Letter 8-31-09

Dear Family,

Not a whole lot of drama this week. It has been interesting being with our new Spanish companion. We get to go to Spanish church in addition to regular church. They have a one hour sacrament meeting in the chapel right after the regular block. I was hoping that I would be given the gift of tongues to help me understand what they were saying. Didn't happen. I had to force myself to stay awake for an hour. I don't think my attention span is that long, but it's all good. We've also taught a few Spanish lessons as well. I say we, but really it's all Elder Frederick. Elder Wheeler and I sit around looking pretty while Elder Frederick teaches. No gift of tongues there either. Same thing happened when I had a sign language companion in Big Spring. I always felt a little useless, but that's ok. There must be a reason I was called to speak English.

So on my mission I have talked to a lot of people from a lot of different religions and it has taught me a lot. But after all this time being out and talking to people, there is one variety of religions that I had not yet met until this past week when I was able to check it off the list. Visiting a breakoff from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When Joseph Smith died, there was a big dispute as to who would be the next prophet. When it was determined that Brigham Young was to be the next prophet, there were several people that didn't like that and went off and created their own religion. One of those peoples was James Strang. He claimed that he was to be the next prophet and when he wasn't, he went off and formed the Strangites. I had not heard of them until I met a couple here in Roswell this past week that are members. They claim that James Strang had a divine revelation/vision just like Joseph Smith and was also able to translate new scripture known as the Book of the Law. This lady we talked with offered us to look at it next time we visit, which would be very interesting. A few of the things she did mention was that they do not believe in the virgin birth of Christ. Jesus is the son of Joseph and Mary. They do not believe that being sealed is a necessary thing for entrance into the Celestial Kingdom. They believe in the Book of Mormon, but not the Doctrine and Covenants. They claim they believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet, but I noticed that they have strayed greatly from the things that Joseph Smith has taught. They do not have a prophet anymore. He died a while ago, so for now they go by the authority of the presiding High Priest. They believe that every prophet will be called the same exact way that Joseph Smith was called, so I don't know how soon they will get a new one. The one thing that stood out to me was that she mentioned that there is only 400 Strangites left in the world and that number is declining. Joseph Smith prophesied that this church would fill North and South America and eventually the whole world. The church that Brigham Young was prophet over is now 13.5 million strong and increasing. You'd think that would be a sign to her, wouldn't you? Oh well. We haven't started teaching yet, so I don't know where this will go, but it will be interesting.

So that is the big news for this week. This coming Saturday, the 5th of September, Marina Cobb and her 3 kids, Eli, Lucas, and Amber, will be baptized. They are all set and ready. I am way excited to see a family come in to the church. It will be a first for me on my mission. I'll let you know how it goes. But until then, have a great week as we are fixin' to jump into Septmeber this week.
Elder Adam R Droge
The DrogeMiester