Hello Family!
Well, this week was full of ups and downs. Yay life!
Sometimes you feel that things are going good and you are finding people
to talk to. And sometimes you cut your fingers twice in a week, or get
shocked while trying to fix a cable (in hindsight, should have unplugged
the extension cord instead of turning it off).
You know how the saying goes that if you get a bad haircut, you
just have to wait two weeks? Yeah..... That's not actually true in all
cases. You remember how dad had a little mistake with the clippers a few
weeks ago? Yup, had the same thing happen to me this morning. Except it
was dead center up top, and I didn't have any size on the clippers. I
am officially bald right now. I'm just praying it grows back enough in
the next month. Oh, and I'm praying that President Weed doesn't decide
to stop by Finagnon for church this Sunday.
This week I got to go on exchange with the zone leaders. It was a
lot of fun, even though I didn't ever sleep in a different apartment. It
is always fun to spend a day with someone different. That was something
I never got to have while I was in the office.
I mentioned to Dad that staying for that third hour is fine with
me. I'm not planning on having any BYU friends coming up since it is the
break, and local friends I could just hang out with the next day if I
want. I did think about a request for a song. Would there be a way to
put Hymn 122 in there (Through Deepening trials)? Most of the extra
verses have Restoration themes, and the music is beautiful. Doesn't have
to be a special number, it could just be a regular hymn.
Doctors appointments... Yes, there is some sort of parasite/worm
killer that they give us right before we go home. They also give us a
months worth of malaria medicine. I think a general checkup might be in
order at least. The dentist too, obviously. It'll be interesting to see
if I have a cavity or not. We actually went to the dentist this week, my
companion had a root canal years ago but never had it crowned, and now
it is infected again. What I learned from the whole experience is that
Fridays at 2 PM is a terrible time to find a taxi, since most taxi
drivers are Muslim and are at the mosque. We're looking for a Christian
taxi-man before the follow-up appointment.
You found me an apartment for school? I have a vague idea of where that building is, I think it will be
fine. If I'm right, it's about 2 blocks away from J-dawgs, so that'll be
cool.
You know what... I actually never asked president
about calling on thanksgiving. In my mind, I just knew that I wouldn't
be calling on Christmas, so I forgot about it entirely. For the moment I
don't really have any plans for Thanksgiving, but I know a place that
sells entire grilled chickens. Elder Gray and I have been joking about
joint buying one, maybe we will actually do that.
I heard that Elder Hawkins is going into the office, I'm sure he'll
do a great job. If you didn't know, he comes from the same town as the
Nelsons from Pageant (it's a suburb of Philly).
I'm
going to make another souvenir-buying trip next Monday. I found out
about a place that sells nativity sets, but I haven't seen them so I
don't know if they are good or not. I'll check. I'll keep my eyes out
for other cool stuff too. I'll probably be pulling more money out for
that. Can't remember if I pulled out of debit or credit last time.
So Saturday morning we had an appointment that we had set to be at
the church building. We arrive and it is a mess. I got to work and
started cleaning, saying to myself that no one showed up to clean that
morning. Our appointment never shows up, so I spend about an hour
cleaning the sacrament room. When we got back to the apartment, I was
told that Finagnon is the only branch in the city that cleans their
building Saturday AFTERNOON. Ironically, our 3 PM appointment was also
at the church and also fell through, so we got to help clean the rest of
the building. In doing so, I accidentally got super dirty trying to
sweep some leaves off of the generator room roof, so we had to go back
so I could change. It was fun though, I like cleaning projects.
Our area is going a bit better. We have a couple that is
progressing really well. The biggest problem is that the wife does not
speak French, she actually speaks Goon. This is a Fon-family language
from the Porto-Novo region rather than Cotonou, so there are only a
handful of members that speak it. For the most part, her husband
translates for her, but since he's learning it all for the first time,
we actually have no idea if she is hearing it right or not.
This week I started a goal to finish the new testament before I
come home. I'm currently about halfway through Luke, it's going really
well. Reading the gospels back to back like that is cool, it helps me
see the differences and place the stories better. I should have started
earlier so I could do the Book of Mormon one last time too.
Hope everything is going well back home, sounds like it for the most part.
Love,
Elder Christensen
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