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!

Elder Draper

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

Elder Draper

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!

Elder Draper

2007 September 4--Frustrated

Hello,

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)

Ok, that's done.

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

Hi,

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

Veloma

Elder Draper

2007 August 21--Sad News

Hi there,

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!

Elder Draper

2007 August 20--Too Busy

Yeah, hi

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.

Veloma

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

Elder Draper

2007 August 7--Details

More details huh? ok I'll see what I can do. As far as the new area is concerned, I like it. It happens to be in the same ward as my last area, so I am still in the the same district of missionaries as I was before. The district that I'm in is sort of a new "experiment" in the mission in that, there is only 3 companionships in it who are all in the same ward. I'll spare you most of the details for time's sake, but to put it simply, the experiment was an apparent success ( the smallest district in Tana was putting out the most impressive numbers), and they're switching up the entire organization of the mission as a result.When I talked to the president about my being transferred prematurely, he told me that he was " very impressed with the work Elder W and I had done in Alarobia, and wanted my 'experience' in another, less successful area to see what I could do with it." He may have just said this to "butter me up," but either way, I'm gonna try and see if I can do anything to get things going here too. Also, because of the work that W and I did in Alarobia last transfer, they are considering splitting the area because there is almost too many people to teach. When I was there, we were consistently getting 30 plus lessons a week, also, these were all good lessons ( i.e.: we did not teach lessons for the sake of teaching lessons to make our stats look good, which is actually a problem here sometimes with some missionaries) and we could have taught more, we just didn't have time. So we'll see how that goes. I'm also lucky that I get to see the Alarobia investigators at church still. To contrast this, in my new area, this week we struggled to get more than 10 ( which I realize might be incredible to missionaries elsewhere, but this is Madagascar, and I just came from a quite a bit more), also a lot of the lessons were kind of like " um.... why did you even let the missionaries in in the first place?" aka 'drop talk' and finding out some "minor" obstacles in the life's of our investigators with baptismal dates - like, "You're getting baptized in two weeks, and we just now found out that you are NOT legally married to your husband ( who happens to already be a member) ?" things like that. (NOTE: There is a tribal marriage here and a legal marriage, but couples cannot be baptized unless they are legally married. And to be "legally married" involves a very long and tedious process - "Brought to you by the same people who made French Bureaucracy possible!" ( or was it, 'impossible'?) Also, there is no computer database here in Magadascar to simplify the wonderful bureaucratic process. The best way to describe how frustrating this problem to missionaries here is probably not to describe it at all - it's sort of just like... "- sigh -".......)

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

na, amin'ny fiteny samihafa : I am 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.

Elder Draper

(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

Hi, I'm alive. there is a letter basically already written. I just need to make sure it's clear and finish the rest. You'll get it tomorrow probably. Thanks,

Toby

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.

Elder Draper

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.