Hi there,
Snow? We're in the humid 90's down here and I'm sweating as I write this. Christmas just isn't the same here. I'm hoping the Mission office will just leave us alone this year. I don't really feel like Christmas caroling in this kind of weather ( that and I've had people throw rocks at my head for just walking down the street, I don't want to know what would happen to the white guy that was singing down the street here.)
Anyway, this week was good. Yesterday, We had 5 baptisms. Elder W was able to baptize someone and give a talk in Malagasy, both for the first time. He did a good job.
As I was sitting at church yesterday, I realized that many of the people in attendance were people that I had taught at some point during my time here in this ward. I realized that most of them were already, or on their way to being baptized. I decided to write a list of names of people that I had taught who have been baptized since I've moved into this ward. I was amazed. Chronologically (sort of):
Njara, Aina, Andre, Rahasoa, Serphine, Marie, Lydia, Jacky, Lala, Lova, Esther, Fanja, Ilay Kely, Vivian, Rahavavy hafan'ny Lova, Eddy, Claudine, Toby, Vonjy, Vero, Lea, Bean, Ernest and Estelle
I have taught all of these people from the time I was with Wg until now in this ward and I've been privileged to see all of them be baptized. ( I've even baptized a few of them), and there are more people I'm teaching right now that I hope to see baptized at the beginning of the year. And all of those just named were at sacrament meeting yesterday. I just feel blessed is all. I've been working so hard and I haven't had too much time to sit back and think about it. Some days, I feel like I'm not really making that much of a difference, and every district meeting and zone conference is on "what are we doing wrong?" or " the missionaries in "such-and-such" place are such better missionaries than you are, they always do... they never do...... and blah blah blah." Why can't we just have a meeting that says " hooray for our side!" or " good job Elders, keep up the good work"? ( or better yet, how about " no meeting at all" this week, see ya next week:)
Anyway, I love you all. It will be nice to talk to you all on Christmas. I'll send you the information next week. OK then, Veloma!
Monday, December 10, 2007
2007 December 10--Fruits of His Labor
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
2007 December 3--Alive and a bit Happier
Well hi.
This has been a long week. I am fine, just tired. I'm enjoying my companion. He's a pleasant sort of person. First impressions aside, he's a likable guy, and we have quite a lot in common.This is a good thing. I love you all. I've got to end this very quick, but I want to thank you all for the E-mails and the pictures and stuff, it's wonderful - I really appreciate it.
I love this country, and I love being a missionary. It's beautiful to see how the gospel really does change people's lives for the better. I love our family.
You might possibly get a more detailed letter tomorrow during my lunch hour, if time and circumstance allow. Until then, Tiako Ianareo! Veloma!
Elder Draper
(P.S. Thomas, I will answer your questions, sorry for the delay. I'm busy and disorganized : a lethal combination in correspondence. but I'm working on it.)
2007 November 26--Cake to Go
Well hi,
Thanksgiving was good. We ate at the Kartchner's and it was delicious.
I'll start by telling you last week's "funny" story. On Tuesday,the day after my birthday, we were having a terrible day. None of our appointments were going through, it rained, then it was hot and miserable, and we were walking everywhere. So, the only appointment that went through was the very last one; a sort of "family-home-evening" with the ward missionaries.
We got there and I was already fed up with the day, but nobody at the appointment was taking charge or trying to get things going, so I took over and used what little enthusiasm I had left from the long day to jump-start the party. And it worked, for a bit, but it was not self-sustaining and mellowed down to a silent room again. Nobody else had any ideas for a game or anything to make it fun, so I decided to end the "party" ( or rather, the "anti-party") and call it a night. As soon as I did so, the entire room stood up and walked out fairly abruptly ( especially for Malagasy who love to linger longer most of the time) before I could shake hands and say "veloma". I was I little thrown off by this, but I followed them out to say good bye, and I was attacked ....... by several handfulls of flour, and then somebody yelled "happy birffffday!" and then nailed me in the back of the head with an egg, it stung (either he had a good arm, or he was 3 feet away from me, or both.)
I was confused, and a little distraught (apparently, this is a Malagasy "fomba" or tradition, but I was unaware of this until after the fact. I thought they were just being mean; "We didn't make you a cake, but here's all the ingredients! IN YOUR FACE! HAHAHA ".)
I stood there speechless for a bit, with a confused look on my face, and then I started walking in the general direction of home, without saying anything. I think I scared the ward missionaries to death, "OH NO! Elder Jean Pierre is mad at us! what do we do?!" In reality, I wasn't angry, it had just been a long day, and I had nothing more to say, so I started walking home.
Our "member-present" stats went down that week - I think the ward missionaries were scared of me and avoiding me for as long as possible. Then I finally called them, and told them it was alright, and then they started coming with us again. Now everything's back to normal.
Yesterday, we had another baptism. Rasoamboavonjy Marie Iharinala was baptized by her husband, the long time member, Baly. We've been teaching Vonjy ( Baly's wife) for 4 months now, and it's great to see her baptized. Baly is 45 , and 5' 4'' . Vonjy is 21 and almost 6' . So basically, Baly married a woman half his age and twice his size. Funny how things balance each other out huh? He wanted me to baptize her, but I insisted that he should, and reassured him that, "people are lighter in the water". He did a good job; she went all the way down, and, with some struggle and a funny distressed Baly's face, she came all the way back up again.
Ok, I'm out of time, I love you all. Have a nice week.
Veloma!
Elder Draper
2007 November 19--Alive
This will have to be another one of those "I'm Alive" messages again. But I love you all. Thanks for all of the E-mails, that was nice.
All is well. My companion is doing good. I think he's starting to get into the swing of things here. So Thanks again. I will include the funny stories from this week ( well at least I thought they were funny) in next week's e-mail ( which is good just in case something terribly anti-funny happens this week and I write you something depressing, you'll have something happy alongside it. But I'll try to prevent any such eventuality and you could get just an all around "happy" E-mail). OK then,
Veloma!
Elder Draper
2007 November 12--Happy Birthday
Hey there,
Well it's my birthday, but it certainly doesn't feel like it. But this is a good thing because I'm not presupposing it's gonna be a good day. So I can relax and enjoy myself, and not feel cheated. I don't know if that makes sense.
The rain has begun. We went to an appointment yesterday and walked through some rice paddies to get there. During the appointment, it started raining ( to put it lightly). After the appointment, we attempted to go back the way we came, but where there was once a rice paddy, there ran a muddy Mississippi river. I stood at the side of this river for some time in the rain, thinking for a bit, my companion waiting for my decision. I said," I think we have to cancel our next few appointments, cuz they're all on the other side of that river."
We took the long way home. I've started teaching guitar to another "American" kid, this one not a member, but he's a friend of the Kartchners. He's technically from Ghana but he was adopted, and it's really weird to see a black kid speak perfect English. Everybody keeps trying to speak Malagasy to him. The Malagasy equation goes: He's black, he's a Malagasy. He's White, he's rich and French. There are no other options. So this new kid from Ghana, Simon, is confusing a lot of people. It's funny.
The kartchners gave me a birthday package yesterday. Bacon. I haven't had bacon since I've been out here. I'm so happy. So I like the Karthners. (Honestly, I liked them before). So thanks for all of the letters. It's wonderful to hear from all of you. I will make sure to enjoy this day, for all of you . It's been pretty good so far.
My companion's getting much better. He's still got that obnoxious "I'm not from Utah" pride though. I'm not worried, it won't be long until he discovers that all of the worst "bubble boys" in this mission are NOT from Utah.
I love you all. Life's wonderful Veloma! Elder Draper
2007 November 5--Happy Halloween
Well hi, Happy Halloween! - which they don't really have here. On Nov 1 they have sort of a memorial day. Although, frankly, ny Famadian' ny Maty ( the turning of the dead) which happens in August through September, is more morbid in many ways ( and probably not half as fun). I'm sorry I missed Halloween. It would seem I have missed two of the best ones. I hope we can match them next year, I'll start thinking of some good ideas.
This week went alright. I'm still working on a way to connect with my new companion, I don't want simply to endure this transfer, I want to enjoy it. I'm a little sad because two weeks ago, I was in a house with 2 of my best friends, but in one fell swoop, gone. Now I walk in silence in between appointments because I have no idea what to talk about with my companion. I'm still working on it, he's a nice enough guy, I just don't know how to relate to him as of yet (and it's a bit of a struggle that I've become good friends and get along great with his MTC companion whom he hates.)
In other news, on Friday we caught 3 big chameleons and put them in a box in our house. Their names are Clive, Frank, and George ( I named them all before someone else named them something like "Spike" or "T-Rex" or some other such typical boring lizard name). The other guys liked the names and they've stuck. It's funny to say things like " .....so yeah, Clive got pretty ticked at George the other day and almost bit his nose off...." to people who have no idea who Clive and George are. They escaped their boxed bondage on Sunday while we were at church so now we have a fun 3-dimensional "Where's Waldo?" (or "where's Clive?" if you will) to come home to every time we walk in the house.
And to top off the week, we baptised 7 people yesterday, 5 of whom I had the opportunity to teach. Toby was baptised by our bishop, Vincent du Paul. And I was privileged to baptise 9-year-old Rakotodrabe Nomenjanahary Vahatriniaina. She was all of 3 feet tall with hair almost two thirds as long as she was. It was a peaceful experience. I'm not afraid that I'll mispronounce the prayer or the names anymore. They roll off the tongue quite nicely now.
After the baptism, we ate a delicious American meal at the Kartchners. My companion is doing well. he hasn't gotten sick yet, and it's fun to see him be fascinated by all of the crazy stuff that happens here all the time. He's not as excited to speak as I was. In his first few days, he might be described as a "deer in the headlights." I have seen many a "blank-stare" and the "I'm confused" face sent in my direction from both him and the investigators demanding from me some clarification or an out-right translation. He follows me so closely everywhere I go it's disconcerting at times. I never appreciated my need for personal space until now. I turn around and his head's right there "WHOA"- it's jumpy. But he says he's starting to like it here, and I've seen him relax a little bit in this first week.
Well, I've gotta go. I love you all. Have a nice day. Veloma!
Elder Draper
2007 October 29--Toby is a "Dad"
Well hi,
What a day. Everything seemed to go wrong today to where it was almost funny (but it all worked out good.) After today I can say I have eaten Crocodile meat, and played with Lemurs. I took my "kid" to a cool place for his first P-day. I'll only have a very short time to write today, so this may end up being little more than an "I'm alive" e-mail. But all that aside, it's great to hear from all of you.
My new companion is Elder W, who, upon my initial observance, reminds me a whole lot of Elder S. We'll see how much I've matured since then. One of the first things he said to me was "OK, before I have to answer the same question for the 7th time, YES, I come from money" (indicating, I suppose, that his family is wealthy - which apparently 7 other people felt compelled to ask him about. I don't think I would have been the 8th, but maybe he's sensitive about it or something.) His statement was confirmed by the Christmas package he proceeded to open and the pictures of his condo on a ski resort in Colorado. But anyway, it's too early to tell. I'm looking forward to plunging into a whole bunch of goals in this next transfer. It's funny, my MTC companion and good friend, Elder Sr, is also training, and he happens to be training my kid's MTC companion. Apparently they didn't get along as well as Sr and I did. Elder W didn't have a lot of nice things to say about Elder Se, his MTC companion. But I met Elder Se on Saturday, and the first thing he says to me is "Do you like the band Muse?" I replied in the enthusiastic affirmative and he gave me a hug. We were fast friends after that. Elder B, the Dibbley's friend, works in Mahamasina. This is cool because Elder St, my most recent and among my favorite companions, just went senior companion over him. He seems like a cool guy I'll say hi to him for the Dibbleys.
Alright then. I don't know if there's any questions I have left unanswered, but I'm outa time so, I love you all. Veloma!
Elder Draper
Sunday, November 04, 2007
2007 October 22--Listen to "John Pierre"
Where do I start?
Earlier in the week, we had an earlier-in-the-transfer experience come back to haunt us. It was from the "week of unwarranted confessions" or " dark secret week." A few weeks ago, we stopped by a member, and gave a short spiritual thought. After the thought, we sat and talked for a bit, during which time, the member told us something he was doing at his work that was more than questionably unethical, if not out right illegal ( although I'm not sure about the legality of anything in this country to be honest.) Anyway, he told us all of this and then requested a blessing of comfort from us that he might be able to continue on in his ways and be unaffected by any changes in his work. I really felt like he should talk to the bishop first and told him so. He responded, " I'd prefer not to tell a Malagasy about this." (red flag.) But I persisted and said I wouldn't give him a blessing until he talked to the bishop first. He didn't seem to think that he was doing anything wrong. We left the house and I'm pretty sure he liked me a little less after that. Time passed. Then, on Thursday of this week, we had to stop by this same member's house again. We walked into the gate and were greeted by the the member from the third story of his fairly large house. The conversation was pleasant for the first 3 minutes but a little strained ( He's been learning English, and insists on speaking it every time we're there - but it takes him a long time to say an incomplete sentence. " I..................... haive..................................geeft..........weef......a..... lawnguages." he says.( Just smile and nod, Elder)) and we had to strain our necks just to listen to him. He seemed happy enough, and kept laughing and smiling all the while, but then he stopped and told us to wait while he came down to get a blessing from us. I immediately asked him if he had already talked to the bishop about his problem - then he got mad, but nothing changed in the tone of his voice -it just got louder was all."You refused to give me a blessing last time!"(which was not technically true, but whatever.) Then he went off on us and told us what lousy missionaries we were ( mostly how lousy I was) and how all the other missionaries had always given him blessings, and how well he knew the church's doctrine and how I was a big sinner for not fulfilling his request on his terms and blah blah blah blah blah and "GET OUT!" "LEAVE!" I really didn't know what to say. But we complied and smiled and waved before we left, but I was bothered. Later that evening, we read the white handbook about "giving blessings of comfort to members" and confirmed that such blessings should be given under the direction of the bishop. We decided to visit him again in the coming week and explain why we felt he should see the bishop first, and hoped that he wouldn't be too bitter about our last encounter. But then came Sunday. And it was off to church for us. And who do you thing was sitting on the stand waiting to give a talk for Sacrament Meeting? Yup, you guessed it, none other than our questionably-ethical-"geefted" -"English-speaking" member friend. And he spoke last and went overtime.
His talk was on "obedience" and I was just waiting for the part were he points over to me and tells the whole ward how terrible I am ( and I was more than a little interested just how he would tie that to his talk.) Then it came - but with an odd twist. At the very end of his talk, he said "I have a confession to make" and proceeded to tell the ward what happened on Thursday. He talked about how "the missionaries" came over on Thursday, then he just gave up the generalities and pointed straight at me and said "OK, it was Elder Jean Pierre" - at which point, all eyes became fixed on me. It was bit awkward. I was thinking "oh no, this could go really bad"(and for some reason the bishop had left the stand before the talk and was nowhere to be seen.) But, he proceeded to tell how bad he felt after we left, and then asked himself "shouldn't I believe what the missionaries say?" and then decided to go see the bishop. Then, he publicly thanked and apologized to me. He added at the end " so when Elder Jean Pierre says something, listen to him" ( not bad, certainly better than "Don't listen to anything that guy says" but it's a little heavy to carry, if that makes sense.) I let out a sigh of relief after he said "amen." Then I had the whole ward making fun of me after sacrament, "Give me a blessing! or should I go to the bishop? Hahahahaha!" or " whatever you say, Jean Pierre. Hahahahah!" (this is the extent of most Malagasy humor.) But we survived. So that is that.
In other news, transfers are here again and S will be leaving to work in Mahamasina. I'm sad to see him go. We had a great transfer and got a lot of work done. But I'll still get to see him on P-days. Another of my best friends on the mission, Elder SA, is leaving to finish the last 2 months of his mission in La Reunion. This was very unexpected, and usually doesn't happen, I'm sad to see him go, but I'm excited for him too. He'll really get to speak French there, and he'll live in a tropical 1st world country. Cool.
As for me, I don't know who I'll be getting this next transfer. I do know that he'll be straight from the Empty Sea, and I'm gonna "train" him as it were. In the mission lingo, I'm gonna be a father. So people are excited for me. A lot of missionaries never get a chance to train, so this is an opportunity to be fascinated by everything in Madagascar all over again. This could be good, but it's up in the air. I have more to tell but I'm out of time so, I love you all. Have a nice day.
Veloma!
Elder Draper (Jean Pierre)
2007 Oct 15 Blue Village People
Here's a picture of my favorite district at Ambohimanga (the blue village)
Monday, October 15, 2007
2007 October 15-In Praise of Tana
Hi,
This week, we went to "The Place of Much Salt" ( "Antsirabe") which is about 3 hours south of "The City of a Thousand" ( "Antananarivo".) This is the farthest away I have ever traveled from Tana. Antsirabe is vaguely reminiscent of a low-income neighborhood in Florida - perhaps a little more shabby. That said, it kicks Antananarivo's trash (and there's a lot of trash to kick there) in almost every way. Modern Antsirabe was planned and built by Norwegians. Modern Antananarivo was.... ignored and neglected by the French. The contrast today is striking. It made me proud to be Scandinavian.
I have to admit though, I love Antananarivo. It's dirty, it smells, it's chaotic, the traffic is terrible, the roads don't make any sense, the housing placements make even less sense, and a whole lotta other stuff I could mention, BUT I love it. This place is beautiful in spite of itself, and I enjoy that. Every so often, I still have to stop my companion so we can step back and enjoy the view for a bit.
I'm suffering from severe writer's block right now, a severe lack of time, and a severe lack of anything interesting to say , so you'll have to forgive me. But I thought I'd try to write something anyway.
Thanks for the letters. Thank you Thomas for all the details. To answer your question about spiders, Thomas: When I lived in Ankadindramamy, on the third floor, outside on the clothes-rack there was a HUGE spider with the biggest web I have ever seen. We caught flies everyday and fed them to it. Once, I caught a small lizard and threw it on the web, and the spider completely destroyed it. It was intense.
I'm really excited for you. You sound very ambitious about doing lots of cool things. You'll have to let me in on some of it when I get back. I can teach you guitar - I'll have to get better at it again, but maybe you can help me with that too.
OK then, I love you all. I'll try to write something good next week. Veloma!
2007 October 7--Slip of the Tongue
Hi:
Clearing up misconceptions is one of the things we do best (or most.) Well actually, we probably start a few of them. Among the most widely-circulated misconceptions about our church in Madagascar is that "we pray naked." In Malagasy, you do not ask "What church do you go to?" you ask simply "Where do you pray?" So when people say that our church "prays naked," they're actually saying that we go to church and get naked. I have wondered many times over how in the world this particular rumor started but arrived at no satisfactory conclusion. I don't know how many people I've had to reassure that "No, we DON'T pray naked!" in the course of my mission, but it's more than a few. I used to think it was some mean-spirited Protestant church that started the rumor, but now I'm thinking this one's our fault. I will explain. In Malagasy, the word for "naked" and the word for "strong" are very similar - there is only one letter difference. In the course of new missionaries arriving and struggling to put a sentence together with their feeble and sparse vocabulary, mistakes have been made. Here's one I've heard a couple of times from new missionaries struggling to teach; they try to say: "When we pray together, we grow strong (matanjaka) together" they end up saying: " when we pray together, we get naked ( m i tanjaka) together." Sigh. Every language has it's traps for the unwary beginner (IE: apparently in Icelandic, the word for "spirit" and the word for "rabbit" are very similar, which probably makes for hilarious missionary testimonies in sacrament meetings and even funnier Plan of Salvation lessons,) but Malagasy, it seems, has a lot more "traps" than most ( and you usually end up saying something way worse than "rabbit".) Here's another example. If you're walking down the road, a common form of greeting is to ask "Where are you going?" and a usual response is "I'm just walking around" (mitsangatsangana). Unfortunately, the word for "walking around"(mitsangatsangana) and "to fornicate"(mijangajanga) sound very similar to the untrained ear. We've seen a few confused stares at our attempted response to the above greeting ("You're going Fornicating!?")
I had a good week. We did not cast out any devils, nor did we have to convince anyone that they were not possessed. I did have to clear up the "naked misconception" a couple of times, but that was kind of funny. I didn't get the e-mail from Mom yet, but thanks, Dad, for the update. I still haven't seen the conference yet. But I'm looking forward to it. OK then, I'm out of time. So, I love you all. Have a nice day. Veloma!
Saturday, October 06, 2007
2007 Oct 1--Thanks for Noticing...
Hello,
Everyday this week was a test in overcoming inertia. I felt a tremendous lack of will power to go out and work, but somehow, we got out and worked anyway. Usually, I didn't get past the initial inertia of the day until I had been working for at least two hours - then the day started getting better. But during those two hours, everything was telling me to give up and go back to the house. When we left the house, we were greeted by the standard "Bonjour VAHAZA!" repeated obnoxiously and indefinitely (after the literally the 30th time in a row from the same guy walking along with you while shouting it in your ear, your patience wears out and you've gotta stop and say, "HEY! yes, we're white, thanks for noticing, you're very observant. Now, why don't you go play in traffic or something. Either way, LEAVE NOW! before something bad happens to you." - it's everything you can do not to grab him and throw him in the nearest poo ditch * usually about three feet away. I have been sorely tempted at times.) followed by bad weather, worse smells, and appointments falling through.
BUT, we made it through and ended up having a pretty good week. We couldn't work the first two days of it because of the elections, but somehow, we got more appointments this week than in the the previous week, where we had worked the entire week We have several people progressing towards baptism. In one appointment, we introduced the Book of Mormon. At the end of the lesson, we committed them to read it and pray about it. The lady had a funny response, she said disappointingly, "But I don't have a Book of Mormon" then she looked down and frowned. We pushed the book closer to her and said " now you do!" I've never seen anyone so happy to get a book before. It was as if she had turned into a little kid. She said " Thankyou! thankyou! I'm gonna read it tonight!" I think she did. So that was nice.
In other news, Elder W is on a plane going home as I write this. We said good-bye yesterday. He is the 2nd of my companions to "die" on the mission ( Elder Davies left 2 months ago), but he is the first missionary I have really felt leave. I feel weird right now come to think of it. W is gone. He'll get home to Layton UT on Tuesday morning ( by Madagascar time). He left me his nice digital camera to use until the end of my mission ( the camera is technically Elder B's, who lives in Holladay, so I'll just be renting it for now and I'll give it back to him when I get home).
I'm enjoying myself I think. I teach guitar to a kid named L K ( the K's are the American family in our ward here. The dad works for the Embassy.) He's progressing well and the K's invite us to dinner every Fast-Sunday because I'm teaching him. The K's are great. They remind me of Dan and Debbie Peterson, and the Tom Taylor family. Cool people. Jared (the dad) told me that we're related. Apparently he's got some Drapers not too far back in his family tree. So once again, the world is that much smaller, and I remain "connection machine."
OK then. I'm good. I think this week will be better. Maybe I'll get to cast out a devil (or convince yet another person that he is not possessed, but probably just bipolar) or do something else exciting. I'll let you know. Love ya. Veloma!
Elder Draper
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
2007 September 25--Dark Secrets
Hi,
I baptized RAKOTONDRASOA Jean Eddy on Sunday. Elder S baptized Eddy's sister, RASOANOTAHIANJANAHARY Feno Claudine. In all, we baptized 7 people on Sunday, all of whom, I had the opportunity to teach ( 5 of them were from Alarobia, my last area). As a district, we're hoping to baptize 30 more people by the end of the year. The baptism was a nice way to end a discouraging week.
How do I put this? - It is a sad thing to discover the dark secrets of the people you teach. And this week was full of discovery. I won't go into too much detail, but among the things we discovered this week about a few of our investigators were; adultery, abortion, drugs, unethical and illegal business dealings, and manslaughter. Apart from the manslaughter, all of these remain unresolved, and I have not listed every "discovery" of ours above. The weird thing is, we did nothing to "extract" the information from them, they just opened up and told us, much to our dismay. It was almost as if they felt the need to confess to someone, and they all coincidentally chose this week to confess, and us to confess to. I wish I didn't know these things, or at least that they didn't all come out at once. I can't help but feeling that it's really none of my business, except that it was they who decided to "let me in" on things, and have asked for my help. I'm still trying to figure out how much I can really do about any of it and how much I should do. I think I can help a little bit, but it always depends on the what they decide to do in the end. I'd love to think that they would all know what to do and more importantly, do it. But the realist inside me tells me they won't all decide to change, and it sucks because I care. Oh well, I don't know if any of this makes sense, but this has been weighing on my mind lately so I couldn't think of something else to write.
I'm sorry I didn't write yesterday. P-day this week was changed to Tuesday due to the elections, and we weren't allowed to leave the house and work for fear of angry rioting Malagasy's. but it was all for nought. Nothing happened - just as we predicted nothing would. And here we are now. Thanks for the E-mail. I received the package. My district would like to thank you for the Beef Jerky - it was delicious. I hope that everything goes well for you guys this week. I'll be praying for you. Ok then, I love you.
Veloma!
2007 September 18--It's Alive
Yesterday, our E-mail place was closed, and we had to start teaching much earlier in the evening. We taught Toby, who is usually a Wed appointment. Toby's cool, and very intelligent, and I would still consider him so even if his name was Clive or something. If all goes well, he should be baptized in October.
So because of Toby, I had no time to E-mail. That can mean whatever you want it to. Because of other appointments today, I have no time to Email. So, I love you all, have a nice day. Veloma
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
2007 September 11--"Really freakin' good at the guitar"
Hi.
I ordered a pizza (or the Malagasy/French attempt at pizza) by phone the other day, and when I walked in the place to pick it up, the "pizza"guy saw me and exclaimed, "That was you on the phone!?" I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be on a mission where once you have the language down, you blend in ( aside from the white shirt and tie.) But this "not-blending-in" can be fun from time to time. I can see myself missing it when it's gone. You can be African, Brazilian, Tongan, Mexican, Indian, Arabic, or basically of any other national descent with a darker shade, and they'll think you're Malagasy, even if your accent sucks. So basically, I'm one of a kind - cuz most white people don't even know what Malagasy is, let alone speak it ( accent or no accent.)
Yesterday for P-day, I carried my guitar around and became a street-musician (except that everyone was asking me for money) while W "fought-bought" for souvenirs ( W goes home at the end of the month.) It was funny: I could play jazz, rock, classical, folk, blues, or anything else, but I was not considered 'mahay'(skilled or good at) until I played three-chord Malagasy songs and sang them. Only then, and not until then, did I become "tena mahay be mihitsy amin' ny Gloma" ( really freakin' good at the guitar.)
So things are nice here. I'm having fun. I've decided to stop thinking about frustrating administration stuff - I've always hated bureaucracy anyway- and move on in spite of it. I think that will make this week more enjoyable and less stressful - we'll see, I guess. I don't have anything spectacular to report this week. I have stories yet untold to tell in the coming E-mails, but no time now to tell them. I'll try to include more stories in the future. I hope that will make these things more fun to read (and write.)
Other than that, It made my day to get all of your letters and find out that I am once again, Uncle Toby. Sweet. The baby is beautiful. You all look good. Emma is huge. To answer some questions, yes I can receive e-mail from friends, and yes I can look at family blogs.
OK, I've gotta go teach Hasana, the "pizza" lady, and find out where Tsiery's house is in this chaotic maze that is Antananarivo. So, I love ya, and I'll write you next week.
Veloma!
Sunday, September 09, 2007
2007 September 4--Frustrated
I had every intention of E-mailing you yesterday, but my P-day was sucked dry ( about 7 hours of it) by passport business, and consequently, I had no time to do much else, let alone E-mail. I'm a little frustrated at the mission office here right now, granted - they've been under a lot of stress lately, but they haven't given me much reason to believe that they really care about our time, or what we say. For the past 4 weeks, my P-days have been taken up by pointless, time consuming meetings, that have amounted to nothing, and in the process, we lose what time we had to do anything enjoyable for P-day, and have little time to do anything else. They schedule meetings and activities into our week (especially P-day) without adequate prior notice and with no regard for our time or schedule, or what we say, and through it all, nothing seems to improve in terms of administration. It is frustrating to say the least . That is all I will say by way of venting, but I just want to apologize to you for my not writing to you on a regular basis, and any frustration that may have caused you. (I also apologize for the venting, I'm still pretty optimistic, I just have a few " suggestions" for the AP's regarding tact and timing for next P-day, because E-mailing isn't the only thing that is left undone at the end of of the day)
It's always great to hear from you. I'll be praying hard for Micaela this week.I'll be saying prayers for a lot of people.
Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!.
The only thing I would like to see more of is letters ( you can Email) and pictures. I've pretty much given up on the music ( you could send some ear plugs for the EFY Mormon Kitch Music for when I study, eat, or sleep, but I think I might be able to get them here.)
Well, That's all the time I can take off lunch, so until next time, I love you all, keep up the good work and Have a nice day.
(This E-mail was anything but spectacular or "gripping" but I hope you're not too let down. Sorry.)
Elder Draper
2007 August 31--Pneumonia
Thanks for the letter - it's always nice to be informed. It looks like you guys are all doing well and keeping life interesting. I'm excited for all of you.
This week was another rough one ( mostly for my companion). The week kicked-off to a good start; our appointments were going through, we set a few baptismal dates for some investigators, we found some promising new investigators, and we came up with a different game to play in home evenings with members besides " I spy with my little eye" that everyone could understand ; musical spoons - except with pens, and I provided all of the music making drum noises with my mouth ( there was no guitar) you should have seen these people diving to get a pen when the "music" stopped. Hilarious. They nearly broke the coffee table every time. So things were going pretty good I thought.
But then at about 6:30 Tuesday evening, Elder TS mentioned in passing that he kind of had a headache. Now, headaches for me have always been a fairly regular but inconsequential occurrence - usually attributed to not enough water or sleep or both - so I didn't think too much of it at the time. Also, TS didn't make any further mention of it after that so we kept working. But during the last appointment, I noticed TS had gotten pretty quiet (he's always quiet, but something seemed wrong) so I looked in his direction to see what was wrong. He looked miserable. He was red, and sweating, and even shaking a little bit. So we ended the appointment, went straight home so he could rest. We took his temperature -he had a fever of 103.3, so I gave him some fever reducers and lots of water and called the mission office. He survived the night, but was definitely out of commission for the day, and while his fever went down, he was not feeling much better. Later on, we went to a clinic to see what was wrong. And the diagnosis is.......Pneumonia. Yes, Elder TS has Pneumonia. As a result, the work was put on hold for a recovery period, and I've kind of been stuck in the house all week. He's gotten a little better, and we hope he'll continue to do so. He has a return appointment with the doctor tomorrow . So say a prayer for Elder TS, he needs it.
Healthwise, I'm doing alright. But I'm going a little crazy from being stuck in a missionary house for a week, and not being able to work. I also feel a little guilty that I'm not so good at reading the signals TS sends to indicate that something's wrong, and I've apologized since................................at this point the computer stopped working and I had to write you another " I'm alive" letter ................................................... so now it's several days later and I've decided to send as is, with a tag at the end but again, I am pressed for time.
It turns out that this week ended up being another "fun-filled" week here in Madagascar for everyone. TS will recover, but until then I had to call some members and get one to stay in the house all day with TS, while the other goes around with me. There's not really enough beds for all of us in the house, but I've found that even an undersized chair cushion on the floor can be comfortable if you're tired enough. Also, Malagasys have no qualms about sleeping in the same twin sized bed together - in some cases, that would be less than they're used to - so that works out. kind of. There's still the question about how I'm supposed to feed everyone on the already tight one-man allotment, but I'll be talking to the AP's and the President again for that Mon, in the mean time, rice is nice, and more importantly: cheap. SO....we're having a good time here. I think we're all having fun, albeit a stressful kind of fun. It's kinda funny, sometimes Malagasy Minis ( mini mission = members who help us when full-time missionaries are scarce) just leave for no apparent reason without telling anyone (this morning my mini went to buy some herbal tea without telling anyone, just before we had to leave. Two hours later, he used somebody's cell phone to call and ask, "When's our first appointment?" sigh.) It's also funny when you leave a member in a missionary house all day - "Where'd all my bread go?" "Who ate all the candy in my care package from home!?" ;) "No you can't have my CD player!" ;) However, they did do a nice job on the dishes. Misaotra Betsaka.
So, I hope all is well with you. Thank you Richard Dibblee for the E-mail, I needed that. I'm looking forward to another fun week. My hairline has most definitely receded. I don't know how, but I'm even skinnier than I was before, but even entirely-composed-of-rice Malagasy's have noticed. Call me vain, call me skeptical, but I'm having serious doubts about that talk that says "You will return from your mission infinitely more attractive than when you left...." oh well ;). Maybe I could be one of those "He's got a great personality" guys. So I gotta start working on that, the mission's end is closer than it seems :)
OK then Veloma,
Elder Draper
2007 August 27--This computer is dumb
The E-mail's almost done, but this computer is dumb and it's making me crazy. I can't type anymore. Blah
But I'm alive. Thanks for the letter. I'll try to stop doing this to you:)
Love ya
Elder Draper
2007 August 21--Sad News
It looks as though I am pressed for time again, so you'll just have to consider this and yesterday's E-mail as one complete E-mail.
Where do I begin?
I might have to start this E-mail on a sad note; Sister Ross, who came in to replace Sister Armour as a senior missionary working in the office, passed away some time during yesterday. We just got the news this morning. This came as a shock because three days ago, they told us she would be fine. So our thoughts and prayers are with Elder Ross right now, and even though you don't know him, I think it would be nice to remember him in your prayers also. He came back here on Saturday and Sunday to help clear up some things in the office and possibly to get their luggage to go home, but we don't even know if he got back to South Africa in time to say good bye. So, that news has saddened the mood a little bit today, but we hope the best for Elder Ross and his family.
In the meantime, things are still pretty hectic here at the office and such, so maybe you could say a prayer on behalf of President Gaya and his wife, and Elder and Sister Wilson as well - they've got their work cut out for them in picking up the slack on top of everything else they already do. This has taken up most of my thoughts today, so I don't know what else to report. Life continues, and so do we.
The mission work is much slower than it has been, but there are many contributing factors involved. We are doing what we can to progress and make things work. The mission is an intense experience, and through all of this intensity, I've come to different conclusions, and made many great friends - people I hope to be friends with long after this experience is finished. There is yet many more conclusions to reach, and many more friends to be made, and I am looking forward to that.
The mission is a difficult, but rewarding experience - if you do it right. At times, it was ONLY difficult and seemingly not rewarding at ALL, depending on my mindset. It is difficult and unpleasant when your focus is on the numbers and how other people would gauge success, and the people you teach become numbers and lessons - a problem I have seen with some missionaries (myself included) at times. But when you really try to serve with the desire to help people and come to know and love the people you teach, then it gets even harder, but it becomes worthwhile and more enjoyable. The mission becomes even more difficult when this happens; when someone you had so much hope for rejects you and everything else in the end, it hurts a lot more. Really, it sucks. But, when somebody gets it, and then does something about it, that is why I must care, despite all of the inevitable and painful rejections and disappointments I will encounter far more often. So there you have it, the mission isn't allowed to be easy, even if you're doing it wrong, but it can be wonderful at the same time if you do it right.
I'm still figuring things out, and maybe all of these thoughts will amount to something that makes sense in the future, we'll see I guess. Thanks for the letters. You are in my prayers, and thank you for yours in my behalf. I'm out of time so, tiako ianareo! Veloma!
2007 August 20--Too Busy
This last week was filled beyond my capacity to write you a proper letter, and unfortunately I must say the same thing about today. However, you WILL get a good letter ( or I guess maybe a "full" letter - I can never guarantee the quality) tomorrow during my lunch hour. Thanks for your letters. They were good - and full ;-)
I think I may have mentioned last week that the mission office was in an uproar, and that it's been making life a little bit hectic lately. Unfortunately it continues to be so. The office is in chaos right now because one of our senior missionary couples, the Amours, finished their mission and went home. The Armours were wonderful, and we were all sad to see them go, but we were happy to meet their replacements, the Ross's, who would now be in charge of the office management, allotment money, and taxi fund for the missionaries. Now, it was expected that there would be some adjustments to be made, and a time for the new couple to get used to how to work everything, so few problems came from that, but it was OK. But then Sister Ross got very sick, and had to be flown to South Africa. They were here for about two weeks.When they left, apparently the computers got messed up and nobody knew how to work anything and the fun continues. We held a mission fast for Sister Ross, and it looks like she's gonna be OK, however the Ross's will not be serving a mission anymore and will return to America when she is recovered enough. We've got ten new missionaries coming this week - the most we've ever had - and we're excited, but the office is probably stressed, because a new senior missionary couple is not included in that ten.
In other news, transfers have come again and my new companion is...... Elder TS ( in case you didn't know, Elder TS is the same companion I had before. I put in a request on behalf of my district for all of us to stay the same, and luckily for me, it seemed to work.) We're all happy. And the work goes on. OK that's all for now, must buy food, and teach Vonjy the gospel, in that order.
Elder Draper
2007 August 14--Still Alive Again
Hey.
This won't be much more than an "I'm alive" letter and I'm sorry it didn't get to you yesterday.
The mission-office here in Tana is in a state of disarray right now, and as a result, our missionary allotments were delayed a week, so we were all kind of short on money until this morning. I'll explain more tomorrow at on my lunch hour. Thanks for the letters, I love you all, have a nice day. Veloma
2007 August 7--Details
Here's one of the more entertaining/somewhat disturbing stories that happened yesterday during an appointment after church. These were some investigators whom I had seen only once prior to that time. They also had a baptismal date apparently, but they had been out of town for quite some time so the date had to be pushed back ( I also had some concerns when they told me that priesthood authority was transferred to the "Papa iray Masina" ( The Pope) and they had already been baptized and weren't really sure why they needed to be baptized again). Anyway, my companion thought they had been on vacation for the whole time, and even mused about how in the world they could afford all that time off. So yesterday, as I was getting to know them a little bit better, and found out the real reason they had been gone. The Husband began to tell us a story about how his wife used to be married to a "Vazaha" ( or ugly, rich, stuck-up white person - usually from France) ".... like you guys" he added. And they used to live down south of Tana. However, some time ago, her white husband died. He did not "just die" but was in fact brutally murdered as it turns out. They had been out of town for the past little bit, because they were taking care of some court business concerning the children of that marriage. Now, I thought it a bit strange as it was that they had shared all of this seemingly sensitive, personal information with me on one of my first visits, but it gets better. So, after the story, they asked if I wanted to see the pictures - Malagasys love to show you their old family photos and stuff, so I just figured it would be something like that... WRONG. The lady went into the other room, getting what I thought would be old family photos of the dead white guy, but she came back with forensic evidence photos of the dead white guy at the scene of the crime. The pictures showed an old guy in a semi fetal position, lying dead in the middle of his own driveway in a puddle of his own blood. There was different shots at different angles and it was a tad creepy to say the least. It was also a bit awkward, and after some crackers and Coca cola, we left the house in a really weird mood.
So there's just one of the fun stories I have accumulated whilst on my mission here in Madagascar. I've got more. Maybe next time I'll tell you another. Hohitantsika! OK then, Thanks for the E-mails, I love you all. I'll try and leave you on a less morbid note next time. Sorry.
OK gotta go. Veloma!
Elder Draper
2007 August 6--Still Alive
Thanks for the email. Also most of mine is finished, you'll just have to get it tomorrow during my lunch hour.
Ny Zanakalahinao Faha Efatra, Toby
Veloma
2007 July 31--And My New Companion is...
Elder TS from Tremonton UT. And I'll be working in Analamahitsy, which is actually the same ward, so that's nice.
I actually wrote a long pointless letter trying to explain some of the mission politics that lead to my switching areas prematurely, but I realized that it didn't make a whole lot of sense out of the context of mission life, and more specifically, mission life in Madagascar. I also realized that I'd been having a rough day and I wasn't in the best mood when I wrote it, so it was a little tainted by that as well, the conclusion of the letter was optimistic though, so I'll just give you the gist of that.
Basically I said; I'm really sad to be leaving my area that I've didn't even get to stay 3 months in. W and I managed to take a good area ( as far as the work was concerned) and make it an even better one, which is easier said than done. By the end of the transfer, Alarobia, our area, had become one of the most successful areas in Tana. We found so many great people there, many of which now have baptismal dates. I spent so much time and energy figuring out who our investigators were, where they were from, what their jobs were, if they were looking for work, what their tribe was, how to connect with them. I spent all this time getting to know the area, who lived where, how to get there, best short cuts, I got to know everyone, little shop owners, members, how old they were, who they were friends with, who they could be friends with, who the leaders were, what times they could go on splits with us, what their work schedule was etc...
I was gathering all of this information, and was excited to pass it on to W's replacement, and hopefully let him catch the spirit of the area and see him fall in love with it like I had done already. But it wasn't to be, and while I know that it's not completely true, I just feel like I wasted a lot of time and energy figuring all of that stuff out because I was moved before I could do anything with all of the information I have. And now I'm in a "slow" area and I have no idea who the investigators are, or where they live etc......And a lot of them don't seem to be going anywhere right now.
BUT. I'm doing good. I'm optimistic, I see a lot of potential in this place, and I have a great companion. Also, I learned a ton from my last transfer, and while I was really sad to leave it so soon after arriving, I'm excited to apply what I learned there to this place. Elder TS is a new guy, who is also a bit new to this area. He's got a hilarious sense of humor that not everyone can appreciate because it is very dry, and deadpan. Some people might not even realize when he's joking because not much changes in the tone of his voice or mannerisms ever. I think it's hilarious. It's also hilarious that he's kind of new to the area as well, because sometimes as we're walking, he sometimes slows down a bit and gets this look on his face as if to say, " Where am I?" and then I notice and ask "You know where we are right?" and he straight-away answers " don't ask questions, just keep walking" in his hilarious, dead-pan, very TS way. We've taken the "long way" home a few times since I've been here;)
SO I'm good. It's really nice to hear from you. Sounds like lots of stuff is keeping you guys busy. I''ve probably gotta go now so, until next week, love ya, dia Veloma.
(Jean Pierre has stuck, so if in the future, missionaries ask a member who taught them, they will say "Elder Jean Pierre taught me" and the missionaries will have no idea who that was;)
2007 July 30--I'm Alive
2007 July 23--Curve Ball
I'll use some terminology from a sport that I never appreciated until I became companions with W ( Apparently I am now a Red Sox fan. I'll have to see what that means when I get home.) Anyway, yes, I was thrown a "curve ball" this last Saturday that nailed me in the head, figuratively speaking. There is a thing called "mini transfers" that happens every so often, where only a few missionaries are affected and moved on very short notice. Usually the mini transfers are pretty predictable and affect the companions of those few missionaries who leave midway though the transfer and generally in this mission, their replacements are Malagasy. Or it often affects the people who have been in the same area for more than 4 months. SO, this mini transfer came as a surprise when throughout the transfer, district leaders on through the AP's repeatedly informed me and W that we wouldn't be affected by the mini transfer, and suddenly I get a phone call out of the blue on Saturday night just before I was about to sleep. It's the district leader, and we talk about nothing for about five minutes, and I begin to wonder why he is even calling, and then out it comes "..... ok then, so the real reason I'm calling is about mini transfers, and the only person in our district that's affected is you. So um uh.... yeah, you might want to start packing your bags, and stuff, cuz uh.. you leave Tuesday"
Pause.......(me) " um uh....... are you serious?" (him) " uh huh, yeah, basically" me again " hmmm. ok. So uh... where am I going?" Him again " oh. they don't know yet. but I gotta go so uh, good night" (click, or the cell phone equivalent at least) I didn't sleep too well that night
But I'm kind of confused and yes, frustrated. But I gotta go. but I'll tell ya more when I have more. which might be tomorrow.
PS. sorry for not writing, I'll have to watch that. Yes, we were really busy all week. I'll tell ya about that later too ok.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
2007 July 10--It would be good to get Letters
Here we are again. Another Week, and another Email.
Thanks for the email, it was nice. No, do not send me another camera. I apologize for sending an unintended message there, I'll have to be more careful in the future. You never have to "read between the lines" if you think I'm trying to ask for something. I will make it simple. In the future, if I would like something, I will make a request ( IE: Arabic week days ( thanks dad) or suggesting that you get and read " A History of Madagascar" by Mervyn Brown.) Otherwise, you can be sure that I don't really need anything. This place does have the essentials, so you don't need to worry about me all that much. The only request I can think of is more letters from all of you. I'm not saying I deserve it, or that I've ever been good at correspondence in writing (quite the contrary in fact) but I'll just put that out there for some of you to think about possibly considering maybe writing a short letter every so often if you get the chance (if it's not too much trouble or a hindrance ;).
In the mean time (or nice time--whichever) I'll see what I can do to start adjusting my schedule to accommodate more time to actually write letters to all of you (and after I find the time, I'm almost positive I will eventually use this newly acquired time (probably on Sundays) to actually write the letters :) ( I like parenthesis)
Earlier in the week, W and I were at a gas station in our area buying some bread. After we paid for the bread, a woman came in the store and bought some stuff as well, and I noticed that she spoke Malagasy with a sort of odd accent. Immediately, we suspected that she just might be an American ( I don't know why, but it's always exciting to talk to Americans here) --but how were we going to find out? I realized that it is the easiest thing in the world for me to strike up a conversation out of thin air.... with a Malagasy, but for some reason, my mind kind of goes blank when I try to talk to a stranger in English. Weird. But we were determined to find out if she was American before she left, so we needed to say something... but what do we say? So, just before she was about to leave, we kind of panicked and fumbled for something to say so she'd stay a little longer. It was kind of funny--in our minds we were thinking, "Oh no! There she goes! Say something! Quick--OK go!" "HEY!.... UM.... UH... ARE YOU AMERICAN?"...Kind of an awkward start, but it was a sigh of relief when she smiled and said, "Yeah, I'm American." After that, we had a nice conversation. Her name was Elaine, she was 26, from Florida, and was working for the Peace Corps. (There's a lot of Peace Corps here, we just don't really talk to them all that often.) She ended up being the first Black American woman we've talked to in this country. It was cool. I've known a few missionaries that have already gone home and it took them a little while before they didn't have to say, " Manahoan.... er uh, hey, how are ya?" to every black person they saw, (which doesn't happen all that often in Utah.) That's gonna be weird.
In other news this week, W and I had to stop a drunk person from beating his wife. We had taught a quick spiritual thought to some members. The one adult male there, as we soon realized, was very drunk( nonmember) and kept speaking unintelligible French to us. So we ended the lesson pretty quick, and left the house. Then a lady came up after us and said that the drunk guy was going crazy. So we came back to find the drunk guy outside of the house holding his wife by the arms and slamming her pretty hard against the wall. So we, of course, quickly grabbed him. W broke his watch in the process, and I almost had to break the guy's hand just so he'd let go of his wife. We dragged him into his house and threw him on his bed and told him to go to sleep. Then it was a matter of convincing the women to either leave for a few hours, or to lock him out of the house. They wouldn't do either, and kept insisting that it was "OK" and that we could go and they would be fine. This wonderful mentality led to about 4 more instances where we had to get the guy off of his wife. It was frustrating to say the least...............at this point the computer died............
Anyway, it made me realize how much I really hate alcohol. And when you mix Alcohol with an extremely poor, ignorant, uneducated, and unemployed Malagasy who has a wife and kids, then the problems start to stack up. I can only imagine the problems Jesse had to deal with in Russia as a result of alcohol. It actually makes me sick to think of the business people in some first world country who are making a profit off of these people AND think that they're doing them a favor. That is all I will say on the subject.
Well, here I am again. Thank you for the E-mails. I just thought of something else you guys could send that would be great: Pictures. I would love to see some more pictures of you.
OK, where do I start? Here's something--Do you guys remember the story about the inactive member named Randry? At the beginning of my transfer with W, he was the guy who was only making about about $25 a month and then lost his job entirely. At the time, he had been inactive in the church for years. We had tried to visit him a number of times at the beginning of the transfer, but he was never home, and W had been visiting him for 4 months before that and hadn't really gone anywhere with him. So, one of the first times I saw Randry, he was in a pretty bleak situation. His wife Natalie, and his two kids, Abdala (2 yrs old) and Rosette ( new born) were eating rice with nothing else on it ( he wasn't even eating) because he couldn't afford anything else. So we set up a time for him to see the bishop to get some help. We had to reassure him that he could get help from the church, even though he was inactive. So, later on in the week, I went back to his house on splits with a member missionary to find that he had gone to see the bishop earlier that day, but the bishop had missed the appointment. Furthermore, his situation had declined because he had also lost his job AND his wife had just fallen ill. I remember feeling too inadequate and too inexperienced to give any sort of comfort, let alone council or advice, but somehow I was able to tell him exactly what he needed to do if he wanted things to improve. And the amazing thing is, it worked. I don't know why or how it did, but it worked. He was humble enough to listen to a 20-year-old white guy, which is impressive, cuz I probably wouldn't even do that. Maybe he recognized that it wasn't really from me; but here's the rest of the story. I set up another appointment with the bishop for early the next morning, along with some other "assignments" on things that he needed to figure out spiritually. Well, the bishop came though( great guy) and helped them with some food, then Randry came to church for the first time in who knows how long. Later that same Sunday, by coincidence, we ( the missionaries) were eating at a member home ( the K's, who are an American family from Arizona. They have 5 kids--newborn to 17.) The dad works for the US Embassy. Amazing food. Somewhere in the conversation, the dad mentioned that he had spent an entire Saturday trimming the hedges in his yard and hadn't made a dent. (The hedges are huge and completely surround the yard which is also huge.) Then he asked if we knew of anyone who needed work who could come and trim the hedges for him. Yes we did.
Anyway, long story short, we were able to get Randry the job, which he accepted humbly and thankfully, and he ended up doing a great job, so great in fact, that the K's decided to keep him full time, (at the Embassy's expense, which was a new and pleasant discovery of the K's, that the Embassy provides a gardener.)
I've seen a complete transformation in Randry and it's wonderful. We bought him the newly translated Triple recently and have caught him reading several times when we have "dropped by" to say, "manahoana." He comes to church every week, he has given us referrals and takes us to their houses. And most of all, his wife, Natalie, who is not a member, has begun learning the missionary lessons at Randry's insistence. She is progressing wonderfully. He comes to the little family home evenings that we set up with the members in in his neighborhood and contributes to the lessons. Once, while I was on member splits again at his house, he told me that his greatest desire was to be with his family forever and that he had lost sight of that before. He thanked us for our persistence in visiting him and said that so many missionaries had come and gone with seemingly no effect, but now his wife is learning the gospel and they've both asked about when she can be baptized.
It's nice to see someone who was so discouraged and sad before be so happy now. The whole family has been affected. They laugh, they smile, they talk. It was so dark and quiet before. You can't see something like that happen and say that missionary work is a waste of time.
I like this place.
I could go off on something else I'm sure, but it would take me a long time to adequately elaborate on it before I felt satisfied with the result. I sort of envy the missionaries that can ramble on about any and everything in their letters home and type pages and pages of, "I ate rice this morning, it was good. Then we went working. We taught the word of wisdom. He drinks coffee, but he says he'll stop soon.......blah blah blah.." I just can't write like that, so I apologize if my letters seem a little short sometimes. (This one is a little longer yes, but really only because it's a combination of two letters.)
Alright then, requests again: Pictures and Letters from you guys. A Camera? NO. (I kind of feel guilty about having you send me a camera before only to have it stolen, to be honest.) Other than that, I'm good. My companion's great. I've made lots of great friends here, both missionary and Malagasy. I'm excited to meet up with some of these guys after the mission. We'll see. I actually just got an E-mail from a missionary who's been home for months now, thanking me for introducing him to Elliott Smith and other good music via guitar. I miss Elliott Smith,*sigh* but it's a comforting thought that this whole "Approved" music thing is for a time only :-)
OK Love ya, Veloma! ( pronounced "Veh LOOM ah" in case you were wondering.)
Elder Draper
Sunday, July 08, 2007
2007 June 27--Independence!
Monday was P-day and Tuesday was Madagascar's Independence Day. ( June 26. This place was French-ruled up until 1960.) Both days ended up being pretty packed ( with things to do, and people.) Independence Day is actually the biggest Holiday here--bigger than Christmas, New Years or Easter--so we had quite the cultural experience. Monday and Tuesday were essentially one big Holiday. We had a mission BBQ on Tuesday and will have one again this Saturday for our Independence day, and on Wed., we will be singing the National Anthem for the American Embassy party, (and there will be more food.) Elder S, my favorite British companion from the MTC, will accompany us on the piano, while I sing standing next to Elder P of Southern France, another of my favorite MTC friends. Neither of them even knew the tune before, but we three hummed it perfectly yesterday. I think they've got it down ( I also think they're going for the food:)
Independence Day here was fun. Monday night, 9 other missionaries and I went to see the fireworks. It was a good show. The streets were absolutely crowded with people and carnival stands. In fact, I'd say that the whole city was kind of like a giant carnival. People were selling crazy masks, most of the kids were carrying these cool little Chinese paper lanterns and WAY too many people had laser pointers. Seriously, at the end of the night, I wanted to send hate-mail to the guy who invented the laser pointer AND made it available to Malagasys. Maybe I'll just send him the bill for the eye-surgery I'm going to need as a result. (When at least 20 different Malagasys with laser pointers spot a white guy all at the same time, it's bad news. I should have worn sunglasses ;) ) It was to be expected, but I don't think I've been flipped-off more in my entire life. (I wore a jacket with the words, "Italia" on it--which I think helped a bit-- as if to say, "I'm not that kind of white guy.") Even so, we had lots of English shouted at us as well. (And the words shouted in English are evidence that missionaries aren't the only people teaching English in Madagascar ;) ) One elder got his camera stolen, ( I was immune,) we all had a few fire crackers thrown at us, and only one guy tried to fight us. (I'd say he was about 17 years old, and 5' 2" maybe. Very intimidating.) But all in all, we had a really good time. Most of the people harassing us were obnoxious teenagers trying to be like the black people they'd seen on BET or something. I think everyone else there were kind of embarrassed for them to be honest. Most everyone else seemed happy to have us there, and didn't bother us.
situation when he was an investigator in New Caledonia. President was a goalie on the New As far as the mission work goes, things are going great. Last Saturday, we went on splits: I went with a member from the ward, and W went with President Gaya. One of our investigators, Rouda, is a professional soccer player. He is about 28 years old, is married and has two kids. He is very diligent in reading the Book of Mormon, and loves when we come over--he's even given spiritual thoughts to some of his team-mates from the Book of Mormon--but of course, he can't come to church because he has to play on Sunday. This is a strange parallel to President Gaya'sCaledonian soccer team when he was investigating the church. He said that giving up drinking was the easiest decision in the process, because he knew it was true, however having to quit playing soccer on Sundays was a lot harder. So we invited President Gaya to come and teach Rouda with us. I ended not being there for the appointment, but W said it went really well. Rouda and President seemed to connect with each other wonderfully. W said there were other people there so it got kind of ridiculous with how many languages were being spoken, and translated into the other--French, Malagasy, with English as the "in between." I'm sorry I missed it, but my appointments went well. At the end of the night, we had 8 appointments between the 2 of us.
I am once again pressed for time so I will probably have to cut it off here. It's wonderful to hear how everyone's doing. There are some interesting developments coming up in this next little while, I can feel it. I'll keep you posted. 4 new Elders got here this week and 10 more will be here in 2 months. Elder Peterson is one of the newly arrived.
Anyway, I love you all. enjoy yourselves. Have a nice day. "Arabahina Tratra nyNitsingerintoana fahadimy amiby fitopolo ny Nahaterahanao Ianao Renibeko Knell!" ("Happy 75th birthday Grandma Knell!" in Malagasy. You can try to sing that if you want, but the candles would probably melt before you finished the song ;) ) OK, then. Love ya! Veloma!
2007 June 19--Keep on Truck'n
Yes, the time has come again for transfers, the new guys will be here Wednesday and my companion on Thursday will be.......Elder W. Yeah, and we're both really happy about it. Amazing. This would also put him in this area for 8 months if he's not moved 1/2 way through.
So things are looking good. We're both excited to keep on working together because we feel like we've got a lot of good things happening in this area that we've both worked hard for, and now have the chance to keep that going a little longer. This area is now one of the most successful in Tana where as before it was one of the slowest. I'm hoping that I can inspire W's replacement, whoever it may be, to keep this area going before I have to leave it too.
This last Sunday ( Happy Father's Day Dad), we had 2 baptisms. We had extended the baptismal date to the couple (Njarasoa and Naina) at the beginning of the transfer, and kind used the date to mark the end of the transfer and W's inevitable departure. It was to be a bittersweet experience, but ended up just being sweet, because W still didn't have to say goodbye yet after all.
Well, I'm done. If you get the chance, read that book ( a History of Madagascar) and see what you think. Also I never got an answer on the Arabic days of the week or numbers, and just wondering, did you guys get the pictures I sent last week? Hope so. I'll be sending more after this email ( and I might destroy this Computer after that)
I love you all. I"ll be praying for Gr Draper and everyone else. Again, Happy Father's day Dad! and that's all for now. Veloma!
