December 19

Its actually feeling like Christmas!! Unlike last year. Yesterday we sung the Malagasy version of 'Far, Far, Away on Judea's Plain'. That has become one of my favorite Christmas songs. We also stopped by a less active whose wife isn't a member and they were putting up Christmas decorations! 

The announcement of Christ's birth has been on my mind a lot lately. I love sharing Luke 2 and 3 Nephi 1:13 with people. Those are probably some of the happiest verses in all of the scriptures.

So this morning the missionaries  had a Christmas party! It was fun. We had a big pancake breakfast and then a few spiritual thoughts about Christmas. Sister Foote took a lot of pictures and videos. you probably can see them on her Instagram. (Katie show the ones with me in it to Mom for me.)

We also had a small gift exchange. I think I topped all gag gifts ever!! I brought a live chicken! It was pretty good, everyone loved it. It ended up getting stolen 3 times. The last Elder to get it was an Elder from Vano ato (an island nation in the south pacific). I'm pretty sure his plan is to kill it and eat it for Christmas. I also ripped my pants while playing a game, but Sis Tanner( she and her husband were in the MTC with me and are humanitarian missionaries here) fixed it up for me right there. That was really nice.

Saturday we went to a vita soratra and it was really neat. Its the wedding according to the law, similar to how the French do it.

Yesterday we got caught in the rain and our area got flooded, we had to wade through some really gross water. When I got home I just got straight in the shower clothes and all. My shoes are still drying out.

So word of the week is midongy which means to pout. I love you!!

December 12

It sounds like Christmas is in full swing!! In English class on Saturday we talked about Christmas and we translated "Santa Clause is coming to town" into Malagasy. I miss Christmas music!! There are only two Malagasy Christmas hymns in our hymnbook "Silent Night" and "Far Far Away on Judeas Plains." But we haven't sung them yet in church because I'm pretty sure they are waiting to sing them on Christmas. (It looks like my new comp may be giving his first talk in Malagasy on Christmas!)

So I'm now working in Anjanahary, It is pretty close to the center of Tana and there are a lot of people, I'm used to working a little farther out closer to fresh air. Wesley came home loving the city, but I must say I still love Ambanivoatra! I loved living in the mountains. A cool part about my new ward though is that a lot of the people here knew Wesley. 3 or 4 of them actually served their missions here in Mada and knew Wes. In fact our DMP was Wesley's mission companion. To be honest though I kind of miss Ambohipo. I got way close with a lot of the members there, and really learned to like the area. Oh well, I'm sure I'll love Anjanahary too.

So we actually had a really awesome experience this week. On Saturday we stopped and were talking to a family that was selling bed frames. While we were talking to them a random guy came up and asked us if we could come to his house and teach him. So we did. He is in the midst of a very hard trial and has turned to alcohol and cigarettes (he wasn't drunk when he talked to us though). He said that he wanted to come back to Christ, and asked when church was. We told him and taught him a little about the atonement. He said he was going to come to church on Sunday. He actually came!!! ... and well, I'm really excited for him

I love you!! Word of the week is Alina Masina which means holy night in Malagasy. (It's actually night holy, but yeah.)

Elder Beeson and I found some Christmas stuff in our apt, so that is the extent of our Christmas decorations.

December 5

I got some more letters this week! I'm now up to 56. Thank you mom for the letters. I read every single one, and thanks Dad for the emails. How is Bro Ellsworth doing? I'm hoping to send an email today to Orson and Spencer.

The rainy season has begun. It rained Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Most of those days I got soaked. Saturday and Sunday it didn't rain. Luckily it doesn't rain all day every day, it usually rains in the afternoon and evenings. Sometimes it will only last 30 minutes and other times it lasts 12 hours. I wish I could take a picture of the rain here. Rain in California doesn't even come close. Roads and paths literally turn into rivers. I've started wearing sandals every day because my shoes were always soaked. However, I'll have to go back to real shoes for a bit because I hurt my toe playing basketball this morning and I don't want it to get infected.

Thursday we helped a sister in our ward who had to re-plaster the inside of her house because it was falling apart. We helped remove the old stuff (its more like concrete than plaster) and learned how to throw the new stuff on. It was fun, but much harder than people make it look.

Got transfer news yesterday. After 7 months of being in Ambohipo, I'm headed to Anjanahary (Still here in Tana). My new comp was actually Elder Jackson's comp in the MTC. His name is Elder Beeson and he from America but not from UT.

Hopefully I'll know more about when I can skype next week! I cant believe its already December! It feels a lot like Christmas last year, hot and not a whole lot like Christmas. Oh well, this is the last one I'm missing. On the bright side we have already started singing Christmas songs in church!! (... granted they are in French and I don't understand the words.) I'm way excited to call though.

Well word of the week is miandry which means to wait.