Salama O!
I'm just going to describe the best and craziest experiences I have had just to keep it interesting!
-It was hard to leave the MTC. I made a couple of my best friends there. Elder Schnoor and I had to bring two extra bags full of President Foote's personal affects. So, we had three bags each. It was
pretty stressful to go everywhere with them because every airport wanted to search through our bags because we had so much luggage. It made it hard to make some of the connecting flights. The nice thing is that we arrived as heroes for the Footes haha! It would have cost $7000 in comparison to the $400 we were charged to have the bags shipped. South Africa's airport workers ask for tips for anything and everything haha. They kept asking for $50 when they helped me put my bags on a cart. Two seconds of work=$50 for South African airlines I guess. I paid them a dollar each time so they would leave me alone.
-Elder Schnoor and I had some crazy experiences on the way to Madagascar, holy cow. First, we met Austin "The Wind" on the frontrunner. He was time traveler/witch doctor/leader of the Drumcircle religion. He had devil horns taped to his hat. "The Wind" has been in jail 6 times already, but he was actually really kind to us and wanted to know about our message. When he was leaving, he said
he was really sorry, but because he was a devil worshiper, he was obligated to curse us. He cursed us very softly with a awkward dance for about 2 minutes. I couldn't stop laughing, wow.
-Then, we met the IncrediblePoems.com man. He recited 10 of his poems at the top of his lungs to us on the Trax. They were actually really good, and some of them were on topics of the Gospel. Utah might be weirder than a lot of the world apparently.
-It was tough to sleep on the planes because my sleeping schedule got turned up on its head. Plus, the planes are riduculously cramped now. My knees were touching the seat in front of me no matter what, very uncomfortable for about 30 hours of flying.
-Bazzle's Near Death: I was on the plane from London to Johannesburg sitting next to a 63 year-old man named Bazzle from South Africa. He had never met missionaries, and he wanted to hear more about our church. So, I felt we were great friends by the time we were sleeping lol. In the middle of the night, I woke up to a whistling sound. I heard it coming from Bazzle. I turned on a light and saw that he was extremely purple and not breathing well. I called an attendant, and they had to do CPR after he wouldn't respond to oxygen or other procedures. He came back after about 10 minutes. Apparently, he had gotten brain tumors taken out of his head 5 years prior and always had trouble sleeping well. Scary. I got the opportunity to pray with his wife while they were doing CPR, and she really appreciated that.
-I have yet to come very close to the other Elders in my apartment. They're quite a bit different than I am, but I'm sure we just need time. There's Elder Knight, Elder Bowen and Elder Lake. They are great though! The apartment is actaully pretty decent. There's a couple luxury problems with a leak in the toilet, so it's a pain to go to the bathroom.
-I had my first rice and laoka (the staple Malagasy food) for the first time at a hotely. All the nurses tell us to stay away from the hotely's/street food, but it saves so much time. I know why now though
haha. I ate some rice with a tasty beef and vegetable mix. Then, I basically pooped on the spot. I guess that's what the extra pages in my planner are for haha! I haven't felt very sick yet though. They
also have this stuff called Jus Naturale that all the missionaries drink and get sick from. We'll see how long I wait to drink some heehee.
Now for a couple actual Madagascar missionary experiences: -Ivandry is starting to boom! Parts of Antananarivo are slower, but Ivandry is great to work in. We really focus on Father-Led Families
here because the wards here need Priesthood really bad. The women in Madagascar are more open to the Gospel and less problems with Word of Wisdom. Our ward is pretty good. The ratio is about 30 Melchizedek Priesthood holders, 15 Aaronic and 75 women and kidsm which is actually a decent ratio.
-The days are long, but incredible. It's burning hot, about 85-100 degrees every day. Every kid that sees us says, "Vazaha!!" That means foreign'. All we have have to do is talk to them for 2 seconds, and their mouth drops haha! Everybody, even the bebe's and dadabe's (grandmas and grandpas) loving giving us dona's, or fistbumps. It's super fun to walk down some streets. For some reason, some missionaries hate getting called out constantly, but it's fun to have conversations with people that think we're just French guys here to get girlfriends. They are flabberghasted that we're not pervs.
-We have awesome investigators. Baptisms are coming up soon, and the families are very ready. The only problem is that it's expensive to get married legally here Madagascar, and they can't have a problem with the WofW for at least 2 weeks. So sometimes, baptismal dates have to be pushed back.
-I sang for one of the families we teach because they thought I looked like Frank Sinatra, which I don't, but I guess I am white haha. I sang "Be Still My Soul" in Malagasy.
-A guy was working on his roof to fix some leaks. He started to slip and fell off the side. Even though the drop was only like 7 feet, I was in the exact right spot to catch him. I awkwardly caught him and
brought him down slowly. He was laughing so loud haha. Malagasies have amazing, high-pitched laughs too. Ironically, we're teaching him and his wife now! He's actually a pretty golden investigator because Elder Hammer knew him previously, and he said he loved the idea of being able to communicate with God still.
-The members are amazing here. We had a couple appointments with us and gave us 6 FLF referrals. We haven't contacted all 6 yet, but the 3 we've gotten to are great!
-I gave my testimony during church this last Sunday, and I did pretty well surprisingly! All the members came up to me to tell me how good I was at Malagasy already. It really helped to have good teachers in the MTC, and I worked really hard on pronunciation. I think that's the biggest thing Malagasies look for. I made a joke about being the same age as Elder Hammer and that I had a babyface while he was a huge cow. It was kind of rude, but they laughed really hard. And Elder Hammer was okay with it jajaja.
-It's incredibly tiring to try to actively listen and understand the Malagasies. It requires so much focus for the whole day, and I go to bed feeling like my head is burning. It helps a lot, and I'm starting to understand more and more.
-There are these buses called taxibe's that we take all the time, and they get packed to the brim, way fun. We had to ride while hanging on to the back during the rain. They were driving ridiculously fast.
Sorry Mom. The raindrops are huge here, and I got soaked in about 4 seconds. It was super fun.
-The people are wonderful! I'm literally the tallest person that some of the Malagasies have ever seen at about 6'. The average height here is about 5' 4". It's tough to fit into some of the houses.
-There's a good amount of more ridiculous experiences that have been very spiritual and extremely foreign to me, but I don't have time to say everything. It's good I've got a journal! The work is very hard and very rewarding.
Efa fantatro fa mahafinaritra Madagascar! Tsotra ny filizantsara. Raha matoky sy manaiky ny fampianaran'i Jesoa Kristy isika dia afaka mandray ny fiainana mandrakizay amin'ny fianakiaviantsika eo anatrehan Andriamanitra. Amin'ny alalan'ny Sorompanavotan'i Jesoa Kristy dia ho lasa madio isika. Tsapako fa marina ny filizantsara amin'ny alalan'ny Fanahy Masina.
Love,
Elder Soper
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