Eric's email of December 23rd, 2010

Joyeux Noel !

I can't really believe its Christmas again already .  It just crept up on  me.  And before I forget, we need to get the phone call set up.  So as I’m looking at my program, I’m thinking Saturday evening, which is Christmas, would be good in my schedule.  I think it could be around 7 or 8 PM, and I believe that you are 6 hours behind me?  Tell me what you think about that.  I can be flexible.  And also we have the option of using Skype to call you at the Thomspons’, what about that?  But I'm thinking the best would be Christmas evening (here)  I'll call you real quick with my phone and then you could call me back.

So first, I’ll tell you about my new comp.  His name is Elder Tingey, he is from Kaysville, Utah, he started his mission back in the beginning of May this year.  He already did 4 transfers in Pointe-Noire, and he arrived last Friday night.  He already speaks French really well, and is confident and such when we contact and when we teach.  He is also the first companion that I have had that is taller than me, I believe.  So yeah, things are going really good.  I'll send a picture next week.  Oh yeah, and Elder Buck also came up from Pointe-Noire.  He's the one who went to SUU as well.

Last Friday I didn’t have a comp, because Acorda was gone Thursday morning and Tingey came Friday night, so I worked with Patrick from Bastos 2.  I had worked with him when Acorda was sick one time.  And a miracle happened that day!  We had a rendezvous with Blaise at the church, and while Patrick and I were waiting for Blaise, Adam showed up!  Adam is the the one from Sudan who you got the Arabic Book of Mormon for.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have it that day, and Adam still doesn’t have a phone and is working a lot outside of town.  But I was glad to see he is still alive.  I just got to make sure I get that Book of Mormon to him.

Also last week we played American football and basketball.  We will be playing football again tonight, but last week there was a pretty bad injury.  I was guarding this one guy, and he was playing really hard.  I thought he was playing too hard.  But then at the end of the first drive, he caught a touchdown over me, but then the second he turned around there was a stone wall.  And he hit it with his face.  I thought football was over, I was surprised that he wasn’t bleeding.  It looked really bad.  He tried to play a few more plays, but then he left, which was probably the right thing to do.  He had a fat black eye.  But, its good to play some sports again, because now we have more people that want to.  I stink, though.

We had a second rendezvousu with all of Blaise’s family.  We even brought them a 2^nd Book of Mormon because they didn’t all have time to read it.  One of his younger brothers already finished 1^st Nephi, and the dad takes in to work each day.  This Sunday the dad will get off work, so the family told us they will be at church Sunday, as well.  They are doing great.  Its much better to teach a whole family than just random people.

Jacques is also doing very well.  We are getting ready for his interview soon.  And luckily he is only having to work a half day on Christmas Eve, so he will attend the activity Friday at 16h00.

We have also done lots of contacting recently, and yesterday we did something that I had never done before.  We got rid of all of our French brochures.  We had to stop and reload before doing anything else.  It was a good and a bad thing.

Everyone in Bastos 1 and Bastos 2 has now found out that I play the piano, so I have now been recruited to play piano in the choir that will perform this weekend and the next weekend and church activities.  Its good I guess.  By the end of my mission I will be able to play probably over 95% of the cantiques well enough.  I think Ive decided the hardest one is page 41, its called “Pour Tous Les Saints”, its in English too.  (For All the Saints, Hymn #82)

As for my studies, I think I may have found out who my favourite Book of Mormon prophet person is.  They would ask us that in seminary and stuff, I would probably just say “Nephi” or “Moroni”, I don’t know.  But right now, I think my favorite guy in the Book of Mormon is Jacob.  I just finished reading his book, and I found a lot of stuff that I have never really noticed before.  And I really like the story in Jacob 7, where he destroys Sherem.  Pretty awesome.

Alright, I think that’s about it for me.  Et je dois souhaiter des bonnes anniversaires à Dad et à Scott ! (And I need to wish Dad and Scott Happy Birthday)  I can't believe Scotts gonna be 18 and Dads gonna be, well, yeah.  Have a Happy (Anglophones say that rather than “Merry” here) Christmas, and let me know about that phone call.

Je vous aime,

-         Elder Eric Palmer

Hey Dad,

So if you text me there would be no problem, and that would cost me nothing to receive.  But I think a safe time to say would be 7:30 my time, which will be 1:30 chez vous, because we will go see some people Christmas afternoon/evening.

But would it be ok if I just call you real quick when I'm ready, and then you call me back?  That's what we did on Mothers' Day last time.

For Christmas Eve, we will actually be going au champing-ing, with Maman Natalie.  Then we will get back and have a couple rendezvous, and then the Elders Quorum will be doing an activity about the birth of Christ at 4, and then we are going over to the Thompsons.  And the elders from Ekounou (other side of Yaoundé) will sleep at our apartement, wake up, open some presents, eat breakfast at the Thomspons', go play basketball, go to the Cleverly's, and then visit some people.  I think that is our Christmas plan.

Will I buy myself a Christmas gift... maybe.  It might well come in the form of food.

Je t'aime,

- Elder Eric

Hey Mom,

(Mom knows some Tingey's from High School)  So I just asked Elder Tingey, and he said he thinks Craig Tingey is his second cousin or something, but he knows hims probably.  He said his whole family is from Bountiful and Kaysville and such places.

Alright, I don't see many questions either.  I'm excited to talk to you too, I said that Sunday evening here would be best for me.  I'll plan on calling you between 7 and 8 my time and then you can call me right back.

Je t'aime,

- Elder Eric

Eric's email of December 16th, 2010

          I know I usually have lots of typos, but today I'm on an English keyboard, so I apologize in advance because I've gotten used to the French one.

            First off is transfers, which have already started to happen!  This morning Elder Acorda was shipped off to Bonaberi, so I've spent the day with Elder Lamb, because his comp (Elder Kesler) is flying home this weekend with 3 others, including Elder Parsons who I served with in Pointe-Noire.  Our comps will arrive tomorrow at 19h00, and we will work with branch members during the day.  I’ll be working with Patrick again, I think I already sent a picture of him a few weeks ago.  But my new comp will be Elder Tingey, who I knew for 1 transfer in Pointe-Noire.  He is from Kaysville, Utah.  He is tall and good at basketball.  I can't remember anything else right now, but we got along great before, and he likes the Jazz too, so we just have to not talk about sports together all the time.  Me and Elder Lee had that problem at first, but then we made some companionship rules, and there were no problems, so I imagine we will have to do the same kind of thing.

            As for our amis de l’eglise, Blaise and Jacques are still the 2 most progressing ones.  One Tuesday we were able to meet Blaise’s family, they were really nice and fed us ero.  Ero is basically grass clippings cooked in oil and pima, and is actually very good.  His family was very welcoming, understood well and accepted to pray.  The father has a rough work schedule, he works 7 days and then gets 1 day off, so normally its only 1 of every 7 Sundays that he is free.  So well see.  Blaise is still progressing well, and he had talked a lot about the Book of Mormon to his family.

            Jacques is still progressing, still preparing for the 8th of January.  He always does his reading assignments, and usually has a really profound question each time that I don’t have an answer to, which ends with him saying, “ca, ce n’est plus le religion, c’est la science", (it's not religion anymore, it's science) and then we move on.  We should be doing his interview next week.  We are about to finish the 3rd lesson, so yeah.  He’s good.

            Acorda and I also contacted a famille from Kinshasa on Sunday.  We just had a short lesson about the 1st vision, I only think 1 or 2 people really understood or payed attention.  But I was able to use my Lingala skills, which are limited to one or two words.  I said “mbote”, which is like bonjour.  I’m glad I remember that at least.

            I also received some wonderful news on Monday when Fred from Bonaberi called me.  He informed me that Robert got baptized last weekend!  Robert is someone that I had worked a lot with with both Elder Ternieden and Elder Lee. (First area on his mission)  I looked in an old planner, and it was almost 1 year ago that we had our first rendezvous with Robert.  I wrote and sent a letter with Acorda for him.  So that made me happy.

            Last Friday we also held our mission conference.  Sister Headlee gave a great lesson on how music effects us and what kind we should be listening too.  President Headlee taught us about “Teaching People, Not Lessons”.  Embarrassingly, I can't really remember that many details, so its a good thing I wrote those down in my study journal.  But I also did get an interview with him on Saturday morning, my first one in 5 transfers.  I did talk to him a bit about some goals that Acorda and I had set, and then pretty much fail at achieving this last transfer.  He talked to me about expectations, the expectations that missionaries have for their sector and those they teach.  I guess it was pretty related to his lesson, focusing on people and not numbers and such.  I don’t know, but I did feel better after it.

            Elder Acorda and I did meet a guy from Greece the other day.  He was on the other side of the road, and yelled, “etes-vous les mormons?”  So we talked a little, he said he lived in Salt Lake City for a year, he works with the Orthodox church, and he said he knows everything about theology.  I asked if he would want to talk to us, and he said no and told me the same thing again.  And then today Elder Lamb and I ran into him again in DOVV, the supermarche.  His accent is different from what I'm used to, so I only understood about ¾ of what he said, but something about polygamy.  I told him that it ended 120 years ago.  I don’t know if he believed me.

            So now that my 3 transfers with Elder Acorda are up, I think the biggest thing I learned from him is charity.  He is always ready to help or serve someone.  Even if I  had made him upset or things like that, he was even charitable to me.  So that's what I learned, even though we had some challenges together, he taught me a lot.

            Recently in the Book of Mormon I've been reading Jacob.  Tomorrow I will start chapter 5, so we will see if I still like it after tomorrow, but this time I've seen a lot that I never really noticed before.  I think the favorite passage I've found is Jacob 1:17-19, its about the priesthood, and how to get the authority and then the power.  ("Wherefore I, Jacob, gave unto them these words as I taught them in the temple, having first obtained mine errandfrom the Lord.  For I, Jacob, and my brother Joseph had been consecrated priests and teachers of this people, by the hand of Nephi.  And we did magnify our office unto the Lord, taking upon us the responsibility, answering the sins of the people upon our own heads if we did not teach them the word of God with all diligence; wherefore, by laboring with our might their blood might not come upon our garments; otherwise their blood would come upon our garments, and we would not be found spotless at the last day.") There were lots of really good ones too, though.

            Today at 17h00 we are going to go play American football at the embassy.  Hopefully.  We called Bro. Clerverly who works there, and he said he would get us on the list.  And this will also help fellowship a couple marines who have started to be a little interested in the Church.  They came to church last Sunday with the Cleverly family.

            And yesterday I bought 2 soccer jerseys for 5000 CFA.  That's $5 a jersey.  And today, when Elder Lamb and I went to develop photos, we saw the same one in this guy's shop, and he told me he sells them at 20,000 CFA each.  So he's trying to sell at $40 what I bought at $5 off the side of the road.  (The cheap gene rears it's head.)

            I assume everyone is finishing school tomorrow, luckies.  I cant believe Christmas and the end of the year is coming up so fast.  Ah, dang it, and I forgot to talk about the Christmas phone call.  So, tell me when it would be good for you.  I assume the evening one day will work best for me.  And the evening here is I think 6 hours ahead of you.  President says it doesn’t even have to be on Christmas, so if Dad and Scott’s birthday or another day is better, just let me know.

Je vous aime,

-         Elder Eric Palmer

Dear Mom,

(How many missionaries are going home this transfer?)  So in our town we only had 2 going home, but 4 total from North America.  We have heard that in 6 weeks we will get 1 new missionary named Elder Prince.  Thats all I know about that right now.

(Will the branch do anything to celebrate Christmas?)  I know our elders quorum is having some Christmas thing on the 24th at 4 oclock.  Thats about it, I think.  (Have you noticed any Christmas songs that are different than ours?)  And in the French hymn book there are a few that aren't in the English book.  Like, "il est ne le divin enfant" (He is born the divine Christ Child) or "Noel Nouvelet" (typo?), that Dad might know.  And theres others like "Angels We Have Heard on High", which in French has 5 verses and the first half of the song's melody is a bit different.

Je t'aime,
- Eric

Dear Dad,
 

I actually did backup my whole memory card this morning to the Wolverine.  There will be much organizing to do when I get back, though.

I'm completely fine cash wise.  Too much cash.

Yes, rainy season has been over for a few weeks now.  Here dry season get pretty hot during the day, not like Douala though.  I still think in Cameroon I prefer rainy over dry season, just because I don't like that heat.  Pointe-Noire had the best weather, though, because during dry season its cool.  But I've heard, because luckily I wasn't there, that in Pointe-Noire during rainy season its very hot and like enfer. (Hades)

Je t'aime,
- Eric

p.s.  no Andrea email this week?

Eric's email of December 10, 2010

Good Morning !  Thats what all the francophone kids say to us.  Apparently they don't teach them when to say good afternoon and such.  And even sometimes anglophones say good morning in the afternoon.

So recently we have found some new amis, and some are progressing quit well.  One is named Soeur Jeanne.  We contacted her 2 Saturdays ago, and most of all she was very interested in the Book of Mormon.  We weren't able to see her again until last Friday, but we lent her a copy of the Book of Mormon, and committed her to come to church.  Unfortunately, she fell through on her church commitment, but yesterday we saw her and asked about her reading.  And she showed us that she was already to Alma 3!  At first I was kind of skeptical, but after asking a few questions, I realize she actually did read all that in under a week!  I think she read kind of quickly and didn't get every detail, but that's still amazing.  And because of her Book of Mormon progress, I forgot to be devasted that she didn't come to church, but she's been recommited to come this Sunday.

Also, our anglophone investigator Blaise is progressing very well.  On Sunday we watched a Stake Conference that was done for the whole south eastern-ish Africa area, in the which Elder Oaks and Elder Packer spoke.  Blaise enjoyed it very much, and asked if he could get a copy of it.  In his Book of Mormon he is going much slower, but is understanding very well.  Sunday was also fast and testimony meeting, and after Blaise asked Elder Acorda if he could have bore his testimony.  So he says he’ll probably do it next month.  And he's lucky, because the missionaries and the Thompsons go to DOVV, his store, often, and ask him about his Book of Mormon reading and such almost daily.

Elder Acorda and I also fixed a baptism date this week !  And its a baptism date that I am actually very confident will go through.  I say that, because recently we have made a few, but they kept falling through or being pushed back because the necessary preperations aren't being made.  Anyways, its a baptismal date for the 8th of January with Frère Jacques.  I think I told you about the guy we contacted who looks like Parker Froelich, right ?  Well that's him !  He has been to church every Sunday for over a month now (and even gets to church on time !), keeps all his commitments, and from the beginning has been discussing baptism.  And I can also tell that he pays attention in church, because he wasn't very happy when we informed him that there is not yet a temple in Cameroon.  But its people like Jacques, or Soeur Therèse (did I tell you about her ?  coordonnée that Elder Kesler and Elder Lamb baptized last month) that motivate me to do door to door contacting, or go see coordonnées no matter who they come from, because you never can know how the Lord is going to prepare someone for the Restored Gospel.

We also went « au-champing » again this week, again with Sister Ndongo.  We went to her farm about a month ago and just did a bunch of weeding.  This time we did a little bit more weeding, but mostly harvested corn.  Actually here in English corn is called « maize », but we kept forgetting, and Sister Ndongo didn't know what we meant by « corn ».  I wore my hat, just so Mom knows.  Didn't get nearly as many red spots as I did last time.

So about the Stake Conference we watched last Sunday, it was something they recorded in Salt Lake City and sent DVDs to us.  Along with Elders Oaks and Packer, someone from the 70 spoke and someone from the General Young Womens Presidency spoke.  But my favorite thing was said by both Elder Oaks and Elder Packer.  They talked a bit about African traditions.  That there are good things, and that there are bad things.  They stated simply, that if there is any part of one’s culture that helps one practice the Gospel, they should keep it in one’s family.  But, if there is any part of culture or tradition that is in any way contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ, one must get rid of it.  Sometimes I don't think that is completely understood, so I’m glad 2 apostles said it.

Finally, President Headlee came to Yaoundé today, and tomorrow we will have a mission conference.  I think I will have an interview with President for the first time in 5 transfers !  We are also anxious to hear about transfers.  That will happen sometime at the end of next week, and I don't know if we'll get the info this week or next, but because no one in all of Cameroon and Pointe-Noire go transferred last time, President told us that there will be big changes this time, especially because 4 elders will go home next week, including our current zone and district leaders.

And so if my calculations are correct, next week will be the last week of school before Christmas break ?  I hope everyone’s concerts and end of year shpeels are going well.  Also Elder Thompson dropped off some mail today and told me I have a good amount.  I haven't been back to the apartement yet, but he did tell me there was an Arab Book of Mormon.  But thanks for everything you do, and I love you very much !

Love,

-          Elder Eric

Hey Mom,

How did I know you were going to tell me to where my hat when I go "au-champing"?  (I always tell him to wear his hat....)

Beignets are basically small doughnuts with no hole.  Just fried dough.  (See picture)

 This is me with the lady that sells beans & beignets each morning.   

I eat there 5 or 6 mornings a week, and only spend 40 cents!

And now I've actually worn the long-sleeved shirt 2 times, and each because it was kind of "cold".  Its not anything like what you are having now, but it actually was kind of chilly.  I felt weird wearing it, but unusually comfy at the same time.  (See below)

And the red soda did actually come out of my shirt.  (Spilled on his shirt by a child at the orphanage.)  I left it on the back porch for about a week (because I forgot about it) in a bucket full of soapy water, then I put it in the washing machine, and now I can't even tell which one was stained.  C'est un miracle!  Malgré que je n'aie pas eu de foi. (It's a miracle.  Even though I didn't have faith.)   But when he spilled it on me, he was just standing in front of me, and I asked him, "est-ce que tu va cracher dans mon jus?"  (Are you going to spit in my drink?)  Then he said no, and punched my drink.

(I told Eric a young man from our ward just arrived in the Mozambique mission where they have AC units in their bedrooms.) Yeah, we don't have any ACs.  But we don't really need them.  They would be really nice in Douala, but we just get by with fans.

(Describe the supermarket.)  DOVV, Blaise's supermarché, is more like a Food Lion than a 7-11.  Its pretty nice, actually.

(How do you study the Book of Mormon?)  So when I study, things that stand our to me are commandements and blessings.  I underline commandments in blue and blessings in red.  And then anything in a missionary lesson sticks out, because nearly every gospel principle in my mind fits into missionary lesson 1 to 5, or a Christlike Virtue. (Do you read your scriptures in English or French?)   And I just study in French now, but I have a dictionary close by.  Especially when I was reading the Isaiah chapters in 2 Nephi.

Je t'aime,
- Eric

Hey Dad,

I don't know the details about the call yet, (Christmas Day call) but just in case, send me the calling card info, and I'll look in my stache.  And last time, I called you on the cell phone and you called me right back.  Can you tell me how much that cost, just so I could know if that may have been a little bit cheaper?

And thanks for the Wolverine reminder, I'll backup up my card tonight because it has been a while.

Je t'aime,
- Eric

p.s.  go D-Will (Utah Jazz)

p.s.s.  and there is an elder in my apartement from Idaho who is a cocky sports fan.  So I hope he won't have a reason to talk trash to me.  (Boise State will play the University of Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl.)

Eric's email of December 2nd, 2010

La zone de Yaoundé

I don’t know if I’m going to be able to live a normal American life again, because I usually get a little headache just from looking at this computer screen once a week.  And its a good thing I love you guys so much, or I probably would just stop doing emails.  And also Mom and Dad would probably get upset if I sent nothing. 

                Well this morning we went to the Gorilla Park in Yaoundé.  Actually its outside of Yaoundé, took us about an hour and a half to get there, it was pretty similar to the one I went to in Limbé with the Willis’.  But here, the monkeys throw more stuff at you.  I got a few videos.  Some of the stuff gets through the fence, too.  But we saw gorillas, chimpanzees and all that.  Some of them are really athletic.  Also, Sister Thompson brought us all lunches, and she brought Shasta Root Beer from the American store !  That was the first time I think I had had that on my mission.  It made me burp a lot.  I’ll send some pictures.

Eric and Bobo a 12 year old gorilla

                Last week for Thanksgiving, we ended up eating chicken, mashed potatoes, pie (Sister Thompson used squash to make something like pumpkin pie), veggies, things like that.  I ate a lot of mashed potatoes.  And then on Saturday we went again to this orphanage that the missionaries have known long before I got here, and they invited us to go there.  We couldn't stay very long, and they hadn't finished preparing the food before we left, but one of the kids did spill Top Grenadine all over my shirt.  That is a red soda.  I don't know if I’m going to get that out.  You couldn't really tell from a distance so I ended up wearing that stained shirt the rest of the day.  It was kind of weird, because there were several non-Cameroonians, so I just felt out of place, and never knew whether the speak French or English.  I just ended up playing this scripture golf game with Elder Kesler.

                Last Friday Elder Acorda and I went on splits.  It ended up being a bigger headache than I was expecting.  The member I was to work with showed up about 30 minutes late at the church, and he came with no tie, and I barely convinced him to tuck in his darn shirt.  I think it stayed tucked until for 1 lesson, then he took it out.  And then at our second lesson, we taught a referral given by another member, so the member friend was there.  And after that appointment, the person I was supposed to work with all day said he had to be somewhere at 3, and needed to leave.  Good thing the other member said he could work with me the rest of the day, or I would have been in trouble.  After that, it was a pretty smooth day, but I was getting kind of frustrated at first.  We did it because we have found lots of inactives lately, and I thought that would be the most effective way to handle it, but that wasn't completely true.

                But, Elder Acorda and I have received one new, really good investigator.  His name is Blaise.  He works at the new supermarché called « DOVV » that is near our apartement, so all the missionaries go there often.  But we met him the first time we went to Dovv, he works at the veggie section, and was really interested in who we were.  We have only met with him twice so far, but he is progressing really well.  And all the missionaries know him, so they can remind him frequently to read his Book of Mormon and come to church.  He has committed to come to church this Sunday, and if he is as sincere as he really is, he should know sooner rather than later the truth of the Restoration.  And he's an anglophone !

                Last Saturday we were supposed to go au champ-ing again, but we didn't realize the rain would stop all work.  It was kind of raining when we left, and Maman Natalie doesn't have a phone, so we decided to go anyway.  When we got there, she was very surprised we had come in the rain, and was even more upset that we were wet.  She thought we were going to get malaria.  I think people here have less tolerance for rain, because if it rains long enough or hard enough, life stops.  So, we ended up just singing a few hymns with Maman Natalie and her family, then went back home.  All well.

                Something weird, and kind of random, but an investigator called us on Sunday, and told me that her family thinks that I’m her husband.  Awkward.

                I don't know if you’ll believe this, but I weigh 80 kg right now.  The cell phone told me that is about 176 lbs.  I remember in Pointe-Noire, the least I ever weighed was 155, after I had thrown up a few times one week.  But now, Cameroon is making me fatter.  At this rate, I’ll weigh more at the end of my mission than at the beginning. (We think his calculations are incorrect.)  Embarassing.

                Also, President Headlee is coming a week from today, and a week from tomorrow we will have a mission conference !  Maybe I’ll get an interview with President for the first time since I was with Elder Parsons in Congo !

                Also, I received a package from you this week.  I haven't opened it yet, because I don't know if its for Christmas or not.  (It is!  We are so happy he got it in time!)  It said there is a t-shirt and letters in it.  So let me know when I’m supposed to open it.  Also, there are 3 other packages that arrived in Douala, and due to what the post office does around this time or year, they charged 11,000 CFA extra to get them out, so I’ll pay that with the American money I have.  I assume those are Christmas packages, too ? 

                And so to finish, this transfer my appreciation for the Book of Mormon has grown and grown.  I realize why PMG says to use it as our main source for teaching the restored Gospel.And right now as I go through it, I’m underlining all the commandments in blue and all the blessings in red, and I’m understanding it better than ever.  I know that it is the most correct book of any book on the earth.  And I’m sad when investigators are incrédule about the Book of Mormon, because they have no idea what huge blessing they are missing.

Je vous aime,

-          Elder Eric

      The new apartment is fine, except the water issue.  I think it may be resolved now, but seriously the plumber guys were there every morning, and then every evening a pipe would bust in a different spot.  Its not that far from the old one, and we hired someone with a big truck to move us.  With just the Thompson's truck, that would've been a pain.  And yes, my shower time has greatly decreased, but when I do have warm water I am more likely to take my time.

      (How many missionaries are in your apartment?)  And actually right now there a 6 missionaries, but after this transfer we think there will only be 4 due to missionaries going home.  The missionaries right now are me, Elders Acorda, Kesler, Lamb, Wilkins, and Hancock.

      Of course I remember Scott in that primary program.  (Eric played the piano for their ward primary program.  I reminded him of a funny story about his brother, Scott.)


J     Je t'aime,
-     Eric

      Holy cow... (sports reaction)  (BYU v Utah game)   

      So as for college, I've realized one thing I really miss is science.  So I'm almost completely sure that I want to do something science related.  Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of my counselor at SUU.  Did you ever try to get on the my SUU account?  But yeah, I love science.

     Je t'aime,
-    Eric