Hope of Israel

Dear Family

I definitely have to agree with you that August, and this whole summer really, has completely flown by! I am definitely glad to be rid of the hot and humid side of English weather, even though it didn't last very long. The joke is that England only gets about 2 weeks of summer and these past few months have proved it to be more than a joke. I can count on both hands how many days we had with uninterrupted sunshine and apart from that we had cloudy skies that threatened to rain any minute. The lack of sunny days is probably what made it seem last only a few weeks! It's crazy that school is starting already!

Despite a lot of rain this week we still had a lot of fun. Most of the time that it rained we were indoors, but we still had a few hours of finding in the rain! We had Zone Conference this week as well and the whole time there was a huge thunderstorm going on outside but it stopped raining before the meeting was over so we were blessed to travel home dry. We took a big picture as a 3rd of the mission so as soon as I have the picture I will send it.

Working with our friends that we teach this week was really good! Last Monday we went to see Nadir with a member from the ward in Nadir's home. When we got there we found out that he has been staying with his sister and brother-in-law who are also from Pakistan. We had originally planned to teach Nadir about some of the commandments but his brother-in-law, Najaf, decided to join us for the lesson so we decided to review the restoration and the Book of Mormon and let Nadir help us teach it to Najaf. The lesson was powerful! Nadir really absorbed the lesson when we taught it to him 3 weeks ago and he showed it when he helped us teach Najaf, he remembers and understands all of it! Najaf really enjoyed the lesson as well and said he wants to come to church with us sometime! Even though he wasn't able to come this Sunday we are keeping in contact with him so we can go with him and his family as soon as we can!

I mentioned last week that another investigator, Stephen, left with his wife on a big holiday last week so we won't see them until the end of the month but we are still going to email them every week to see how their holiday is going!

The highlight of this week was Zone Conference with President Gubler. It was the first Zone Conference with him after they were able to get more experience over the last month. President Gubler has only been here for 6 weeks but we have all already felt the distinct shifting of the mantle and the raised expectations coming from the Lord and conveyed by President Gubler. During the conference we sang many of the hymns in the 240-260 section about fighting against the adversary and the Spirit was strong throughout the conference, not just during the hymns. The title comes from the spirit I felt as we all sang "Hope of Israel". As we sang the line "See the Chieftain signals onward" I looked to President Gubler. As I sang I felt the Spirit distinctly testify to me that the Lord, our Chieftain, has signaled the work of salvation onward and that President Gubler has "sounded the war cry" and asked us to fight alongside him as we do the Lord's work. The work is hastening all over the world and I can confidently say the Lord has signaled us all onward. Lengthen your stride and seek for His guidance through prayer and I promise He will tell you what more you can do.

I really wish I had taken more pictures last week but the only one I would have to share came from zone conference and I sadly don't have it yet. I've thought about taking pictures with all of the members we meet with during the week so you have faces to the names so I will do that this week! We have a dinner everyday this week so there will be lots of pictures!

I love you all. I pray that I can always be worthy of your friendship and love throughout my life. Thank you for the happy moments we have shared and I look forward to more in the future!

Love,

Elder Draney