Amazing week!

Ry Fianakaviana,

Amazing week! It was definitely one of the best so far, full of the craziest fiascoes, spiritual moments and overall awesome experiences. Elder Monson and I hit a good groove this week. I'm struggling to remember one moment where we weren't tracting, walking to a lesson and playing with kids for a couple minutes; we ended up breaking the mission record for lessons! However, Monson should be given a lot of the credit because he's more obedient than I am. Lucien still isn't in town this week, so he'll be baptized next week.

Delicious roof restaurant with great chicken and horrible milkshakes.

Parraga and Monson with their daily brioches.

Little showdown with my beach pupil.

Parraga leading his people.

Noel and Blandine's baptism.

Baptism Fiasco:

An experience about how huge expectations got pooped on. My favorite investigators were baptized this last Saturday: Noel and Blandine. And, I was incredibly excited for the baptismal service; Monson and I had the baptismal programs all ready, the font was full of actually clean, un-brown water and some of our investigators decided to come. When our DMB showed up, I quickly realized he was drunk. Shoot! I called our Branch President to see if we could get somebody else to lead the meeting--nobody was available. 

First, the service started way late because we didn't have the key to the baptismal clothes. Second, during the service, the talk about Baptism by Water was given by an extremely unprepared 23 year-old guy, Jean Jacque, and his mom wrote the talk for him. She kept whispering to him lines that he should say. 

Next, the awkwardness hit its peak when our DMB gave a 25-minute pontificating sermon about Baptism by Fire with increasing volume and angry expressions, a lot of spitting and hellfire. I eventually stood up to try to stop him, but I was repeatedly denied with an extended palm to my chest, so I sat there hoping there wouldn't be too much false doctrine, which there was. I had to get up and share that Holy Ghost can't be used to heal people or possess our body. At least the actual ordinance was spiritual and went smooth. Bluh.

Fixing My Camera:

My camera started to have a tantrum. I would turn it on, and the lens would extend, withdraw, go back and forth undecidely and then get stuck extended all the way. It was making very odd, unsettling noises. I looked up some videos (with permission from the Zone Leaders) on how to fix it. Instead of helping me figure out the problem, it made me more stressed out than the start. I don't have access to latex gloves, a 1mm Phillips screwdriver and special mini-cotton swabs. So, I decided to try to force the lens. After about 20 minutes of playing with it, it eventually accepted my efforts, twisted, clicked and withdrew. It works now!

Yaya:

I still don't know this man's name because I never understand what he's saying. I can't explain how scizophrenic I feel when I'm talking to him. He never stops saying, "Yaya yeh yu yehyayayaya, uh, yaya, yuh, ya," even when someone else is talking. He's way smart though.

Ranja:

This family was starting to lose steam for the last couple weeks, not finishing any of the homework. We came to this week's lesson not expecting much, but we decided to focus on temples, and Ranja maybe have started crying? Couldn't tell. He kept asking, "How do I get to the temple?" He said he's scared his is wife dying before him because he wants to be right beside her when they see God for the first time. Sweet thought.

Malagasy Morsel of the Week - Ndrabondrabo:

'Ndrabondrabo' isn't a that useful of a word. It means 'afro,' and it's way fun to say. 'Dr' is said like a 'jch,' and 'o' is said like 'oo.' Say it. Like it.

Stories for Next Week:

-Gasy Bobo

-Pillow Prayer

-Ward Activity

Love you all!

Elder Soper