2007 April 23--Transferred!

Hi.

First and foremost, this week was actually pretty good. To mom, you'd actually be surprised by how far I've come with the whole "vazaha" thing. I actually think it's kind of funny now. Honestly, it doesn't bother, (with some exceptions, depending on the context, for instance, when your head still hurts from the rock that was just thrown at it). However, this transfer, it's been sort of interesting watching my companion deal with it. I've had the chance of seeing a lot of "first times" happen to my companion that happened to me much earlier in the mission. Like "first rock thrown at head." Yesterday, he had his first car intentionally swerve to hit him. He got pretty mad at that one (I think the whole "car intentionally swerving to hit/scare the white guy" thing might only be particular to this area (67ha), because it never happened to me until I got here, and it's happened a couple times since). Anyway, I think this place is definitely the place to cultivate patience and charity for your fellowman. And most definitely the place to learn how to NOT let what other people do get to you.

I think last transfer, with Elder Edgley, I improved a lot with my patience with Malagasys. When I was robbed the first time, I had to make sure that I didn't hold it against whoever did it and especially not to hold it against anyone else; for instance, the guy who threw the rock at my head the next day. It would have been so easy to hold a grudge and be ticked at everything and everyone, because nothing seemed to be going our way. But, both my companion and I made a conscious effort to focus on how great our investigators were, or how genuinely friendly the vast majority of these people are. In all honesty, the guy who stole from us was probably desperate and scared out of his mind when he robbed us, and must of been disappointed that we didn't have more and better stuff. I hold no grudge against him, in fact, I kind of feel bad for him.

We also could of been ticked when the mission told us that we would not be reimbursed for what was taken/broken, furthermore, we would have to take out a loan, that was to be payed back, so that we could eat for the rest of the week. To be honest, I felt a little "walked on" and got very close to "letting loose" on the mission office about taking care of their missionaries. However, I restrained myself, and was able to wait a week, and simply tell (not yell) them how I felt the situation should have been handled. It may not have done any good as far as being reimbursed was concerned, but it did help me feel like I was able to put my two cents in and walk away with a clear conscience. My companion, Elder Edgley helped me out a ton. We were kind of like brothers in adversity, as it were. I think we were able to come out of the experience older and wiser, having developed patience on a much higher level than before. Yes, I've still got a ways to go with my patience for the "mean Malagasys' ( I specify them as "mean" because truly, the vast majority here are some of the humblest and nicest people I've ever met, and not all of the people who shout "Vazaha!!" at us have any real malice towards us - they just don't know any better), but I've come a LONG way with them already. I am in debt to my previous companions, especially to Elder Eldgley, in my struggle to ignore the obnoxious, and grin ironically at the sometimes infuriating situations I sometimes find myself in. In fact, I would go so far as to say, if I had not had my previous companions, particularly Elder Edge, I might not have made it though this transfer, where my main struggle by far, was my companion.

The second time I was robbed, I was, as you know, with Elder S. Now, at this point, I had already been robbed before, so I may have been more equipped to deal with it. However, I have never before seen anyone so broken up over "things" lost. I have never seen any grown person, throw such a tantrum. Even before we got robbed I had never been so at a loss with how to connect with a companion before.

So again, my main struggle this transfer has been developing patience for my companion, which I have never before really had to deal with. It more or less caught me off guard. Granted, it's difficult to be with anyone 24-7for 9 weeks ( ironically, this transfer is the only one that's lasted 10), but if you're required to stay with someone you would have avoided before your mission anyway, I think it adds a few notches to the difficulty level, so to speak. I also think that getting robbed ( my 2nd time) and then moving into an already occupied small two-man-house, and then being ignored by the Mission office for a transfer, and then getting really sick, coupled with all of the other fun things missionaries deal with may not have helped the situation. So it was no surprise really when we blew up at each other the other week. It's amazing, but since then, I've seen my companion show much more restraint and maturity. And I must confess, that while I didn't use any profanity, I was pretty harsh, and said some mean things. However, I think my companion now knows that if he ever wants to get in an argument, I am capable of being articulate and mean, and he might get offended. This isn't necessarily a good thing, but After the argument, We both apologized and there hasn't been any arguments or problems with getting out and working since.

So now. I will be transferred, and get a new companion, Elder Wangsgard, and I will be working in an area called "Alarobia" which means simply; "Wednesday" ( so it's been fun telling people here that I will be moving to "Wednesday" and have them say " not when are you going, but where are you going?" and then say " I'm moving to "Wednesday" on "Thursday" which sounds like " Izaho dia hifindra-toerana amin'ny Alakamisy any amin'ny Alarobia" ) anyway I'm excited. This last week was good. I enjoyed it. I'm doing good. I actually don't hate my companion, I'd be lying if I said he was my favorite. Sometimes, Elder S can even be funny, like last week, he took the mission record for how many street brochettes( about 3 to 4 pieces of meat on a stick) he could eat and ate 170. He looked absolutely miserable after the whole experience, but it was pretty funny (he thought so too afterward, so it wasn't just me, in case you were wondering), and hey, he beat the record which before stood undefeated at 160.

I've learned a lot this transfer, I'm still working out a few things though. I'm sorry about the whole "p-day" confusion thing, I'm going to blame the incoherence of that letter on my still being in a state of recovery and my brain being fried from the fever. But everything's allot better now, and if this letter doesn't make sense then well.... I don't know what to blame it on. but I'm sure I could figure out something.

Anyway, I love ya and I'm doing good. Not bitter, or cynical in the slightest. So don't worry about that. I've got letters with cool stuff awaiting you in the coming weeks, and I've decided once again to spare you some of the negatives. I think you'll like it better that way anyway. But until then, Veloma!
Elder Draper

2007 April 16--Recovery

This week was awesome! Ok maybe that's too strong a word to describe this week, but compared to last week, This week was Awesome!

Actually, this week was like a less intense copy of last week with different ingredients, (and no hospital trips).

I'm healthy and working, and smiling. Life's improving. I still haven't gotten a letter from you yet, but that's ok, I'm sure I'll get it sooner or later.

Elder S got his first rock thrown at his head this week; I was surprised it didn't happen earlier. He got lucky though, the rock was small and his head didn't start bleeding. On my first rock to the head, the rock was bigger, and the kid had a good arm. Anyway, we followed the kid into his "house" (it’s funny the amount of houses I've just walked into and had no problem) and I taught Elder S how to say "Stop being racist" (which is a long word that literally means, "to distinguish by the color of skin" ). The kid was about 11-12 years old, was hiding under the bed as he was scolded, and didn't come out once, but hopefully he won't throw rocks at people's heads anymore. (And people will stop shouting "Vazaha!" at us all the time and Satan will ice skate to work.)

That was probably and thankfully the most interesting thing that happened this week. And now I will tell you a story about a guy named Peter.

Peter is an investigator from Uganda, and doesn't really speak Malagasy, however English is his first language. Peter is an interesting guy. One Elder described Peter's mind as a cartoon image of three different colored balls of yarn running into each other and getting more and more tangled up in the process. I think that's a pretty good description. Peter, as I said before, is from Uganda, but how he ended up in Madagascar is a quite a story. He lived in Uganda with his wife and 2 kids, but his job couldn't support him and his family, so he decided to leave his wife and kids to find work in South Africa. So he left, and looked, but apparently couldn't find a job good enough. So then he decided to pursue a brilliant idea; he would try and find work on the island of Mauritius east of Madagascar, however, he did not have the money to buy a ticket, so he stowed away on the boat. His plan was working fine until the people on the ship found him and, according to the story, threw him off the ship with a barrel as a floatation device. Next he said that he floated aimlessly for 5 days, and almost starved to death, but then, a huge storm hit, and he was violently carried to the shores of Madagascar, and laid out on the beach. The story continues with him finding a road and following it to the nearest town. He then, apparently became a vagrant, wandering around the this small town when, a police officer spotted him, and noticed that he didn't speak Malagasy, and demanded to see his papers. When he couldn't comply with the officer's demand, he was taken, and thrown into a Malagasy prison in Antananarivo for 6 months. For some reason the released him (maybe they don't have the money for deportation or something. I have heard that the penalty for an expired visa in this country is not deportation, rather, you cannot leave the country, but that might be a joke). Anyway yes, they released him, and he sort of just lives here in Madagascar now. He's also managed to "marry" a Malagasy and has a kid now, but he still can't really speak Malagasy. He sells paintings on the side of the road, and he's more or less confused about what he should do. He asks pretty sincere questions about the Gospel, and is very interested to know what our position on Polygamy is. In the meantime, he still has a wife and 2 kids in Uganda somewhere, and he has no idea what they're doing or if they're ok. He's not what you might call a "golden investigator" and he's definitely not a top priority on our list, but it's a good story. He makes us appreciate the investigators who have normal problems like, not having a job and being an alcoholic, or something.
I've met lots of interesting people on my mission. Peter is just one among many. The thing is, we are not simply just talking to these people, we are seriously trying to help them. I don't care what anybody says about what they think I'm doing here, or if they say I'm not helping or if they say I'm just wasting my time, because I know that they haven't got a clue. We definitely do help these people, and it doesn't matter on what level you are looking at it from. From a secular point of view, we've helped people build houses or learn English, I've taught people the guitar, I've helped people find jobs, we've helped people stop drinking and smoking, and stop wasting their money on beer and cigarettes, and in so doing they become better parents, and more able to deal with all of their problems. We give people a reason to try harder, something to hope for. We do all of this and more. And the best part of all, it's all true, despite what anybody else says. That is why missionary work is the most important thing I could be doing.

Anyway, I'm excited for this next half of my mission. I know that it's not going to get any easier, but I feel like I have control over how good it will be, depending on what I do with it. I sometimes feel bad about getting discouraged, or frustrated at the various situations I find myself in now and again, because I know that I'm not supposed to be angry or discouraged as a missionary, and that I'm supposed to make the most of the situation. However, I think it goes to show that nobody's perfect, least of all me, so I can't feel too bad about it. Besides, I've found that the mission is a place where all of the things you hate most about yourself are magnified at times just to put you in your place and give you perspective .Furthermore, I can't think of a time in my life when more bad things just sort of "happened" to me, almost like it was just to see how I would deal. I feel like I've made a lot of progress in this last year of wearing this name tag, but I've still got a long way to go, way beyond the end of this mission.

I was talking to another missionary about feeling guilty about not being happy and optimistic like a missionary's supposed to be, and he sort of laughed and agreed. Then he told me a quaint little Mormon story about the master telling his servant to go and push on a huge boulder, and how the guy pushes and pushes and struggles, but the boulder doesn't budge, and then the servant goes to the master and says, " That was absolutely pointless, it didn't move. Why in the world did you tell me to move that boulder?" and then the obvious Mormon story clincher, the master sort of laughs and says something like " My son, you did not understand, I didn't expect you to move the boulder, I just told you to push it. And now look how strong you've become" or something nice and quaint like that. Anyway, as much as you know how much I love those kinds of stories ;) it made a lot of sense to me at the time. I can think of a few boulders of late that I've been struggling to move, but my perspective has changed a bit with regards to how much control I have over anything really (besides myself).

Anyway, I love you all. I look forward to hearing from you. I hope you're all doing well. I pray for you always. I probably have a lot more useless things to say, but I will spare you and call this enough. Until next week, Tiako ianareo! Veloma!

Elder the Draper

2007 April 10--Hospital

Well hi.

Yes, they changed P-day to today so that's why I'm writing you now as opposed to yesterday. The change was a bit sudden so as to take the missionaries by surprise, so all of the appointments planned for today and all of the appointments not planned for yesterday are chaos. And yet, life somehow goes on.
It was lovely to hear from you. I'm glad the Easter program went well, I'm sorry I didn't get to hear it. But it sounds like everyone's doing well, and keeping themselves busy. Thank you the Abe Knell family for your E-mail and for thinking of the missionaries, that's cool, Tohizo. Thank you mom for the Fasenjan recipe, it will be delicious, I'll have to try and find some celery here or just hope it's not that important.

OK then, on to it. This week was arguably one of the toughest weeks I've had up to this point. There are many contributing factors, and I'm afraid that I am still to close to it to see and understand things from a higher vantage point in retrospect. But I think that I've still got several more things to learn from this past week because it was jam-packed with information and introspection. I won't have too much time to explain but I'll see if I can divide things up in a semi-logical way:

Tuesday: My companion refuses to get out of bed and get ready and go to work. This leads to an "argument" (to put it lightly) and in a moment of neglect I say everything that I am thinking out loud (really "out and loud”) and in the process find that when I am angry, I'm am never at a loss for the right (or wrong I guess) cutting remarks to say, in English or any other language I decide to use. When my companion had been verbally destroyed in this onslaught of rhetoric rage and had no well-turned retort, all he could think to say was " GET THE F"""" OUT!!!!" which I did promptly (before I said anything to combat the stupidity of profanity). The Mission President, on the phone, informed me that we could take a day off if we needed it. I then called all of our appointments that had phones that we would not be coming that day. My companion stayed in bed shut in the room all day. I cleaned the house and read scriptures, and yes, I may or may not have been a little ticked. I didn't really sleep well that night

Wednesday: I woke up in the morning with a fever of 103 and but later that day we worked anyway( I waited until the fever had dropped before) because well, we'd already missed 6 appointments the day before and we needed to apologize to the one's without phones who were expecting us. We worked all day and NONE of our appointments went through.( 6 scheduled 8 back-up plans, and a lot of walking). I think that there was an apology somewhere in there as well, from both of us. On way home, I slipped stepped into a gutter, almost up to my knee. (67HA is the dirtiest place in Madagascar, and apparently the statistic is, Antananarivo is the 2nd dirtiest city in the world, 2nd to Mexico City, and I think only because it is smaller, so I don't think I need to describe what may have been in this gutter) I didn't sleep that great that night either

Thursday: Year mark on mission. I got up in the morning with an enormous headache. The fever was back, but not as high, I tried to rest for most of the day, and in the evening we went to our 3 scheduled appointments, they went through, it was amazing. The rest is kind of a blur because at this point my health kind of took a turn for the worst. I didn't sleep at all that night because the headache never let up once

Friday and Saturday: These two days are also kind of a blur. I remember my head hurting so bad it made me throw up. I was the most painful and relentless headache I've ever had. I couldn't even drink water to take painkillers because I would just throw it up 10 minutes later. I didn't sleep at all, and I threw up more in these 2 days than I have in my entire life. The weird thing was I was just my head that hurt. I went to the doctors on Saturday, but he didn't seem to get that I couldn't keep anything down, and didn't really listen to what I was saying, because he just prescribed a whole bunch of useless medication for my stomach because he thought I had the flu or something ( the doctor was about 23 and his girlfriend was waiting for him to finish when we got there.) The trip to the doctors via taxi was trying enough, but the trip back was mostly walking because there was no taxis, with a couple of detours so I could throw up again. After trying unsuccessfully to take the medication, I was a little bit at a loss.

Saturday night/ Sunday morning: Happy Easter: All the while, I had been keeping in contact with one of the senior missionary couples, mostly Sister Armor. Anyway, Saturday night, I called to report that the doctor trip had been kind of pointless. At this point we really needed to figure something out, because I hadn't had water in a couple of days and I was kind of thirsty. So, we decided to take me to a hospital and get hooked up to an IV or something. Since the AP's were picking up an Elder from Africa that night at the airport, they said that they should take me to the hospital when they were done. I just had to wait 2 hours was all. So I waited, they came, and we went to the hospital. The "hospital" ;((((at this point in the letter I would like to apologize for the negative contents of this letter, and give the disclaimer that I really do enjoy my mission,in fact, I love my mission and that I've been doing my best to spare you some of the more unpleasant experiences I've had, while at the same time trying to help you understand somewhat why and how I'm feeling right now.)))))) Ok then, the hospital; I'm afraid I don't have the time to adequately describe this place to you, but it was pretty crazy. I was put in what seemed kind of like a short wide hall way, sectioned off by little portable dividers, each with it's own hospital "bed". There were blood stains on the floor and the walls, medical garbage scattered all around, mosquitoes flying trough the open windows, there were spiders and spider webs covering the fluorescent shining above my head (they kept catching and eating the mosquitoes, which I felt was symbolic of something but I couldn't tell what), it was cold and they put me next to this Arabic woman who had either stabbed herself or had been stabbed ( her dad was there, and he spoke very broken English and no Malagasy, but could do the hand-motions) Nobody could speak English. Anyway, after getting there, and explaining to this woman "nurse/doctor?" that my head hurt really bad, an that I couldn't keep anything down, and particularly that I was dehydrated, the first thing she does is hand me a cup, and tells me to pee in it. When I tell her that I can’t, then she asks, " are you shy?" I was about to say something angry but I just stared at her with vehemence instead. Anyway, yeah, the rest of the night kind of went on that way with varying degrees of stupidity and frustration, somewhere in there, they pretty violently jammed an IV into my wrist, they also took an X ray for some reason, and a bunch of other pointless tests and they couldn't find anything wrong with me ( they even told me I had beautiful lungs. um... thanks) . Maybe two hours into it, all of the other patients were taken care of and taken away, and all of the "doctors" went to sleep. So we had to wake them up every time we needed something. ( Elder Lies, the AP was my faithful companion throughout this whole experience). Anyway, long story short, I didn't sleep at all, the "doctors" were very condescending the whole time and a few other negative descriptive words I could think of but probably shouldn't write. They were pretty upset when we told them at 5:10 that we wanted to leave because we felt that they weren't really doing anything for us but taking our money and that we had not been taken care of. They told us we couldn't leave, and almost ripped the IV out of my arm right then and there, but somehow restrained myself and we left at 7:23. The IV did help though. ( I knew it was clean because elder Lies had to go and buy everything himself from a pharmacy) , I went home and slept. It was bliss. I later learned that the AP's had been misinformed, and that they had actually taken me to the wrong hospital. hahahahahahahahaha. Life's hilarious sometimes isn't it?

So now I'm here, There is actually more long and tedious details to the previous story, but I think you get the picture. Anyway, you'll be happy to know that I feel a lot better now, and am expecting a full recovery. I'm still a little out of it, so I apologize if not all of this letter makes sense. Well, I love you, I hope you keep doing well. I pray for you always. I really hope this e-mail doesn't scare you (mom) too bad, because, again, the Lord is protecting me. I'm still not sure what to make of this last week, but rest assured I'm figuring something out. Ok then. Veloma! ( and Happy birthday Thomas on Sunday, I remembered at the hospital)
Elder Draper

2007 April 2--Excursion and Year Mark

I just got back from probably the longest excursion I have ever taken in this country, and I say again, this country is beautiful. It's nice to think that Antananarivo is only a spec on the surface of a much more interesting and beautiful island. However, I am really tired from the whole experience, which took a lot longer than planned. It started at 5:00 this morning and I've only just got back now at around 8 PM (luckily, all of our appointments had already canceled on us earlier today via cell phone). I guess my "salut" story was not completely understood as a joke, in that "salut" (or the simple "hello" in French) sounds like "Sally", especially when Malagasy's say it and that every other Malagasy cheerfully and happily greeted me with the respective titles "my lord" "friend" and "brother". However the last was a cold and apathetic greeting where based on the pattern of greetings preceding it, he either gave me the title of "Sally" or was saying "hello" in French, which in turn identifies me with what he considers to be his country's oppressors. Oh well, maybe next time.

Anyway, this week went good. I'm starting to work a lot better with Elder S, I think he's really started to try and make it work too, which has made all of the difference. There have been a few "moments" were I have been obliged to keep silent for lack of having anything "nice" to say (this is following the wise council of a rabbit on a cartoon about a deer who's mother gets shot half way through the movie). This has helped me out of further "moments" I might have had were I to actually speak my immediate thoughts out loud in a "moment" of frustration.

I feel so strange that this Thursday, it will have been a year to the day I said "good bye" to all of you and started my mission. I have lots of thoughts. I sincerely hope that I have improved, but if not, I suppose there's always this next half. I'll see what I can do. I really don't have any more time to write. But I'll do what I can to write you a legitimate letter next week. And hopefully you'll get the gist of what I'm trying to say, (I think that learning all of the this Malagasy and French is only managing to destroy what capability I had in expressing myself in English more than anything else:) ok then, Veloma!
Elder Draper

2007 April 1--Greetings

As it turns out, Elder S didn't actually E-mail this morning, because he couldn't figure out how to reconfigure the keyboard from French to English. The problem was he didn't tell me that until now. So here I am again, so I might as well write while I'm waiting. Here's a story ( sort of, more of an experience I guess) that actually happened the way I will tell it, I just thought it was kind of poetic the way it turned out.

The other day, as I walked down the street, I was greeted in 4 different ways;
The first to pass and say "hello" was an older woman, she said cheerfully, " Manahoana Tompoko!"
She called me " lord "
The second to pass by said just as happily, " Manahoana Namana!"
He called me " friend "
The third to greet me smiled as he said " Manahoana Rahalahy!"
He called me " brother "
But as I walked further, I anticipated the next to pass by and I began to say "manahoana....." but I was cut short,
He said simply, (and apathetically I might add), " salut "
He called me " Sally " (Editor's note: I wrote back to Toby reminding him that "salut" is "hi" in French. He told me he knew that but that the way the Malagasy's pronounce "salut" sounds a lot like Sally.")

But I don't know why he said that, I mean...... I don't even look like a " Sally ," do I?
Furthermore, to anyone even remotely familiar with what French people look like, I really don't look at all like a French person either.

It used to bother me a little bit that I was associated with my least favorite European Nationality. I honestly wouldn't mind if they thought I was from anywhere else. I love it when they try to say " Guten Tag!" or " Welkommen", I've even gotten an "hola" once or twice. But now I've even developed a respect for the French that I have not had before. And this is due to the association I've had with Elder Prouteau, President Gaya (who is technically Spanish, New Caledonian, that grew up in France), and Soeur Gaya. Elder Prouteau is quite possibly one of my Favorite Elders in this mission, and I feel lucky that I got to be in the Empty Sea with him and spend the first 2 months in the country in the same house. I've also come to really respect President Gaya with a respect that goes beyond the mandatory respect of authority, I genuinely look up to him as a person. Soeur Gaya is a hilarious French woman who likes things to be clean, so basically this country is kind of a slap in the face for that particular personality trait, but I admire the effort she puts forth. She couldn't speak English that well when she arrived (frankly neither could President, and Prouteau's first words to me at the MTC were " I"m sorry, but I don't understand" So I guess they've all come lengths and strides), but she's come a long way.

So, I've decided that since I've almost been on the mission a year now, I have started studying French because there is a lot of French people I've met here, but I can't really hold I conversation with them. It's actually a lot easier than Malagasy was (I’m still learning Malagasy). And in the words of Elder Prouteau, after I had unloaded all the French I knew on him, he said " Wow, you sound French man, but you can't speak it" this was after telling elder Jenson, who can speak French, " you are really good at French, but your accent is terrible" Gotta love the French. Anyway, I'm excited to really start learning French, because I have the time and the means to do so, it's a worthy undertaking I think, and frankly, everybody thinks that I'm French anyway, so why not?

Ok, enough of that.

I just remembered, I can get pomegranates here, and Basamiti rice, and yogurt and cucumbers and ... well, I think you may know where I'm going with this. Anyway, I was wondering if there was anyway you could transpose what ever it is you do when cooking Persian food onto paper so that I could try to cook it some time in the future for a special occasion :) Specifically Fasanjan? and how to prepare the rice. Just a thought. or more of a request really I guess.

Well, other than that, life's good, today I taught S a few tips for how to argue down a price, which I think he appreciated. He had been trying to get a hat for a specific price, but they wouldn't budge, and he started getting a little frustrated, but then I started talking with them and was able to get the price down to where he wanted it pretty quickly. So I think he appreciated that too.

Love ya,
veloma!

Elder Draper

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

2007 March 19--Toby's Funny Story

Hey,

Yeah, so it looks like I'm stuck at an internet cafe again. So I thought I'd give you a funny story. Earlier this week as we were walking, a kid, probably 11 or 12, ran up in front of me with a 9ft bamboo stick with a sharpened edge, and started lunging it at my face, coming within inches of my face. All the while he was shouting " Bonjour Vazaha! Bonjour VAZAHA!...." ( which is "Hey Nigger!" in Malagasy, we probably hear it shouted at us at least 30 times on average every single day, with varying degrees of animosity. But you kind of have to get used to it) Anyway, I wasn't really angry at the racial derogatory terms, rather, I was a little upset about the pointy stick being shoved in my face. * I don't have a dimple on one side of my face because I was born that way.

So, I grabbed the end of the stick, and very calmly asked the question, " te ho faty ianao angaha?" ( do you want to die?) . He seemed confused at first, probably because he was the one with the pointy stick pointed at my face, but then he looked at my face, and got scared, and then took off running( with the bamboo of course). I took off right after him. He ran in between some buildings and then dropped the stick, and then really took off. I picked up the stick, and returned triumphantly back to the path. It must have looked a bit odd for the onlookers,(there was quite a few) for them to see a white guy chase a kid/teenager with a 9ft stick and lose sight of them in the buildings, and then see the white guy return with the 9ft stick walking proudly, but no sign of the one he was chasing.

Anyway, I thought it was funny. And I was excited to tell a story about being chased by a native of Madagascar with a long, pointed bamboo stick. (OK, actually I chased him, but there was chasing involved). OK there's my story.

Have a nice day. Veloma!

Elder Draper

2007 March 14--Why there are no current photos on this blog...

About the camera, there is a sort of long and involved story about that. To say the least, it was stolen. But I will explain a little bit more..

Back when I was was with Elder Edgley, ( how I miss him) we were living in 67HA (the name of my current area) in the smallest house in the mission, in probably the dirtiest and roughest part of the mission. The house was a little less than half the size of Mica and Phil's house in Provo. Anyway, one night, as we got home from our last appointment, we noticed that our door was broken, and opened, and yes, we had been robbed. I'll admit it, I was the first to notice and my first words were, "Dammit!, we've been robbed!" It did make Elder Edgley realize something was amiss pretty quickly though. Anyway, we only lost money, and they broke some of my stuff, and completely trashed the place (which to me was absolute insult to injury, or lemon juice on the open wound, because I've been working so hard to be organized and earlier that day I had just gotten nice and tidy.) Mostly, it was just such an invasion of privacy, and an uneasy feeling. It made it worse when we were informed that we would not be reimbursed, but would get a loan so we could eat for the rest of the week, but we would have to pay it back. Furthermore, we had some pretty rough moments with our investigators that week. So we had a pretty rough week, but we made the most of it, and were able to joke and laugh and still have a great transfer.

Anyway, time passed, and I decided to leave out the robbery incident because I decided at the beginning of the mission to leave out a lot of the negative and otherwise unfortunate stories, so as not to leave the impression that I am having a miserable time, and so that I don't worry you (mostly mom) too much. For instance, I have left out the amount of times I have been clipped by fast moving cars since I've been here. Or how sometimes mean kids/teenagers throw rocks (once there was a tomato) at us as we pass and sometimes they're pretty good shots. Things like that. I decided to do that because, I don't really think you need to be bothered by stuff like that, and besides, you never need to worry about my safety because I am careful and I know that the Lord is looking out for us.

Anyway, time passed, and I informed the mission that the reinforcement they had put on the door was not enough--several times in fact--and that we either needed a new door, or a new house. So transfers came, and every week I went to the office and talked to the mission about what was being done. But nothing really happened. Then, one morning, we went with the president to look at a new house we had found. I took the opportunity to talk about the security situation again. I sort of got the impression that the house wasn't going to go through, and that they weren't really taking me seriously. So long story short, that very night, as Elder S and I were returning from a particularly long day, I came first to the door and Voila! You guessed it! our house had been broken into AGAIN. This time I said, " ah dang! we got robbed again!" (which is an improvement, so I figure the next time I get robbed, I'll say something like, "OH DEAR! we have been robbed. How unpleasant!" or something like that.) Elder S, however, had a lot more to say than just "Dammit!" ( although that word was of frequent usage.) He probably went through every curse in the book--it wasn't pleasant. I will not elaborate. All the while, I was pretty calm, just watching him break down. It was weird, I've never seen anyone so broken up about losing STUFF before. Anyway, This time, I lost more money, Both my cameras, and some other stuff (and they completely trashed all my stuff again--not my companions--sigh.) S lost his camera too, and a $4 alarm clock, but that was pretty much it. I will say this--getting robbed with Elder Edgley was A LOT more fun.

It was a bit rough. I'm really sorry about the pictures, the card was so huge, I just kept taking pictures and putting off saving them onto a cd. The film was full in the other camera as well. However, when I called the president to inform him of what had happened, I guess he felt a little guilty, so we should be getting at least some money back, so I can buy a camera here. I'll find out more about that today.

So now, we live in a 4 man house, or rather, a 2 man house with 4 people in it. But it's been great to be able to talk to someone else besides my companion, I'll admit.

I'm out of time, but I'll explain more next time. BUT, you don't need to worry about sending anything or doing anything. I'll take care of it. There will be a camera again.

If you were thinking about sending anything, it would be nice, but not absolutely needed, if you could send more music, especially the tribute cds. But I don't really even care. Yes, it's been a rough transfer. Definitely NOT a walk in the park, unless of course, while walking in the park, I was mugged and lost both my cameras, and my perpetual room mate was anybody like Elder S, then it has been very much like a walk in the park.

I've got some happier, funnier stories to tell in the coming weeks, but right now, I'm out of time, so until then, I love you I pray for you.
Veloma Elder Draper.

2007 March 14--Happy Birthday Dad

Tratra ny Nitsingerintaonan' ny Nahaterahanao Ianoa! (Happy Birthday in Malagasy. Try singing that. It's actually really hard to sing, so most Malagasy's just go for the French)

Anyway, sorry I didn't write at the beginning of the week. I went on an excursion outside of Antananarivo into the wilderness, and up a mountain. It was amazing. It was beautiful. It took all day. So consequently, I had no time to email, and yesterday, for some reason, I couldn't get on. So for now, just writing to say, "Happy Birthday" I love you, and pray for you always. Thanks for the letters. I read some of the Magleby's letters and decided that I'm not funny at all. Oh well. But that's OK. I can speak Malagasy I guess. Anyway, I must cut this short and make up for it next week.

The trip outside of town was absolutely stunning. I will have to do it more often. As far as pictures are concerned, there has arisen a difficulty, that I will explain in full (or adequate rather) detail in Monday's email. As far as everything else goes, I'm good. I'd be lying if I said that this transfer has been a walk in the park, but I continue to learn a lot. I am cultivating patience and charity on a level that I have never gone near to before, with myself and others. OK then, Veloma. Tiako ianao!

Elder Draper

2007 March 5--Taxi

Hey guys,

As always, it's lovely to hear from you. It sounds like all of you are doing good. I don't have much to report this week, in part because nothing terribly exciting happened this week, and in part because I have very little time to E-mail today.

This week, I've started seeing some progression with my companion and I think it started to improve last Monday at the end of P-day. We had just finished doing a Family home evening with some members and we were walking home. He didn't have anything good to say about the appointment--he just complained about having to do an appointment with members because it didn't count for anything ( statistically) and that it was a waste of time. I didn't say anything. Then, since we were a little bit far from home, I tried to get a taxi. (We use taxis quite a bit here, and because it was night, and we're white *and therefore have money coming out of our ears* they really like to charge a lot.) Anyway, as I was trying to get down to a good price, S started to get a little angry at taxi drivers, so before he got too mad, I would switch and try and find a new one. Finally, I found a taxi driver who at the beginning charged a ridiculous amount, but I was able to joke with him and talk him down to a great price ( which takes some skill, I think) to where he wanted to take us home. I'll admit, I was a little proud of myself because there was no arguing involved, which is rare with taxi drivers here. However, as I was talking the price down, S had kept on walking, so I got in and asked the driver to pick him up. We picked him up, and he got in the car. But then, S noticed that the driver was smoking, and a little angrily told the driver to stop smoking . All of the windows were open on the car, but the driver apologized and immediately put out the cigarette anyway, but S persisted. He kept saying, "STOP SMOKING!" in Malagasy, but I was a little confused because the cigarette was already out, and he wasn't using the imperative form of "stop," which is different in Malagasy. So I thought maybe he was in a sort of angry, zealous, anti-smoking campaign mood or something and telling the taxi driver to quit smoking all together, or something. Then he just started yelling, "STOP!" in Malagasy, but it still wasn't in the imperative form so the driver wasn't sure what he was talking about. I was a little confused too. Then suddenly, he opened the door, as we were moving and stomped his foot on the ground and skidded for a couple of feet. The driver stopped suddenly, and was really confused, if not a little angry, because the door could have hit someone on the side of the road. S got out of the car, and sat on the sidewalk. I apologized to the taxi driver and gave him a little money, and got out of the car too. At this point, I sort of lost it, and I let loose all of my thoughts for about 10 to 15 seconds. I told him that I had no idea what I was supposed to do to work with him and how tired of the "drama queen" performances I was, and that they were getting more and more frequent, and intense. I may or may not have been a little more "intense" than that, and I may or may not have included some more of my "thoughts" at the time. Anyway, long story short, we walked home, and it was silent the whole way. when we got home, it was still silent. he went to sleep, and I played guitar for a bit to "calm down a bit."

The next day, he apologized for the way he'd been acting, and while it hasn't been a walk in the park, it's been getting better. We've been working really hard. The other day, he said that he had never worked so hard before on his mission. I think it's a lot better than it was.

I've started going to the "gym" every morning at 5:30 ( it's more like a really crappy woodshed with weights) and have been working out with Elder Sanders, also from California, who used to have a personal weight trainer. He's really cool. I get along great with him, and furthermore, he used to be companions with S, so he knows what I'm going through, and he says he admires how I'm doing (so far.)

Anyway. I love you, I pray for you always. I hope that you guys are all doing well. ok then, I gotta go. Until next week, Veloma!
Elder Draper