04/27/2015

    The past week went very well. We were busy with preparing investigators.  There are many who are scheduled to be baptized soon. The hard part....The missionaries learned transfer news yesterday. I am going to Fort Dauphin to serve as a missionary at the Amparihy branch, so I won't be anywhere in the area when they are baptized. That is truly a hard pill to swallow after all of the effort in teaching and preparing them for baptism. Elder Stokes is being assigned to be an office Elder and two new missionaries will be assigned to our area. We aren't sure yet if he will get to take part in the baptisms, but we are hopeful.  There is one guy who was a very smart and spiritually prepared investigator who went to live in Fianarantsoa for a few weeks, now he is back and we were just beginning to teach him again and now we both have to leave him.

  Fort Dauphin, the area that I am assigned, has been descibed, by some of the missionaries, as one of the coolest places in Madagascar to serve a mission. I am looking forward to serving there. I will be flown there on Tuesday morning and have been instructed to only take one suitcase, the others will have to be left at the mission office. The people of Fort Dauphin speak Antanosy and Antandroy, which are tribal dialects. I will have to study hard, so I can understand them. Hopefully knowing Malagasy already will make learning a little easier. My new mission companion will be Elder Horspool, who I think is also American. I don't know him personally.

  On Thursday, myself and a lot of other missionaries went and stood on the street by the church building at Ampefiloha and talked to the people that walked by. We set up a display and waited for people to ask about it and then we would explain our message to them.There were some people who genuinely were prepared to learn, yet others approached us only to complain or to criticize the Church. Standing out on the street reminded me of Dan Jones and all those other missionaries who stood on boxes and preached to the people. Anyway, Conference was cool. There were a lot of informative talks. Some of those talks reminded me of ways I can improve as a person and as a Latter-Day Saint. For example, Elder Nelson's talk about the Sabbath reminded me that, even though I fulfilled my priesthood responsibilities on Sunday, there is more to be accomplished. 

  I am looking forward to Mother's Day and talking with family. I have to go, but I will catch up with you next P-day.

 Love to All!!

  Elder Evan Pinson