My Socks Have Holes!

Hey everybody!

Sounds like this has been a pretty eventful week! It was for us too!

That's cool that Hunter's going to Colombia! It probably sounds scary, but the church really takes care of its missionaries. Isn't the church really developed in Colombia? They have a temple don't they? Well, let him know that washing clothes by hand and no hot water and that kind of stuff isn't as bad as you'd think. The church always puts you in the best, safest locations possible. And if it's not safe, they won't send you there. Yes I have some stories that I'll have to save til I get home to tell. haha We see some pretty crazy things. But we are well taken care of, and we are never in danger.

Our mission is splitting! As of July 1 we will be the Republic of Congo, Brazzaville mission! We are losing more than half of our missionaries. There are 150 missionaries in Kinshasa alone. There are

26 missionaries in the areas we can go, and another 20ish in Brazzaville. That means there will be a lot of new missionaries coming in! Which also means I'll probably get a shot at training a couple times haha. We're all really excited. They haven't announced our new mission president yet, but we'll see! Maybe this means I'll even be able to be AP one day! haha Yes my scripture case has been working very well. I'm pretty sure my temple pants are still ok. I have gained a little bit of weight, but I've kind of leveled off. So that's good. The only thing that hasn't been working well is my socks. Almost all of my socks have holes in the toes now... So if you wanted to send me a couple pairs, that would be awesome! haha I'm keeping an eye out for souvenirs. I'm thinking about stopping by the art marché today and asking them to make a nativity for me. If I'm lucky I can even get it in ebony.

The rain hasn't been so bad this week. There is only about a month left of rainy season. I'm excited. Hopefully I'll still be here for that! This last week has been really hot. And we walked a lot. We had a lot of appointments fall through this week. Things have been going really well with my new companion. It's really been helping my French.

I've learned a lot. We've had a couple instances where they do things differently in Kinshasa and didn't want to do it the way we do it. But we're compromising and working really well. It's basically like he's from a different mission because President Cook really cracks down on those elders in Kinshasa because they have a lot more problems over there. He pretty much just tells us to do whatever we think we need to do. So there are a lot of differences. But we are managing. We've been telling lots of stories lately. He has a girlfriend waiting for him that he's been dating for 7 years! He says that in Burundi people don't really have access to computers very much, so he never gets to write home. I guess he has gotten a few letters from his girlfriend, but the only communication he has had with his family is when he called his mom for Christmas. Anyways, I have learned that I really don't have anything to complain about.

As far as the rest of the week goes, it wasn't super eventful. We just did a lot of walking. We did get to go to a wedding at the church on Saturday! That was really cool. There was a ton of people, and everyone was dressed better than for church! And there's another one this Saturday! It's gonna be fun. They give all kinds of gifts and have tons of food and everything.

The Wedding
courtesy Sister Bailey :)

Anyway, it's been a really good week. Today we are going to go to the market to find a jersey for Elder Ndayizeye. They can't receive money for home, so I'm going to buy him one. It's going to be fun! He's been having an adventure experiencing American things. He tried ice cream for the first time this week! He loved it, but he said if he ate that every day he would get very fat. haha We have been having an awesome time together. Hope you guys have a great week!

Love, Elder VanAusdal

Elder Hatch, Elder Ndaiyedze, Elder Van Ausdal, Elder Rakotonindriana
courtesy Sister Bailey :)
Haircuts after basketball for P-Day