Menos de dos semanas mas

For those of you who don't know, Drake has less that two weeks left in the MTC! It's crazy how time passes so quickly. He says that his Spanish has improved tremendously and showed it by bearing his testimony in Spanish at the end of one of his hand-written letters. If I get the chance I'll put it and the translation up.

Dear Family,

We are all starting to get excited to head down to Argentina. We should get our flight plans on either Friday or Saturday. I hope our Visas have gone through. They should. When we head out we are allowed to call home in the airport. Do you still have the 1-800 number? If so, I don't remember it. Can you send it to me? That would be very much appreciated and could make things much easier on us. Yesterday, the older district left (all except 4 elders going to Mexico waiting for Visas) so we are the oldest now. It is kind of weird to think about that. Like I've said before, time doesn't exist. I know I'll be home in no time.

I've been thinking about how I can better share with my friends the Gospel and had an idea. Jessica, every week, in my email, I'll send a short sentence that you can put as my status on facebook. Also, you can open up a note and edit it each week to keep a record on facebook of all of these. You can name that note something like "Knowledge of Drake Ranquist." The first status message I would like to be "Drake Ranquist knows that God is our Father in Heaven and loves us immensely." Do you think that is a good idea? You and the rest of the family can answer any questions or discussions those messages create.

Oh, Dad, several of the guys in my zone really like your scripture holsters. It is a great joke. They want one. It doesn't hold my scriptures very well at all, but could be excellent for pass-along cards and such. I might use it, I might not. I'll find out in the field.

Thank you so much for the food and the letters. They are amazing. I love the Gardetto's, cheese sticks, crackers, and fruit snacks. And so does my roommates. We are quite communal with our food. I'll admit, them moreso than me. And greater thanks for the letters of Elder Gilmore. They really do give all of us a better idea of what to expect when we get out into the field. It is amazing that we could get them for our mission. That was a great idea to send them to me. My whole district will benefit.

Yesterday Elder Hinckley came and spoke (son of President Hinckley). One of my favorite things he said was a story about his father. A Sister asked him how we can face our difficult times and be happy all of the time. He related how Pres. Hinckley started to lose his hearing at the end of his life, so Elder Hinckley asked him, "What do you do in meetings when you can't hear?" Pres. Hinckley replied, "I fake it." There is so much truth in that statement. Happiness is a choice, so sometimes when we choose to be happy we fake it for a time and then it becomes part of us. The same goes for all of the attributes of Christ we try to develop. We say "I want to be more humble." So, we try to be more humble around others, we "fake it," and hopefully that attribute settles into us more and becomes apart of who we are.

I'm very glad Grandpa is doing better and that the family is doing well. That makes me quite happy.

Jonathan, I wish you my blessings with your "Spiritual Fast." It sounds difficult, but it sounds like a great idea. I know that when you sacrifice things to the Lord, the Lord desires to bless you with his whole heart. If you pray and make that commitment to sacrifice those things to the Lord, and you remain faithful to it, you'll be amazed with the blessings the Lord grants to you. First off, he'll give you more time to study for school, so you can do well there, and in study of the scriptures. Know that learning isn't easy (and it isn't as easy for me as you probably think.) I know that it takes a lot of work and diligence. But learning is one of the greatest gifts we have. But even greater than that gift is the gift of the Spirit. As you sacrifice to the Lord, the Spirit will be with you more, will teach you, comfort, and guide you. The Spirit is amazing. I love it. It doesn't come to you, you have to seek it. But when you do, it overwhelms you with joy. I'll pray for these blessings to be upon you as you fulfill your commitment to stay away from computer games, popular music, and popular TV for this month. I know the Lord has the power to grant these blessings to you as you are faithful.

And grandma and grandpa, thank you for the "missionary moment" and keep up the good work. Missionary work is scary, yes, but very rewarding. And I can't wait to face it head on, to be in the full service of the Lord.

Oh, another thing I've realized about myself as I've been here is how much happier I am after singing or humming a hymn. Music has so much power over me and over all of us. Any time I feel somewhat down, I hum a hymn to myself now and it fires me up again.

As always, I know the power that God has to benefit us. And I know that we have direct access to that power through prayer and through the priesthood. Seek his blessings and have faith in that power. I know where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going and I'm grateful I can share these simple truths to others. I know how important Christ is in the plan of salvation and I give glory to Him and our Father, to making "immortality and eternal life" possible for all of us.

With love,
Elder Drake Ranquist

Jonathan starts a spiritual fast tomorrow. A challenge that his whole seminary class is taking. They are to refrain from TV, computer, and music for a month, other than for church or school related things. We'll see how it goes. I'm glad that I have so many EFY and Young Women's cds to listen to in the car...I'm not going to lie, I would probably get annoyed if we had to listen to primary songs for a whole month! Good luck to him!

Drake said that he was going to send me a sentence every week to put up as his status on facebook. If I can, I want to keep a running tab on here as well. Let's see if I'm technologically competent or not and can figure out how.