Hey hey everyone! Hope everyone is still good and had an excellent week. I'm feeling a little under the weather right now and coming down with a cold. So this email might be kinda short so I can get back and get a little rest before tonight. Just a heads up there!
This week was a kinda weird one to be honest. Lots and lots of times fell through. People that are normally home weren't, so we were kinda all over the place with our program. But it still ended up being alright. I don't think I mentioned anything about this in my letter last week, but this week we had what's called an OLC. I forget exactly what it stands for, but it was a little conference put on for all the missionaries in outlying areas like this. It was between President Adams and the Assistants, us in Mahajanga, the four missionaries in Fort Dauphin, the two in Toliara, and four over in Mauritius. It was really cool, it was pretty much just like any zone meeting, just over Skype. I got to lead the music! It was kinda weird waving my hand in front of a computer, but still kinda fun. We did our little area reports and talked about stats and discussing ways we can better mampandroso the work in the areas. Some of it was talking about getting back to the basics. We talked a lot about commitments and how people aren't going to progress unless they act on the message we bring to them. Faith is a principle of action! It was a lot of that kinda thing. It was just so great to see some familiar face again. I absolutely love being out here in Mahajanga and I wouldn't have it any other way. It can just get a little lonely sometimes being the only white person in an isolated area. So it was really good to see everyone and hearing other missionaries and their voices. And I'm hoping soon when this transfer is up I'll get to fly to Tana with Razaza and pick up my new companion so I can say hey to everyone there. But. We'll see!
Like I said before, I don't have a whole lot to talk about this week. I'm not feeling good and just wanna sleep. Haha. Let's see. We have ny Fihaonambe'ny Fiangonana this week! General Conference. So it'll be fun hearing Dallin H. Oaks and all of them speaking Malagasy. Those men really do have the gift of tongues! Hopefully we'll have a decent turnout as well. I've heard lots of people come to the sessions in the morning, but then like 12 show up in the evenings.. So we've stressed that all the sessions are important, so hopefully they'll come to it. I'm excited for that though.
One thing I've tried to do better at this week is talking to everyone, like it says in Preach My Gospel. Especially this past week we've had a little time for contacting, so we went out and kinda just wandered around talking to people in our path. And with me being a quieter person sometimes I hesitate to just go up to people and talking. But I've really pushed myself to just put myself out there and go for it. Whenever I've had the slightest feeling we should talk to someone I go up and just find something to make a simple conversation with. Then it just kinda naturally comes up about what we're doing here and it leads to talking about the church. If nothing else people know more about us and not wondering what this vazaha is doing in their country. But we've had people actually come up to us in the process interested in what we do. So it's kindof a win win just getting out there and talking. I've also seen my malagasy improve. Sometimes I'll get words that I've never heard before, but just from my knowledge of patterns and how malagasy works I can pick out the meaning right there and then without skipping a beat. I don't know, this week I've just felt a little boost of confidence like I've moved up a grade or something. Haha I don't know, I just know that no matter how good I am now that I'm still learning and working at getting better and the the Lord is there with me through it all. Tena tiako ny teny gasy!!
One kinda funny thing happened in a branch council. We were sitting waiting for everyone to get there, but in the meantime the Relief Society President commented on how dark my skin was getting. Face and all. And she told me I was literally turning into a Malagasy! Hahaha. So that was kindof a funny thing this week. I am getting a nice tan here. There's a good side of this place being freakishly hot! Let's see. I've said this before, but the power is always out. The power company here is having some problems I guess. So it's out quite a bit whenever we get home from work. So candles always come in handy. And it's funny when the power comes back on because you can hear all the little kids screaming "Yaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy!!!" I'll admit, I gave out one of those the last time it came back on. The AC depends on it!
Anyhoo, sorry if this letter is kinda lame. I run out of things to say sometimes. And I'm gonna try to go get some rest. I've decided technology hates me and won't let me get pictures up on the bucket anymore, but I managed to get a few up this week, so ankafiza! I love you all and you're always in my thoughts and prayers. Never forget that tall skinny white boy out in Madagascar. Still loving it out here. All is well. 'Til next week! Tiakoa ianareo!!
Elder Mumf
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