February 24

Hey. This week has been awesome. I'm still in Tibás with the same companion. So at least i still have a little time to get used to the area before i get a new companion. Um i got my cast taken off!!!!!!!! Which feels super great to be able to walk again. It still hurts a little bit and is super stiff but oh well i'm just glad to be back to work. I love the members in this ward. Me and my companion have some huge plans that we're working on. Hopefully we should have 2 baptisms next week and maybe a couple more the week after that. Next week is stake conference and elder duncan and another member of the seventy are coming. I'm so stoked from it. Cause they have 2 meeting that we can go to and one of them will just be about missionary work!! Which is what we need so that we can get the help from all the members. one of the new missionaries is in our house with the district leader. He's from mississippi and he's super awesome. It's crazy to see how far i've come in my spanish now when i look at him. There is absolutely now way i couldn't have done it with out the help of the lord. I'm starting to realize everyday just how dependent we are on the Lord. I'm so grateful for all the help and guidance that he gives. Um not much happened this week other than i got back out to work. I have to take it a little slow and i can't play sports or run for like 3 months. So p days are going to be a little boring now. But ya i love you guys ton and hope that all is well. Thank you so much for everything.

Love Drake

February 17

Hey everyone!!! wow it is so nice to hear from everyone! This week has been pretty good not much new things happening but still pretty good. I was able to finish the newsletter and i think it looks pretty great but we'll see if Hna. Wilkinson likes it or not. My ankle is feeling great. I'm so stoked to get my cast taken off this thursday. I'm just so ready and excited to get out and work again. Apparently our area is killing it tight now so i'm so pumped to get back out there. That's awesome that ashton dominated in basketball this year and that he is starting up football again. If you guys can send me pictures of him in email or whatever that would be awesome. Yes they celebrate valentines day here. But ya Glad to hear that court is doing great in arbonne. She better have that mercedes before i get back so that we can go to an Eagle vs Bears game!! By the way if jon or ashtono could give me an update on the whole eagles situation that would be awesome. But ya awesome week. Um this week there are changes so it's super busy in the office so i don't have a ton of time to write. But ya i hope that me or my companion don't have changes. But i think one of us will because 28 new missionaries are coming so i think some people will be training. But ya that's pretty much it. Love you guys tons!!

Love Drake

February 10

Hey guys how's it going. This week has been pretty good but uneventful. My companion got a mini missionary as his companion last week then they sent me off to the mission home to be with the secretaries and the assistants. So every day i go to the office with them until 4 then i go back to the house with one of them and just chill out and do the samething the next day. But now sister wilkinson gave me an assignment so now i'm busy making the mission newsletter that they'll be sending out every changes so that's kinda nice to have something to keep me busy a little bit because it gets kinda of boring just sitting around all day. But it's been really nice to be here because it's really opened up my eyes to what mission work really means. President has had me watching the district videos from preach my gospel everyday. Which has helped so much. He's having me do this because in a mission presidents seminar a mission president talked about how there was a super successfull missionary and they asked why he was so succesfull and the missionsary said that he had broken his foot during his mission and his mission president had him watch these videos everyday over and over again. And he said that through that he really learned the concepts of the videos and applied them to his mission. So i'm just so stoked to get out in the field again because i really do feel like i'm learning so much right now. I just can't wait to get back and apply all that i'm learning and actually become the missionary that god wants me to be. 

But ya the taxi company doesn't really have a lost and found. And actually a lot of the taxi drivers here are illegal and aren't part of a company so they said it's basically impossible to find my shoe. So i think i'll just buy some here because i saw an elder here in the office with some shoes that he had bought here in the m ission and they looked pretty good to me. My ankle is still a little sore but it's alright. It's not as sore as my armpits are from the crutches hahah. But i'm doing good. But ya thanks for the letters of Drew and Taylor it's nice to see how they're doing and all. But ya thanks so much guys. Sorry i don't have any pictures again this week i'll try to get some next week i promise. Love you guys.

February 4, 2013

Hey guys!! This week has definitely been one of the most interesting weeks. I'll just start off with the fact that i hurt my ankle playing basketball and i thought it was broken because it was super swollen. So we went to the hospital to get it x-rayed with hermana puckett( the mission nurse). And good news is that it was broken!! it's just a 2nd grade sprain. But i streched the ligament a ton so i have to have a cast on my leg untill feb. 21 so i have to walk around with crutches now. But i'm just super grateful that it wasn't anything worse. But ya now the really bad news. when we were coming back from the hospital my companion had my shoe and he left it in the taxi when we got out of the car. and by the time we got in the house and i remembered the taxi was long gone. So at least i have the right shoe but not the left. But thankgoodness i have my other pair there just not quite as comfortable but oh well. So anyways we havn't been able to leave the house this week because the doctor doesn't want me to move around a ton be cause he doesn't want me to strain it. And it would be tough to go to our area anyways because it's about 20 minutes of speed walking from our house so ya. So it's been a super boring week doing nothing. We're just waiting for president to find a mini missionary to be with my companion untill i'm better then it will be back to normal. But ya that's what happened this week. Um i had photos of the hospital but the internet cafe here in tibas is horrible so i can't send them but i'll try to figure out a solution next week. But ya i just want you guys to know that everything is fine and that i'm alright so there is no need to worry(mom);). BUt thank you guys so much for always writing me and the support that you guys have given me. You guys are seriously the best family in the world! I love you guys tons!!

Love Drake

P.S. Um the sd card should just be a normal one that works for that camera. haha sorry i don't know which one. But you should call courtnee and ask her which one she used for it because it was her camera. Also my password for hotmail is 11108044. And if you guys could get this from courtnee i'm not sure if you can but i would love to have the p90x insanity workout videos that she has so i can workout in the morning. um but ya that's all thanks again. Love you GUys.

January 27

Hey guys another great week!! I am just starting to love Tibás even more every single day. It is seriously the best area here in Costa Rica. I don't eat fast food a ton here because it's super expensive and because i have a ton of food haha. But guess what the walmart opened up here and they had a huge grand opening with a bunch of cheap food and stuff. But i have yet to find Dr. Pepper here in Costa Rica although a ton of elders have told me that there are some here. But oh well. We still don't have someone to wash our clothes but next week we're almost positive that we'll have someone. it's crazy the difference here in the work. We're so much more successful here than in Cañas. We have about 24 lessons every week here and iun cañas we had about 12. The people here are just so much more receptive and the members love to help us. We have a family that could be baptized this saturday just that he has to divorce his wife that he had before but she doesn't want to give him the divorce so we have to wait while they take care of legal issues but they are so sweet.  
Oh ya i have to teach english classes every tuesday and saturday now. Which is super stressful for me but thankgoodness i have some members to help out that know english because my companion doesn't know any. We're hoping that we'll be able to get some new investigators through this because we have flyers throughout all the city and handouts so we'll see how it goes. But ya um i need a memory card for the new camera because mine don't fit in this one so that would be awesome if you guys could send me one. Also i would love to have some photos with me and my friends if you can find some or print off some. And also some photos of the snow or of mi skiing. But ya i have to go sorry that i don't have any photos this week but i can't walk around here with my camera. Love you guys and miss you tons.
Love Drake

January 20

Hey guys this last week was super cool! The family who got robbed were doing great wheni left and i'm sure that there still doing awesome becuase they are so strong in the faith. But ya anyways i had changes this last week!!! I was kinda bummed out toleave cañas but when i got to my new area i was totally chill with it! I am now currently in Tibás which is just a 15 minute bus ride out of downtown san josé. It's super awesome here because i'm not dying of heat everyday and the members and bishop are awesome and so helpful. It's like 60 to65 degrees here everyday and at night it's niceand cold!! So thanks mom so mu8ch for the blanket because i would be miserable with out it haha. But ya i got my packages and thank you so much for everything you guys are the best! It was so awesome to have to unwrap every single piece of candy haha it felt a lot like christmas just 2 weeks late haha:) But ya when i got here to Tibás i had an awesome surprise. This last weekend we got to baptize a family!!!! And i was so stoked to send you pictures but when i got here i tried to use this usb thing for the memory cards and when i put it in i found out that it doesn't work:( But i promise that i'll send you guys photos next week of it so now worries! But i'm loving it here so far i feel like i could just be here my whole mission! Our house is super nice the ward is awesome and we have a Mcdonalds, Subway, Burgerking, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Walmart, and Pricemart(which is Costa Rica's version of a Costco)! And everything here is so much cheaper than in cañas. The only thing that's not good is that we don't have a cook for lunch and we don't have someone to wash our clothes. So this week will be the first week i've ever washed my clothes by hand whooo!! But we're looking for someone to wash our clothes for us so hopefully this week we'll have someone. But ya my companion is Elder Funez from Honduras( 3 out of my first four companions are from Honduras now) and he is super awesome and chill. I feel like we're going to have a lot of success together. Ya but anyways that's pretty much it.... I love you guys and thanks so much for the packages and all the support and i look forward to talking to you guys next week!!
Love Drake

January 13

Hey guys! This week went by super fast for me as well. Wednesday we had a district meeting and our zone leaders said that we had to look for another house because 2 sister missionaries are going to come to cañas next week. then friday we had to leave at 12 to go to san jose for interviews with president which wass super cool. Then saturday we had our meeting with elder christoferson which wow was so awesome. First we had a photo taken as a whole mission(which i believe i'll have next week to send to you guys) then we took a photo with Elder cristoferson, elder maynes, elder martino, and another elder of the quorum of the 70 and all there wives. Elder Christoferson, Elder Maynes, and their wives all gave talks. It was really centered on faith and love in doing the work of the lord. Then we got to ask Elder Christoferson questions for a hour. But all in all it was an awesome week until yesterday night. When we went to Hermana Grace and Hermana Zeidy's house to visit them because they're my favorites and i wanted to see them before changes wednesday. But anyways we got to there house and were waiting outside for 5 minutes when they arrived in a taxi and they went to open the door and they noticed that something was wrong with there window so they were afraid to open the door so i opened for them and when we went in we found out that they had been robbed. It was the saddest and worst experience i've had in my life i didn't know what to do. They're the sweetest people and they're already super poor. But i know that God has a purpose in all things and that if theycan just push through this challenge that they will be blessed more than they were before. So tonight we're going to go over to their house and read some scriptures with them and give them a blessing of comfort because they're both a little shaken up.
But anyways i'm glad to hear that all is going well. It's awesome to hear about taylor. Can you ask his mom if he's recieved my letter yet. but ya everything is going great here i'll find out tomorrow morning if i have changes so next week i'll let you know where i'm at or if i'm still here in cañas.
Love Drake

January 7, 2013

Hey Guys!!!! This week has been Great!! New Years eve was fun!! We were with the family of Hermana Grace and Hermana Zeidy. These are some pictures of that night and the Rice Krispy treats i made. But new years day was like we were living in a Ghost Town. There was no one at all in the streets or in their houses. Because everyone goes to the river or the beach on new years here. 

 This week we had about 3 new investigators and we have 7 that are looking really good and are progressing awesome i just hope that they will continue to be strong and complete our challenges. we're getting a pretty good amount of lessons but we'd always like to have some more haha.

BUt ya i'm super jealous that you guys are freezing your buns off. I miss Idaho weather so much! Because everyday it's the same thing 80 degrees and super windy hahal. But oh well i guess i can live with it.;) 

Super stoked for the meeting that we have with Elder Christoferson this Saturday. I should also get my packages this day but we'll see what happens. Then next monday night i'll know if i have changes. which i hope i don't have because i really want to be here for our investigators that we have and ahh i don't want to leave some of the members here because there my family now and it will just be super sad when i have to leave them.

But ya i'll let you guys know how San José goes next week. I love you guys and i hope that you guys have a great week.

Drake

December 30, 2012

Hey everyone was super great to be able to talk to you guys this week. Christmas here was definately different here. It was actually super boring because nobody was in there houses they had all gone to the beaches and stuff like that. We only went to some farm for lunch and then walked around Cañas for 3 hours until our next appointment. And there was no one in the streets and when we tried contacting houses no one would open there door. So ya it was pretty boring but its chill. Christmas eve was cool tho we went to a members house and we had cake and chilled out and they had presents for us which had a new tie and a bunch of candy and a mug but it was super sweet of them to do that for us. But wow i can't believe how many people are leaving for missions now its just so crazy. I'm so glad that you guys got some PMG manuals and that you guys are going to use that every FHE it will prepare her so much for a mission. I'm glad to hear that Blake is doing well i hope that BYUI will help him out. Ah i don't really have much to say other that that really sucks about the eagles ahh that's so horrible but oh well at least i wasn't there for this season. But Thank you so much for sending me that book. I actually have an idea on packages because what this one Elder's family does i super awesome i thought. Every 2 changes or every 12 weeks they send him a package for of heygine( wow i don't remember how to spell heygine haha how scary.) stuff with like shaving cream tooth brush tooth paste deodorant body wash shampoo stuff like that because all that stuff here is super expensive. Also i thought you weren't going to send the package right now but no worries just that there were some other books i wanted. The Doctrine of salvation edited by Bruce R Mconkie the three volumes and Believing in Christ by a professor from BYU i believe his last name is Stephenson but i'm not sure. But anyways sorry i don't have pictures this week because i forgot my connecter thing but i promis i'll have like double next week. I love you guys tons and miss you and the Snow so much.

December 2, 2012

Hey guys how's it going. This week was great as usual a little boring but great. We didn't really do much because we were in San Jose for two days. But the temple was awesome we got to do baptisms and confirm everyone then we went through a session. I thought for sure that i wouldn't understand any of it but i actually understood almost all of it. It was such a spiritual experience. How many missionaries do we have out now in our ward? It feels like there is a ton. We always have to go to San Jose for changes so i'm headed there tomorrow but we have changes on Wednesday this week for some reason. But i don't believe that i have a change because then there would be no one to teach the area to the new missionaries here. But we'll find out tomorrow morning. But ya everything is going great and i love you guys tons. Here are some photos of our zone at the temple and me eating pizza, at a river with some member and a log that i carrie for a kilometer for a service project. Love you guys. Talk to you next week.