Ry Fianakaviana,
Here's the view from a bridge we cross every day.
Rich people have tall walls lined with barbed wire, glass shards and other dangerous substances (acid, drugs, swords, etc.).
Another cow beach pic.
Me and Monson wearing helmets in Alexander's house, a man with a dozen kids and a car (not common here in Madagascar).
This is Chantony's family! I love these people. They call me the 'mpivavaka comique' (comic religious person). Elder Price baptized Chantony about 2 months ago, and he's moving to Tana to go to a fancy-schmance school. He wants to go to BYU! Elder Monson and I have just started teaching the mom and dad, and we'll see how that goes.
This is Chantony's house; their family is one of the richest in Madagascar. His dad owns a lot of clubs, hotels, car dealers and expensive stuffs. We had a nice chat with a creepy, rich French guy over a couple glasses of wine/juice--has a 30 year-old wife...
Teaching English.
The average path in our area, just a little prettier.
This is Elder Freestone that came in Elder Monson's group. He's chubby, Asian missionary that talks really quietly, and when I tried to joke around with him, he kept saying, "Okay, guy." Mahamasina is his area in Antananarivo, which is famous for having a ridiculously giant hill that the missionaries climb up and down every day. During the training meeting, everybody was busting up laughing because when he read his call and it said 'Mahamasina,' he quietly said, "Oh gosh no."
Looks like this house is a little TIRED
This has been a great week! We're seeing a crazy amount of success that I almost feel it can't last too long. I'm pretty dang vizaka right now. Fun experiences this week!
Celeste:
We tracting into the jewel of a man last week. He is the "President" of 12-12, the center of our area where about 4,000 people; however, he lives in a very humble home. His wife addresses him only by 'president,' haha. Anyways, I hope you guys can visualize my description well, because Celeste's mannerisms are what make him one of my favorite Malagasy people yet. When a joke is made, Celeste slowly closes his eyes, slightly lifts his chin up, smirks and gives the most rich person sounding chuckle. Or, he'll shake his head slowly while biting down on his tongue. Being one of the most attentive investigators I've ever had, his hands are locked on the table as he maintains an intense, interested expression throughout the whole lesson, making satisfied grunts when he hears something he likes. He treats each lesson like a meeting: starts with opening remarks and announcements and ends with profound, thought-provoking rhetoric questions. I might send more descriptions of Celeste because he is too interesting to be described over email only.
Haja the Security Man:
There's this 25 year-old security guard that works at our church. We always have fun little conversations while we're passing by, but one day, he said he wanted to learn. I assumed he was already a member for a different branch, but he got a hold of a BoM that one of the guards from the previous shifts had left. Then, he received an impression that he should ask about the Book of Mormon. We've taught him a couple times; he came to church, and now he's got a baptism date!
J-Dubs:
We tracted into this house of a guy named Joseph. When he came out, he whipped his head back and started laughing. He invited us in, and we soon realized that he had just let a pair of Jehovah's Witness missionaries into his house. They had all of their books opened up, and their angry reaction was priceless! They told him that it wasn't acceptable to investigate two religions at once, and he said, "Why not?" The J-Dubs were just about to finish their spiel, but Joseph let us start sharing our message. During our message, the J-Dubs were visibly frustrated, as they kept fidgeting in their chairs, standing up, pacing, looking over my shoulder at our Bible. They tried to bible bash with us, but Joseph told them to not try to mock our message. Once we were done, Joseph invited us to come back, but rejected the J-Dubs. Heh, sorry J-Dubs.
Malagasy Morsel of the Week - Mifandrombaka:
Mifandrombaka means 'everyone is in competition at once.' I used it in an example where everybody is trying to get on a taxibe and only a certain amount of people can get on before people are hanging off or left in the dust. The taxibe is related to the path to heaven, and this helps answer a common question that Malagasies have about the amount of people that can get into to heaven. There is always a seat in heaven for everyone to take, but it's up to them to get to the busstop on time before it leaves to the countryside.
Stories for Next Week
-Yaya
-Gasy Bobo
-Old, English-Obsessed Dadabe
-Vazimba & Biby Olona
-Pillow Prayer
The stories are starting to pile up, oh no.
Love you all!
Elder Soper
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