and stuff. So we had trouble keeping it on track.

We all saw the new family with Brother Beck.

Friday, we did lots of weekly planing and talked to some drunk guy who wanted to interrogate us.

Then Saturday we finished weekly planning  got a good lesson in with the family we saw earlier. Sunday we got to see a referral and it was cool. They are sweet, Jarvis and Ali. So ya we are handing them over to the English Elders.

That is my week.

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Sincerely,
Elder Logan Joseph Draper

Thanksgiving week

Wow! Thanksgiving is already past and gone, and on to the Christmas Season.

        This week we had not as much teaching success as we had hoped or planned for, but it was still a good week. Monday night we had exchanges and it was super cool. I was with Elder Kimzey who is being trained in Columbus and that was good. We had a fantastic night. The Highlights was this woman named Grace, she hadn't had the opportunity to read what we had left with her. So we read the introduction to the Book of Mormon with her and explained to her our purpose of inviting her to come unto Christ and to build her faith in Him and His Atonement and The Spirit filled the room. She felt it and she said yes that is what I want I want to grow my faith in Christ and we shared with her that the Book of Mormon with the Bible helps us to do that. So she accepted the invitation to investigate for herself.

           We then saw a man named Noe and it was a cool lesson with Noe because as he invited us in. He was listening to what we had asked him to read #awesometechnology so ya and we reread with him and pointed out some things that we thought were important. I have found that many of the Hispanics which I have taught don't understand why God gives commandments and why He punishes and etc... and they fear Him and don't really understand His love. So our lesson shifted and I asked him, "In what way does God love you?" He replied he didn't really know or understand and I asked him, "Why did you just tell your kids to stop fighting or they couldn't watch TV?" and he responded because I love them boom! How does God love you Noe? Like a father? Yes, that is why he is Padre Celestial (Heavenly Father!). So ya it clicked for him!  He is awesome. He makes super good sushi!

            Tuesday Literally all our plans went down the drain. So we went and did some extra planning seeing how we can't be more effective with our time!

            Wednesday we had two sweet lessons. One with a less active, who is going out to school at UNK. So that was sweet. I think he might be coming back to church out in Kearny, if the YSA (Young Single Adult Ward) sisters get some guy friends for him. Then we saw an investigator named Carlos, and it was a sweet lesson. We taught him the Plan of Salvation and helped him understand that Jesus Christ is the center of it all, and that he can heal us of all scars and pains both mental, emotional, and physical through His Atonement and redemption. Nothing is final until it is final #finaljudgement

          Thursday was Thanksgiving and it was awesome. We had so much food I was practically my own turkey. After that we also had freezing rain, so that made things fun but again appointments down the drain so . But we did get to see some members of the ward, which was good! The cool thing was we bumped into a less active member, who we didn't know, in Walmart. We were grabbing some stuff and I heard a woman say Elder with a spanish accent and I responded Si and she said I am a member and I said, "Mucho gusto hermana" She was like, wait you speak Spanish and I was like yep, so she got super excited and started speaking with us in Spanish and she was going back to Mexico the next day but her son and daughter in law were staying.

                 Friday we saw two families and it was good. We had fun slipping on ice. My butt got a good wallop, but it is good now.

             Saturday we had a second Thanksgiving dinner and it was crazy one of the daughters invited her friend and they were just crazy. I felt like I was in high school again, so ya it was weird but fun I guess. Then we saw the family we found on Thanksgiving and we were like, wow this isn't a coincidence and we invited them to church.

               Sunday They Came! Their three kids and brand new baby girl, an awesome family! They had only been living in Lincoln for 10ish months. So they didn't know if there was anything for them in Spanish. So we luckily found them and that was my week, and today we have snow!

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Sincerely,
Elder Logan Joseph Draper