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