12/14/2015

Another week of missionary work here in Madagascar has flown by!

I will start by saying, in all honesty, that this past week was a challenge. The combination of not having much help from the ward, the torrential rain, and investigators not being at home or cancelling really made almost each day seem like a nightmare. There were a few times this week when we essentially had no one to teach for hours, so there was a lot of walking around and sometimes it seemed that we were just wandering around with no purpose. Luckily, it seems that this week will be an improvement. Our ward mission leader who had not met with us for three weeks, finally says he can meet with us tomorrow and he will help us teach one of the most recent converts tomorrow. We should also teach some new investigators and at least one new family this week, so that is definitely something to look forward to. 

  Here is a brief summary of this past week. On Wednesday, there was so much rain that one we could not walk to an appointment because the path and the pond on either side of the path were flooded. I wasn't about to drown trying to cross it, so the day essentially ended with that. We did have some great lessons this past week. Yesterday, we taught an excommunicated member who wants to be baptized again, but  he still needs to work on a few things to be ready. We taught him that if we live the gospel here on earth, then our lives after death will be taken care of. It was a great lesson and he said that he felt the Spirit and that he was essentially "pricked in his heart". One of our newer investigators told us that he wants to learn 4 times a week. Even thought that is maybe too much learning, it is great to see that he actually wants to study about the gospel!

  So the mission has a cool event planned for the days around Christmastime. On Christmas morning (Madagascar time) there will be a party at the office. I suppose there will be gift exchange and food and stuff, so that should be fun. Of course, there will be Skyping on Christmas Day. I remember after I Skyped in May, I thought, " Man. I have to wait 7 months before I can Skype my family again." But   the time has flown. In 9 days, I will have only 6 more months as a missionary. It is almost surprising to me how quickly 2015 has gone by. I remember still being a relatively new missionary a year ago, now all I see are new missionaries.

  I think that, as my mission progresses, I find less and less stuff to say. I guess one the facets of missionary work is adjusting to the culture where you live. Now, when I see a terrifying spider, I don't write home about it. People carrying things like bags and baskets on their heads dont really surprise me anymore either . I have learned to survive on rice, if I have to. Haha. Speaking of food, I finally opened the Christmas package and was glad to see my old friends "Little Debby" and "Lance", among other things. American food can never be replaced, it is true.

 I just completed reading 3 Nephi. Here is a good scripture from 3 Nephi Chapter 27, Verse 8

  "And how be it my church save it be called in my name? For if a church be called in Moses’ name then it be Moses’ church; or if it be called in the name of a man then it be the church of a man; but if it be called in my name then it is my church, if it so be that they are built upon my gospel" 

Ok. Time for the Malagasy Lesson.

            Christmas Words

star                       kintana

shepherd              mpiandry ondry

peace                   fiadanana

King                     Mpanjaka

winter                   ririnina

gifts                      fanomezana

holy                      masina

to sing                  mihira

to praise               midera

to celebrate          mankalaza

Have a great week, everyone

               Elder Pinson