MTC Week 2

Week 2 has been better. We finally got the hang of how to best work P-day. So much for following our schedule though =/ The tight quarters have been bad, but apparently it's going to get even worse over the sumer so I'm grateful that I'm here now. It's so great to hear from all of you, I look forward to checking my mail every day, I just wish I could check my e-mail more often.

Oh, before I forget, I'm allowed to call home from the airport. I bought a phone card, and I'll arrive in the Denver airport around 7ish local time I think. I'll double check and send out a qjuick e-mail later tonight. If you guys want me to call, I'd be more than happy to, but I don't want it to be an onconvenience to you. Just let me know!

I've just kinda been truckin along here at the MTC. I leave tomorrow at 3AM, and I'm very excited to get our of here, even though it's been two weeks. (Don't worry Mom, I talked to my Branch President and he said that I could go to bed early to get enough sleep.) Being here has been fun, but difficult in a lot of ways. Elder Owens left this morning at around 8. It was sad, exciting, and kind of relievieng haha. He's a great missionary, and he'll do a great job, but the Lord puts people like him into my life for a reason I think. I must be more patient with people than I think I am haha. 

I fixed the focus setting on my camera, but as I was playing with it last night, I also deleted all of my pictures -_- I stole some from Elder Owens last night, and I'll grab another one with Dad's picture this evening and send it. I feel like the whimpy California boy because I'm wearing my big heavy coat, a scarf, and a hat when I go outside and everyone else in in just a suit. I'd rather be warm though!

Tell Bobba I love him and he's not allowed to die while I'm on my mission. My mission is supposed to bless my family, so he should be running marathons by the end of next week. I'm pretty sure that's how faith works. Or at least that's how one of the teachers here explained it when we were having a hard time staying awake in his boring class. "If you had more faith you could stay awake." But seriously. You're awesome Bobba. When I get back from my mission we're going on a sweet motorcycle ride. Speaking of motorcycles, no, I did not add seafoam to the tank when I was home, Pop.

Mmmm....I don't have muuuuch else to talk about, and I want to save a few minutes of my time for later tonight. So I love you guys, take advantage of all the blessings coming your way, and I love you!

Love,

Elder Christopher M.J. Drake.

P.S. I've been signing my name like that for about a year now. I hope that's not against the law before I get around to adding that middle name.

First Week at the MTC

Feb. 19, 2013

Hey Fam!

      It's been quite the experience here at the MTC. There are WAY too many missionaries here. Our schedules are packed, and we try to be obedient and follow them buuuut that sometimes mean we have to wait forever for anything. Showers, food, laundry, devotionals, mail, packages, pretty much anything you can think of takes forever to do. Luckily the Elders in my room like to wake up at 6:10 instead of 6:30 so we can get to the showers before the crowd. On Sunday we decided to "sleep in" ten minutes and had to wait about 15 minutes for showers. We learned our lesson, haha. Our schedules are really hard, even on P-day, but I'm adjusting well. Phew. Okay, now I can talk about the good things. I feel a little better after having to wait about an hour for a computer. 

     Classes are great, we have two teachers, Bro. Subesta (who's about 5 feet tall, but super nice) and Sis. Frost (who's distractingly cute). Both of them are great teachers, and play the part of investigators for about an hour each class period. Bro. Subesta is "Max" and Sis. Frost is "Charlie". My companion and I teach Charlie. My companion, Elder Owens is a great Elder, but I struggle with our companionship. He's very gung ho, and a little different. His enthusiasm is great, but sometimes a little too much so. Last night we were teaching Charlie, and were supposed to do a 25 minute lesson. We had a rough idea of what we wanted to do, and were feeling confident because we had success with her the previous lesson. When the beginning didn't go like we expected (she didn't follow through with some reading) Elder Owens thought it would be a good idea to go through and just read. Remember, this is our third lesson, our first was five minutes, and our second focused more on prayer. We had barely mentioned the Restoration, and so she had no idea what the Book of Mormon was about or how it came to be, and Elder Owens wanted to literally read through the first bit of the Book of Mormon verse by verse. At first I was trying to be humble and "yield to my companion" but I could tell that Charlie was losing interest and so I tried to steer the discussion towards a lesson, but Elder Owens wouldn't yield to me. So of course there was tension because we were both irritated, and Sister Frost had to stop the lesson. It was embarrassing. And frustrating. Apparently patience is what I really need to develop here in the MTC haha. 

     The rest of my district is great and we all get along super well. I was asked to be the District Leader, which in MTC language means "the guy that eleven other people go to for answers to which he doesn't have the answer because he's been there just as long. Oh and he also gets the mail." It's been fun trying to learn to be a better leader of sorts, and I'm adjusting much better. 

     I'm really excited to get to Oklahoma (mostly because I want to get out of the MTC). I've got eight more days left here and a lot left to learn! Thank you guys so much for the package and the letters that you sent me (Dear Elder is great, and I got that MTC delivery one too). 

     I've attached most of the pictures I've taken this week. I'm not sure how good they are, and I don't have time to waste on the computer looking at them and such. There's one of me and dad's picture in the cafeteria, one of my district in out classroom, one at the temple, and then one at the temple with the sisters. We got that picture because my companion and I went to go find them instead of just leaving with the Elders in our group who wanted dinner.

Love you guys! Keep the letters coming. They make long days a little better.

Elder Chris Drake