A Return Trip to Addis Ababa

Hello everyone! Hope you’re all well and remember you are loved by the Savior. As we head into this holy week! I invite you all to study the holy week in the gospel library. Let’s dive into the week.

March 23rd

TRAVEL DAY!  I know what you are thinking, “Didn’t you just travel?” The answer is “YES”.  I have been in Gambela for a week and I LOVE IT!  However, when we have zone conference we have to fly back to the capital city where the mission office and most of the missionaries are within a few hours driving distance.  However, Gambela is a 1.5-hour plane ride to get back to the capital. As I mentioned I am now on the South Sudan border. So, today we are going back to the capital for zone conference as well as working with the mission leaders to get some things figured out about the living situation and church related things.  Gambela is a brand-new area for the church. There was no church presence for the LDS church until just a few months ago.  So, we have a lot of things to work on and figure out.  So, today was simply a travel day. We are staying with the APs in their apartment in Addis while we are here. It is great to be with Elder Ayele again.

Me and Elder Ayele

March 24th

Today wasn’t anything crazy, lots of planning on what we were going to do with our Nuer pamplets that we made!  What is Nuer you are asking?  The Nuer language is a Nilotic language of the Western Nilotic group. It is spoken by the Nuer people of South Sudan and in western Ethiopia (region of Gambel). The language is very similar to Dinka and Atuot, which are the two other tribes that live surrounding Gambela.  The proximity to these three tribes is what has escalated recently into civil unrest.  However, currently we are only working with people speaking Nuer with interpreters.  As of now we are not planning on having missionaries that are assigned to speak Nuer.  Also, some people also speak English.  That may change in the future.  However, for now we are making pamphlets that are in Nuer.   

These are some pictures of us and the sister missionaries in Addis.

March 25th 

Today we did boxing with President Cowley!  After we were done, he told me that he was surprised that I didn’t kick those guys butt's down in Adama 🤣.  That was the place where Elder Ayele and I were assaulted.  I laughed when he said that.   While in Addis I also had an interview with President Cowley and it was nice to spend some time with him.

March 26th 

Today we were with the Ap’s in the office.  We did a lot of office work to help us for when we go back! You could basically say this week is all administrative and getting things organized to head back over to Gambela.  We plan to fly back in two days

March 27th 

Zone conference was crazy! Not really in the best way. One thing that is difficult is that we had a few missionaries that do not think that our money allotment is enough. They decided to take time in Zone conference to use that as a platform.  This was upsetting to me because we had a member of the branch that is Ethiopian with us.  He is getting ready to serve a mission and currently works full time in Ethiopia.  He makes 1/7 the amount that we get for our monthly allotment.  I struggled with how this went down.  The president handled it well and told a few of the missionaries if they are not happy, they will need to have all of us track our spending for two months down to the penny and then he will look at it and turn it into church headquarters, and they will decide if the allotment is increased.  Personally, I have not had an issue with staying in budget.  However, we are all different. I felt like this ruined the meeting and the spirit that had been there before that.  You could say it lowkey was ruined.  After this we played touch rugby with president, that was fun!

March 28th 

Today was a good day! We traveled back to Gambela and moved into our new house.  I say house but it is really an apartment on top of the church building.  Currently it does not have much in it and we will have someone deliver all the kitchen next week. Right now, it is just a big room with nothing in it.  Once we arrived, we traveled around to tell everyone that we were back and while doing so we met a guy named Kyle.  He told us he heard about us in Hawassa (a town a long way away that has a branch and missionaries) That was fun! 

Mach 29th

Today was church, which was good! Kyle came and we had some visits and had good chunk of people come to church! 

March 30th

Today is P-day and we have a lot of things to figure out with our house. Like, where we dry clothes and figure out where things go in the apartment. We need to get our kitchen which should come today or tomorrow, hopefully.  All is well and I am happy to be here. Honestly, this is such an interesting experience because we are starting everything here from scratch.  It is a lot of work, but I look forward to the challenge.

Welp that’s it from me for the week! Don't do stupid stuff, I beg all of you, enjoy some nice music for me! Don't get arrested! (optional) 

Love you all,

Elder Frasier