September 10, 2012

Howdy from Fidjrossé!

I spent my first few hours in the new apartment trying to figure out
what seemed familiar about it. I finally decided it felt like Keokuk.
I don't really know why, but that really explains exactly what it
feels like. I'm not actually in Fidjrossé proper, there was a
miscommunication there. I'm in the new apartment at AÏbatin. It's a
bit of a jump to go from the oldest apartment to the newest. Lots of
missionaries have left nifty things behind at Gbedjromede, but the only
people that have moved out of this apartment are the two that left
this week. There is a missionary being trained in this apartment, but
he came from Cote d'ivoire. My companion Elder Kiputa is great. He's
really chill and we get along well. I can tell that I'm going to learn
a lot from him. He actually is planning writing you mom, so just run
that through google translate. Also, there is at least half odds that
when he gets transferred, I will stay here and train a new missionary.
I don't know how I feel about that. Of course, I'll probably be around
my year mark at that point. I can't even begin to comprehend that.

As far as last minute requests go, I could use another little tub of
hair gel/paste. I gave one of mine to Elder Terranova so he could
finish out the mission (he's the only other American who grows his
hair out). I honestly think I have enough deodorant to last the entire
mission. I'm still only using my second stick.

Have I mentioned that it's kind of weird to know people started at BYU
with me who are now working on their third year of classes? That's
weird. I'm old. Also, I have no idea why my laptop would have just
given up and died like that. Weird. Oh well, I won't be able to have
an internet addiction when I get back.

My companion and I have both been having a little bit of illness these
last few days. Did you know that it’s possible to have a fever of 101°
for less than 6 hours? That surprised me. I'm feeling pretty good for
right now, but I think we're going to have to see a doctor this week
for my companion. We'll see.

The work goes here, but it's a little slow at the moment. We are the
apartment that is about 20 minutes away from the church. The goal is
that we'll baptize enough people to make a branch here. But we've just
started, so there aren't really that many people yet. We're working on
it though. The good news is that I already know a fair portion of the
branch here. Sometimes starting in the branch that hosts every baptism
and every priesthood training session has its benefits.  Fidjrossé is
a good branch, I'm excited to work here.

Fidjrossé is one of the branches that has been created in the last
year and a half, almost every single member is still a recent convert.
Except of course for the Van Duyse family. It makes me laugh that my
mtc companions are in Canada, and I'm in the sole branch that has a
Canadian family. (http://www.vanduyse.ca/)

I don't feel like I've actually written that much that is important
this week, but that's partly because I can't really tell you what
important things have happened this week.
Fun story. I've been seeing green water bottles everywhere, and I
always wondered what was different about them. I kind of assumed it
was just a recycling thing. Or maybe it's carbonated water. I've been
looking at the missing ingredient for root beer straight in the face for
3 months now. Don't I feel smart.

I hope school is going well, and I love you all
Elder Christensen