French Guiana

Elder Fraley left the MTC for a 6:30 am flight on Monday morning. He was able to call home 3 times to talk to family. Sadly, I wasn't able to be there, but my Mom, Dad, Grandma, and sister Abby all got to speak with him.

A few details from the phone call: He was so excited to be leaving the MTC! Elder Fraley said the food at the MTC was just ok. He seemed to have lost 2 lbs in the MTC even though he ate food and snacks all the time. He is super grateful for all the letters he's received, they help a lot. My mom said he bore his testimony in French on the phone and he sounded really good. He chose Panda Express at the airport for his last meal in the U.S. My mom also got to talk to his companion, Elder Lever, and really enjoyed their conversation.

He made it safely to Trinidad to meet his mission president. His first area is French Guiana, with his new companion, Elder Santos. He loved being companions with Elder Lever and hopes that they might get put together at another time during their missions. We'll get to hear a lot more from him on his next p-day!

French Guiana is in South America. There are 3 South American countries that are in the West Indies mission. It seems to be a pretty poor country.

Here are some things I learned from wikipedia:

• French Guiana has one of the highest levels of biodiversity in terms of both flora and fauna. 
• French Guiana is home to many unique and important ecosystems: tropical rainforests, coastal mangroves, savannahs, inselbergs, and many types of wetlands. 
• French Guiana is heavily dependent on mainland France for subsidies, trade, and goods. The main industries are fishing (accounting for three-quarters of foreign exports), gold mining and timber. 
• Sugar and bananas are two of the main cash crops grown.