Baptisms = Awesomeness

This week was super duper, as I try to make every week out here in Arkansas.

I went on exchanges again this week over in Mountain Home. They have a new elder over there, Elder Luing who is a nice guy, just a little quiet. We had quite a few people to visit and I enjoyed my time over there. Mostly because for some reason he can't drive so I got to drive for like a day and a half. Holy balone I miss driving so much. PLUS on Monday, since it was our preparation day, we went to this music store and bought a Gospel CD by Johnny Cash and the Hobbit soundtrack. I'm not positive if the Hobbit is 100% Kosher, but I think I'm okay. Elders out here seem to think that soundtracks are okay if they are classical-ish, which the Hobbit totally is. My moral jury is still out on that one though. The Johnny Cash one is awesome though. The album is "God" and it's a compilation of some of his gospel music. Some of it is really good, like "The Kneeling Drunkard's Prayer" others are a little weird, but still awesome like "Belshazaar" (It's Elder Beddes's favorite and he says it's our song. How cute) but other others are just odd, like "The Greatest Cowboy of them All" (You guessed it, it's Jesus.) It's good though. It's nice to get some variety because we drive so much around here.

The Powers's baptism was this week! And it was awesome! Oh man. So Lily didn't change her mind and I baptized her. Well I take that back. On Monday when Elder Ostler interviewed her she changed her mind and wanted him to baptize her. I thought it was pretty funny, but also offensive, Then I remembered that Lily is a nine year old girl and Elder Ostler is buff and I have a gut. Moral of the story: If you want to baptize a lot of people, be attractive.

Moving on!

So Lily went first. Which meant I also went first. Which made my nerves even worse. So the prayer has to be exactly like the one in D&C. Do I have it memorized? Heck yeah, it's like two lines long. DId I still mess it up? Of course I did. I said, "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the HolySpirit" instead of "...Holy Ghost." I blamed my Catholic schooling for that, and did it right the second time. People kept making jokes about it though, like saying "You should've sprinkled her, or just splashed her the first time." It was amusing. Everybody else's baptism was perfect and super and the Spirit was super strong. Kim was super happy, and she cried. It was awesome. I love those guys.

Later that day, we also picked up a new investigator! His name is Johnathan and is really open to the Gospel, which is weird out here. He can't read very well apparently, so we're trying to get the Book of Mormon on CD for him. It was a good Thursday.

On Saturday we did service! Oh man, I love service. And it's totally not just because I don't have to wear a white shirt and tie. Our ward mission leader, Fred Fredlund, wanted to surprise his wife by painting one of the rooms for their new baby.  When I asked where she was, Fred responded, "She's at some women's thing, I dunno. There's brownies." I got a kick out of that. He gave me permission to put it in a book or something, saying "Yeah you can even use my real name too. 'Fred Fredlund.' Nobody would believe someone would actually name their kid that." Fred is a funny guy. While we waited between coats, Elder Beddes helped cut weeds and I helped wrangle the kids. Then it turned into Elder Beddes and Fred painting and me reading to the kids and playing with them. It was pretty great. They have a playhouse with a ship's wheel at the top. We sailed to McDonald's like three times. It was pretty great. Aiden, the youngest kept giving me imaginary cookies and making me eat them. Then for dinner we had hotdogs and then s'mores around their campfire pit. It was an awesome day. 

On Sunday we had a broadcast from Tulsa! Sister and President Shuway spoke, and then Bishop Davies, who is in the Presiding Bishopric spoke. Sister and President Shumway did an awesome job. They made me want to be a better missionary. Bishop Davies...well I was kind of expecting more from him to be honest. He talk a little bit about stuff, but nothing important, it was like story time. He talked for an hour, and I think he said "Don't feel like you have to take notes on this stuff, unless the Spirit impresses you to" like three or four times. There was also a question and answer session, which was meh. I was disappointed, but Sister and President Shumway's talks were incredibly spiritual and I'm super grateful for them. I was also really hungry, so that probably didn't help either.

I love you all and think you're awesome. Keep the mail and e-mails coming! I really appreciate every bit of news I get to read, and I love hearing from you all!

Love, 

Elder Christopher Drake

Powers Baptism This Week

The Powers are going to be baptized this week! Thursday at 10 AM to be specific. There's going to be hardly anybody there, but Kim works evenings and it's just what will work for them. It's going to be awesome and I'm excited. Shaun was ordained a priest this week, so he's going to be doing most of the baptisms. One of the little girls, Lily, wants me to baptize her and Kim wants Elder Beddes to baptize her. I hope that Lily changes her mind because I think it would be cool for her dad to do it, but hey, I'm not going to complain about getting to baptize somebody. Especially when they're not as giant as my dad.

To any pre-mission boy that happens to read my e-mails: Don't get a real girlfriend until you're home from your mission. I promise the Prophet knows what he is talking about. Girlfriends are dumb before your mission. Here's why:
1. They cost a lot of money. If I had spent as much money and time on my car or on cooler things as I did on a girlfriend, I would have a really sweet 1970 Nova. Instead I had to sell it and now I drive a station wagon.
2. They aren't as nice as they smell.
3. Having boys as friends is better anyway. You can watch Arnold Schwarzenegger movies instead of Twilight and do fun (parents read: stupid) things in the car you spent all your time and money on. 

4. They are distracting. If you have a girlfriend back home, she will keep popping in your head randomly. Even when you're studying about how Teancum should have been a Navy Seal.  

5. It is way better to write like 50 girls and feel good about it rather than only one because you feel guilty or something. Mail is like Christmas, but it comes six days a week. As far as worldly things go, nothing is more awesome than getting a letter, and nothing is more crummy than getting nothing in the mail when you're on your mission.
6. You will get Dear Johned and it's super distracting for like two weeks. That's two weeks wasted when you have to struggle to feel the Spirit because all you can think about is how sad you are and how you wish you'd written 50 girls instead of one.
So you know how a couple priesthood sessions ago a few of the Apostles railed on the returned missionaries for "hanging out" instead of dating? Do that before your mission. It's way better in every way ever. My pinky promises.

I think that the coolest thing about General Conference is that everybody takes away something different from it, but everybody still feels like at least one talk is written just for them. Everybody keeps saying how one of the biggest things that they took away from Conference is the importance of the Eternal family. I didn't get anything about families from it, but I sure felt like I got a lot about faith and starting to build your faith where you are instead of giving up. How cool is that? I love it. I read Elder Holland's talk again last night and wanted to hug him. He's the man. We also watched President Monson's talk with the Powers on Saturday and that was also awesome. It was so much fun to see the kids and Kim get excited about seeing the Prophet and really being able to feel how much he loves us.

Before conference, I had been trying really hard to develop a closer relationship with Christ and His Atonement. Two talks really helped me out in that area. The first was President Eyring's. He said, "I am a witness of the Resurrection of the Lord as surely as if I had been there in the evening with the two disciples in the house on Emmaus road. I know that He lives as surely as did Joseph Smith when he saw the Father and the Son in the light of a brilliant morning in a grove of trees in Palmyra. This is the true Church of Jesus Christ. Only in the priesthood keys held by President Thomas S. Monson is the power for us to be sealed in families to live forever with our Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."
How cool!! President Eyring knows that the Savior lives and I don't even have the faith of a mustard seed. So frustrating, but so inspiring.

Then Elder Holland said, "What was once a tiny seed of belief for me has grown into the tree of life, so if your faith is a little tested in this or any season, I invite you to lean on mine. I know this work is God’s very truth, and I know that only at our peril would we allow doubt or devils to sway us from its path. Hope on. Journey on. Honestly acknowledge your questions and your concerns, but first and forever fan the flame of your faith, because all things are possible to them that believe"

How truly uplifting and inspiring. I am so grateful to have prophets on the earth today that can say such wonderful and uplifting things. Conference is a super missionary tool as well.

As far as other interesting goings-on, I don't have much to report on. Things are going really well, but I will be happy when the weather decides to be warm for real. I can't wait to tell you all about how awesome the baptism is going to be.

Oh wait, wait!! I have an awesome story. Fast and testimony meeting was yesterday. A little boy got up with his grandpa and started to proclaim to the entire congregation what he believed. This is what he said, "I'd like to bear my testimony...I know that Jesus lives...Not everybody may believe it, but dinosaurs once walked the earth!..T-Rex's love meat, it is their favorite food. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

BEST. TESTIMONY. EVER.

I seriously love you all and wish you the best. To everyone who isn't sending me letters, please send me mail so that I can have Christmas every day of the week. I promise you'll get some sweet letters back.

Keep on Keepin' on, 

Elder Christopher Drake

"T-Rex's love meat." 

Six More Weeks of Arkansas!

I was going to try and make some Groundhog Day joke, but then I decided that I didn't want to make a really corny joke at the beginning of a letter. So I'll just say that I get to stay in Harrison for at least one more transfer. Woo!

I was going to try and make some Groundhog Day joke, but then I decided that I didn't want to make a really corny joke at the beginning of a letter. So I'll just say that I get to stay in Harrison for at least one more transfer. Woo!

I had a pretty typical week this week. I did go on transfers up in Branson with one of the Zone Leaders though, which was interesting. His name is Elder Maqueary but because he is a Spanish speaking Elder, his tag just says Elder Mac. I think I would prefer Elder Mac too. We taught a bunch of lessons and even went tracting for like five minutes while we waited for a member to show up for an appointment in the apartment complex where we had an appointment. Elder Mac is like the most pro tracter I have ever seen. It's kind of like a joke in our zone because he's so good. The first door we knocked on was lame. Elder Mac was all pro-like and awesome but the old lady who answered the door shut it as soon as she learned we were Mormons. I thought it was kind of funny but also sad. Then we knocked on the next door and it was my turn. It was awful. I knocked on the door, and was ready to talk to someone and try to share a quick spiritual message if they'd let me. Then the door opened and it was seriously one of the most pretty girls I have ever seen. It so wasn't fair. 

"Hi, I'm Elder Drake, and this is Elder Mac," I said. "What was I going to say next? Where did my brain go? Why is she so pretty? Why does she have so many cute freckles and how are her eyes seriously that blue?" I thought to myself in about half a second. My brain went all mushy and it was bad. "Well, could we share a scripture with you?" Then I felt like an idiot. Haha, it was so bad. Even Elder Mac was all shaken. He stepped in after me, and said some more stuff that I don't remember because I'm pretty sure my brain is trying to block it out. The kicker was that instead of trying really hard to get a scripture in or something, Elder Mac said, "It's fair to say you're not interested." I almost died. Mostly because he's the king of tracting. It was horrible. Then we went to our appointment. That was very interesting.

Don is a super sweet guy. He is very kind, and very intelligent. He's some denomination of Christian and very knowledgeable. He's also an anti-Mormon. As soon as I walked in I could tell that we were in for an interesting experience. He had a stack of papers literally about six or so inches high of anti-Mormon articles (all very scholarly-ish but stiil) to share with us. During the discussion he would occasionally hand us an article. For the better part of the lesson I felt that I should just sit quietly and so I did. I didn't open my scriptures, and when he handed me an article I took it and folded it in half without looking at it, and continued to listen to the discussion. This continued for about 30 minutes. I felt prompted to ask a question so I did.

"Don, like Elder Mac has said, we just have different ways of understanding the Gospel. Mormons put a very heavy emphasis on the personal confirmations of the Spirit to discern truth, and you hold physical evidence and proof to be of utmost importance. How have you felt the Spirit in your life?"

He said something about not relying on emotions and that we should rely on the scriptures and the word that God has given us to confirm truth. I rephrased the question

"I can totally understand where you're coming from, but the feeling I'm talking about is very distinct and very different from an emotion. I can't really describe it, but I can tell you that I've felt it. Other people describe it as 'a burning in the bosom', a 'still small voice' or 'it's like a fire'. Have you ever felt the Spirit Don?

Again, he said that he had, but didn't describe it, and the Brother that was with us thought it was his turn again which distracted Don from the question anyway. The discussion continued as it had for about a half an hour more, and Elder Mac was getting antsy, so we prepared to close. They gave his stuff to read, and he told us some of the stuff he wanted to discuss next week. I again felt like I should say something to him, so I did.

"Don, that stuff that Brother Green and Elder Mac have asked you to read is great, and I urge you to do it, but before we leave, well, first, I assume that you have studied the Pentecost before, correct?" 

"Yes, of course." He responded

"Awesome. Well, Don, like we've been saying, we are just on different ground here. We figure out the truth very differently. We believe that being educated and learning is very important, but we also believe that above all, the Spirit confirms truth for each and every one of us. Oftentimes, it fills us up with this...just amazing feeling, that's very different from any emotion or anything. It's the same feeling that the apostles experienced on the day of Pentecost. I would ask you to pray and ask our Heavenly Father to bless you to be able to feel a little bit of that as well, and I promise that if you do, He will bless you."

I said some more stuff, but I don't remember a ton else and that's all that's really important anyway. I felt inadequate and discouraged, but I was proud of myself for acting on how I felt rather than focusing on some of the holes in his arguments. I hope that I made a little bit of a difference, but I doubt that I did, and I may never see him again anyway. As we left, Elder Mac was talking about how frustrating it was and how mad he got when once, Don talked about how he instilled such doubt in a missionary that the poor kid actually went home.

"It just makes me so mad," he said, "that someone would be so proud of that."

"Well you have to look at it from his perspective," I replied, "In his mind, he's just like us. In fact, he's more noble than us. He believes that we are going about converting people to a church of lies, and so if he can bring one of us to the 'truth' he is not only helping to save one soul, but to save the souls of those that we might 'damn.'" Elder Mac pondered that for a minute so I continued, "It's sad really. You can see that he's never felt the Spirit. He's a very very smart and kind man, but he's never felt it. He can't feel that God really knows him and loves him because Don has never in his life felt the Holy Ghost, and his heart is so hardened and closed, and he focuses so much on the words of men that he will probably never be able to feel it."

It was so sad. I felt so bad for Don. It's one thing to be devoted to your religion and to slam the door in my face. If you're happy with your life, then cool beans. You can worship Christ in any way you want and I think that's awesome. But to never feel the Spirit and to believe that God doesn't have a personal vested interest in each and every one of His children and so doesn't care enough to intervene in the simplest way in our lives is so sad to me.

This letter is getting long, so I better wrap it up haha.

That was probably the most eventful thing that happened this week. It's been a little slow and pretty typical. Sorry if this one wasn't as entertaining as the previous ones have been. I hope that you are all doing well, and I wish you the best. I pray for each and every one of you in the fam by name. It makes for a long Sunday prayer, but I like it anyway :) I wish you all the best, and keep the letters coming! They're the best!

Love, 

Elder Christopher Drake

Adventures in Mountain Home!

Hello there family! How was your Easter? Mine was fantastic. It was filled with food, but mostly candy. A lot of candy. It's like being in the MTC again. Good thing I have two years to get skinny.

So. This week. What a week. 'Twas a good week. So two Wednesdays ago, we had exchanges set up so that I would be in Mountain Home on Wednesday (the 27th). On Monday, Bobba (my Grandpa, for those of you who don't know.) sent me an e-mail saying,

"Your district probably doesn't go as far East as Mt. Home, does it? My sister and her husband, Lola & Ralph Bailes, live there. If you ever get over there, which I doubt, be sure to look them up."

I was instantly super excited. He gave me their address and so I printed it out that night. On Wednesday we had district meeting till about noonish or so. I played the piano and was awful but awful piano is better than a cappella, right? After district meeting, Elder Ostler (the Mountain Home elder) and I hopped in the car and headed off.

As soon as we got there, I wanted to go see Ralph and Lola. The e-mail was burning a hole in my suit pocket. We had a couple other things set up, so we didn't get there until around four or so. We knocked on the door and nobody answered. We knocked again and rang the door but still nobody home. I was sad. So we decided to tract the neighborhood.

It was my first time tracting! I know right? Almost two months out and I'd never been tracting! I thought it was funny. I did okay. It was nervousing though. People are very nice here, but not many are interested. We did pick up a potential investigator up the street. His name is Pat, and he is a very nice man. He fought in the Vietnam war and is Catholic. We talked a little, gave him a Book of Mormon and set a return appointment. I'm excited to see what happens with him.

So Elder Ostler and I putzed around to a few other appointments and then our dinner cancelled on us. I was happy because it meant that I had a few more hours to get over and hopefully meet the Bailes. Finally around six o'clock we got over there again. I knocked on the door and Lola answered. I wasn't exactly sure what to say, because I'm used to being Mr. Elder Missionary man.

"Hi!," I said. "Um, I'm Melvin Drake's grandson!" then we were best friends.

So we talked with Lola  and Ralph for a while and it was basically super awesome getting to know a Great Aunt and Uncle whom I'd never met before. Then Ralph offered to take us out to dinner! We were both super happy because our dinner cancelled on us. They took us to this super delicious place that kind of reminded me of The Jetty back home. It was kind of weird but awesome sitting and eating Catfish and Chips with my Great Aunt and Uncle in a restaurant much like the same place I eat with my Nana and Bobba back home.

So basically coolest week ever. I hope that I get to serve in Mountain Home again so I can stop by some more. Oh! Wait. One more thing. I took a picture next to a painting done by Uncle Walter in their house, because I thought it was also pretty trippy. Plus I didn't know Uncle Walter painted. But then when I got back to the apartment I realized I didn't take a picture with my Aunt and Uncle.

-_-

I felt like an idiot. So, Ralph and Lola, I'm sorry if that came across as rude. Sometimes I'm a dummy. Next time I'm out there I'll make sure to get a picture with you guys because you are awesome.

SO! Onward to missionary-like things.

The Powers are poking along pretty well. I'm very excited for their baptism which will be sometime in mid-April. They really seem to love coming to church and enjoy our lessons. I can always feel the Spirit really strongly, and the difference it's made in their lives already is apparent. They say that other people outside of Church notice it too, which is also awesome.

There's a very old Sister in our ward that is a bit senile, which makes me sad. We visit her three or four times a week and she's always talking about moving out of her assisted living home, but she really can't. She actually called this morning and asked us to bring her some packing tape and that she talked to the main office and told them she is leaving. It will be interesting when we go over there. She's a very talented painter, and her artwork is beautiful, she's just a little loopy.

Keep us all in your prayers, and keep the mail coming! An empty mailbox means a sad missionary.

Love y'all,

Elder Christopher Drake

What? It's been a month?

I learned a very important and very testimony building lesson this week.

On Monday, I think it was, I was feeling super good about my mission. I have a sweet companion, I love my area, the weather was great, and I just felt so blessed. I was telling the Lord this in my prayers when a talk from last conference popped in my head. I just looked it up, it's titled, "Mountains to Climb" by President Eyring. For those of you who don't remember, or don't want to be torn away from my incredibly awesome letter, President Eyring starts off the talk with a super duper idea. Basically, it's "If you feel super blessed, pray for trials to bring you closer to God and strengthen your character."

1. God answers prayers. 

2. He answers some prayers very quickly. 

3. Sometimes they're unexpected answers

4. DO NOT pray for trials.

TO THE WORK!

The Powers are still the main focus of ours. Their youngest, Damian, who is 4, was taken ill last week. We got a text from Kim at about three in the morning cancelling our appointment because they were taking Damian to the hospital. We went over the next evening to see how they were doing, and to entertain the kids that were there. We gave piggy back rides to Lexi (12) and Lily (9) and played "chair tag". We also had chair races. Some guy who I think was homeless got mad at us and said, "I don't think those chairs aren't meant for that, you know". I really wanted to say, "Well I don't think that little space behind those other chairs on the floor is meant for sleeping." But instead I just said, "Oh I dunno about that, these things are pretty speedy." and then told the girls we needed to be quieter. I'm so benevolent and grown up.

The next morning  (Saturday) we stopped by again. As we were walking towards the room, we spotted our ward mission leader, Fred Fredlund, who is a nurse there and said hello.

"Make sure you guys suit up before you go in the Powers' room," he cautioned, "Damian's got Rotavirus and it's super contagious."

"Well good thing we spent like three hours with them last night." we responded. 

"The nurses last night didn't make you put on gowns or gloves and masks or anything?"

"No."

"Oh...well be careful today."

So we spent a lot of time outside the room on Saturday and washed our hands a lot. We also played Monopoly. Lily got tired about halfway through even though she was winning and Elder Beddes gave her like 1800 dollars and landed on her spots on purpose. Then she quit. I laughed.  Elder Beddes lamented over the "Free pass to land on Lily's spot" he traded a property for. Then I lost. Park Place and Boardwalk aren't worth it. We went over to their house yesterday too and now Lily is sick. We are washing our hands a lot, and have now added "Rotavirus!" to our repertoire of inside jokes.

Most of our other efforts have been spent with less actives because it is too cold for outside service and we haven't had a ton of luck getting new investigators. We visited two people in assisted living homes who are convinced everyone is either poisoning them or taking all of their money and it made me not want to be old.

All in all, it's been a pretty dang good week. We got to do service that included playing Monopoly, and we taught some good lessons to people and a less active family we taught came to church! Oh we also taught in Zone Teaching. I saw Elder iPad there. He was drinking from a big jug of Welch's grape juice. Somebody asked him how he could afford to just chug a thing of grape juice.

"It's called asking my mom for five bucks." He chuckled.

I reminded him that he owes me twenty dollars and resisted the urge to stab him.

Love and hugs (handshakes for the sisters),Elder Christopher Drake

"It's so hot! Milk was a bad choice!"

Hello Harrison!

o!

 

Elder Adams got in trouble. Dummy.

 

So let's see. After Monday, I decided to give Elder Adams the benefit of the doubt. Maybe President Shumway got mixed up, maybe Elder Adams would fess up. But after that I refused to have anything to do with the iPad just in case he tried to pull a fast one on me and get me in trouble. Monday and Tuesday were lame and no good. Elder Adams was a lameo and I'm glad I didn't have something sharp because I was really in the stabbing mood. Rachel, I totally know what you mean now when you say you can't look at people you're angry at. I didn't make a ton of eye contact with Elder Adams, but I felt all stuck and in this horrible position where I couldn't really say anything but I should've and just bleh. Then Wednesday came.

 

Glorious Wednesday. I wish every Wednesday was as glorious. At this point my anxiety/irritation/frustration had sort of hit a high point. We were on our way to the Church to give a Less Active and a Non member a tour because they wanted to see the gym for their wedding reception. It was gonna be awesome. Then President Shumway called. It was glorious. He talked to me for about a minute, and then asked to talk to Elder Adams. This is what I heard of their conversation:

 

"Hi President

Yes sir...

Yes, you can be blunt...

Yes.

Yes sir.

I know.

Yes.

(Some excuse as to why he didn't tell the President about the iPad)

I know.

I'm sorry

Yes sir, here he is"

 

Then President Shumway told me that I was being transferred. The next day. So Elder Adams was very mopey and sad for the next 24 hours or so. I tried to talk to him and cheer him up, but it didn't work very well, so I just tried my best to be the best missionary I could for the short time I had left.

 

On Thursday, Elder Adams slept in again, and I just kinda poked around until he got up. Later in the day we went to the Post Office to mail his iPad home. He didn't talk to me much on the way there. I couldn't tell if he was grumpy that I wasn't letting him be sneaky, or that he was sad because he messed up. Either way, I didn't try very hard to get it out of him. We got to the Post Office and he told me he didn't have any money. I'm still not sure if he really did or not, but I didn't really care at this point. A very nice man gave us ten bucks the previous day, and I asked what happened to that, Elder Adams said he used it for lunch the day before and then tried to lecture me on how it was sacred funds or something.

 

I told him to be quiet.

I'm glad I didn't have scissors or a letter opener or something.

I paid for his package, and unless he pulled a really fast one, it should be home now.

 

Looking back, I felt a few different things. I was bummed that I was going to leave the investigators in Springfield, and I hoped that Elder Adams's new companion was going to be decent. I didn't want to pack again and move and get to know a new companion and area, but oh well.

 

Looking forward, I feel a few different things. I am so excited to be out here in Harrison, Arkansas. I hope that the investigators in Springfield have good teachers. I love my new companion, Elder Beddes. I am tired at night because I work hard now. I love working hard. I love the people here, and I love the here here. It's so beautiful. I'm glad I got the opportunity to move to a new area, and I'm so grateful for basically everything. Springfiled seems like so long ago, even though it was less than a week ago. I can feel the Spirit like a bajillion times more here and did I mention that I love it here? Because I love it here. Where to start?

 

Thursday: Got in the car to Harrison, met Elder Beddes, and everyone thought it was crazy that Elder Adams bought an iPad. I'm not sure if I was supposed to keep that a secret, but whatever. Too late now. Elder Beddes continues to call Elder Adams a weiner. It made me laugh. We arrived in Harrison at about 8:30 and met the Ward Mission Leader, Fred Fredlund. He is a very nice guy and his familly is super cool. I wondered who would name their son Fred Fredlund.

 

Friday: W

Elder Christopher Drake

23 More Fast Sundays to Go!

BREAKING NEWS! (wow look at all that formatting!)

Missionaries are now authorized to e-mail anybody! I'm not sure how I feel about that, but not everybody needs to know, right? Letters are more fun anyway. That being said, whoever wishes to get my weekly emails directly, can let me know. 

So! 

Week 2. AKA Draama Bomb!

So Elder Adams got an iPad. He claims to have it authorized by our Mission President for some separation anxiety issues, which lead to a severe lack of sleep. It's stress relief or something. 

Well, I sent my mission president a quick e-mail on Saturday just to express some concerns that I had. I mentioned the iPad, as it was the reason we were at the Library. Today I received a response saying, "iPads are not authorized at any time. Period." So this will be fun. I replied with some more details and hopefully he will call soon, just in case there was some mistake, which I doubt there was. I might paper-cut him to death with the missionary handbook. 

He was also sick. I think I tell Mom and Dad all this in the letters I wrote this morning. But for those of you who are not my parents, Elder Adams became ill on Friday and needed extra sleep. I said whatever and was (ashamedly) happy for an excuse to get back in bed after breakfast. Same thing on Saturday except when the iPad arrived in the mail, he was miraculously healed. I'm pretty sure the letter he got with it said, "By the authority of Steve Jobs, which I hold, be thou healed." **If that's sacrilegious or something make sure to edit that out when this gets distributed** 

We had to, effectively, drop our alcoholic investigator last night. Sad day :( He has always been enthusiastic and excited, but won't read the Book of Mormon or his ARP handbook. When we ask him why, he just says that "Life's been hectic and blah blah" and it made me sad. I don't know why his faith is lacking, but he just won't do it. We gave him a blessing on Wednesday I think, and it was super good and powerful, but it won't be in effect until he takes a teensy step of faith. So last night we stopped by, explained that we'd love to teach him more, but we can't (when he's half drunk is the real reason) if he's not willing to do his part. We told him to call us as soon as he reads, but we just can't take the time every day to go visit him if he isn't trying. Sad day =/

Our work has become progressively less and less effective, and it bothers me. There are things that I need to improve on, but hopefully talking with President Shumway soon will resolve the issues. Or at least be a step in the right direction. 

Anyway. Happy things. Oh! I bought a box of thin mints from a Girl Scout at the grocery store. I don't think her mother liked me, she just sort of glared, but I was super nice. Ha! Take that! And they were delicious. I even put a sleeve in the freezer and FORGOT about it for like 3 days and had a little self party when I found them. It was fabulous. Then Mom sent me two more BOXES and I about died. What beats a package of Girl Scout Cookies?

I discovered that Corn Bread is one of my favorite things ever this week. Apparently it's called Johnny Cake when it's sweet or something, so I guess Johnny Cake is one of my favorite things, but oh man. This wonderful Sister in the ward made us yummy beans with ham and a thing of cornbread. Elder Adams didn't get any, but that's his own fault cause he's a slowpoke. It was out for like three days. And then when I finished it, we had dinner at another members house and SHE MADE CORNBREAD. This time it had little bits of corn (aka heaven) in it and I was very happy. 

I'm really sad that most of the happy things are about food. That's bogus. Now I have to think of a happy thing that is about the Gospel. Oh! Zone Conference. That was really good. I hate when we have to do role playing, especially when it's with people I don't know and they pretend to be mean investigators. But the in between stuff where I didn't have to do anything but listen was great. Sister Shumway told us to eat healthy, and I felt bad at first, but then I felt poor. President Shumway read my weekly letter at the pulpit though! I was slightly embarrassed, but also proud. It said:

The first day in the field was great!

We've been working really hard and we've got one new investigator, and at least one other potential. A lot of walking though. We walked about twelve miles total on Friday just to go visit Casey, our new investigator, because we didn't have a ride. I was very tired. Everything else is going great so far, and as of now I have nothing else to report on.

Yours,
Elder Drake

But then Elder iPad started using it as a way to make people feel slightly guilty about not giving us rides. I wanted to stab him, cause that's not what I meant at all, but then I realized that the chapel is not for stabbing, so I just asked him to stop like a grown-up would. I think he was about to cry though. Like honestly. Quivering chin and everything. I might lose it. Apparently he had a rough morning, but I'm not sure why. 

I'm reading the New Testament right now, and I like it a lot. I finished Matthew the other day and am now in Mark. It's good stuff. I've never really sat down and taken the time to read it. I switched from Jesus the Christ to The New Testament because my soul delighteth in plainness. You know a book is hard to read when you'd rather read the Bible. 

Oh! Another happy food thing. My district went to Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch this week. It was delicious. But then one of the district leaders didn't want to tip so I felt bad and left a good tip. I figure I'll get it back in blessings or something though. 

Cheers to you all! I love you to death. I wish I could stay here all day and just write and write and write, but Elder Adams is getting ants in his pants again I think. Stay tuned for next week's exciting conclusion to the iPad drama!

Love,

Elder Christopher Drake

Inspirational quote of the week:

"Life is too short to wear Crocs.