Hola
Familia, Amigos y Cualquier Otra Persona que lea este Email,
We went into Walmart
today and I couldn't quite determine the emotions I was feeling. The
Christmas decorations were all up. 1) LET THE TURKEY HAVE HIS DAY, GOSH
PEOPLE 2) Yay!!! It's almost Christmas and that means hot chocolate and
Christmas Carols!!! 3) What the? After Christmas I only have 6 months left of
my mission!!?!?! 4) TIME TO BUY EGGNOG Whaaaaa
Yes. As you can see my
brain didn't really know how to handle the emotional whiplash. Oh sidenote. We
walked past the clearance section for PJs and we saw a dairy cow onesy footie
PJ (I don't know quite what they are called). Sis Barroso took pity on me and
bought me it for Christmas. Though she said I have to exercise my non-existent
patience and wait until Dec 25. She is going to wrap
up that blessed fluffy thing and stick it in the corner of our apartment as we
try to come up with what will be our Christmas tree. Ya, I got the best comp :)
Brace yourselves in 2 months for
pictures.
· I am so proud of all of you who competed or
were involved in one way or another at National Convention! The organization is
as wonderful as it is because we have incredible humans that don the blue
jacket :)
· Also! SHOUT OUT to Box Elder FFA
Chapter for getting 11th overall and Gold Ranking at National FFA
Convention in Horse Judging!!! I'm so proud of my peeps :)
· AND another SHOUT OUT to one of my best friends
Piper Merritt for MAKING NATIONAL FFA OFFICE!!! Super duper proud of her and
excited for the journey/rollercoaster ahead :)
This week. Well I
think the main thing that happened has been the miracle of Jose. Or Manuel. We
asked him which he liked better since his name is Jose Manuel G but he said
people usually called him Pelon in Mexico. Sooooo we are gonna just call him
Manuel. Anywho, we started teaching Manuel english Monday and have seen him almost every
night. On Thursday he brought up
casually that he was interested in learning more about the church and baptism
called his attention. I almost passed out. So we had our first Gospel lesson
with him Friday night with his
aunt and uncle who he lives with. Hno and Hna G are wonderful members in our Branch
who I love dearly and their testimonies brought a sweet spirit to the lesson.
Manuel soaks it all up like a sponge. Seriously. And takes notes. And writes
out his questions in a notebook. And his questions are not simple ones, they
are ones where he wants a deeper explanation and doesn't settle until he gets
it.
Also, literally just 5
seconds ago we got a text message from him at work. He's painting on a roof.
Lol he's a character.
We went to the temple
with Maria!!!!!!! She was so content to be within la Casa del Senor and have
the opportunity to do those baptismal ordinances on behalf of those who have
gone before. Jonathan also came with us :) So special to have 2 people that are
so special to me with me in the temple.
We taught Madai about
Faith and how it is a principle of action and that is what builds us. We were
hoping to teach Daniel with her too, but he left to run errands right before we
got there. We are teaching them tonight so here's to praying it all goes well!!
We had temple zone
conference on Thursday!! After a session in
the temple and lots of pictures outside, the whole thing was pretty much how to
use smart phones and the applications we use as missionaries. I thought it was
pretty funny to watch, myself included, try to handle smart phones after almost
a year of a slider phone that surely was stepped on by a dinosaur at one point
in time.
Had an awesome lesson
with Aracely!! She is slowly gaining faith in the Lord and in herself. She is
trying so hard to align her life with the Lord's will, she just often doesn't
think she is strong enough. We keep reminding her that with Christ, we can do
ALL things. He is there for us every step of the way.
The rest of the week
was a whirlwind of lessons, meeting cool people and eating lots of latino food
as always :) I've been more diligent in my running to keep at bay the added
pounds.
God is in the details.
He has a plan. He puts people in the book of our lives for a reason, some stay
for just a page, others help your write a few chapters. Within each word are
miracles and blessings, we simply need to look. Lessons can be learned from
mistakes, trials can turn into triumphs. When we look at life in the light of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ we see things clearly. We see the divine design.
Whenever you start to feel bogged down with school, work, or any
responsibility, take a step back. Say a prayer. And look at your life through
God's eyes. He loves you so much. He will never leave you alone. He sent His
son as the ultimate sacrifice for us. Christ is perfectly positioned to lift us
to higher ground, we have only to reach out and grasp hold of that hand which
nails have pierced and torn.
Les quiero, cada uno
de ustedes con todo mi corazon. Y se que el Senor tambien nos ama y quiere
darnos el don de la vida eterna, solo tenemos que seguirle a El.
Con Amor,
Hermana Draper
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