October 3

October 3, 2016

It's been another pretty great week. Over the last 2 weeks we have found a total of 23 new investigators which has been cool.  Three of them came to church yesterday!! We also have been seeing some less active member progress, and some of them came to church yesterday!!! I have a very optimistic outlook right now. Elder Jackson is still new and sometimes hesitant to speak in Malagasy as new missionaries often are (myself very much included in that). He is trying and is continually doing better. He is great when it comes to finding people through English class! Which is something I've always struggled with. It is a good thing I got sent to Madagascar because white people scare me, and it's much easier for me to talk about the gospel in Malagasy than in English.

So, in case you didn't know there are 18 different dialects of Malagasy. Luckily the one spoken here in Tana is also considered the national dialect and most people understand it. However, this week we taught a few people who didn't, and I felt like I WAS BACK IN TAMATAVE. I understood hardly anything. Long story short, that lesson didn't go anywhere.

I'm excited for general conference!! Hopefully, I'll be able to watch it in English. At the very least I'll get to see it in Malagasy, though there is nothing like hearing the word of god in the language of your heart. I hope that all of you loved conference. I loved April's, but unfortunately, I haven't been able to read the talks from it again because we have only gotten the conference Ensign in Malagasy.

Today I learned how to play cricket!! It is similar to baseball but a bit different--pretty fun though. However, only the elders from South Africa had any idea how to play. The rest of us seemed to catch on pretty quick.

Fun fact of the week, Elder Jackson says I snore like a horse!!

I got the package, thanks!! And letters through 48!! Pretty much every other elder was jealous because I got 16 letters this week!!


So for my Christmas package, the 4 other elders I live with and I have been talking and I think I've decided that there are only two things I really want, Kraft mac and cheese and smarties,

Also, I was wondering if I could get Aunt Tana's chocolate chip oatmeal cookie recipe.

Finally, I was hoping, mom, you could help figure out how to get our ancestors patriarchal blessings. I think you can, and I think that would be really neat.

Word of the week is mapilendalenda. Elder Jackson actually taught me this word. It literally means to make drool!!!