Awesome week of work!

Ry Fianakaviana,

I don't have very much time to email this week because we went to a beach about an hour and a half away from Tamatave this morning! Here are some pictures from the outing:

Every time we drank from the coconuts, we would say, "Man, missions are hard."

Elder Keyes from SA and Tangarasi from Vanuatu

We also had a rap battle today. Parraga, this hilarious guy from the Dominican Republic had the funniest rap. He was against Elder Price.

My rap was against Elder Band, an aspiring forestry ranger and perfect scout.

This was an awesome week of work! For some odd reason, we have a lot of investigators all about at the same stage: the enduring to the end lesson. It was an interesting process to have the chance to evaluate and refine this lesson all week. Also, we'll have some baptisms coming up these next couple weeks, so hohitantsika avakeo. I can honestly say, this is the first week, where nothing weird happened, a little unsettling, just normal, satisfying missionary work. Keep your fingers crossed that I get mugged!  Just time for a couple stories:

Price's Coconut Endeavor: Last Sunday after church, Elder Price decided to eat the coconut he bought the day before for 33 cents. He got out a knife, went over to our dining table and started whacking. After about 20 minutes, as I was eating in our study room, he started yelling at the coconut in angry Malagasy. I came out of my room and saw a cherry-red sweaty Price drinking his coconut in a victorious stance with coconut debris and carnage everywhere.

That Price Thang: Weekly Price Quotes: "When God was making me, he was like this, 'Hmm... let's add some intelligence, some strength, some passion for food and dash of sexy. Whoops!" (As he made a motion of pouring it all in)

Malagasy Morsel - Mibosesika: When teaching the Enduring to the End lesson I've found one of my favorite words in Malagasy, mibosesika. It means to press forward. We shouldn't just endure to the end, drudge our way through life's muck to the end, crawl to the end while taking a few naps a long the way or doggypaddle slowly. We should press forward to the end, run to the end, punch trials in the face and enjoy the blessings we have in life to the end.

Stories for Next Week:

-Saving a Puppy (I'm just going to abridge it; it's too long, haha. It's definitely a story that needs to be told in person.)

Love you all so much!

Elder Soper