Letter 10-12-09

Dear Family,

So the good thing about being a missionary is that when something bad happens, there is a way good support system. I think I mentioned briefly in last weeks email that I had a mysterious rash that was bothering me. Well, it got real bad this last week and so I got it checked out. Monday we were over at the stake president's house, President Wiser, on P-day (the Zone Leaders in town live with them, so we relax there instead of in our small cramped apartment) and he was concerned when I showed him it. One of the counselors in the stake presidency is a doctor, so President Wiser took a picture of the rash and sent it to him to look at. That night we were visiting one of the recent converts here, Dominique, and her Dad was over. When we showed her Dad, he thought it looked like shingles, so Dominique jumped on to Web MD and we looked at pictures and read information about Shingles and it matched perfectly with what I had. We then went over to a member's house and she gave me a bunch of advice and a few things that would help. Next morning comes around and the doctor in the stake presidency, Doctor Torres calls me and I basically have a free doctor's appointment over the phone and he confirmed that I had Shingles and prescribed some medication that would help. I got the medication and it has worked like a charm. I've felt almost no pain since taking it and now the shingles are almost gone. Sister Robison, the mission president's wife, was also involved in this. I had called her Monday. So all is well and now I just get to look back and remember the added drama this past week that has continued to make my mission a very dramatic mission.

So last week I made some comments about conference and gave my feelings on what we were taught. This week I wanted to hand out some awards for conference, or better said, make mention of the specific talks that stood out to me. First, I think the best talk this conference once again came from Elder Holland. His talk on the Book of Mormon was way hardcore. It made me scared to ever deny the Book Mormon. Not that I ever would, but hey. Elder Brent H Neilson told me that I was fulfilling prophesy right now and said that the field has never been whiter and more ready to harvest. I thought that was cool. Last transfer I took the advice of my companion and decided to write down the personal revelations that I receive. I found it has helped. Elder Scott referenced to doing that same thing and made me feel happy that I am already taking the advice of an apostle. Meanwhile I think President Uchtdorf snuck in to my apartment here in Roswell and read my revelation journal before he gave his talk on love. On my mission, the passage where Jesus tells the pharisees that the greatest commandment is to love God and love your neighbor has really hit me hard, especially in correlating the love of God with obedience, because 'if ye love me, keep my commandments.' That was President Uchtdorf's whole talk on Saturday morning. That was awesome. Elder Oaks taught us some way cool doctrine on law. God's love and God's law correlate perfectly because we are judged based on the law we can handle. Elder Hales gave the loving assurance to all of us that God lives and Jesus is the Christ. That helps anyone who has questioned those two facts. Last but not least, the general authority that I felt was speaking directly to me was Elder Ballard in priesthood session when he gave the loving advice to returned missionaries. No I am not one yet, but I will be before the next conference session and I have accepted that. No I am not trunky and not excited to go home. Rather it has given me the extra drive to work even harder and made me kind of sad. I do not want to leave this great work, but my time is soon up and I need to move on with my life. Elder Ballard told me personally what I need to do next. All in all, there were many great talks and all of them should be studied and if I'm not mistaken, we made history Sunday afternoon - the first African American to speak in a general conference. These are just talks that stood the highest to me personally.

So it is time for me to end, but I have 2 matters of business real quick that I need to bring up.
1 - It has been advised by the mission that we get a flu shot and a swine flu shot, but the catch is that we will have to pay for them. President Robison asked us to talk to our families about the matter and see what they think. So that is what I am doing right now. Hint, hint…
2 - President Robison has also decided to switch up or P-days from Monday to Thursday. Don't expect an email next Monday, the 19th. My next email will come on Thursday the 22nd, 10 days from now. Talk to you then. :)
Elder Adam R Droge
The DrogeMiester