I'm loving the work!

Dear Fambly,

Work is going great! It's alien to me how many part-member families there are in our ward, so most of our program is solely focused on those random people that didn't happen to get baptized back in the day. Also, our zone is starting to pick up stats-wise, and I think it's going to help that a lot of the areas in our zone should be splitting this next transfer. I'm loving the work!

Joseph and Olivia got married!

Fun split with Elder Beeson! An elder from Missouri, who likes rap and rugby. 

These stinkers threw a stem of thorns on me.

Dada Lava

About a third of Madagascar is referred to as the 'red zones' stained by deadly skirmishes between various unforgiving bandit clans called the Dahalo. Bara is the strongest Dahalo tribe, and they specialize in stealing cows and are well-armed with AK-47's--who knows how they got them. Dada Lava, an investigator with 2 sons that come to church, was born into the Bara tribe. He explained how the leaders of the Dahalo tribes preached about God's will guiding their quest; those that are opposed to God's will deserve punishment. That was their cause. Dada Lava spent most of his teenagehood in oblivion, assuming his work was righteous work. 

The Dahalo's strategy was very methodical. Dada Lava explained how he would set up camp next to a cow farmer and pretend to raise bees, alongside occasionally visiting him to gain trust, bringing honey as a gift. Later, in broad daylight, Dada Lava's relatives would come marching in openly carrying their AK-47's and escort dozens of zebus (Malagasy humpbacked cows) back to their village.

More about him next week!

Oscar John

Last Sunday, as we entered Vista's house, we beheld many bottles of beer scattered around outside. Vista had invited his brother over from the countryside, and we got the privelege to see how unproductive conversations are when drunk. Vista slurred his words and his reflex was a couple seconds behind while Oscar John was speaking a mile a minute. Vista tried to explain who we are and what we're doing, but Oscar John kept getting distracted because he wanted to impress us with what ever English phrase came to his head. Here are some of the things he said:

"The champ is here."

"Attention. I am talking now."

(While pointing at Vista's baby boy crying) "Be quiet please little girl."

The cool part was Vista bore his testimony to us about the Restoration. Too bad it was mostly unintelligible.

Blaze

On the way to church, a drunk guy kindly asked us if we could come teach his kids. Instead, Elder Bingham just grabbed and told him he should come to church right now. Though surprised, he was drunk, so he barely hesitated. During our bishop's talk, he kept nodding his head, and told Elder Bingham that he wanted to be baptized. He gave us his number, and we showed up to his house. That's when we figured out he lived in a tiny plywood shack. Darn. But, he really understood the message, and he came to our soccer activity we had today too. Turns out, he's also way good at soccer, so all the members in the Elders Quorum love him now. His name is Blaise, but Blaze is a cooler name.

Malagasy Morsel of the Week - Miaraka:

The root starts off as 'araka' which means 'according to'. Adding a 'mi' to a root makes the basic verb. 'Miaraka' means 'together'. Makes sense!

Story for Next Week

-Investigator Vision

Love you all!

Elder Soper