Hi there,
It was a good week. Elder PJ S and I moved away from Elder S and his companion into a house that is more convenient to our area. The house is much better. It is the former AP's house just down the street from the mission office. It is also the very first house that I ever stayed at in the country, and looks as though it will be the last. It also has water-pressure. We have moved into this house with Elders W...ton and J. In our first week we've killed 2 rats (the 3rd rat, Mitchell, as he has come to be known, is still at large, even though I personally stabbed him 3 times with a fire-poker whilst he was pinned in between the wall and some bamboo furniture by Elder S.) Charlie (* Mitchell's brother and the 2nd rat) on the other hand, met a violent death by kitchen knife and frying pan at the hands of Elder PJ S. It was pretty gruesome. We don't use that knife anymore.)
I received an unexpected letter ( more of a note really) this week from Elder S before I left the house. Essentially, the note was an apology for the notorious "robbed-twice-got-sick-and-almost-died" Draper and S transfer that happened a year ago. The noted started, "I've been trying to write this letter for a while, and now since we're moving houses I figure this is as good a time as any to write you. . . " and then proceeded to apologize for his behavior of which, "he was not particularly proud of. . ." I was taken aback by this note. I remember apologizing personally to S a long time ago for that transfer, and feeling like that was about as "resolved" as that transfer was ever going to get, and basically moved on. But something was missing. I still felt like S was bitter and his opinion of me was permanently scarred. This didn't bother me too much, but every so often I would be eating lunch or in a conversation with another missionary and the missionary would look at me a say, "S said that you're like this," or "S said you were a (an) ----" ( inappropriate descriptive word) "But I think you're really cool. Why does S hate you so much?"
Then some ( not all) of the frustration of that transfer would return. This note surprised me. I didn't know that it had been bothering him for so long, but I'm happy for S that he was finally able to move on as well, which actually helped me really move on. I can't be sure, but I feel like me living in the same house with S again, even if only for 2 weeks, helped him write the note and forgive me too. Happy sigh of relief.
Then some ( not all) of the frustration of that transfer would return. This note surprised me. I didn't know that it had been bothering him for so long, but I'm happy for S that he was finally able to move on as well, which actually helped me really move on. I can't be sure, but I feel like me living in the same house with S again, even if only for 2 weeks, helped him write the note and forgive me too. Happy sigh of relief.
Speaking of unexpected events, I finally got the package you sent! and it was free! ( for me at least, which usually doesn't happen on this end.) So, cool. It was wonderful, thank you. Jesse, the book is incredible and I'm showing it to everyone-- missionaries, the couples, and Malagasys (the latter loved the pictures, the former thought the whole book was cool, so considering the audience, your book is an utter success all around thus far, and more particularly on your side of things :) ) The rest of the package was delicious. I gave the "Burt's Bees" chapstick to Elder PJ S because he literally squealed when he saw it, then he and 4 other people in the room ranted and raved about how good Burt's Bees is. So they were impressed by the chapstick, and Elder PJ S would like to thank you for it. Apparently, he gets a birthday package soon and he hopes for 2 jars of "Murray's Pomade" (you remember that stuff Jesse?) and he wants to give me one. So that's cool. We'll see, I guess. If not, I'm definitely getting that stuff again when I get home:)
In other news, the work goes on. I discovered that people here are deathly afraid of large chameleons. On Saturday, PJ S and I found and caught one of these large chameleons ( tarondro) and walked around town with it. I've never felt so powerful before. Men, Women and Children kept a cautious 10 ft radius around us (where possible) and nobody called us "vazaha" more than once before they saw the foot and a half dinosaur-looking lizard in my hand. Usually it ended up sounding like, "Bonjour VazahAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaahhh....!" (Obnoxious grown man running away from you, screaming. Satisfaction defined.) But really, I think it helped our cause, because once we were a "safe distance" away, they couldn't help but laugh at themselves for how embarrassingly scared they had become of something not all that scary; and then follow us-- laughing at everyone else getting hilariously scared of the same thing. The equivalent of a parade accumulated 10 feet behind us as we walked down the road. We got a lot of contacts in the process. We took the chameleon home. He's still on the wall downstairs. His name was "Rakotomasiakabe" but now it's just "Gilbert," and that seems to have stuck.
On Tuesday, I finally went to see a chiropractor, after much pain and many sleepless nights. Apparently, I'm a very "tense" person, due possibly to my "intensity" and accumulated stress not properly discarded. I think maybe I've been caught in a vicious-cycle of stress-producing mindsets and situations. I'll have to get the whole run down of health problems when I get home and probably see a physical therapist and a chiropractor ( preferably one that speaks English.) Until then, I've felt some improvement in my back, and I'm working on the stress.
Ok then, I love you all. Have a nice day, and thanks for everything you do. Veloma!
No comments:
Post a Comment