I Can Feel His Love

Hello,
This week has been wonderful and hard at the same time. I got to speak to my family on Skype which was great.

Also the end of the transfer for us has come and my Companion Elder Wilson is heading to Tana. I am staying in Tamatave and Elder Todd Olsen is coming up to me. It is his last transfer so I am killing him here in Ambolomadinika.  I will probably need to stay for another transfer to show the next guy the area. I love this area though so it is all good. I also lived with Elder Olsen before in my last house so this transfer should be great.

My area is doing pretty good right now. We just had some baptisms so we are kind of in a phase of searching for and finding new investigators. Although, the branch here is really strong and full of really spiritual people.

I have a testimony that there is a God, and that he loves us very much. I know that because I can feel his love and know that every one else can as well when they follow his will. Faith is one of the most important aspects of the Gospel. It is actually the first Principle of it. If you do not have Faith then nothing else matters. There are many people that believe that Faith is believing in things that we cannot know are true. That is false. Faith is a hope for things that are not seen however are true. Also Faith is truly related to a seed. It becomes nothing and sometimes dies if you do not nurture it. If we do not give faith in God a chance and follow it, then we will surely lose it. I know that this is true, I have experienced it myself. It is not good enough to have a simple belief on its own. We must act upon it. I can surely testify that if anyone has a desire to know whether there is a loving Heavenly Father and that he continues to guide his children here on earth today, then you need to try and obey all of his commandments and apply all the principles of the Gospel in your life. Until we do so, we will continue to have doubt and be unsure. But as soon as we do so we will instantly feel the power of his holy spirit in our lives and will not be able to deny the answer that we receive.

Sincerely,
Elder Allen

Elder Wilson and I Baptized 4 Wonderful People

***Thanks to all who sent Sam a Happy Birthday message.  He said that made him so happy when he opened his emails this morning.  His birthday is Saturday so you can still send him a birthday message and he will get it on Sunday when he Skypes for Mother's Day!  

Hello,

This week has been great. Elder Wilson and I baptized 4 wonderful people this last Saturday. I am so grateful for the blessing it was to be a part of that. The baptismal font was full of brown water but what can you do in Madagascar.  We are hoping for a few more baptisms in the next two weeks, but are waiting for them to get legally married.

Last Monday was pretty crazy for Elder Wilson and I. The TukTuk (motorcycle taxi) we were taking home from the store was stopped by a police officer on the road. When he saw us in the back he asked for our passports because we are Vahaza (white). We told him that we did not have them and he made us get out of the Tuk Tuk. We spent the rest of the night trying to prove to the Police that we were not Illegal Aliens.  Someone from the office in Tana had to bring us our passports.  It is all good and cleared up now though.

I have the opportunity to spend my Birthday and Mother's Day Skyping home. I am way stoked to see my family for the second time since I have been out here in Mada. I am nearly coming up onto my year mark. The time has flown by.
Have a good week.
Sincerely,
Elder Allen

Showering  outside during Cyclone Enawo.

Big ugly spiders outside of their house!

Madagascar is Testing and Training Me

Hello,

This week we focused hard on getting our investigators ready for their baptism date. As of right now, we have Augustine and Gorgean ready for this Saturday. I am baptizing Gorgean while Elder Wilson is baptizing Augustine. We are way excited for them. The other three people should be baptized this Saturday as well, but we have not finished their interviews yet. We will wait and see.

This last Sunday was a crazy day. Elder Wilson and I showed up early, thankfully, because when the Bishop saw us he asked who was giving the talk today in Sacrament Meeting. Elder Wilson and I had no idea that one of us had to give a talk. But sure as he was, there on the paper by the Bishop's office the word Misionera for the third talk. I told Wilson that I would do it because he seemed a little bothered that no one had told us. I had to prepare a talk about The Gathering of Israel during the two talks just before me. That was a little stressful but went fine. Right after that, we were told that the Gospel Principles Teacher did not show up so I had to teach that class as well with no notice. My Malagasy is fine and understandable, but things like that keep you on your toes.

Madagascar is testing me and training me for something big, I just know it. Living here in Madagascar has been a crazy experience and one of the hardest things I have ever done. But I am still thankful for it.

Have a good week, and enjoy life.
Sincerely,
Elder Allen

Branch in Tamatava

Walking through "Poop" water

 

Give him your love for me

Hello,

My heart is so full this week! It is my Brother's Birthday this Wednesday. I cannot even express how much I love that man. Give him your love for me.

The work here has been going great. Just this last Sunday, I was looking around the church at all the crazy, weird and funny members here in Tamatave, Madagascar. God has changed the lives of so many great families here in the Branch of Ambolomadinika. We have our first baptisms here on the 6th of May. That is the final set date. We are just waiting on some people to get married and others to come to church more often.

Funny Story: The other day we walked to an investigator's house named Benesque. Here in Province you can just walk into peoples homes if you know them, so we did. He was sleeping, passed out on his bed so we didn't want to wake him up. But we needed to leave him a note. So without waking him up, we wrote a note telling him to come to church and placed it right by his bed on his desk. He woke up that day finding a note in his house from the Missionaries. He thought it was funny that we walked around in his house without waking him up. (Homes in Madagascar are one room Huts).

I do not have much to say this week. But I am so very grateful for the gospel and how much wisdom and knowledge comes from it. I know that all the answers are accessible to us if we just read the scriptures and pray to our Heavenly Father. I hopeIi never forget how much God has an effect on my life when I am back home. I know he can help us when it comes to anything, not just spiritual church stuff.

Sincerely,
Elder Allen

Life in Madagascar.

Hello,

I do not have much time today in the cyber I am at so I cannot write a lot. That is life in Madagascar. But this past week was great. We have 3 new guys in the house. Elder Mccormick from my MTC group, Elder Olrich, and Elder Meshweshwe. They are all great guys.

This last Easter Sunday was good, not a lot of people showed up to church because of the holiday but that is okay. Elder Wilson and I had to teach the Gospel Principles class and we decided to talk about the power of the light of Christ and how to have it in our lives. It was a good lesson and everyone participated.

Our Investigators are doing great right now. We have baptisms. coming up on the 29th of April and should have more on the 6th of May. The only concern is getting people legally married before their baptisms. But I am pretty confident in them because they are pretty committed people and very diligent in the gospel. Tamatave is a great place.  It is a blessing to be able to live here and share the gospel with people everyday. The ability to study the gospel everyday has been a great blessing on its own. There is so much more to the gospel then most people think and it effects more aspects of our lives then we could even understand. The scriptures are surely an amazing tool for us in this life.

Sincerely,
Elder Allen

"The Bible stands for: Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth."

Hello,

Transfers are officially over. I am staying in Ambolomadinka with Elder Wilson. This next Transfer is going to be great. We should definitely have baptisms this transfer. I do not dare say how many because that number might change. But I am really excited about what is to come.

Just this last week a missionary in my house, who only had about a month and a half left, had to go home early, because he fell back in his chair and broke his toe doing so.  He has to have surgery.

We got to watch General Conference this last weekend, it was a really great message to the world. I am so thankful for the gift Apostles and Prophets are to us. There is a a lot of guidance for us in this life if we know where to find it.  As the Love Guru would say, "Lets look at the BIBLE for a second, the Bible stands for: Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth."  I am confident that God has given us all the tools and help we need to have complete joy in this life and the direction to return return back to him. The thing is, we need to be able to recognize his gifts and tools here in our lives. The key to receiving personal revelation about something is to first work for it, ask for it, and be worthy of it. Then you can know the truth of all things through the power of the Holy Ghost. Everything good comes from our Heavenly Father.

Have a good week.
Sincerely,
Elder Allen

 With Elder and Sister Ellis from the Seventy

Sticking Around

Hello,

This is the last week of the transfer here for us. I assume I am staying where I am. We are not sure if Wilson is being moved or not but hopefully he stays for one more tramsfer.  We wont have a baptism this transfer but next transfer should be full of them.

The work up here and the people we have met have definitey been prepared. I love to see all of our investigators at church every Sunday. Just this last Sunday the Gospel Principles teacher could not come, so Elder Wilson and I were asked to teach it for the second hour of church. It was no problem because they were all of our investigators and recent converts anyways. We taught about obedience. Everyone participated so it was great.

Weird Story: The other day during English class the kid sitting next to me asked me a really weird question. His question was about his friend. He told me that in the past he made a deal with the Devil that if he would become rich he would give the Devil a cow. But he now follows Christ and does not make deals with the Devil anymore. His question for me was, "If my friend becomes rich, does he still have to give the Devil a cow?"  I just told him that if his friend becomes rich it is not because of the Devil. And that as long as he continues to follow Christ, has repented for making deals with the devil, and never goes back to doing that sort of thing. Then he does not have to worry about it.

Funny Story: While we were cooking lunch one afternoon Elder Wilson noticed that we were low on eggs for the meal we were cooking. But then he found some really old eggs back in the pantry, so he decided to use those. When he cracked the first one it instantly exploded all over him. It was a rotten egg that had built up a bunch of pressure and smelled way bad. It ruined all of the food in the pan and we had to go out and buy new ingredients.

Have a good week.
Love,
Elder Allen

Elder Wilson

Elder Tainter