Akory koahy rangitsy! I hope you all are doing good and had a good week! This week was good for me and I am all settled in with Elder Hunt my new companion in St. Marie. Should be a great transfer. The members here in Reunion are great and I love the members in our branch here. There is a Malagasy family too so that is awesome! We are going to their house tonight for dinner and a lesson and that will be tsara be! We will be working hard to find some new families and investigators to start teaching. This week I have thought a lot about all the many blessings in my life. That has definitely been one of the things on my mind most since leaving Madagascar. I have wondered why some of us just seem to get so blessed and lucky and some of us have it a little harder. A big part of me since leaving Madagascar has just felt not so good about myself as I feel I have done nothing to deserve the overly comfortable life I have. I have prayed and thought a lot about God's plan for us and His love for His children. We all have been blessed so much, in one way or another. I truly know and believe that though the world says money, house, cars, and nice vacations are blessings the true and real blessings are that of obedience, peace, happiness, forgiveness, and eternal life. There is a scripture that says "He who has Eternal life is rich" I have seen so many people here who have life so much easier than those in Madagascar, yet they are always just grumpy and angry. It makes me sad. I know those that have the Gospel are those that can truly receive that inner and lasting peace and happiness. We know that Heavenly Father blesses us when we are obedient and keep the commandments. Those blessings can be spiritual and temporal. Blessings such as being able to live comfortably can come from God because of our obedience. One thing I thought about is how God divides up all those blessings. I feel that every blessing we receive is not for us, it's for someone else. I truly believe that just like the parable of the talents, whatever blessings God gives us we can do so much more with those as we put them to use the way God wants us to. God gives us blessings so that we can become more effective tools in His hands to help His children. Sadly a lot of times, we let those blessings get in the way of us helping others. There is a scripture in Alma and I don't have my scriptures so I don't remember where it is exactly but it says something along the lines of this, "Do you think we can just sit here upon our thrones and not make use of the resources God has given us?" I love this scripture, we all have been so blessed and it's so we can now go and return the favor and bless someone else's life. I know that as we are obedient, we will always receive blessings from God. I also know that as we put those blessings to use in helping someone else along the straight and narrow, we will be doing what Heavenly Father intends us to do with what He has given us. A huge part of Enduring to the End is helping others endure to the end also. God gives us blessings for this reason. I hope we can all strive to see how the Lord has blessed us and how we can use that to help others. I hope you all have a great week! Mazotoa!
A pic of me and a way cool member from St Pierre named Brother Guyto.
Me and the other Elders from St Pierre.
The church building in St Marie.
A view of the coast in St Marie.
A view from the back deck....
and front deck of our house....
and a pic of the inside of the apartment..it is huge.
