Tuesday, March 1, 2016

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 

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