Akory aby! I am sure you all had another great week! Our week was great too! I am loving this great area that I have been blessed to serve in for 4 transfers (about 6 months). There are so many great people here and I feel so blessed to serve with them everyday! This week was great. We are having so many great and prepared people being put in our path and you can definitely see the Lords hand in the work. There are so many "coincidences" that happen on the mission that are definitely not coincidences at all but rather the hand of the Lord helping His children that are ready to find the truth. My testimony is strengthened everyday that this is truly God's work and He is in control. It is always a nice comfort as a missionary to know that all we have to do is be obedient and work hard and the Lord will take care of the rest. This week we taught one of my best friends here, Dorgivier. He is now a member and a stud. We baptized him probably about a month or so ago. Dorgivier is one of the most humble guys I have every met. He has had a big impact on me as I have gotten to know him. He lives in the smallest house I think I have ever been in. I could not lay flat either way in his house and fit. Also, of all the members, he lives the farthest distance away from the church building. Oh and he is handicapped, as one of his legs is shorter and not developed like his other leg. Yeah having to mow the lawn
on Saturday afternoon while the game is on doesn't sound too bad now huh? :) Anyways, we taught Dorgivier and when we were about done we asked if he had any questions. He said yeah. He asked, "Is it ok to blame God for some things? Like I am disabled and it is hard. I walk on the street and people stare at me and sometimes I will be carrying something heavy and some people will help me but other times I will fall as it is too heavy and people just watch. It is hard but is it ok to blame God for that?" Man, I felt as though I wasn't worthy to answer his question. But I shared D&C 122:7-9 with him. This talks about how no matter what happens to us in this life and all the trials and hardships we have the Savior has suffered more than all of us can imagine. And in this scripture the Lord says "all these things shall give thee experience and be for thy good." I told Dorgivier I don't know why certain people are born with disabilities or hardships that they cant control and they did nothing to deserve it. But I know that God gives us trials to help us in the long run. They are for our experience and good. Sometimes in life we get frustrated and mad at God because we have endured hardships and trials yet we have done nothing but tried to be good and keep the commandments. I know that those hard times are for our good. They make us better. They strengthen our faith. They help us realize how blessed we truly are as we focus on the good. If we lift weights, once 1 plate gets too easy, we usually add some more weight so we can strengthen our muscles. I am sure that principle is the same with our spiritual growth. We endure hardships and trials through out our lives. And I would guess that when those come, it is God saying ok you are ready to take a little more weight, don't worry this first rep is gonna be hard but it will get easier and you are gonna be stronger than before. I know that God is a loving and merciful God. He will never give us too much that we can't handle. But sometimes He sure does make it hard, and as we have faith we will recognize that "it is all for our good and experience." Focus on the Lord and He will help you through. I am so grateful for such amazing people like Dorgivier and many others in my life. I hope you all have a great week!! Mazotoa!
Heiden Rooney and his wife, Savannah, were at our dinner with President Danielson and their family. Heiden served here a while ago and we are long lost family so that was cool! (Heiden is Paul's cousin's nephew).
Pic of some kids playing soccer in our area.
Some little studs we found one night. They made this wooden guns that shot rocks like a sling shot. They made them themselves and it was so cool. We see them running around having wars with their friends. Reminded me of airsoft wars in the backyard when I was little haha.
A pic with Dorgivier in a beautiful part of our area. He helped us teach on Friday. He was so happy to help us. It was awesome.
Dorgivier posing for a pic.
Pic with Mbola. They like taking pics a little too much. Seems that after every lesson we have a little photo shoot with them it is funny haha.
People like making the joke that I am a Mpanamboatra Kiraro (shoemaker) yet my shoes are broken. So I decided to pay a member to fix these up for me haha. Hopefully these bad boys can last one more year ha.
