New companion: Elder Shai!

Karakory Ma!

Bye bye to Elder Kruger. Hi Elder Shai. I love this guy! He makes me want to become the best missionary I can be. Only having been a member for about 5 years, he's so committed to helping this Mahajanga branch grow and get excited about missionary work. 

Elder Shai

Branch Activity:

We went to a nice, small on the edge of Mahajanga for a Young Men and Women's activity, Park Renalia. Sad thing is all the animals seem underfed and claustrophobic, which kind of takes away from the enjoyment. Instead of making you appreciate nature, it just makes you feel bad for littering. What I really want from a park is to be lulled into thinking all the animals in the world are smiling and plump, playing in the lilies. At least these parks are trying though.

Teaching Muslims:

One of our investigators invited us to teach the Restoration message in an Islamic school on Thursday. Thinking it was a trap, I demanded a big sum of money. Just kidding, we taught a quick lesson on our view of the Restoration and Plan of Salvation. They were very gracious and asked great questions. It turned out to be an edifying experience. I learned how to greet someone in the Muslim way:

"Salama legume."

"Legume salama, auramatolahy ambarakato."

Language barrier with Elder Shai:

I'm getting along well with Elder Shai, but sometimes we don't communicate too well, haha.  I don't know if it's the language barrier or what, but I struggle to understand what he says most of the time. Here's one conversation we had: 

Shai: "I like when they're hairy."

Me: "What? Like girls?"

Shai: "Yeah, and my girl must be tall."

Me: "No, wait. You like hairy girls?"

Shai: "Yes."

Me: "Like a hairy back is nice?"

Shai: "Yeah, and chubby."

Me: "What?!"

Shai: "Not too chubby, but I like it if she's stronger than me."

Me: "Elder Shai, I won't even tell you my opinion, but just know yours is wrong."

I may have totally misunderstood the topic, like maybe he was talking about big, strong men role models or something about his vision of bigfoot best friend like Harry and the Hendersons. I dunno.

Church is true! Read the Book of Mormon, and tell someone you love them!

Love you all!

Elder Soper