Elder Chance Fox: On a white, sandy beach, in Fort Dolphin‏

Akory yall!

The Christmas story reenactment

Christmas with the D family

A big shout out and thanks first of all to all of those who were able to attend Elder Fox's first Skype sesh from the other side of the world! I absolutely loved it, way awesome. And I also apologize, I had lots of good things to say and stories to tell all thought out beforehand, but I guess once that camera turned on I was so distracted by how white all of you were (Kaimi you are excluded) that I forgot it all... or more like it was too exciting and I forgot everything I was going to say. But oh well, you are all looking beautiful and sounding beautiful etc etc! You do need to roll your R's a little bit better though, you accents are a little funny.

Baptism in Fort D

So the big of event of the week outside of all across-the-globe skype sessions was the baptism that we had on Saturday, and boy what a baptism it was. A huge crowd of members and investigators alike showed up at the building for the service, which was the baptism of two part member families and then two other investigators on top of that-- 13 in total. They set up a little font outside of the building and filled it with a hose for the service, which was cool but at the same time I'm planning on sneaking in one day and putting a hole in the side of it so that we will, sadly, be forced to have baptisms in the ocean on a white sandy beach... jk.

I was able to baptize one of our investigators, a women named B, while Elder Mitchell baptized the family of a member named T, and Fr M, counselor in the Branch presidency, baptized his family. It is basically the best thing ever to see the nonmembers in a part-member family come in and join their family member in the church, it is such evidence of the change that happens when one joins the church. It is when all the other family members notice the change in their life that they see that the church is truly something special. You can't hide it, and you can't run from it, so might as well join it!

I was asked to play the piano for the baptismal service as well, which I loved. However, it did involve basically sight reading on the spot, which after not having played for so long was quite a challenge.

Our apartment in Fort D

View from our apartment window...tough view :)

I gave a talk in sacrament meeting in the T branch the day after the baptism, which included my standing up in front of everybody and saying a bunch of words that I didn't really know what they meant but seemed to make sense to everyone there! I don't need to understand what I say just as long as they do. It was about obedience and the blessings we receive from it, which I tied into our rules as missionaries and explained how our obedience to those rules brings about success in the work. I thought it went very well. I might even venture to say that it was fun...

The rest of my Sunday was taken up by running around and getting millions of baptismal records finished up and hunting down people for signatures and fun stuff like that. Man, Sundays as a missionary are so weird, they just blend right in with all the other days. And I thought I was supposed to get a nap and eat nachos on Sundays!

And question, have you received any letters from a random african island nation? if not, some are on their way.

So, about the unanswered questions from our skype time-- I shall now devote a little bit of time to answering some of the ones you sent me mom.

----- What is the biggest lesson I learned from my time in Tana?

Well sheesh, isn't that just a loaded question! The problem is that I'm not sure if all of you have four hours to spend reading a rambling dissertation about all the things I feel I learned during my 5 months there. But one thing I think to be the biggest lessons I learned in Tana is this--- there is very little we can control. We have absolutely no control over the results of our actions, we do not get to make the decision about what comes out at the end of our efforts. But there is one thing we do have control of, and that is the input. Effort. Time spent. Exertion. Dedication. All the things that we have power over are what we put in. I learned, and am still learning, not to worry about what comes out of my efforts. If my input, if our input, is 100% then we will not have to worry about what comes after, because you know that everything that possibly could be done was done in order to help the result be something positive. And that is such a relief! Care about the result because you care about the people, but don't let it decide how much effort is expended. 100% all day every day-- which does not mean you hate every second of your life but rather are enjoying it like nobody's business!

Mom:

That deodorant you sent me smells so good. I approve.

Also, thank you so much for the info on learning to play piano, I think that will really come in handy! I am way excited to teach piano, it's a simple thing I can do to help the church here progress. They have nothing more than a handful of people who play some hymns out of the simplified hymnbook.Who they really need down here is Dee McRoberts!

Good luck to you new empty nesters, you get the house to yourselves! You still have Kiira and Kaimi close too, so you won't be so lonely with those luveys. And You better enjoy it while you can, before I come home and start mitabataba-ing again! (being noisy)

Thanks again to all! Let us make skype a weekly thing, aright?

Love

Elder Fox