Mondo bizarro week!

I'm getting transferred to a place called Tamatave! Angaha?! Beforehand, I had no idea that I was leaving Antsirabe, but the problem is that about 30 missionaries are leaving Madagascar, and only 12 missionaries are coming in, not enough. As a result, the smaller areas in the mission need to be absorbed into other areas. Our Antsirabe area turned out to be the 2nd smallest area in the mission, so kaput. 

Initially, I was a bit down-trodden that I was leaving Antsirabe so soon (one transfer contrary to the expected 4 transfers). But, I am getting transferred to an amazing place, Toamasina--one of the more beautiful, hot and sweaty places in the mission apparently. I going from the coldest area to one of the hottest and rainiest areas. We'll be whitewashing half an area, so I'll have some work to do with my new comp, Elder Price!

The 4 AP's

Goodbye to Pat

The local kids

The kid (Onja) with his arm over my shoulder is my favorite kid here in Madagascar.

Recent converts: Florent's Family

Zeze

The two on the far left are also getting baptized soon. I think they were the two I taught the most since I was here. Elisa and Zo.

The two people I will miss the most: Setra and Thinasoa.

Saying bye to Schnoor again. He's going to Fort Dauphin!

President Tolotra and Franco (next branch president probably).

Miora - pretentious little girl that is flippin' cute.

Onja and Miora cried pretty hard when I said I was leaving.

Dolph, him and Setra helped us a lot. He talks ridiculously fast.

I accidentally kneed this zatovolahy in the ribs during soccer, but now we're friends. He's going on a mission in about ? months. Not sure, but real soon.

Raelsen Family. These people were awesome, but hard to teach because they just wanted to sing hymns. They still don't have a bapt. date.

Mine and Setra's last lesson together. Setra was my companion for the last 3 days. He even got permission to sleep at our house.

Our family closest to baptism. Hardis and Onja.

The Pascaud's. I always try to speak French, and they get really excited when I do, but then I accidentally use Malagasy words. I think they think I'm cool? They just crashed their truck this morning though, darn.

Malagasy building technique.

Elder Wilmot and I asked if we could get a tour of the building while waiting for baptismal interviews to be done, and I felt like the floor was going to fall through at any moment.

This week was packed with meat. I'll share the more weird experiences next week.

• Zone Conference: 

President Foote came down on Friday to hold zone conference for all the Antsirabe and Fianarantsoa missionaries. I can't believe how powerful of a human he is, spiritually and in all other aspects as well. He has amazing stories (i.e. flying a plane with no hood while bleeding to death); he consistently speaks in muscular rhetoric, and he has a befuddling knowledge of the Gospel. Not to mention, his hands are bigger than a breadbox, literally a spiritual giant. Zone conference was a great day to reenergize and tune-up for the upcoming months. I loved seeing the elders from Fianarantsoa, especially Elder Schnoor. Hopefully him and I will serve together sometime throughout our mission.

• Split w/ Elder ______: 

My split with Elder _______ was fun and all, but it wasn't fun at all. It was actually mindblowingly stressful. He kept trying to set up appointments in my area for me even though he didn't know my program. What was especially frustrating was that he kept trying to set up a time at 3 o' clock on P-Day (P-Day ends at 6 o' clock); plus, he doesn't even work P-Day nights himself, mahasosotra! In addition, after telling him a thousand times no, he kept trying to set up a soiree during my most important times, flirted with my investigators and swore at some loud kids in my area. I could go on and on about the difficult situations throughout the day. I love Elder _____, but he's got odd habits. One of the most stressful days, guh.

• Setra as My Companion: 

Since Elder Andriantinarisoa went up to Tana on Friday. We got President's permission to have Setra as my companion for three days; he even slept in our house! With him, I worked harder than I've ever worked on my mission. When I would say, "Hey, wanna take a snack break?" He would reply, "Nah, let's keep tracting." Diligent lil' bugger.

• Malagasy Morsel of the Week - Vatsim-Panahy:

Vatsim-panahy literally means supply or treat for the soul. It's what we say for spiritual thought. When we don't teach a full lesson, we share a couple scriptures along with a vatsim-panahy. Vatsim-panahy's are the perfect opportunity to use random scriptures, visual examples, proverbs and ideas for teaching. They are also used to focus on a certain commitment that the investigator is struggling to fulfill. One of my favorite vatsim-panahy's we shared was on the importance of prayer; we used the scriptures Luke 6:39 (can the blind lead the blind?) and Alma 34:17-27 (cry to him in all you do and your efforts will be guided and consecrated). After using an example that Christ is like the telephone that we can talk to God through, Ben, one of our investigators started breaking down crying. He said, "I thought God didn't care enough to talk to someone like me."

Stories for Next Week:

-Saving a Puppy (craziest experience of mission so far probably)

-Weird Tracting Strategies for the Cold-Hearted Here in Antsirabe

-Be Sofina

Thanks so much for all the letters! Sorry I'm so bad about responding!

Mandra-pihaonantsika indraika!

Love,

Elder Soper