Hello family,
So this week has been a fun little adventure. But to start that story, I still have to introduce you to some people!
MAIN CHARACHTERS:
ELDER JOHNSTON: we know already! He's still the big tahitian who was with me for three transfers in Martinique. I was sure I was never going to see him again, too! I don't know how well I really knew him the last time I did this for him, but just to tell you, he's one of the goofiest, funniest guys I've ever met. Always a joke and a smile.
ELDER MAONI: is his companion, and happens to also be from Tahiti. In fact, he and Elder Johnston were in the same ward. They knew each other really well-they don't say that they were best friends before the mission, but they said that they hung out together a lot. Anyway, Elder Maoni is a great teacher, and speaks english well, because he recently came back from english side.
ELDER BATKH: Is not, in fact, the 16-year old Guadeloupeen. He is, rather, a 17-year old Guiannais. Lives in Mattoury, and in fact his family lives in our area. He was born in the church; both his parents were converted a long time ago. Anyway, we picked him up to start his mini-mission Monday. Then, he ended up going home on Friday. Before we left he mentioned that, in fact, it was more of a micro-mission. But hey, that's just the direction that technology is heading these days, isn't it?
which brings us right to...
ELDER JOMIE: who IS the 16-year old Guadeloupeen. But really, he turns 17 in November, so he's not like a baby baby. He's lots of fun, lots of laughs, and is having an exciting time.
Oh, and for a bit of setting-information. Both companionships are affected to Cayenne, so we are really pretty close. The other companionship has "in town" and the areas directly around-technically they're bike missionaries, but they actually have a car too, since the senior couple left one behind. Our area is, technically, all of Guianne that is not in the small bubble of their area. But in a more practical sense, we stay relatively close. And, I get to drive a car! For some reason, they haven't asked me to take french driver's ed. Does someone want to look up if it's legal to drive on an american licence on french soil?
And here, I'll make a map.
Church
l l
l l
Cayenne ------------------Their------
(downtown) ------------------house-------
That thing in the middle is a roundabout. They're EVERYWHERE here.
So one realization for this week is that I'm the only missionary here whose first language is english. No senior couple, no americans, no squat. Hey, it should be good for my french!
So yeah. For a quick summary, the Batkh family is not really what you would call "fully active"-I didn't get to meet them my first sunday. But Andrew is a smart kid, and he seemed to be doing fine. But then Wednesday he asked to go home. So we talked about it, and he said that he said, in essence, that he doesn't feel good asking other people to come to church if he isn't coming to church. We talked about it some more, but in the end he still wanted to go home. In fact, it was all we could do to get him to stay until Friday night, to give us a bit of time to find a replacement. Friday, he went home, and Saturday morning we went to pick up Elder Jomie. Hah, he scared me at the beginning too, because he mentioned that he had told the senior couple in Gwada that he would like to do a mini-mission, but that at the same time he said it thinking that he was still too young, and was sort of half-joking. But then he said that he left all his fear at home, and so far he's been living up to his promise. He's great, and we're getting along really well.
THE SMALL THINGS: Having a francophone companion is full of fun little perks. He was asking about movies that I've seen, and we started talking about "The Incredibles". Well, the name is different in French, but I just translated it directly to "Les Incroyables". And that, of course, reminded me of the bomb-throwing bad guy from the beginning of the film, who, as we all know, speaks french! So I asked what they did for him in french, and guess what...he speaks italian! I don't know why really, but that made me laugh so much. Anyway. Everyone has their stereotypes, right?
Aand there goes all my time.
Address!
Chemin Giglia
3249 Route de Baduel
97300 Cayenne
Guianne Francaise
there you go.
Thank you all very much for your prayers and your thought-waves sent my direction. I promise you they make a difference. In fact, I've attributed the fact that Guianne isn't as unbearably hot and buggy as people told me that it was to your guys' prayers. Not sure if it's that, but hey.
Bizous,
-Elder Santos
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