January 28, 2013

Yay for French Keyboard!

Hey all.

So for starters, I'm typing for the very first time on a french keyboard. So if you see a "q" where there shouldn't be one, try replacing it with an "a". Hopefully I get a hang of this quick.

 

Anyhow, so much stuff. First off, I'm sorry for those of you who I didn't get to speak to last week-travel did NOT go as planned, but I don't think I'll chronicle that right now, because I might not have the time. But hey, there's always mother's day! And we'll get to skype.

 

Anyway, first problems first. Luggage. For those of you who don't know, I packed all my things into two honking huge suitcases. Mistake number 1. Spent 40 bucks to get the second bag from SLC to Trinidad, then 65 to get it from Trinidad to Barbados, then 60 to get it from Barbados to Martinique. Definitely cannot keep that up. So I'm starting out by figuring out what I don't need to have here, and then I'm going to figure out how much it would take to ship it home and get a little carry-on. Fingers crossed.

 

But then I finally made it through customs for the third time in two days, and was greeted by three Elders.

 

MAIN CHARACTERS:

Elder Larsen: A few basic facts-when I was in Trinidad, one of the assistants mentionned that he was probably the best non-native french speaker in the Mission. Not that I would be able to tell, but hey, at least he's still talking when I have no clue what's going on! But yeah. He is from Salt Lake, and has just started his last transfer. He's a good guy, we're working well so far.

Elder Hansen: Also from SLC, also in his last transfer. He's in the only other area on Martinique, with...

Elder Johnston: From Tahiti, 22 years old and has been out for 14 months. He understands english, but we've just been talking in french.

 

But yeah, that's my district, and that's all the missionaries here in Martinique. We're in Fort-de-France and the surrounding areas, and they're...everywhere else. It's not a huge island.

 

As far as life here, I would start out by saying that I'm not in Provo anymore. It's hot all the time, for one thing. And, for those of you familiar with Utah county, you can basically flip that black-to-white ratio on its head. We've been doing a lot of porting, which has been an adventure for me. For the language, I guess I'm relatively fortunate. I mean I can certainly talk and say what I want to (so long as the topic stays church-related, because otherwise my vocabulary is pretty thin), but that doesn't do me too much good if I don't know what the topic is. I'm still working to understand just about everything people say, and definitely not succeeding 100% of the time. But hey, ça ira. As far as the work goes? I don't really know. I'm told it has been a good week, but it's felt slow enough for me. I haven't seen anyone more than once to this point, and we've had some decent lessons, but still. I guess I had an implicit expectation that every day would be a mission story, so right now I'm just working on being grateful for what I have.

 

The branch here is made largely of three groups: old people, who I have trouble understanding, but who tend to be patient with me, recent(ish) converts, who I'm actually working with a bunch in other lessons, and younger returned missionaries, like the branch president. We meet in a room above a car shop, and had 54 people at church this past sunday, which is apparently a little low.

 

So yeah. I'm sweating and knocking on doors and trying my darndest to understand what the heck is going on and taking it one day at a time. I'm going to see if I can figure out how to send pictures from this computer, but I make no promises.

 

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT: Acts 5:41. Read it, love it, and rejoice at the chance to be worthy.

Sorry I'm sort of skimping on these lately, hopefully they'll get better as things quiet down more.

 

Pictures to come? If not, till next time!

 

-Elder Santos

Almost forgot my address.

 

So for starters, I really can get just about anything here that I could in the States, so there really should be very little need to send things. But for letters, which would of course be greatly appreciated, I ask that you do not send them to the mission home, because that will both cost more and take longer. Rather, they go directly to me at the following.

 

Résidence Aigue Marine

Bat. A3, Apt. 7

Rue de la Dorsale

97200 Fort-de-France

Martinique

 

Pictures aren't working out. Hopefully next time!

 

Love to all of you.

 

-Elder Santos