2007 March 21--Aftermath

ok.
To answer your questions, no my debit card did not get stolen. Also, the mission has just barely provided us all with our own personal debit cards. I keep them on my person at all times. It's not all that convenient considering 90% of the places we buy stuff from here don't even have electricity, let alone an credit card machine, but we do what we can. There's an ATM machine we can go by once a week. My guitar did not get stolen either, which was nice, and to answer another question, the guitar is definitely a way I have to " blow off some steam" ( however I don't have too much time to play it, and drums would be alot more of a stress relief, but you work with what you got I guess) But I do have other ways of calming down. I am getting partial reimbursement for the 2nd time I got robbed ( I only got a loan for the 1st time so that I could buy food for the week, I've kind of "postponed" paying it back after the 2nd time) So I may need a little help from my personal bank account to buy another camera, maybe about 50$ or so. And yes, I can buy a decent camera here. So don't worry about sending one again. ( by the way, I'm really sorry about the last one). The problem I now face is living in a two man house (the next smallest in the mission after the 67HA house got robbed) with 4 people. It's a bit rough. I find that I'm most at peace when I'm working. But coming home is a little depressing sometimes. The other 3 elders have been talking about how miserable the whole situation is, so I set up an appointment with the President this morning to see if I could set some things straight. I think it went well, I had a good conversation with him, and informed him of some of my more recent predicaments, mainly focusing on how we could improve the " housing situation". I think we may have fallen between the cracks until I said something, so we'll see how that turns out.

I think I get along better with Elder S when I'm working, and I think he's starting to appreciate that I make him talk even when he doesn't think he's being understood ( he used to hold it against me, and I think all of his previous companions just let him give up and be silent for the lessons). I think he's starting to get better at Malagasy because of it. I'm really trying to get along with him. I have honestly never had a problem with any other of my companions until now. I even got along great with the one's I thought I would have a problem with ( ie; Elder Davies, the football and pickup truck loving cowboy who pretends to be from Texas, I got along great with that guy, amazing). So I've kind of felt bad that I've been at such a vast disconnect with Elder S, and I've tried so hard to make things work but it's just made me miserable, So I've implemented a change of plan. I'm just going to have to do everything I can to make sure I am where I'm supposed to be and doing what I'm supposed do, regardless of what Elder S is doing or saying, and if it interferes with the work, I'm going to give him a chance to fix the problem, and if he does not comply, President's Interview. I honestly feel that this is all I can do. I'm trying to approach this prayerfully and logically, and I feel like this is the right way to go.

It's lovely to hear from you. You guys seem like your keeping yourselves busy. I'm doing good, I'm looking forward to this coming week, where I'm just going to focus on improving myself and my own mood, I figure I can't help anyone else if I'm miserable.

But don't worry about me. I know that things are going to work out. I've learned a lot about myself and life in general in these past few trying months. I've learned lots of practical, spiritual, emotional, scriptural, logical things etc... about everything on my mission, and I think I can attribute much of it to these past few months. In retrospected, I think my perspective has matured, and become more refined and I realize how unrefined and immature I still am at times. "onward to eternal progression!" I guess.

Anyway, I'm out of time, I'll probably be buying a camera in this next week. You don't need to worry about sending anything. It's always nice to get letters though. I love you all, and I'm praying for you. This week's e-mail was more of me just trying to gather my thoughts than anything else. I'm sure there's a lot more to say, but oh well. Maybe next week I'll tell you about an interesting story or something. Rest assured, there is no lack of "interesting stories" in this country, some are more colorful than others, and some may not end up on the emails, but you'll hear about them after the mission probably. There all written down in the journal.

ok then Veloma! Elder Draper