Akory aby!! Inona vaovao?! Faly dia faly tokoa aho! I hope you all had a great week! I can promise you this has been one of the greatest weeks of my life and it's all about to get even better! I am here in Antananarivo and life can't get any better! I never thought a place so far away could feel so much like home. I will be here in the capital until tomorrow when I will take a plane back to Fort Dauphin and try to get it rolling again. Sunday we were able to choose what branch or ward we wanted to attend and so I was able to go back to Ambohimanarina. Walking into the chapel and seeing all the peoples' eyes get big and smiles grow, will be a memory I will never forget. The Malagasy people love missionaries and they were very excited to see us again. I was able to go and visit many people who I taught and baptized just a year ago. It was a surreal experience and I feel so blessed! Many of them are Melchizedek Priesthood holders and are preparing for the temple with their families this upcoming year. Wow. I can't even describe the joy of being here again! I cant wait to go to Fort Dauphin tomorrow also and get to work with Elder Jackson. It is going to be an absolute blast. This week in Mauritius, before we came to Mada, we met with the District President there who is a South African man. He is awesome. He said something that I will never forget. He said,"You know it's a tragedy that all the missionaries were taken from Madagascar. But the Lord works in mysterious and crazy ways. He has a plan and he knew that a few dozen missionaries would be scattered throughout the world and he wasn't just planning on letting them sit there and do nothing. He had a plan for you. Its pretty cool that you were apart of that crazy plan for 3 months." I thought a lot about that. As hard as it was to leave Madagascar, if I could relive it, I don't think I would change how things happened. I learned so much through that experience. Yesterday, I talked to Rachel who is a lady that I taught in Ambohimanarina. She was telling me about how she has had a lot of struggles and hardships this first year of her membership in the church. We talked about what testimony and conversion is. We talked about how it is a process to become converted to Christ. It is not as hard to just believe He is the Savior and that the church is true. But it is harder to live in accordance with that belief everyday of your life. It takes time and patience and lots of prayer. We talked about how sometimes you may be doing everything you should be and yet the blessings are still not there. All you can do is hope and press forward and trust in the Lord. Tolotra, a man I had the privilege to baptize, said, "Tsy hoe tokony hankato ny didin'Andriamanitra isika fa tsy maintsy mankato isika." "It's not that we should obey the commandments of God, but we must obey." As I thought more about these two conversations with people I had taught and grown so close with, I realized how much more I learned of these two simple yet very important concepts of the Gospel. In La Reunion, I feel as though I learned a little bit better how to trust the Lord and rely on Him and how I can start to become more converted to Him. I also learned that we must follow him. It's not a suggestion or something that would be good if we did. It's something we absolutely need in our life. And when we follow him he also has blessings waiting for us and he always keeps his promises. I am so grateful for this gospel and for our Heavenly Father who has a plan for each and every one of us. I hope you all have a great week. I know I will! Mazotoa!!
Visiting a Hindu Temple in Mauritius last P-day! they were very ok with us asking questions and taking pictures so it wasn't disrespectful.
This one is of Stromberg eating a fruit roll up a little too close to the worship place haha.
These are all people I taught in Ambohimanarina. They are doing awesome and preparing to go to the temple!! So great to see them!
Pics of families in Ambohimanarina!
Tolotra and Tafita had a pic of me with them at their baptism hung in their house. Man I love these people!
