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

Monday, July 13, 2015

7/13/2015

N  Another week from Madagascar...another week of memories. I am having a great day today. The blessing of living in Fort Dauphin is that there is no traffic, and everything is relatively not too far away. That is definitely the case on preparation days. In Tana (Antananarivo), however, if I wanted to go somewhere, I would have to take a taxi or a bus/van and usually expect to get wherever I was going late. We taught 36 lessons this week and had 37 proselyting hours. The week was cold and wet, it is winter now and I have a cold to go along with that. We haven't done much today, except update the checklist of church attendance of investigators we are trying to reactivate and of recent converts. Then I updated the area book. I read my patriarchal blessing, and a lot of the blessings are promised according to my diligence. So I am trying to be more diligent, to have my blessings fulfilled. 
  The number of investigators at church last week was great; however, yesterday, some of our investigators and even some members were detered from coming to church by the rain that morning. We still had 15 investigators come.  If you have never heard this, church attendance in Madagascar is always affected by the weather, so although it was expected, it was a little frustrating, regardless of the good week here. I have mentioned that one of our converts, who I had the opportunity to baptize, cannot read, so we are helping him to memorize the sacrament prayer for the water. He is also learning to read. He is one of my home teaching companions now. He has also been going and helping us to teach. Even though he is new, and never says much, it is still greatly appreciated, because we are able to get more work accomplished.
  Since Elder Rasmussen and I both entered the MTC at the same time, we were talking about our MTC memories and reflecting on our one year of missionary service. I called a few of the other elders from my MTC group and we talked about how quickly the year has gone.  President Foote may fly here sometime soon, so we will be able to meet him, and I would probably be able to get the boxes and letters and my new name tags. The boxes with missionary supplies should also arrive this week. We have not had copies of the Book of Mormon or of the Restoration of the Gospel booklets for a while. We have reason to believe that Elder Bednar will be coming in October, hopefully I will get to meet him.
  I have been blessed to serve as a missionary over this past year, and I am looking forward to another year as one of Heavenly Father's messengers. This is definitely an opportunity I will never forget for the rest of my life, and I know that if I am faithful and place my life and my mission in Heavenly Father's hands, everything will go according to His will.  The scripture that touched me this week was from Alma 5:59-60. It talks about how the good shepherd (the Savior) is calling to us, and if we will listen to his voice that he will watch over us.
  Have a great week, everyone. 
Elder Pinson

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