Just before Christmas . . .

This photo is from Sister Edgren's Instagram -- 
thought I'd add it since Drake wasn't able to upload one
 -- taken at their Zone Christmas Party

Ok ok ok

For some reason my camera is not connecting to the computer!! AAHH!

I wanted to send a picture of my christmas tree. haha

it looks like the one on the charlie brown movie

It's a little tiny one that I bought on the street for like 15 złotych

It's a real tree

But I forgot to water it for a while
so it shed, sheded? shedded? sheddedded? dang

I don't know how to speak English anymore

anyway... it lost a lot of pine needles and so it is all super barren and twiggy

But I still put ornaments and colored christmas lights on it
so it's ok

Christmas morning, I am going take my presents out of the package and put them under the tree and open them

yay!

And then we are going to hang out at the Sheley's house during the day, then set up the chapel for Zone Conference the next day, and then talk to you on the phone! :) yay! :)

By the way, did you wrap up all the presents that I sent home and put them under the tree? If so, then please take a picture and send it!

and make sure to take pictures of people opening up my presents to them! :)

I am excited for Christmas, excited for Zone Conference, and super excited to talk to you in just 2 days! :)

Talk to you soon! :)

Love,

Drake

Where's the snow?

the snow all melted (and I got a new hair cut)

Dear Mom,

So, the snow all melted. Sad story. That made me very sad. I like the snow and it sounds like it might not come back! What's the point of it being so cold with no snow!!

Missionary Work update:

We have one investigator. Ziemowit. He has been investigating for a very long time now. And he has just been so busy lately. But he came to church and we met with him afterwards. He has a goal to finish the Book of Mormon by the end of the year.

We have been doing a lot more tracting these last couple weeks. Because it gets dark at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and it's cold. So there is like no one on the streets at night. So tracting like never works. And I have never gotten let in tracting my whole entire mission... until yesterday!!!

We have been doing caroling tracting with the sisters (I play the ukulele) and yesterday we finally got let in! The sisters have another meeting with her next week.

I gave a talk yesterday.  It was on the life of Christ and how we need to become more like him. :)

Oh! And yesterday, I played the PIANO during a musical number in Sacrament Meeting where the sisters sang. What? Me? Piano?? I know right. I just cheated and did chords like I usually do.

We're getting pretty close to Christmas! :) Get my presents to people under the tree!! :)

Is Terra home? When is she coming home?

Love,

Elder Drake Allen

LEGOs!!!  I open up a new one every after daily planning in the evening! :)

P.S from Renee (I sent Drake this Lego Advent Calendar as an early birthday present.  He gets to build a tiny Star Wars character or ship every day till Christmas!)

Mostly Photos of the Snow

snowy snowy

out our window

panoramas

(you can click on these photos to make them full size)

Sister Sheley taught me how to make creamed eggs on toast.

It's good!

Drake -- Happy Birthday James!

Happy Birthday James -- from the library!

Another "selfie" that Elder Peacock didn't enjoy as much :)

Dear Mom,

Elder Peacock's friend who is a missionary sent him a email that said:

"If you play half game, you still get a whole snowcone! That means that even though you might only have half of the investigators as the rest of the missionaries in the world, you still get all the blessings of missionary work! :) "

That is SO crazy that James got turtles!!!! Haha :) That's so funny. Do they have names? Can you send a picture of him with them? So Dad was ok with him getting pets? How long will those turtles live? Where is the aquarium? What does he feed them?  Tell me that one of them's name is Squirtle!!! Haha 

James was still in bed when Drake wrote on Monday, but it was his birthday, so he was anxious to have the day begin.  When I asked him if he wanted to show Drake his new turtles, he jumped up and posed for a few pics I took with my phone to quickly email to Drake.

You can see one of the turtles swimming on the left

In the picture that you sent me of James blowing out the birthday pizza candles I could see some plates on the fireplace mantle. Are either of those the Polish Pottery plate that I sent you from Bydgoszcz?

I am going to try to send home some presents for Christmas this week. You already have Racer's, right? I hope they get there on time. If not... they will be New Years presents... for everybody else on my birthday. Haha.

It snowed yesterday but didn't stick. But I think it is supposed to snow again this week.

We have an exchange with the APs (Assistants to the Mission President) this week. Pretty crazy. The APs right now are Wilson and Neuner. I was with Wilson in Bydgoszcz my first transfer. I will tell Elder Neuner about the Elder who was/is serving in Santa Cruz who knows him. Seelos, I think.

Did Dad call Grandpa and tell him about the Funeral?

That's so crazy that Collin got married! Tell him congratulations from me! Also, does he know that KayLee is serving in the same mission as he did? She actually leaves to New Jersey today I think!  Is his wife from another country?

Oh, and what was Lexie dressed up as for Halloween? In the white dress and with the London teddy bear?

Oh, and do you think that you could send me the weather forcast for the week in Poznań every week? Just like send it on Sunday so that I can get it on Monday.

Tell James Happy Birthday from me! :)

Huh, will this be the first Christmas in our family without the whole family being there?

Well, I guess I will be there by telephone! :)

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!  Are you guys going anywhere or having any guests?

We are having a branch Thanksgiving dinner. They don't have Thanksgiving in Poland. So we are sharing that with them! :) The Sheley's are going to make a full thanksgiving FEAST! :) yay!

Love,

Elder Drake Allen

Drake -- Funeral in a Tiny Village in the Middle of Nowhere

Elder Peacock doesn't like his picture taken

But here he is!

Dear Mom,

You are probably wondering what the subject of this email is all about!

So on Tuesday we got a phone call and I talked to a lady who works at a rest home in a tiny village called Lisków in the country almost 2 hours away from Poznań. She told me that a man named Jerzy had died that very day and was a member of our church and before he died, had requested that he had a Mormon funeral. There are not any other Mormons in that town (or anywhere nearby) so she had no idea how to run a funeral "Mormon style."  So she got a hold of the office and then us and asked if we could come down to the funeral to do a Mormon funeral for him. 

So the next day, when President Edgren was in Poznań for Zone Training, we talked to him about what we should do. He said that from a mission president stand point, it would be a lot of lost hours for missionary work and would take up a whole day, but from the stand point of the leader of the church in Poland, it would be the right thing to do to help fulfill the request of a member of our church who had died.  So he told us we should go. He told me that I would be the speaker at the funeral and that Elder Peacock would dedicate the grave. 

Cemetery

So on Friday, we drove with the Sheley's down to this tiny little village on old country roads. We met at the rest home and met the staff and Jerzy's daughter, his only family. Then we headed over to this tiny funeral chapel next to a church. In was a cold little chapel with a few rows of church prayer pews. The only people there were a few members of the staff, a few old friends from the rest home, a Catholic Priest, the morticians, and 4 Mormon Missionaries. A total of maybe 15 people. Elder Sheley conducted. There was no piano in the chapel, so I played the guitar as the opening hymn and sang "I Need Thee Every Hour" in Polish. Then I gave my talk. I talked about the Plan of Salvation, the Atonement, and the Resurrection. I read scriptures from out of the Bible and the Book of Mormon. After my talk, for a closing hymn, I played and sang "Nearer My God to Thee" in Polish. 

Chapel in Lisków

Then we left the chapel and walked behind the hearse on the street to the cemetery through this tiny old Polish town. We got to the cemetary and Jerzy was buried and Elder Peacock dedicated the grave. Then we returned back to the rest home and thanked the staff for everything. They asked us lots of questions about who we are, what our religion is like, etc. Elder Peacock and I taught them about the Book of Mormon and the Restoration and left them with a Book of Mormon. Then we journeyed back home. We stopped at a little restaurant in that town and ordered burgers. They were the equivalent of about 2 dollars but they were HUGE. I'll send a picture. Anyway, that was a really neat experience that I will never forget.

I couldn't help feeling that perhaps Grandpa Allen would be proud of me for helping with a funeral and speaking at it. Maybe you can share this story with him.

Walking in the funeral procession

I got one package from Amazon that is not wrapped, but the sisters looked inside and said it's probably a Christmas present. Is that one from you or grandma? Should I open it now or on Christmas?

I have worn the gloves, but for now I just keep my hands in my pockets a lot. I think I will probably be fine for now with my coat. I have two. The one that Elder Harris gave me (the one I am wearing in this picture) and the London Fog one I bought in America. So, if it gets really cold, I can probably just wear both because the London Fog one is bigger. So maybe I'll try that.

Giant burger

April and Jeff have a Japanese foreign exchange student? Do Steve or Jeff talk to her in Japanese?

Can you send me a weather forecast for Poznan next week! :)

Cold

I'll send some pictures.

Love,

Elder Drake Allen

From last transfer

Drake -- It's Getting Colder

It's definitely getting colder!!

Dear Mom,

I think that subject line could be the same for a while.    It's already getting super chilly and it's only the beginning of November! There are super icy cold winds that freeze you to the core. Haha. I feel my soul shivering! And it's not even that cold yet! AH!

Lots of layers. And wraping Dad's Germany scarf around my face and neck multiple times to keep my face from falling off. Ah!

Well, it's the beginning of a new transfer. It doesn't really feel like one that much because it's the same companion and place so nothing really has changed. Sister Bown went to another city called Wrocław and Sister Lidtka came back to Poznań. She's from my MTC group, so that's super fun. She was trained here and now she is back.

Here's our district from the last transfer

Elder Harris is training again. He has a new little trainee. Which kind of makes me sad! haha, I feel like a little kid who doesn't want a new little brother because then the attention will go to him. Hahaha. Elder Harris and I have a super good friendship. He is so fun and I miss him a lot. But we email all the time.

We have Zone Training tomorrow.  So I get to see Elder Vernon because he is coming down from Szczecin. Yay! Also Sister Barth from my group will be there with her new trainee!

Oh, I don't know if I told you this, but President Edgren said that like halfway through the transfer I am going to become District Leader.

Something funny happened this week. We were doing a our music table thing that we do on the bridge. And this crazy drunk guy came up. He was nice and funny but super drunk. He kept coming back to the table to kiss the sisters' hands. Then they would put on hand sanitizer afterwards and then he would come back and kiss them again! It was so funny. Haha. As he was kissing Sister Ott's hand for like the 3rd time she was like, "Nooo...! I just put hand sanitizer on again!!" haha

So I had to lead him away and it was fun. I put my arm around him and said, "Let's go this way!" Then we got to a bike on the sidewalk and I asked him, "Is this your bike?" And he said, "Yes! This is my bike!" (It wasn't his bike...) Then I said, "Oh! It's beautiful! What's its' name?" And he answered, "It's a bike! So it's name is Bike!" And I said, "Oh! How very fitting!" haha. Then we walked further away from the table down the street and I asked him, "So what's your favorite color?" and he said, "Not red!" then we kept walking and I said, "Ok! Now you go that way! Good bye!" And he was like, "Ok! Bye bye!" hahaha

it was so funny.

Oh that's reminds me!  Did you look up the website when we were in the news? 

A reporter lady did a little story about us missionaries online on a news website!!

She took pictures of us playing music and talking to people on the bridge!~

Here is the link!!

poznan.naszemiasto.pl/tag/poznan-mormoni.html

click on the top link with the pictures!!

You can translate it into English through google translate if you want!

It doesn't translate that well though.

It says that we are "agitating", but it is supposed to mean, "advocating or advertising" :)

On the bridge -- meeting people as they pass by

Having fun playing the ukulele or as the article says "Boy plays guitar"  :)

That is SOOO cool about Elder Haddock!!!!!!!

MAN! We were REALLY good friends with the Bulgarian elders.  And Elder Haddock was in the dorm room right next to mine.  That's so cool because I was talking to him and said, "Elder Haddock, when you go to Bulgaria. You need to find your mom and baptize her! And he was like, "I sure hope so! That would be so cool!"

Haha

That is so crazy that Elder Mikołyski and Manwill are home.

Elder Mikołyski was the first missionary I met here in Poland.

I emailed Taylor. He is soooo funny! haha.

Love,

Elder Drake Allen

P.S.  from Renee -- I'll have to fill you in on the Elder Haddock story -- for now, here's a photo of him from the MTC.   He's serving in Bulgaria now, but was in Drake's MTC zone. And he's on the cover of the October 2013  New Era magazine.

Elder Haddock is in the middle in the MTC cafeteria

Elder Haddock on the right teaching in Bulgaria

Drake -- Many MORE photos

Dear Mom -- 

Lots of stuff happened this week and I have lots of pictures.

So instead of sending one long email, I am going to send lots of pictures with the stories and explanations that go with them.

Photography Merit Badge -- Who got that badge?  I did!  :)

Fuzzy warm hat bought in Poland

All Saints Day

This is like the Day of The Dead

They decorate all of the graves and the whole cemetery is all glowy

lots of pictures

We did this for culture night

Monument at the graveyard -- creepy

Cool candles

Military Cemetery

Looks like stars

Elder Peacock and I dressed up as each other for Halloween!

We switched coats, scarves, hats, glasses, ties, bags, nametags and even heights!

This is the death camp in Poznań.  It is called Fort 7.

The man in the middle is Marian. He is a member of our branch and gave us a tour of the camp.

The Sister Missionaries were there, as well.

Gas Chambers at Fort 7

The Nazis killed lots of Poles, Jews, and mentally-ill people here.

They actually said that Fort 7 here in Poznań

 was the first Nazi Death Camp in Poland.

We went to a WW2 Concentration Camp with week.

The Nazis tortured and killed thousands of Polish people here.  These are the Stairs of Death. It was a form of torture.

The Nazis would put something super super heavy on a persons back and force them to run up and down the stairs. They would also throw people down the stairs to torture them.

Deptak -- This is the pedestrian Zone in Poznań

Just me

Me and Elder Peacock

Cool Sky

Rynek at night (ghosts running behind me :) )

Street at night

Painting an old lady's house.

We took turns painting because there weren't enough paintbrushes.

So I played the guitar when it wasn't my turn!  :)