Diso. This is a very good word to know, as it means false. and sometimes, just sometimes, it comes in very handy when teaching people with the most apostate ideas ever. It always is good to follow with mibebaha, which is the command form of to repent haha (no, I do not drop mibebaha too often ha, plus I prefer mihalale, which is Antandroy for mibebaka.)
Apostasy, so much apostasy here. I have taken a very bold, direct approach at taking down all the ridiculous, illogical ideas and beliefs that people have here which are alotttt, so its getting pretty down and dirty haha hand to hand combat these days. For example, the other day we were teaching a couple who had learned from missionaries a long time ago, had been diligent in coming to church, but somewhere along the line fallen away and stuff. We were asking them about it and they said that they had had two problems with the church-- how they had to be vita soratra (married) to be baptized, and how their baby son couldn't be baptized. They just went off about how those things shouldn't be, etc etc, when I started talking to them a little bit about it and asking questions. We got to the point where we were talking about Christ's baptism and why He was baptized, when it became very apparent that this Christian couple had absolutely no idea who Christ actually is. They think He is a prophet identical to Moses or Abraham, and that is why He had to be baptized and things like that. Whhatttt? You are a Christian, claim to believe in Christ and know who He is, and even learned from missionaries before and have been praying at church for forever, and don't even know who Christ is... so many people have been blinded here. And then it leads to problems when they are actually asked to exercise their faith and work, such as being baptized or married in order to be baptized, because they don't understand anything that actually matters.
That is not an isolated event, but just an example of what I feel like is happening every single lesson. All day every day it is that. But it is good, I guess that is where missionaries come in! to make sure that ideas such as that do not persist, that the people are properly treated and loved, and shown the correct way in a kind and gentle manner. So I always have to check myself to make sure I am not going to just go off in a way that would be less than Christlike, no matter how much I may want to haha but following the spirit gives boldness and insight in to what to say, always, so I do not worry too much about it turning in to a problem as long as the spirit is there.
Anyways, I am off my anti apostasy soap box now. It was a very good week! We had a lot of random annoying business sort of things to take care of that took up much too much time during the week, but we got them all out of the way so this next week will be 100% the work that actually matters. We had the chance to do my first tracting EVER in Ft D. lets just say it has been far from necessary before this time. But we found ourselves with free time, so went and looked for some new people to teach. And we went 100% with our contacting efforts. (Lets just say tracting in Ft D is somewhat funny, because of how easy it is) First house I ever tracted to we get let in, teach a great guy, and have return appointments. More of a testament to how prepared, nice, and willing to learn the people here are. A lot of apostasy, but a lot of willing people. And then we got several other appointments set up with different first time contacts, putting us at 3 for 3 for that day... And this is why we are all going to keep this Ft D place a secret from all other missionaries around the world lest they should find out how wussy, easy, and awesome the contacting is here haha.
All of our efforts right now are focused on getting male investigators that could be leaders in the branch. We have been teaching lots of FLFs (Father Led Families) which is good, exactly what we are looking for, so we are hoping to be able to strengthen the priesthood. We have been teaching lots of first lessons these days. Good thing I love that lesson
There is lots of less active work going on here as well, considering I think about half of the 130 members in this ward are inactive, so we are doing our best to begin. Less active work, as I have found, is very rewarding.
We teach an Antandroy family that basically speaks as much official Malagasy as Mom, so it is super fun (but frustrating sometimes, its true) teaching them because I get to completelely empty my entire arsenal of Antandroy vocabulary on them when we teach. Sadly, my accent is probably so bad and vazaha that it might as well be Chinese, but oh well, we try. They are very cool, the dad comes to church consistently and even has a friend who he brought with him on Sunday.
Elder Hein is continuing to heal, his hand is doing better. He will be getting the 9 stitches out on Wednesday at one of the sketchiest hospitals ever, so it'll be fun. This entire week he hasn't been able to use his left hand, and because of how hard it is to move he just kind of holds it up like a T-rex, which is pretty hilarious. Everyone always asks him what happened, so he has gotten so tired of telling the story that he now sometimes just says he got hurt while fighting Malaso, who are the Gadianton robber people who live somewhat near here. Funny stuff.
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| T-rex Elders Hein and Fox |
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| Clipping companions fingernails...ultimate companionship unity |
Church on Sunday was so sweet! We had 110 people show up to church and 18 investigators!!! That is basically the best I have ever seen at T Branch. And guess what? A random friend happened to tag along with A. to church, who I noticed and went out of my way to talk to and learn his name etc. A super nice guy, very cool and chill. After talking to him I walked away and talked to someone else when A. walks up to me and said 'Do you know who that guy you just talked to was? He is the pastor of the EFAKRIM (I dont know what the abbreviation means) church! And he needs to learn.' So yeah, we had a random pastor from a Protestant-type church show up willingly to church, enjoy it, and want to learn from the missionaries. So we have a time with him tomorrow! I am pumped. We shall see how it goes, fingers crossed he has good intentions for learning.
In other news, I am still ridiculously tan, I stepped in human poop one day and my shoes smelled soooo bad, and I still absolutely love the work. I am so glad to be in T Branch, there is so much good stuff to get done. N's (recent convert) two brothers, his friend and his friends sister, should all be getting baptized here soon. They need to be more diligent in coming to church though, so their bap date has been pushed back. And for some odd reason N is slipping into inactive land, even though just recently he was incredibly active and diligent, so we have a rescue mission to be pulling. It'll be great when they are ALL diligent and ALL active, but I dont think of 50% or whatever as a very good percentage. So for that reason we are waiting on that baptism.
More pics? Yes.
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| Do chickens pass out when they are hung upside down? |
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| The Ft D dolphin slayers...Elders Hein, Rakotonjanahary, Fox, Rice |
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| Antandroy hats are the greatest! |
Mom:
I received the package! Woohoo, thanks! Lets just say we are going to be doing lots of feasting here. Plus its probably good you sent new shirts, before all the ones I have turn too dark of a brown.
dad:
I love the story, you have the support of this Madagascar missionary. Who knows, tomorrow I might be having a very similar conversation with a very different pastor in a very different language!
Raha misy aminareo tsy manampahendrena, aoka izy hangataka amin' Andriamanitra, iway manome malalaka ho an'ny olona rehetra sady tsy mandatsa, dia homena azy izany. James 1:5. I love sharing this scripture with people. Don't come asking us, the missionaries, what church is true! Don't trust us, or pastors, or fathers, or popes, or prophets, or anyone besides God when it comes to knowing the truth. Him you can trust satria izy tsy mahay mavandy (He does not know how to lie) We get to teach this principle to people allll the time and it is awesome, I love it.
Love
Elder Fox
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