A behind-the-scenes look at Evan's two-year mission in Madagascar for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Monday, April 20, 2015

4/20/2015

  The weather here has been sunny most days. I believe it rained a few days ago. This past week has been hit and miss when it comes to finding investigators. Most of them were not at home during the day. We did teach a few and we challenged a family to be baptized in May and they accepted. We also caught up with a man named Roget, a member who has been inactive for many years. We have visited with him a couple of times and he says that he is now ready to come back to church. He will most likely attend when we get to watch General Conference, which will be this coming weekend here in Madagascar. Unfortunately this will move our baptisms that are scheduled this weekend to May.
  I am feeling so much better now that I am able to speak the language more proficiently. I can understand most of the natives and they seem to understand me just fine now when I teach them. This has definitely been a tender mercy from the Lord. My prayers have definitely been answered! Hopefully if I am transferred elsewhere the dialect there won't be too different from what I have already learned. We will hear this Sunday about transfers. I have been here since December, so I might be transferred this time.  
   I am really looking forward to seeing General Conference this weekend. We have already heard that the talks were really inspiring and I am ready to hear them in person. I know this will be different than last October, because I will be able to understand it in Malagasy.
   Some of us missionaries had a football game today. We played at an actual field, as opposed to dirt with chalk lines outlining a box. After the game we went to a Thai food restaurant. The food was actually pretty good.  It was good to hear about the ward day of service. That is cool that members from our ward joined with some other churches in the area to serve other people, regardless of their different beliefs. The church here has a day of service scheduled in August, but I don't think they will ever be able to get other churches to help. 
  The birthday box was awesome! There are no more Honey Buns or candy. (Lol)  I believe I will save some of the other stuff. It was also great to read the cards that everyone sent. I did not open the cards that I got for the past few months because I figured they were birthday cards. I cannot remember everyone who sent cards, so I will try to thank them next week. I hope the New York trip is cool for you Tell Misha congratulations! There are pictures this week, of some of the places we visit in Ampitatafika. The women wash their clothes in this lake and then hang them on the sides of their houses. I don't think they use this water for drinking though, at least I hope not.
  Here is a cool scripture that I read this week:  1 Nephi 1:20 "And he hath said that: Inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land; but inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from my presence." It shows that God's ways are not meant to be confusing. If we keep his commandments we will be blessed.
Hopefully, everyone has a great week.

Love,
Elder Pinson






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