2007 December 10--Fruits of His Labor

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!

Elder Draper

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