Karakory jiaby! Ino Kabary? Well it's been a pretty good week for me here. I think every week that goes by I'm just falling more in love with this place. People here are right though, it's still getting hotter. Before when I was riding my bike I liked it because I was kept cool with the breeze. But now even the breeze is warming up so now it's like little gusts of heat just whacking my face. Oh yeah. It's good stuff. But despite that I'm still loving life. And hopefully soon here we'll start getting some rain with a little break from the heat. Hope it comes soon!
Some of you might be wondering from the subject line if I've really forgotten what Halloween is. I still remember what it is, I just didn't realize it was Halloween this week until we got into November. It was funny explaining to people in English class what Halloween was. I have no idea where or how it originated. I just know it's a time where kids go around getting candy and people dressing up in goofy costumes and how they like getting scared on that day. Haha. Malagasies don't celebrate it, at least not in that way. I was told that people here on the last day of October go to the graves of loved ones and do a 'grave cleaning' where they tidy things up and put flowers up and stuff. So our Halloween actually turns out to be kinda they're Memorial Day! Kinda interesting huh? Maybe that explains our low Sacrament Attendance this week... We had a whopping 78 at church. Who knows.
The work is still going good. We picked up a few new peeps, so hopefully they'll be mazoto. We have a new guy we teach named Dynamic Jaques. How cool of a name is that? But he goes by Vazaha, the very thing I hear people calling me every second of every day everywhere I go. So that was interesting to find that out about him! It's good to have another vazaha friend. We also had a lot more member help this week which is always a good thing. We ended up getting to teach a lot more people because of it. I don't really have any overwhelming spiritual experiences that stand out, but a couple kinda funny ones. One time we were going over the Word of Wisdom with Bebe and talked about those six things we don't take into our bodies like toaka, sigara, dite, kafe, paraky, and zava-mahadomelina (alchohol, cigarettes, tea, coffee, tobacco, and illegal drugs) and just when everyone was satisfied that they knew it, I told them we forgot one thing. Mangos. I joked that that was the seventh thing and everyone it the room started busting up laughing except Bebe. She had the most shocked face I'd seen and she believed me for a sec. She was then relieved when it was just a joke and that she could keep eating mangos and had a good laugh. So that was one of those moments that I needed, just to laugh :) I think that's so important not to be totally serious 100% of the time, but to get some laughs in with it. So that was a fun little experience I had! Oh and we have more baptisms coming up this Saturday! They're two little girls of a member. They turned over 8 years old before they got baptized, so they ended up having to learn from missionaries. We're still trying to get families in and progress towards baptism, but hey, it's still a baptism. So I'm still pretty happy about that :)
In other news, not a whole lot. I did accomplish a couple of goals I've had for a while though. I finished the New Testament and also Doctrine and Covenants in English! Now my goal is to read all of it in Malagasy before the fahataperan' my mission. Right now though I'm still working on Alma in Ny Bokin'i Mormona. Still have a little ways to go, but I'll get there! Reading the scriptures has been such a blessing to me. I've seen so many things I've been able to use in teaching, just from reading straight through. There's also been a lot I didn't know about Church History from reading those last sections in D&C. It's been so interesting to read about those revelations and how they are such a part of the church today. I know we have a prophet that's called of God! I know that the fullness of the Gospel is ours. We just have to embrace it.
Anyhoo, I'm kinda outta stuff to say for now, but more pictures to come of the ocean next week! Plus I'll also have transfer news. Pretty dang sure I'm staying put, but I have a feeling I'll be getting an American companion coming up. Excited for a little change. It's always good to get a little of that sometimes.
I love all of you and hope you have a fantastic week!! Tiako ianareo!!! Mandra-pihaona indray!!
-Elder Mum
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