Akory aby! Ino koa ty raha rehafe'areo? Salama soa iraho nefa mbola tsy mahay mirehake Atandroy. Fa miantse avao iraho. I hope you all had a great week! We had a great week. Man, its hard to have a bad week when you get to suit up and go play for God's team each day. The work is going great. We continue to find people who are ready to receive the Gospel. We have many investigators progressing well and exercising their faith to follow and live the Restored Gospel. Even though that may mean quitting smoking or drinking; or getting legally married before waiting to buy a cow and have a big celebration for the wedding (cultural thing here in Madagascar). It has been great to work with and get to know so many great people here in Fort Dauphin. A highlight from this past week was definitely General Conference. We were able to watch all the sessions yesterday and it was great! One of the biggest messages I got out of conference, is the lessons on what we need to do to keep our testimonies alive. Stephen W. Owen in the
Saturday Afternoon session told a story of a missionary who bore testimony to his mission president and after he was done his president said this, " You can forget or deny all that you have testified of in a few months if you do not keep doing what you did to first gain your testimony." I loved that little quote. It is so true and at the same time a little scary. We must continually feed our testimony through church and temple attendance, scripture study, daily prayer, and repentance and faith in God. Russell M. Nelson said, "I love to hear when people say that they know the Book of Mormon is true. That's nice, but its not enough! We must feel deeply about The Book of Mormon, like we cant live a day without it." Elder Callister's talk on the Book of Mormon was a highlight for me also. He talked about how "the source of the Book of Mormon is revelation but not brilliance." Saying Joseph Smith could in no way write that book on his own knowledge and skills. I know that what these two leaders taught about the Book of Mormon is true and that it is the keystone of our testimony of Christ. I know that it is true. It has brought me closer to Christ and I have seen it do the same for others. There's no way possible that a lie could help so many people follow the Savior and change their lives for good. I know reading The Book of Mormon each day is vital to our staying on the pathway to God. That path leads toward being perfected in Christ...eventually, as Jeffrey R. Holland spoke about. I loved the story he shared about the Priest who was criticized by someone for not living as he should. The Priest replied, "If I know the way home but am walking along it drunkenly, is it any less the right way simply because I am staggering from side to side?" We all come short of the Glory of God and we all stagger from side to side on that way back to Him. But I know that through the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ we can one day be perfected in Him. As we strive our very best to live the teachings of prophets in the Book of Mormon and the Bible and as we follow our living prophets and apostles, no matter how much we may stagger from side to side, I know we will make it home. They teach of Christ and Heavenly Father and they lead us to Them. I hope you all have a great week! Veloma!
Last P-day we went to a cool beach. Some kids followed us around, like always, so that was fun haha.
A pic of a returned Malagasy missionary's tag. Their names are so long hahaha.
Nari is a returned missionary in our branch. He is Sunday School President but moved to Tana this week, so we said goodbye.
Our conference set up yesterday. Borrowed one of the Branch President's laptops and watched it in our apartment. It was a great conference!
A pic of 6 out of the 8 of our zone at dinner the other night. This place is owned by a French guy here and it is way good!
