Hey.
Monday was a national Holiday, celebrating the Pentecost, which actually was on Sunday, but carried through to Monday to give everyone an excuse to take the day off, and consequently denied the missionaries their "day off" because everything we need to do on
P-day was closed. So P-day, was moved, this week only, to Tuesday, which also happened to be my companion's birthday. Elder W is now 22. We tried E-mailing yesterday amid all of things jam-packed into our schedule, but the Internet cafe was ridiculously slow and we couldn't switch the keyboards from the French to the English setup. Basically, thus far in the mission, this area just might be my favorite. We've been doing, I think, the best and most satisfying work of my mission in that all of our investigators are progressing, and consider us friends of the family. I feel much more a part of the community here. The families here are great. They invite us to family get-togethers, birthday parties, they invite us over for dinner or lunch on a regular basis. What's more, they give us referrals to more family members and friends. This however, and happily, fills our work day to the brim, and we get home every night at or past 9:30 very tired. This also interferes with writing letters and getting the other things done that we plan on doing. So we E-mail whenever we can, which is usually during our lunch hour during the week.
My companion is awesome, we get along great. I think he had a good birthday yesterday. We went to a really nice "expensive" restaurant (high quality steak and sauteed potatoes for about 5$. Our perception of money and what is expensive has changed a little bit since we've been here). Really good food though. We also took a bus to the top of a place called hautville which is a large hill/ small mountain in the middle of Antananarivo from which you can see the entire city ( and every area in the mission, the two outlying provinces excepted). This large hill/ small mountain is absolutely covered with houses,churches , trees, and winding roads. At the top is the Rova, or king's palace which was burned down about 20 years ago, and is slowly being rebuilt. There is also the queen's palace nearby and a large Catholic-looking church apparently "built in remembrance of the Martyrs". It is a beautiful place, I'd even say it was "breathtaking" to watch the sunset from there. From there the Hill, the whole city, has an almost fairytale-like quality. It was cool. I really like this place.
After that, we walked down the to Lova's, a member who actually lives at the bottom of this hill/mountain and had a " fety kely" ( little party) for Elder Wangsgard. We've made so many good friends on this little mission of ours. Lova has been a member for quite a while now, and she served a mission in South Africa, and is a good friend to all the missionaries. At one point in the party, someone asked to see her journal/photo album ( these people love pictures) of the missionaries she's made friends with since she's been a member. It was funny when she showed me the first page and says " this one's my cousin" and then I turn to the next page and see Sister Nibley, and say " that's funny, 'cuz this one's mine!". Cool. Anyway it was nice, we sang " joyeux anniversaire" to Elder W while I played the Valia ( a really weird stringed instrument they have here) and gave him a cake. Then I sang " Arabahina, Tratra ny Nitsingerintaona ny Nahaterahanao Ianao Wangsgard!" as fast as I could. It was rough, but I did it.
Well, I've got many more stories to tell. I'm writing them down in my journal. I really love this place. I really love these people. And I'm beginning to be more and more fascinated by the history and culture of this place which I am convinced very few people know about. I'm beginning to recognize the differences between the tribes here in people's accents and even how they look. I even have two favorite tribes out of the 18 here, because of their history and their more friendly disposition in general. These are the Bestileo, and the Bestimisaraka. I'm excited to tell you more about everything in detail when I get home. But because of what I'm learning about the history and culture of this place, the more respect I have for it, and more and more I am relating to the people, or rather more and more I am becoming a Malagasy ( sort of). People are amazed when I guess what tribe they are from and gain an instant respect for me. It's nice. Sometimes they joke and ask me what tribe I'm from, to which technically I could reply, "Cambell, or Mclarin", or even "Scandinavian and British Isles", but I like to say this " I'm half Betsimisaraka, and half Betsileo" - they seem to get a kick out of that.
Anyway, I'm enjoying myself. Madagascar is cool. Oh yeah- dad, for curiosity's sake, and if you can; what are the days of the week in Arabic and what do the numbers sound like? ( up to 10), I don't know if you could anglicise it or something like that. just wondering. I've heard so many different theory's and ideas about what Malagasy is. There is apparently (from greatest to least amount, round about, from all that I've read) Indonesian, Malaysian, Bantu, Swahili, Arabic, Sanskrit as well as some French and English in the mix. I don't know about any of them except the English and the French ( which words are few and far in between). Apparently, the first form of written of Malagasy was written in a manipulated form of Arabic. There is only two examples of it left found on some ancient paper which is locked up and nobody is allowed to see it.
Alright then. I'm out of time. I love you all. Happy 50th anniversary Grandma and Grandpa Draper. I hope everyone's doing well. I pray for you all, and I'm positive you're doing the same for me. So thanks. OK Veloma
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