A Day in the Life

Bongiornu principessa! (?spelling) Anyway, I just thought you all would like to know that it is really smelly and all here... or maimbo, as they say. That, however, is not the word of the week. This week it is mby, which means to be on the verge of.

So, I am sitting here in this fun little 'cyber' here in Mada, competely covered in dirt and smelling as horrible as physically possible because we just came from playing soccer with a bunch of Malagasies on a straight dirt field. It was lots of fun, and my old pal/comp Elder Christiansen came to play from all the way across the city, so needless to say it has been a good day thus far! We did lose though... but whatta you expect from a bunch of vazaha right?  It is so hot outside right now I was straight dying out there, and it's their winter right now what the heck!! I'm going to have a load of fun come summer!

Elder Jensen was made zone leader just this last week, which was a transfer week, so I am going to have the opportunity to go on a lot of splits coming up here shortly. I am excited, splits are a lot of fun. This last week I went on one with another voatonga (just came) missionary from my group, Elder Midgley, which was fun yet again. Who says you have to speak their language to teach them right??

The work went slow this week because there was so much going on with transfers, it was absolute craziness. Had some very good lessons though, and are making progress with a couple awesome investigators. One is a young guy just a tad older than me. He is working hard and sincerely towards baptism, so hopefully finishing up the commandments will go well with him! If he really is sincere than they obviously will. Next is a guy I told you about before.  He came to church for the first time! We went and met him at his house and walked there with him. He really liked it apparently, so that is a success for the week. We also had a couple other surprise new investigators come, some who we had never even really met with  before, so it was a very good Sunday.

Mom:
In response your request, here is a regular day:

6 or 6;30 wake up. On days I go to the gym with Elder Mitchell its 6. We walk to the ghettoest little gym ever, where half of the weights are car parts. Needless to say you feel like a boss working out there! (I totally just benched two axles, did you see that???) On days I dont do the gym I do push ups and situps. Before then I sit and read Jesus the Christ so my body can wake up enough to move an inch. I eat breakfast, either cereal or eggs or bread etc

8am    personal study. I do this mostly in Malagasy, but I still am working through the New Testament in english.

9am    comp study. Review what we learned, do training, read PMG [Preach My Gospel], practice malagasy, watch" The District", etc.

10:30 or 11am    language study. Varies everyday, but lots of reading and vocab etc. I am currently in the Isaiah chapters in 2 Nef in the BiM [2 Nephi in the Book of Mormon]

By 12 leave the house to go eat. Normally just a good Malagasy place.

Then by 1pm we start teaching! Normally are program is pretty full but people are gone/miss very frequently, so when that happens we either tract or go visit other investigators in the area. The whole concept of time is very loose here in Mada! We try to get people on programs as much as possible, and use ward missionaries as much as possible, too. Still a work in progress for sure.

We normally return around 8 to the house, but that time greatly depends, earlier or later. We try to do as much at night as possible, but it is sometimes difficult here because everyone is in early, as soon as it is dark, so when a night appointment falls through it is very hard to replace. We often have good RCLA lessons then though, so it normally works well.

We eat dinner after doing planning, do personal stuff etc. and try to get in bed as early as possible haha. We are always dead exhausted. But yes, that is basically a day in the life!

Response to Question 2:   We normally eat well, going out to good, safe Malagasy places where they serve rice with deliciousness of varying types on top. Beans, pork, veggies, beef, sausage, eggs, you name it. There are some good places that serve American food like pizza and hamburgers (that are surprisingly amazing)  that we go to eat at occasionally. We cook good meals at the house too. Elder Mitchell really  loves to cook. For example, last night we made coconut chicken and rice and Malagasy veggies, delicious! But it varies hugely. The weirdest thing I have eaten... probably a straight stewed rabbit, bitro, which was most excellent. Nothing too strange yet actually, keeping the fingers crossed it stays that way.

Most interesting story of the week.... nothing that especially sticks out in my mind.  A baptism that wasn't even ours but that we had to attend started TWO HOURS  late, and then went extra long. As an example of Malagasy time I guess haha. But I will keep better track of any good stories and have one for you next week! Everyday is a story in and of itself here, but then again not really... it is strange.

Dad:

CLINT DEMPSEYYY. YES! You will have to keep me updated on their progress, that is gaiga be (totally crayzay). Good choice Seattle! To both you and mom, glad those YW camps are still going strong without my Friday visits! haha. That and the hiking and the huge hoard of the greatest missionaries ever soon to be departing our stake is great, glad all is bueno!

How many are Malagasy missionaries?: Alot. I do not know the exact number, but there is a very decent population of them. 20 to 30 or so, hard for me to say.

Dani:

I am still doing swell, despite the difficulties encountered everyday, pushing along. Sometimes it is hard to always have the best attitude about everything, but I am doing  my best! And no, we are not expected to learn dialects. Missionaries that go out to provences normally do. And my comp, Jensen, for some reason...

Scripture of the week: Romans 5:1-8. All about the Atonement and why trials are good. I am glad that they are good because it sures seems like there are alot of them these days! All is made fair through the atonement

More pictures to come soon. much love!

Love

Elder Fox