April 24 - Easter videos

Yep, everything was closed last week because it was the Monday after Easter. Literally more things were open on Easter than were on Monday. Easter Monday is easily one of the biggest holidays in Madagascar. Most people go out and spend the day in the countryside.

Easter was neat. During the last hour of church we watched the church's Prince of Peace video. It was in French so I didn't really understand much. But I just watched it in English.

We have been teaching members in our ward how to make tacos, Its been a lot of fun. The only thing I really wish existed here is refried beans! Definitely looking forward to having a bean and cheese burrito.

We have a couple investigators that are really close to Baptism. Should be happening on May 6th. One of our investigators named Rova won't be able to catch that date though. Her husband is a member and they need to get legally married before she can get baptized but his mother doesn't want them to. If you could pray for them that would be nice.

Word of the week is manazatra which means practice - and tsaramaso which means beans

I love you!!!

April 17 - Easter Monday (no email)

Dear Parents,

As yesterday was Easter Monday, some of the missionaries were not able to email you as there were no cyber café’s that were open, so no need to be worried.

The missionaries will either try and email today or otherwise will email next Monday.

Regards

The Office Elders

(Elder Wilmot & Elder Van Zyl)

Madagascar Antananarivo Office Elders

2010704@ldschurch.org

Cell 261-34-49-180-76

April 10 - General Conference! Vakio ny Bokin'i Mormona isanandro!!

Conference was great!!! Truly a spiritual feast. I want to repeat President Monson's words:

    If you are not currently reading the Book of Mormon everyday, Please do!!!!

The rest of the week was pretty normal. My trainer, Elder Monsen, goes home on Wednesday. I'm going to miss that guy. He has become one of my best friends on my mission. But at least he is from Salt Lake so I will see him after the mission, unlike a lot of the elders here from South Africa or other places around the world.

Transfers are out and I'm staying here with Elder Jordan, which I'm glad about, He and I have been getting along really well. He loves airplanes, probbably even more than I do. We are getting a couple new housemates which will be nice.

I love you all!! I hope life is treating you well. Word of the week is Vakio! That is command form of read. Vakio ny Bokin'i Mormona isanandro!!

General Conference Notes:

I really felt and learned a lot from conference this weekend so I thought I'd share some of it with you.

I felt like there were couple of topics that were talked a lot about. They were the plan of salvation, the holy ghost, and the importance of doing the small and simple things (i.e. daily scripture study and prayer). I plan to study those topics in the coming months as well as refocus on my study of Jesus Christ.

Things I learned or relearned:

1. Don't disregard the counsel of your Bishop. -Joseph Brough

2. Kindness is the essence of a celestial life. -President Thomas S. Monson quoting Joseph B. Wirthlin

3. The most important calling in the church is the one you hold right now. -President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

4. Sister Jay Jones gave a wonderful talk on how parents can help raise their kids to be sin resistant. She also discussed the importance of preparing them to make covenants. As I listened to that talk I felt that it was very applicable to teaching people who are investigating the church.

5. Don't look around up, look up! -Elder Hoon Hwan Choi

6. Trust in the Lord and whatever he asks you to do, Do it!! -Elder Whitney L Clayton

7. How can you know God? A. Prayer  B.Scripture study C. Doing God's will. (I don't remember who taught this one.)

8.The key to teaching as the savior taught is to live as the savior lived. -Elder Benjamin D. Hoyos

Things I felt:

1. During the very first talk, given by president Henry B Eyring, I immediately felt the spirit and it was incredibly strong. I appreciated his teaching about the plan of salvation and family history work.

2.Everyone will have times when they must stand alone, we all need a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father, because through the holy ghost he is the only one that can help us during those times.

3. During a talk by Elder Valeri V. Cordon I felt an incredible amount of gratitude and appreciation for my parents. I have been born of goodly parents.

4.I know I have a Heavenly Father who lives and loves me. Every single person that has ever lived here on earth or that ever will live here is a son or daughter of God and has the potential to become like him.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to listen and learn from living apostles and prophets!

April 3 - Birth Certificates :( :)

How was General Conference? We will watch it this next Saturday and Sunday! I'm really excited! That is way cool there is going to be a temple in Kenya! That is one of the few countries that there is a direct flight to from Madagascar!

Elder Smithson, Elder Smith, Elder Smith, Sister Smith

Have fun skiing! I miss snow. It has been another hot week. In fact, that is about all there is to say about this week. A bit of a rough week. Our investigator who was hoping to get baptized on the 15th might not catch it and he might not get baptized until May. If you could keep him in your prayers. On the bright side though, one of the part member families we have been working with got their birth certificates this week and have scheduled there legal marriage, so the wife will be catching her baptismal date for May 6! It is neat seeing people progress, but sometimes its hard to see people not. I wish I could make things work somehow, but that would frustrate God's plan for his children. Really, all we do is try and help, but everyone has to make the decision themselves to be a disciple of Christ.

I love you all!! Word of the week is fakam-panahy which means temptation.

(Sorry this is short, but I don't have a lot of time today. I love you all!)

March 27 - pokanell (?) fruit

So we have an office couple again, named Elder and Sister Smith. They got here this week, they have been in reunion for about a year. They came here because, well, we are basically out of senior couples. 

This week has been a good week. I finished the Book of Mormon, I love that book as much as ever.

I had a fruit this week that was very strange. I have no idea what it is in English, I never saw it in America - that is for sure. Its called a pokanell (at least that is how it sounds, I don't actually know how to write it.) Its fun serving somewhere with different kinds of fruit. People are often surprised when I tell them that Apples are the cheapest fruit in America, because here it is one of the most expensive. 

A funny thing happened yesterday during Sacrament meeting. I was sitting with a part member family. The guy has been coming back to church and the wife is preparing for her baptism, hopefully in May. They have 3 little kids. The youngest was born in December. I was sitting next to their oldest who is around and 5 and she started pointing to all my freckles on my arms ( I don't have very many, but I've got a couple) She started saying "mbola marary Elder smithson" which translates to either Elder Smithson is hurt (or sick, they are the same in Malagasy). I think it might have been the first time she ever saw a freckle.

Well that is about it, The word of the week is vatomamy which means candy, literally it means sweet rock, however that is rarely used, most the time people just say bonbon which is candy in French.

I love you!!

P.S. A chick climbed on my foot during a lesson this week.

March 20 - Family History Work, Tic-Tac-Boom!

Yesterday our ward had a fireside about family history work. Most members are pretty impressed when I show them mine is full back 7 generations. I think that might have been why I was asked to give a little spiritual thought at the beginning. It was a really good fireside. It is somewhat difficult to do family history in Madagascar and Africa in general due to the lack of records and difficulty of finding them. However, there is one Malagasy that has been able to get 14 generations back on one line. To make life easier on Malagasies, they don't have to find exact dates or birthplaces, the thing they have to have is the full name, which in and of itself can be difficult. I've met some people who don't know the names of their parents because they were separated when they are young. Lucky for us, everything will be able to get figured out when Christ comes again! For now all we have to do is try. 

Last night was awesome too! We taught a part member family about Family Home Evening (FHE) and did it with them. It was lots of fun! They have 2 little kids and a newborn baby. We played a game called tic tac boom! Its similar to musical chairs. You have an object which you pass around. One person closes their eyes and  says tic tac, tic tac, over and over again and whenever they feel like it they say Boom! Whoever has the object has to dance! We got everyone to dance, but I had to dance twice. 


That is cool Orson got to speak at Stake Conference, but I hope that doesn't happen to me!  Well that's about it. Sorry I don't have any pictures. 

The word of the week is takarivan'ny mpianakavy which means family home evening, granted most members still use the French way which is something like soiree famille (ask Tana or Eric, I don't know French)

March 13

Baptisms!!!! That is definitely the highlight of this week! A couple named Haingo and Haingo (Yes, they have the same name) got baptized that I've been teaching. They have been waiting for this for months! Also a 10yr old girl named Fara was baptized. We started teaching her about 6 weeks ago. She used to live with her Grandma but now her Aunt and Uncle who are members are looking after her. It has been sweet being a part of their progression in the gospel. I got to baptize Haingo (the husband , not the wife) and it was really neat!

Also a cyclone hit Madagascar this week! Though it wasn't very strong, at least it wasn't by the time it got here, really just a lot of rain. By that I mean A LOT OF RAIN!!!!!!!!!!! We got completely soaked making our way to an investigator's house. We then helped empty out their yard because it was full of water and was about to start flooding their house. That was fun! Elder Jordan has a waterproof camera so I got some pictures for ya.

Word of the week is loza voanjanahary which means natural disaster. It literally means danger from the creator, or something similar - sometimes I don't know how to explain certain words in English.

I love you! Tell Orson hi for me!