Week 48 - Welcome to Fort Dauphin

Well. Fort Dauphin is cool.

Yeah.

It has like all of my favorite things in one: a beach, nice mountains, jungly stuff, a crazy sweet language, and super awesome people!

picture from Elder Pinson's blog

My companion is Elder Pinson, and not only is he a crazy awesome missionary, he was also in the MTC with me! I love working with him. He's a stud and he's super solid in pretty much every aspect of missionary work. He was also dying this morning, but seems to be doing alright now, but should you so be inclined, a prayer wouldn't hurt.

So this last week was way tough. It was also super sweet. It was tough because I had to say goodbye to all of my family back over in the Tana First Ward. I'm going to miss them all so much! Then Elder Hull and I parted ways on Wednesday night, which was a bummer, he's been a great companion. He had to go to the office to pick up his trainee, so I was on splits with Elder Johnson and Elder Cooley, which was a blast! We were planning to make chili that night, but we hadn't bought any of the ingredients yet, so after our last time we sprinted like a mile to the Shoprite. We almost had to hijack a bus to get there, but one fortunately stopped for us and took us like half the way. Then we ran the mile. Good news is we got into Shoprite and got away with our beans and meat and vegetables. Bad news is Elder Johnson dropped his tag somewhere doing the run. So we walked back to look for it. Found it. Then we went home and had great chili. Then we all slept on the couch and a bunkbed that we moved into the living room.

Then I left the next morning at like 7:30. I got on the plane with Elder Tiu at like 1:30 and was in Fort Dauphin at about 3:20. It's so humid here! I love it. Then we got poured on, and of course, I left my rain coat in Tana. Haha whoops! Oh yeah, then for all y'all that tried to find Fort Dauphin on the map, the real name you'd be wanting is Tolanaro or Tolagnaro. Fort Dauphin is the French name. I'll make sure to send y'all some pictures next week, but the computer is not recognizing that my camera is plugged into it...

Yes, the beach looks good. It especially looks very good when I look out my window in the morning and it's right there.

Out their window - picture from Elder Pinson's blog

My area, Amparihy, is clearly the better of the two down here. I've already been on a split to Tanambao, and I can't lie: it's way cool. It's just not AS cool. It was fun to go with Elder Hardy again!

Malagasy Morsel of the week would have to be Miteny or Mizaka. It means to speak and the first one is in Merina, the official dialect, and the second one is in Anosy, the main dialect around here. And it is the Malagasy Morsel to show that everyone is not speaking what I learned in the MTC down here!!! Haha it's way cool and I'm so pumped I get to learn it!

Any way, have a good week all of you, wherever you're at, and don't forget that Jesus died for you and your family so you can be with them throughout the eternities. It doesn't hurt to be a little more grateful than we usually are.

Love y'all.
Tahian'ny Tompo

Week 47 - Leaving Antananarivo

So, transfers definitely happened this last week. And what's going down? You have to read this whole email to find out. No peeking at the end.

Anyway, this week was fantastic. I read half of the Book of Mormon. I also cleaned our house. Made bread twice. Cut my own hair (funny story...), and I read a lot of talks about cool gospel stuff! If you put all the clues together, you see that all of those things happen in the house. So yes, I was at home for a good chunk of the week... We went to Carnivore on Monday, this super good meat place like Rodizios, and then we had zone conference beginning on Tuesday morning at nine, then ending at 4:30, then we got back home at six, and then Elder Hull threw up. And then did it again. And we stayed home. Then on Wednesday, it all happened again. So I read from Mosiah and finished Alma, and made bread, and did laundry. Then on Thursday, it was all good, we had studies, district meeting, went to eat, and then he threw up again. So we went home, and he did it again. So we stayed home again, and I read through to third Nephi, cleaned the house, made more bread, and read all the talks in our big binder full of talks. Then on Friday we worked, Saturday, and Sunday too. It was a blast! I love working! It was sooo nice to get out on Friday, I was getting so jittery and jumpy, so I was working out for a bunch and just trying to stay a little bit active at least. But man, I love walking. I love walking so much.

Anyway, other than saying that it's way cool to read the BiM through way quick, stuff that I learned this week was that if your water is too hot when you're making bread it kills the yeast and you have to go buy some more and knead it in. Also... there were a ton of way good talks, so that was way fun to read. I also learned last night that Elder Glazier is going to be training this next transfer!!! Get pumped for that!!! I'm so excited for him! Transfer calls were late Sunday night and I was super happy when I heard that! So the way transfers usually go down is everyone has to turn in stats first, so that goes through the district leaders to the zone leaders then to the AP's. Then once all the stats have been received, the AP's call the zone leaders who call the district leaders who call everyone in their district. I live with our District leader, Elder Johnson, so I got to skip a step. Then he just writes down every change on a piece of paper. He started with the Tana Ivandry zone, that's mine, and that's when I found out about Elder Glazier training, then it was Tana Manakambahiny zone, then it was Antsirabe, Fianarantsoa, then Tamatave. And at this point my name was still not written on the paper, and the only ones left are what's called the An-tany Foana zone, which is all of the areas that are way far away and you have to take a plane to get to. Then for Mahajanga, he wrote no change, Toliary, no change... So that leaves Fort Dauphin baby!!! I'm heading to the Amparihy area in Fort Dauphin with Elder Pinson, who's a way balling missionary from my group! Then I'll be down there with Elder Hardy, my last companion, and Elder Tiu! I'm so pumped! Fort D is on the very south of Madagascar and there are some crazy dialects spoken there. You are also very far away from any other missionaries... And there's a beach! And beautiful mountains! And a lot of awesome missionaries have been down there so the work is just screaming along! I'm super pumped, I'm going to the area that Elder Johnson left last transfer, so he's been full of a ton of good things to say about it! Anyway, that's transfers. I'm super pumped.

Malagasy Morsel is variana. And it means distracted, and I am super variana right now because I keep just thinking about Fort D. I am way bummed to be leaving Ankorondrano now though. Menja and Fitiavana are just about to get married, soiree des quartes are just about to get going, and Bakar and Fidy were just called as ward missionaries, and there are just so many people that I love, dang it! It's all good though. When I get back to Tana I'll have to visit them all, but for now, I'm just way pumped to be going on an airplane soon to Fort Dauphin.

I love you all, and I wish you all a fantastic week filled with tender mercies and little miracles.
Mirary soa!

Week 46 - I Love Elder Rasmussen Because...

So... this week was good...

It was mostly just a lot of hard work, which was great, but then... drumroll please... on Friday we get a text from the AP's telling us to start a fast now, it was like three in the afternoon, and then they would tell us why in the evening so it didn't mess with our day at all. We immediately though, "Poop. A missionary is probably super sick or hurt. Or maybe there's some crazy political thing going on and we might have to leave Madagascar." (There's been some mild political unrest. Something about throwing the president out again, no big deal.) So we were worried. Then, at about five, they texted us again to remind us to just text them as soon as we got home so they could call us back and fill us in on the news. So... there are like 80ish missionaries here in Madagascar right now, and only two AP's... So at this point it became obvious that this was something that just pertained to us. Nice, right?

So when we finished up our program just before nine and started heading home, we were pretty anxious to see what the deal was. Then we saw the AP's car parked behind a wall kind of by the house. At this point, I decided that they were trying to prank us or something. So we walk home, all of the lights are in, and we walk into the apartment to see the AP's lounging on our couch talking with Elder Cooley and Elder Johnson, who live with us. Turns out they made us dinner. And brownies. And brought kool-aid. They just wanted us to not eat before we got home so they could have a cool surprise! It was way nice, they're big studs. They said to consider it a little reward because our two areas have been going pretty well lately. It was way cool, and it definitely made my day!

Then the next day we taught English in the morning, and usually we have everyone introduce themselves first, so Elder Delbar, a missionary who was in my group, wrote down a 1, 2, and 3, and then gave options to say in each one. Here's what it looked like:
1. Hello/Howdy y'all/hola
2. My name is.../Me llamo...
3. I love Elder Rasmussen because...

Haha it was super funny, even if I thought it was pretty dumb at first, but some people gave some pretty lame reasons... I didn't get an "I love Elder Rasmussen because he's jacked out of his mind" once!!! Psh.

And then we had a BAPTISM!!! It was great. I baptized. The water was very cold. It was also green, but the cold was the worst part. D. stepped down into the water and almost stepped out so I dragged him down in, then baptized him. And as soon as he came rushing out of the water he was rushing up the steps to his towel and warm clothes... Haha it was also a very spiritual experience too though!

Malagasy Morsel kind of goes together with that: Manatsoboka means to dunk in water. Then atsoboka means to BE dunked in water. So while we were waiting for D. to come, our Ward Clerk says, "Efa tonga ny mpanatsoboka, kanefa, mbola tsy tonga ny atsoboka." Or, in Anglisy, "The dunker already came, but the dunkee has still not come." Ah yeah!

Then church was interesting. The confirmation went really well. He was glowing all day long. But then, because our new stake center was being dedicated in Andranomena, not very many active members came to church, but because it was Malagasy Mother's day, lots of less active females came (they hand out treats to all of the mothers...) Then we had combined block because it was a fifth sunday and we had a lesson about birth control of course! So, yeah. It was just a great day.

Anyway, the church is still true. I have to keep praying and checking, you know, just in case... But no worries! It's still the right one, thank heavens!

I love you all and I wish you a fantastic week wherever you may be!
Mozotoa e daholo!

Week 45 - Two Cakes and a Wedding

So... You might be wondering about how the eggs went down last week on my birthday. (Mom's note:  evidently, a tradition in Madagascar is to crack eggs over the birthday person's head and then dump flour over that.)  Good news is: I avoided it. See, what happened is Elder Cooley bought some eggs and hid them on the bookshelf right by the door so he could egg me as soon as he got home at night, but, when we came home I saw them and hid them somewhere else. Then... it just didn't happen, which is all good with me!

Then we had some great cakes made by members, pictures should be included down below. The chocolate one had ice cream inside... They are both, of course, gone now.

This week has been lots of fun though! We went on splits with the AP's and we got a lot of work done. It was super satisfying! Some of the highlights included going to the first marriage I've been to here in Madagascar! It was way fun to see, and they're heading to the temple in South Africa this week! Then we also just got to a bunch of really cool investigators and less actives this week! Sorry for all of you wanting crazy stories about weird animals or things like that, but the work is honestly the best part! Then it was especially fun to see some members getting ready to go to the temple, that was probably one of the most rewarding parts. I love seeing the church progress out here! Speaking of progression, Norbert, that way awesome guy we got baptized not too long back has received the priesthood and now is the first counselor in the young men's presidency! He's doing great and he's really magnifying his calling and it's just so fun to see!

In other news, there has been some sickness at our house... Elder Cooley and Elder Johnson got way sick... They took turns being sick and throwing up/diarrheaing in the toilet for three days. Elder Cooley's was especially bad because he couldn't hold anything in his stomache, not even water. So he got way dehydrated and had terrible cramps in his legs. His legs would seize up and we would rush to try and stretch them out and massage them, because he wouldn't be able to move them at all because his whole calf would be as hard as a rock, or his hamstring... It was exciting for sure. The good news is they are both doing better now. We think it was some bad food because it was just that companionship and then Elder Hull and I aren't having any problem at all.

Malagasy Morsel for the week would be Mafana. It means hot. And it is not here. But really! We're starting to have to wear sweaters in the morning because it gets down to just above 60 degrees sometimes! Way cold.

Anyway, love you all!
Mandra-pihaona!

Week 44 - Happy 19th Birthday!

So thanks for the birthday wishes. They were very nice. It was also way nice to get my birthday package... wait for it... on my birthday! How nice! So thanks everybody! Now I'm just waiting to have an egg cracked on my head and then be covered in flour. I'm not a big fan of that particular tradition, but it's still Madagascar, so it's all good!

This week has been stellar! And that was even with one day that we only worked half of because my companion got sick. We got to a bunch of people and had some great investigators at church, which was fantastic! Other than that, not much really happened. We had some fantastic lessons and we got a little bit of good member help there at the end of the week.

Oh, and then yesterday we made Cafe Rio salad for dinner! It was way good! And it was also very filling, which just made it even better! For those of you who are thinking, "Wow. I didn't know there was Cafe Rio in Madagascar..." OF COURSE THERE'S NOT! We just made it on our own. From scratch. And when I say "we" I mean Elder Johnson because he's a saint and a way good cook. But that was way way way way good.

Malagasy Morsel is mivoky. it means to feast, and that is what we did last night. It is also the word that Nephi says when he says we need to feast on the words of Christ. It just changes a little to Mivokisa which is about as direct of a command as it gets. And so we need to do that! Feast on the words of Christ and they will tell us all things what we should do.
Love you all! Have a fantastic week!

Veloma daholo!

Week 43 - Mother's Day

Skyping was way good! I loved every minute of it and had a blast! I did notice that of all of my brothers who promised to email me, none of them did... But I'm sure they still love me... But really, it was way good to see everybody! Go family!!!

Other than skyping, this week was alright. We didn't get a whole ton of work done because we had a small zone conference kind of thing that wasn't really zone conference, but all the zone came to it. It was at the office and we got to listen to Elder Snow, of the seventy, who is also the church historian. His two assistants also came with him, as well as Elder Ellis of the area presidency. It was way cool. The only downside is that the office is kind of far away from our area, so we didn't get a completely full day of work in. However, it was a great experience, and definitely worth it!

We had some cool things happen though, on Saturday we got to be part of a pretty miraculous priesthood blessing, and SHE CAME TO CHURCH!!! She wasn't even sick at all. So that was a very neat chance to see God's power in action.

This week, our church attendance was way low, though. It dipped all the way back down to 125, which was pretty standard for when I first got here, which is a bummer. We also had a lot of investigators who totally should have come to church, but didn't. I swear, just the church attendance is one of the biggest obstacles out here. But, despite that, this week was one of my favorite sessions of church!

We had some great talks by return missionaries about the word of wisdom and about the law of chastity and families, then a killer talk by our RM second counselor in the bishopric about how we, as saints, should be living our religion. It was fantastic. Then our second counselor in the bishopric (him again!) taught the investigator class about faith. Also way good. Then our elders quorum president taught about the Book of Mormon. It was just great, because these are all the things that we teach, and it was just great to see how well our recent converts were doing and how much some of our investigators were loving it!

I'm not going to lie, one of my favorite feelings in the world comes from coming in to a time and asking how their Book of Mormon reading has been going, and they brighten up and start sharing what they read and how they felt. It just gives me the best feeling because they're building a very strong foundation. The Book of Mormon is irreplaceable in missionary work. It is irreplaceable in our own conversions, and it is irreplaceable in God's work here on the earth.

Tsisy famonjena afa tsy amin'ny alalan'ny famakiana ny Bokin'i Mormona sy ny fankatoavana ny fitsipika ao anatiny. There is no salvation, except through the reading of the Book of Mormon and the obedience to the principles within it.

So read it. You'll see that it's good. And if it's been a while since you've read it, or if you've forgotten its goodness, now is a good time to discover it again.

I love you all.

Week 42 - This Is Way Big, Guys!

It's the first week of the transfer and it's been so good! Just kidding. We've had a kind of poopy week because all the going back and forth to drop off old companions and pick up new ones and stuff like that. We still did alright for ourselves, but it was definitely poopier than usual. But the transfer has happened and now I'm with Elder Hull, and Elder Johnson moved into my house and is with Elder Cooley. It's a party. In a very obedient, missionary way, of course.

Fun stories for this week... Well, we did missionary work in Madagascar and it's way neat. But nothing terribly exciting comes to mind...Except that we walked soooo much! Elder Hull is coming from Tamatave, where they use bikes all of the time, so it was a nice little transition for him! We were both pretty exhausted when we got home at night.  And I saw Elder Delbar! He's one of my favorite missionaries and he I saw him on Saturday (we teach English together) and it's been like forever! He's a very big stud.

So this week I just want to share a spiritual thought mixed with a Morsel of Malagasy. The word is fahasoavana and it means grace. It comes from a word that means to benefit, and that's exactly what grace is. It's Christ's way of providing a very big benefit to us. I know that Easter time has passed, but it's never too late to celebrate our Savior. He lives, He loves us, and He has given us the way to be exalted and recieve all that our Father hath. THIS IS WAY BIG GUYS!!! I'm so blessed that I get to work out here and be an instrument in the Lord's hands to bring His children into his life! My favorite part of this great work is the love that I'm getting for my brothers and sisters. I find so much satisfaction just in serving my fellow man and my Lord and all I need to feel that is some clothes and some scriptures and a desire to go out and work! It's so simple! I feel so blessed that the Lord has given this great chance to work to a bunch of his young children who are definitely not up to the task on their own, but that doesn't matter, because it's really not our job to get things happening. After all the Lord has said that he will hasten his work in his own time. We just need to show up and be ready to harvest that which he has prepared! What a blessing that is! Especially because I get to help others obtain this gospel gift that has blessed my life so much and given me so much joy and happiness. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, suffered and died for us, and because of that we can dwell in the presence of our Father in celestial glories with our own eternal families! I love my Savior and his work that he has given to me to do! And I love you all too! Have a fantastic week and let your lights shine forth a little more!

Mandrapihaona ry mpianakaviko!