2007 November 26--Cake to Go

Well hi,

Thanksgiving was good. We ate at the Kartchner's and it was delicious.

I'll start by telling you last week's "funny" story. On Tuesday,the day after my birthday, we were having a terrible day. None of our appointments were going through, it rained, then it was hot and miserable, and we were walking everywhere. So, the only appointment that went through was the very last one; a sort of "family-home-evening" with the ward missionaries.

We got there and I was already fed up with the day, but nobody at the appointment was taking charge or trying to get things going, so I took over and used what little enthusiasm I had left from the long day to jump-start the party. And it worked, for a bit, but it was not self-sustaining and mellowed down to a silent room again. Nobody else had any ideas for a game or anything to make it fun, so I decided to end the "party" ( or rather, the "anti-party") and call it a night. As soon as I did so, the entire room stood up and walked out fairly abruptly ( especially for Malagasy who love to linger longer most of the time) before I could shake hands and say "veloma". I was I little thrown off by this, but I followed them out to say good bye, and I was attacked ....... by several handfulls of flour, and then somebody yelled "happy birffffday!" and then nailed me in the back of the head with an egg, it stung (either he had a good arm, or he was 3 feet away from me, or both.)

I was confused, and a little distraught (apparently, this is a Malagasy "fomba" or tradition, but I was unaware of this until after the fact. I thought they were just being mean; "We didn't make you a cake, but here's all the ingredients! IN YOUR FACE! HAHAHA ".)

I stood there speechless for a bit, with a confused look on my face, and then I started walking in the general direction of home, without saying anything. I think I scared the ward missionaries to death, "OH NO! Elder Jean Pierre is mad at us! what do we do?!" In reality, I wasn't angry, it had just been a long day, and I had nothing more to say, so I started walking home.

Our "member-present" stats went down that week - I think the ward missionaries were scared of me and avoiding me for as long as possible. Then I finally called them, and told them it was alright, and then they started coming with us again. Now everything's back to normal.

Yesterday, we had another baptism. Rasoamboavonjy Marie Iharinala was baptized by her husband, the long time member, Baly. We've been teaching Vonjy ( Baly's wife) for 4 months now, and it's great to see her baptized. Baly is 45 , and 5' 4'' . Vonjy is 21 and almost 6' . So basically, Baly married a woman half his age and twice his size. Funny how things balance each other out huh? He wanted me to baptize her, but I insisted that he should, and reassured him that, "people are lighter in the water". He did a good job; she went all the way down, and, with some struggle and a funny distressed Baly's face, she came all the way back up again.

Ok, I'm out of time, I love you all. Have a nice week.

Veloma!

Elder Draper