Letter 5-12-08

Hey Peoples of in the distant land of Utah!

It was good talking to all of you again. It did seem really short, but it was great. Because of the fact that I talked yesterday, I don’t have a ton to say, but I’ll see what I can do.

So Greg and Wendy, I totally forgot to mention this, but… HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!!!! It’s been one whole year, can you believe it? Probably not. I’ve almost been out 3 months on a mission. Time sure flies.

So I got an email saying that my email failed to make it to Joe, so someone make sure that he gets the email from this week and last week if he didn’t already. I always look forward to letters from Bruce and Joe, because they write every week. Joe didn’t this week, so I was wondering what was wrong, but that may be it, so make sure he gets this letter and last weeks as well.

I didn’t hear much from Bruce and Joe while calling, but yet I remember that I never said much. Anyway, Joe, how have you been? Any success with the Lawn Mowing business or has it snowed again? Can you believe that 7th grade is almost over for you? You’ll be half way through Junior High in a few months. Isn’t that really weird? Make sure you tell me if you make the Basketball team next year. Keep practicing every day and you will have a good shot. So are you going to do football next year at all?

Sorry that I called when Byron was gone. I read the email that said that 5:30 would be the best time for everyone, but I could only call when I did. We had dinner after Elder Hill finished calling his home and had to go out and work because there were some people that we needed to get caught up with that evening.

So Bruce, it sounds like you had a really fun elephant rock trip. That would be exciting. So is it fun to Spencer in the ward? I know it would be awesome for me. American Idol update: Remember how I said that David Cook was going to win it this year? Ever since his first audition I liked him and now he is still in with only 4 people left. Bruce, how does it feel to be almost done with Junior High? You will be in High School in a few months. Isn’t that crazy?

So there isn’t much that I can think of on my end. We do pretty much the same thing every day and we already talked about a lot yesterday, so if you want to know anything about me, make sure to write and ask.

So Byron, I read that first email about the watch finally. The watch is really nice. I figured that it set automatically, because I could only change time zones so that it really cool and it is nice that it is solar powered. It has served me well, so thanks a lot.

Anyway, that’s all for now. Stay strong and true till the end of time, which will never come. Feel blessed that you live and Utah and feel grateful for the gospel because the percentage of people in this world that have the truth is slim to none. Have a great week.

---Elder Adam R Droge
The Alienator

Letter 5-5-08

Dearest Family,

God said, “Let there be light.” Chuck Norris said, “Say Please.”
He he. I thought some of you would get a kick out of that. I did.

Today is Cinco de Mayo. That is a big thing down here because there are a lot of Mexicans, but it is on P-Day, so I don’t really think I’ll run into any extra problems. Nice Timing ☺.

Bruce – I liked your letter. That was very entertaining to read. Keep it up. You, Mom, and Joe are the best writers so don’t stop. Even when American Idol is over, there will always be something to write about, even if it is just messing around and doing a funny letter. If you have nothing to write about, just do that. Oh and by the way, I haven’t heard anyone say peace out at all. So I guess they don’t say that down here.

Joe – You should keep sending those comics to me. I have used that first one on my planner this transfer and if you keep sending them, I can have a variety of comics to choose from to put on my planners in the future. ☺

The highlight of this week came yesterday. There are three missionaries going around to all the stakes here in the mission putting on an incredible musical program that is based around the first lesson, the message of the restoration. It was awesome. They were very talented missionaries. Then President Rose got up and bore his testimony. He talked about Hugh B Brown’s talk, “Profile of a Prophet.” It is an amazing talk. You should all look it up. I mentioned Cody Chambers a few weeks ago. He is the investigator that is absolutely loves the Church. He is going to be baptized on the 17th of this month. What’s even better is that he seems to be dragging his family along with him. He reactivated his excommunicated wife that didn’t really like the church and now he has his mom, Ginger Keyes, investigating the church. She went to church Sunday and to this fireside and loved it.

Not much else new here on my part and nothing else to respond to, so I will share with you the most ingenious analogy that I thought of this week while finding. The Plan of Salvation compared to the NFL Season.
Pre-Earth Life vs. Preseason – In the pre-earth life all of us were present. There was a battle where a third of the hosts of heaven were cast out and never made it to the next stage of the Plan. In the preseason, there are 32 teams with about 80 to 90 people on each team. Throughout the preseason there are many battles to determine who will make each team. At the end of the season, the teams have to be cut down to 53 players, making it so about a third of the NFL players that were there in the preseason don’t make it to the regular season.
Earth-Life vs. NFL Season – Our purpose here on life is to prepare to meet God. We do so by following all of God’s commandments. We all make mistakes. None of us are perfect. We have good times and bad times. The world is filled with people who don’t follow all of God’s commandments. Only the choice people, a handful of God’s children, work hard enough and perform well enough in this life to achieve eternal glory. The Last days are the hardest, where we are really tested in our faith to see if we can endure. In the NFL, the purpose is to win the super bowl. You do so but practicing your hardest, preparing yourself well enough, and performing to the best of your ability. No team is perfect. Every team has their hard times where they don’t perform well. Most teams don’t practice and perform hard enough. The NFL is filled with people who will never win a super bowl. Only the players who perform to the best of their ability will win the super bowl and achieve NFL immortality. The last days of the season, the playoffs, are the roughest times. Every good player is challenged their hardest and many good players fall.
After-life vs. Offseason – At the end of this life, as it says in the last verse of 3 Nephi 27, narrow is the path to eternal life and few be there that find it. A very small percentage of people make it to the Celestial Kingdom and achieve eternal happiness. Everyone is, however, separated into three main places, the Celestial Kingdom, Terrestrial Kingdom, and Telestial Kingdom, which are comparable in glory to the Sun, Moon, Stars. Moon and Stars do have some glory, but the Sun surpasses them by a long shot. When all is said and done in the NFL season, very few people actually achieve the goal of winning the super bowl and gaining that NFL immortality and celebrating throughout the offseason knowing that they made it and achieved their goal. There are 3 main categories of players, those who won the Super Bowl, those who made it to the playoffs, but lost when they got there, and those who never made the playoffs. The glory of each is comparable to the sun, moon, and stars. Even if you didn’t make it to the playoffs, you still get some glory, knowing that you actually got to play in the NFL, but not much. It is another big step to say that you made it to the playoffs, but still there is some emptiness knowing that you didn’t quite make it, then there is the ultimate glory that surpasses the other two, knowing that you did it. You won the super bowl. You get to celebrate all of the offseason, knowing what you have done.

Its genius isn’t it? That will be famous one day, so take notes now… ☺. So before I sign off this week, there is this rumor that I get to call home next Sunday, but I don’t know the details. All that I know that it will most likely be between 2 and 4 PM in the afternoon, YOUR TIME, so I would camp around the phone in the Droge home in Bountiful between those hours.

Peace Out All!

-Elder Adam R. Droge
The Alientator

Letter 4-28-08

Hello Family!

This week was an off week, everything punched on us. But its ok. Such is life here. It sounds like you guys had a real fun ping-pong tournament. Thanks for sending the scorecard Dave. You were right when you said I like that stuff. And by the way, Mike – I could’ve kicked your trash in that ping-pong tournament so be glad I wasn’t there ☺.

Bruce – That was the best American Idol update yet. You should do that every week. I just feel bad, because on the best week of your updates, was the one time I knew who was going home. We dropped into a members home to update him on a referral he gave us, and he turned the TV on to see who went home. I just happened to be right in front of the TV when he did so. So I was apostate and talked about American Idol with them for a little bit. I know, I’m horrible. But to justify myself, I don’t even think about American Idol until someone else brings it up, like you in your letters.

While I’m on the reality TV subject, I have to throw this in: Who won celebrity apprentice?

Dad – thanks for the letter and the advise. Just for your information, I have been writing in my journal every night that there is something to write about and I do use specific names. I figure that this is the best two years of my life so I might as well have it all written down so I can look back at it at one point of time. That is part of the reason that I don’t care to write people that don’t show interest. I have it all written down. Every good experience and every good lesson. One other thing, while it may sound like I focus too much on the outside world, I really don’t. I don’t even remember anything about the outside world and the world of sports unless it is brought up by someone else. My focus is on the work. Not letters. Not American Idol. Not Sports. It just brings an added bonus when I get home and find that someone cares enough to inform me, because I do like hearing about all that stuff, its just not as high of a priority as many people have come to think.

Shawn – You mentioned about me bringing the Bush supporters to repentance. I have tried my best in doing so, the people just don’t listen. It does bring up an interesting point though. Most people here in Midland are republican. That really surprised me. Everyone I have talked to was ready to vote for Mitt Romney before he dropped out. Not many are huge John McCain supporters either. Its just like Utah, politically. Kinda cool.You also mentioned that Summer is around the corner. I know you meant that figuratively, being that June is around the corner from April, but you can also make that literal as well. Texas is around the corner geographically from Tennessee. You say summer is around the corner there. I say its here in Texas. Its been in the 90’s this last week. So you’re right. Summer is around the corner in tennessee – its in Texas.Oh, by the way, HAPPY BIRTHDAY BECCA!!! That’s fun. I now remember that you had a birthday in April. Sorry I forgot. I hope it was good. Sarah and Ethan are going to be 4 and 5 when I get home. That’s scary. I’m glad they’re doing good.

So its kinda funny that the one time everyone decides to go on vacation is the one year I’m not home. Oh, well. Someone better write me and tell me all about it. Make it like I was there.

So this week there was a tornado watch here in Midland. It was really dissappointing. I got all excited to see a tornado and it never happened. I was thinking that a Tornado through the town would humble the people and make them listen… No just kidding. It would be cool to see a tornado though. Get a picture on my camera. But it didn’t happen. I’m sure Mom is happy about that though ☺.

So living here in a members home, they get the church news and I look through it on occasion. This week I read some horrible news. It was telling about the notable people who died and in there it mentioned F Britton McConkie from Bountiful. That is way sad. How come no one told me about that?

This week was kinda slow, like I said, but its all good. I’m surviving and life is still great. It would be an added bonus if someone updated me on the NFL Draft that happened. That would be kinda fun. Give me a copy of what happened in the first round and what BYU players got drafted. Whoever did that would be my best friend because I sinned and did a mock draft before I left and it would be an added bonus to know how right I was and who went where and which team drafted which players and what positions they are. That would be fun.

But I am out of time for this week. Everyone have a good week and be safe. Life is good and feel blessed that you live in Utah.

-Elder Adam R Droge The Alienator

Letter 4-21-08

Hi Family,

So this week was kinda interesting. I got very few letters from family, but quite a bit from friends. It’s ok, though, I have received evidence that most of you are interested and I’m not as harsh as I sound, so don’t be offended.

So I hear that the laws of physics were defied in Basketball, NCAA and NBA. Good thing there are sports fans out here, because no one has told me much about the sports world. To be honest actually, I had forgotten about the NBA playoffs until the member who fed us this weekend brought it up. The Lakers are number 1 and the Hornets are number 2, the Mavericks are 7 and the Suns are 6, the Jazz get the opportunity to beat down on the Rockets again, the Spurs and Suns are playing each other in the first round, and the Hornets actually beat the Mavs in the first game of that series. Yikes! That’s scary. Not to mention that all number 1 teams in March Madness made it to the final four this year in NCAA. That never happens! EVER! Crazy year.

But like I said, I had forgotten that all this was going on until someone brought it up. That’s all really cool, but do you know what’s better? We have a rock solid investigator. The Ward mission leader started teaching him due to issues in his family. His wife left the church as a teenager because she wasn’t accepted by the young women of her ward (take notes on that) and got involved with the wrong crowd because they did accept her. Anyway, she married this guy and now has four kids. We found them because she actually wanted her youngest to get blessed. We found that her husband was interested so the ward mission leader started teaching them and the guy has shot through the roof. In the last few weeks, he has read all the way through Jacob. But yet, he doesn’t just read, he takes notes, marks his scriptures, and really studies them. His first time in church a question was asked in gospel principles about why it is important to come to church every week. This guy pulled out his scriptures and threw out 2 Nephi 31 where it talks about Enduring to the End. He said that it is important to come to church every week because it is a part of enduring to the end. We haven’t even taught him the third lesson yet where we explain enduring to the end. He got that out of his own personal study. He made the comment about how he is excited about his baptism. He went cold turkey on smoking. The ward mission leader taught him the Word of Wisdom and he just stopped then and there right after the lesson and hasn’t touched a cigarette since. We were teaching him yesterday about tithing and fasting and afterwards he asked where the closest temple was for WHEN he and his wife get married in the temple. His wife has caught fire because of him and is now working on being re-baptized. The lord has prepared people for us if we go out and work.

Remember what Elder Bednar said, “MISSIONARIES ARE FULL-TIME TEACHERS, MEMBERS ARE FULL-TIME FINDERS.” You all need to go out and find people for us missionaries to teach because we can’t do it alone and we need your help in finding the people that the lord has prepared.

We ran into a Muslim guy here that we are trying to teach. It is very interesting teaching him because we have to shift gears completely because we are used to talking to Christians, not Muslims.

I also went on an exchange with the Zone Leader. That was a neat experience. He is a much better missionary then me. I learned a lot.

Bruce – So my whole American Idol thing got trashed now. Michael Johns isn’t supposed to go home this early. He was supposed to make it to the Finale. Grrr… Well, at least my winner is still in, David Cook. I just have to pick a new finalist and Brooke White is next on my list of best candidates.

Joe – I love the comics you send. There has been a couple times where I have felt just like the missionaries in that picture, running into a sign in my head that says if you are here you are lost. But don’t worry, I am finding my way around pretty good, partially because my companion knows where he is going. Teaching is going good and the members here are absolutely amazing. They are really missionary minded, they are all really cool people and amazing fellowshippers if we ever have investigators that decide they want to come to church and keep commitments, and we get fed every night. The meal calendar gets passed around every week and gets filled super fast. We were booked for all of April at the beginning of the month because they pass it 2 months in advance.

It is the end of the first transfer. I look at transfers as a trading deadline in the NBA or NFL. They call you up on Monday morning, the day before transfers and tell you that you have been transferred or you are staying. If you get transferred you are suddenly on the Bus the next day and off to a new city with a new companion, leaving your old city, companion, and investigators behind just like that, without a say in your part. It’s like getting traded from one team to the next at trading deadline. The only difference is that they don’t tell you where you’re going exactly. They just say that you are either getting on the bus and going south on Tuesday or north on Wednesday. At each stop they read off the names of who’s getting off the bus right then and tell you who your companion is. For me this transfer, the trading deadline has passed and I haven’t got traded. I am staying here in Midland with the Bushmans for at least another 6 weeks. My companion didn’t get traded either. But every other companionship in our district had someone get trading. No whitewashing though (whitewashing is when both companions get traded).

Anyway. Peace out. I'll write again next Monday.

Letter 4-14-08

Hi Family,

It’s already the middle of April. Isn’t that crazy? So there’s this funny thing. I kinda told my district that my family would visit our new mission president, John L Robison, who lives in Bountiful, and tell me what he is like, and then I would tell the district what our new mission president will be like. It would be nice if someone in Bountiful would make me an honest man and not a liar.

I also thought of a few other favors. First – there was a quote that I gave in the end of my farewell talk that is from the Count of Monte Cristo that I would like someone to give me. It says something to the effect of look into the storm and say do your worst, for I will do mine.Second – There have been people talking about the Allegory of Zenos because apparently that was the Sunday school lesson this week. I have the packet/workbook thing that I got from my Book of Mormon class at the house. People in Bountiful should know what I am talking about. In there, there is a ton of information about the Allegory of Zenos that makes that chapter a whole lot clearer. If someone could give me the information in that packet so I can understand better, I would greatly appreciate it.

Now this week was funny. I got a ton of old letters. First off I got Joe’s and Dad’s letters from March 16th this week. Dad, that Key to Happiness thing was really good. I thoroughly enjoyed it. As I was reading it, it felt like I was reading a conference talk. It’s something that I will go over many times. Joe mentioned the language in his letter. Mostly the language here is normal, except for a few southern words. Y’all is the most common one. Everyone and his dog says y’all. I’m not joking. I’m trying to not let it get to me, but we’ll see what happens. The other one that I hear occasionally, but not as often is fixing. I find it means that they are about to or preparing to. Like, for example, I’m fixing to go to work. I’m fixing to go to the Doctor. It catches me off guard.The other old mail I got was the mail that my roommates at BYU forwarded me from my apartment at Stadium Terrace. In it was Shawn’s Christmas card, so now it’s cool that I have Shawn, Becca, Sarah, and Ethan in my room. It’s fun. I also got my Harris Interactive W2, so I sent that on. I don’t know if you still need it or not, but I felt you could use it more than me.

Bruce – I got that letter of yours. I was all excited because I saw a 4 page letter from you, then I realized that it was the same paragraph 13 times in a row. Grrr… but I have no idea to do a mirror letter. I looked around just barely but couldn’t find how. Plus if I did know, I don’t think I would want to tell you because then it would be hard to read your letters ☺. So you are on your own on that. I’d be willing to bet that someone like Byron may know how to.

Shawn wrote me and told me about the Tennessee weather and the river about 46 feet deep. That reminded me to talk about the weather here. Mostly it is sunny and windy, but occasionally it gets really stormy. But it is different. It pours like no other, but only for like 15 minutes and then it stops. There’s also lightning storms that are far superior to those in Utah. It’s kinda cool. But there is no draining system in the roads, so there are huge puddles everywhere for a few days when it rains. Then there’s the Rio Grande. I’m not anywhere near it, but the scout troop in the ward here went there and told the ward about it. It’s about as wide as the chapel, so it’s huge that way, but its only 2 feet deep, 4 feet at the deepest. I found that funny.

Now on to this past week.

Good – I ran into an interesting religion this week. It’s an Iranian religion called the Bahai Faith. It is like a combination of Muslim, Buddism, and Chritianity. They believe in a few great manifestations of God: Moses, Abraham, Buddah, Jesus Christ, Muhammed Ali, and Baha Ulah. The Latter is like their latter-day prophet that lived in the 1800’s. Apparantly he was in Prison most of his life, but was let free for the last 2 or 3 years of his life. Someone should do some research on him for me. But the Bahai believe that there is no way you can know about God’s physical attributes or what the afterlife is like, but they believe in living good lives so that you can prepare to meet God. They believe in the Bible and the Koran as high school textbooks and as well as lots of other scripture that was written by Baha Ulah.

Bad – Bad and Ugly are the same thing this week.

Better – Here is an interesting experience. We taught a couple that was fairly religious and believed in prayer and the Spirit. They had never heard of Joseph Smith or the restoration, so after we gave the message, she said, before we challenged them to read or pray, that they are going to have to pray about this, because it is something new. Great! I wish everyone was like that. We taught them more about prayer and the feelings of the Holy Ghost so hopefully something will come out of this. We also have a few great potentials, but I’ll save them for next week.

Ugly – The FLDS church thing that has been going on. Apparently down somewhere in southern Texas they found a place where the FLDS had like 400 women and girls evacuated. They found they had been abused a lot and there where even 14 year old girls that were pregnant. The bad thing is though that everyone here is now mistaking the FLDS for our church. They think that it was us, and there are places on the Radio that talk about the Mormons doing this and also on the front page of the newspaper they had printed that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was doing this, totally leaving out the fundamentalist part. It’s horrible.

Best – Interviews with President Rose this week. He is a great guy. He talked about David and Goliath to the whole district, applying it to missionary work, then in personal interviews we went over being a successful missionary, page 10 of preach my Gospel. Three Main points. One – Success is measured by commitment to go out and work, not by numbers or results. Two – Don’t compare yourself to other missionaries because every missionary is different, in a different area, at a different time, with a different companion. Three – As we raise our expectations, our effectiveness will increase. He also reminded me that “No” means “Not Yet.” They will accept it eventually, even if that’s at judgment, but now is not the right time, so don’t be discouraged when they tell you no. I have kept that in mind and it has really helped a lot.

That’s all for now. Keep writing, preferably snail-mail, because I don’t have much time for checking emails. I do have some friends, they’re not all dead (meaning I got a letter from 2 people not in the family, yay!). Someone wake up Byron and tell him to write me about my knew nephew. He’s the only one that hasn’t written in our family. Tell him that Mandy Gifford, who was formerly in his singles ward as ward choir director, is down here and just got engaged.

Just Kidding 4-14-08

I wrote that last one and realized I did have time. Hehe. Anyway. These pictures are of the Bushmans, his museum, the Texas sunset, a water tower, and us driving really fast (we're going the speed limit, I promise. Just look closer)

Letter 4-07-08

Dearest family,

Well, if there was any debate as to whether or not me not sending emails to anyone was a good idea...um, well...its worked...I got people motivated to write and that was the idea...

In response to some of your letters -

Annie - My companion's name is Elder Hill. He is from a small town in Idaho called Kerry. It's near Sun Valley. I have no idea where either of those towns is, so I can't help you if you are wondering that. Living with members is really fun. The guidelines are pretty strict, but we are lucky enough to meet the guidelines with the couple we are living with. They are great. One of these days I will remember to take a picture of them and the house to send it.

Greg - So you started your letter by saying Wendy was pregnant and got me all excited. CURSES!!! You also made fun of my handwriting. How dare you! My handwriting is wonderful. I can read it perfectly. Just for that I won’t send anymore handwritten letters to the family. I will to friends though. That is if they write me first. Which brings up a point. Email. If you haven’t heard. I can do email, but I can only email family and I really have only one hour once a week. I have to write a letter to the family and to the mission president. And if you know me well enough, you know that I can get carried away easily and write long letters, so 2 letters in one hour takes up my time pretty well. Last week I checked the emails first, wrote my letter, did a pictures letter, and was about to write the president when I was out of time. I didn’t get my letter to the president in and I felt guilty all week long. So priorities are going to be changing. I will write my letter to the president first, then to the family, then I will send some pictures, then if I have time, I will check any of the emails I get. Consequently, if you decide to email me, it may be that I don’t actually read your email for a few weeks so its best to send your letters the old-fashioned way.

Joe – I got a kick out of the comic you sent me and it now on the back cover of my study journal

Bruce – You are signed up for high school now? Holy Cow! We’re all really old. I’ll be 20 next year. Yikes. Oh by the way, I’m still taller than you, right? Ha Ha! And by the way, why did Chikeze go home? I liked him. Keep the American Idol updates coming. I wrote out my predictions based on your top 12 that you have sent out and so far I am doing OK. My top 4 is still in there. David Cook. Michael Johns. Brooke White. David Archuleta.

Dad – I loved the poem. I made a new section in my study journal where I will write those poems down and look over them occasionally. Keep them coming ☺. I haven’t been chased by a dog yet. Not really anyway. There have been a few little dogs that think they are a lot bigger than they really are and have tried to chase us on our bikes and eat us up, but they do much and are easy to scare away.

Thanks for all your other letters. I enjoy them. Remember that most information that many people think is useless is information that I like so you can write me just about anything. Thanks Annie for the political update. I haven’t received an update outside of that. No one has told me about March Madness or the NFL offseason, so I hope someone will step up to the plate. All that I heard about March Madness is that all four number 1 teams made it for the first time in history. Crazy. That never happens. I heard that from a member by the way, so someone should write me and tell me more.

On to my week. Good – We ran into a muslim guy. He invited us back, so we haven’t taught him yet, but he did spend 45 minutes telling us his views on things. That was interesting. We got in and taught a devoted Catholic. He loves hearing from different religions so that’s why he let us in. He did say would read the book of mormon again, so that is good. He went from I won’t change religions, to I probably won’t change religions, so I guess you never know. At least he knows what he is rejecting, unlike most people here who avoid us because of all the false rumors they hear.

Bad – My sinuses have been horrible all week long and I fought a sore throat for a while and a bad cough. I’m getting better, but that was no fun

Better- We have a few investigators that are really progressing. It is great to see. I’ll let you know if anything comes out of it.

Ugly – Revelations 22:18. That scripture has been thrown out at us at almost every door. Its horrible. It says that if anyone adds to the book of this prophesy than the plagues of this book will be added upon him. People see that as meaning the Bible and it causes them to not believe ongoing revelation. Its sad. Good thing we have Elder Holland around. Which leads me to my last point.

Best – Conference was amazing. Let me tell you about the winners in my view as a missionary in random order.

1st – Elder Holland. That talk was beautiful. Throwing down the idea that God doesn’t work by ongoing revelation and explaining how he does, as well as bringing up specifically Revelations 22:18 and explain the real meaning and countering everything beautifully that people take from it.

2nd – Elder Bednar. Missionaries are full time teachers and members are full time finders. Take that to heart and go over how he told every member to pray about teaching the gospel to friends.

3rd – Elder Christofferson. That talk about Being Born Again was beautiful and really made me understand what that phrase means because everyone here says they are born again.

4th – Elder Nelson. A gospel, Plan of Salvation, and a throw down against saved by grace all in one.

5th – Elder Perry. His talk was lesson 3 for us. All we would have to do is play that to our investigators and be done.

6th – Elder Hales. Way to go to lovingly throw down on the Trinity. That was awesome. Jesus doesn’t pray to himself in the Bible and doesn’t introduce himself in there.

7th – Elder Oaks. Bear testimony lovingly and meekly to the people who are anti-mormon. Something I definitely have thought about doing otherwise and I need to change my mindset

8th – Elder Scott. Possibly the most underrated apostle. I never hear anyone talking about him but I love how he lovingly condemns and his talk about abuse was beautiful.

9th,10th,11th – President Monson. President Eyering. President Uchtdorf. I can’t forget our first presidency. We have an amazing first presidency. I will really enjoy hearing them talk twice a conference for the next 10 or 15 years. Elder Uchtdorf’s talk in priesthood about correcting our ways is one to really go over.

Oh, by the way, is F Michael Watson, who got ordained to the 1st quorum of the seventy, the Elder Watson that I am thinking of?

That’s all for this week. Keep your letters coming.

Love,

Elder Droge