Call Me Scabby Goat

Dearest Family, 

So to start off this e-mail, let me backtrack to last Saturday, the 23rd. Elder Hegsted and I visited Sister Coble, a less-active sister. She has 5 kids and they'll all under the age of . She's also a single mother. Her two older daughters, ages 5 and 7 I think, decided it would be fun to put grass in my hair. That's fine and all, it was fun, they'd put it on and I'd be silly and shake it all off, wash, rinse, repeat. Then that turned into put grass in Elder Drake's glasses and stuff it behind his ears. All good fun. We got to the lesson, I cleaned off the grass and we left. 

Then Tuesday came. I woke up and noticed that my nose was a little red and itchy. I didn't think much of it and let it go. Well now I have poison sumac on my nose and behind my ears and on my neck. It's rather itchy. Elder Harding and I went back over to the Coble's on Friday and sure enough the little girls had it all over their faces too. Luckily, it's not too visible so people don't think I'm some diseased zombie missionary or something. Oh the price you pay for being nice to children. 

Also another story. 

On Saturday, our transfer calls went something like this:

Zone Leader: "Elder Hegsted is going to Fayetteville 1st...and Elder Drake is staying anditsacararea."

Me: "Car area? Okay well sounds good, thanks Elders." 

That's pretty much what I heard. Then I got a call from the Assistants on Tuesday:

Assistant: "Hey Elder Drake, how are you feeling about transfers?"

Me: "Good, Elder Hegsted is sad to leave, but we're excited for new things."

Assistant: "How are you feeling about the car?"

Me: "...What do you mean?"

Assistant: "Hm...tell me what your Zone Leader told you on Saturday."

Me: "They said, 'Elder Hegsted is going to Fayetteville 1st...and Elder Drake is staying'"

Assistant: "That's exactly what they said?"

Me: "Well they also said something about it being a car area, I assumed they meant Fayetteville was."

Assistant: "Oh...well, I hate to break it to you, but Rolla is no longer a car area. We're taking it. We got a bunch of sisters in this transfer and we're going to put it in a car share in Oklahoma with three different companionships. But don't worry, it's going to be great for Rolla, I can really see the members stepping up and getting more motivated to be involved."

If you could punch people through the phone I think I would have.

So that was a bummer. We are now a bike area. Rolla has a lot of hills. And also it's been raining. 

Sometimes being a missionary is fun. Other times your car gets taken away and it's raining and you have poison sumac. 

But it's not as bad as I make it sound. Sometimes it's just funnier to be pitiful. It's like that Pixar Short with the cute little sheep who gets sheared. And then the Jackalope. Right now we're making the transition to the "Boundin'" stage. 

The good news is that we hit the standard of excellence this week. All of them, for the first time on my mission, so that was cool. Getting the number of lessons is easy, but it's hard to get member present lessons, new investigators, and people out to church. Many low fist bumps were had. 

Otherwise it was a great week. We're still trying to figure out how we're gonna get up to some of the outlying areas, but so far it's looking good. I'm looking forward to the day when my butt is no longer sore and the members are giving us lots of exchanges. 

Oh, here are some pictures. I have them this week because other people took them. That's how lame I am. 

Okay, this is Zone Conference. I'm in the back there, because I'm always in the back. Elder Reese is right there in front of me, he's home now. Sad day. Elder Hegsted is not in this picture because we were on exchanges and he was being Elder Hegsted and was about 30 minutes late. 

This is the Shaos, Yuan, and Elder Hegsted. We had dinner at their house this Tuesday and it was very yummy as usual. They also had serving utensils this time, so that was cool. 

\

Yuan is the one in the orange shirt. We are helping her pick out a car. She's bad at it. She keeps picking these terrible American cars to look at. Well, to be fair, her budget is 4000 and under. But still. She wanted to go look at a 2004 Ford Taurus that apparently had some odometer problems. We had to talk to her for like half an hour to convince her it was a bad idea. On Tuesday we're going to look at a couple more. Fingers crossed. 

Okay peeps, love y'alls and all that jazz!

Elder Christopher Drake

​

Transfer Week! Also Engrish Class!

Hey Fam, 

Elder Hegsted is being transferred to Fayetteville and I am staying here in Roll. My new companion is Elder Harding and I don't think I know anything about him. The good news is I get the big bed now. I'll keep the smaller closet in the office though, because I'm just that nice of a guy. 

The bad news is that we ran out of toilet paper last night, so now I have to buy it. How lame is that? If you thought buying that kind of stuff is annoying in real life, try buying it on a mission. "Well I like nice toilet paper, but I like eating with my missionary friends more...I can't buy in bulk because who knows how long I'll stay here....but I'll probably need more than 6 rolls...well, I don't know how much my new companion will use it up. Maybe he gets chronic nosebleeds."

hashtag missionary problems. 

Well, I don't know how many of you heard about Sister Vea, but I feel like it's appropriate to mention her. A sister in our mission was involved in a car accident this week, and she passed away on Friday. I don't know any of the missionaries that were involved in the accident, and I'm on the other side of the mission, so I'm doing okay. I can't imagine how difficult this kind of thing is for the sister's family, President and Sister Shumway, the missionaries involved and around her, and the member that was driving. We don't know all of the details, but we do know a little bit. Please keep her and all of those people in your prayers. It's times like these that I'm grateful for, and take comfort in the Plan of Salvation. 

Now on to happy things. 

On Tuesday we went on an exchange with the Salem Elders. I was with Elder Hatch, who I very much enjoyed being with. We taught some sweet lessons, connected with some sweet members/less-active members and watched "Hope of God's Light" a lot. It's one of the newer Mormon Messages. Good stuff. 

Wednesday we had Zone Conference which was awesome and uplifting as always. That lasted about all day because it was in Springfield. Oh! We sang. Elder Hegsted volunteered us when we had interviews with President. Well, originally he volunteered himself and Elder Densley and when he said to me, "I'm planning on honing your piano skills," I said, "No you are not." But then I felt bad because they were kind of hopeless and didn't have anybody to play. So I chose the song and sang while I played piano. Billy Joel/Elton John style. I don't know if it actually sounded any good, but I only messed up the piano once. So that was awesome. 

I've discovered that there are fewer things more entertaining than charming really old ladies in rest homes. They're so friendly and nice! We do crosswords out loud with them ever Friday and they basically love us and think we're the best. I sang a few bars of some Johnny Cash songs that were in the puzzle. I basically feel like a celebrity. Then I go into the real world where I'm chubby and a Mormon missionary that people don't want to listen to. Well that's another weird thing. People either love the missionaries or really don't like us. That's a topic for another day I suppose, though. 

Friday was a sort-of recent convert's birthday. We go see her all the time because her apartment complex is full of people that aren't Mormon that are all friends. It's kind of the low class deal. Like, a step above (or maybe below) a trailer park. Okay, it's like the city version of a trailer park. Good good people, just rough around the edges. And maybe a little in the middle too. It's like those people that never quite grow up, but are grown and have kids, yknow? Anyway. Amy, this recent convert, is awesome. And she also loves Betty Boop. We hunted and hunted for Betty Boop stuff, but apparently it's hard to get these days. Finally we found a Betty Boop purse for like 15 bucks at a cute little consignment/thrift sort of shop. She loved it and we're basically awesome. Side bonus: At goodwill, some guy with really good taste must have died or something. I scored 12 bowties and a bag of cufflinks for super cheap. It was AWESOME. 

We had an awesome lesson with Tommy this week too. He's on parole, so it will be a while before he's baptized, but it is so cool to see how strongly people can feel the Spirit. I love it. There is really nothing better than seeing somebody embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ and watch it change their lives. How cool is that? It's the best. 

We had a bunch of people at church again this week. Most of them are pretty independent and know what's going on, but it's still a little bit crazy for those who are newer and need some more help. We taught Gospel Principles this week because it was on missionary work so that was awesome too. We rocked it. 

Okay peeps. I love you bunches. Had a good week. GO have a good week! 

Love y'allses, 

Elder Christopher Drake

Aug 18th

Dear Family, 

Now I have a small taste of what it feels like to be a parent at church, except I didn't get to mooch off of my kids' Cheerios. 

We had TWELVE investigators at church. Talk about running around like crazy trying to make sure everybody was taken care of. Thank Heavens for members who are on the ball. That was probably the most exciting thing about this week. It was pretty much like Christmas. 

Other fun/interesting/inspiring things we did this week:

Went on an exchange with one of the Zone Leaders. It was kind of like going on an exchange with a robot. I guess all of my leaders have always been really personable and so it was a little weird to spend a day with someone who was not. We did good work though, and got a new investigator due to his fearless talking to people skills. I suppose that's one of the benefits that come with being super awesome completely fearless and dedicated. We'll get there. 

Caroline, an investigator for some times was able to come to church this week, which was a miracle. She's got all sorts of crazy stuff going on in her life and it really was awesome for her. We fasted together on Saturday, and she got some miracles! It never gets old seeing the Lord do crazy awesome things for the people that go looking for him for reals. 

Tommy, another investigator loved church. He felt the Spirit super strong and said he hadn't felt that good in a very long time. 10 points for the true church! 

Saturday was Elder Hegsted's birthday. I took him to Waffle House for breakfast, because that's what you do for your companion on his birthday. I had never been to Waffle House and was pleasantly surprised. I might stick with Denny's though. We'll see. We also went to Meramac Springs Park with a part-member family. Elder Hegsted did his usual running around looking for animals and telling us all about them, complete with catching a trout with his hands. I enjoyed throwing the fat fish some food and watching them all race towards it. It was good times. 

Okay peeps. 

You rock. 

That was my week. 

Love you alls!

Elder Christopher Drake

Hey Buuud(s)

Sorry for the late e-mail peeps, we were invited to a fish (and everything else) fry for lunch and we were doing stuff this morning. The guy who fried up the fish and taters for us is a less-active guy. One of those guys that really has no reason for not coming to church, but is a really good guy and fun to be with and has all sorts of stories that are either funny, depressing, vulgar, or all three. He's Roni. Good guy.

Anyway.

Pshspshpsh, good week. Had exchanges with the Salem elders. They're a tiny little branch whose branch president is a senior missionary and the second counselor is one of the elders. Good people over there. I was with Elder Densley who is the second counselor and he's a champ. Oh! And they had a really comfy double bed. Or full. One of the two. Regardless, I fit on it and it was like heaven. That's the good stuff right there.

We picked up a new awesome investigator. His name is Tommy and he's sweet. We had dinner at a member's house and he was there and was open and then we met with him on Saturday and it was great and the Spirit was there and he said he'd come to church and then he didn't and we were sad. But that's okay, because that's what next week is for! He's a real good guy though, and we're excited to teach him. We pulled some hardcore missionary skillz on him like really planning out the lesson good and extending bold invitations and stuff and it was sweet.

We're working with a few other peeps and hopefully we'll be seeing some real progress soon. Busy busy busy, which is good. We had interviews with President this week and he told me some neat stuff. We were talking about desires and he said, "You can tell what a person really wants by what they're doing right now. People that are in prison can't say, 'I don't want to be in prison,' because if that were really true, they wouldn't have done whatever it was to put them there in the first place." Good point. I pictured myself wanting an awesome life and great family and being all righteous and stuff and then sitting on the couch playing video games and eating an entire box of Cheez-Itz. And it's sad sometimes, because too often that's really what I want to do. I say to myself, "Psh, no, I don't want that, who wants that? That's a pathetic sad life." and then before I know it I'm standing on the couch fist-pumping with Cheez-Itz flying across the room because I finally beat Bowser. I think that's part of what the prophet meant when he quoted that poem:

Good timber does not grow with ease,

The stronger wind, the stronger trees.

The further sky, the greater length.

The more the storm, the more the strength.

By sun and cold, by rain and snow,

In trees and men good timbers grow

Obviously trials and stuff make you stronger, but I think sometimes it's easy to hang out in the "spiritual greenhouse" where it's safe and stuff. There's probably an environmentalist greenhouse gasses metaphor in there too.

We drive a lot here. We're probably going to have to take a walking day or something. Those are the pittiest.

In other news, Elder Hegsted and I have decided to have a "Work Harder than President Shumway" week here sometime in the future. The goal is what the title suggests and it's going to be horrifically sweet. I guess that's what the 18 month mark will do to you. Which is Wednesday by the way.

Weird.

Also time to start eating healthy. I may or may not have bought a bag of Red Vines and some chips today in preparation for swearing off junk food.

Love you guys, hope your weeks are super duper and all that jazz.

Elder Christopher Drake

Deep Fried Tacos

Hey Fam,

Preeetty good week this week. A couple of the families we teach were out of town, so that was kinda a bummer, but the good news is that one of them went to Nauvoo and brought me back one of those Prairie Diamond ring things. Heck yeah. Unfortunately it only fits on my pinky ring, but I feel like I'm gangster enough to pull it off.

Let us see what happened this week.

On Monday we played volleyball with some sweet recent converts and a couple investigators. It was the kind of volleyball that will drive you nuts if you know how to play volleyball, but it's all about the attitude, so that's cool.

I don't remember what happened Tuesday. I probably should have brought my planner so I could remember things.

After District meeting on Wednesday we went to a hibachi place that was pretty dang good, and also pretty cheap. I enjoyed it thoroughly. The guy who did the grill couldn't speak English very well, but luckily when he said "sake bomb" to our senior missionary, Elder Colson, it was just barely intelligible. It's a good thing he was paying attention too, or that could've turned out a little bad.

Saturday was probably the highlight of the week. We went up to Cuba, Missouri and I had Jack in the Box for the first time since I've been on my mission. I didn't even know they had Jack in the Box this far east! It was pretty much a Christmas miracle. Here is a picture of me with my Jumbo Jack, Curly Fries, 2 tacos, and topped off with Strawberry Fanta. It was truly a good lunch.

My stomach may or may not have hurt a little bit afterwards. Worth it.

We taught a sweet lesson to Jim, this investigator we have who's trying to quit smoking. He talks a lot. We used the example of the Brother of Jared who had to come up with solutions to his problems before the Lord would step in. A lot of the time that's just how it works, if not all of the time. We have to put in our part and then the Lord makes the miracle happen. The miracles not usually as awesome as glowing stones and seeing the finger of the Lord, but sometimes we look back and say, "Oh. Hey. That worked out. That was cool."

I was reading that the other day and trying to focus on the details. I thought it was neat that the brother of Jared goes to the Lord with two questions, and the Lord pretty much completely ignores one of them and gives him the answer to the other. Then instead of asking the other question again, the brother of Jared goes and does what the Lord told him to, then after that's done comes back with the other question again. How cool is that? Even the prophets have to walk in faith a little bit. One step at a time sort of deal. That makes me feel better about being such a weiner.

Okee doke folks, that's about all I've got to report on this week. Keep being awesome and all that jazz and keep us in your prayers this week!

Love y'alls, 

Elder Christopher Drake

Man that picture's making me hungry.

Cats and Old People.

Hi fam.

Interesting week this week.

Oh, that old lady from Little Flock is getting baptized says Elder Allred so that's super awesome. The bad news is I'm practically in St. Louis so I won't get to go. But that's okay. I'll see her when I come back.

We kept busy this week. It was really hot. We saw peeps. Elder Hegsted can't stand the heat, and I love it, so that's a bummer sometimes, but we've bridged the gap and agreed that 68 is a good temperature for the apartment and I just roll down the window or close my vents in typical passive-aggressive fashion when it's too cold in the car. I make it okay by telling myself that it's okay because I'm only being considerate in case he's still hot or something.

There are a couple cool peeps that we're teaching. One guy, Mike, is basically a member already, he just needs to quit smoking already. We're working with him.

On Sunday, we stopped by Mike's neighbor, Tom. He's an older guy. He's come to church a few times, but not recently, so we wanted to get the scoop. He told us all about how ever since the Lord told Satan, "Get behind me," that Michael, the Archangel has been holding Satan back in heaven and soon Satan is going to be let loose for five months and anybody who doesn't have the Lord in their heart will die or something. It was a little weird, but he likes the Book of Mormon, so that's cool. We'll see what happens.

Later, we saw the husband of a referral and did a quick Restoration lesson and he liked it and took a pamphlet but then told us to come back in a month. -_-

For dinner we went to a sweet member's home and after dinner we played "The Name Game" it was sweet. I did really bad on the one word round though. The name was "Terminator" and the first thing that popped into my head was "Back" in a really bad Austrian accent. Then I couldn't change it and people were confused and were thinking "Bach" or "Bok" and there really wasn't much I could do. But I rocked all the other rounds, it was cool.

Elder Hegsted tried to milk a cat this week. It was awkward. I told him to stop. All I could think of was Meet the Parents. That's really pretty much the whole story. I think that's enough to say.

Okay gotta go! Love y'alls.

Oh yeah, this is Elder Dickson and I at the Walmarts.


Man, that's a bad picture of me. That's how much I love you guys. 

Elder Christopher Drake

Rolla

Mornin, fam

Rolla is indeed very far away. After I traveled for an hour and a half to get to the next transfer point, I then drove for another 2 hours or so to get here. I was tired.

Elder Hegsted is my new companion who is also a good guy. He is taller than me though, so that's not cool. He insists that I am at least 6'4" because he is 6'6" or something. I'm pretty sure I haven't grown though. Well, not vertically at least.

Rolla is a quietish town and there's a ton of stuff going on, so that's sweet. Our area is pretty big and we drive a Jeep Compass. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. I'm kind of opposed to FWD Jeeps, even if they have On-demand 4WD.

At any rate, we've been really busy which is definitely awesome. This is Elder Hegsted's third transfer and I am his second companion which makes it kind of fun to reflect back on when I was a newer missionary. Good times.

The area is sweet. We're teaching a lot of people. There's a small Engineering University here, MS&T I think it's Missouri Science and Technology. There are a lot of smart people here. We're teaching a Chinese family and another Chinese lady that are visiting scholars from China. It's been cool because they're the first people I've taught without a Christian background as far as I can remember. That's an interesting experience. They also don't speak very good English, but luckily we have a member who does some translating for us. It's good stuff.

I don't really have a ton to report on for the week =/ Getting in the rhythm of a new area is always a pain, but sort of fun at the same time. I have a Senior couple in my district, so that will be a new experience too.

I also forgot to bring my camera today, so sorry about that. I'm really bad at pictures.

I'm looking forward to a busy and productive and awesome and stuff week this week, so pray for us!

Love you guys, and hope you have a great week!

Elder Christopher Drake