February 18, 2013

Hello Family and Friends,

 This week was a crazy week, like all of the others. I heard another
rumor that I would be transferred. This one claimed to be from a more
reliable source than the others. Turns out it was true. Next week I'll
be writing you from back in Benin. I'm going into the mission office.
I'll be working with Elder Burkhart and Elder Tshizanga. I'm not sure
what president is thinking putting me and Elder Burkhart together in
the same apartment for a third time. It can't be a coincidence. The
only bad news is that I have no idea how much time I'll be in the
office. If I'm really supposed to be an office missionary, I could be
there 6-8 months. If I'm just there on hold for numbers to change, I
could only spend a few weeks. I guess we'll see. At least it'll give
my shoes a break. I'm still laughing about it though because I only
ever did one Togo visa, while at least one if not two of the Elders in
my wave are still going to be in Togo ever since the beginning.

Valentines day was uneventful for me. The only thing I saw is that all
the little clothing shops had all their red clothes out, and the women
walking around with stuff for sale had lots of fake roses. But nothing
more than that. I honestly didn't think much about it, thankfully I've
never really needed to celebrate holidays. Otherwise I might end up
doing something stupid.

I've never really had to deal with getting people married. I've never
really had investigators that wanted to get baptized that needed to be
married. Here in Togo the cultural marriages are recognized, so it
isn't as much of a problem. Going back to Benin I could run into it
though. I know some Elders have done it a lot.

I'm sad I don't get to spend more time with Elder Gnenenon. He's a
really great Elder. Also probably knows more about American TV than I
do. We had a lot of fun these last two weeks. That being said, the
work was hard too. But overall it was a good experience. I've been
really blessed to have fully competent junior companions. Hmm, I think
I'll be junior companion again going into the mission office.
Interesting.

Elder Cline goes home in a month. Since I'll be in the mission office,
there's a chance I'll help send him off at the airport. Also, I'll get
to see all the brand new Elders coming in. I still remember that day
very vividly.

I don't know if I will train now. Most missionaries in this mission
train. My trainer has trained 3 times now. In our mission it really
isn't all that much of a sign of trust from President though. Largely
because our numbers have been increasing so much that it's been an
issue of necessity. It took me a while to realize that, but sometimes
there really is just no one else.

Yes I'm getting Jacob's emails, and I think I'm getting all of the
photos you send me. Not positive though. Hey, being in the office I'll
probably be able to trust my cards to those computers, maybe I'll
actually email you some photos from time to time.

I got to give a farewell talk (of sorts) in sacrament meeting
yesterday. I pulled it from Elder Ballard's general conference talk.
Unfortunately, they hadn't given me a time limit, so I didn't watch my
time. I think I went a little over. Oh well, it was a goodbye talk.

This week I really started trying to understand Malagash. I don't know
why the language interests me so much. Maybe it's because I love all
of the Malagash missionaries. In any case, I traded out my English
Preach my Gospel for one in Malagash, and I'm constantly surprising
Elder Boto with the grammar principles I manage to glean out of it.
I'm starting a notebook. Not what they mean by studying your mission
language, but oh well.

We had a zone conference this last week, it went well. I learned a
lot. I think President Weed is getting tired of saying the same things
over and over.

Okay, one funny story. During the conference, we talked over what our
emergency plans are IF (not when, we don't expect anything) something
goes wrong. Well, the next day my companion and I got stuck in an
appointment that we couldn't end well, so I texted the district leader
and asked him to call us so we could have an excuse to leave.
Unfortuntaly, I used the phrase "evacuation plan" and wasn't very
clear. So he freaked out a little bit and thought there was something
seriously wrong. I had to apologize when we got back to the apartment,
and that evening we were all laughing about it. Live and learn.

 Okay time for me to go, we're going to try and find a bookstore so I
can buy a bible in Ewe before I head back over to Benin.

Love you all,
Elder Christensen