Letter 7-14-08

Dearest Family,

Well, I just barely wrote on Thursday in which I responded to letters from this week and last week and haven’t gotten any since, so today I won’t write an epistle because there is not much to write about.

Transfers are this week. If you remember my analogy from before, transfers are like the trading deadline. We’re all here as a team in Midland and every six weeks, at the end of the transfer, they will call you up and say if you’re staying or going. If you’re going, you pack up as fast as possible and get on a bus the next morning and head off to a new area just like that. It’s just like in sports. You’re playing for your team and doing all that you possibly can to make your team better, then when the trading deadline comes there is a possibility that you get trading to a different team. You have no say in the matter. You’ll just get a call saying that you got traded, and then you have to pack up like that and get on the plane to your new team and pick up from there. You can’t whine, cry, or wish to go back; you just have to press forward with that team just like you’ve been there your whole life. Such is the case with transfers, as I have mentioned. Well, I was almost sure that I was going to get transferred because I have been here in Midland for 3 transfers now. Normally you’ll stay in an area for 2 to 4 transfers. Staying in an area 1 transfer only or 5 transfers happens, but is much more rare. So I thought I was leaving, but it turns out that I will stay another transfer here in the Midland 1st ward. This will be my 4th. So as I like to say, the trading deadline has passed and I did not get traded. The Midland team wanted me here for another 6 weeks, which means I’m here till at least August 24th.

Well, I left you hanging last week, so I will take care of that. During my second transfer here, back in April and May, you may remember a guy named Cody Chambers. He was all fired up and wanting to get baptized, but it fell through. He got opposition and questions arose. He couldn’t handle it because he stopped doing what he was supposed to do. He stopped reading, praying, and coming to church. He has now turned completely cold and doesn’t want to be taught anymore. However, like I said before, there is light at the end of the tunnel. I’m hoping it’s not a train, but that’s beside the point. If you remember, when Cody was all fired up, his mom, Ginger Keyes, came to church and to the musical fireside that the mission put on. She didn’t come after that, so we were just confused. Well, when Cody started going cold, we felt like we needed to see his mom, but we never did because she lives out in the boonies and we weren’t sure how interested she was anymore. Well, after about a month or two, in late June, a few weeks ago, we got a referral for all the way out there, so while we were contacting that referral, which ended up being nonexistent, we stopped by Ginger. She let us right in and we had an amazing first lesson. At the end of the lesson she realized that we were an answer to her prayer. She was praying for guidance in her life that morning or the evening before, then we showed up. Prayer works and the Holy Ghost exist. That’s for sure. She said she wanted to help out Cody and also her husband, who is an inactive member that hasn’t gone to church in over 30 years, since he was a teacher.

Our baptism is good for this Tuesday. The guy I mentioned last Thursday is getting baptized. That is way amazing. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a baptism. Since… umm… hmmm… wait a minute… I’ve never had a baptism. This will be a first.

Oh yes, I almost forgot. The guy in Midland 2nd ward, Steve Conley, the former NFL player that I talked about a few weeks ago, got baptized. That is cool. It doesn’t count as my baptism, but that is still fun. By the way, no one did research on him via NFL.com or such. Ye fiends of the infernal pit. Get on that! … 

Well, that’s all for this week. Peace out Drogeites. Oh yes, and just so you know, I beat Bruce in the longest ending war. He threw in the towel. Yay!!

Elder Adam R Droge Alienator345