Letter 7-27-09

Dear Family,

Well this last week there were no hang-ups with the baptism. Michael Blakeley was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We confirmed him yesterday. He will be a great addition to the Eastland Branch, which has been starving for priesthood holders. The cool thing was that his wife Melody was there to support him both on Sunday and on Saturday. I don’t think she was ever against the church, we just always went over and because Michael loves talking, I believe that she got the impression that we were there for him and not for her and always managed to dodge us. I believe that now that the spotlight in a sense is off Michael that she will follow his example and want to talk with the missionaries. Good things lie in store for this area.

So I had a weird question that was on my mind that almost disturbed me. Maybe scared is a better word, but you get the point. I remembered that everyone who enters into a degree of glory will have their sins forgiven. God is a loving God and will save as many of his creations as possible. Even those who enter into the Telestial Kingdom will have their sins forgiven eventually, after they suffer the penalty of their sins in spirit prison and later accept Jesus as their savior. With that said, I was reading through the Oath and Covenant of the priesthood in D&C 84 and I came across the scripture that said that those who break this oath shall not have forgiveness of their sins in this life or in the next. Whoa. If it says in one revelation that upon entering into a degree of glory your sins are forgiven and in this one that if you break the oath and covenant you will not receive forgiveness in this life, does that mean that those who break the oath and covenant will become sons of perdition? I didn’t find a definite answer, so I planned on asking it in email, but on Saturday we had to go fill up the font and that took a while, so we had a lot of extra time alone at the church. Well, I decided to dive into the church library to find an answer and I got it from a guy who I have decided is the smartest man in the history of the church. Joseph Fielding Smith. Doctrines of Salvation. If you haven’t read those three volumes, I’d highly suggest it. I plan on it when I get home. He talks about every point of doctrine, whether deep or shallow and simplifies it, making it very easy to understand. He talked a lot about the oath and the covenant and spent a considerable amount of time on my specific question. I felt like he was talking right to me. He said very clearly, with emphasis marked, that that scripture that stumped me does NOT mean we will become sons of perdition. It means that if we break the oath and covenant and don’t repent in this life, then we will not be able to regain that priesthood and gain a fullness of exaltation, but for everything else, we will be forgiven. That made perfect sense to me, so I thought I’d share.

But anyways, I am signing off for this week. Interesting things will happen this week in a few different matters, so make sure you stay tuned next week. Peace out All!!!


Elder Adam R Droge
The DrogeMiester

Letter 7-20-09

Dear Family,

In follow up from last week, Michael Blakeley is all set to get baptized. We finished teaching him everything and had his interview, which he passed, so this Saturday we’ll be having another baptism here in Eastland. Really his only holdup was the idea of modern-day prophets. We showed him the scripture in Ephesians 2:19-20 and Ephesians 4:11-14 and that showed him that Christ’s church is led by prophets, so it got him over that one stumbling block, which made me happy. From the first time we met him back in February, I felt that he could be Eastland’s next branch president. Now that he will be a member, that first impression could very well be possible in the future, given the lack of priesthood here, but hey, lets take it one step at a time. Thanks for all your prayers on the matter. I know that that helped quite a bit.

Honestly, there is not much else to discuss, just another week that has come and gone. Spiritual thought of the day. The high councilmen came and spoke in church in Sunday. One thing that he taught stuck out. He said he’s been on many disciplinary councils and out of all of them there has been no one that he has talked to that said that they read their scriptures everyday. I think that Elder Bednar once said that if you read your scriptures everyday, you will never go inactive. There is a reason for that. Gospel study is vital to our everyday lives. Like Alma says, we need to nourish the tree or it will wither away and die. That can happen to anyone if we slack off on the basics of reading, praying, and attending our meetings. Something to stew on. Have a great week everyone!

Oh, and by the way, Happy Half Birthday to me tomorrow! Yay!

Elder Adam R Droge

The DrogeMiester

Letter 7-13-09

Dear family,

So I opened the mailbox this last Thursday and what do I find? A letter from Joe. As I read, something felt a little wrong. Then I got it. It was dated July 27, 2008. That was last year. How in the world did that happen? Oh, well. I hope that’s a first time and last time thing. I would hate it if there were several letters written that took a whole year to make it to me.

So this is a historic time in the Texas Lubbock Mission. If you remember, last November, a stud seventy named Elder Pearson came to our mission and reissued President Hinckley’s commission to double baptize. That was quite the challenge, being that since the conception of this mission, back in 2002, we have averaged 20 baptisms a month. Hitting an average of 40 would be quite the task, but we took it on. A couple of Zone Conferences ago, after having hit 30 baptisms as an average since Elder Pearson left, we set a goal to hit 35, a stepping stone to 40. Well, in June, as a mission, we got 38 people baptized and that pushed our average just above our goal of 35. President Robison being the great fun person he is, decided that we needed to celebrate this occasion and so last week we had a combined zone party over in my former area of Midland, Texas. Great times. Now the quest is on. The goal is 40 and it is just around the corner. I am excited.

In concordance with this, Eastland plans on contributing to this quest to meet President Hinckley’s call. There is a 41 year old guy named Michael Blakeley that we have been working with for a while now. We knocked on his door back in February and have been teaching him on and off since then. He is a great guy. Some would call him a dry mormon because everything that he believes is pretty much what we believe, we have been just trying to help him connect the dots. He loves talking and has a crazy gift that most people wouldn’t understand. They would call it psychic powers, probably like what Lamoni was thinking when Ammon read his mind. I rightfully call it the gift of discernment. Our first visit was crazy. At the end of our lesson Michael gave me some great advice. He pretty much told me that I had a hard time with rejection and often get flustered when things don’t happen the way I expect. He told me not to worry about because I am doing the Lord’s work. I was rather shocked. I hadn’t said anything about that. I felt like I was getting interviewed by my mission president, not an investigator that I had met for the first time. He was right on, though. I do have a problem with that. I hate it when I go through days, weeks, or months when nothing works out. I feel like Alma when he says he wishes that he was an angel and could shout repentance from the rooftops, yet I sin in that wish because I should be content with what I have been allotted. Anyways, Michael has been reading the Book of Mormon and has just started to come to church. I truly feel that he is beginning to see the light and we have set a baptismal date for the 25th of July. He is thinking about that hard. I feel it can happen and I would ask for your prayers for Michael to make it to that date. It would be nice to perform a little swan song dealy and get a 3rd baptism in Eastland before they finally boot me out, if that ever happens. Anyways, have a great week everyone!

Elder Adam R Droge

The DrogeMiester

Letter 7-6-09

Dear Family,

It is officially July and today Dad is 56 years old. I hope that everyone had a very good 4th of July. I’ll be honest and say that for me this past 4th of July will go down in history as one of the most boring ever. Holidays as missionaries aren’t that exciting. At least last year on the 4th they let us stay at a member’s home. This year we had to be in our apartment by 6 PM. We were allowed to go to other missionaries’ apartments until 8:30, but the closest one from Eastland is close to an hour away, so that would be a waste of miles. Out working was rough. There was no one that was home. They were all out celebrating and/ or felt more inclined to spend time with family on the 4th rather than mormon missionaries. How rude… I guess it wasn’t totally eventless. We spent lunch at a barbeque put on by a part-member family. But hey, even if nothing happens, it’s nice to have a day set aside to honor our country. I always remember reading from 1 Nephi where Nephi sees this land and how God fought on our side during the Revolutionary War and how Columbus was led by the spirit in his adventures towards finding this land. So, yes, Go USA! We sang the National Anthem in church on Sunday; that was fun. I heard that our little death spree continues with former NFL quarterback Steve McNair getting shot and killed. That was weird to hear. He had just barely retired when I left. Only in his late 30’s I’d imagine. Not much else happened this last week. We did get into an intense discussion with a Jehovah Witness guy. He was the one who tracted us out really. We were walking along in Breckenridge and he pulled over and asked if we wanted to do a Bible study with him. We didn’t want to feel hypocritical, so we accepted and wow. Talk about a religion that is in the dark. He was very knowledgeable about his religion and very nice, yet very cunning. He actually lived in Utah for 20 years, so he knew how to deal with mormons. We in our religion talk about not being pushy and teaching line upon line, that way people can find out for themselves. Nope, not for him. He was very pushy and threw it all at us at once when we asked some innocent questions about his beliefs. He spent the whole hour cunningly telling us how right he was and how wrong we were and compared us to the Pharisees, calling us vipers, just as he said Jesus did. He told us that we know absolutely nothing about the Bible and that we preach a different gospel because we don’t agree with him and we’ll be cursed for it. I wasn’t contentious and didn’t try to Bible bash, that doesn’t go anywhere, yet I didn’t remain perfectly silent. I had to defend my beliefs and try my best to help him see the light, but it didn’t really work. Oh well. What can you do? Just pray for the guy, I guess. Just be grateful that we are not Jehovah Witness at this time of year. They don’t celebrate the 4th. They believe that it is worshipping your country more than your God. To each his own, I guess. As for me and my house, we will honor our country because I know that without this country, we would not have freedom of religion and this church may not exist. God gave us this country and we should be grateful that we have it. That’s my Independence Day thoughts. Have a nice week everyone.

Elder Adam R Droge
The DrogeMiester