Akory ziora? Enga anie salama tsara ianareo! I had a good week and I hope you all did too! I am getting more used to missionary life here and life in general here. We are working hard to learn French and help this little branch in St. Pierre. The gift of tongues is real and such a blessing especially in situations like this. This week I read a scripture in Alma 5 verse 14, which I am sure a lot of you know already. I love this scripture! It says, "And now behold I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have you experienced this mighty change in your hearts?" I think my favorite thing about this scripture is that it is directed to "the brethren (and sisters) of the church". I thought a lot about this. We taught a man the other day and he decided he won't come back to church because the members here aren't loving and aren't humble. Statements like these frustrate me and confuse me more than anything. Our goal in this life isn't to become a member of Christ's church and become a Mormon and then think, "Sweet we are done we made it." That whole enduring to the end part is the most important part of the whole process. Like a quote I shared by my mission president not too long ago said, "Our goal isn't to make them Mormons. Our goal is to help them to become Saints. And the best way we can become Saints is through being a Mormon." The word become is a big word in that quote. That's the enduring to the end part. This life is for us to strive our very best to become like Christ. We need His love, His charity, His humility, His kindness, His obedience, His faith, His everything. We were given the Gospel to help us do this. No one in this church is perfect. I love that scripture because that is our goal. One thing that was very hard for me in Madagascar was challenging people to read the Book of Mormon everyday and then they tell me they can't read. It confused me and made me very sad. I thought about it a lot. God does not judge us on things such as reading the Book of Mormon or going to church, but by living what is in the Book of Mormon and living what is taught at church. Now obviously, we have to read and go to church to know what is taught but if we think going to church every S
unday is going to save us then we don't really quite understand why we are doing that. When we learn of the Gospel, we must become what we learn. We must strive to become all that we hear about and all that we learn and read about in the scriptures and at church. Going and reading is not enough. We need to apply and live what we learn. Testimony is going to church and reading the scriptures. Conversion is doing our absolute best to live what we learn when we do these things. The scripture in Alma talks about true and full conversion to me, spiritually born of God, his image engraven on our countenances, and mighty change in our hearts. These are all things that we can achieve and become as we strive to be converted to the gospel. No one in this church is perfect, but it is the right path. I know we can all achieve these things through the doctrine and principles taught in this church. What we learn each week from scripture study and church attendance and keeping the commandments is a start to becoming like our Savior. I am so grateful for this Gospel and this church. I know it is true. I hope you all have a great week! Mazotoa ary aza maditra.
#Shoutouttowolfgram If his mom reads this you should be proud of how good of a guy your son is.
Our dinner with our second counselor and his family!
A pic of our house.
And some pics of the views here.
This is a member from our branch. He is not Malagasy at all but he speaks way good Malagasy. He was born there are lived there til he was 20. Way funny guy and makes me happy he speaks Malagasy.
Our dmbs restaraunt right on the beach way nice.
