August 29

August 29, 2016

It has been a week full of ups and downs. We are still spending most of our time trying to find people to teach which is hard some days. Though I'm very optimistic right now. At the beginning of this week I had been feeling kind of down and discouraged. However, Friday morning during personal study I read some encouraging scriptures that had previously helped me back when I was having a hard time in the MTC, and they worked like magic it seemed. Almost immediately I felt comforted and encouraged. I know it was the Holy Ghost.
I can't express how much I've come to love the scriptures particularly the Book of Mormon. It is the foundation of my testimony and a friend when I need it.

On Wednesday there were three wild bulls running around Ambohipo. It was quite the commotion. Lots of people were chasing after them, specifically kids. But every time they stopped or changed directions everybody would scatter to try and get away. I assume some people finally caught them because they aren't running around anymore, and I also didn't hear of anyone getting hurt. I thought it was kind of funny though, because back in Sabotsy Namehana you see cows everyday walking in the street, and it's not a big deal. Apparently those are domestic and the ones on Wednesday are from somewhere on the western side of Madagascar.

Saturday we went out with a bunch of members from multiple wards to the countryside and  helped fix up a school. I spent the whole morning fixing part of the ceiling that had fallen down because I was the tallest person there and could reach the ceiling with just a stool and didn't need a ladder. It was a way neat experience. It was a very last minute organized activity, but it turned out great. I'm starting to realize that anytime there is an organized service project here they just call it Mormon helping hands.

Tahiana is one of our recent converts.

Tahiana came to church on and off for 11 years and had never learned from the missionaries until Deklerk and I started teaching him. He is practically the best recent convert ever. As our Bishop said "It was his time." It is amazing how the Lord prepares people to accept the gospel.

So today we played soccer and I scored two goals. We were playing against one of the wards here (but Malagasies are all pretty good at soccer)! I'm pretty proud of myself. I also bought a camera for 412,920 Ariary today. It took 42 bills!

Well, word of the week  is milaolao tanana which is how you say to fidget here. Literally milaolao means to play and tanana means hands,

August 22

August 22, 2016

This week and has been up and down--just another week of being a missionary. Nothing really special to share. The Lord definitely shows us our weaknesses. Every time I think I'm starting to get good at something (such as Malagasy) I'm reminded just how much I don't know. However, it's a comfort to know that Heavenly Father can use imperfect people to accomplish his work. As Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said a few years ago  "Except in the case of His only perfect Begotten Son, imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with. That must be terribly frustrating to Him, but He deals with it. So should we. And when you see imperfection, remember that the limitation is not in the divinity of the work."

Well, that's all I got for the week.

Word of the week is tonga lahafitra which means perfect. Literally, it means to come far. However, you can also use the word tanteraka which means complete. 

August 15

August 15, 2016

It wasn't the easiest week of my mission, but it ended on a good note. We had a baptism on Saturday! Baptisms are wonderful experiences. I was originally going to baptize a young women named Rasiarisoa Faratina Christine and Elder Ncoyo was going to baptized a 20 year old guy named Randriajafitombo Donah Lidot, but we switched because Elder Ncoyo had trouble saying his name. I love Malagasy names! They are so long and are often intermixed with French and English names and so hard to say. Even Malagasies sometimes have a hard time saying each other's names. I've gotten pretty good at saying them though. The key is to sound it out one letter at a time.

Other than then the baptism not a whole lot happened this week. We are spending a lot of time right now trying to find new investigators. Many of the ones we had live in what is now the sister's area. Which is a little sad for me because I really loved teaching a lot of them.

On a fun note, we played soccer with our ward on Saturday and almost found a new investigator through it! However as the story goes he didn't actually show up to church on Sunday.

Word of the week is anarana which means name.

The last pic is where we get our haircut.

August 8

August 8, 2016

Sorry about last week. I spent most of the day with Wesley and didn't end up having any time to cyber at the end.

So last Saturday our stake did a Mormon Helping Hands! It was fun! We made part of a dirt road a bit smoother and cleaned out part of a gutter on the side of it. There were a couple of shovels and wheel barrows, but most of the people used their hands to clear out the gutters (we didn't have gloves). To help carry dirt people got buckets or used burlap sacks. It was very humbling to see. Everyone just wanted to help even though they didn't have the most ideal tools!

Last week I also learned how to make menakely. It's a little bread thing they make there that is really delicious. I plan to practice it so I can make it for you guys someday! It is literally one of my favorite foods here. I eat it every morning for breakfast.

A bunch of new missionaries came in on Wednesday and even more are coming in September. It's fun to see new guys because I have felt like one of the new guys for so long, but now seeing people the day after they get here I don't feel so young. A lot of these kids just finished high school which seems like a really long time ago for me.

We had so many missionaries coming in and a lot of missionaries came in from provinces so President decided to have a giant zone conference. All but 16 of the missionaries here in Madagascar were there. It was great to see guys I hadn't seen in awhile.

So they decided to add a pair of sisters here in ambohipo. Which means I have to share my ward, and I lost well over half my investigators to them. It's okay. I'll just have to find more new ones. This is my first time being in the same district as sister missionaries. It's a bit weird. They are both from here in Madagascar, though, which is way cool! Hopefully they will help me get a lot better at Malagasy! On Friday we went and showed them around their area. It was way fun using Malagasy all day. I hope someday I get a Malagasy companion.

We had two investigators pass baptismal interviews on Saturday. They will be getting baptized this Saturday which is exciting! I also did my first baptismal interview this week. I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be. It went great. The lady was very ready.

Today I went to a zoo. It was a lot of fun, but another elder took all the pictures and hasn't sent them to me yet. So hopefully next week I'll be able to send some!

Word of the week is actually a phrase. Mormona manome tanana. that is how you say Mormon helping hand in Malagasy, but it literally translates to Mormons giving hands. 

August 1

August 1, 2016

Sorry. I didn't have time to cyber today! I'm doing well. I'll write more about this week next week!!