Hey hey everyone!! Well it's p-day again and I'm excited as always to be writing all of you. How's it all going over there? Hope everyone is happy and healthy!
As far as this week goes, it was a little slower than usual. It was Elder Thompson's birthday this week and we celebrated with some cake, so that was fun. He also got sick on Saturday and yesterday with stomach issues. Yeah... It wasn't pretty, but he seems to be up and going well now. Those 2 days at the house were slow... I never like sitting in the house all day. I studied a little bit, or at least tried to. Listened to some good music all day. Read some scriptures in malagasy. Napped a little. Getting out and working definitely beats all of that though. I'm just glad to be up and at it again. The work here is still going good. It's the most challenging of the areas I've already worked. I think I've already mentioned this before, but because I'm in probably the richest area in Mada, people tend to be less receptive. We still don't have a very solid program, but when we're not teaching we're out finding and working hard. Just have to trust that things will get better! But so far I don't really have anything to complain about. Whitewashing has still been an adventure for us! But it's going good and I've liked the area.
So I guess there's gonna be a new house! That means there will only be 4 of us in the house we're in now and the Analamahitsy Elders will be moving to the new one. I'm excited for that. It's been fun with the 6 of us, but it'll be pretty nice to have my own bed. I've adjusted well to the living room, but I'm looking forward to the move! Let's see... Transfers are coming up in less than 2 weeks! I've already drawn out my predictions, but let's face it, there's just some things that are impossible to guess. But we did get one thing settled. We decided that I'll be staying here and training while Thompson moves somewhere else. Whether or not that happens, we'll see! I think it would be fun to train again. Then bounce to Antsirabe :) Haha only time will tell I guess.
Nothing really much happened this week, so I don't have any interesting stories. We do lots of porte a porte. And I've already mentioned that it's harder here, but it's gotta be done if you've got nothing else. It hasn't been bad though. Normally missionaries hate it, but I think it's kinda fun. Yeah, I'd like it if I was teaching all day every day, but it's nice getting out and meeting new people. We've had some success with people who want to learn, so we'll see in a little bit how many of them turn out to be solid. But that's kinda been our story lately. We've got 6 pretty solid investigators though, so we should be having baptisms in the near future. People still think we're French. And it's fun to shock people when we talk back to them in malagasy :) One thing that's way nice about Madagascar is that you can argue prices with almost anything. Souvenirs, taxi rides, stuff like that. And since we're white, they always jack up the prices ridiculously high. But that's one thing I've gotten pretty good at, is getting those prices down to where they should be. Like today we were looking for a taxi to take us to the office. The driver gave us a high cost to begin with and I got it split in half to where it should be. When he was hesitant, we just started walking away and then he finally agreed to it. I've been a while now, so I know little tricks.
I can't believe it's already my year mark... Where has the time gone? It honestly feels like I was getting out at the curb at the MTC saying my last goodbyes. Whether or not I've changed since then, I don't really know. I don't feel different. I'm still feeling like the teenage kid I was when I left. I guess it's hard to see it when you're with yourself all day every day. I have learned a lot though and have had a lot of life experience that you can only find on a mission. The biggest thing, and I think I've said this before sometime, is that I've learned patience. The language was a big part of that. I had to learn to be patient with myself and just have faith that if I did my best that it would come. And it has! I'm still learning, but I've come a long ways in that aspect. I've learned to be patient with others and not forcing my will on them. Sometimes people's agency gets in the way, but that's what makes the successes so worth it, when they use it to come closer to Christ. The mish is hard, but I love it. New challenges at every corner. But from this past year I've seen that I've become stronger through it all. I'm not perfect, but I'm working hard, and that's all I can do. I know that if we just put our trust in God, he can make us things we never could've become on our own. I know that he reaches out to all of his children and wants them to be happy. I've seen people change through the gospel. I know it's true and that we have it in it's fulness today! I'm so grateful to be out here and grateful I have another year to give it my all. Here's to another awesome year!!
Anyways, I should probably get going. Still have things to get done to get ready for the week. But thank you everyone that's shown their support for me! Tena tiako ianareo!!! Have a great week!!
-Elder Mumford
No comments:
Post a Comment