2007 October 7--Slip of the Tongue

Hi:

Clearing up misconceptions is one of the things we do best (or most.) Well actually, we probably start a few of them. Among the most widely-circulated misconceptions about our church in Madagascar is that "we pray naked." In Malagasy, you do not ask "What church do you go to?" you ask simply "Where do you pray?" So when people say that our church "prays naked," they're actually saying that we go to church and get naked. I have wondered many times over how in the world this particular rumor started but arrived at no satisfactory conclusion. I don't know how many people I've had to reassure that "No, we DON'T pray naked!" in the course of my mission, but it's more than a few. I used to think it was some mean-spirited Protestant church that started the rumor, but now I'm thinking this one's our fault. I will explain. In Malagasy, the word for "naked" and the word for "strong" are very similar - there is only one letter difference. In the course of new missionaries arriving and struggling to put a sentence together with their feeble and sparse vocabulary, mistakes have been made. Here's one I've heard a couple of times from new missionaries struggling to teach; they try to say: "When we pray together, we grow strong (matanjaka) together" they end up saying: " when we pray together, we get naked ( m i tanjaka) together." Sigh. Every language has it's traps for the unwary beginner (IE: apparently in Icelandic, the word for "spirit" and the word for "rabbit" are very similar, which probably makes for hilarious missionary testimonies in sacrament meetings and even funnier Plan of Salvation lessons,) but Malagasy, it seems, has a lot more "traps" than most ( and you usually end up saying something way worse than "rabbit".) Here's another example. If you're walking down the road, a common form of greeting is to ask "Where are you going?" and a usual response is "I'm just walking around" (mitsangatsangana). Unfortunately, the word for "walking around"(mitsangatsangana) and "to fornicate"(mijangajanga) sound very similar to the untrained ear. We've seen a few confused stares at our attempted response to the above greeting ("You're going Fornicating!?")

I had a good week. We did not cast out any devils, nor did we have to convince anyone that they were not possessed. I did have to clear up the "naked misconception" a couple of times, but that was kind of funny. I didn't get the e-mail from Mom yet, but thanks, Dad, for the update. I still haven't seen the conference yet. But I'm looking forward to it. OK then, I'm out of time. So, I love you all. Have a nice day. Veloma!

Elder Draper