What's Halloween again??

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

Ny Fihaonamben'ny Fiangonana!

Hey hey everyone! Don't have a whole lot of time left before we need to go, but I'll try to get in a good update. Everything is still going well here and I'm feeling better. I just had a dumb cold that's been hangin around, but it's all but gone now. Just a little stuffed up, but that's all. It's still way hot here, but what can ya do? Still loving it out here in Mahajanga though.

So this week we got to watch Conference with our branch! It was good to finally get to see all the stuff you all have been talking about from it. I'll probably have to watch it all again in English to get the full experience, but it was still tsara! I was kinda surprised. Back in the days of the MTC when we listened to what a conference talk in Malagasy I didn't think I'd ever be able to understand anything. Well now I can pretty much understand it all. The thing about conference is they use a wide vocabulary, so there was still some things I learned from it which was good. But yeah, it was fun listening to it all in Malagasy. But at the same time listening to straight Malagasy for a long time was tiring, so I took some notes and doodled a little (jereo Photobucket). As you can see I was getting a lot out of it! Haha. But yeah, it started Saturday morning. Funny story, but kindof not, right before the person saying the prayer was about to close the conference with 'amen', the power went out. So everyone was kindof just sitting there awkwardly wondering what to do since the session wasn't officially ended. Haha. But we were all excused and came back two hours later to catch the next session and the power was still out! We waited for a little bit but still nothing, so we went out to work. It was kinda sad we missed the Saturday Afternoon Session, but we'll probably set up another time for everyone to watch it. The next day the power was actually working, so we got to watch all of Sunday and then the Priesthood Session for the men. During that one I was thinking about home a lot and what we'd do afterwards. Going and getting Jamba Juice... Mmm :) Just one more conference to go! How crazy is that?? I may have 9 months left, but that seems next to nothing to me now! Such little time. Gotta make the most of it.

Other than that I can't really think of a whole lot else that's new. The work is still going well. We've worked more through referrals and also returned to some former investigators that seem pretty promising in this go around. I don't really have a whole lot to share this week.. The mish is weird, if you don't write down specific things that happen, the weeks all fee l the exact same! So I'll be better at doing that. Part of it is just because I'm in a little rush right now and still not feeling 100%. But rest assured that I'm still alive and well out here. I love you all and hope you have a great week!! Tiako ianareo!!

-Elder Mumford :)

Talk about successful conference notetaking!

Robert D. Hales when he speaks malagasy...

Faith. The Principal of Action

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

Another week Iany

Hey hey everyone!! How's it all going back there?? Things are still pretty good here in Mahajanga. It's hard to believe we're almost halfway into October. The time just keeps on going. And yes, it's still pretty hot here. I've heard it's only been about 90 degrees at the most. Sure feels hotter than that, but I guess thats humidity for ya. It really hasn't been all that bad, just drinking lots of water to stay alive. Haha. Everything is still going well here and I'm still loving the life.

The work out here is still going alright. We've made some changes to the program, got some new people in the mix and things are looking to improve with those we're teaching. The problem is that nobody is vita soratra here... It's kinda rare to meet a couple that is legally married. I've heard that's pretty common the further away you get from Tana. It's still kindof a new thing for malagasies and it's still not really the fomba or the way they do it here. They get married culturally but not officially. That's been one of the biggest obstacles we've faced out here, but we're still trying to be a good encouragement for them to just get it done so that they can be baptized! But overall the teaching is still going well. And we're finally getting somewhere with the home teaching. Lists and assignments have been made so hopefully it won't just be another assignment on paper left undone, but that they'll actually do it and we'll see more activity here in Mahajanga.

Let's see. It's kinda hard to think of new things every week to be honest. It all kinda just feels the same. But I'll try to get something. I got a job offer to go teach English! Haha. I was teaching English at the church and there was a comorian there and said I should go teach at some place where they learn English. I declined it respectfully of course. Sundays here are always an adventure. Yesterday was actually pretty good. Not too many mishaps were had behind the keyboard and the teacher for the Gospel Principles class actually taught it and not just the missionaries! So that was nice. There's always some kind of drama in priesthood. Voices start getting louder and then it kinda turns into a mess but always ends up calming down again and things are good. Still kinda sad, but kinda funny.

Had a funny experience the other day when we had a little time to do some tracting. We came across a mother and her daughter that wanted to speak to us, and so we told them about the church and set up a return time, which didn't actually go through, but yeah. We were talking and were wondering where I was from and I told them I was Besimisaraka (one of the malagasy tribes) and that I was born in Tamatave. They obviously didn't believe me based on my skin color and I finally broke down and told them I was American. They told me I may be American by skin, but I was malagasy by mouth and that I would speak really well. So that made me feel pretty good! It's always nice to get reminders like that that I'm good at the language. It's hard to come by here, people tend to be a little more unforgiving of vazahas in Mahajanga, so it was nice to get that!

Other random stuff... I did get to play basketball for a few minutes one night. We were coming to a time we had set up, but the investigator still had some visitors over that were about to leave. So we waited for a few minutes and since there was a basketball court just outside I figured why not? So I joined a couple of guys and just shot around. Everyone would not stop commenting on how tall I was and that they were jealous. I didn't know how well I would do since I hadn't touched a basketball in forever, but I did better than I thought. I wasn't really on fire with my shot, but they were all in line to go in. Nothing a little shooting around at the Stake Center won't help when I get home! Other random thing. One of the young men in the branch knows my trainer Elder Moulton, now not 'Elder', but anyways. He's been facebooking him and I guess he's now in Uganda shooting a film. So I thought that was kinda interesting! I would love to come back to Madagascar one day and do nothing but take my camera around and take all the pictures as I want. But now as a missionary it's kinda hard to do that. But I'm still trying. Oh and sidenote, the computer is being dumb again and won't read my card. So more pictures might have to wait until next week... Sorry about that! Next week though I'll do everything I can to get them up.

Well other than that I think that'll do it for the week. Still going along just fine here with Elder Razazarohavana. Still eating lots of mangos and I'm a happy boy. Love you all! Have an awesome week! Tiako ianareo!!!

-Elder Mumf

already ôctôbra!

Ma famille et mes amis!

I don't know if my French was right up there or not. But I think you understand my tiako tenenina amin' izany. I can't believe it's already October! Haha even I'm getting sick of myself saying this, but time is going by way too fast sometimes! And I also heard it was conference this past weekend? What's that?? Haha kidding. No we did not get to watch it out here and it'll still be another few weeks. But I'm getting ahead of the ball and downloading all the talks right now. So ha! But yeah, everything is still going good out here and I'm still loving life :)

So like I said before, it's October here, the month everyone says the heat REALLY cranks up. I haven't really felt a difference yet. It's just  been dang hot from the time I stepped off the plane here in Mahajanga. Everyone says October and November are probably the hottest and the next few months after that, except by December we're supposed to start getting rain. I'm way excited for that, I still haven't seen a drop of rain here! Kinda makes me wonder how so much stuff still grows out here. Kinda weird.

The work was kinda interesting this week. We almost always have member help with us, but this week that was hard to come by due to other schedules and whatnot. So a lot of the time it was just me and Razaza fending for ourselves. Still got a ton accomplished! Had about 30+ lessons taught and we could've had more if we had the help, but we gave it our best. As far as highlights go I don't have a whole lot that stood out. We have some new peeps in our program that look like they have some good potential. Let's see. I guess one highlight is that we got to teach Sylvia's bebe and dadabe! (grandma and grandpa). I love every time we get to visit them. Bebe is my favorite little old lady! I wish I had a picture to send now. She has never eaten any pork in her life cause she hates the bad breath it gives people. She can never remember how to say my name, but she's starting to get it! I just tell people to either remember 'mum' or 'ford' the car and they usually can get it from there. Anyways, I was able to take her and dadabe through the Plan of Salvation with them understanding all of it! Which is quite the accomplishment seeing as how they have a hard time hearing. Haha. So I felt kinda proud of that. But yeah. I guess that's the one highlight I can think of. The language is still a work in progress, even now. But the more I go along the more I'm starting to feel like a native speaker. Still a little ways from that. But I'm not gonna stop learning no matter how good I get.

In other news I think I've developed an addiction to mangos since this past week. I've eaten so many of them lately. It seems like every day I have to buy another sack of them. Mada mangos... such a good fruit it should be forbidden! Let's see... Other random stuff. I saw a witch the other night. Like... literally there was some weird stuff going on. We get back to the house one night and this lady is just putting handfuls of the most random stuff places like a vazaha's car. I don't know much about that stuff, but it wasn't quite normal... Haha. So there's that! Oh and I may or may not have bought a guitar. It's a small, cheap, and kinda crappy one and I hardly ever have time to play it outside the nights when I get home and even then I usually just shower and go to bed. Haha. But at the very least it's a nice little decoration.

Anyhoo. That's about all the news I can think of for now. Sorry if these emails are kinda lame... I'll do better next week to get more experiences in. I'm just kinda drawing a blank here as usual. But. I love you guys and I'm so grateful for all the support I get from everyone! Tiako ianareo!! 'Til next week!

-Elder Mumf

So I was uploading the pics this week onto the bucket when the computer shut off randomly.. So I don't know how many got up, but I'll be sure to get more up next week. Outta time. Love you all!

The Good Life in Mahajanga

Manahoana daholo! Kabary? Well this is weird. I'm back in front of a computer again. It literally feels like I was just typing the email from last week. Y'all probably get sick of me saying this, but man. Time is soaring! But while the time is going by, I'm loving every minute of it here in the raddest place in the mish.

This'll be kinda random like it always is, but here we go! This week was another good one. We're still looking for new people that'll be solid, and we've tracted into some that seem like they could be winners, but we shall see. Working with the members as always to go teach their friends and family. The thing is, we have a lot of way diligent investigators. Most of them just have their obstacles that are keeping them from getting baptized. Like Tamatave, lots of people here are not vita soratra, so we're trying to help and always encourage them to get their marriages done. Some have word of wisdom issues. For the most part people we teach here are pretty good about not doing those things like alcohol and tobacco, but lots of people still drink coffee. And even that can be a really hard thing to overcome for people. And there's some people that simply haven't been to church yet. Nobody said the asan'ny famonjena was easy, but we're working our hardest out here so that people can make that first step and eventually make it to the temple. So yeah, always looking for mazoto people and we might be doing a little program cleaning of people who simply aren't getting anywhere. We do, however, have some potential baptisms coming up hopefully later this month, so we're working our hardest to make sure that happens. We may have 3 or 4, which would be awesome!

Let's see here... Me and Elder Razazarohavana are doing good still! We've been having more communication lately and that's made things go a lot smoother. I'm still not tonga lafatra when it comes to malagasy, so I've been talking to him as much as I can and getting to know areas I can improve. I'm pretty good at the language I'd say, but I'm just working on not being okay with where I'm at, but always improving. So that's helped and I'm still getting better at it. I love this language!! This week I've also started to lead the area. And for the most part I actually know where everything is, there was just a few times I was kinda lost. But there's still time for me to learn it, so I don't think there'll be any problems with that.

I've said before how this place is pretty warm, and people have been telling me that it's been cold compared to how hot it gets in October. And that's just a couple of days away! Haha I try to tell myself that it's cold here to make it seem less hot, but it is pretty freaking hot here. You sit down for 10 minutes and you get up and your back is all wet. The people's houses are mostly made out of pieces of tin, so you sit in lessons with a little towel constantly putting it to your face. Haha sounds fun right? It actually hasn't been too bad. I've found when I'm focused on the work it doesn't bother me. Still drinking lots and lots of water though!

One thing I got to do this week was start a Temple Prep class! Sunday afternoons we teach a Preach My Gospel class, but there's a couple that's about to go to the Temple, so now we have that too. One of us teach PMG while the other teaches about the Temple. There was only 1 that showed up for it, but it was kinda nice just talking with the guy. His name is Frere Paul and he's the 1st counselor in the Branch Presidency. He's already read the Temple pamphlet written by Boyd K. Packer cover to cover and everything we talked about was just review for him. But we talked a little about the Plan of Salvation and the role that the temple plays it that. It always kinda makes me trunky for the temple to talk about it, but I'm so happy to be out here to help people get ready to partake of those blessings for themselves. I can't wait to go back to the Temple, but I love teaching people here about it to help them so that they can go there too someday.

Well I can't think of a whole lot else to be honest... Sorry if these letters are kinda lame. Sometimes I get in front of the computer and draw a blank. But I hope you all like them and find them good and interesting! I didn't quite do as well on pictures this week... Mba avelao ny heloko! Haha. I'm trying okay! Anyways, it's pday and lots to do. Love you all so much and hope you have an awesome week! Tiako ianareo jiaby!!

-Elder Mumf

Back of the tag nowadays

A Swim in the Ocean! (Well. Kinda)

Hey hey everyone!! How's everything hanging out there? It's pretty good here. You know. We had baptisms!! Haha that'll probably be the main theme of this email. I don't have much more time left before we need to get on to some other stuff, but I'll get some stuff in here still.

So like I said before, we had baptisms. And yes, they were in the ocean! We had 2 investigators get baptised. Their names are Yvon and Sylvia. No they're not married, but we think it's a possibility. Haha. But it all went pretty smoothly. We had a little program at the church with hymns and talks and then we all headed out to the ocean! I got some pictures of it, so hopefully you'll take a peek at the bucket and enjoy! There really was nothing like it. It was unusual being in that much water in so long. And by that I mean being in enough water to swim in. I don't really remember if the water was cold, I was just so excited about being out there I couldn't really think of much else. I was a little worried that the waves would cause a problem, but it all went smoothly. I was able to do it all without having to start over! Haha so I guess that's an accomplishment. After it was over I didn't want to leave. There's just a calm and hard to describe feeling when you're out in that water. But I guess I kinda had to return to shore at some point. It was amazing getting to do that in the ocean and not many people get to do it, but one thing I realized was that no matter if it's in the ocean or in a font, the baptism is still the same sacred ordinance. Being a part of a baptism, no matter where, is one of the best experiences ever, and I'm always so thankful for when I get to be a part of them. So yeah, there you have my little stop in the ocean!

The rest of the week... Not a whole lot out of the usual. Still teaching lots, but also trying to find more people that will learn. One thing kinda interesting about here is that it's a lot more muslim influenced with the Commorian people. I think that's kinda what adds that touch to Mahajanga that makes it unlike any other. There's some cool looking Islamic churches here too. The people are also very welcoming. We have a few investigators that we teach now that come from an islamic background, so it's kinda cool. One interesting thing that happened this week was when I was stopped to take a drink of water and a guy was walking past and told me it wasn't okay to drink water while standing up and he told me it was from the prophet Muhammed. Whether that's really the case or not, that was just something unique that happened.

We're still also teaching less-actives and trying to help them come back. And we've had some success with that! I think a lot of people would come back if they were just visited. That's another struggle we have here, is that the home teaching is virtually non existant here. So we're working with the elder's quorum presidency to get that fixed. The branch still needs lots of guidance from time to time. Yesterday's sacrament meeting was kinda... Interesting. Haha. We had to go up and talk to the branch presidency about some things that were missing from announcements and whatnot and we still need a keyboard player. So any that has some fahaizana with keyboard feel free to stop by!! Haha :)

Can't really think of anything else. Hopefully the pictures this week make up for the lack of the past few weeks. I'm trying to be better with that! And also this week I hit my year mark in country. Oh how the time flies! I feel like I say that every week, but it's true. I remember that first day stepping off the plane into this crazy cool place not being able to talk to anyone. I think I've come I couple steps from that time. I'm so grateful to be here!!

Anyways, we better get going. Love you all and hope everything is going well back there! Tiako ianareo!!!

-Elder Mumf

Razaza getting his hair chopped off

 Cheesburger au zebu

All this for a buck. That's a happy meal

Chocolate Milkshake. Not quite America, but still SO good.

 Fr. Toky being Fr. Toky

Heading out to the beach

That's the branch president in the middle, Filoha Tahina

Enjoying the ocean while I can!

Trying to be creative with the camera... Did it work?

Porte a Porte on the beach. Or porte a potty?