September 26

September 26, 2016

It has been a good week. Kind of hard training, but my comp is pretty fun. Hopefully, I'll be able to help him grow as much and as quick as possible. Learning a language is difficult. Especially when they teach you Malagasy in the MTC, and then you come here to Mada and have to learn a ton of French words in order to communicate effectively.

So hopefully I'll start having lots of pics again. My comp is new and still finds everything kind of crazy. At one point we were talking about taxis here and having to bargain for the price. He asked me why we have to bargain when there is a little electronic tracker thingamabob. I looked at him for a few seconds and then he said, "Of course we are in Madagascar. They don't have those here do they?" I just nodded my head. Madagascar taxis are some of the greatest adventures! It's amazing how they can keep them running. Many use an old water bottle as a gas tank.

We helped some of our investigators move on Saturday and then Sunday we went and taught them with one of our recent converts named Tahiana, one of the greatest lessons ever. They tried to give us money to buy juice or something but we said absolutely not. Helping people is what we do. I feel like their hearts were softened, and I have a lot of hope for them. They were hesitant to accept a baptism date, but they promised to come to church this coming Sunday. They seemed to understand that if the Book of Mormon is true, then Joseph Smith is a prophet and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only church here on earth that has the authority to complete God's work, such as doing baptisms. That is a concept that has been very hard for me to help Malagasies understand throughout my mission. (We also had a drunk guy tell us he was a prophet, that happens quite a bit here.)

It is starting to get hot here in Madagascar. I'm not looking forward to December when it will get super hot again. On the bright side I won't be in Tamatave, one of the hottest places in Mada.

Word of the week is mifindra trano. Mifindra means to move and trano means house. It's how you say someone is moving.