November 12, 2012

Hi Everyone,

Wow, that's a lot of snow. I think we got that much water in rain this
morning, but I wouldn't mind the snow. It hasn't really sunk in how
weird it is that the weather isn't going to cool down. Maybe once it's
Christmas and still 85 degrees I'll get it.

I actually did get a little sick this week. I came down with a 24 hr.
fever, nothing major. Really obnoxious though, we had a couple of
important rendez-vous that day. I'm feeling a lot better now, no
worries.

That is so awesome for Jacob. NYC Chinatown. I knew he was going

Chinese speaking, but I wasn't expecting New York. Lucky guy. It'll be
a different mission than mine, that's for sure. He'll do well though,
I have no doubt about it. 2 months isn't much time to prepare though,
have fun!

So funny story about the Christmas package. I noticed a few days ago
that there were bugs going in and out, and I said uh oh, that means
something is open in there. Turns out what happened is something bit
its way in while the box was sitting at the post office. Got into the
sock for my companion and found the lifesavers. The box was bitten
into and 3 of the lifesaver rolls were missing. I didn't have to go
through human customs, but rat customs always takes their fee,
apparently. Nothing else seems to have been touched though, as far as
I could tell. But I had to take out the rest of the life savers and
the candy canes and put them in a plastic baggy.

This week we ate out a lot at members houses. Which means I ate a lot
of spicy food this week. SPICY. I'll leave it at that. Also, one of
the only thinks I can't eat or drink here is the drink they make with
ginger. The kick at the end is way too strong.

This week we had a missionary activity at the branch. One of those
foot in the door, talk a little bit about Joseph Smith kind of things.
Brother Van Duyse (the Canadian) was talking about the build up to
Joseph Smith, he and I got into a tiny debate about some dates in
American history. Silly Canadian man. That activity ended up being
suuuper long. And walking back at the end we got accosted by some
drunk people. That was fun, they thought we were Jehovah's Witnesses
because I'm American, then when they learned we weren't they decided I
was actually Canadian. Because apparently Americans can not be
Jehovahs Witnesses, or something. The whole thing made me laugh.

Investigators are doing pretty well. The work is still going a little
bit slow with all the stuff going on. My companion had to go to a
leadership training meeting, which means that he will either be
training or district leader with this next transfer. He does not want
to train again. Training is hard here, we'll leave it at that. Elder
Kiputa is feeling a bit better, but he's still having problems. Went
back in to the hospital for another check up, apparently the infection
he had a month and a half ago came from his athletes foot we didn't
know he had. Also, he's got some sort of ball forming in his pelvic
region, kind of like the one they cut out of my first companion's
knee. For some reason President keeps giving me the companions with
things in them. None of it is really bad, but I can tell that it all
added together over the weeks is starting to get to him. No one likes
to be sick for a long time.

As far as teaching in church, I haven't had to do it yet. The
missionaries haven't even been giving talks until just recently. There
are enough members that know what they're doing here to get most
things done. Also being Junior companion helps.

Had to go into immigration this morning to renew my visa for the third
time. Cut it close this round, it was going to expire on Wednesday.
I've got that done now.

Tonight all the missionaries are gathering in Gbedjromede to watch
priesthood session. Hard to believe it's been six months already since
the last one. I remember how new everything still was last time.

No, the letter with the debit card still hasn't come. I'm wondering if
maybe it got lost in the mail system? What kind of envelope did you
use? Maybe it's like putting an SD card in a regular envelope.

It's actually just one of my shoes that is starting to wear out a bit.
And looking at that, I don't think it's actually as bad as I first
thought. I'm pretty sure I'll have to get a new pair at some point in
my mission, but that might not be as pressing as I thought it was. I
think I should be able to replace them here, I'll start asking around
about that. If not, I'll let you know.

I'm going to send home the USB drive with my photos with Elder Bush,
he leaves this Friday. That is, assuming he accepts, I haven't
actually talked to him about it yet. I don't imagine he'll refuse
though.

So we showed up late to an eating appointment at a members house, and
when we got there, they had found some church film on tv. Its the one
about the kid who has the modern day Alma the Younger experience. No
idea what it was doing on African TV. The world is a small place
though, media is a powerful tool.

Alright, Love you all,
Elder Christensen