The Karate vs Kung Fu Throwdown of 1983‏

Hello to one and all who read this weeks passage of the glorious adventures of Elder Fox in the magestic land of garbage, rain, sun, and tightly packed buses (true story, we fit 46 people on a bus one day, a bus that was supposed to hold about 32 max. Good thing Malagasies are little.)

     First of all, the phrase for your enlightenment-- ny fananana anananay. I just think this looks hilarious, like its basically not humanly possible to fit anymore 'na' into a phrase. It means 'the possesessions we have'. Both of those words come from the word manana, which means to have.

     Okay, so now I bet you are all wondering 'what is this rubbish about karate and kung fu and throwdowns and nonsense like that?' Well, let me tell you. Tighten your seat belts ladies and gentleman. And beforehand I will apologize, it is not very missionary work related, but it is a good piece of Malagasy history, and definitely hilarious.

      So, on Wednesday we teach our investigator T with the Stake patriarch. And once the lesson was over and they started chit chatting a little bit about random martial arts stuff I remembered a rumor that I had heard at the MTC from the teachers, that there had been a karate war here in Madagascar. However, I believed that to be just that, a silly rumor, because literally no missionary knows if it is true or not. So I asked the patriarch if he knew anything about this odd sort of martial arts war. And not only did he say he knows about it, but that he was there!

     So, back in 1983 there was a group of karate people who lived in Tana, who were kinda known as being the bad guys--- thieves, murderers, steal-ice-cream-from-little-kids type stuff. Therefore, people didn't like them. I didn't quite understand why this happened, but one day a clan/group of kung fu people decided to come at the karate people, the bad guys.The kung fu were the good guys.

     A couple hundred kung fu people came to the headquarters building of the karate guys to have an ultimate throwdown of some sort, to topple their reign of terror I suppose. And when that happened a huge crowd gathered around the area, so thick that the partriarch said it was like a human fence surrounding the battlefield, to watch the 'war' as they call it. The police were there, but all they did was stick to the perimeter and make sure that none of the normal citizens would go in and get hurt.The patriarch said he was standing next to the cheif of police while he watched this.

     So out onto the pitch/battlefield/whatever you want to call it came the karate dudes, about 300 of them. And then came the kung fu people, a couple hundred as well. But this is where it gets absolutely crazy (so remember, this is what the patriarch told me. If there is anyone I would trust to tell the truth it would be him, but at the same time he is pretty old...... needless to say, what is to follow would make a great movie.) Instead of all the hundreds of kung fu people coming out to battle, they went out and surrounded the area to make sure none of the karate could escape. And then what happened? Only 7 kung fu fighters came out against the 300 plus karate. SEVEN only. And then not only were the kung fu outnumbered by hundreds, but they won. They owned the karate the patriarch said. They came at each other with swords and nunchucks and club-things and spears, and the kung fu took all the karate people, just the seven of them. And that was the karate war of 1983 as they call it. Only in Madagascar. You should send this story to Hollywood, this movie would be an instant hit.

     Okay, so now that I got that out of the way-- this week was another good one! We didn't teach quite as much as we hoped and had expected because we didn't have the help we needed to teach women living without a man, which is extremely annoying. That is something we, Elder Thia and I, need to make sure to coordinate much better. We should never have to miss a time due to the fact that we can't teach single women without male help. But also, it is rather difficult sometimes getting help from the ward, so that is also a work in progress. Ward missionaries are one of our, the full time missionaries', strongest connections to the ward.

     Our investigators are still amazing, I love them all. However, we have really been struggling getting them to church. G and F are the only two we can consistently count on. R and C are the ones we especially need to get to church. There is no reason it should be as hard as it is, both of them are extremely interested, mahay (skilled), diligent etc, but just really haven't come to church yet. There are many amazing baptisms that should be coming up soon, the only problem is coming to church. If they can't bring themselves to come to church than they are not ready for baptism. But hey, we are working on it! Tsikelikely.(little by little) The Lord is in charge, and just as long as we are doing all we can then amazing things will happen. Its just this patience thing that is so annoying... :)

Cool things from the week:

    L, a youngish woman that we teach and extended a bap date to for the 4th Jan. She is absolutely DESTROYING the BiM. When we sat down, opened with a prayer and stuff like that I asked her how her reading was going and if she had any questions, and she said yes. She then proceeded to open up to 3 Nefia (Nephi) 28..... like whatttt??? So awesome, she is great. She has come to church several times, but needs to become as diligent in coming to church as she is in reading the scriptures.

    G, as aforementioned, is incredible. Very smart guy, studies philosophy and really deep subjects that I don't even remember what they mean anymore at the university. However, he is equally accepting and believing as he is smart. We taught him the correct way to pray yesterday (let's just say that specific thing had been somehat of an issue with him before hahaha) and he expressly thanked us for teaching him that, was very greatful to have learned the correct way, and yeah. Normally it takes some convincing to show people that no, we do not close our prayers in the name of Elder Thia or open them in the name of Peter James and John or things like that. But not with G, he was just like 'alright! awesome, glad to know that!' The only stuggle with him is that right now we only teach him once a week due to his studies.

    Sorry, I am sure you are tired of hearing how awesome and amazing Sr E is... but let me tell you, she is quite a powerhouse. It was funny, we were talking about the Gospel and the steps of the Gospel and things like that, and I began to talk about how at the base of it all we must have desire. She interrupted me and said that that didn't really make sense to her. She said 'for me I just think about it, decide, and then do it. I don't desire or wish, I just do.' Wow. I'm sure somewhere in that process of hers there is a desire of some kind, but lets just say this dad--- she is a 'Go. Do.' person.

     Happy thanksgiving as well! Let me give you my three kernels (things I am thankful for...and no, they don't celebrate it here)

1-- The power of prayer. In my life, but, at this point in time, more especially in the lives of my investigators. It is real and true. But, one must pay close attention to see all the wonderful effects and answers that come from it.

2-- Family (mazava ho azy). I can't do much to expound about that one, pretty simple. You are all the best!

3-- R, C, T, F, L, L, S, N, J-L, P L, S, and all the rest of our investigtors, recent converts, and less actives. My life would be pretty pointless right now without them.

     And then I will share with you this thought to close, a quote from Elder Bednar--- 'The Book of Mormon, a willing heart, and the Holy Ghost-- it is really that simple.' But isn't it though? Be willing to find out if it is true. Be willing to allow the Holy Ghost to touch your heart. Be willing to read. Be willing to act on what you know is true. Be willing to change. Be willing to accept the most amazing, glorious, and mind-boggling blessings in your life.

Love you all,
Elder Fox