Hello My Family and Friends,
Well another week gone by here in the
greatest zone of Hurlingham and wow, this past week has probably been one of my
favorites here in the Mission! Every week seems like my favorite over the past
few, but this time, in this Zone, on my Mission ,has just been unbelievable.
First off I had the opportunity to
go on a Division with one of my Zone Leaders Elder Dallin Stevens from Arizona,
he only has one month more in the Mission than I, and he was also my Zone
Leader when I was in Catan! It was probably one of the funner Divisions I have
done! He taught me allot of things, for example how to get quality references
from members and I have put that to good use or as they say here, “Putting
allot of that into play”. We also shared allot of good laughs together, he has
a super great sense of humor. One of the major reasons for doing the Division
was so that he could do the baptismal interview for our Carlos!
We invited President Gallegos, who
is in the Stake Presidency, to come to the interview with us (LOVE HIM), the
interview went absolutely wonderful! President Gallegos was super excited.
Elder Stevens told me that he has done allot of interviews, and Carlos's was
probably of the best interviews he has participated in, So... HOLLER! =) The Division was great, and following we ordered
pizza and chatted having a grand old time!
Another thing that I have not really
mentioned is my love for our dueña Hermana Iputcha! She is easily one of the
funniest people I have ever met! She invites us to eat dinner with her family,
like every night, BONUS, and she always has the funniest stories. She was converted to
the Church by her husband and one year after she went on a Mission! Her mission
stories are just absolutely hilarious. She works in politics and she is
planning for me to meet the President of Argentina before I leave, how cool is that to
meet President Chritina in person.
Our week went super smooth although
the weather is really heating up here and the humidity is back up, I mean really
up, it will be the DEATH of me but hey, my skin will look unreal, my pores have
been begging for this weather for a few months now! Friday night the Santa Rosa
hit, which is a huge storm that was supposed to happen last week, but Mother
Nature had other plans for us. It was absolutely beautiful I sat in the window
for a good hour at like 1am in the morning, just watching the lightning and
listening to the rain! I awoke tired but headed off to clean the baptismal font
early, to say the least it was very gross but a chore that needed to be done nonetheless.
Ok if you are following me it’s Saturday
and we are off to the baptism with suits and stuff in hand, just in case it
started pouring again, and just my luck it did during our journey to the
church. Needless to say our suits got a little
wet but not drenched, and thank heavens for those little heaters at the Church, a
luxury to us in times like these! So
there we were, the font filled, chairs in place and the hymns ready and my
great friend Santiago all sharp in his suit and tie I bought him ready to
baptize Carlos. Hermana Andreason and I
sang a the number, “Nearer My God To The”, following Hermana Lasataria (Bishops
wife) gave an amazing talk about Baptism.
I could see the nervousness and excitement in Santiago’s eyes and it what
took place was just amazing to see, Carlos baptized in that moment. President Gallegos closed with a really
powerful testimony to add to the wonderfulness of the Baptism.
In the meantime there was a family at
the church setting up for a 1 year old Birthday party which is a huge celebration
here so while we waited for everyone to arrive for the Baptism we helped set up
chairs etc. for this occasion. Hermano
Benavides (the father of the child) speaks English and actually studied at BYU
so we have some great Utah talks sometimes and a lot of Utah laughs!
Sunday rolled in earlier then
Saturday it seemed, and Carlos was confirmed and received the Holy Ghost and if
that wasn’t special enough Santiago received the Melchizedek Priesthood, and
was ordained an Elder. He asked me to participate in the ordination and I was
thrilled to be asked to be a part of it. I felt a strong spirit during his ordination
and after we just hugged and cried...but it felt so great folks probably thought
what the heck, we couldn’t stop either! The Spirit packed a punch this time!! HAHA
So that was basically my week a
pretty good one if I do say so myself! Transfers this week, aaahhh I
wonder what will happen always a cliff hanger!!
Well kids you remember how it goes…Stay Cute, Stay Classy not Sassy! Same time next week and Wyatt good job on the flood relief and those 100 sand bag you filled, Alpine applauds you! Sis you get that boot off and toss the crutches as soon as you can! I am so sorry that your injuries came to you with your 2nd call back to the LPHS Volleyball tryouts, I know you were sensational but there’s always next year hun! Expect to hear your bouncing back like crazy next week love ya!
Take Care All,
The Incredible,
Elder Wade Draper
