Thursday, March 19, 2015

But wait!!! There's more! A trip to a LEGO exhibit!!

Drake and Elder Fotu were in Bydgoszcz for 3 days -- which just HAPPENED to be when the Kagele Family gave the missionaries a treat they'll never forget!  And in true Kelley Kagele fashion, she not only spoiled the missionaries, but she took many many pictures to chronicle the experience.  Thank you, Kelley!

Eating out with the Kagele Family
Kelley Kagele always takes good care of the missionaries in Bydgoszcz -- what a blessing!

I'm not sure what restaurant this was, but it had Nutella pancakes on the menu!


Kelley said that this Lego Exhibit was in town for a month and she managed 
to score some crazy cheap tickets so they could all go!
Reliving their Lego building days as kids, I'm sure!
Big smiles!
Taking a closer look
None other than the Titanic!
Can you imagine how long that would take to build?
And it wouldn't truly be the Titanic if Jack & Rose weren't flying from the bow 
(as much as Lego people can make their little yellow arms fly).
VW Camper Van!
Isn't that piano just grand?  :)
The Bialy Dom in Waszyngton -- I'll have to have Drake pronounce that for me when he gets home :)
Totally captivated
Pleased as punch!
Warsaw Cultural Palace
Taj Mahal
Eiffel Tower
Trains
Planes
Automobiles
Everyone's favorite -- Star Wars!
Up close, the Jedi master is!
Indiana Jones -- way cool!

Monday, March 16, 2015

Last Letter Home w/Many Pictures of Life on the Road

Elder Fotu and I on a bus

Dear Mom,

Yeah, this is my last emailing P-Day.  I will be getting ready to leave. I think the Edgrens are going to take me out to dinner. It's going to be fun and special.

Yeah, it's going to be fun to have the Edgrens so close. (They are from Danville -- just an hour away from our home).

That's cool that the Youth Conference thing went well.

Yeah, I know all of those people at Elder Wolfley's homecoming.  MAN, Elder Finch's hair is crazy!! haha
A lot of missionaries go home and keep their hair all Euro style and stuff.
It's fun having this hair sometimes.
but... i miss my old hair! -- hahaha
I certainly want to grow it out when I get home -- haha
It's more fun having it long. Having short hair is kind of boring.

It's weird.  Right now I am in Bydgoszcz. We just got here like an hour ago by train from Poznań. It was great getting to go to Poznań. I got to see Darek and Bożena and Maciej. I gave a talk in church. It was so surreal to go back there. It felt like I had been gone for so long. But at the same time, it felt like I was just there.

Now, being in Bydgoszcz is even weirder. It was my first area. I still remember my first days here.
So coming back here for the first time... it's really trippy
It feels like I am walking in a dream. And my trainee transfer seems SOOO long ago. It feels like forever ago that I was here.
When I walked into the chapel... it felt like it was so long ago that I was there. Really weird.
Strange stuff.

Hey do you know when my flight home is? I think I have the intinerary. but do you know when I am coming in?
That would probably be important that you know that... haha
who will be at the airport?

Mom, thank you so much for being such a support for me while I have been here on my mission. With all the letters, emails, and packages. You've helped a lot. Thank you.

I love you, Mom.
I'll see you soon!

Love,
Drake  
Lublin -- I went on exchanges with Elder Owens at the far right
With Elder Garcia after being out in a snow storm
 -- my hair is all wet
Kielce missionaries
Teaching Polish to the missionaries in Katowice
(as only Starszy Allen can; he has an amazing gift for teaching and for learning languages)
Katowice missionaries
Wroclaw Missionaries
Łódż missionaries
Szczecin missionaries
(There's a shortage of senior missionaries in Poland,
so this is nice to see that Szczecin has a senior couple).
Back with Elder Wilcox and the elders in Poznań
Bożena in Poznań
The Dynamic Duo
Warsaw Missionaries
Elder Jones (bottom right right) went on exchanges with Elder Fotu 
I went on exchanges with Elder Garrett (bottom right, on the left)
Elder Campora (bottom left on the right) was roommates with Will Sutherland at BYU
(Will is one of Drake's very best friends from Redding; I just happened to be in Utah last April when Will opened his mission call and I asked all the boys in the room where they were going on their missions.  When Dominik Campora said "Poland," I just about fell over and spent a good 5 minutes just talking to him all excitedly about it before I moved on to the next boy :) )

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Bye Bye Krakow

Drake only has 9 more days left on his mission.  He sent these photos last week of some dear friends in Krakow:

Tim Tudor-Hart
Romek Brukwicki
Łukasz Jabłoński
Jan Ćwiertnia
Klaudia Matysiak
Ania Mucha
Stanisław Dziubla
The Fahey Family
the Strobel Family
Marcin Kapcia
(at the Uchtorf conference last year)
the Onken Family
the Pawlik Family
This is a remake of the first picture that was ever taken of me in Poland