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.