September 21, 2013

Hi Everyone,

Yes, it's been another crazy week in Africa. I don't know if there is any other kind of week. I just realized though that I've now spent 30 weeks in the mission office. Ouch. But President has dropped a couple of hints that I'm almost done here. I've had a really great experience here, but I will definitely be ready for the change of pace when that happens.

So our new mission couple arrived this week! Elder and Sister Christensen were really cool. It was funny to watch everyone who came into the office over the course of three days do a double take towards me. Everyone thinks they are my parents. Or at least my aunt and uncle (and yes, one of the first things we did was compare our genealogies. And no, we aren't related in the slightest). We had a good few days with them before they headed over to Togo. I think they will be alright over there though. Oh, and they took me out to lunch once before they left. That was nice too.

So you remember how last week I wrote about a new investigator name Hakuna Matata? Well he came to church! That's right, I had a rasta-man and his Costa Rican wife come to church! Unfortunately, between us and Sister Weed we forgot to ever tell him what time church starts, so he showed up 90 minutes late. Oops. They still liked it though and are planning on coming back tomorrow for all of it. We all pretty much went into shock when they walked into the gospel principles class.

Yes, you can send the camera out with Elder Allred. I'll still be in the office when he gets back. Also, please send a Spanish Book of Mormon (Mrs. Hakuna Matata doesn't read French very well, but the distribution center in Accra doesn't have any we can order). I tried again last week to pull out my personal money, but it still didn't give. I was using the same ATM though. I'm going to try some different ATMs this week. I was going to do it this morning, but didn't have the time due to reasons given below. 

So this morning we woke up at 5 AM because we had to get to a "DMV" by 7 AM. Elder Mary and Elder Gomun (one of the assistants) had to take the written exam for their drivers licenses. There were over 500 people there to take the test, we spent 3 hours waiting for their names to be called. 

President Weed spent most of the week in Togo doing interviews, so I didn't talk to him about my departure date. My interview with him will probably be Tuesday, so I'll ask then. I can tell you that Dec 15 won't be possible for me though. I do know that class registration is in about a month. As far as housing, can I just stay in the cabin? Haha, no I'd freeze to death there. 

They are painting the mission office right now due to some water damage (discolorations) we had a couple of months ago. They aren't working very fast, and the office is a mess to get everything out of their way. Painters here are not very careful, when they painted the Gbedjromede apartment they got paint on one of my white shirts! It stayed there for months before finally going away. Or I lost the shirt, I'm not actually sure.  

This week I thought a lot about stewardships. Heavenly Father really expects a lot of us. Since everything is his, all we are are stewards. We need to show respect to everything he gives us (friends, family, goods, callings, bodies, etc). In the world there is definitely a sense of "it's here to be used, if I don't use it, someone else will!" Whereas the Lord often says "yes, it is there, but I still don't want you to touch it." We aren't here to get as much personal profit as we can. People generally (and by that I often mean me) lose sight of this. In the words of Elder Holland, even when we do manage to put something on the alter, we often hang around as if waiting for a receipt! Related to all of this, the personal goal I set during this week is "if it isn't mine, and I didn't ask permission, don't touch it!" I wasn't perfect at that at home. I'm trying to do better now.

I still haven't gotten the package, but I imagine I will get it in the next two weeks. 

Love to all of you,

Elder Christensen