So we'll start with my ponderize scripture from this last week because it's just so good! It's in Doctrine and Covenants 6:36 and it says, "Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not."
Way good scripture, right? I just love it so much because if we're focused on Christ, we won't fear and we won't doubt. Because our faith will be kicking in at that point. Definitely one of my favorite scriptures.
Man, did we have a great week!!! We got down to business this week! The last few weeks have been pretty good, but not great with Christmas, then New Years wrecking our schedule, then the next week we hadn't caught lots of people for a few weeks because of Christmas and New Years, so they forgot about our times and it's just been a little bit of a mess. But not this week! As we weekly planned for this last week, we decided that we were going to have a much better week. So I called it "work week" and wrote that down on the first page of the planner for that week, and then Elder Glazier wrote one of my favorite quotes, "Kill 'em!" And we definitely killed 'em! We had a way good week and we had the Spirit with us and we found some WAY cool people! And we got eleven people to church!!! That's the highest either of us have seen here and we were SO stoked! We're starting to see some good fruits!
But before we talk about that, we gotta talk a little bit about the week that lead up to Sunday. Monday was a pretty good p-day: we caught a lesson and a family home evening with some fantastic members. Then Tuesday was just a nice solid day of work by the mission standards of excellence, which means an ok but not great day by "The Dream Team's Standards of Excellence." Then we hit it in gear a little better on Wednesday and didn't turn back! We were always either in a time, walking very briskly to a time, or talking to people. It was fantastic! We found some great new families!
Then Thursday started off great too! We caught a couple times, waited at the church for a time, he didn't show, but a recent convert just popped by and said she felt like she should stop by the church on the way from work because we haven't caught her for a while. Way cool! We are almost never at the church and she came at the perfect time.
She had a cool story too, apparently there was a kidnapping right by her work the night before and there had been some shooting and some people were killed and some got away. We thought it would be a good idea to give the AP's a heads up and then tell the missionaries who work in that area to avoid that particular area at night. So we called the AP's they called President, we started our time, then the AP's called back and let us know that all of the missionaries in Tamatave were in lockdown and had to go straight home and get enough food for two days on the way and then on the third day we could go out in groups of four or six to get food. We just turned to each other and were like: Well that sucks. So we let everyone know and headed home, then on the way we just let loose on all of the words that we've been trying to say less like "Gosh dang it!" and "this is freakin ridiculous!" So we were on lockdown for a day. Then, after calling the district president and the AP's a couple times we got permission to go out the next day like usual. It wasn't that big of a deal. But we took the elders whose area it happened in on splits. One with us and the other with the Morarano elders.
We went with Elder Smithson. While we were with him he complained a little bit about his chest all day long. So we made him call the mission nurse because he had an open heart surgery nine months ago. So now he's banned from doing anything until tomorrow and can't do any hard work. He just had to stay home in bed for the last two days just in case there's a problem. I feel pretty bad about it because we made him call and he just did some pushups and put some strain on his sternum is all. And it's our fault he can't do anything now... Oh well, better safe than sorry?
But that was our excitement for the week... Then we had great days after that. There's nothing like not being able to work that makes you want to do lots of work!
Then a fun story: we were going up this path and a bunch of punks were walking down towards us and yelling at us. They got in there way and seemed like they wanted to start a fight. So we just walked through. One of them jumped right in front of me and made me stop. He took a nice big breath from his cigarette and tried to blow it in my face. Jokes on him, I'm 6'6" and he's probably like 5'4"--Elder Glazier made him look tiny--so he ended up blowing smoke on my tie knot. We just walked away and didn't do anything but part of me really wanted throw him down with his little buddies. So that brings us to our Malagasy Morsel for the day: faharetana. It means enduring, but it also means patience. I kind of like how that works: enduring to the end becomes being patient to the end. And it just reminds me of my favorite scripture, 3 Nephi 27:27: "Therefore, what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am." Jesus Christ was patient. Jesus Christ didn't throw the little men that spat on Him down to the ground. As a missionary I get to wear his name over my heart every day, and I feel so honored for that. But I feel even more honored that my Savior wears me every day. On His hands and on His feet. I'm so grateful for my Savior and the perfect life that he lived that we can look to for an example of how we should live. Then the last scripture, another one of my favorites about the Savior, D&C 76:22: "He lives!"
I love you all,
Mazotoa e hatrany
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Monday, January 18, 2016
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Week 70 - Sick People All Around
So... this email is coming at y'all a day late because the cyber died on us yesterday and stopped having internet... Bum deal.
Anyway, this last week was fantastic! Every area in Fort D taught more than 40 times and we had like 33 investigators at church between the two areas in the Amparihy branch. That was way cool. Then we were just working and having a blast all week long.
News from Fort D... It's way hot.
Yeah, that's about all I've got.
But holy cow this church is true! I love finding new people and teaching them about eternal families and the restoration! We've found a lot more people this last week and started sharing the gospel with
them and it's just the funnest thing in the world. People here are so happy and loving and I love that so much! But I love it here in Fort Dauphin so much! I know I'm going to be missing this place so much when I leave, so just go hard now, right?
We had some fun encounters with sick people this last week... taught a guy with tuberculosis, taught a family while a dude was laying on the bed covered in a blanket and he had malaria, taught a man with elephantitis maybe? taught a family while someone was in labor in the back room. Oh, and apparently polio is a thing back here again, so we got polio boosters this last week too. I'm hoping all of my shots will hold out.
But no worries! I eat lots of veggies, so I'll be fine.
This last Monday we had a pretty cool thing happen. We were walking back from lunch at this hotel kind of out in the boonies and the path is way narrow, so we heard a car honking at us from behind us and all started moving off the road. Then the car stopped when it came even with us and it was President Lahitonony, the first counselor in our branch presidency! He offered us a ride and we all hopped in the back of his truck. Then we just drove along the road past a beach, up on a cliff looking out over the ocean, and the down into town a little bit. Then he dropped us off and continued on his way home. It was way cool because I have never really gotten a ride from members because barely
any have cars, and it was also way cool because it was just such a nice beautiful trip. I love this beautiful world theat we all get to live in. And I love working in this part of it.
We'll keep it simple with the malagasy morsel of the week, fiara. Trondro or fia. Means fish. And I am thankful for fish. We've been getting more and more fish as the weather has been heating up. I'm not going to lie, before my mission, I wasn't a huge fan of fish, but I definitely am now.. Way good.
Anyway, that's all for this week, hope you all have a great thanksgiving and don't forget who to be thankful to!
Am-pitiavana,
Anyway, this last week was fantastic! Every area in Fort D taught more than 40 times and we had like 33 investigators at church between the two areas in the Amparihy branch. That was way cool. Then we were just working and having a blast all week long.
News from Fort D... It's way hot.
Yeah, that's about all I've got.
But holy cow this church is true! I love finding new people and teaching them about eternal families and the restoration! We've found a lot more people this last week and started sharing the gospel with
them and it's just the funnest thing in the world. People here are so happy and loving and I love that so much! But I love it here in Fort Dauphin so much! I know I'm going to be missing this place so much when I leave, so just go hard now, right?
We had some fun encounters with sick people this last week... taught a guy with tuberculosis, taught a family while a dude was laying on the bed covered in a blanket and he had malaria, taught a man with elephantitis maybe? taught a family while someone was in labor in the back room. Oh, and apparently polio is a thing back here again, so we got polio boosters this last week too. I'm hoping all of my shots will hold out.
But no worries! I eat lots of veggies, so I'll be fine.
This last Monday we had a pretty cool thing happen. We were walking back from lunch at this hotel kind of out in the boonies and the path is way narrow, so we heard a car honking at us from behind us and all started moving off the road. Then the car stopped when it came even with us and it was President Lahitonony, the first counselor in our branch presidency! He offered us a ride and we all hopped in the back of his truck. Then we just drove along the road past a beach, up on a cliff looking out over the ocean, and the down into town a little bit. Then he dropped us off and continued on his way home. It was way cool because I have never really gotten a ride from members because barely
any have cars, and it was also way cool because it was just such a nice beautiful trip. I love this beautiful world theat we all get to live in. And I love working in this part of it.
We'll keep it simple with the malagasy morsel of the week, fiara. Trondro or fia. Means fish. And I am thankful for fish. We've been getting more and more fish as the weather has been heating up. I'm not going to lie, before my mission, I wasn't a huge fan of fish, but I definitely am now.. Way good.
Anyway, that's all for this week, hope you all have a great thanksgiving and don't forget who to be thankful to!
Am-pitiavana,
Monday, August 10, 2015
Week 56 - What a Beautiful World!
Alright, sorry about the short email last week, but descending a mountain on a sprained ankle doesn't quite work out, so the descent was around 4 hours instead of 45 minutes. So time was kind of short last week, but now we are all good!
From the top of the mountain
So the week started a little bit slowly. We managed to make it to the cyber right before it closed and shoot off some quick emails, but then it was just time to work. So we just had one soiree at the branch president's house, and he's the boss of transportation for Rio Tinto down here, so he sent a bus to pick us up, which was way good. Then on Tuesday we went to the clinic to have Elder Price's ankle checked out, then went to the hospital on the other side of town for an x-ray on an x-ray machine that would have been sketchy during World War 2... Then we went back to the clinic to have them look at the x-ray. Then we went home and a very exhausted Elder Price got to go to sleep. Then we had to keep him off of it on Wednesday too. So we taught one time preparing our family getting baptized this Saturday for their baptismal interview. So Elder Price and I talked a lot about just about anything we could think of. Then on Thursday it was back out to work!!! Elder Price actually made a ton of improvement and we taught some way good times on Thursday. We taught some good times and did some good work this last week. Then today is his birthday, so happy 20th birthday Elder Price!
Another highlight of this week was going on a split with Elder Razakamandimby so he could do our baptismal interviews. Since Fort Dauphin only has four missionaries, the senior companion in the other companionship does the interviews, so I got to take Elder Razakamandimby around Amparihy and show him how much better it is than his Tanambao! It was actually a lot of fun to teach with him again. For those of you who don't remember, he was my second companion, so you could say we've taught together a lot before. We actually taught ten lessons and it was just a blast!
Then we had a great Sabbath and got to some good recent converts and less active member lessons. We also had a big surprise in Sacrament Meeting when three white Americans walk in... It was the former Elder Peadon (he's just brother Peadon now) and his mom and aunt I think. They are from Orem and Salt Lake, so it was a really weird thing to see, but it was nice to talk to them!
Anyway, Malagasy morsel of the week would be Riake, or Ranomasina. It means ocean and I love it a lot. We just got back from walking around on the beach and on the coral reef during lowish tide. It was a blast and we saw some way cool things! Pictures should be coming on that one...
Here's the picture that was coming
When we were sitting around the house on Wednesday, Elder Price and I got to look at the ocean quite a bit, and it was really nice just to look at what a beautiful world we have here! Plus climbing the mountain was way cool! That was also super pretty! Then we got up close and personal with the ocean this morning. God is pretty mahay. I think we should remember what a great blessing we've got here called Earth. I, for one, really like living here.
Anyway, the Indian ocean says hi to all y'all. Have a great week.
Tahian'ny Tompo.
Monday, June 29, 2015
Week 50 - National Celebrations
First off, happy independance day! Our 26th of June over here (Madagascar Independence Day) was pretty good, we had a half and hour long firework show the night before which we watched from the balcony on the church and then everyone was out and about drinking/being with family on the 26th itself. We had a grand total of... drumroll please... TWO times taught that day! So that was poop. Especially because lots of people said they'd be home for sure even though it was a holiday. So we walked around a lot and had two way good times! And then this week is America Day!!! Have a good one of those all y'all. I will wear my American Flag sunglasses just for you. And my America socks.
This week was really great though! Sure, the 26th was kind of a letdown and to be honest, the day before was pretty bad too, but we still had lots of way good lessons! And we got a bunch of people at church too! Fort Dauphin is just the place to be!!!
Elder Pinson and I have been way busy this week, we've had a ton of times. I love being busy! The best part is that so many people are progressing and excited to get baptized. And we've got BAPTISMS on Saturday!!! They've been waiting for their birth certificates to come from way out in the middle of nowhere and they finally came on Saturday, then getting married on Thursday. I've only taught them for like three weeks, but they're way awesome! They are so pumped that everything's finally happening. It's so great to see a whole family super ready to get baptized.
Malagasy morsel for the week is intsony in the main dialect of Merina or sasy if we're going with Antanosy. It means anymore. So like, "tsy dia salama soa sasy 'zaho." Or, "I'm not super healthy anymore..." Haha I had some close calls this morning with stomache problems, but we're all good! Elder Rasmussen's still got his guts of steel, so no worries!
Just a small thought for this week: wake up a little early and go watch the sunrise! Heavenly Father has given us such a beautiful place to live here, and we could use a little more appreciation! Especially because gratitude is the way we get rid of pride! Know who you're grateful for and you'll see how much help we've got in our lives!
Love you all!
Tahian'ny Tompo,
This week was really great though! Sure, the 26th was kind of a letdown and to be honest, the day before was pretty bad too, but we still had lots of way good lessons! And we got a bunch of people at church too! Fort Dauphin is just the place to be!!!
Elder Pinson and I have been way busy this week, we've had a ton of times. I love being busy! The best part is that so many people are progressing and excited to get baptized. And we've got BAPTISMS on Saturday!!! They've been waiting for their birth certificates to come from way out in the middle of nowhere and they finally came on Saturday, then getting married on Thursday. I've only taught them for like three weeks, but they're way awesome! They are so pumped that everything's finally happening. It's so great to see a whole family super ready to get baptized.
Malagasy morsel for the week is intsony in the main dialect of Merina or sasy if we're going with Antanosy. It means anymore. So like, "tsy dia salama soa sasy 'zaho." Or, "I'm not super healthy anymore..." Haha I had some close calls this morning with stomache problems, but we're all good! Elder Rasmussen's still got his guts of steel, so no worries!
Just a small thought for this week: wake up a little early and go watch the sunrise! Heavenly Father has given us such a beautiful place to live here, and we could use a little more appreciation! Especially because gratitude is the way we get rid of pride! Know who you're grateful for and you'll see how much help we've got in our lives!
Love you all!
Tahian'ny Tompo,
Monday, May 25, 2015
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!
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!
Monday, March 9, 2015
Week 34 - Ankorondrano - More Rain
So we had zone conference this week. That was fantastic! We got to see Meet the Mormons too! I feel kind of behind the times because y'all are probably pretty sick of that by now... But it's way good! The last segment was tough because it showed home everywhere... It was cool that that one guy went to South Africa on his mission, Elder Heine, our zone leader, went home together with him on the plane. Then he came back, obviously, but anyway, that guy was trying to say that South Africa was way cooler than Madagascar. FALSE!!! That's not true... James' area is probably as cool as some parts of Madagascar, but that's it. And that's only because there is Rasmussen blood working there! But yeah, life's going good here.
The water is still going up... which leads to our Malagasy morsel of trondradrano. It means like the water is going up or is high. (choon-jah-jah-noo) (Note from mother: Cyclone Haliba went from the Mozambique Channel, across Madagascar just to the south of Antananarivo this week. It is over the Reunion Islands now, and headed away from Madagascar. This week will bring more rain, but then this cyclone should be done.) Despite that, we had quite a few investigators at church on Sunday, which was fantastic. The ward has really been helping us out with them, so props where props have been earned.
Like James, next week is transfers week and speculations are coming out of the woodwork. I'm just hoping that I get to stay here and that Elder Glazier will be coming up here to work in Tana so I'll finally see him! That would be sweet. He doesn't want to though, but he'll come around. Living in the big city is pretty nice! You can buy everything your heart could imagine as long as it doesn't require first world factories! And sometimes there's some of that stuff too! I've really enjoyed getting my nice cheap ties! Oh, I got new bindings on my scriptures, but my camera is dead again (on the battery hunt again) so you can just wait until next week to ooh and aww about those.
Birthday shout out to those getting old at home! Keep going! Let's see... update on Project Get Massive is going... slowly... rice just doesn't always cut it, ok? But it's good! Still getting up there! On the subject of food, I had avacado juice and learned how to make it. Get pumped for when I come home!!!
That's all I've got for the week, but you all stay safe at home! Have a fantastic week and do something fun for me!
Veloma!
The water is still going up... which leads to our Malagasy morsel of trondradrano. It means like the water is going up or is high. (choon-jah-jah-noo) (Note from mother: Cyclone Haliba went from the Mozambique Channel, across Madagascar just to the south of Antananarivo this week. It is over the Reunion Islands now, and headed away from Madagascar. This week will bring more rain, but then this cyclone should be done.) Despite that, we had quite a few investigators at church on Sunday, which was fantastic. The ward has really been helping us out with them, so props where props have been earned.
That's the big government building with some sweet clouds. Tana baby!
Birthday shout out to those getting old at home! Keep going! Let's see... update on Project Get Massive is going... slowly... rice just doesn't always cut it, ok? But it's good! Still getting up there! On the subject of food, I had avacado juice and learned how to make it. Get pumped for when I come home!!!
That's all I've got for the week, but you all stay safe at home! Have a fantastic week and do something fun for me!
Veloma!
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...
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.
The church is still true, and when you trust in God first, everything else works out.
Mozotoa daholo!
Monday, November 3, 2014
Week 16 - Antsirabe - Here Comes the Rain
So I'll just start this one out with the word of the week. Let's be real, that's the most exciting part anyway. Anyway, mikitika, mee-KEE-tee-kah, means to tickle. Then, if you double the root it turns into mikitikitika, mee-kee-tee-KEE-tee-kah, which means to mess around with, or tinker while having absolutely no idea what the heck you're doing, as in, "I don't actually know how to fix the car, but if I just open the hood and tighten some stuff and put some more oil in, then it should work..." It's also just fun to say, so have at it!
Last Monday we all went to Lake Tritriva, sorry, LAC Tritriva... (that French stuff gets everywhere!). Anyway, it was a nice long bumpy ride, but then it was super pretty! It's up in the mountains and you get a beautiful view of most of Antsirabe from up there. It's mostly a tourist attraction, so when we got there all of us white folk had to pay the vazaha price while Elder Andriamanganoro, the only Malagasy missionary in Antsirabe right now, got to pay the Malagasy price which was several times cheaper. And then we got hounded by people selling souvenirs. That was pretty funny because they all have jacked up prices because they're used to selling to French tourists. So they would run up and show us their carved rocks or bracelets and say, "Mora be!" Which means, "very cheap!" Then when asked how much their little polished rock was, they would reveal that it was more than the cost of my food for a day if I ate out for every meal. But the lake was super pretty, I took some pictures on other people's cameras, because I still haven't figured out what's wrong with mine. Most of that is probably due to the fact that usually I don't have time to mess around with it (mikitikitika, see how useful it is?).
Then, some exciting news about this week is that the rain has started for real! The even more exciting news is that I left my raincoat back at the other house when I moved, and I didn't get a chance to get that until three days after it started raining! It's a good thing my bag is waterproof... The rain is a blast though! It just comes and comes. Whenever it starts looking like it's about to rain everybody rushes home. Then when it does come, people are crowded underneath any canopy or overhang they can get under! You'd think that people would be used to rain in a place with a nice monsoon season every year, but they're not. It's super funny. The rainy season hasn't started for real yet though, so far it's kind of clear to mostly clear in the mornings, then by about 2 the sky gets dark and cloudy, and then it rains from around 2:30ish to around 7, and then it's just drizzles the rest of the evening. Then repeat the next day! The coolest parts are that the clouds are always a lot lower than back home, so they're super huge and you can see them in detail really well! I'll have to send some pictures. And then the rain also fills up all of the sewage ditches, so you have to be careful which puddles you walk through, but that's just part of the fun! Final note, water proof shoes aren't really that waterproof... If it's not raining and you're just walking through water, they work great. But when it is raining, the water is just running down your legs into your shoes anyway, so that's that. Actually, they do a really good job of keeping the water in once it's there, so I guess they are pretty waterproof...
Let's see... notable things this week would include a split with my district leader, Elder Bowler. He is the second counselor in the Branch Presidency in the Manandona Branch, just South of Antsirabe. He's super funny and way good at Malagasy so it was way fun! However, we only taught two times and half of Preach My Gospel class before we had to go home because he was having some stomache problems... He was just laying on the floor while I taught PMG class... That was a bummer... Pun intended...
Then yesterday I learned how to make mofo sira which means salt bread. It should probably be called mofo siramamy, or sugar bread, because the recipie uses 1/4 kg of sugar, but only a spoonful of salt... Oh, it's also makes enough to feed a small neighborhood... They make it in a muffin tin over a fire, and it's essentially just muffin tops, it's pretty good though.
This week we had lunch with all of the missionaries at the couple missionaries' house. Elder and Sister Tolman, who are actually from American Fork too!, made us some delicious chili and cornbread. Of course, the chili was over rice because you have to have rice with every meal, every Malagasy knows that! Then we had ice cream and cake, which was some of the most delicious stuff I have eaten in since Sister Adams's food the first day in country. Then I also got to check their scale, which actually works. I'm still five pounds under my post MTC weight, but I lost 10 lbs when I got sick last month, so I've gained five back!
The final notable accomplishment is that I made bread again this week and it was heavenly. Thanks for the advice, Trent, because it turned out much better this time. I thought it was so good looking that I sent home a picture for all of you to enjoy to. Except you don't get to taste it... I made some rolls too, and it was nice to just eat bread and rolls for essentially half of the meals this week.
Something I've been working on a lot with those I teach is the principle of obedience. In John 7:17 it says if any man will DO Christ's will, THEN he will know if it is of God. That's true with just about anything, if you want to know if the Word of Wisdom is true, then follow it. If you want to know if the Book of Mormon is true, then read it. If you want to know if God exists, or even if you just aren't sure, then follow every single one of his commandments as best as you can and pray to him, then you'll know. I know that seems backwards logic, but science has figured this concept out too. It's been proven that if you want to be happy, then live and act as if you already are, then the happiness will come. If you don't know if God exists, then live and act as if he does and the knowledge will come. That's an eternal concept, and I know it works. God exists and he is our literal father. The gospel has brought me so much joy not just because it's something I can believe in to improve myself, but because I know that it is true and that my Heavenly Father, who has all power and wisdom, is on my side and wants me to be happy. I know this stuff is true, and like I tell those I talk to here, if I didn't know it was true than I wouldn't have left home and my schooling to come work on the other side of the world.
Love you all!
Elder Rasmussen
Last Monday we all went to Lake Tritriva, sorry, LAC Tritriva... (that French stuff gets everywhere!). Anyway, it was a nice long bumpy ride, but then it was super pretty! It's up in the mountains and you get a beautiful view of most of Antsirabe from up there. It's mostly a tourist attraction, so when we got there all of us white folk had to pay the vazaha price while Elder Andriamanganoro, the only Malagasy missionary in Antsirabe right now, got to pay the Malagasy price which was several times cheaper. And then we got hounded by people selling souvenirs. That was pretty funny because they all have jacked up prices because they're used to selling to French tourists. So they would run up and show us their carved rocks or bracelets and say, "Mora be!" Which means, "very cheap!" Then when asked how much their little polished rock was, they would reveal that it was more than the cost of my food for a day if I ate out for every meal. But the lake was super pretty, I took some pictures on other people's cameras, because I still haven't figured out what's wrong with mine. Most of that is probably due to the fact that usually I don't have time to mess around with it (mikitikitika, see how useful it is?).
Then, some exciting news about this week is that the rain has started for real! The even more exciting news is that I left my raincoat back at the other house when I moved, and I didn't get a chance to get that until three days after it started raining! It's a good thing my bag is waterproof... The rain is a blast though! It just comes and comes. Whenever it starts looking like it's about to rain everybody rushes home. Then when it does come, people are crowded underneath any canopy or overhang they can get under! You'd think that people would be used to rain in a place with a nice monsoon season every year, but they're not. It's super funny. The rainy season hasn't started for real yet though, so far it's kind of clear to mostly clear in the mornings, then by about 2 the sky gets dark and cloudy, and then it rains from around 2:30ish to around 7, and then it's just drizzles the rest of the evening. Then repeat the next day! The coolest parts are that the clouds are always a lot lower than back home, so they're super huge and you can see them in detail really well! I'll have to send some pictures. And then the rain also fills up all of the sewage ditches, so you have to be careful which puddles you walk through, but that's just part of the fun! Final note, water proof shoes aren't really that waterproof... If it's not raining and you're just walking through water, they work great. But when it is raining, the water is just running down your legs into your shoes anyway, so that's that. Actually, they do a really good job of keeping the water in once it's there, so I guess they are pretty waterproof...
Let's see... notable things this week would include a split with my district leader, Elder Bowler. He is the second counselor in the Branch Presidency in the Manandona Branch, just South of Antsirabe. He's super funny and way good at Malagasy so it was way fun! However, we only taught two times and half of Preach My Gospel class before we had to go home because he was having some stomache problems... He was just laying on the floor while I taught PMG class... That was a bummer... Pun intended...
Then yesterday I learned how to make mofo sira which means salt bread. It should probably be called mofo siramamy, or sugar bread, because the recipie uses 1/4 kg of sugar, but only a spoonful of salt... Oh, it's also makes enough to feed a small neighborhood... They make it in a muffin tin over a fire, and it's essentially just muffin tops, it's pretty good though.
This week we had lunch with all of the missionaries at the couple missionaries' house. Elder and Sister Tolman, who are actually from American Fork too!, made us some delicious chili and cornbread. Of course, the chili was over rice because you have to have rice with every meal, every Malagasy knows that! Then we had ice cream and cake, which was some of the most delicious stuff I have eaten in since Sister Adams's food the first day in country. Then I also got to check their scale, which actually works. I'm still five pounds under my post MTC weight, but I lost 10 lbs when I got sick last month, so I've gained five back!
The final notable accomplishment is that I made bread again this week and it was heavenly. Thanks for the advice, Trent, because it turned out much better this time. I thought it was so good looking that I sent home a picture for all of you to enjoy to. Except you don't get to taste it... I made some rolls too, and it was nice to just eat bread and rolls for essentially half of the meals this week.
Something I've been working on a lot with those I teach is the principle of obedience. In John 7:17 it says if any man will DO Christ's will, THEN he will know if it is of God. That's true with just about anything, if you want to know if the Word of Wisdom is true, then follow it. If you want to know if the Book of Mormon is true, then read it. If you want to know if God exists, or even if you just aren't sure, then follow every single one of his commandments as best as you can and pray to him, then you'll know. I know that seems backwards logic, but science has figured this concept out too. It's been proven that if you want to be happy, then live and act as if you already are, then the happiness will come. If you don't know if God exists, then live and act as if he does and the knowledge will come. That's an eternal concept, and I know it works. God exists and he is our literal father. The gospel has brought me so much joy not just because it's something I can believe in to improve myself, but because I know that it is true and that my Heavenly Father, who has all power and wisdom, is on my side and wants me to be happy. I know this stuff is true, and like I tell those I talk to here, if I didn't know it was true than I wouldn't have left home and my schooling to come work on the other side of the world.
Love you all!
Elder Rasmussen
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Week 11 - Antsirabe - I Got Better
So, this week is TRANSFER WEEK!!! It's kind of a big deal for those missionaries which are actually not training right now like me. For those missionaries who are training, nothing big happens. Except... they opened up a new area in Antsirabe so we are moving to the big, nice, fancy house and they will live there instead of us. "They" are a pair of Elders, a trainer and a trainee, so it is possible that Elder Glazier could be coming down to Antsirabe, which is SWEET! But not super likely, unfortunately. Most of the trainers are the most rocking missionaries I know, so he'll be in good hands for sure.
I should, however, start at the beginning of the week (last Monday), and not the end of it (transfer news came in yesterday and it will be all finished by Thursday night). I got sick! There it happened. Right after I was pumped about all the weight I was gaining. On Monday, after the cyber in the morning, we went shopping and ate out with all the elders in Antsirabe, then we beat the tar out of some Malagasies at soccer. It was fantastic. That night, I was feeling kind of cold and I took my tempurature and I was at 100, and I felt super tired so we stayed home. Good move, because my fever shot up to 103 and I was vomiting/dry heaving a ton. I took some medicine for my stomache and then threw that up. Then I slept for the next day with breaks where I made a mad rush for the bathroom. The good news is that I could go out working on Wednesday, and I'm running almost normal again, the bad news is that I may have lost a few pounds. I'm still the heaviest missionary in Antsirabe right now, but the margin is narrower now. Plus once transfers are done I'll be stuck with second heaviest... dang it!
Other than the crappy (pardon the pun) start to the week, it's been pretty good. We have had a lot of lessons fall through or our member help hasn't shown up, which is no bueno because we need another male with us to teach in most of the homes with just females and children. We have been focusing on father lead families, but usually we can only teach those at night when work is done, so the afternoon has lots of single mothers, and if we don't have our member help, we can't teach them. The lessons that we have had have gone fabulously though. We gave four investigators bap dates in November, so if everything works out, we should have around 15 baptisms then. That's including some people who we were going to give bap dates to this week, but we never got to them, and our couple previous investigators.
We had a pretty good attendance at church yesterday, but only two investigators showed up. That's really, really not good. They are the two daughters of the former branch president, Lalao and Vanessa, and they are super mazoto. Vanessa is nine and she is adorable. She's super shy, but she's starting to not be shy with me, which is great. Our first branch council with the new branch president was excellent! Almost everyone who was supposed to be there was there and there was even an agenda! It was so great! I have high hopes for things here in the Ambohimena Branch.
This week my word of the week is a little bit different because it's 2 words!!! Avy hatrany, AH-vee hah-CHAW-nee. It means from now on or continuously. This comes at you from Alma 32 when Alma turns from the big crowd of Zoramites he was preaching to and focuses on the big group of poor people because he can see that they are ready to recieve the gospel. And then from then on he only talks to them. I like how once he sees that there is something better that he should be doing, he turns and does that from then on. Lots of times when we try to improve, the change might not be lasting, or we might notice a problem, but not deal with it for a while. The nice thing is that through repentence we can stop doing that bad thing right away and live better starting then and continuing for the rest of our lives.
Love you all a bunch! Enjoy general conference for me, because I won't get it here for a while.
Mandra-pihoana!
I should, however, start at the beginning of the week (last Monday), and not the end of it (transfer news came in yesterday and it will be all finished by Thursday night). I got sick! There it happened. Right after I was pumped about all the weight I was gaining. On Monday, after the cyber in the morning, we went shopping and ate out with all the elders in Antsirabe, then we beat the tar out of some Malagasies at soccer. It was fantastic. That night, I was feeling kind of cold and I took my tempurature and I was at 100, and I felt super tired so we stayed home. Good move, because my fever shot up to 103 and I was vomiting/dry heaving a ton. I took some medicine for my stomache and then threw that up. Then I slept for the next day with breaks where I made a mad rush for the bathroom. The good news is that I could go out working on Wednesday, and I'm running almost normal again, the bad news is that I may have lost a few pounds. I'm still the heaviest missionary in Antsirabe right now, but the margin is narrower now. Plus once transfers are done I'll be stuck with second heaviest... dang it!
Other than the crappy (pardon the pun) start to the week, it's been pretty good. We have had a lot of lessons fall through or our member help hasn't shown up, which is no bueno because we need another male with us to teach in most of the homes with just females and children. We have been focusing on father lead families, but usually we can only teach those at night when work is done, so the afternoon has lots of single mothers, and if we don't have our member help, we can't teach them. The lessons that we have had have gone fabulously though. We gave four investigators bap dates in November, so if everything works out, we should have around 15 baptisms then. That's including some people who we were going to give bap dates to this week, but we never got to them, and our couple previous investigators.
We had a pretty good attendance at church yesterday, but only two investigators showed up. That's really, really not good. They are the two daughters of the former branch president, Lalao and Vanessa, and they are super mazoto. Vanessa is nine and she is adorable. She's super shy, but she's starting to not be shy with me, which is great. Our first branch council with the new branch president was excellent! Almost everyone who was supposed to be there was there and there was even an agenda! It was so great! I have high hopes for things here in the Ambohimena Branch.
This week my word of the week is a little bit different because it's 2 words!!! Avy hatrany, AH-vee hah-CHAW-nee. It means from now on or continuously. This comes at you from Alma 32 when Alma turns from the big crowd of Zoramites he was preaching to and focuses on the big group of poor people because he can see that they are ready to recieve the gospel. And then from then on he only talks to them. I like how once he sees that there is something better that he should be doing, he turns and does that from then on. Lots of times when we try to improve, the change might not be lasting, or we might notice a problem, but not deal with it for a while. The nice thing is that through repentence we can stop doing that bad thing right away and live better starting then and continuing for the rest of our lives.
Love you all a bunch! Enjoy general conference for me, because I won't get it here for a while.
Mandra-pihoana!
Monday, September 15, 2014
Week 9 - Antsirabe - Studying
This week has been great. And it ended on a really high note too. We stayed home on Friday, Saturday, and most of Sunday because Elder Cartmill had some really bad diarrhea and vomiting going on. He's feeling a lot better now, but it was pretty rough for a while. While he was sleeping and/or in the bathroom, I got to study a lot. I worked on reading Preach My Gospel in Malagasy and my scriptures in Malagasy too. It was easier than I was expecting, I got through the first chapter of Preach My Gospel without really having a problem, so that was cool. And then I deep cleaned our house too. I'm pretty much the mom in that house. I even made banana bread in the evening so that it came out about when the other elders came home. It's that bad. I also reorganized the kitchen and deep cleaned it, but mostly I just studied. It was pretty weird to not be walking around all day, and it was definitely nice, but I'm glad that we got back out and starting working last night.
Before that, though, we had a pretty successful week. We have been getting to a lot of recent converts and less actives, and we got a few new investigators too. Last Monday, we went to the soirèe at the branch president's house and taught his two daughters. They are very prepared and accepting. It's amazing what a strong gospel environment in the home does. Then on Tuesday we went and talked to a less active family. The wife had been avoiding us, but we finally sat down and had a great conversation with her and she really opened up and is starting to trust us, I think. Then we taught a few more people, and went to one of the families we are teaching with baptismal dates and the dad wasn't back from work yet, so we sat around and talked with the family as we waited for him. Then Marcel, who is a recent convert and probably one of the biggest studs in the whole branch, brought in the dad. And I do mean brought, he was totally carrying him. In Malagasy terms he was "vita be" or you could say he was smashed. He was so drunk that we just put him to bed essentially and then taught the rest of the family how they could work with him to help him overcome his drinking problem. It was a reall bummer to have him slip up like that again because now we are going to need to move back their baptismal date again. I think he'll make it though, the Atonement is stronger than something like that, so I have high hopes for him.
Another story from this week was when we were teaching Marcel (that stud that I already mentioned) and his wife in his house, which only has a bed, bookshelf, and a bench sandwhiched between the bed and the wall that we sat on. We had planned to start teaching his dad earlier, but he was never available, we asked Marcel if he could set up a time with him so we could teach him. We were expecting him to get back to us the next day, but he just leaned back and yelled through the wall, "Dad! When can you meet with the missionaries?" Then his dad yelled back from his little shack that was packed in pretty close to them. It was so great!
Then on Saturday a Seventy came and talked to the district and had a Q&A session with them. It was announced in Sacrament meeting last Sunday, but only about 60 people came. It was pretty disappointing. The meeting was really cool though. And then on Church, we had about 120 people there, which is our highest attendance so far! We had a lot of less actives come that we've been working on, and it was great! We still have a long ways to go, but it's nice to see some improvement.
This week's word is befahatany. It's pronounced bay-faha-TAH-nee and the "faha" is more like one syllable than a fa-ha like we would do in English. It kind of means "in vain" and you use it after a verb to show that it doesn't really have purpose. For example you can mamaky befahatany which means you read without really getting anything out of it. It's important that everything we do has a purpose and helps us become better in some way, otherwise it isn't really doing us any good.
Tiako ianareo!
Elder Rasmussen
(From another letter home today) So I have fleas. It's actually pretty common here because the general sanitation is bad and there are stray dogs everywhere and people all live super close together. I think I probably got them from just sitting on a member or investigator's bed (often some of the only furniture in the house). But they really aren't that bad, I think mosquito bites are worse than flea bites, the only problem is that usually there are more flea bites. We are going to get some permetherin soon to put on all our clothes and bedding and then apparently eating garlicky food helps too. As far as I know all of the missionaries in Antsirabe have them, so it's not super bad, but hopefully will get rid of them soon.
Before that, though, we had a pretty successful week. We have been getting to a lot of recent converts and less actives, and we got a few new investigators too. Last Monday, we went to the soirèe at the branch president's house and taught his two daughters. They are very prepared and accepting. It's amazing what a strong gospel environment in the home does. Then on Tuesday we went and talked to a less active family. The wife had been avoiding us, but we finally sat down and had a great conversation with her and she really opened up and is starting to trust us, I think. Then we taught a few more people, and went to one of the families we are teaching with baptismal dates and the dad wasn't back from work yet, so we sat around and talked with the family as we waited for him. Then Marcel, who is a recent convert and probably one of the biggest studs in the whole branch, brought in the dad. And I do mean brought, he was totally carrying him. In Malagasy terms he was "vita be" or you could say he was smashed. He was so drunk that we just put him to bed essentially and then taught the rest of the family how they could work with him to help him overcome his drinking problem. It was a reall bummer to have him slip up like that again because now we are going to need to move back their baptismal date again. I think he'll make it though, the Atonement is stronger than something like that, so I have high hopes for him.
Another story from this week was when we were teaching Marcel (that stud that I already mentioned) and his wife in his house, which only has a bed, bookshelf, and a bench sandwhiched between the bed and the wall that we sat on. We had planned to start teaching his dad earlier, but he was never available, we asked Marcel if he could set up a time with him so we could teach him. We were expecting him to get back to us the next day, but he just leaned back and yelled through the wall, "Dad! When can you meet with the missionaries?" Then his dad yelled back from his little shack that was packed in pretty close to them. It was so great!
Then on Saturday a Seventy came and talked to the district and had a Q&A session with them. It was announced in Sacrament meeting last Sunday, but only about 60 people came. It was pretty disappointing. The meeting was really cool though. And then on Church, we had about 120 people there, which is our highest attendance so far! We had a lot of less actives come that we've been working on, and it was great! We still have a long ways to go, but it's nice to see some improvement.
This week's word is befahatany. It's pronounced bay-faha-TAH-nee and the "faha" is more like one syllable than a fa-ha like we would do in English. It kind of means "in vain" and you use it after a verb to show that it doesn't really have purpose. For example you can mamaky befahatany which means you read without really getting anything out of it. It's important that everything we do has a purpose and helps us become better in some way, otherwise it isn't really doing us any good.
Tiako ianareo!
Elder Rasmussen
(From another letter home today) So I have fleas. It's actually pretty common here because the general sanitation is bad and there are stray dogs everywhere and people all live super close together. I think I probably got them from just sitting on a member or investigator's bed (often some of the only furniture in the house). But they really aren't that bad, I think mosquito bites are worse than flea bites, the only problem is that usually there are more flea bites. We are going to get some permetherin soon to put on all our clothes and bedding and then apparently eating garlicky food helps too. As far as I know all of the missionaries in Antsirabe have them, so it's not super bad, but hopefully will get rid of them soon.
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Week 1 - New in the MTC
Manahoana fianakaviako! Hello my family!
So you may have realized at this point that p days are on Thursdays. You may also have realized that our first Thursday was not a p day, but if you didn't figure that out, it's all good because I just told you. So the MTC is pretty swell... It's probably one of my favorite things ever!
Yes, the food is good. Some of the elders have compared it to Jeremiah 4:19-20 but I really enjoy it. Here is a sample meal: 2 small pizzas, a bowl of pineapple, BYU Creamery ice cream, an ice cream sandwich, a small salad, three cups of chocolate milk and a cup of juice from some kind of fruit or combinations of fruits. They also have soda, but I've managed to keep myself away from that so far, although I might start getting used to Coke because it kills parasites... so it might come in handy. The food changes every day, but so far it has all been pretty delicious,some of the dishes run a little bit dry, but most of them are fantastic.
Speaking of parasites, we picked up our anti-malaria pills yesterday and some of the pills are pretty interesting. The one we are on is called doxycycline, or something like that, some possible side effects include phototoxicity, which means that you essentially are allergic to sunlight and you get really painful burns from walking across the street; and you also have to stay upright for an hour after you swallow it, because if you lay down it could come back up into your throat and dissolve there, and burn your esophagus really badly, but that's nothing compared to the other one! 20% of the people who take it have really strange, vivid dreams; and other side effects include hallucinations, depression, and psychotic behavior! Some of the elders in my district have been saying that they want to take that one because it's essentially church endorsed LSD. They're joking of course, but it's some pretty crazy stuff!
Speaking of my district, the Malagasy district is the largest in the MTC and the second largest group of Malagasies ever. There are 13 of us. The largest group of Malagasies ever was 15, but they were separated into two districts. Our district is super close and we all felt like we knew each other as soon as we met, which is pretty cool when you consider that missionaries are foreordained... But I love them a bunch! We demolish everyone else pretty hardcore in soccer because we have three really good soccer players, including a pacific islander named Elder T. who is learning English. and everyone else is pretty athletic. Speaking of athleticism, we were doing vertical wall pushups in our room, and I got the second most with 6, so that's exciting.
My companion is Elder A. from Tuscon, Arizona. He is also our district leader, which means that I am pretty much the executive secretary: it's my job to make sure he's on schedule; but I am the senior companion, so I feel like the power behind the throne sometime... (That was a joke) He's a stud. He's really smart and he loves learning the language, so we get along pretty well. He's like 6'3" so he's like the fourth shortest in our district. Fourth... I'm the tallest, but a bunch of the other guys are right around his height, our shortest guy is Elder R., and we are a TALL district. With the height and the general whiteness (except for Elder T. and Elder P.) we will stick out a ton in Madagascar!
On to some very sad news. The gym is closed, so we can only play soccer or go to the little secondary gym or play kickball or volleyball... not basketball. When the gym opens in a week, our district is prepared to hand it to all the other Elders!
Malagasy is coming along pretty well. In fact, I am loving it a ton! About 1/3 of my conversation is in Malagasy, and I am having a blast! We've been teaching our investigator, "Rakoto Jean," since the second day in the MTC, only in Malagasy! The first day was super rough! He's really nice, and our teachers Ralahy (brother) S. and Ralahy A. told us he was a real investigator. We had our doubts, and yesterday while Elders P. and C. were teaching him, his white MTC teacher name tag fell out of his pocket! Elder C. said that his name started with a b, and I'd talked to a return missionary working at our devotional at the Marriott Center last night (because the auditorium in the MTC is closed with the gym) and he asked about a Brother B. After we decided that's who he must be, we were in class and he walks in, proudly wearing his nametag!!! This may not sound so cool but we were all so excited! He's going to be teaching us the rest of the time with our other two teachers! If you haven't quite caught on yet, THIS WAS A HUGE DEAL FOR ALL OF US!!!!!!! We were all just grinning when we walked to our residence hall.
Speaking of classroom and residence hall, our residence hall is in the opposite side of the MTC from our classroom, and our rooms are on the top floor, and so is our classroom so we walk a LOT. And to make matters better, the cafeteria is in another corner, so we spend lots of our day walking in the heat, which by itself is pretty good mission prep too.
I'm sorry if there aren't any pictures this week, the computers we're on can't upload them from my camera, so if they don't come, that means I wasn't able to get to one that could. But the pictures will come soon. The views from the MTC are super pretty, and my district is a bunch of strikingly handsome young men, so they'll be worth the wait.
Before I'm done, I'll just give a brief overview of an average day. We wake up at 6:30, but sometimes we get up before that, then have breakfast at 7:15, after that we head over to our classroom, where we spend about 11 hours usually. At 11:35 is lunch, and dinner is at 4:50. Sometime during the day we have gym time for fifty minutes with ten minutes before to get ready and half an hour after to clean up and take a shower, but remember that it takes about five minutes to get from the field to our residence, so we are pretty short for time. At 9:30 we leave our classroom and go to our residence, where we get ready for bed. At 10:15 is quiet time, and lights off is at 10:30. We have no free time, but I like the schedule a lot. After one thing, we have to leave right away to get to our next thing. Even during meals we barely have enough time to eat all of our food. We have devotionals at the Marriott center on Tuesdays and Sundays, it's fun to walk over with all the other 2000+ missionaries, 600 of which came in when I did. We also have choir practice after dinner on Tuesdays and Sundays, and we perform on Sundays, our whole district goes to those and it's a lot of fun. Our whole district does everything together, we are all super happy that we didn't get split up, they split up groups at 14 and they were thinking about splitting us up. Also, we get mail everyday, so if you guys would like to send some real mail, maybe even packages of goodies while I'm in Provo and that's actually affordable, please do! Elder C. and I are the only ones who haven't gotten anything. You can try DearElder, because there are lots of those coming in and I think it's super cheap.
Veloma!
Ok, we can't see the pictures in the browser until after we send it, and we can only send like 15mb at a time. This is our classroom with some of our district.
This is the view from the building that my classroom is in, there's the windows and some chairs there so we study there sometimes.
Our district going to the temple for our Sunday temple walk.
This picture is my district.
Elder A. and me at the temple.
So you may have realized at this point that p days are on Thursdays. You may also have realized that our first Thursday was not a p day, but if you didn't figure that out, it's all good because I just told you. So the MTC is pretty swell... It's probably one of my favorite things ever!
Yes, the food is good. Some of the elders have compared it to Jeremiah 4:19-20 but I really enjoy it. Here is a sample meal: 2 small pizzas, a bowl of pineapple, BYU Creamery ice cream, an ice cream sandwich, a small salad, three cups of chocolate milk and a cup of juice from some kind of fruit or combinations of fruits. They also have soda, but I've managed to keep myself away from that so far, although I might start getting used to Coke because it kills parasites... so it might come in handy. The food changes every day, but so far it has all been pretty delicious,some of the dishes run a little bit dry, but most of them are fantastic.
Speaking of parasites, we picked up our anti-malaria pills yesterday and some of the pills are pretty interesting. The one we are on is called doxycycline, or something like that, some possible side effects include phototoxicity, which means that you essentially are allergic to sunlight and you get really painful burns from walking across the street; and you also have to stay upright for an hour after you swallow it, because if you lay down it could come back up into your throat and dissolve there, and burn your esophagus really badly, but that's nothing compared to the other one! 20% of the people who take it have really strange, vivid dreams; and other side effects include hallucinations, depression, and psychotic behavior! Some of the elders in my district have been saying that they want to take that one because it's essentially church endorsed LSD. They're joking of course, but it's some pretty crazy stuff!
Speaking of my district, the Malagasy district is the largest in the MTC and the second largest group of Malagasies ever. There are 13 of us. The largest group of Malagasies ever was 15, but they were separated into two districts. Our district is super close and we all felt like we knew each other as soon as we met, which is pretty cool when you consider that missionaries are foreordained... But I love them a bunch! We demolish everyone else pretty hardcore in soccer because we have three really good soccer players, including a pacific islander named Elder T. who is learning English. and everyone else is pretty athletic. Speaking of athleticism, we were doing vertical wall pushups in our room, and I got the second most with 6, so that's exciting.
My companion is Elder A. from Tuscon, Arizona. He is also our district leader, which means that I am pretty much the executive secretary: it's my job to make sure he's on schedule; but I am the senior companion, so I feel like the power behind the throne sometime... (That was a joke) He's a stud. He's really smart and he loves learning the language, so we get along pretty well. He's like 6'3" so he's like the fourth shortest in our district. Fourth... I'm the tallest, but a bunch of the other guys are right around his height, our shortest guy is Elder R., and we are a TALL district. With the height and the general whiteness (except for Elder T. and Elder P.) we will stick out a ton in Madagascar!
On to some very sad news. The gym is closed, so we can only play soccer or go to the little secondary gym or play kickball or volleyball... not basketball. When the gym opens in a week, our district is prepared to hand it to all the other Elders!
Malagasy is coming along pretty well. In fact, I am loving it a ton! About 1/3 of my conversation is in Malagasy, and I am having a blast! We've been teaching our investigator, "Rakoto Jean," since the second day in the MTC, only in Malagasy! The first day was super rough! He's really nice, and our teachers Ralahy (brother) S. and Ralahy A. told us he was a real investigator. We had our doubts, and yesterday while Elders P. and C. were teaching him, his white MTC teacher name tag fell out of his pocket! Elder C. said that his name started with a b, and I'd talked to a return missionary working at our devotional at the Marriott Center last night (because the auditorium in the MTC is closed with the gym) and he asked about a Brother B. After we decided that's who he must be, we were in class and he walks in, proudly wearing his nametag!!! This may not sound so cool but we were all so excited! He's going to be teaching us the rest of the time with our other two teachers! If you haven't quite caught on yet, THIS WAS A HUGE DEAL FOR ALL OF US!!!!!!! We were all just grinning when we walked to our residence hall.
Speaking of classroom and residence hall, our residence hall is in the opposite side of the MTC from our classroom, and our rooms are on the top floor, and so is our classroom so we walk a LOT. And to make matters better, the cafeteria is in another corner, so we spend lots of our day walking in the heat, which by itself is pretty good mission prep too.
I'm sorry if there aren't any pictures this week, the computers we're on can't upload them from my camera, so if they don't come, that means I wasn't able to get to one that could. But the pictures will come soon. The views from the MTC are super pretty, and my district is a bunch of strikingly handsome young men, so they'll be worth the wait.
Before I'm done, I'll just give a brief overview of an average day. We wake up at 6:30, but sometimes we get up before that, then have breakfast at 7:15, after that we head over to our classroom, where we spend about 11 hours usually. At 11:35 is lunch, and dinner is at 4:50. Sometime during the day we have gym time for fifty minutes with ten minutes before to get ready and half an hour after to clean up and take a shower, but remember that it takes about five minutes to get from the field to our residence, so we are pretty short for time. At 9:30 we leave our classroom and go to our residence, where we get ready for bed. At 10:15 is quiet time, and lights off is at 10:30. We have no free time, but I like the schedule a lot. After one thing, we have to leave right away to get to our next thing. Even during meals we barely have enough time to eat all of our food. We have devotionals at the Marriott center on Tuesdays and Sundays, it's fun to walk over with all the other 2000+ missionaries, 600 of which came in when I did. We also have choir practice after dinner on Tuesdays and Sundays, and we perform on Sundays, our whole district goes to those and it's a lot of fun. Our whole district does everything together, we are all super happy that we didn't get split up, they split up groups at 14 and they were thinking about splitting us up. Also, we get mail everyday, so if you guys would like to send some real mail, maybe even packages of goodies while I'm in Provo and that's actually affordable, please do! Elder C. and I are the only ones who haven't gotten anything. You can try DearElder, because there are lots of those coming in and I think it's super cheap.
Veloma!
Ok, we can't see the pictures in the browser until after we send it, and we can only send like 15mb at a time. This is our classroom with some of our district.
This is the view from the building that my classroom is in, there's the windows and some chairs there so we study there sometimes.
Our district going to the temple for our Sunday temple walk.
This picture is my district.
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