Hola Familia!!
Sorry, I'm spanish deprived(; So I feel like soooo much has happened since I last got to write you guys!! I'll explain how it's been (we're at an internet cafe with SUPER slow internet and we have an appointment with an investigator in a couple hours who is about to get baptized, so I only have 40 minutes to write).
Well, first off I am in the wonderful village, yes village, of Odeben! It's a smallish sized little place with lots of people, goats, and dogs...not like Chloe though (I miss her). My companion is Elder Lee and he's from Modesto!! yep, we're only a meager 2 hours away from where he lives! He's 19, has only been out 3 months and is already training! I like him a lot and have a lot to learn from him!
A little more about Odeben. We're in the Odeben 1st Branch, which means we get 1/2 of the village while the other Elders get the other half *Elders Kirumira and Adair, awesome guys) Odeben, to be quite honest, stinks. We live right next to the dump, which might be one of the issues, but the main thing is that everywhere is everyone's bathroom. Yep, that means I see people going to the bathroom all day long...fun stuff for a missionary(; Also the people love to eat stinky fish, and a lot of it too! Children run around naked, women breastfeed or dont wear shirts in public, and guys take showers in semi enclosed areas. Now you may be thinking, "Why Elder Collins, that doesn't sound like a very nice place?" Ah, but you see, that is but the surface of Odeben, Underneath all of it, the people are gold!! They are the nicest and friendliest people I have met...besides you guys(; Even though the smells can get strong and the dirtiness of it all can feel overwhelming, what makes it worth it are the bright smiling faces of all these amazing people. Most of them live in a hut made of clay, rock, and aluminum, but they welcome you in and are proud of their home.
Now, to tell you a little bit about MY home. I live in an apartment building with the other Elders, which consists of 2 rooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, a dining area, and another smaller room. We have a sink that has running water (when the electricity is working) and also has filtered water. The toilet and shower, however, are different matters. Neither of them have running water, so we have to draw water from a well (yes a well) and dump that in the toilet to "flush", and for the shower, we fill up a bucket, use a tesla coil to heat it up to desired temperature (again, when the power is on) and use a cup to pour the water over ourselves....we call it a "bucket shower"!!!! To be honest, it's a little fun...minus the toilet part(; I share my room with Elder Lee of course, and we both have a mattress with a mosquito net over it, as well as a fan at the foot of the bed to help battle the humidity and heat (which hasn't been too bad since arriving) All in all, our living arrangements are pretty nice compared to the people.
You wanna hear about the food mom? Ok, well, for starters, I've already had snail. Oh yeah, and it was about 4 inches big....ya know, because I'm a growing boy, right? It was in a bowl of fufu that some investigators made for us. Elder Lee and I actually had no problem with the snail, or the fish with all their organs still in them, no, it was the fufu that was enough for 4 people that we couldn't handle. We both went to the point where we were gagging from the amount of fufu we had eaten, which wasn't even half, and we both said we couldn't eat anymore. But, the Lord provides for His servants when they've done their best. So Elder Lee looks to his right, sees a dog, and starts dropping the fufu on the ground by the table we were eating at....we quickly finished off the rest of the fufu haha!! We were sly though, so don't worry, no hurt feelings anywhere...in fact, the dog and us Elders had a little connection after that(;
As you can expect, I'm taller than EVERYONE, no surprise there, right? Mom, you would absolutely love the kids here! They are the happiest, cutest, and most energetic kids I have ever met. Everywhere we go we hear their high pitched voices yelling "Obruni, obruni, ete sen?" which is Fante for "White guy(person), how are you? To which we reply "Eh yeh" which means I'm fine. Yes, I am in fact learning a language haha. Tomorrow will be a week for me, and I've already learned enough Fante to somewhat communicate with someone. I love their language, and if I work hard at it, I could become somewhat fluent before my training is done!
Oh, and my p-days are Mondays, but we can't access computers till district meetings on Tuesdays, so this is when I'll email.
I'm glad Taylor and Tyler are doing well, and that Adam is getting taller haha, I miss them all!! I'm running out of time, but I love you all and can't wait to be able to send you pics of me and Odoben (these computers have viruses on them so we can't send pics while I'm here...Anyways though, if you want to send letters to me, I would have more time for that! I love you all, and I'll email again in a small time!
Love Elder Collins
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