Karakory Ma!
I can't believe I've finished a fourth of my mission. It's a weird effect how each week seems so long, but these last 6 months have flown past. This mission is a gigantic privilege, and I've made a goal to not waste my time here. I've been lazy dude for too much of my life. Here I go!
- That Price Thang: Elder Price may be dying (going home) in two weeks, but he is still willing to work his butt off with me. Our area is starting to go splodey and boom boom; we were able to reach 60 lessons this last week! I'm not sure if I can keep that level of lessons for the rest of my mission because everything lined up perfectly this week, just like when you get the godsent straight-line piece in Tetris right when you need it.
- Unwelcomed Hug: While walking past a group of relaxing pousse-pousse drivers, we noticed they gave money to an drunk, old and toothless beggar lady wearing poop-covered rags. She started jogging over to us while emitting an unsettling, nervous giggle. She grabbed Elder Price's hand at first. Then suddenly, she tackled me against the fence, as her amorphous, saggy arms latched on to my neck and gave me my least favorite hug I've ever received. She ran away cackling with her new 500 ariary (17 cents) from the pousse-pousse drivers who must have dared her to hug the foreigner.
- Way to Happy to Receive Us: On Tuesday, we knocked on a wood-finished house on a bank of a river. This man came out, his eyes grew wide, and he scurried back inside. A couple seconds later, the whole family of 5 came out laughing and cheering with the biggest smiles on their faces. They kept saying, "Alefan'Andriamanitra ny irakany mba hitari-dalana sy hitondra vaovao mahafaly amintsika!" or "God sent his messengers to guide the path and bring us happy news (gospel)!" For the first 2 minutes of the lesson, we just sat in their house laughing looking at each other. The lesson consisted of me saying a sentence and them responding with either, "Wow, I never realized that!" or "Ya. Ya. Yayaya." I've never come across people so excited to hear something about God. Too bad they didn't understand our message.
- Wedding: Our Branch President's daughter got married this last Saturday, and man, Malagasies know how to party. The wedding starting at 10 in the morning and ended at about 7 at night. The cool thing is that everybody at the wedding is committed to having a fun time for the whole 9 hours. There were dancers, a religious comedian who joked about awkward familial relations in Adam and Eve's family and great food. There was about 200 people in the church building. We didn't expect to have a spot, but they saved some for us right next to the speakers--Malagasies turn up their music way too loud.
- Weekly Price Quotes: "Elder Soper! My bed broke!" (Screamed in the middle of the night as his metal bed frame snapped and tipped his bed on its side) "I had the worst dream where I was doing push-ups and sit-ups. I might need a blessing."
The beach outing for our pday last week was awesome, one of my favorite pdays in country! We spent about 4 hours there, nice way to let off steam. Those burgers were only 5 dollars too! It's definitely straight quantity over quality. I shared mine with the South African guy named Elder Keyes. Him and I are actually pretty similar, but he's actually way funny. He's in training right now.
I think it's actually hotter in Utah right now than it is here. It is winter here, but it's still like a sauna--pretty much 1000% humidity. It rains a ton every day, the lanes flood and then evaporate because of the pure heat. It's a weird experience to get soaked and be dry within the next hour.
- Malagasy Morsel of the Week - Bokana & Bota
Bokana means ripped/muscular. Bota means fat/chubby. Malagasies are very straightforward with their descriptions a people. If someone's got a bit of extra chubb, they aren't shy in pointing it out: "Mangingina ny boribory iny," is a common comment made to Elder Price. 'The round one is quiet.' Anyways, I probably use 'bokana' a little too much when I'm tracting I think. It's a helpful shortcut to relax the tense situation. Tracting has become one of my favorite things because it yields the craziest experiences.
Stories for Next Week:
-Saving a Puppy (someday, sorry)
-Sinoa Be
-Culture Shock Finally Starting to Set In
Love,
Elder Soper
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