Back to the Vakinakaratra, Permanently

(Originally emailed Dec 15, 2014)

Hey everybody

     So, I got some news to tell ya! I'm being transferred to Antsirabe this Wednesday! It is acity about 2 hours south of Tana (or 3+ hours, depending on who drives) that has a zone of 12 missionaries. The area I will be serving in is the actually called Antsirabe, inside of the city of Antsirabe, and is a branch that has a first ever all return missionary branch presidency! super cool. Elder Galbreath will be my new comp. He is from Moses Lake, so the two Washingtonians will be working together, woot woot! Funny thing is that I was in Antsirabe twice just the last week and a half, but now I get to go down there again for good. And not only that, I'll be taking a taxiborosy (a bus essentially) which I'm pumped about because I have never taken one before. They tell me it is  a horrible experience, but it is crucial to developing good character, of course, to be shoved into a tiny bus for long periods of time with barely enough room to breathe. It is something you have to do at least a few times in your life. 

     It is weird, way weird, to be on the edge of going to what is almost certainly my last area. I'm beyond excited. I feel like these last months I have just been storing up energy and excitement and commitment to get out there and work, like a compressed spring ready to unload. And it is absolutely perfect because it is an area and a zone that need lots of hard work. It's go time.
     But beyond that this was another crazy week. Great week, awesome week, but crazy. We had three zone conferences,   doing baptismal interviews for missionaries in Ambositra. We took the sacrament in Fianarantsoa and then drove back all of Sunday, with just enough time to visit H and his family to say goodbye. Needless to say Elder Weber and I have already taken a five hour nap today. It wasn't enough.

     

Mom/Dad:

        About skyping Christmas, I have talked to Elder Galbreath and it sounds like the plan is that either skyping the night of the 25th or the morning of the 26th will work for me. So which works better for you?

     A lesson learned this last while: Live what you teach. Show what you know by doing it. That is how you can help someone, how you can teach someone, how you can improve someone. They may forget what was preached to them from a pulpit, they may forget what they read in a book, and they may forget just about everything else. But what they won't forget is the example someone sets for them. They won't forget that split they go out and work with a certain missionary. So you better make that a good split or else you have given them a bad example that will stick around for them to tell their grandkids about. But if you leave them with a good example, with a great example, they will be changed. There is no other way to do it, at least from what I see. 

     God still speaks. His power is on the earth. He restored His church to the earth. The Church is true. 

Love

Elder Fox

 

So here are some pics. Some are with H and Sr S. Some are with J and A, with one pic of A with the Asays, a senior couple here (humanitarian. I absolutely love them). A few pics from our office Christmas party on Wednesday, with Elder Roush as Santa, with one of the office security guards sitting on his knee.