Week 86 - Ny Mananakarena Mety Mbola Hijaly, ary Ny Mahantra Mety Mbola Hifaly

Salama daholo. I hope you all are doing well and had another great week. I am doing great as always. This week was awesome. We have some sweet investigators and we found an awesome new family this week! That always makes things exciting! This week we taught our stud investigator named Rodeo. From the second I heard his name I knew he was gonna be a stud haha. No idea how and why a Malagasy named their kid that but its sweet. Anyways he is progressing very well and lessons with him are always awesome. He asks tons of questions and most the time its questions that no one on earth knows but he thinks we can help him hahaha its funny. But this last week he asked a question that I am sure many people have. Lots of people in Reunion would use it as their reasoning for there not being a God. Anyways he asked, "why are some people born in such poverty and hardships and some seem to have it a lot easier?" That's his question simplified. My companion, our member help, and I each shared our testimony and what we believe on that subject. Man I wont lie. That question is just a hard one for me to answer. It just takes a lot of faith. I asked him if he believed God loves each of his children the same. He said yes. And i said great. I do too. So we need to have faith that there is a reason for everything that he does. In second Nephi 2 it says, "But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things." There are lots of things we don't know but if we have a testimony of this simple truth then we will be able to have faith and overcome any questions or doubts. We also talked about how God doesn't make peoples lives hard. People make peoples lives hard. I even spoke to President about this subject awhile ago back in Reunion. We talked for awhile. Joseph Smith the prophet of the restoration and many other prophets had very hard lives. And I am pretty sure God isn't the one who made their lives hard. Everyone's choices has an effect on those around them. And sadly in this world there is so much war, corruption, evil, lying, cheating, stealing, etc. that just make it hard on other people. Everyone says they want world peace and the only way that will ever happen is if we all follow the one who taught us exactly how we can receive that peace, our Savior Jesus Christ. Just imagine if everyone from Adam and Eve lived the gospel. I can assure you Madagascar wouldn't be such a rough place. Along with lives of many other people. But that's all part of the plan Heavenly Father knows there must be opposition in all things for us to truly learn and progress here. So even though I am sure it hurts him seeing so many people have it hard because of others choices he has given us everything we need to receive everlasting joy. I know Heavenly Father knows each and everyone of us better than we know ourselves and our life situations are exactly what we need to experience to help us build our weaknesses to strengths. And he has a plan for each of us no matter where he has put us in this life. I told Rodeo about Dorgivier in Fort Dauphin.  I told Rodeo that his bed wouldn't fit in Dorgivier's house. Yet Dorgivier is more blessed than the richest of the rich because the "worldly blessings" are no where near the blessings of heaven. I know that living by the teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and following the living prophet is the only way we can receive all that the father has and those that do that are blessed beyond comprehension. I know God loves his children and we will feel that live more in our life if we follow His son. I hope you all have a great week! Mazotoa!!

 Some pics of views from two of the missionaries houses. 

 And then from our area. 

 And two little members' kids. This little girl is so hyper but she is the best haha.

Week 85 - Ny Olom-belona tsy Akoho. Miala Tsiny e!

Salama daholo o! Mbola tsy haiko tsara ny fomba tokony anombohako ny email isaky herindandro. Fa tsy manahy izany e! I hope you all are doing great! I had a great week man! The work is going great right now in our area. We have lots of great people we teach and some great families. It is awesome going from lesson to lesson teaching people that are so ready for the gospel! Also found out that this snack I usually eat off the streets called a sambosa is sometimes made with meat that I wasnt expecting haha. They are these little triangle tortilla things filled with meat and you buy one for 100 ariary which is like a penny ha. They are way good too. But an investigator told us this week that sometimes the reason they are so cheap is because they put dog meat in it...after this long living here I dont think that will stop me from buying them though ha. But for real this was a great week! Loving life as a missionary more and more each and everyday! This week we had a great lesson in Elders Quorum on Sunday. It was taught by Brother Julien and Brother Gael. They are both returned missionaries. Julien is actually a French guy who married a Malagasy lady here and they live here now. Anyways the lesson was great. It was about repentance. Gael said a quote I really like. He said something along the lines of, "Are we using the power of repentance like we should be?" I thought a lot about that. There was a talk last conference about how repentance is always a positive thing. Sadly a lot of times we think of it like the principal's office. Like dang we did something stupid and now we gotta go get in trouble. But I really like what Gael said. Do we really believe that Christ suffered for us? Well if we do, we should be rejoicing at the opportunity to repent! We should be so grateful that we can repent and become better and be forgiven. It shouldn't be something we hide from. My mom loved shopping for me before my mission and she would sometimes buy me clothes that I didn't really like and yet I would tell her I like it to not hurt her feelings. (Sorry mom I am confessing over email ha). Then a few days or weeks would go by and my mom would ask why I hadn't worn the shirt she got me. Obviously she could tell that I wasn't appreciative of the shirt she bought. I think we sometimes do that with the Atonement..we tell Heavenly Father we are so grateful for sending His son to suffer and die for us and make it possible to repent and become clean. Yet we don't use that great gift each and everyday. The best way to show our Heavenly Father and our Savior that we are grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ is to use it! Don't shove it in the closet and tell them you are thankful for it and that you will wear it one of these days. Repentance is something we should do everyday. It is the whole reason we are here on earth. We prepare and become better by being on our knees and talking to Heavenly Father about how we should change. And as we partake of the Sacrament each week, He promises us that His forgiveness will be there as long as we try and do a little better the upcoming week. I am so grateful for the gift of repentance. Even missionaries need to repent everyday. I hope we can all look at repentance the way the Savior does. I hope you all have a great week! Veloma e!

 A pic of our house. You guys usually like getting those I think so thought I would send one haha. Its a nice place! 

 A Malagasy laundromat. ha. If people don't just wash clothes outside their house in bucket then they take their clothes to a place like this and wash them. 

 This is Sitraka who works in mission office. I got back from the evacuation and found him wearing this belt I left behind haha. Pretty funny. 

 A view of Tana.  

 A pic of the bus station going to Antsirabe.

  A pic of some kids that wanted their pic taken while we were tracting ha.

  And the custom made suit I got today that was 33 US dollars haha. The pants were too small but he is making them bigger. I am probably gonna get another one made. Can't beat a custom suit for 33 bucks!

 There was a sister in our ward who had to take pics of our ward at church in their individual classes for some internet site for church or something, anyways she used my camera and thought i would send some of the pics home so you can see!

Week 84 - Fandrao Hadinoinao

Salama e! I hope you all are doing great! I am doing better than great. Sure is hard to complain when you get to go out everyday and be a missionary. This week was tsara be. We found a lot of cool new investigators. We found some great families to teach. That always makes it an exciting and fun week. We got to teach a lot and find a lot and man it feels good. I don't know but something about knocking doors in the hot sun and saving souls just makes ya happy! This week I started a new study. I think it was Elder Bednar who suggested reading the whole Book of Mormon while focusing on one question you want answered or something you need help with. I started doing that this week and it is like I am reading the Book of Mormon for the first time all over again. It's awesome! Lots of new things and ideas come into my head and I sometimes find myself just sitting and thinking for awhile. This week I thought a lot about the word remember. In our companion study a few weeks ago, my comp mentioned that someone had told him that one of the most important words in the church is remember. I thought that was cool and thought about it a lot. Then this last week, I read a talk by Elder Rasband from October 2016. It is titled, "Lest Thou Forget." I highlighted a handful of quotes from this talk and one of them was something along the lines of this, "Remember, especially in the times of problems and trials, the time you felt the Spirit and had a strong testimony." I really liked this quote and then it all came alive as I read the Book of Mormon. In first Nephi, Chapter 4, it's the part where Nephi goes back to Laban and finds him passed out drunk. Nephi talks about how he feels the spirit tell him to kill Laban and that is what he should do. But he worries a little bit. He thinks, man I have never killed anyone how am I supposed to do this? Is this really what the Lord wants me to do? And then in verse 14 he says, "I remembered the words which the Lord spake unto me.." He remembers the Lord telling him that if they keep the commandments they will prosper in the land and that if his people do not have those plates they will not be able to keep the commandments. So he gains the courage to do what the Lord wants him to do. And it all started with "remember." So many times in the scriptures, we see examples of people that don't quite remember the things they experienced. The children of Israel pass through the Red Sea on dry ground and a few chapters later they worship idols. Will we always remember the times we have felt the Spirit? Will we always remember the covenants we have made? Will we remember those times where you just sit back and think to yourself, 'man there's no way this isn't true?' I know that as we strive to remember all the small little experiences we have had, we won't feel like we need some huge and giant miracle or experience to confirm our testimony. We will fall back on that foundation that started at baptism, the first time we felt the spirit, the first time we prayed to know if it was true, the first time we felt Heavenly Fathers hand in our life, and so on. I know this is true. I have felt the Spirit witness it unto me. And I hope that no matter what happens in my life that I will never forget that. I hope we can all strive to strengthen our faith as we remember. I hope you all have a great week! Mazotoa! 

 Pics of car crash that I talk about in my voice recording. Don't worry this wasn't me :)

(Schyler told us that the young man who washes the cars for the mission, decided to take their truck on a joyride after he washed it, and ended up rolling the truck.  He's preparing to serve a mission right now so this isn't the best timing. :(  )

Pic of Dina. He is 13 and a stud. We were just walking one day and he came and grabbed us and told us he is a member although we didn't know him. Turns out his family and him are active though (that was back in my first week in area). But then this week he came and found us again and told us to come teach this one guy and then we went and taught a family with him. We made a return appt with them for Saturday and sure enough we show up to their house on Saturday and Dina is already waiting at their gate for us with his book of Mormon. He kept telling me he only has 5 more years til he can go on a mission. He is a stud. 

 Then pics of the "Christian Leadership Conference" that our church was invited to. I describe it in my voice recording. Basically stepped over into Twilight Zone and were with the richest of the rich in Mada. (Schyler said he felt like he had stepped into the Great and Spacious Building even though it was meant to be a Christian/Religious conference).  

 Some pics of some of our Bishops kid's and their friend haha. Love these Malagasy kids. 

Week 83 - Manana Asa Ho Anao Aho

Salama e! Inona vaovao am'nareo? Haiko fa mbola tsy mahay teny gasy ianareo fa tiako ny miarahaba anareo amin'ny teny selestialy. Ny teny gasy izany e!  I hope you all have had a great week! I definitely have! First I wanna congratulate my cousin Justin for getting his mission call to Alabama speaking some Espanol! Muy Bien! Idk all my four words of spanish have left me, so sorry if that is incorrect. This week was great. We got some new missionaries here this week as they returned from their assignment during the plague. It's been great to have them back. This week we got to do a lot more tracting and finding and we found some awesome people! We had some great lessons and stuff and it is exciting! This week I read a great talk from last General Conference. I have set a goal to read each Conference Talk before the next Conference and it has been great. I read them in Malagasy also so it is cool how you think and look at things differently when you go over the talks for a second time and in another language. The talk I read the other day is by Elder Pingree Jr. called, "I have a work for thee." My favorite quote from the talk is this, "Are we living in a way that God can work through us?" That really made me think. Heavenly Father wants to use us to bless the lives of those around us and bring others the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He has people he needs us to help and serve. He has work for us to do in His Kingdom here on Earth. Are we doing the things we are supposed to so that He can use us in the ways He has prepared us for and is hoping for? We should all strive to become a tool in His hands so that He can use us to bless all those around us. Heavenly Father is always there for us and we should strive to always be there for Him when he needs us. I know that He needs us probably a lot more than we realize he does. I promise that he has a plan to use you to help bless the lives of others. As we pray and seek for these opportunities we will recognize the hand of the Lord in our lives. I always hope to be someone that is ready to do whatever my Heavenly Father has asked me to do. As we do our best to live the Gospel, we can be sure we will be living in a way that He can work through us. And you don't need a tag and a tie to bring blessings to the lives of others. I am so grateful for this work and I know it is true! I hope you all have a great week! Mazotoa e! 

 Elder Mshweshwe and I in front of the Rova in Tana. It is an old Palace where the kings and queens of Madagascar lived a long time ago.

 A grave of some of the kings of Madagascar. Back in the day, when one of the kings would die, they would kill 5 women slaves also....sad but the guy assured us that they do not do that anymore. 

 The view of Antananarivo from the Rova. 

 Inside of the first palace, where the first king of Madagascar lived. He would sleep on top of that bunkbed thing. Back then they were not Christian but worshipped their ancestors (which many still do today) and under the bunkbed thing is a spot where they would do sacrifices. They would even kill Christian missionaries that came to the country back in the day...they would throw them off a big cliff. Glad that's not the case anymore ha. 

 Place for sitting and cooking food in the first palace of the first king. 

 When the king had visitors, his wife would go get them and he would climb this huge ladder thing which goes way higher than I am in photo and he would look at them in his house while he is up there to make sure they are not enemies.

  A statue of the king's guard. The guide said that if he didn't do his job well, they would chop off his goods....ha crazy man. Talk about motivation to work well. 

 The first palace of first king from outside. We had to make sure our first step going into the palace was with our right foot as a form of respect. 

  This rock is 120 kilos haha. The guide told us back in the day if there was someone who could lift this up they could join the military. None of us could do it. Even Elder Kruger who played professional rugby before his mission. We said there is no way a Malagasy guy could lift that and he said there was but some did witchcraft so they could lift it haha. 

A pic of the church our ward goes too. It is also the distribution center here in Madagascar so it is a really nice building! 

A pic of my dinner last week that I talked about before it was cooked.