Teaching at the end of the earth...

What's up everybody!

Everything's going great!  Elder Kruger and I are getting along well; it feels like I'm working with a friend rather than a companion, and he loves the people we teach.  There's this fun "teaching at the end of the earth" kind of feeling every day here in Mahajanga. I like the isolation, but I miss being around a lot of missionaries. For district meetings, I just let Elder Kruger choose a random missionary duty, and I teach him how to do it; we did how to fill out baptismal records last week. President told us that he'd be back in about 10 weeks for conference. Whew, that means about 5 weeks left.

A little bit more about the city: We have a huge variety of areas we work in because the people we teach are scattered throughout all Mahajanga. Some are super pretty while others are really ug-butt. We went on a cool excursion to a less-active way out in the wilderness, and it was fun to take a relaxing bike ride out there! The place wasn't pretty, but it felt cool to go on a trek to teach someone. Our P-days consist of going to the beach, eating and hanging out with members. I love it!

 The sunsets here are amazing...

 Would anybody like a pair of these Malagasy flip-flop things? They have all the sizes. I've been wearing these every P-day, and I've seen my confidence, happiness and maniliness increase.

Some stories from the week:

Brother Ralaibary:

Yesterday, Branch President gave Ralaibary 5 minutes at the start of Branch Council because he apparently had an emergency announcement. Ralaibary started off with his usual talk about how the natural man is an enemy to God, and we need to deny ourselves in order to progress. Then, he began to cry, "I confess that I have displayed unworthy behavior in the presence of God and my fellow brothers and sisters. My way of thinking is corrupted; my focus is suffering. It's not because of my age, but it's because my actions have been opposing God's. Will all of you forgive me for my weaknesses?" We all nodded uncertainly answering yes, but I still had no idea what "unworthy behavior" he was talking about. President then said, "Alright, thanks Ralaibary. Let's get started." Cutting in again, Ralaibary, yelled out, "Do you all forgive me for my transgressions?!" We all quickly responded, "Yes Ralaibary, you're forgiven!"   The "unworthy behavior" he incriminated himself for turned out to be the way he added too many embellishments while playing the hymns, and he admitted that he was simply showing off. When I heard the whole truth, I promptly told him I would never forgive him... haha, just kidding. Man, this brother wears his heart on his sleeve. 

Friday Sigh Day:

An odd/fatiguing thing about Mahajanga is that most of the members and less-actives live in far-flung places out and around Mahajanga, leaving few people actually near the church. It's like a raindrop fell in the center of Mahajanga, yet splashed out to the edges of the city, leaving the center dry. Two missionaries in this city isn't enough, but it'll have to do, especially because the members are amazing and genuine people here. 

Friday, we saw a sad result of the lack of attention some of the members receive here. We visited one family near the edge of Mahajanga. The dad is a great man. In addition to his unbroken church attendance and inspiring testimony he always shares consistently, he has to do deal with a very off-kilter family, which includes: Evil Grandma--a heavy chain-smoker who buys really fancy food with the little money he can provide for her; Ill-tempered, Apostate Wife and Ungrateful Children (almost like there's anti-missionary villain team ready for us to knock on the door). After an awkward lesson that consisted of an immobile grandma giving off smoke, glaring at us from the corner, and the passive aggressive sighs and comments from Felix's wife as she cooked in the other room, Felix showed his appreciation by driving us in his little Bajaj (mini-taxi tricycle thingy from India) to our next lesson. He broke down crying about how hard his home-life is and that nobody from the branch cares to visit him.

That experience jumpstarted us a bit. Maybe it's a better idea to worry more about the actually active members rather than those who have already been cold for 2 years+.

Stupid Tracting Strategies:

We generally spend our tracting time in middle-class areas, looking for families with scooters and cars. Due to the level of difficulty rising, we've added some more ambitious and foolhardy tactics to our arsenal. For example, after investigating the scene of this nice, red-brick home, I noticed some baby clothes hanging on a drying line, a stroller stored off to the side of the house, I decided to use the "joke around about the baby" tactic. We knocked, and as the lady came outside with her new-born baby in her arms, I then confidently said, "Hey sorry, I was just looking at this great baby socks," as I casually gestured towards a little pair of blue socks hanging on the clothes line. I continued, "Well, I was wondering if I they were for sale; I really--" She then nervously smiled and interrupted, "My baby is getting cold, sorry. Come back next time." As the door swung closed, I immediately felt so embarrassed and started to doubt the integrity of my perfect plan. Elder Kruger was laughing his head off, but I felt like an idiot, heh!

Love you all!

Elder Soper

Awesome experiences this week...

Hey Everybody!

One of my favorite weeks on my mission so far! We took a drastic turn with how we're treating our program, cutting off a lot of the fat--dropping almost all of our eternigators (eternal investigators)--and instead blowing the dust of the area book in order to search for some less-actives members. The work has been more painful and slow, but it's still just as rewarding.

This lemur cleaned our hair with his tongue and his spindly hands. It really hurt for some reason.

Woops--scared this little kid.

Marcellin:

Here in Madagascar, the main problem isn't finding new investigators to teach; instead, it's finding people that are genuinely prepared for the message. Elder Kruger was telling me before the lesson that he didn't really believe in those stories where missionaries just happen upon someone so readied by God and the experiences in their life for the gospel that it simply clicks indray mipy maso. Notwithstanding, a lot of Malagasies can be gullible, but it's rare when the importance of our message really sinks deep. But Elder Kruger said this experience felt like "God's hand tampered with it a bit."

On Thursday evening, we were on our way to a less-active who lives in the boonies. I smelt something disgusting for the millionth time that day, and as a natural reaction, I turned my head to spit. But not looking, I haphazardly spit all over this guy's leg who was sleeping in the grass. He sat up like, "What the heck?" and I just looked up with a confused expression at the sky like, "Oh gosh. Did you see that bird? Where'd that come from?" So, we started talking to him, and he seemed genuinely interested in being taught.

We taught him and his wife Saturday evening, and without a hitch, he answered every question spot on alongside emphatically accepting the request to pray about the message and read the pamphlet. By the end of the lesson, he revealed that he left the Lutheran church after praying about it one night, and ever since, he's been searching for the true church and is ready and excited to do his best to learn for himself if it's really true.  He warned us, however, "That doesn't mean I'm getting baptized just yet, but I felt the spirit from the first time I met you guys, so I might as well keep following it."

Identity Crisis:

I've been starting to have an strange crisis the past few weeks. I'm starting to genuinely ask myself those Plan of Salvation questions: where am I from, why am I here and am I Asian? Ever since I've come here to Mahajanga, kids will run up to me and rudely imitate how a Chinese person speaks: "Ching chong wan! Wer ting wong!" It started off as a fluke, just some kids that don't realize that some foreigners have feelings, especially this one. However, it was just an omen of the persecution to come. Every single kid I come across will yell out, "Yo Asian! Do you like noodles?" or something else barbaric and politically incorrect. I've been reduced down to screaming, "I'm not Asian!!" and kicking at the kids. But it backfires, because they then make fun of me for my spectacular karate skills. I began asking all our investigators if I look Asian; half of them testify that I look super Chinese while the other half shrugs and says, "I dunno."

Elder Kruger has repeatedly walked in on me, staring at myself in the mirror, in worried contemplation of what my real origin is. Night-time consists of stretching my eyes wide open and doing other exercises to delay my inevitable metamorphosis into Jackie Chan's brother. After church yesterday, we were walking with a recent converts' 10 year-old kid to their house, and during our conversation, I told him I don't like lychees that much. At first he acted appalled, but then he was like, "Oh yeah, that makes sense. Asians don't like lychees." It took all of my willpower to stop myself from powerslamming that kid. Man...

Malagasy Morsel of the Week - Ranomandry:

'Ice' is the meaning, but when separated it means 'sleeping water' or 'water lying down to rest.' One of the most beautiful parts of Malagasy is how many stupid, odd and unique word combinations there seem to be buried in all aspects of the language. I love experiencing the mini-revelations of the quirks and secrets of Malagasy throughout the week. I probably look crazy when I loudly say a random Malagasy word and start laughing just a little too hard. In my opinion, learning Malagasy will be uninteresting when heck freezes over. Heh.

Stories for Next Week:

-Dallyas

Love you all!

Elder Soper

This transfer has been a blast...

Ry Fianakaviako,

Personality-wise, Elder Kruger and I are getting along great! We're always trying to make each other laugh, and it's helpful to have someone not hesitant to make fun of me or point out the dumb thing I'm doing. I also like how even though we have a different perspective on a lot of things, we can always find a productive compromise quickly. The conversation never turns dulls too. We share stories between lessons, and it's weird how boring topics can be so fun to talk about. I didn't realize how similar our humors are in spite of the differences in our personalities. The only drawback is the rigorous process of teaching him Malagasy.  Otherwise, this transfer has been a blast!

Pulling a Handcart Pousse-Pousse:

I literally paid a handcart pousse-pousse driver 300 ariary so I could pull him and the 200-pound Kruger 100 meters. It was so masochistic and unfun that by 60 seconds I dropped the cart completely exhausted, stumbled a couple steps to the side, drenched in sweat and involuntarily sobbing. And in comparison to the little pousse-pousse driver, I have about 60 more pounds on me. I don't know how those guys live on one bowl of rice and day and pull those things 12 hours straight. Those guys are so excited to earn to 1000 ariary (33 cents) to transport you and your Sulley-sized friend a mile on a dirt path.

Banana:

The classic Madagascar missionary line, "Oh sorry, I don't speak French." Even when someone says, "Bonjour." We react, "I don't understand! Speak Malagasy!" This backfired when I asked this family what food their pet lemur liked the most, and they replied with, "Banane." Not understanding at first, I smugly said, "Psh, please. I don't speak French." Then, Elder Kruger started laughing way hard, "It's banana, you idiot!" The family asked what 'banane' was in our language. I said weakly, "Banana..." 

Professional Soccer Game: 

We heard these huge roars coming from behind this wall, and we decided to climb up and see what all the hub bub was. Turns out, FIFA held a match between Antananarivo vs. Mahajanga, and we had to pay about 50 cents to stand on this guy's wall to watch for 10 minutes. I've never heard or seen more swearing, odd squeals, angry fists towards heaven, insults to the refs and pure excitement. Malagasies are the perfect sport spectators because they are all so invested and passionate, and nothing can distract them.

Conspiracy:Almost every lesson we had this week somehow turned to Donald Trump and the weird conspiracy theories surrounding 9/11. It's weird how obsessed Malagasies are about America insomuch that they have their own well-thought out opinions about every major American event. They would bring the topic up by saying, "So... Donald Trump!"  Our investigators would then flip the conversation to 9/11, and I am so tired of how many Malagasies tried to convince me how it was a secret job done by Illuminati--a group of world leaders which apparently includes Obama, Bush, a random Malagasy president and some other obscure names to make it seem legit--in order to get oil from Iraq.

Malagasy Morsel of the Week - Manompo or Manompa:

To serve and to swear. These words are a little too similar for comfort. For some reason, 'manompa' bypasses the normal edit process in my brain and comes out every time I want to say 'manompo.' Here in Mahajanga though, swearing isn't considered as shocking or bad, and it isn't an odd scene when you see a grandma gently chastising her noisy grandchildren with dozens of severe, gruff swear words.

Stories for Next Week

-Identity Crisis

-Dallyas

Love you all so much!

Elder Soper

This transfer has been a blast...

Ry Fianakaviako,

Personality-wise, Elder Kruger and I are getting along great! We're always trying to make each other laugh, and it's helpful to have someone not hesitant to make fun of me or point out the dumb thing I'm doing. I also like how even though we have a different perspective on a lot of things, we can always find a productive compromise quickly. The conversation never turns dulls too. We share stories between lessons, and it's weird how boring topics can be so fun to talk about. I didn't realize how similar our humors are in spite of the differences in our personalities. The only drawback is the rigorous process of teaching him Malagasy and a couple obedience problems we can't seem to work out. Otherwise, this transfer has been a blast!

Pulling a Handcart Pousse-Pousse:

I literally paid a handcart pousse-pousse driver 300 ariary so I could pull him and the 200-pound Kruger 100 meters. It was so masochistic and unfun that by 60 seconds I dropped the cart completely exhausted, stumbled a couple steps to the side, drenched in sweat and involuntarily sobbing. And in comparison to the little pousse-pousse driver, I have about 60 more pounds on me. I don't know how those guys live on one bowl of rice and day and pull those things 12 hours straight. Those guys are so excited to earn to 1000 ariary (33 cents) to transport you and your Sulley-sized friend a mile on a dirt path.

Banana:

The classic Madagascar missionary line, "Oh sorry, I don't speak French." Even when someone says, "Bonjour." We react, "I don't understand! Speak Malagasy!" This backfired when I asked this family what food their pet lemur liked the most, and they replied with, "Banane." Not understanding at first, I smugly said, "Psh, please. I don't speak French." Then, Elder Kruger started laughing way hard, "It's banana, you idiot!" The family asked what 'banane' was in our language. I said weakly, "Banana..." 

Professional Soccer Game: 

We heard these huge roars coming from behind this wall, and we decided to climb up and see what all the hub bub was. Turns out, FIFA held a match between Antananarivo vs. Mahajanga, and we had to pay about 50 cents to stand on this guy's wall to watch for 10 minutes. I've never heard or seen more swearing, odd squeals, angry fists towards heaven, insults to the refs and pure excitement. Malagasies are the perfect sport spectators because they are all so invested and passionate, and nothing can distract them.

Conspiracy:Almost every lesson we had this week somehow turned to Donald Trump and the weird conspiracy theories surrounding 9/11. It's weird how obsessed Malagasies are about America insomuch that they have their own well-thought out opinions about every major American event. They would bring the topic up by saying, "So... Donald Trump!"  Our investigators would then flip the conversation to 9/11, and I am so tired of how many Malagasies tried to convince me how it was a secret job done by Illuminati--a group of world leaders which apparently includes Obama, Bush, a random Malagasy president and some other obscure names to make it seem legit--in order to get oil from Iraq

Malagasy Morsel of the Week - Manompo or Manompa:

To serve and to swear. These words are a little too similar for comfort. For some reason, 'manompa' bypasses the normal edit process in my brain and comes out every time I want to say 'manompo.' Here in Mahajanga though, swearing isn't considered as shocking or bad, and it's an odd scene when you see a grandma gently chastising her noisy grandchildren with dozens of severe, gruff swear words.

Stories for Next Week

-Identity Crisis

-Dallyas

Love you all so much!

Elder Soper

Work's going great!

Ry Fianakaviana,

It's flippin' hot. Yesterday, Elder Kruger and I were completely soaked in sweat, and we couldn't even write in our planners without getting them wet or warped from the humidity. The trails flood a lot due to the surprise rainstorms every 2 hours, so I take a lot of piggyback rides from Elder Kruger drudging through the mud with his heavy duty boots. He has to be careful to not squish a Malagasy with them. I'm still loving Mahajanga. Work's going great! We were blessed to get 16 people to church yesterday!

Fr. Ralaibary:

Our Elders Quorum President may look old, but he'll take you down. He's about 70+ years-old and has an intimidating amount of neck hair sprouting from his adam's apple. During third hour, he always takes a couple minutes in order to chastise all the men of the ward and rain down hellfire. 

Last week, he ranted, "Where are the stats?! We're lazy!!" x4

He continues, "Where are the stats... Hometeaching is commandment from who? Yes, God Almighty. Nobody has the love for God to give their stats to me? What would God think if he was leading this branch?"

This week, he kept saying, "Wake up! Stop sleeping!" x4

"We have work to do! Still, every time I look, you're all sleeping... Wake up!! Will you all be asleep when the Second Coming, or will I have to pour a bucket of water on your head to wake you up?!"

Ralaibary is also the piano player, but he's a bit deaf, causing him to turn the volume of the piano all the way up. I can't hear myself sing.

Teaching the President of Mahajanga:

So, we tracted into this guy named Jean Pierre my first day here. When we taught the first, the power was out and the conditions weren't desirable, but he ate it up like a missionary who hasn't eaten flavorful food for two years would eat a Little Caesar's pizza. 

Jean Pierre looks like a French man with Malagasy skin being as his dad is French and abandoned Jean Pierre's mom in poverty. But it turns out, this guy is the President of the region, Ambato-Boeny, surrounding Mahajanga. What's great is that he's a humble guy who loves to pray, has no church and is frustrated by how embellished and over-exaggerated most the churches are here in Madagascar. He said, "If you read the Bible, Jesus didn't walk down the street doing miracles left and right, shooting lightning and calling down the Power of God every moment of the day. He taught by example." He's a bit hard to teach, just because he's more skeptical than the average Malagasy, but he's progressing really well: reads the Book of Mormon consistently and asks sincerely every night.

Malagasy Morsel of the Week - Gne or Ia or Ma:

These words have no meaning, but they are voice improvers (fanatsaram-peo). Malagasies randomly and subconsciously add these words at the end of phrases to sound more interesting. It's especially tough and unnatural for me to mimic because I wouldn't ever do it with English.

Stories for Next Week:

-Police Hold-up

-Dallyas

-Smarties

Love you all so much!

Elder Soper