Sketchy Japanese Doctor Experience!

Hello!

So I went to the doctor this week! It was literally everything that you might imagine in a movie. A horror movie! I went there expecting the doctor to speak English because that's what I was told. It was already kind of dirty I could notice. The lady asked me to go wait in the back. I go back and I'm just waiting there for the doctor to call me back. After he called my name I went back and saw this doctor with a white coat on, a black headband with a silver disk thing in his head. I took my seat in the old chair. To my left was a long table literally covered in all sorts of knives and spoons and mirrors and hoses. He lowered the rickety old chair and flipped down his disk. He looked in my throats and then he shoved a vacuum up my nose. He didn't really speak English that well so he just spoke Japanese with me. He sent me over to a table where a lady proceeded to hand me what I can only describe as looking like a bong. I put it in my nose and it leaked some gas into my nose for like five minutes. Then they sent me to a pharmacist. I filled out the paper work in Japanese that asked of my medical history. So then I hand it to the guy at the desk and he gives me like a month’s  worth of medicine to take in 7 days without even checking my paper to see if I was allergic! Luckily I'm not allergic so I wasn't worried but how did he know that!? One of the medicines was a powder medicine. I have no idea why they don't just out it in a pill. I looked up the kanji in the dictionary and the best translation I could come up with was "drug cocktail salt acid". I was assured that it was an antibiotic though, so I took it anyways haha. It's the worst thing I've ever had. 

The 24 new missionaries came! That was chaotic of course! I have basically eliminated all the stuff I have been doing that I really don't need to do so this time was fairly smooth. 

It was way sad to have Elder Rose leave the office! He came in the same day I did! He went home to Arizona. Well technically he is still in Japan. His parents came here to pick him up. I am officially the oldest one in the office! Kind of weird. 

We had general conference! I loved it! I feel like it was the most helpful to me general conference in my life! I just felt like all of the talks were for me. Recently the fact that I cannot do missionary work on my own has been emphasized greatly! The more I think about how I can convince a person to believe in what I hold so sacred the more I realize that I can't do it! But that isn't why I am here. I am here to teach the gospel, yes, but the actual change and conversion that takes place in any one person comes as a blessing from God based on that person's exercise of faith. My job is invite them to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel. 

This week I evaluated my life and really identified the areas where the lord has blessed me. We would be wise to take a minute or two and simply remember what the lord has done for us. Remember the people who have helped you become who you are. I realized that the people who had the biggest impacts on my life are the people who did what they did because of the love of God in their hearts. You and Dad and all you guys loving me and teaching me to be good, Audrey for just loving me and being so kind to me and being my best friend, Brad Fesperman for bringing over random cakes and pies, grampy for always bringing me "medicine" (fudge cicles) when I was sick, grandma Draper for teaching me of our ancestors when I knocked down a jar of flour in the cupboard. These are obviously only a couple of examples but I just have so much to be grateful for. I love you all!

So ya Elder Bendar will be here soon! He will do a youth conference in Sapporo on the 16th and then he will come to kichijoji on the 17 for a devotional and then we will all go to Nakano in the north mission for a big missionary conference. I can't wait! 

We changed p day this week just because we had general conference on Saturday and had no time to take p day. 

Man only 10 months left! That's like not very much time at all! I swear I just barely got to Japan last week! There are still times all the time where I real,y wonder if I know what I am . But that's good I think. President warnick has taught me that it's good to not always feel like we have everything completely under control. If we did then there would be no progression, no need for faith! The lord puts us in positions where we need to reach out to him
for us to move on.

Well I think that's about it for this week! 

Oh ya there was also some undercover cops that came to the office and kept asking if we knew this guy, he would show us a picture, and we would say no. He said "he joined your church 8 years ago." Then he would show the picture again. We would say we don't know him. Then he flashes his cop badge at us. Then he asked us again. Haha he did it like three times! He stayed for like an hour and then left. We looked him up later to see if he was fake or not. Even president Warnick was like "ya I don't know if that guy was real or not. " but I found a website and the number written there and the number he gave us matched and then Elder Uemura called. He was real! It was just very strange!

I love you!

Elder Draper

ドレーパー長老