The Effort for Baptisms

Hello,

We had some baptisms this week. The baptism was great. It was for Jean and Vola who were recently married. They were extremely happy that day.

When ever there is a baptism we have to coordinate it and make sure everything runs smoothly. So, the baptism day can be a little stressful up to the moment that you step into the font with your investigator. Before the baptism, I was running around getting everything ready. I went and got out the white baptismal clothes for Jean and Vola. They were still wet from the last baptisms that had happened 2 weeks before. I also saw that the bathroom that we change our clothes in was way muddy, so I went and got a mop and cleaned it. In the meantime, the Baptismal Font was leaking and the little kids were playing in the puddles surrounding it. That was a little hectic... However I found it very humorous.

While we were meeting with the branch president, I started hearing some one messing around on the piano in the sacrament room. Thinking it was the kids, I asked Elder Monson to go kick them off of the piano and start playing some music to invite the spirit before we got started. When we walked into the sacrament room to execute the plan, the first thing I see is the young women's president trying to play a hymn, but butchering it so bad that I had mistaken her for children messing around. Elder Jakins and I instantly started busting up laughing.

At the end of the baptism, the members started cleaning the church so it would be nice for sacrament meeting the next day. Some one started heading to the bathrooms to start mopping but the branch president's wife who saw me cleaning the boy's bathroom earlier for the baptism stopped her saying that Elder Allen had already covered it. She went and checked anyways and noticed that the girls was still dirty. They instantly went from being thankful and proud of me to judging me for only cleaning the boys but not the girls. I just thought it was a funny situation seeing as it was not my intention to clean the boys bathroom. I just wanted the floor to not be dirty for my feet while I was changing. It happened to make me look bad in the end favoring boys over the girls. We all just laughed about it.

Baptisms are great... When they are finished. :)

Sincerely,
Elder Allen

Zanazay Gets Baptized

Hello,

We had a great baptism this last Saturday. We actually only ended up baptizing Zanazay because Allison got called into work that day. He was so sad that he missed his baptism, but we told him that he could be baptized on the 12th of May so he is doing good now. We have so many people planned to catch the 12th of May, it is going to be awesome. This last baptism was very sweet. It actually touched my heart pretty strongly and I was holding back tears of joy watching the whole thing. We were worried that Zanazay wasn't going to make it to her baptism either because she showed up like 20 min. late. When she walked into the service Elder Jakins and I bolted to the back and hurried to get her ready and dressed in white. After that the baptism ran really smoothly. We had six other investigators there watching. They are getting really excited for their own baptisms. They told me that they felt the same spirit as I did during the service.

Today we decided to go to a lemur park. We got a lot of cool pictures. Our tour guide said that we weren't allowed to feed the lemurs when we first got there, however as soon as we ran into a bunch of them he told us to get out our bananas. Malagasies are funny. He was a cool old man. He showed us interesting plants, like vanilla beans, a cinnamon tree, and other plants that medicine is made from.

Funny story: In a lesson the other day we were teaching a family about the principle of Faith. I began to use an example to make the lesson more understandable and asked, "Have you guys seen God before?" I expected them to say no and I would have gone on to ask, "But you believe he is there right?" But to my surprise they said that they have already seen God face to face apparently.  So my example back fired on me. I just stated my question again and said, "You have seen God?... With your eyes?" They all went on to affirm to me that they have seen God. At that moment I just heard my companion laugh and whisper to me in English, "get wrecked Allen."   At that point I just said, "Oh... Okay then. Well I haven't seen God yet, so I guess I just don't have enough faith yet."

"Do you believe?" -Xfiles

Sincerely,
Elder Allen

Baptisms Set

Hello,

This has been another good week. Everything is going well. We have two baptisms this Saturday. One is a little girl named Zanazay, the other is a guy named Allison. They are both pretty awesome and really want to be baptized. We are excited for them. On the 12th of May there should be a lot more people being baptized. This next transfer starts today and it is going to be a good one. We have a lot of great things lined up.  I have two transfers left so this will most likely be the area where I finish my mission.

Here are some pictures of Elder Jakins and I waiting out the rain in our branch presidents house with his kids.

 Soazara and I (stripped shirt guy)

Sincerely,
Elder Allen

Elder Jakins

A sandwich we made

Kids in Fort D

Elder Jakins and Sam waiting out the rain in their branch president's house.

Elder Jakins and a Lemur

Conference & Beliefs

Hi,

We have received transfer news early. I will be leaving the area I am currently in and move to another area in Fort Dauphin called Bazari be. It will be sad leaving all the people I have been teaching and preparing for baptism but I am grateful for the opportunity to stay here in Fort Dauphin. The other missionaries will take care of Tanambao. We work hard where ever we are.  

My new companions name is Elder Jakins. He is from the same MTC group as me so this next transfer will be sweet.  He also likes to bake, so I will eat lots of zucchini bread.

General Conference was really good. The new Prophet is a great guy, he is full of love and very inspiring. One of my favorite statements from conference was, "How can we help others the most? Teach them about their identity (being a child of God). Then the nature of God (loving heavenly Father). As we come to understand who we truly are we look at the world different and strive to be better people. As we understand the character of God we begin to trust him more, follow him more, and love him more. It makes all the difference."

(watching General Conference)

I heard a crazy story from some people we are teaching. Malagasies literally believe things like this... There was a man from Tana (the main city in Mada). He was married and had kids. Every so often his work would send him to a Province called Toliara to take care of business. While he was there he cheated on his wife with another women. When it was time for him to return to Tana his mistress was angry and gave him something to make him fall asleep. The next day he did not think much of it and went on his way. When he arrived back in Tana he then realized that his (filahiana) was gone. That caused him to return to Toliara to go find his (filahiana). When he returned he saw it sitting in a jar at his mistresses house. He begged for it back. He explained that he needed it because he had a wife and kids back home. She was finally convinced to give it back. Except she transformed his (filahiana) into a snake. From that day forth he had to place some meat on his leg everyday so that the snake would not eat his thigh... True story. This was a friend of a cousin of an uncle of one of our investigators that had that happen to him. 

Every single Malagasy also believes that mermaids are real. Whether they are poor or rich. Live in the country side or in the city. They all believe in mermaids and claim that they know someone who has seen them. I have yet to meet a person who has seen them himself. Hopefully one day I will.

Have a good week.

Sincerely,

Elder Allen

Saying Goodbye to Elder Shelby

Beach day

view from the house