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.

First Week in the Field

I'm pooped. And out of shape. Well pooped because I'm out of shape. My first area is in Springfield Missouri. My companion is less weird than my MTC one, but still has some anxiety thingy so barely gets any sleep or something. His name is Elder Adams, he's nineteen, from Pocatello, Idaho, and reminds me of Daniel Miller. He likes cars and off-roading so our first day we talked about cars for about 4 hours while we were walking around. Then we talked some more before we went to bed. So far, so good in the "plays well with others" area. 

There's a super nice non-member couple that lives below us and across the hall. Their names are Dianne and Matt, they have two pugs, and they give us food and buy us cheap things at thrift stores. Well, they bought Elder Adams some ties and socks on Saturday, but they didn't know what I like so they didn't get me anything. Plus they've only known me like three or four days. I wasn't sad. 

Man! I'm so excited I can write for longer than thirty minutes!!

Okay, let's see. Oh! My first day was probably the best first day in the history of missionaries. Or at least it felt like it at the time. Let's start from the beginning:

I arrived in Tulsa at aboouuuut 12:30 on Wednesday afternoon. We rode over to the mission office, then over to the mission home. We were all very tired, but we had to listen to orientation stuff for a while. We had very delicious chicken salad sandwiches for lunch, and I ate two. Then we talked some more about stuff and Jeffrey R. Holland told us all the rules for driving cars in the mission. The president pulled each of us out for about a minute and got to know us and confirm that our companionship was good by the spirit or something. He asked me why I was serving a mission, I felt like I was in a test. Apparently I passed though, because my companion is pretty good. 

After the interviews, the Elders got to go nap because the sisters weren't done with their interviews yet. I was excited. Then I realized that people who snore ALWAYS fall asleep first. And someone had really stinky feet. And my earplugs weren't accessible. So I kinda laid there for a half hour and made sure to face east so I could breathe. Then it was time to get up, and I realized that the blanket I was using decided that it wanted to make sure that everybody knew how great it was by covering me in black fuzzies. My lint brush was also inaccessible. (By the way, that lint brush is awesome, Pop). 

We went downstairs and talked some more and they gave us a thousand things to keep track of. Then it was dinner time. As soon as I sat down I was really sad that I ate two sandwiches for lunch. I wished I had eaten no sandwiches for lunch. They had these incredible yummy beans, these super duper biscuit roll things, marvelous coleslaw, and the best brisket I'd ever had. Dessert was Texas sheet cake, which was disappointing because 1. It was not Nana's, and 2. It made me miss Nana's. 

Then it was time for bed. I made sure to grab my earplugs.

Then it was time for not bed. 

We got up and got ready and then went to the Church to wait some more. After we waited some more, we got into separate vans to wait some more. I was very tired and the missionaries behind me wouldn't stop talking about playing "Magic: The Gathering" on days that I was pretty sure were not preparation day (we're not allowed to use abbreviations here in the OTM.) and something about some elder playing Pokemon cards too I think. I was not impressed. Mostly I was tired. Luckily I got a few hours of "buckled into the back of a van with my head resting on my coat against the window" sleep. After about 4 or so hours we finally arrived at my stop. I found Elder Daniel Miller, and loaded up my stuff. There was a big scary '80s van with a wheel-chair ramp and as soon as I got out all I could think of was "Please don't let that be my ride."

So I got into the big scary '80's van with Elder Daniel Miller. Or rather he got into the van, and I sat on the bench about 10 feet away and couldn't hear what he or the driver were saying. I think they asked me what kind of food I liked. I smiled and said "Haha, yeah!" to be polite.

As I stared wistfully out the window, I was humbled because I realized that this man was clearly very poor, his left side was paralyzed, and he was still willing to help the missionaries out. I hid my French cuffs under my sweater and resolved to not be scared of big scary 80's vans with wheelchair ramps anymore. 

FINALLY I arrived to my apartment. I walked up the steps to my apartment and Elder Adams told me not to stomp. Then Dianne came out and also told me not to stomp. I stopped stomping. I opened the door and missed home because my apartment is dirty and a little scary. Then I remembered I was humble and embraced it. I dropped my things off and was surprised to hear that Elder Adams was letting me unpack my things before we left. I took a tour around the apartment, and was pleasantly surprised to find I had my own bathroom and my very own desk! I also have a queen sized bed, but it is on a twin sized box spring, so you cant really lay on it all the way because it's droopy. I don't really understand why they have the box spring, because it would be way more comfy just on the floor, but then I remembered I was humble. 

I hope this isn't too long, I'm just excited that I have so much time to write and I'm fat and don't want to ride my bike all the way back yet. 

Then it was time to go do things! So I put on my coat and then realized my hat and scarf were in my backpack with all my books, which was in the big scary '80s van. Not to worry! We went out the door and the Spirit of God warmed my bones. We walked, and walked and walked and walked, and talked and talked and talked. Then we found Brother Noe's house. He is old and doesn't come to church because he has arthritis or something and likes when the missionaries come over. Elder  Adams talked and talked and then soon enough we were talking about how the Freemasons took stuff from the endowment process, not the other way around. Then we talked about Freemasons and labor unions and other stuff. Then I realized that Elder Adams wasn't going to talk about anything really so I changed the subject. We read a chapter from the Book of Mormon because Brother Noe can't read right now. Then we left. 

We walked some more, then Brother Essel, the Ward Mission Leader from Ghana picked us up. He bought us dinner at some Japanese place and the waitress was asking about what we do and stuff. We gave her our information, ate our food, and went home! We stopped by again on Saturday and dropped off a Book of Mormon for her. Anyway. At about eight, we got a call and some less-active member wanted a blessing. A ward missionary came and brought us over. Then after that we went next door to her neighbor, because he was a referral. His name is Casey. He is my first investigator! Woo! He is 53, and an alcoholic. I've got some good stories about him already, but Elder Adams is getting antsy. Needless to say, we walked about 12 miles on Friday so we could go visit Casey. We are excited about him. Oh and we also met another potential investigator through him. I am very excited. 

Welp, that's about it so far. I could keep talking about stuff that's not as interesting or important, but I don't want Elder Antsy pants to freak out or go on amazon and buy action figures or something. 

"Age is foolish and forgetful when it underestimates youth"

 - Albus Dumbledore

It was on a window her at the library. 

Love,
Elder Drake

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