2/16/2015

  The week has gone well. The weather here has been fairly unpredictable. Rain, sun, clouds, etc. It is cold here sometimes, and I have even had to wear a sweater, but most of the time it seems like the sun is focused directly over Madagascar. The most disappointing news;  Solo. He is not progressing anymore. His commitment to not drink alcohol anymore was broken. He does not seem to realize the importance of what we are  trying to teach him. 

  We have no baptismal dates committed anymore. Although we have taught several new investigators this week who seemed to be fairly interested in learning. Our most promising investigator is probably this guy named Jean Louis. He says he will read the Book of Mormon, which is usually a task, considering most of the people cannot read, but we are hopeful. We also have a pretty cool investigator who has been out of town for a while. He was attending church when he was here. He has a interesting story: Probably the first week here in Ampitatafika , we got a call from the Ambositra elders who said they had a referral for us. Apparently, when they were at a restaurant, they met this guy, who said he had purchased a Book of Mormon in French for, if I remember correctly, 1000 AR, which is about 35 to 45 cents. He had already read some of it, and had a lot of questions. We found out that his name was Kidimila. Every time we teach him, he has a ton of questions, but he had probably already read several chapters at least, by the time we first taught him.  Hopefully we can extend a baptismal commitment.

  I believe that my language progression is probably a major tender mercy from this week. I sometimes get frustrated that I am not learning fast enough, and that my senior companion doesn't know it that well either, so he cannot help my progression, but I went on an exchange with the district leader, and he remarked that I was already good at the language.

  I am glad that people from our Ward ask about me; I received mail today from Auntie Bessie and Sister Beth Horne. Please thank them both for me and tell them that I really appreciate it. I hope it snows at home. I remember the snow storm around this time last year, when I was waiting for the mission call to arrive in the mail. If I am correct, Saturday marks a year exactly since I received my call to Madagascar. And it has been an interesting year, to say the least. 

 When I get the box, I will probably wait to open it on my birthday. Thanks for sending it, now I have something to look forward to. Today we went to probably the most United States-like place in this country, called "Tana Water Front Centre Commercial". A mall. Everything was super expensive, so I didn't buy anything. But it was startling to find something like this only moments away from such glaring poverty. We had lunch at an actual food court. Probably one of the best meals I have had as a missionary. Then we walked over to this place that made smoothies and stuff. I bought an Oreo milkshake (with real Oreos!). I thought I was at home for a second. Then we left and returned to society, where we were greated by stares and taunts of "vazaha". It is safe to say that I will be returning to that mall quite frequently. 

  One of the most interesting things I read this week: Probably an article in the new Liahona about the difference between tolerance and allowing the world to infringe upon our beliefs. There was also a good article that clearly defined what Satan's plan was, to show others that taking a stand for truth does not violate agency.  Hopefully I will have a good experience to share from this week. There is zone conference, so I think I will ask President Adams about the call process for mission presidents. Have a great week. 

Love to All,

Elder Pinson