Prepare Ourselves for Eternal Joy

Hello,

The work here has been pretty good lately. We have been teaching a lot more lessons and visiting members. It has been great. We still do not get a lot of people at church except for Seta Pierre and his daughter Jiselle. They should be getting baptized in a couple of weeks.

This next week is probably my last week in Tamatave but I still do not know for sure. I should be leaving Ambolomadinika though. I also hit my year mark on August 3. It has not felt like I have been here for very long but also it does.

I am grateful for the chance I have had to be here and share a message about the Restoration of the Gospel. I am even more thankful for the opportunity I have had to study, ponder, and pray about this gospel myself, everyday for a year. I plan to do that for the rest of my life. Our lives are such a short piece in an eternity. I do not think we have been placed on this earth without a way to know what is required of us during our short time here. There is a purpose to this life and that purpose is to prepare ourselves for eternal joy. It all leans on the things we do whether we receive that joy or not. I do not think God grants it unto us, he only shows us the way to receive it. If we do not follow the way he has prepared for us than we will not get there. For those who feel they still do not know that way I urge you to start searching. God places things here for us to know his will. His tools are Prophets, Scripture, Prayer, the Holy Spirit, and greatest of all his son Jesus Christ. He is the key and center to everything. Through him, from him, because of him, and in the name of him we can come to know all things.
Sincerely,
Elder Allen

A Gifted Tie

Hello,

This week all the AP (Assistants to the President) missionaries are staying up here in Tamatave with us. We have been going on splits with them a lot. We have four APs in our mission and they are all up here. Two of them are going to stay until the end of the transfer when they actually die (go home). They are in my companion's same group.

Last Sunday was the District Meeting for all of the Branches here in Tamatave. President gave a really great talk to strengthen the Branches. His Translator did not fully understand his thought and humor so none of the Malagasies would laugh when he made a joke. It is pretty hard to transfer English thoughts into Malagasy. I cant even think of the English translation for some things I say in Malagasy, because sometimes there is not one. Malagasy thought is completely different. It has actually made my English sound a little weird sometimes because I think of things to say the way a Malagasy would say them.

On Saturday we all played soccer behind the church with some kids in our Branch. We basically played soccer in a cyclone. It rained so hard on us during the game. It was really fun though so no problem.  We played more soccer this morning and I am so sore.  It's all good.

Have a good week.
Sincerely,
Elder Allen

This is Dmb Stephane.  He is a member of the branch in Tamatave and he works with the missionaries and is in charge of the branch and district missionaries too.  Sam gave him that tie.

The Church is Changing Peoples Lives

Hello,

It is going good here in Tamatava. The days have gone by so fast here. We have to push our baptism back one or two weeks so we can finish all of the lessons with him first. The Investigators here are way cool because they all do the work themselves. They come to church and read the Book of Mormon. It is the greatest thing when the people convert themselves.

We have a couple of way awesome families that we love right now. One is a really old man named Setapierre and his daughter Jaselle. They are some of the happiest people I have ever met and they make me smile every time we go teach them. Setapierre is always smiling when he sees us because he is so taken away that we speak his language. But he can't say much because when he talks his teeth almost fall out of his mouth. So he just smiles and laughs. His daughter is the same way but she can talk and usually talks for him.

The other family is way mazotoa. But because Elder Wilson and I are awful with names we just call them the Catholic Cats. They used to be Catholic and their house is full of cats... They come to church every week together and the wife even goes to the activities at the church on Saturdays. The lessons with them are great.

Funny Story: In one of the lessons with the Catholic Cats a chicken jumped onto my shoulder and just took a seat. The wife took it off and threw it outside, but within about one minute that same chicken came up behind me and jumped onto my shoulder again. After that, the wife just grabbed it and held it under the table. At the end of that lesson the husband said something and pointed at Elder Wilson's pants. We told him we did not understand so he put his finger on the zipper of Elder Wilson's pants. That made him sweat a little bit until he realized his fly was just down. He thought he was trying to get a little frisky with him.

The work here is going good. The church is changing peoples lives. I am grateful to be a part of it.
Love,
Elder Allen

"That is How it Should be Done."

Hello,

The new transfer has come. I am with Elder Wilson who is a transfer ahead of me on the mission. We get along very well, he is a way cool guy. I love him. My new area is called Ambolomadinka. It is full of the nicest people I have ever met. The area at night looks and sounds like the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland. It is really chill and aesthetic. I love it!!!

The drive up here was a really long curvy road with lots of turns in a packed van. The driver drove as fast as he could just before the right or left axles lifted up off the ground. I was way car sick for the first 4 hours. But then we stopped somewhere in the jungle to get something to eat and then the next 4 hours, I felt pretty good. It was nice. Here in Tamatave, one of the mainstream jobs here is a pous driver who is a guy on a bike pulling a small two man throne with wheels. They are every where. You barter with the guys for the price too.

There is a different dialect here but I actually have not noticed a difference yet, other than a couple of words that you pick up in the first week. So it is pretty cool. The people here do sound cooler though which is fun.

Elder Wilson and I are teaching a guy named Seth from Kansas America who has been living here in Mada for about 2 years with his wife who is also from America. He is a way interesting guy.  He says he is a missionary here too, but he is not part of any faith. He used to be Catholic but now he just reads the bible and lives for God and helping people. He had a lot of questions about Mormonism as he put it. He felt as if all the religions are somewhat confusing. We cleared up some weird things he thought we did, like eat soap, and then we shared our beliefs. Everything we said, he agreed with. And all of the stuff about religion he did not like, we explained how we do things and why.  His response to everything we said was,  "that is how it should be done."  I just kept saying, that is the way it is and was. Teaching him has been a really awesome experience and I'm teaching him in English. He has helped me build my own testimony through all of the questions he asks.  I realize how much more I know it is true and he also realizes how true it is.

Funny Story: One of the days we went to the Shoprite to get some food. As I was walking out, one of the worker ladies looks at me and says, "why do you have that?"  I did not understand what she was talking about exactly and then she pointed at her neck and says, "You are naughty in a sassy way."  I realized she was talking about my birthmark on my neck that looks like a hickey. I tried to explain but she didn't believe me. So i just left.

Funny Story: Elder Wilson and I were in a lesson teaching a guy about the Word of Wisdom. When the neighbors little girl kept looking in through the door and was weirded out by the two white guys. She kept walking in and giggling at us and then leaving. One of the times, she comes in and starts doing a weird little chest shake at us and dancing weird. The guy we were teaching looks at her and just shouts to the neighbors house, "Your child is being Gay, get her out of my house!" Elder Wilson and I started laughing because of what he said while the mother of this little girl comes in and takes her daughter. The little girl was just crying for the rest of the lesson in the other house.  Ha, ha, good times in Mada!

Today for P-day we are going to the beach and then we have a soiree tonight with some members and some good food.  This is the greatest place and Elder Wilson and I work way well together and our sense of humor is the same.   I can tell this transfer is going to be way enjoyable.

Love,
Elder Allen

Sad and Stoked

Hello,

This is my last week in Ampefiloha. I am heading up to Tamatava with an Elder Wilson from South Africa. For those of you that do not know, it is North of Tana and next to the ocean. It is going to be awesome. They speak a different dialect up there called Betsi Masadeca. That might be wrong spelling.

The Baptism this last Saturday went great for little Tsiory.

It is way funny, her mother is a typical Mormon Mom from like in Utah. She is really nice and when we talk to the boys the mother will always answer for them, for example: "Of course they would love to help you guys teach."

I said goodbye to all the cool members here and took pictures with a lot of them.

The other day Elder Keyes and I got the green light from president to baptize this guy named Andrasana. He has been wanting  for about 7 months to be baptized, but couldn't because of repentance problems. Elders Keyes and I taught a solid lesson with them and at the end dropped the good news.  He now has a baptism commitment. He was way surprised when he heard he could get baptized now. You can see it in the picture with him and his wife holding the little girl.

Ampefiloha has been great and has great people and members. I am sad to leave but also stoked to see the beach.

Love,
Elder Allen

Saying good bye to members in Ampefiloha.

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