Last Transfer

Hi,

Last Transfer of my mission starts today. There are six weeks left. Fort Dauphin is changing up a little this last transfer. Elder Passey and I will be working together to combine Bazaribe. He is from Idaho and will be my last companion, I will "die" with him.  Elder Smith leaves tomorrow heading to Antisirabe. Elder Passey and I will become the Zone Leaders. Tanambao the other area I was in here is splitting again like it was before. Elder Stromberg is coming down and "dying" down here with Elder Jackson.  Elder Monson will get Elder Beardall, and then Monson "dies".  At the end of this transfer only three of us will be left here in Fort Dauphin, the rest are dying" in my group.

Some news about the work here in Bazaribe. We should have baptisms this next Saturday. It is a couple that has been trying to get married for a while now and finally just finished it all and now can be baptized. There are a couple of other individuals that are getting close but just need to be more diligent at coming to church and being committed. Other than that we have a lot of people we are trying to visit at the moment because we combined two full schedules. Our days are very full and busy.

Here is a not too good picture of Elder Passey. Next week I will try and get better pictures.

Sincerely,
Elder Allen

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

As if it had Nothing Else in the Universe to Do."

Hello,

I have been blessed with the opportunity to go to Fort D.  Last week while Elder Modisakeng and I were working, we get a call from the APs who said, "Elder Allen go home, pack your bags, and wait for president there. He will pick you up and take you to the airport tomorrow. You are going to Fort D."  I am way stoked. I just feel bad about leaving my area of Ambohibio.  This is the second time just bouncing  without telling them or saying goodbye.

I have been here for a couple of days now and it is a beautiful place. The people are super nice and cool. The beach and mountains are breath taking. However, the language they speak sounds foreign and the house we live in is the worst. I am starting to learn a little bit of their dialect. I can still talk to people just fine, but sometimes i just can't understand what they say. We are looking for a new house to move into because this one just sucks.

My new companion is Elder Shelby from American Fork Utah. He is a lovely companion, great guy. He used to work in this area we are in which is called Tanambao before the evacuation. We live in the house with 4 other missionaries.  More areas are opening up this week.  We have almost half of the missionaries back.  There are 36 in the country now and there should be 8-10 more arriving this week.

Here is a quote that I love from Galileo, "The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent upon it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do."
Why then should I doubt God's power? The universe with all that order is a testimony to me that it is governed by an all knowing and all loving Father in Heaven.

Sincerely,
Elder Allen

Elder Allen, Shelby, Jakins, Monson.

 

New Comp Elder Shelby

Ft. Dauphin House with US Ambassador Robert t. Yamate.  

Elders Allem, Wolfgram, Jackson, Monson, Hunter, Shelby.

With US ambassador Robert T. Yamate

Sam in beautiful Ft. Dauphin.  

He says the house is old and everything is broken, but he lives right on the beach so he is "stoked"!

It has been very rainy in Ft. Dauphin

Ft. Dauphin

Indian Ocean

Elder Lebresko

"Hard is Good"

Hello,

This was an interesting week. I am taking lead in a new area for me and also training a new missionary. My companions name is Elder Peters. He is from Layton, Utah and is waiting for his visa to India. We are both in a weird situation at the moment, but we are just trying to do our best and build a good program for the area we are in.

Last Sunday, was a little crazy because we both gave a talk in first hour, then taught the Gospel Principles class in second hour, and then I was asked to sub for the lesson in Elders Quorum. We had to do something for each hour at church. It all went well though. My talk was about how my mission has strengthened my faith. At the end of it, I bore my testimony in Malagasy.  It almost felt like I was giving my homecoming talk. I hope my Malagasy does not get worse before I have the chance to bare my testimony in Malagasy for the real last time.

My mission feels a little hard at the moment. Whenever I have hard times or selfish thoughts I am reminded of things I have read or heard before. Today it is a talk from the latest General Conference entitled "Hard is Good". Hard things happen in our lives to strengthen us and make us better. We do not want to have hard times because they suck. But when they are over you are grateful for it and you are better for it. Our Heavenly Father loves us enough to cut us down, or "prune us when we are flourishing", so that we can grow stronger. I know that i will become a better person from the hard things I experience.  Thanks for your prayers.

Sincerely,
Elder Allen

parking lot transfers.

New Adventures in Tana

Hello,
I just arrived to the missionary office in Tana and started emailing. I woke up at 4:00 am to see the sunrise at the beach this morning, but it was cloudy and raining so we did not see the sun. That is fine though it was a nice time at the beach. Then I got a ride from a family of members that were heading up to Tana from Tamatave. That was a long drive starting at 6:30am - 3:30pm. I am very tired right at this moment. My new area is Amboibo which is in the North Zone of Tana. My Companion is Elder Monson. These last couple of days I have been on splits with people in Tamatave. The rest of the Elders went up to Tana last Saturday but there was not enough room in the car for all of us so I stayed back until today. It was really fun to work in a lot of the areas in Tamatave before I left. It was a sad Goodbye.  I will miss everyone in Tamamtave.  But, I am excited for new adventures in Tana and ready for a change.

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.

Random Pics

Teaching English and Sleeping through Earthquakes

Dear Home,

The mission is going good, this week is transfer week for us. I am staying in Ampefiloha for one more transfer. My new companion is Elder Keyes from South Africa. We are also getting two other new guys in my house.

Apparently there was an Earthquake the other day. I slept through it. That morning Elder Bingham told me that he had like a weird dream or something where he woke up and the room was shaking. I told him that I didn't feel anything or wake up so maybe it was just a dream, then we went out to work. Every house we went to the families wanted to talk about the Earthquake that I had no idea happened.

Last Sunday at church there weren't  a lot of priesthood holders that showed up so Elder Smith and I had to bless the Sacrament in Malagasy. Thankfully they had one of those little help cards up there for us to just read from.

The language is getting better but I still have a hard time understanding the things people say to me. I can sometimes understand every word in a sentence but not the sentence because Malagasies think different than English. For Example: If a kid was about to put something in his mouth and a mother would say in English, don't eat that or don't put that in your mouth. That does not make sense to Malagasies, you have to say, don't receive that in your mouth. It makes it hard to just translate your thought. First, you have to change it to a way that is understandable for them, then translate it to English. Also, their sentences are opposite of English, V.O.S. It is all fun though, if someone does not understand then you just keep trying until they do.

The other day in the English Class that we teach I had all of the students teach me Malagasy. I am going to start doing that every time. They love it, and we both benefit. I will say things in Malagasy and they will translate it into English and they will also correct my Malagasy, its great.

Malagasy Proverb I learned from the kids in English Class: Ny Adala tsy adala, fa ny adala izay mahadala adala no Adala.  

(Insert from mom:  I tried to translate this proverb into English and I came up with this..."The fool is not a fool, but the foolish are mad over that the fool is a fool."  ????)

Love,
Elder Allen

Dear Parents,

Some of you may have heard about an earthquake in Madagascar this morning.  It was actually in the town of Ambatomifanongoa near Antsirabe.  Some of us even felt it here in Antananarivo.  We want you to know we have checked with all of our missionaries and they are all fine.  The  Antsirabe elders noticed some cracks in their walls and ceiling—we will look into all of that.

Once again, the Lord takes care of his missionaries.

Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

Sister Woolley

Madagascar Antananarivo Mission Secretary