Letter 9-2-08

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR MOM!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!!!!

Dear Family,

Elder Adam R Droge
2038 Menard Hwy #6
Brady, TX 76825

There you go. That is my address down here. I am in Brady, Texas. The Heart of Texas. First off though, Dave sent me the most cool thing in the world. MWC simulation article in Deseretnews. That was fun. Thanks. I noted the author was a guy by the name of Layton Shumway. That is a very familiar name. In this mission there is a missionary by the name of Elder Bryan Shumway. I believe Elder Shumway did say that his brother is a sportswriter for deseret news, so there you go. Speaking of Elder Shumway, though, I served around him for the last 3 transfers and we had an intersting occurance last P-day. We were all hanging around the Bushmans and Elder Shumway found some granola and had 3 bowls because it was really good. He felt a little sick 10 minutes later but thought it was only because he had so much granola. Well, we went to play baskerball and 30 minutes or so in, Elder Shumway got feeling really naucious and had to stop. He started swelling up and turning red so we decided we needed to do something about that. We got in the car and called Sister Robison and while we were driving, Shumway started having troubles breathing, so sister Robison directed us to go to the ER, so we did. Quickly. The Driver, Elder Bean, went 80 miles an hour in a 40 MPH zone, was weaving in and out of traffic and even ran 2 red lights. Not good at all, but way crazy and fun. We didn't get pulled over, thankfully, and we spent the day in the Emergency Room. Elder Shumway was fine. Turns out he had an allergic reaction to the Agave Nector that sister Bushman had put in the granola. Agave is a cactus and the nector is used as a sweetener like honey or sugar and is actually the main ingredient in taquilla. So that was our P-day last monday.

Tuesday morning was fun. I was walking downstairs at the Bushmans and lo and behold, what did I see in the hallway? A snake. Thats right. A snake. Sister Bushman was freaked out but I thought it was really awesome. Its not everyday you get to meet a wild snake in your house. We took it out with a broom and I played around with it and took pictures of it. If I ever get some random time available to send pictures, I might send some, otherwise you'll just have to wait till I run out of picture room on my camera and am forced to send the memory card home with all the pictures. I only have 250 pictures left to take for that to happen. I've taken 320 or so, so don't worry. Only a couple 6, 7 months... :)

But anyway, Wednesday I traveled south on the Tansfer Bus and was dropped off in San Angelo, the last stop, and was then exiled to Brady. The bus ride was from 3 PM to 7PM. Not too bad considering my companion spent from 7AM to 7PM on the bus. He rode from start to stop. From Pampa to Brady. That would be a lot of fun... After we were dropped off in San Angelo, it took us another hour to drive to Brady.

First lets get this out of the way. Brady is the most southeast the mission will go and it is not in hurricane territory. So no need to worry. This mission is too far west for hurricanes so Hurricane Gustav had no effect on us. I haven't decided if thats a good thing or a bad thing. It would be kind of fun to say that I experienced a hurricane... kinda like tornados. I have yet to see a tornado, but it would be fun if I did. As long as its far enough away that is. I'm not the only one to say that. Its every missionary's dream to see a tornado or hurricane.

But about Brady now. You noticed that I said I was exiled to Brady. I kinda feel that way. It is a small town of only 5,000 people. There are only about 30 active members in the Branch and we meet in a house that was converted to a church. Elder Pyle (pronouced Pile) and I are the only missionaries for like an hour. I have never really lived in a small town. Midland was a big city of 100,000 people and 10 missionaries with a big ward and I don't have to expain how I lived back in Utah, do I? That's why I say exiled. Don't worry, though. I'll be like Joseph of Egypt and make good out of the situation I am in. It'll be fun. The members that do go to the church are all really awesome and we have some great investigators that will be left behind for us. Left behind because in case you didn't catch it, we are whitewashing in. Whitewashing is when both the previous missionaries get transfered out and two new missionaries get sent in. It is an interesting experience. You have to spend a while getting used to the area, meeting the members, and trying to catch up and meet your investigators. It'll be great. I'll do good down here. And yes, I almost forgot to mention. Brady is a beautiful town. It is green, has plenty of trees, is very hilly, and has a lake. No mountains, but at least it is a step up from flat, yellowish green, no trees or lakes Midland which I got very used to. Brady is also known as the heart of Texas. The dead center geographically. That is cool. I got a picture of a water tower that said Brady on it and had 2 hearts.

By the way. If you didn't catch it before, Happy Birthday, Mom!! It sounds like you had a great day. It would have been a blast to have been there, but I was too busy spending P-day at a lake with some members, not being able to email due to the holiday. I didn't go swimming. I promise. Although it did look very tempting. Its been a while since I've been at a lake. And go BYU! Way to beat Northern Iowa. And thanks to Dave for the great play by play update of the game. If I got that every week I'd be a happy elder. I have no doubt that they'll go undefeated. Their biggest obstacle is Washington and UCLA. We beat UCLA last year, so that shouldn't be a problem and Washington just got ran over by Oregon, or so I heard, so that won't be bad. And no way that we will get an undefeated season spoiled by Utah.

But I got 2 go. Until next time, peace out!

Elder Adam R Droge
Antialienator345