Tuesday, March 29, 2016

March Moves!

Hello my friends and family!

This email is going to be very short, just a warning at the beginning.

A very in expected change came this week! After serving in Crystal Palace for only 6 weeks I got moved! Seven transfers in Croydon and only one in Crystal Palace! I've moved to Peckham, which is the ward that covers all of Central London in our mission. Most of our area is bordered by the Thames, and we have the Eye and the Shard in our area. Peckham ward borders Crystal Palace ward and we are in the same zone, so I basically hop-scotched my way into London! I'm pumped!

My new companion with be Elder Howe! We've already gone on exchange a couple of times on different areas and served around each other for awhile so it will be a lot of fun! We will be staying in a flat with the Spanish speaking missionaries in London as well so it's going to be good time!

I'm so sad to leave Elder Chazuka :'( we got to know each other really really well in just a few weeks. He's one of my brothers. The nice part is though that he is staying in Crystal Palace and we will be able to go on exchanges together as time goes on! Both of us were so sad when President Gubler called us to tell me I was moving, but it
turns out we will be right next to each other so we won't be far at all.

That's pretty much all I have time to write about, we still have to finish preparing for the week so we don't have loads of time.

I love you all so much! Have a good week! :)

Elder Draney

Monday, March 21, 2016

Easter Week

Hello my friends and family!

This email will probably be really short, there was a lot we had to do today and still some things we need to finish so I apologise!

This week flew by! Some weeks are refining weeks on mission, and this was a refining week. Some days it felt like everything was slipping through our hands and their was nothing we could do about it, but regardless many things we saw this week still confirmed to us that the Lord is in control.

On Sunday night we were at a fireside with President Gubler where he was training us and the members from the stake on reaching out as member missionaries, and at the end a sister approached us and told us that she had been less-active for 4 years and wanted to start coming back to church. She told us that she wants us to come and reteach her the gospel, and that her non-member boyfriend would be there as well. It was definitely a great blessing right at the end of the week!

This week is the last week of the transfer, so we will find out what is happening to all the missionaries in our district. Elder Chazuka and I are confident that both of us will stay. I pray that we will, because we really get along and have done a lot of good work together.

Plus he makes really good food!


Monday, March 14, 2016

Hallelujah!

Hello my friends and family!

There are always very interesting things that happen in our weeks as missionaries, but most of the time they don't translate into good stories via email! Regardless of how exciting this email may end up sounding, Elder Chazuka and I had an eventful week.

I have to mention first how strong Elder Chazuka is, and how much of an example he is. During this week we found out that one of his siblings passed away suddenly. After communicating with home and finding out the details to make sure everybody else was okay he pushed through and continued to work. He's pushed through a lot of different trials on his mission and since we've been companions, all the time with a smile on his face.

We were able to accomplish a lot this week, it definitely wasn't a perfect week but the Lord blessed us with many opportunities to teach. We've been able to help our investigators a lot this week which is always a great feeling. At the end of one of our lessons this week with Sophia she prayed and thanked the Lord for answers that she had been waiting for for a long time.

Our time in Crystal Palace has gone by soooo fast, but at the same time it feels like we have been companions for a lot longer than a month.

Some of you probably know but yesterday the website FollowHim.mormon.org went live with videos about the Savior for the Easter season, and they are very good. Definitely watch the videos and share them! I'm not asking you to because I'm compelled to in any way, but because they truly are profound and were made for the purpose of spreading the gospel message across the globe. We've been given an amazing missionary tool right in our laps so we should use it to meet our responsibility to share what we know. :)

Sorry for the short letter this week, there is a lot we still need to do today!

Love you all!
Elder Draney


Monday, March 7, 2016

Good morning!

Hello my friends and family!

Elder Chazuka and I had a great week!

Last Monday night we met our new friend Ade from Nigeria! We talked to her only briefly when we first met her but she said to come back the next day, so we did! She has a strong faith in the Savior and asks a lot of questions, but is humble and listens intently to everything we have shared with her thus far. We are going to see her again a few times this week which will be great!

On Tuesday we taught one of our friends Sophia who was taught a little bit by the missionaries before us, and the lesson went really well. She is preparing to be baptised on the 19th of this month! She really wants to feel closer to her Father in Heaven and knows what she needs to do to receive a testimony of what we have shared with her, so we are confident things will continue to go well.

We went on exchange  from Wednesday to Thursday deeper up in London near Elephant & Castle (gotta love the names in London). It's interesting to see how the environment can change so much just a few minutes away from our area but the people stay pretty much the same! We even found people in the other elder's area that live all the way down in the bottom of our area. The further we get into London the more we end up referring people to other missionaries because most of the time they are just passing through our area on their way home. It didn't happen as often in Croydon but we get it almost everyday here so sometimes it's hard to keep on top of the people we are teaching and the people we need to send to other missionaries!

Friday was a good day as well, we were able to teach Sophia again and do some service for a sister in the ward who lives very close to us. I remember back home whenever Dad would volunteer us to help with service needed in the ward I would always drag my feet. I'm grateful for the opportunities we have on mission to serve others and see the look of relief in their faces has changed my attitude about service.

We had some more service on Saturday cleaning the chapel. We spent an hour poring industrial strength detergent on the parking lot to kill the moss growing on it. Definitely a new experience, but it was fun!

Those are what the weeks look like in Crystal Palace! Elder Chazuka and I are having a ball serving the people here together. At the beginning of my mission I never believed the "Best two years" phrase, but the Lord has humbled and changed me. I can't see it any other way now, I love serving and growing here in England. I might just have to extend my mission 😉 (I can't, I asked 🙁)

Love you all!
Elder Draney