06 July 3--I Love this Place

Ny fianakaviako,

Another week has gone by just like that. And now I realize that I've been here a month already! This week was fun. Last night, the former mission President and his wife stopped by our house on the way to the airport and said good bye. They seemed sad to leave, I could tell that this experience had changed their lives. I just barely met the new Mission President, President Gaya, and his wife. I think this is going to be really cool. He does speak English, but we have to speak slower, and I think he'll only get better as time goes on. (And if all else fails, Elder Prouteau is teaching me French in exchange for guitar lessons on P-days.) Apparently, President Gaya used to be a professional soccer player for New Caledonia, which, I think, is pretty cool.

I have to apologize, I'm a little bit scatter-brained every time that I write these letters, because there is so much to say, and so much that happens in any given week that I don't know what to include.

I love this place. It was worth the wait at the MTC to come here. While at the MTC, we were read letters from some of the elders that had been in Madagascar for a week to a month, and all of the letters sounded horrified. They all sounded like they were having a severe culture shock. They said things like, "They told me this would be a 3rd world country, but I would say this is more like a 4th or 5th world country!" or "Everything's really dirty here, the food tastes terrible, everything smells like poo, there's mostly dirt roads ... etc..." And they all said things like, "...Tell the missionaries coming here that it's nothing like they expect and to prepare themselves, 'cuz it's gonna be a shock." Basically, they all sounded scared, if not a little disappointed.

I've been here a month and I can truthfully say that from day 1, I have loved this place. It is beautiful here! The people are wonderful! I haven't had a crippling culture shock, This place is very different from home, but the people are so nice, and the place itself is so interesting that I can't help but be excited to be here.

I still don't know how to do street contacting or a door approach. This is partly because I have a good companion who makes sure that we have a full schedule everyday (we generally don't get home until after 9 pm.) But the other reason is because, the last 5 new investigators we've received while I've been here have come up to us as we're walking to our next appointment! They tap us on the shoulder, or call us over to them and say, "I've noticed you guys walking down the street everyday, what are you doing?" or even just, "I want to learn more about Christ--I want you to teach me--Here's my name and address." Wow. I don't even know what to say about that. I never expected anything like that to happen, and if it didn't actually happen to me, I would have trouble believing it.

These people are so humble, they know the importance of religion, and they are willing to hear our message. Sometimes it's difficult to convey the importance of our message, the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, or in other words, the only true church . It's just too easy for them sometimes to place the things we say to them where they have already comfortably placed their own religion, namely: A social event on Sundays, and not something that actually effects the rest of their lives. All too often, we have a great discussion and they feel the spirit and completely accept everything we say, and comment that, "yeah, this makes sense, Duh, the fall of Adam and Eve was a good thing, of course we need a prophet, of course we need true priesthood authority....etc." they even read the Book of Mormon, and say that they know it's true. But surprisingly, this doesn't always seem to make a difference, and it's sad.

BUT, then, you get the investigators who get it, and it's beautiful. I am running out of time so I'll write more about them next week. Suffice it to say that, there are people here ready to receive the gospel, and I've met a few of them. We already have a baptismal date this month with one of our investigators, Sister Bertina, (in whose grass hut I ate cow stomach my first week.) She is wonderful. I've already witnessed a baptism here. The church is still in its infancy here. And we are searching for the select people who will remain strong especially after we leave, so that they can build up the church. This work is hard but satisfying, and I know why I'm here, so any frustrations that exist, and will exist are slight. I directed the lesson for the first time this week, It was at a less active's house. He had been baptized a year ago, and stopped coming about 3 months in and that's all I knew about him. When we got there, my companion said, "OK, you're teaching the lesson," which admittedly, scared me to death. But I went in and spoke Malagasy, and showed him the baptismal covenants in Moroni 4 and 5, and basically chewed him out for 20 minutes. After I stopped talking, I realized that I had been a little harsh. (But I was happy just that he understood me!) and my companion had to say nice things for the last five minutes, and we left. I kind of felt bad for chewing him out, BUT, he came to church on Sunday again, and bore his testimony! Well, got to go.


Elder Draper