Oscar De La Gato

Hola everybody!
 

Another good week last week. I've almost hit my four month mark! Weird. Six months is going to blow my mind.

First off, thanks to everybody for the mail! I can't say enough how much I like hearing from everybody.

Pretty standard week, expect Elder Aubry and I have been spending a lot of time finding and a lot of time biking. We have to really be careful with how many miles we use so the bikes have really come in handy. The weather has been absolutely beautiful,but apparently it's supposed to get really hot this week. Woooo.One day while we were biking up a horrible hill through a nice little wooded area, I saw a kitten! Now, I'm not really a huge cat person, but come on. It's a kitten. In the forest by itself with no family or anything. That sort of stuff isn't even fair! Missionaries are not allowed to keep pets of any kind (even though Elder Beddes brought home two turtles and a fish over the time we were together) but I felt bad for the poor guy. After a few minutes of him being super friendly and climbing up my shirt and hanging out on my shoulders and licking my ears (which was unpleasant but adorable) I decided to name him Oscar and to put him in my backpack to give to the Powers or something. They have like a million animals and always take more. Oscar didn't like the whole backpack idea. Every time I would try to put him in, he'd poke his head out and crawl back up on my shoulders.

So on my shoulders he stayed. Oscar was a champ. Oscar was my bud. I could tell we were going to be best friends forever and I was going to mail him home and he would live to the ripe old age of 97 and we would go on adventures just like Calvin and Hobbes. Then about half a mile down the road he decided to spoil all of my wonderful plans and jump off my shoulder as we were going about 15 miles an hour. Oscar was truly a trooper. I considered changing his name to Steve McQueen. As I sat there in the road I seriously considered going back and picking up Oscar. He was meowing at me! I can see it in my mind right now, as he stood across the street in somebody's yard...

"Meoooww"

"I know Oscar, but I'm not supposed to have a pet."

"Meeewwwwooww"

"You jumped off my bike! If you wanted to come you should've stayed on my shoulder!"

"Meewwwooowwowowww."

"I'm sorry Oscar, you're in a neighborhood now, maybe someone will adopt you or feed you like Bobba feeds that cat that Nana hates."

"Meow"

"I'm sorry Oscar, but it looks like this is goodbye" As I rode off down the street, a lone tear trickled down my cheek, falling to the hot pavement, evaporating as fast as my time with Oscar.

It was heartbreaking but I think it was for the best.

Now for the spiritual stuff!

We picked up a new investigator! Her name is Kim, and she believes in prophets and that families should be together forever. We have a return appointment for tomorrow, so hopefully we'll be able to get her to accept the gospel! She works on Sundays, otherwise we probably would have had her out at church. That's a tough thing, but the Lord provides a way!

Do you guys remember the Powers? They're sweet. You should meet them. They're pretty much my favorite family out here that we teach. Last week we were over at there house teaching them the "new member lessons" which are the same regular lessons, plus one more. So we were teaching them the restoration, and earlier, Kim had shown me a picture in this months' ensign about Joseph Smith's death mask, and how she thought it was cool that they did that back then. As Elder Aubry was teaching, the thought came to my mind to open up the Ensign and flip to the painting of the Prophet. As I waited for Elder Aubry to finish, I looked at the picture and out of nowhere I could just feel the Holy Ghost. It was so sweet. At that moment, I knew that Joseph Smith was a prophet. I had been praying for that manifestation for a very long time, and I got my answer. I had to fight back tears to finish the lesson because I could feel the Spirit so strongly. It was such a sweet moment, and I'll never forget it. I got a copy of the Ensign, cut out the picture, and it's hanging up on my wall now. The Lord answers our prayers if we ask with real intent. He will often answer them in ways you don't expect, and it will sometimes come out of nowhere, but when they're answered, you'll know that they've been answered. I am so grateful for that testimony building experience and hope that all of you can experience the same thing.

I love you all, and wish you the best! I've attached a picture of Oscar and the painting that was in the Ensign. Keep me in your prayers! I need them!

Love, 

Elder Christopher Drake