Week 58!

Hello there Mother!!! 

  

The powder medicine is literally the worst medicine I think you could ever take. Why not just solidify it and make it into a pill? 私も分からない。 

  

It hasn't rained yet this week I don't recall. But boy it sure is getting cold quick over here! Summer is for sure gone now. Sweater season is upon us! I'm not sure yet though if we are allowed to just wear sweaters or if we have to be wearing a suit if we wear one. That's how it was with President Wada but President Warnick still hasn't decided.  

  

I don't remember like really ever knowing about the mission we lived in. Like what cities were in our mission (I'm talking about the Boise mission) or which missionaries were where. Here everybody the mission boundaries and which missionaries are where. It’s insane! The church in Japan is growing of course but there is no smaller world than the church in Japan. If you are Mormon and live in Japan, you know practically every other Mormon that lives in Japan. It's like how in Friends everybody assumed that Ross knew all divorced people because he was divorced too. But it’s true here! It's funny because Elder Hattanda's name is extremely rare. Like literally nobody has heard of it. People always without fail look at his name twice and gasp and then he says he is from Hokkaido and they say "OOOOH!" and they know his family. His family lives in Hokkaido, Ebetsu and he has family in Osaka and his sister served in Tokyo North Mission and now he is in the South mission. So his whole family has basically covered all of Japan haha. He is the only boy and has 6 sisters!  

  

(They went to Kofu last week which is a 3 hour drive one way ) The kofu sisters apartment is trash so Elder Hattanda found a new one and then us three drove up there and met with the landlord to make sure we wanted it. And we had to take pictures of any damage that was done by previous owners so when we move out again they can’t blame anything on us. It was good! We got there a bit early so we dendoed around the eki. We met an old man who showed us how he could do three fingered pushups! Then the elders made us dinner and then we left. We got home at 9:15 pm. We will go back next Thursday to actually move them. 

  

This week I have been trying to reduce the time it takes to do things in the office by experimenting with excel. The Assistants take about 30-45 minutes every Sunday night to update the mission stats. So I proposed a plan to make it faster to Elder Loftus, the Excel genius. Neither of us knew how to do it but he eventually found a formula and then yesterday I formatted the table with the formulas and now it’s basically all automatic and can be done in about 2 minutes! So that was fun. I've learned a ton! 

  

Elder Battaglia gave me a haircut a couple nights ago. He did really good! I don't trust myself to give haircuts yet.  

  

This week I have been studying the story of Alma and King Lamoni and then Aaron and King Lamoni's Father. I want to become like Ammon and Aaron. They taught with such power and simplicity. My goal this week is to teach families. They taught the father, so to speak, and then he, already having a large influence on many others, was able to share the gospel with them. I want to teach the dads and have them teach their families. Parents have a huge influence on their children. You guys have definitely had a large influence on me! Thank you for all you have done for me! 

  

Remember that there are opportunities to help others all along our way. Pause to help somebody else this week!  

  

I love you!!! 

  

Elder Draper