He's getting a new companion from Hawaii! He's very excited!

Ya the earthquake in Fukuoka was a big one! It has had a lot of aftershocks and has done quite a bit of damage down there. I didn't feel anything though. Tokyo has so far been untouched by it. But please pray for the people there, they really need help. (they carry an emergency kit, I asked what was in it) There is just first aid stuff, and some food and water.

But yes I got my transfer call! I am staying here and my companion will be Elder Masaki from Hawaii! He will be leaving after this transfer! He sounds really hard working and really fun so I am way excited for that!  Elder Uemura is staying. So elder Kaesler was my companion, he is going to Kofu, elder Molen is going to yamate which is near Yokohama. I will also be the district leader here. Since there will only be two maybe three English speakers in my whole district, I will have to do the district meetings all in Japanese which will be hard but a great learning experience! I am really looking at this opportunity to lead as a time for me to grow and learn how to become more like Christ. I really have no idea what I'm doing so please pray for me!  In my district I have elder Uemura, elder Masaki, sister Suzuki, sister tomoni, and a brand new missionary will be coming in! But I have to plan and do district meetings every week in Japanese, and then I have to report everything to the mission president about my district and relay stuff from president Wada to my district and keep track of stats, and help everybody stay organized and be people's friends and I have to inspire them to keep focused on the work. I don't really know all that I have to do honestly. Haha but elder Masaki will be my trainer. Elder Masaki seriously sounds so nice! I have been told he is the nicest missionary in the mission. He called me last night and he told me that he wants to work really hard to finish his mission off strong and he wants to have fun with it! I am really really excited. Elder Laird called me two nights ago too! I know I didn't appreciate him as much as I should have when I had him. But I love him so much! I have been his only trainee so it's like I'm an only child! He goes home in 2 transfers! He just called to let me know how much he loves me and how much I will love elder Masaki. 

That sounds like a fun car wash! That's awesome that you raised so much! I will pray for Toni and Mike. Do you have any more plans for fund raisers? Is it pretty warm there? It's like 70 degrees here! When I FaceTime you I will be able to wear short sleeves finally! It's really windy but really warm here!

I watched David open his call! That is so exciting!!! I can't believe that they are all getting ready to go out! It seriously is blowing my mind! I am so grateful that so many of my friends are strong in the gospel. I literally can't even number them all because there are so many! I know they are all going to do great! I think Parker will go to Brazil like his dad, and mom? I'm pretty sure they both went there.

But here is a review of my week!

Well I guess from last time I talked to you!

Wednesday we went to give a blessing to an African lady in the hospital. She speaks French. Sister Jorgensen studied French for 6 years but she, like me, has forgotten almost all of it. At first they wanted me to give the blessing in French, but I really just could not recall any French. So we ended up going to the hospital and giving the blessing in Japanese. But before the blessing there was a huge confusion. So we go there and they take us into a conference room with the lady and a doctor. He was all upset that there were 3 guys instead of one like he thought. He thought I was there to be a translator from Japanese to French so I could talk to her and tell her all about her medical condition! I was like dude I can't speak French, and this isn't why we came, we just need to give her a blessing. And he was all like, well if you don't do it in French she won't understand and it will have no meaning anyways. We were all like "you aren't even Christian! Let alone a member!" It was just really confusing and frustrating. After like 2 hours we just did the blessing and it was really really good. Then we left. 

Thursday we taught Masa who is a recent convert who moved here from Nagoya. Also that day during lunch, I cleaned all the futons. Elder Uemura's is disgusting. Like covered in mold on the underside. He didn’t want to clean it, so finally I just went out on the balcony and just used an entire bottle of mold killer and soaked that thing. It worked! It looks brand new now! Then I hung all the futons on the balcony to air out and I beat them with the beater. 

On Friday I made crepes for breakfast and then I cleaned some more! I'm not a clean freak, but I seriously have found that I love to clean! When things are organized, I feel the spirit and I am happy, therefore I like to clean! Also today we went to the combini down the road called Lawson's, a very common combini here, and I got a free something from a card they gave me! I didn't see what it was but they just put it into my bag and then we went to the church to eat. I pulled it out to make sure it wasn't tea. It wasn't tea. it was sake! Haha they just gave an 18 year old alcohol and 100% didn't even check if I was old enough! Here it is 20 years old. 

On Saturday we got our transfer calls. I met a kid that night while I was passing out chirashi for eikaiwa and he said "Thanks, I don't think I need it though." In perfect English haha. He speaks Dutch and Japanese natively, his dad is Dutch and mom Japanese, and he speaks English and French for fun! HE was way good! 

Sunday we had church. It was a long day yesterday. In the morning English conversation class, we all talked about the earthquake. One of the ladies asked if I would pray for the people in Kyushu, the people who were most affected by the earthquake. I thought that was sweet because she isn't a member or anything. She isn't a Christain but she believed enough that my prayers made a difference, and so she asked me to pray for them at the end of class to close the class, and she was really happy. 

I can't wait to just mow the lawn and do yard work! I seriously miss that sort of stuff so bad! Chopping wood, lawn mowing, driving tractors, digging, whatever! It's just after being in a city for so long, I can't wait to get dirty and actually work like that! 

So I have sort of a dilemma. The bike I am using is a used bike from an older missionary. When he left he gave it to me. Now everything is breaking. I had to replace the tires when I first got it and that was about 60 bucks total and the chain and gears are all messed up which will cost me about 100 dollars or so and will take 2 weeks to fix. I really should have just bought a new bike to begin with, but it was free and I didn't check it too much. But my bike right now really isn't safe to ride because the bearings in the back tire are all shot and the back tire is bent and it  wobbles a lot. So I have 2 options that I want your opinion on. I could just keep replacing the stuff that breaks on it, or I can just get a new bike and it won't have nearly as many problems. It's just that this bike has to last 2 years, and the bike I am using now has already gone through 2 years of hard work and I don't think it could make another 2 years!

Well that was my week! I love you all so much! I am glad to hear that you are all well and happy! I am too!

Elder Draper