Cool week...

Ry Fianakaviana,

Cool week, a lil' bit slower teaching-wise, due to General Conference and all the splits the Zone Leaders and I have to make. But, still hunky-dory.  I'm finally not suffering from the 'eternal cold' anymore, and my feet are used to being destroyed every night from rough paths. I wouldn't be surprised if my toes end up switching places and starting pointing in random directions from all persecution they go through. So, hunky-dory.

Here are the experiences!

Jonathan:

Way back when... when I was first with Elder Price (about 4 months ago), we tracted into a rich couple who sell and fight chickens--they sold one of their prize fighting chickens for over 180,000 euros by the way. As they were finishing a couple chores inside, we played dominoes with their coworker, Jonathan, a young guy who trains the rich couple's chickens. He listened in on our message, not seeming all that interested and left early saying he had business to attend to. But just two weeks ago, we knocked on a random house nearby, and Jonathan answered. Whoa. We've since had three great lessons with them, and he and his weife just accepted a baptismal date after learning about why priesthood authority is essential.When we extended the baptismal date, it was a bit awkward because Jonathan put his head down for a long time. Elder Monson, Jonathan's wife and I looked back and forth at each other anxiously waiting, as he eventually lifted his head with a big smile on his face and said, "Manjary!" (Good to go!) 

Noel Swearing:

Our recent convert Noel was visiting the countryside this last weekend to announce to his wife's family that she is pregnant, (they suggested they might make Soper the baby's middle name haha!). In our lesson yesterday he asked if he missed General Conference when he was gone. We said yes; he banged the table, swore really loud and sat back for a few seconds, steaming. When it dawned on him that he swore in front of the missionaries, he quickly brought his hands to his mouth in shock. I pretended to be really mad, but we all ended up laughing really hard. Luckily, they can read the conference talks in the Liahona in Malagasy.

Jean sy Na:

Elder Monson looks strikingly similar to the famous internet phenomenon and angry, ex-marine wrestling celebrity John Cena. Malagasies go crazy whenever we say he's John Cena. For example, when we told some teenage dudes, they freaked out and self-consciously asked for a selfie with him. On Thursday, we tracted into a couple named Jean and Na; but , the way one says 'and' is 'sy' in Malagasy. So, their name is Jean sy Na ("John Cena"), we got a good, hearty chuckle out of that.

Malagasy Morsel of the Week - Kongana:

These got to be some of the most vile, hellacious things in the world--bed bugs. When in heaven, I'm definitely gonna ask why the heck these little dirtbags were made. Spraying Permetherin diligently each week only made these things madder because I got bites where bites shouldn't be now. My mornings consist of suddenly being awake to millions of itchy bites, watching in horror as dozens of bedbugs scurry down into their lair, deep inside the mattress and me killing the especially fat stragglers, leaving streaks of blood all around my sheets--not the best experience. They don't understand that I have feelings.

Stories for Next Week

-Pillow Prayer

-Teaching Primary

-Bravo

-Split Follies

Have a great week!

Elder Soper