What's up everyone?! I hope you are all having a great week and a good summer. This week was a good one here in Fort D. Today is Independence Day for Madagascar. There have been lots of cool Malagasy Cultural things going on and it has been cool to see. The work is going great here also. We have found some great new families and people. Two of our investigators that are preparing for baptism had birthdays this week and we bought them white shirts and ties as they didn't have any. They were very happy to get those and they looked good in them
on Sunday! Dorgivier and Pascal are their names and they are complete studs and I can't wait til they are baptized! Right now we are looking for the family that is gonna be a big piece in helping this little branch grow. We have many of our investigator families that I feel could help be that piece and help this branch grow and it is exciting. As a missionary in such a small branch it has been a cool and different experience that I am very grateful for. I have been praying and looking for ways of how I personally can help the members and investigators and all the people in this area realize the need of the Gospel and especially the Restored Gospel. I thought about what the Savior taught about which of the commandments was most important. He taught to Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soul and with all thy mind is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is to love your neighbor as yourself. He taught that on these two commandments hang all the law. That means that if we truly Love God and truly Love our Neighbor then we will be living all the other principles and commandments of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And all the other things in our life will just fall into place. I thought about this a lot. I feel as though I love God but I am sure I can increase my love for Him. I also feel that I love my neighbor. I have learned a lot on my mission thus far but one of the most important things I have learned is to love all people. I thought that I can definitely improve in this category though also. I have thought a lot about this and know that it must be very important for us all. If Christ said these are the two most important things then we should probably make this the center of our lives and what we need to be doing. Christ truly loved everyone and that is what we need to strive to do and become. I know that as we love all those around us, especially our Heavenly Father, our lives will be changed and we will recognize all the blessings in our life and we will experience true happiness. That is why a mission is so great. You get to wake up everyday and think about the people you teach, you pray about the people you teach, you strive to help better the lives of the people you teach, and you love the people you teach. There is no greater joy than losing yourselves for those around you. I know we will be happier and find more blessings as we live these two simple but important commandments. I hope you all have a great week! Veloma!
Went on a split with Elder Parraga this week and this is a cool view they have in their area.
And a sick basketball hoop. Ball is life.
Some funny little kids that were wanting their pic taken very bad.
ParadisaGasy.
Me and my English class. Taught them the Hokey Pokey and they thought it was a funny but weird dance haha.
Some pics from the big Independence Day parade that was going on here by the town hall in Fort Dauphin which is right by our house. These people were all doing different Malagasy dances and stuff and it was cool.
Also a pic of us watching the firework show from our house. Today is actually the day of Independence and so there are tons of activities and stuff going on that should be cool to see!
