November 19, 2012

Hello Everyone!

My keyboard is having some problems, so I'm not going to be able to
write too much.

The mission is going, that is sure. We're still teaching a fair bit,
the main problem has been finding people who will progress. There
are so many people that need the gospel here, but don't know it.
Others know it, but can't come and take for various reasons. On the
other hand, we got the news that the search is officially on for a
building for a branch in Aibatin. Of course, that would be a group
first, and that could take months to find a building, but the wheels
are officially moving. Not sure if I'll still be here or not. Not sure
if I want to be or not. I'm told that starting a group is exciting,
but sooooooo much work. Calls for transfers will come this Sunday. Its
pretty much guaranteed that Elder Kiputa and I will be splitting up
somehow. I'd heard a rumor that I would be going into the mission
office, but that appears to be squashed, at least for the moment. I'm
pretty sure I'll become a senior companion next week, but I have no
idea where that will be. We are being told this transfer will be
very big. It has to be, with missionaries going home and 8-9 new
ones coming in. Oh yeah, the work is maybe going to slow down a
whole bunch  this next week. We've run out of copies of the Book of
Mormon to give to people, and some of the brochures too. There's no
way to know when the new books will be coming in. Could be tomorrow,
could be a month. I'm hoping it's closer to the former.

Thank you for the run down of people who got calls, it's always nice
to hear who's going where. Even if I wasn't ever huge friends with
them, it's still nice to know where they'll be when I get back. If you
find out for anyone else, make sure to let me know.

Yesterday we had a conference for the Cotonou district. This time
though, it was just held in one of the branch buildings. It was
packed, and there were no seats left over for the missionaries. So we
didn't really get to hear it, we had to flee outside.

You know, there were days when I thought that my circumstances were
hard, but at least I'm not Elder Ritchie. He's just about to finish
his training time, and he just lost the other American in his
apartment, so now it's just him and 3 Congolais. He wont be speaking
much English for the next 4 months, we'll say that at least. He'll
probably come out speaking pretty decent lingala though. I'm glad I've
never had to do that, but since almost every single apartment in the
mission is down to just 4 missionaries, it's almost certain that at
some point I'll be the only American in my apartment.

 So you want to know how much my taste buds have changed? The last few
days I've been craving beans and eggs. Thinking that means I need more
protein in my diet, but that never would have happened before the
mission. Side note, we've found a source of pretty reliable beef, so
that's started back into the diet a little (it's too expensive to do
too much). You have no idea how good beef tastes until you go about 5
months without.

Not really sure what I'll be doing for thanksgiving, thinking about
making mashed potatoes.

I'm wondering if the debit card popped out of the envelope like sd
cards sometimes do. I sent my usb drive back with Elder Bush, you
should be getting it in the next day or two. Yes I got the emailed
photos without problem. I'd like getting more, at least as long as I'm
using this cyber.

So we've been accidentally tripping the circuit breaker for a while
now, ironing is a problem. They finally sent someone in to look at it,
and they told us our current is just too low. We can only run the iron
and the fans at the same time if we unplug the fridge. All three at
once is just more current than we get. Oh well. At least we aren't
having water or power outages for the moment.

While we were at the district conference we ran into an American
family. He had served his mission in Cote D'Ivoire, and she's doing
something in the region with a Fulbright scholarship. So there you go.
Turns out sometimes you can come back. Don't know if I will be able to
though.

It's funny to hear that it warmed back up back at home, it never even
cooled down here.

I'm starting a project to read all of the standard works in French,

I'm assuming I'll learn a lot of new vocabulary in Deuteronomy and
Leviticus. We'll see, I've already read pretty much the entire Book of
Mormon in French, but not from start to finish.

Sorry, this week's letter was super short, I'll make sure to pick a
different computer next time.
 
Love you all lots, and I'm thankful for all your letters,
Elder Christensen
No seriously, love you
 
PS So are you excited to be out of Primary mom? or does it just make
you feel old?