Monday, November 10, 2014

Week 17 - Antsirabe - Joe Handsome

So we got transfer news last night. I will write that at the end and you HAVE TO READ EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN FIRST!

First big event is we had our first baptisms on Saturday! We had to start everyone from scratch when we arrived because we whitewashed. When I say we had our first baptisms on Saturday, I really mean we had our first baptisms scheduled for Saturday. Until Jirema (the power and water company) cut off all of the water and the lake was too far away... and since you can't really have a baptism by water if there is no water, we did NOT have baptisms this week. Which is a bummer because that means Elder Cartmill and I had no baptisms together. (Spoiler. Now you know one of us is leaving, but since we both whitewashed together it could go either way because he wasn't here before me...) That's alright though, because we have about 15 set up right now, and they're all coming along well. So that was a bummer for sure.

I still do not have my suit back because I was being pretty picky with the tailor and it wasn't quite perfect, so I'm getting it today, it's going to look legit.

(in the next email...)

Sorry. The computer decided it was time to send the email before I was ready.

Let's see, other than the water being cut, the power keeps getting cut too. Not that that's a big deal, because if we try to make toast while the dryer is going the power dies... However, it's been especially bad the past few weeks and we have our candles set up all the time because it's only a matter of time before the power goes out, so James... one upped!

This week Elder Cartmill and I got Malagasy names from an investigator, this will be the Malagasy for the week. He was kely sauce. Kely means little and sauce means sauce... So when small sauce Cartmill complained about his name and asked why that was his name, this Malagasy with significantly smaller muscles told him it was because he wasn't bokana, or muscular... I then showed him how Elder Cartmill's arms are significantly larger, but he wouldn't accept it. I didn't complain much about my nickname because it is Rakoto Bogosy, Rakoto is just a way common name, and bogosy means handsome... I think it definitely fits.

Last week when we were going around we were stopped by a tipsy woman who let us know that she had been having a really hard time at home and had left to go drink and then kill herself. Then she felt that that would be dumb and she decided she needed Jesus in her life. So she prayed and then right then she saw us. That was a really cool experience, we should start teaching her for real this week.

Then when Elder Cartmill and I were walking by a garbage pile (they're everywhere), we saw a kid pull down his pants and do his business in the ditch (really pretty common) and then when he was done he just wiped himself with some garbage he grabbed off of the ground. That's the life! You don't even need to do any work to find toilet paper!

It has rained a bunch since last Monday. It's pretty geat! My jacket works really well! I still get soaked underneath it, but that's because of sweat. It's still pretty dang warm when it rains, so bundling up to keep dry doesn't really work...

Ok, transfer news now.
No changes to Antsirabe other than the sisters who work in the Ambohimena branch with us leaving and Elder Morse and Elder Rice coming down. Elder Rice is way cool and Elder Morse was in my group. We are moving in to the sisters' old house so it will be the Ambohimena house. It should be a party! The Elder Cartmill is going to Mahajanga! That's a 2 man area an airplane ride away from everyone else, so he's heading up to Tana on Tuesday and then he's going to fly out! Not every elder gets to go to a big 3 (Mahajanga, Toliary, and Fort Dauphin) and he's way psyched for that! My new companion is Elder Razakamandimby! He's a native Malagasy and I'm super pumped! Everyone I've talked to loves him, so it's going to be a party!

This is a great part member family. The man is the one who gave us our new names, the little girl's name is Diary and at first she hated us. Now she loves us.

 This is our best progressing family right now. They're all ballers. Baptism is in December. I love 'em.

This is the champion family of all champions. In their family they have the elders quorum president, young mens president, relief society second counselor, 3 branch missionaries, young single adults leader, district young single adults coordinator, family history expert for our branch, and branch clerk...

The church is still true, and when you trust in God first, everything else works out.
Mozotoa daholo!

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