24 August 2015

Dear Family,

Right now Elder Probst and I are inside the library typing up our email whilst the rain is pouring down outside, so summer is officially over for us. :(

Today(as Mom so kindly reminded me) is 11 month mark on my mission. It really doesn't feel like I have been gone anywhere close to 11 months! I'm probably the worst broken record when it comes to talking about how fast the time has gone by but I wouldn't say it if it weren't true!

This week was still very busy, but that is a constant for missionaries as long as we are working hard. This week we actually had a lot more time to spend seeking to find new friends to teach which has been scarce for the most part over the last month or so. It was nice to be able to meet more new people and have good conversations with people on the street! Croydon will never run out of new people for us to talk to so we are very blessed!

I've mentioned in the weeks before that Nadir was working towards the 29th as a baptismal date but because he has been very busy over the past couple weeks we will have to move back his date but not very far. He loved coming to church with us last week so hopefully that excitement will carry on while we continue to teach him!

On Wednesday we were able to set another baptismal date with one of our friends named Collin. Collin is friends with President Eaton of the mission presidency and has met with missionaries a lot in the past but health problems and life circumstances kept him from coming for awhile and he was too busy to meet with them. Last month we had dinner with the Eatons and they invited Collin to come and he really enjoyed the meal as well as the scriptures and thoughts we all shared after dinner and asked if we could come and see him during the week, so we did! We taught him twice and he already knows everything about the Church and has a testimony of it's truthfulness for a lot of different reasons and at the beginning of the second lesson we asked him if there was anything holding him back from being baptized and he said no. Naturally after that we invited him to be baptized and he accepted to be baptized on September 16th! We are teaching him this week and will keep you updated on how things go in the coming weeks!

This week rather than drag things out and try to think of things to write about I will echo some of the things I have mentioned in previous letters that still hold true. I am grateful for the opportunity that I have to serve my Lord in England and do my best to forget myself and focus on others, just as He has always done. My testimony has grown and been strengthened more than I ever thought it could, despite the great opposition that has been thrown at my companions and I. I know as a matter of logic and of testimony given by the Holy Ghost that "the restitution of all things" spoken of by Paul has taken place and that the God's Kingdom is again upon the earth. I know more than I ever did before that Jesus Christ is the Savior of all. I know He lives. I will never be able to repay anything that He has done for me, but at this time I am especially aware of the great debt I owe because of the wonder that I have experienced on my mission.

I love each one of you.

Love,

Elder Draney