S1:E4 The One Where Our District Got a Hacky Sack

 Hola!!! This week has been one of the craziest weeks of my life! Jk I sat in class for the entire week. I did have some spiritual experiences this week and in general it was pretty good! Last night I guess my team BYU played an amazing game. I heard we almost got a touchdown this year!!! Man I was sad to miss that game.  One of the most exciting things this week was someone in our district got a hacky sack and someone else got a Rubik's cube. Man our life is boring here :) But everyone in my district can now solve a Rubik's cube and every night we play a game of kill with the hacky sack. Oh and someone brought a chess board so we set up a sweet 16 tournament for chess and we play 2 games every night in one of the houses and about 20-30 missionaries come to cheer them on. I thought I got bored in high school but it turns out high school was just training me for here. 

  On a more serious note I have had a good time and time has flown. I have one more week in the CCM and I will honestly miss this place a little bit. I feel really prepared for the field already and cannot wait to start teaching the gospel. I know that this church is true, I know that we can return back to our heavenly father and that families are eternal. 

  Thank you everyone who sent me a package or letters. It really means a lot to me. You guys really brighten up my day and it makes this place a lot easier to make it through the week.

I love you all and miss everyone so much. I have two thoughts for you this week.

1. For all you future missionaries, you and I (the missionaries) leave our family for two years so that we can bring other families together for eternity.

2. for of him unto whom much is given much is required D&C 82:3

 Thank you everyone

Elder Draper

Ciudad de Mexico

S1:E3 The One Where I Ate Some waffles and Got a Haircut

August 23, 2019

 This has been the slowest week of my life. It hasn't been bad at all but it has been kind of the same old, same old. Someone in our class got sent home this week and it was really sad. The days are all the same here. I wake up, get showered, get ready for the day, go to breakfast, hit the books for a couple hours, lunch, more books, dinner, and then some personal time to read the book of moron or write your lessons, then I hit the bed and repeat! It gets old but it is really good here.

   I love both of my teachers. They are really cool and fun. Only 2 more weeks!!! I have already started the countdown until I leave. Thank you for all of the packages all of you have sent me it is really nice to have something from home. In Spanish study we have switched from memorizing to grammar. I think my teacher is just getting annoyed that we talk like idiots here and he wanted to fix it.

   I got a haircut today and it looks pretty good! A little old grandma comes and gives me a haircut. We had the most tender conversation about her life and was pretty much the best conversation i have ever had. and guess what, it was in Spanish. This idiot is learning Spanish like a boss! Just kidding I pretty much am the worst.

  Food here SUCKS sooo bad. I have never looked at my fridge at home and said I think today lets do a chicken breast, some tomato juice, pineapples, and say that is gonna be a dang good sandwich.

  I had 2 really good devotionals I listened to this week! Both were by Elder Bednar. Man that guy is amazing. I know that he is a man of God and that he was chosen before he came to this earth to be an apostle of God in the true church.

  Everyone please check out my website. It has all my pictures and emails on there!  Thanks Dadio for doing that for me!

Thank you everyone and I love and miss you all!

Elder Draper

Ciudad de Mexico, MX

S1:E2 The One Where I go to the Aztec Temple

Hey everybody! This week was kind of boring to be honest. We kind of now just stick to the same schedule every week. Today was a really good day though! We went to the Mexico City temple and it was really awesome. It look like an old Aztec temple. It was the coolest temple I have ever been to! I know that the temple is the house of God, I know that this church is true and that we hold all of the keys of the priesthood. 

Spanish is going soooo good! It is kind of the worst but it is really fun. I am learning tons and tons here. Today we got to go outside the walls to go to the temple and the streets are crazy! I cant wait to get out in the field and serve!!!

Happy birthday to my Dadio! love you old man!

I love and miss all of you!

Elder Draper

Ciudad de Mexico, MX

Elder Draper - S1:E1 The Pilot

HOLA Fam and Friends!!!

This week has been one of the craziest best weeks ever! It's been only a week and a half but I already feel like a Mexican! For all of you soon to be missionaries I'm gonna give you some advice. Think about something you can do on the plane to your mission! I did not and it was a very long flight. Second you should know that you will get to work right away and you will not stop. EVER. Next everyone complains about the food here but honestly it's not that bad. Think of it as a better school lunch but one tip is eat a lot of the fruit. All the fruit is fresh and local. Probably some of the best i have ever had!

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ... for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth." Romans 1:16

Spanish ROCKS! Learning the language is one big task but dang I love it! I speak Spanish in all of my classes and you will definitely drown for a day or two but it is soooo fun to learn it! Life here is a little crazy. You will have to be somewhere every 15 minutes and it is a lot of work. Your schedule is jammed packed from 6:30-9:30. Lucky I haven't been homesick at all but a lot of people struggle with that here.

Little bit about my experience so far. The first day we got here was a fun day and we were lost for a little while but there is a lot of help here. After the first day, the schedule has been the same. We wake up and shower in the first 30 minutes, then personal study, breakfast, some more personal study, language study, class, lunch, class, language, grammer, personal study and then back to the room and go to bed. That's just about it other than some devotionals here and there.

Overall it has been a really good experience and I have loved it here! Little bit about the pictures. The picture out of the plane is over Mexico city, The wall is how they lock us in here, (parrots, parrots are everywhere here, its wild), the pic in front of the sign is me and my companion, then it's me and my companion and my roomates, and the panorama picture is what it looks like out of my class window!

Ciudad de Mexico, MX