I only have one more week in the MTC. I received my travel
plans a couple of days ago. I leave at 2:30 AM next Tuesday, the fifth, and I'm
flying to Texas first, then to FL-FTL. When I arrive, I will have to wear my
suit jacket for the entire first day. From what I've heard of Florida, this may
just be the hardest thing I will ever have to face in my entire mission. But I
will bravely... try... to do it.
My entire district has already been sent off to their
respective missions, with the exception of a few people who are leaving early
tomorrow morning. Actually, my entire zone, except for me, two other elders,
and three sisters, will have left by about 8:00 AM tomorrow. The entire zone
will consist of two companionships, which collectively span across four different
districts. For this reason, the other elders and I have been called to be the
zone leaders. I'll be able to return from my mission and be able to say that I
was a zone leader. Unfortunately, the entire reason we were chosen for this
position was not because we are ready for it - it is because there are
literally no other people to choose from.
My two new companions (effective as of ~3:00 AM tomorrow
morning, when the last member of my district leaves for Boston) are Elder Soll
and Elder Ehlert. They are both learning French, and they have been here for
two weeks and four weeks respectively. So, because they are on different levels
and I am learning a completely different language, we will go to our classroom
building, split up into three different classrooms, we will be taught by three
different teachers (one on one student-teacher time) and then we will meet back
up when class is over.
As well as getting my teachers to myself, I will also be the
only Haitian Creole student in any MTC in the world. Only the Provo MTC teaches
Haitian Creole, and there won't be another Creole student until December (and
only one then). Just to show you about how many people can speak Creole. It's
kind of sad, really. Seven billion people have something that is good or better
than good, but only a few million people have the thing that is best.
I decided to go through my Haitian Creole instructors,
because I don't think I've done it yet. There are three; all of them went to
the Fort Lauderdale, Florida mission.
- Frè Hall (Brother Hall), who returned from his mission
most recently. You have to question everything that he tells you, because you
can't always trust it. For example, he tried to convince us that you can say
"just kidding" like this: "m'ap joure", which means
"I'm screaming/cussing". (You're actually supposed to say "m'ap
jwe", for the record.) He's a funny guy, but sometimes I think he's trying
to get us killed.
- Ti Frè Nelson (Little Brother Nelson), who is very
serious, and it is obvious to everybody that he cares about us and about what
he is teaching.
- Wo Frè Nelson (Tall Brother Nelson), who is about a foot
taller than Ti Frè Nelson, and who enjoys his name much more as well. He's
really the only teacher who takes time out for language study any more; the
other two expect you to use the dictionary and other forms of study on your own
time. He's a nice guy.
By the way, happy late birthday, Mom! M' espere ke ou gen
yon bon anivèsè! (I hope I spelled that right.)
Lastly, I wanted to talk about serving a mission. I firmly
believe that all young men should live worthily to have the opportunity to
serve one. And if they are worthy, then I firmly believe that they should do
so. The gospel of Jesus Christ has brought so much good to me and my family, and
I know that going out to share it with the rest of the world is exactly the
right choice to make. If you have any doubts, then squash them, they're not
worth having.
Thanks,
Eldè Slade
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