Manahoana daholo indray! Welp, I'm in Tana now. And I'm loving it so far! I'll talk more about it in a little bit. I don't even really know where to begin. Usually I have something in mind to write when I get to the cyber, but it's been such a crazy week I haven't really got it organized in my head what this email will be like. So it could be all over the place! But here it goes.
So I got to be in Tamatave up until Thursday. So not a whole lot of time to say goodbye to the peeps. Plus Elder Fisher was still sick for some of that time, so I didn't get to say goodbye and get pictures with all that I wanted. But I feel like I at least got to the ones that I was most close to. It was so weird leaving behind my first area... It was a little more emotional than I thought. Tamatave was the only place I knew. I got very close to some of the guys I lived with and it was rough saying goodbye to them especially. But, life is full of changes and new adventures!
The bus ride was very long and I was crammed a little bit. Plus I was all by myself going to Tana, so that was interesting! Haha but it wasn't so bad. The view on the way to Tana was so beautiful! Mountains and forests, all the things I missed the first bus ride because it was dark. Got a few pictures of the ride which I'll get out soon! After that long bus ride, I woke up and was in Tana. It was kinda weird! It seemed like I had been in Tana the day before, getting stuff taken care of at the office and whatnot. Yet I didn't recognize anything! It's such a different world out here. Definitely a more city feel to it. But I'm liking it so far actually. I work in a place called Ampitatafika, which is about as far from the main city you can get while still being part of Tana. It's in the countryside, so it has more of a farmland feel to it. I'm loving it. And it's cold!!!!!!! I was shocked. I didn't think Madagascar ever got cold. And everyone keeps saying it's been hot and I just look at them like they're crazy. Haha. I guess it's because I came from one of the hottest and stickiest places on the mission. But it's been very refreshing getting away from that heat. Everything here is made of brick too. No more grass huts, which I might miss. There's mountains too! So it kinda reminds me of Utah. Overall, I'm loving it here. Loved Tamatave and the coastal feel, but I think this kind of surrounding fits me better.
My companion is Elder Randrianantenaina. He's from Antsirabe. He speaks fairly good English, but usually we communicate in Malagasy. It's been really good for me and the language! Even in just the past couple days that I've been here I've seen lots of improvement in the way I speak. Plus he's good enough at English that if I have something I don't know how to say in Malagasy, I can get it cleared up. So we communicate just fine! I can safely say that he is the nicest guy I've ever met. Soooo willing to help in any way and has just been so good to me. I'm getting taken care of real good out here. I also live with another Malagasy that I forgot the name of, and Elder Cannault from my MTC group. He's a French guy and he speaks good English. Missing my American buddies, but this is still good. I'm sure we'll all get along just fine.
Another nice thing about Tana is that we work in a ward now instead of a branch. There's much more organization and structure to it which is nice. The members have all been super nice to me. Everyone has been saying, "Ah! Efa mahay amin'ny teny gasy tsara ianao!" Which I don't feel like I'm all that good yet, but it's been nice hearing it. People back in Tamatave were a lot more unforgiving and would always remind me I'm mbola tsy mahay, still not good. So it's been nice getting some encouragement. Haha :) Hopefully it's because I'm actually doing good and not just because they're way nice.
Well, I don't really know what else to write for now... Sorry if I forgot something in your questions, I'll be sure to clear up some stuff next week. But for now I gotta get to other emails and whatnot. Busy P-Day ahead! But I love you all so much! Talk to y'alls next week! Tiako be ianareo!!!
-Elder Mum
Hey guys, I'm sorry but I'm completely out of time. Crazy day today, so much we had to do. So I'm sorry if I didn't get to your emails, but I read every one! Love you all again!!! And pictures coming up next week, this cyber is terrible and won't read my card or anything. Til next week!
-Elder Mum
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