Christmas

First of all,  I hope that everyone of you had a safe and Merry Christmas with your families this past week!  The holiday is great time to remember the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. But as well, it is a great time to spend with the family!

I started my mission in the coast of Ecuador in the City of Esmeraldas and am now in mountains of Ecaudor in the City of Otavalo.  Natives of Otavalo, as declared by Spencer W. Kimball, have the purest Lamanite blood.  I am currently in a sector that has two wards, reminds a bit of Utah.  These wards are really cool!  I understand almost nothing, but don't worry, it is not because I don't understand Spanish, but I don't understand the native language Quichua.  The meeting s in these two wards are in complete Quichua. I think it is really cool to experience the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the tongues of all the world. Not only in Spanish but also into the native language, Quichua.

I am enjoying a lot being here in Ecuador among this amazing people!  Especially with Jesus Christ. We will talk with people on the street and it is cool how much Jesus Christ is a part of the lives of the people here. 

Here, we did not have an very eventful week.  Because of the Navidad (Christmas) many people have gone to other parts of the country and even other countries to sell items for the holidays.  For Christmas Eve and Day as well Elder Morales and I had to be in our house at six in the evening.  This is because during this time of the year South Americans like to party through the night and the Mission President wants our safety.

I know that the Church of Jesus Christ is the church of God here on the Earth. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God here on the Earth, and through him the Gospel was restored to the Earth. I feel the Spirit of the Lord testifying every time I share the First Vision of Joseph Smith. 

 And have a happy new year!

 Cayacama, good bye in Quichua.

  I am grateful for the opportunity I had to talk with my family this Christmas as well.

A picture of the pizza that we made for Christmas dinner, it was a tortilla with cheese and
ham, and really, really really, good.

 

A hand made item, it is my scripture case for my triple, 

or my bible, they have the same design.

Otavalo

This week, was my first week here in my new sector.  It is situated between the lake San Pablo and the mountain/active volcano Imbabura.  This new area reminds me a lot of Utah.

 

I am good, I have to apologize I am freezing here in Otavalo but only because I was in the heat of the coast.

My new Companion is Elder Morales, from the capital of Mexico, Mexico City.  He is 21 years old and is awesome to have as a companion.  He has been out a couple weeks more than I have been.

During the week, we did not have anything out of the normal happen. 

 

My sector covers two wards.  The wards Compañía and Imbabura. There is actually a zone here in Otavalo, twenty four missionaries, twelve companionships.  but we are the only ones in these two wards. I feel like I am starting my mission over in some aspects, mostly just the language.  These two wards speak only Quichua, the native language.  It is similar to the language spoken by the ancient habitants of the Book of Mormon, Nephites and Lamanites.  Yesterday, we attended two sacrament meetings and two ward councils lasting about five hours and it was almost all in Quichua, the only time it wasn't was when they were talking directly at us.  It is really cool to experience the promise that everyone will hear the Gopsel of Jesus Christ in their own tongue and language.

The scripture that I ponderized this week is found in the fifth chapter of Alma in verse 26. I chose it because I wanted to get to know the prophet Alma more, This verse shares favorite music of this Prophet of God.  To me, it helps to understand more of the role of Jesus Christ in our lives.

 Cotoplaxi, volcano in Quito.

December  21, 2015

Elder Draper se va a sector Compañia en la Zona Otavalo!

I have been changed to the sector Comapañia in Otavalo! My companion is Elder Morales. He is from Mexico. 

This week I traveled to Quito with my zone for the Christmas dinner with Presidente and Hermana Richardson.  It was really awesome.  We spent a total of 14 hours traveling from Esmeraldas to Quito and back.  We left for Quito Thursday and returned Friday. 

This past week was the last week for the change, a six week period of time. Sunday night my zone leader called and gave my the news that I have been assigned to this new sector with a new companion.  I traveled again to Quito today and from there to Otavalo.

The scripture I ponderized this week is found in Alma 17:3.  Give ourselves to the Lord and to pray and fast and we will teach with power and authority.

 Esmeraldes Zone

 Elder Pena and Elder Draper

 Reading out of Luke 2

 

 Elder Draper and President and Hermana Richardson

December 14, 2015

First days of December....

This week contained the first days of the month of December.  My first memories I have from when I think of December and Christmas are colder weather and usually with snow.

Being here in the middle of the world, the weather had different plans.  Since I have gotten to Esmeraldas, Ecuador, it has felt that it has only gotten hotter, and hotter. 

This week, not much happened during the week.  But this weekend, the Esmeraldas Stake had a stake conference.  A general authority came to visit and speak and the conference. Elder E. Xavier Espinoza, an area seventy, came and spoke to the stake.  It was cool, to listen to him.  Honestly he reminded me of George Lopez.  I thought is was a bit funny.  

As well, last night was the Christmas Devotional from the First Presidency.  If you did not watch it, I invite you to do so (visit lds.org)  It was really good and powerful as we learned about the Christmas season and the birth of the Savior of the World, Jesus Christ.

I was reading the Book of Mormon, I think it was Wednesday, in the chapter 18 of 1 Nephi.  I read verse three, which says that Nephi went to the mount often to inquirer of the Lord because the Lord answered his questions.  Well, what on the Earth is considered holy like a mountain? a Temple.  To me, Nephi prayed and went to his Temple often he did this as the Lord spoke with him and answered his questions and gave him direction for his actions. As a missionary, we focus our teaching in making covenants with our Father in Heaven.  To help people do this, in each lesson we give commitments to help them have the spirit and desire to complete and come closer to their Lord.

This week I am going to have a lot more pictures.  We are traveling to Quito this week and I will take pictures with members and people here in the ward.  We are having our Christmas Dinner with president this week.  The missionaries in the coast and jungle are traveling Thursday for a dinner.

I will receive information about transfers Sunday night this week and change Monday.

The verse I ponderized this week is found it the Bible.  Matthew 7:7-8.  If we seek for an answer or knowledge with the Lord and God, we will find it. 

Elder Draper.

Entrevistas!

This week, we had a meeting with our mission President.  Presidente Richardson.  Tuesday we had the training part of the meetings. Wednesday my zone, Zona Esmeraldas, had our interveiws (entrevistas) con Presidente.

The training mostly was on Faith. We learned about the Brother of Jared, and the faith that he had.  It was so much that he saw the finger of God.  We learned a process to better our teaching and testimony.  

While we were waiting for our turn for our interview with President, the assistants to the President trained us in how to better help our investigators.  

Not much more happened this week.  Today for P day we went to the mall, and one of the elders in my district had and deck of uno cards and we played uno.  

Transfers are in two weeks, I am almost certain that I am leaving Forestal.  I don't know where I will go. In Esmeraldas there are 6 companionship's and the zone leaders.  It is possible that I could stay in Esmeraldas, but I don't know.

Many people have something like a tree.  I do not see one that is common in the states. They mostly have little ones for like side tables, and some a little bigger.  There are some people here that have put lights on there houses. 

It has not cooled off, I think it has only gotten hotter.  How about a hot Christmas. it is worse than Alabama.

The language is good, to make it easier said, I am not thinking completely in English, but it is not all in Spanish.

 

The scripture I ponderized this week was  Doctrine and Covenants 130:20-21.  Before we came to the Earth, a decree was made in heaven that every time we obey a commandant of god we will be blessed.

Sector Forestal

By the end of my mission I am going to be very creative with titles for my emails.  But for now, I´m not creative.  I am sorry.

This week, Elder Poma and I have investigators investigating and preparing for baptism in the month of December.  

Today as a zone, we had an activity and played soccer and ate pizza.  In my zone there are 14 elders.  

We were with one investigator, and I was teaching. and she stopped me and told the rest of family to come listen to the word of the Lord, I Had to hold myself from laughing because of what she said, "sorry, but they need to hear the word of the Lord, and if they dont it wont be good".  Granted it was in spanish.  but it was funny in the moment.

This week we will have a meeting with President Richardson, the mission President, and his wife.
  

The verse I ponderized this week, is in the 10th chapter of Moroni, I dont remember the verse exactly, but it talks about gifts and how every thing good is from God, and every good gift is from God and we should remember this always. 

These were the pictures we received today. 

 A funny picture (his title)

 A drink he likes

A selfie

Well

Well, I didn't know what to title this email.  

This week was a very normal week in the life of a missionary.  My companion and I taught and shared messages of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We found some new investigators that have a lot of potential this week.  A couple of these investigators are a family, and we had our first lesson with them yesterday and we spent the entire time answering questions and clarifying doubts. It was a really good opportunity to practice my listening in Spanish.

I love sharing the experience of Joseph Smith and the First Vision!  I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and the prophet that restored the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Earth.  I feel the Holy Ghost testifying to me that it is true.

We have a mamita, a member who feeds us lunch.  They don't really eat dinner, and with big lunches we don't need much food at night.  The day we don't have a mamita, we usually cook something.  

In Esmeraldas there are, I would say about 100 members every week that come to church.

It is hot, for comparison the heat is like Alabama...in August not to bad, but we are in the sun a lot.  I know that here on the coast it would not change much, the temperature, even in the summer.

In Esmeraldas there is a refinery, a lot of people work there.  

We do a lot of door to door contacting.  It is fine, I had gone with Elders Smith and Winward once, back in Alabama .  It is good, a lot of the people we contact here, we can share a message with them. Here on the coast they are a little more open and Ecuadorians are a faith believing people.

A few weeks ago we had a soup and there was a chicken foot in the soup, a cooked chicken foot.

This week I have been ponderizing the scripture, 1 Nephi 8:30.  This scripture is in Lehi´s Dream.  It is describing how we should be in our lives:  Holding firm to the rod of iron, the word of God.

Baptisms

Week of November 3-9, 2015

This week was the first working with my new companion, Elder Poma. He is from Lima Peru. And only has a couple changes left in the mission.

This week we decided to visit a family that had been attending the church here for over two years investigating the church.  Elder Espinoza and I had been working with them a little and the entire ward is there friend.  When we visited the family, they told us they were getting married Friday. So, Thursday they were interviewed for their baptisms. Friday married! And Saturday the five of them were baptized!! They Have a fourth kid but she is only 7 so the father can baptize her!!!  And yesterday the father received the priesthood!!!   

This week, we focused our work on them because they are a family that is now baptized!!!!

This week the verse I ponderized is 2 Nephi 9:52.  This verse, to me really is simply, to remember God and give thanks.  I know it is simple, but I wanted to use this scripture this week.

 The family they taught and baptized.

 Elder Poma and Elder Draper

First Transfer...Check

We heard from Elder Draper today. Can you believe he has been out for twelve weeks already? 

Today I received my second companion!  I finished my first change last night after sending my trainer to Quito.  My new companion is Elder Poma.  In the picture he is the really short one.  The others are Elders Gerber and Etcheverito.

 

 Elders Dyal, Lomeli, Arrieta, Espinoza, Cabezas, and Draper

This is my district dropping off or leader (my companion) Elder Espinoza.  He is on his way home.

They don’t celebrate Halloween and the time doesn’t change here.  I am entering winter...most of the mission is in the northern hemisphere. 

*Last week we posted about traveling the twelve hours to Quito for a meeting with the Presidente. Well now I have pictures from the Panecillo, the hill that President Kimball dedicated for missionary work in Ecuador.  It was so awesome, Sunday afternoon I got a notification that Hermana Richardson had posted on their Facebook page, and there were pictures.  Yea, plus he sent some more with his email today.

The group of Missionaries that he arrived with.

Hermana Richardson, Elder Draper and Presidente Richardson

 

The view from Panecillo.

Week 5

This week we had the opportunity to travel to Quito.  I had a meeting with Presidente Richardson, it was a meeting to verify that the new missionaries are being trained good.  We left Esmeraldas on Thursday and returned Friday night.  A total of 12 hours in a bus very fun!!  While in Quito, us new Missionaries were taken to Panecillo, a hill in Quito that Elder Spencer W. Kimball dedicated in the country of Ecuador to missionary work.  I will send pictures next week, I do not have my camera with me right now.

Today, because my companion is finishing his mission in a week, we went to Atacames, a city about 30 minutes from we are.  Atacames is a beach town where there are a lot more souvenir things to buy.  I am almost certain that I will stay in Forestal ward next change but we get directions from the president this Sunday. 

My scripture for the week was Jacob 7:25- The people Nephi fortified themselves in their God, and in their rock of their savior and became conquerors over their enemies.  We can do the same, build a foundation on Christ and in God and we will be conquerors over our enemies, whatever they may be.

He says he is understanding a lot of the Spanish in Esmeraldas, but there is also some that he doesn‘t know what they are saying.  He has been told that Esmeraldas has the dirtiest Spanish in the mission, and when he is transferred he will be surprised at how much he actually understands. 

 He forgot his camera so we didn't get any pictures :(

Week 4

Nothing much happened this week.  It was a normal week by missionary standards.  But we did have a special training from Presidente Richardson on the Doctrina de Cristo and Arrepentimiento.  It was a training on how to better apply the principles of repentance to ourselves and our investigators.  It was really good.  Elder Espinoza and I applied to an investigator that day and it was a great way to teach the principles in a better way.  

Today we went as a district to a lighthouse...it is not much, mostly a tower with a light at the top.

The scripture I ponderized this week is 2 Nephi 9:51 it says, we should not waste our time money and rescouces on things that do not last. We should feast upon the words of Christ.

I am dying of heat.  It is so hot and even hotter in my house... we have fans in the house, they keep us at least a little cool in the house.  No news about the volcano.  The only thing we have heard is that be prepared for when it does...

We don’t go into corner cafes, people just have little tiendas (stores) in the houses on the street and you walk up the window and buy what you want...candy? I have not experienced many candy’s yet.  But there is one treat that is good...they are like the sugar wafers that you buy they are called Amor made by Nestle.

People here enjoy soccer, well futbol. 

These are pictures from my sector looking out my windows.

Baptisms

This week was an ordinary week in the life of a missionary. Nothing big and important happened during the week.

Three miracles happened this week!

Saturday we had two baptisms.  Fernando and Emili.( father and daughter).  When we went to the chapel to fill the font we could not fill the font.  The door was locked and no one in town had a key to open it for us.  So we climbed into the attic part of the building and another elder jumped into the font area to open the door.  It was fun preparing for the baptism, fighting the works of Satan.  I know that this work is the work of God.  

The third miracle is that Ecuador beat Argentina in soccer in Buenos Aires.

Today we had an activity with the Zone.  We played soccer and ate hamburgers.  It was fun.

I have accepted the challenge of Elder Durrant in Conference and am `ponderizing´ a scripture through the week.  I also invite everyone else to do the same.  

The scripture that I chose for this past week is Alma 60:21-22.  It talks about how can we sit on the things the Lord has given us like everyone else in the world when there are people who need our help.  WE need to act and help.  It spoke to me because there are people in Ecuador that are being defeated by Satan and need the help of the missionaries.

The volcano eruption is eminent, it is going to blow.   (The volcano is in Quito, I can't remember it's name but it has had activity since before he left.)

 Elder Espinoza and Elder Draper

Zone Conference on the coast...

 We also got a few pictures from Hermana Richardson (mission presidents wife), that she had taken during their zone conference two weeks before.  One of the pictures shows the missionaries in the zone and he is the tallest but they're are some sitting, so I asked him if he was the tallest in the zone and he said "I am the tallest in my zone, and I think in Esmeraldes as well". I loved his answer.

 They were taught how to make guacamole and muffins.  

Clark gives it the "2 thumbs up".