This was much better than last week. Of course, a few tough experiences, but the funny and good experiences definitely overshadow them. Things are cold and sweaty at the same time here in Antsirabe!
Sarindra, she has three disabled sons who are all 20+ years old, but have minds like 6 year-olds; she takes care of them 24/7. She was also one of the first Malagasy sister missionaries
Elder Yaw Yeboah Kissi, the African King
I still haven't found a picture that accurately describes every day Antsirabe. This is what our area looks like most of the time though
I've never seen this kid not crying.
This boy Moroni pretending to receive revelation
Funny Experiences-
- Mahasosotra Kely Henry: Every time we pass one epicerie (small grocery shop), we try to scoot by it without Henry--who is constantly drunk--noticing us. Somehow, he always senses we are passing by, turns around and makes a face that looks like he either received a heart-stopping epiphany or just realized that cereal is actually just a soup. Then, smiling, he stumbles over toward us asking us for work and money, while saying horrible racist things about me. One day, after we told we had no work for him for tenth time, exasperated, I said, "Hey, I heard there's going to be no alcohol tomorrow." He instantly stopped smiling and said, "What, you're lying." "No, I heard that Madagascar's government is removing all the alcohol from the epiceries." Henry had the most devastated look on his face, huffed some swear words and said, "I need to buy alcohol tonight!" Whoops, kind of cruel, but Elder Andriantinarisoa and I were laughing so hard.
- "Matsiro Be Mihitsy" (Branch Soccer): On Saturday, we played a soccer game with our branch, Antsirabe 2 vs. another branch, Mahazoarivo. It was awesome because we were able to invite a less-active father and two twenty year-old investigator dudes that haven't really made any connections with members in the ward. Anyhow, there's one guy in our ward who is pretty short and stocky (and has big ears) and he yelled out commands to everyone throughout the whole game. Our team started out suffering and let in a couple humiliating goals, so he called a quick time-out. He started desperately trying to explain how important "iray roa" (one-two or give and go) is. He kept referring back to a particular "iray roa" play that he and I executed, saying, in all seriousness, it was "matsiro be mihitsy" or so "dang tasty/delicious."
- Exposed: That one family that I tried convinced I was a body-builder before the mission, that I slept for 3 days straight, and could speak 6 languages fluently, finally exposed my lies. They were very skeptical this last Thursday, interrogating and quizzing me more than usual. Forced to backpedal with my limited Malagasy, I eventually messed up and changed a key details. They started laughing really hard, and kept saying, "I knew he was lying the whole time!" I'm pretty sure they never genuinely believed me, but they simply enjoyed running along with the joke. Darn it. It was fun while it lasted.
Better Week Overall:
Since last week, things with Elder Andriantinarisoa have improved. He's slowly starting to joke around with me again. For some reason, it always seems like our afternoons are really tough, walking slowly, not talking and tense communication about where we're going. On the other hand, nights are really fun. When we get into the groove of working, we joke around, teach together better and teach each other English and Malagasy. We both have our flaws, and I probably need a little more patience with his mood swings, but it's been a blast working with him,
Love you all! Have a great week!
Elder Soper
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