What the Transfers!?!!!

Dear Family and Friends

       This was a crazy week for us in Nebraska, for those of you who understand missionary lingo and lifestyle you will understand why, if not that is okay just pretend you do and it'll make sense part way through and if you don't get it period it is okay I can explain, explanation we are crazy. ha ha ha ha hah

           Well Monday was a weird day because I went and was emailing and I was like Hi family I will probably be in Lincoln and ya Elder Sharp is going home and I just get to sit tight and watch transfers go by, well not exactly I decide to read President Gardner's email and it is like, thanks for helping Elder Sharp stay focused till the end oh and by the way make sure everything is updated in your area book I have some last minute changes I decided to make to transfers and I was like Oh no Oh no oh NO! changes transfers, we're getting white washed! So I start freaking out the rest of the day but we still party and I am like buy milk and get transferred not buy milk and have money to buy milk next week????? not buy milk I am getting transferred so that is what went through my head on Monday

          Then Tuesday I was like well I should follow the normal schedule until I am notified to start packing and well I was like, "oh study time I Love you and I love my scriptures and Oh cool thing mark that and Oh ya that is a good Idea maybe I should write that somewhere,... Oh what is that weird noise coming from our phone it is study time our phone doesn't make noise during study time oh wait that is President Gardner's Ring tone," so ya that was my thought process more less and Elder Sharp answers and President Gardner is like I can't wait to see you tomorrow for our interview and then He was like give me to Elder Draper and I was like, "uh oh, I don't get phone calls from President this doesn't happen to me, I didn't do anything." Hello Elder Draper can I give you a new assignment? "of Course president (What is he talking about, I'm not training, what is he talking about?!)" I would like you to be a district leader in Grand Island can you fulfill that assignment for me? "ya of course president (Huh? District leader GI😕)" I am expecting great things.... so I was like huh that isn't normal and Elder Sharp was like and you thought you were off the hook, and I was like "(you set me up you told him to make me a District leader didn't you?!😒)" but it was good, we went to lunch as a break from packing with our Zone leader Elder Powell, Elder Smith was made and AP so ya that was crazy and I got to see my District and it is all sisters, Wooooo I have a 'Sis'trict  which should be sweet, all I have to do is baptismal interviews solve problems, be a friend present training's and inspire them and do one exchange with the Zone leaders, other than that I am off the hook! So that will be fun.

        Wednesday we had the actual transfer thing we sent Elder Sharp up to Omaha super early in the Morning then I got to hang out for anther hour or so and I got loaded on the transfer van and we got on our way. Well partway through the trip the APs got a call saying um well we just sent Jensen to Lincoln we didn't realize he had to be in Omaha this morning and they were like What! so long story Short Elder Jensen (the Spanish Elder I came out with) was supposed to go to Omaha Tuesday night to be able to get to Sioux city by the afternoon, but they didn't realize that till later so they sent them towards Omaha and the APs said tell them to stop in Lincoln and we'll just pick them up on our way back to Omaha so they turned to me and said well looks like you get to have a nice car trip. So I went out to Grand Island and then back to Lincoln then I got with Elder Davey got our Car and Drove all the way back to Grand Island! So I spent about 4.5 to 5 hours in the car on Wednesday munching on Easter treats and drinking my Aloe Vera drink. We did service for the Abshers the family we are living with and then we tried to find some people and I unpacked a smidge

         Thursday I finished unpacking and we tried people but it was just a crazy odd off day with having me new and Davey who is brand new still kind of going Uhhh who should we see um this person but it was still a good day. We also had some phone issues and some missionaries were texting us saying we are in your district so can you do a baptismal interview this day? and I was like huh? I have the York sisters and the YSA sisters but I don't have the North Platte missionaries, well come to find out somebody decided to play number swapperoo on me and it was the YSA sisters after all so it worked out. 

        Friday we did a super long weekly planning to introduce me to the area but ya then we got to teach a lesson to  a part member family which was sweet!

          Saturday was a little more productive we got some good lessons in and we committed people to come to church since it was Easter and that is a good reason to come. In the Morning we also played basketball at the church with some members and their non member friends and the sister missionaries were there and one of them was like I am going to make my dream team and I got picked (ha😅 it was funny me part of a dream team which was funny because we actually won two games in a row) then we did service at the Grand Theater for their free matinée  and that was fun I learned how to run a cash register 

          Sunday I wrote my talk for sacrament meeting and no I did not procrastinate I was just busy before but I got it done! we had a sweet branch council meeting both Brother Leal and Presidente Rubio speak English so anything we can't explain perfectly in Spanish they can ask us clarifying questions in English. and then we had some appointments and then had Easter Dinner with the Leal family and they are sweet

           That is my weekly report.

He is risen #Hallelujah!

Logan and Friends

The Beginning The Middle and The End

Dear Family and Friends

       This week is the Beginning the middle and the End of Crazy, or it was just CRAZY. so I have been in Denial all this time of the fact that it was Elder Sharp's last week but it finally has hit us and we have been going slightly crazy, I have felt trunkiness in the air but I have been good.

        Monday we had some good success planned we had the entire night booked we went to our first appointment and that was sweet it was with a less active sister we had a good lesson and committed her to come to church. On our way to our next appointment we texted to confirm and he said oh I am out of town for two weeks sorry guys so we called a less active sister who we have had some contact with through her work and us doing service (the center for people in need) and then she answered and said I am going to Ivana cone (an ice cream shop) meet us there so we did and we had a good visit with her and her husband and kids then we went all the way on the north side of town to our next appointment and we knocked and there was no answer and as we were leaving we saw the guy get out of his truck and he was like sorry guys another day so we tried our backup and that was a flop then we went back to the same apartments to try his neighbor and he was still out working so it started good and went bad.

      Tuesday was a sweet day and we got lots of Good lessons in. We saw the Orozco Family and that was good we discovered that she didn't come to church because she accidentally got a hold of the singles ward's Bishop's wife and got a ride from her and so that was funny but she is also related to one of our other less actives that lives here in Lincoln so with that family moving in we have a cool connection that hopefully we can use to get things going. We saw our member who has quit smoking and he is doing super well except for the fact that he got sick but he is clean many weeks without smoking a cigarette  we did some service for the center for people in Need that was good we got to see some Hispanics and be the Bad guys and enforce the rules so that was fun we also saw a new investigator whose family I know in Crete so that was cool and then we rushed off to meet up with President Mellor of the Elders Quorum to go see the Quirino Family and then we did splits while they went and tried to see Hermano Ceballos and I went to see an investigator the Sisters handed to us since he is a single guy and it was a good lesson. He wants to take investigating the church seriously and the only bad thing about our lesson was he got mad about how I was being to sales pitchy I didn't use enough scriptures because that wasn't how the sisters had taught him so we were like okay so he asked a question and I pulled out my scriptures and said read this and it answered his question and I was like ha see I can do it too, but it was funny.

           Wednesday  was sweet we got three lessons in. We were trying to work with our less actives to see if we couldn't get them to church. Luis Escribano has a good desire to come to church his heart has changed a lot but he just hasn't followed through yet then we saw this Jose Antonio guy who is on the lists from the church, he isn't a member but his wife is and as we started sharing the restoration with him he asked so why was Joseph Smith a polygamist and I was like well I don't know, do you know why Abraham was a polygamist? and we didn't have an answer so said well the reason why is God said so. So I thought that was funny. We then saw Eduardo and taught him about Faith and how he can apply it to receive help from God and we committed him to come to church.

          Thursday was our district meeting and exchanges in Crete so that was fun we didn't get any lessons in but we did try so that was fun.

          Friday we saw Maria Ninninger and that was good we had a good lesson with her and she has lots of trust issues so we are hoping to drop her and have missionaries go back when the Spanish group is stronger and they can get more team ups. from the Spanish sisters/families. 

        Saturday we just saw Marvin Florez our day was alright we had no set appointments so that was sad We had dinner with the Olivers so that was a good highlight of our day

       Sunday was Spanish Sacrament we had a good turn out of about  seven members and two investigators from Crete so that was super sweet we should have had nine though but we were still close we got a call from an investigator named Miguel who we had kind of dropped since he didn't confirm our appointment saying can you come over today? So we got to go see him and he is set for the 23 of April now and I think he might make the date Elder Sharp did some organizing of his stuff  and that was our week so he heads off Thursday but I say by Tuesday

       Adios that is my week,  
Elder Draper
--

Exito and Spring

This week has been fantastic and I think things are awesome!

        It may just be the weather but things seem to be picking back up.  Monday we had fantastic weather and we drove with the windows down all day we played Chair soccer which is everyone has a chair and that is their goal and the point of the game is to hit everyone else's chair with the soccer-ball and once you have done that then they sit down and are out and the goal is to be the last one standing but if the person who got you out gets out then you are back in, I didn't win but I did come very close by knocking everyone down but one elder and he got me so the game didn't end. We visited with the Quirino Family and that was good we had a good lesson with them and kind o helped them to know how to set some goals so they can keep progressing and it is self motivated and driven so that was good their boys Leo an Kriss are so cute and funny they love to come and interrupt and be involved in everything their parents are  doing.

         Tuesday was fun we had exchanges with the Zone leaders so we got to do some double teaming their area. I was with Elder Powell the highlight of that would be having found a less active member who lives in the middle of nowhere tell us I like the church but it just isn't compatible with my lifestyle right now and I asked him what his lifestyle was and he said some things and because I have been becoming accustomed to being bold or osado as we were told to be at Spanish conference I said almost out of reflex "well that's stupid especially since you know those aren't good for you," and he said but I like it and I responded, "well that is because you're addicted and that is why you like those things," and he was like no I just like it and I said, "well it is psychology you can't do those things and not be addicted and I was like come on man" and I was smiling and laughing, not being rude and he just stood there for a moment and he was stunned that I would be so bold and finally he responded muttering, "well she lets me," signalling to his wife and I looked at him with the Really?? look and his wife then turned and gave him the same look and we said our goodbyes and that was that he was left to feel like a fool for arguing that some of his behaviors were fine and even his wife knew they weren't good so I think he'll turn around here soon.

          Wednesday we had a good lesson with a less active Luis Escribano and it was cool because his wife who doesn't speak Spanish sat in and so we are going to have to work on our Spanglish teaching skills for next time. we taught this guy named John we knocked into on his doorstep and it was funny because we had a team up and he stepped out and there were three guys dressed up on his door step I think he was waiting for us to say we were the police but we aren't

           Thursday was sweet we had a day long team-up with Joseph Carlson to let him see what we do all day he is a senior and it was his spring break and he didn't want to have dinner with the sister missionaries (they were mean and scary or something they are high energy and Joseph is mellow) we did studies and then he went to track practice and we had district meeting and then we had lunch at honest Abe's which was decent and because there were so many of us including our zone leaders they gave us the conference room so that was cool. we did splits in the evening and I was able to teach Maria Ninninger with brother Beck and it was a good lesson we solidly committed her to coming to church and she has stopped progressing so we might have to drop her then we had a fast lesson with Norberto and Brother Beck set him for the 9th of April so that was sweet! and after the lesson Brother Beck said that of all the Missionaries that I am for sure one of the best teachers he has been with on splits that it is easy to follow my lead and see where I am taking the lesson and that I keep things on point and sincere and down to earth for the investigators so that made my day and maybe even my week except my week just got better than having my ward mission leader say he like my teaching.

          Friday we taught the Camarena family and that was and adventure because it took us an hour to find their new apartment  but we had a good lesson and they are such a good family they are just going through lots of struggles. We had a dinner appointment that fell through at the last minute and we just skipped dinner and went to try people and we were knocking and we knocked the first door and the man said come back Monday at 7 I am eating then we knocked the next door the guy was freaked out two white boys in dress clothes and he said we could come back Monday at 8 then we knocked the next door and this lady named Jessi answered and let us in and we came in and there was a former potential named Sandra sitting on the couch with her boyfriend we sat down and started talking and they thought we were the JW and were like nope not us we use the normal bible and they were like oh well who are you and we explained things but we started sharing the restoration and really got a good focus on families and come to find our Jessi and Sandra are sisters and the man who was confused  who said to come back at 8 is her husband so we are already set with a return appointment! and that was sweet

           Saturday we got in with three people which seems to be our highest amount a day this week but it was good we saw the Orozco family and we had a sweet restoration lesson and brought them to  a remembrance of their former spirituality and the need they have to turn to God and Find peace and so we hope to get them coming to church regularly and maybe even handing them over to the YSA ward We saw Martin Serbin his whole family is JW and he was scared to have us come back and he was praying in his heart asking God to show him what he wanted him to do and he stepped outside to smoke and at that same time we showed up and that had not been our plan he cancelled for 4 and so we planned to go at 6 but we went at 5 because that is just the way it worked out and we were sent there at the exact moment by God and he knows it and we know it and it was sweet then we saw Wilfredo and we had to drop him because he wanted to bible bash and that was no fun so we said read this chapter in the book of Mormon pray about it and if you want to keep visiting  with us you need to call us. 

             Sunday was great but Elder Sharp didn't feel well so that was the end of our week

           Lots of miracle and people are accepting the invitations to come to Christ #Hallelujah!

followhim.mormon.org

#Hallelujah

Wow crazy things

       Monday we did another tour of the Stadium (Memorial stadium) that was amusing not much new stuff basically they have put tons of money into this college football team and it isn't as good as it should be. We taught a guy named Benito and we had a good lesson but then he interrupted us saying, I don't want to learn this new stuff I haven't been learning anything from the catholic church but I want you guys to teach me from the bible but not anything new. and he also said he couldn't change and I looked at him in the eyes and said do you believe in Jesus Christ, do you believe in God then don't you dare blaspheme his atonement by saying I can't humble yourself and realize you can do all things through him! He was taken back and tried to mutter and toss excuses out like well I can't not be catholic my girlfriend and I are catholic and my family is catholic and......... so then we wrapped up our lesson and we are giving him one last shot

      Tuesday we had Elder Royal with us he is super cool the ZLs are "babysitting him" is one way you can say it but basically something happened in his last area and he got put with the ZLs because of stuff but he is a super good worker and he was on top of things too. I think he is a sweet Elder. we did service at the center for people in need this is also the day I got sick and I moved 2-3 pallets of boxes by hand and I was exhausted after that we watched a security guard take down a worker who hit him because he wasn't paying attention to her (smacked him across the head, and he is a former Marine). that was funny because it led into a discussion of language (the security guard started speaking Spanish and we started talking to him) and then we got to explain a little of what we do as missionaries after we went and had Dinner our appointments cancelled except Wilfredo so we went and saw him and it was a decent lesson but we are probably dropping him soon if not this week.

         Wednesday was pretty good we saw our member who has quit smoking and we are helping him to learn more about the Book of Mormon and it is going well he is progressing! we also did service at the people city mission that was good we had fun organizing stuff and keeping them running we had dinner with the Carlsons and that was fun we gave a present to their son who turned 12 of a minion pillow case and minion peeps and he loved it and then we took Joseph (the 18 year old) on a team up and we had a good lesson with Norberto Malagon and we are hoping to see him soon He was supposed to come to church but he didn't make it.

        Thursday we had everything blow up in our faces pretty much. We did have a good zone training though we learned about the new Easter initiative and it is going to be sweet (apparently) the cards look super cool probably the coolest they have ever been so ya #Hallelujah for this year. We did get to see one less active Marvin Florez and that was good we talked for a bit and basically it turns into his vent session while we try to share gospel principles with him and ya it was not super effective but we are hoping to get better.

          Friday we did weekly planning and that was good we had a ward party which actually (not including the missionaries) was a high priest social with families so ya it was crazy and sad we had four families show up we also had all of our appointments cancel

         Saturday we actually got to see people but we only got two less active lessons we had some good contact though with people we also dropped into a less actives yard sale and I bought Sunday shoes for 5 dollars which will save me since one of my pair is falling apart

            Sunday was Super weird we had five less active sisters show up with one active so six sisters and no brothers just us we were like WHAT?! all the priesthood just evaporated or something?! so we are going to be doing some real pushing this week to see if we can't for once have the full Spanish group there in attendance we also saw Maria Ninninger and that was good we called her to repentance for not praying and she is so confused because she is "Catholic" ha well then the Mormon's come over and they come prepared to answer her questions as if they are inspired of God 😇 ya well that was fun she will figure it out soon.

           and that was my week in a nut shell and I hope you enjoy my rambling

Pictures from Spanish Conference

My Study Room

Spanish Conference

Elder Draper & Hermana Grubbs

Spanish Conference and Craziness

Dear Family and Friends

       This week has been full of some more excitement to make things more interesting. Monday after emails we went to the Christian store again and that was an amusing adventure and we didn't get anything though but we were amused by the study bible and the Action bible (comic book bible) and the funny books about the religions of the world which were all super biased and had horrible source materials so ya it was sad that no one can write an accurate piece of literature anymore. Then when we were done with that we went to good will and looked around there were no good ties or really anything that we liked which was sad there were no hidden treasures. We got a lesson with a guy named Benito he was a referral from the Trendwood Elders and he is a super humble man we taught him the restoration and he liked it, he was kind of tired so he wasn't super focused but he made this comment which I feel sad to repeat but he said, "I have been doing the Catholic Catechism and I haven't learned anything I know no more about God now than I did before I started." so we are Jumping to the plan of salvation and hopefully he will feel like he learned something. I find it sad that such a humble and good man like Benito can feel that he has never been taught about God.

       Tuesday was crazy! we had Spanish Conference and we were told it was going to be a two hour meeting with and hour for lunch and then were to head back home. Well I have never known a Hispanic function to be on schedule so ya that didn't happen but it was probably the best Spanish conference that we have ever had. Brother Dallin from the Omaha Ward gave a training last  minute on Spanish culture and how to be effective in using it and he gave us three Fs 

                                                 Food
                                                 Family
                                                 Fiesta

    Those right there are the keys to Hispanics and getting them to do things. He also said Hispanics are a very Bold people they like to hear it how it is and to not play around we as white people like it to have things reserved but he said just be Bold straight up tell People WE HAVE BEEN SENT HERE BY GOD. So that is what we have done. and so far so good. He also said that we need to sing Hymns with Hispanics and they will love it and he promised that it would soften their hearts and make church more familiar and not scary.  We also had some other Good language training's and that was good but Brother Dallin's training was by far the best training that has ever been given at a Spanish conference that is really why we all went and he was even called at the last minute so that was all prepared by God.

      Later that day we didn't have any success until the evening when we were trying a potential investigator a Referral and we walked up to him just  as he came outside to smoke and we asked him "are you Martin?" yes "We have been sent by God to share an important message with you" oh yes of course I talked with your associates the other day come on in. We took brother Dallin's advice and Oh wow it worked we sang Israel Israel God is calling and it was powerful the spirit touched his heart and it brought back his feelings and understanding from growing up (his family is Jehovah's witness but he isn't) and that set the lesson off to a sweet start as we then taught the restoration and he will probably be one of our most solid investigators.

       Wednesday we saw Marisol she went "less active" after she had her baby but she still has lots of simple questions and we are trying to help her find answers. We went to our next appointment and that fell through but we did some fun service at the people city mission we started re organizing all of their food stuffs because it had just been put there it wasn't neat at all. We had dinner with our Bishop and then did splits (super cool to do) I went with the Bishop and we saw Wilfredo and that was good we helped him with a few concerns and he tried to Bible bash but Bishop kept him in his place and it was actually a fun lesson because we kept it simple ish and somewhat on point but it went well

      Thursday we had exchanges in Crete and I got to see the Behrens and that was good we walked around all day and sadly no success in teaching but it was a decent day

       Friday we saw our member who has quit smoking the good thing is he doesn't go out much and so he is still smoke free since he hasn't bought any cigarettes we are so happy for him and we watched the movies How rare a possession with him and he is starting to understand how important the Book of Mormon is. We also saw the Quirinos in their new place again and they are doing well however brother Quirino let us know he didn't feel ready to teach Sunday school yet so we are going to work with him a little bit more.

          Saturday it did not go according to plan except for one lesson which we got with a guy named Miguel who doesn't really know how to read so we are going to have to work with him and the singing the hymn helped  so we will see where that goes.

          Sunday was sweet we got a new investigator! he came from a referral her his name is Norberto or Norbert in English and again the singing the hymn helped a ton we are going to see him on Wednesday. Oh and I was also asked to teach High priests! So that was funny trying to teach a lesson where they not only learned something but learned how to apply it. I was flabbergasted at how off topic a conference talk on faith could get but that was okay. I also taught Sunday school so I have been teaching a lot and I hope it is good or at least getting better but we will see.

     That is my week I hope you all enjoyed my rambling and ranting

Love  Elder Logan J. Draper 

New PHONE!!!!

February 22, 2016

 

Dear Family and Friends

        This has been another week of Crazyness here in Lincoln Nebraska so to start from where I left off Monday we saw Marvin and that was good he is making plans to start coming back to church he is trying to see if he can work second shift so he can guarantee Sundays the good news is it sounds like it is going to happen

        Tuesday we sent our emails! and that was good the library we went to was smaller and so we had to do things faster to accommodate the incoming crowd of senior citizens our fellow Elders ha ha! we had a couple of good lessons we had a good lesson with a sister who went less active right after she had er baby (which makes total sense) but we talked with her and shared how making her home more Christ centered would help her children then she brought up her husband who was less active and we were like yes (because we had received an assignment to visit with him) so we got an appointment set up! We saw our member who was quitting smoking and he has quit! and so we had  a good lesson with him about enduring to the end and he was like I don't know what I need to work on next and we were like we don't know either then two minutes later out of the blue he said I don't know why I need to read the scriptures I've read them before, he even had the audacity to say that the war chapters don't apply to him and we were like ya they do and we we taught about that and so we are going to teach him more about the scriptures and their importance coming up here so he is progressing awesomely! we had Dinner with the Campbell's and that was good we talked about brother Campbell's mission and how giving directions was a joke and then he asked me a question about something in salt lake and we all had a good laugh because he did the same thing he said the people where he served his mission would do. We then went on a team up with brother Beck and that was good our first appointment was with a less active who's boyfriend isn't a member and that shot down super fast and it was sad. he was like ya we are  going to start going to this christian church my sons bus driver invited us. which made me scratch my head because She (the less active) gets the kids and he is catholic so that was kind of an awkward moment. We then saw Wilfredo and he behaved himself we had a super good lesson he tried telling us how his church which he was baptized into when he was fourteen (in the seventies) had an apostle but he wasn't and apostle when he joined but ya it was weird but he did again recommit to reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it.

        Wednesday we did our studies and then we got our New PHONE!!!! ya so we spent a little bit setting that up then we went to the people city mission and did some service and most everyone behaved they didn't destroy anything, we went on a team up with Joseph Carlson and that was good we told him he didn't have to fellowship the sisters investigator even though they were trying to set that up (she is 14 and 6foot 4inches) and Joseph is 18 and 6 foot something but ya still shorter than this girl so it was funny because Joseph was freaking out and we were like really if you feel uncomfortable just say know she won't even be date able to you when you get home so let the sisters get the YW involved and all will be good. but after that we had to go to Columbus to pick up the Elders there (1.5hr car ride) because they got in an accident and would need a ride to District meeting so we stayed the night there.

         Thursday we drove down from Columbus changed from pjs to suits and had district meeting we went to Super Taco for lunch and that was good  we got our stuff unpacked after that we had dinner with the smith Family and I discovered That I am related to sister Smith she is a descendant of Archibald Gardner so that was crazy I have a 3rd cousin in the ward!  ya our plans fell through that night so that was great

          Friday we went  Council Bluffs and I got time to study and we stopped by the mission office to pick up supplies on our way back I was so glad I was wearing a short sleeved shirt it was super nice weather we had one lesson with Wilfredo and that was a Joke he said he didn't read so we read with him but he really had read and was setting up a trap for us and so we were not happy but we weren't mad but it was an awful lesson we will probably have to drop him.

            Saturday we had a good lesson with Maria Ninninger and that was good we read the family a proclamation to the world with her and she has had a lot of family problems and so this helped give her a little comfort (we hope) and we had Miguel (an investigator) walking down the street away from his apartment at the time of his appointment so we are kind of sad about that he is probably getting dropped to

            Sunday we had some good meetings a small Spanish turn out but we didn't get any lessons but we did get the Quirino Family's new address they moved into the pioneer ward which is sweet they are only one minute from our house. I love you all have a good week