Don't take expired cold medicine!

Heyyyyyy mom! 

  

It's a thunderstorm right now in Tokyo. I found a seat on the train and am trying to write my emails because I'm not sure if I'll have any time to write them later today. Also apparently this might not be my last Temple P Day. This one was later in the month because he Temple was closed for cleaning and that's why it was so late in the month. But people are saying that we'll probably go again in the beginning of August.  

  

Ya our investigator with the Aug 1 baptismal date is back in his home town now so we aren't able to meet for a while. We're going to have to move his date back but haven't decided to when yet. We were only meeting once a week and only for 20 minutes. Plus I've been sick all week so we had to cancel some appointments.  

  

How am I doing? Great! Now I'm feeling on top of the world! Or at least on the other side of it. This week however I was not feeling so hot. Last Monday I felt a sore throat coming on. Then it got way bad and hurt to swallow anything and it looked like strep throat. I had a fever too. Then I got some body aches. I went back to the doctor who said my eyes weren't yellow. Mistake number 1. Don't go back to the doctor who says your eyes aren't yellow when they obviously are. This time he said my throats wasn't red! にもかかわらず he did end up giving me some antibiotics. In Japan the dosage is really low so I was taking 36 pills a day for like 5 days. The pills made my stomach turn bad and then I got a cough. So right now I still have a sore throat but it's healed a lot, a bad stomach (what's new?) and a cough. He also gave me some medicine for my stomach. If you're going to have me go to the doctor in America I would prefer they were in Logan! Well at least the ones I may need follow up visits for! 

  

Thanks for he birthday wishes! I only have three P Days left not including this one. So for my birthday I'm going to have a normal P Day! Haha we've been doing a lot of sightseeing lately and honestly I've basically seen all of the places I've wanted to see in the mission. So I'm excited to just relax in good ole Hiratsuka. For my birthday I'll email and clean the apartment and maybe go see the shrine near the eki that I pass every day.  

  

So now I have Japanese, Yoga, Writing and we are still waiting on the communication class is that right? I only have four classes? I'm good with either talking to the teacher or taking a test for the Japanese class. If the written test involves writing in Japanese then I should try to avoid that one haha. I can write in Japanese but if all they saw was my writing in Japanese they might think I'm not as good as I am. Speaking is much better.  

  

So usually the missionaries who go home in a group get to have like a Life Skills Seminar and a testimony meeting with all the missionaries and dinner with president and they stay over at the mission home and then leave for the airport the next morning. But I'm the only one going home on August 11th so I didn't have any of those things in my itinerary. I was kind of bummed but I thought we'll I'm going home so that's ok. But then I got an email saying that I'm invited to do all of those things with the group that is returning on July 27th. So I'll go up to Kichijoji on the 27th of July and do all of the cool activities they have for us, spend the night there and then come home to Shonan after eating breakfast with everybody. Then on the 11th of August I'll go back to Kichijoji in the morning and get my finals interview with president Warnick then they'll take me to the Narita airport. 11 hours later I'll meet you all in Boise! You asked about dinner and what I want to do after the airport. Ya sushi would be fun! Sushi and a weenie roast. But sushi can get really expensive so if it's expensive I'm fine with just having the weenie roast. Also after the airport I would like to go home and get released and then get dinner.  

  

So ya this week I mainly spent my time sleeping. Oh by the way something I learned that may be helpful to some people out there. Don't take expired cold medicine. I did for two days. I took the night medicine and it destroyed me! I felt like I was floating around in a bubble like the whole day! I also had 0 motivation to move or do anything in the morning, I couldn't eat food, it made my head hurt worse, and it made me have this urge to shake my leg and I couldn't stop it. Haha it was a weird experience.  

  

Aside from sleeping I have found myself reading a lot of Isaiah a lot lately. My favorite thing that I learned this week was the first and second verses in Isaiah 55. It says, 

  

"1 Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 

2 Wherefore (why) do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness." 

  

Sometimes I find myself, like others I'm sure, spending my time thinking about or doing things that don't satisfy. Maybe for a moment but then it's gone and you are left feeling kind of empty again. I know that there is a way that we can find lasting satisfaction in life. Christ himself said "I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." If we will come unto Christ, we will never hunger. That doesn't mean we go out and cut off all relations with everything that isn't run or sponsored by the church, but it does mean that we need to make Christ and our Heavenly Father the highest priority in our lives. I know that if we seek to please God first in our lives, almost every other worthy pursuit will fall into place.  And we will be filled and happy.  

  

I love you all so much!  

  

Elder Draper  

  

ドレーパー長老