06 Oct 30--Poverty and the "Red Island"

Well, another week here on the "Red Island" has come and gone. Yesterday and Saturday, we finally had the chance to watch conference. It was one of the best I've seen. It's great to hear from you. I got a package of Halloween candy from the Kings, so tell them thanks for me, (or misaotra or merci or whatever.)

The winning story for this week goes as follows: On Thursday as we were on our way to another appointment, we saw a man lying motionless in the middle of the sidewalk near a busy street. Since I've been here, I've seen lots of drunk people and am used to seeing drunk people doing strange things, but there was something different about this person. We asked some other people how long he had been there and if he was drunk. They said he had been there a half hour and that he was not drunk but very sick. I looked a little closer and it occurred to me that he was probably on the verge of starving to death. Immediately we thought of calling the police or an ambulance to come and help. The second we started to help, a crowd of people came to see what we were doing, and started to block traffic. I handed the phone to several different people to call police or somebody. None of them knew the number, and it was starting to get ridiculous, so I finally took the phone back and flagged down a taxi. We picked the guy up--he was stiff as a board--and put him in the small taxi. I couldn't bend his knees, but we got him in somehow. As we picked him up, two policemen even drove by at separate times on motorcycles, and looked at us, but didn't stop. We got in, and drove him to the hospital.

When we got there, they took him and put him on a stretcher. The doctor beckoned us to follow him in. He looked at the man, and said he might be sick, but was probably starving, however, he could not help him unless we paid them first. We explained that we are missionaries and that we don't really have money. The nurses sarcastically retorted " we don't have money either" and started speaking French to us. They basically said to the effect that we were white, and of course we have money, all the while, the man lay unconscious on the stretcher. The hospital was only for French people and rich Malagasys, we realized as we looked at the people, and the nurses, who were very "well to do." We asked what we could do to get help for the man. They told us we could pay for IVs and an ambulance to transfer him to a different hospital, so we payed them and left. It was an eye-opening experience. I thought it was ironic that every day we walk down the street and people shout "Vazaha!" at us, they think we're French , and love to tell us how rich and selfish we are. And yet this man had laid a half hour on the street, about to die, and people just walked past him. They didn't even have a pretense of helping him, until we came. Personally, I could not, in good conscience, just walk past. In the mission rules, we are not allowed to give to beggars, and sometimes you feel guilty, but you have to keep walking.

Last night, as we were walking home, we came across the same area where we found the man we helped. Someone called us over as we passed. He didn't shout "Vazaha!", he didn't speak French in a mocking way,( he didn't even try to speak french, which was refreshing.) He pointed across the street at a woman with a baby, and told us that she needed help. We told him we didn't have any money, and why we were here, but that we would see what we could do. We walked over to see what the problem was. It was a cold night, and I asked if the house right next to us was her house, she said that it was. I felt the crying baby's hand and realized it was freezing. I suggested that she should go inside because the baby was cold. She refused and then said the house wasn't her house, I pointed out that she had already said that it was her house. She then agreed again, that it was indeed, her house. This conversation was beginning to get frustrating, if not a little weird. After talking with the lady for a little while, I arrived a the sad conclusion, that she was crazy, and that the house was in fact, her house, but that she refused to go in. We talked for a little bit more, and realized that we couldn't do anything, and left.

I realized a few things from these two experiences. The man who pointed the woman out, had seen us help the other man earlier that week ( I may have even given him the phone call the police.) And he knew that we weren't just regular people, and here to help. If not that, why else would he have called us over to help someone else? I also realized that sometimes, we can't help everyone, because they refuse to be helped. I also realized that, I love America. In America, if a man passed out on the sidewalk, even if he was drunk, 5 minutes wouldn't pass before 10 people with cell phones would be calling for help, and help would arrive promptly.

I still don't have any solid conclusions about life, except that I know the church is true. I still have lots of hope for these people. And I know that the gospel is the solution to every one of their problems. It won't eliminate all of their problems by any means, however, it will take care of some of the major ones and allow them to put their problems into perspective. I am here to help people, and I'm trying to give them something better than anything else anyone else has to offer.

Well, my time is up, and I've gotta go, so Veloma! and I'll write to you next week.

Elder Draper

06 October 23--Laugh Out Loud

Ny fianakaviako,

It's great to hear from all of you. Thanks for the letter Thomas, and Wade ( and of course, Mom and Dad.) I also received letters from Rosie, Jennie , and Jeff within the last 2 weeks, in fact, according to Jeff's letter, he left for Japan the day I got the letter. It's really cool to hear from everyone. I've been avoiding getting too tied down to a schedule because, well, that's just always been a prominent aspect of my personality ( although not necessarily a good aspect.) Consequently, I have found little time to respond, and the letters I did send were sent back, (apparently I'm not supposed to send pictures in letters.) But, I think this transfer is going to help me in that respect.

My new companion, Elder Rock, is hilarious. I think in this last week, I had more "laugh out loud moments" than the entirety of my mission. As a companionship, we are very impulsive - we taught another large group of kids, "Red Rover", ( and yes, another kid got clothes-lined, so we're going to think twice before doing that again,) we helped one of our investigators wash clothes, (we got the well water and everything;) we helped push a car out of the mud while it was raining, and we talk to a lot more people, etc... It's been fun.

I'm also having to deal with some new challenges. My new companion is self-admittedly not a linguist and that while he has been in the country for a year, he says that I'm better at the language. So, I'm having to lead most of the appointments, I carry the phone, I set up the appointments, I make sure we keep to the schedule, and I keep track of the statistics ( how many appointments, referrals, new members, baptisms, etc....), and so I'm having to completely leave my comfort zone and fight against my chaotic personality constantly, it's definitely a work in progress. This may be the start of a good thing, even though I'm dreading the outcome (I never want to become up-tight and bureaucratic about things, because those kinds of people bother me most.) However, I have never been good at consistancy, and that personality-trait has not done me any favors.

This country is wonderful, these people are great. We're going to help with a family-home-evening tonight in a house so small that our knees touch when we sit. The family is making food, and we're going to bring mofo-kajajaka ( cockroach bread, really brownies) the conection is about to go so I've got to as well veloma!
Elder Draper

06 October 16--Wonderful Week

Hello,

A wonderful week has come and gone. Unfortunately, it's still kind of cold here, and it's been that way since I've arrived. Apparently, it's supposed to be much hotter this time of year already, but then again, there's always next week. It's wonderful to here from you. Alice in Wonderland for Halloween: I'm really sad I have to miss this year. Oh Well, this place is it's own "wonderland" sometimes, you'll never get bored here if you pay attention:)

Anyway, the next set of new missionaries have come, and with them came transfers, so I have a new companion now. His name is Elder Rock, he is from Utah. He is wonderful and I am excited to work with him. He is probably the happiest missionary here, and it is definitely rubbing off on me. The word " Vazaha!" does not bother me half as much as it did working with Elder D, just because Elder Rock is so happy (and as great as Elder D is, he always made a point of going after the "Vazaha sayers" and getting very angry at them) So, I'm looking forward to the day when the word "Vazaha" and the people that come up to us thinking we're French and accuse us of being the cause of all their problems will no longer bother me at all. Elder Rock is so happy to the point that, if you didn't know him, you might think he was a little slow in the head, (for lack of a better description.) However, Elder Rock is actually very smart, and he said something very wise to me my first day working with him; He said," If you can't learn to control your own emotions, how are you supposed to even begin to help these people?" He went on to say that, while we're only 19 and 20 years old, these people begin to trust us and let us in to their lives, and that we're kind of like Psychiatrists because for some reason, we know what they need to do to overcome their problems and when they take "our" advice, it works. So, I'm trying to be more calm, and have more charity everyday.

Guitar lessons are good. I have about 6 people that have become regulars and they have come every week for the past month and a half and all I had to do was stop them on the street once and play their guitars once. I only wish it was that easy for getting people to come to church. I'm a little bit scatter-brained right now and I don't have too much time to write, but my goal for the letter next week is a coherent and informative letter. OK, well I've gotta go. It's lovely to hear from all of you, Thanks for the letters.

I love you and I pray for all of you always. Veloma!

Elder Draper.

06 June 12-- Arrived! First Email

-- Editor's note: The order of the blogs, starting with this one, changes. This entry is the first email we received and the following entries are in chronological order. Each entry includes the original email date. Happy reading. Cheers, ND--


Bonjour! Manahoana!
Ny fianakaviako,

Well, where do I begin? I'm here, & this place is incredible! My new companion's name is Elder Kofoed( pronounced CO FED, & I enjoy calling him "kufid") I actually got to stay with someone from my MTC district, Elder Prouteau! We live in a really nice red-stucco(spelled write? right?) house. There are four elders in it: Me, Elder Kofoed, Sommers, & Prouteau. It's actually quite a nice house--it even looks good. The cockroaches are small--apparently we can get big spiders (I saw what I thought was a "Big" spider on my bed, as it was bigger than the spiders we saw in Florida, but apparently, I was wrong) (Cool.) My companion's a great cook--we had a pot roast with mashed potatoes & gravy on Sunday--it was good. Speaking of food, I've already eaten at several investigators' houses.

The food doesn't actually taste bad--it's just a little unnerving to eat it when I'm not used to anything here yet. However(kanefa,) no worries--I haven't gotten sick yet, so I think it's gonna be just fine. These people are amazing. They don't have anything, & yet they are willing to give it all to you. As you sit in a grass hut with a dirt floor and clay walls while eating a large portion of rice, with ... something sprinkled on top of it, you think, "Wow, why have I ever complained about anything?" You basically feel like a spoiled brat. And while you eat, they look at you for your approval as if to say, "Do you like my food?" & then they say it: "Ny Sakafo tsara ve?(Is the food good?") To which you reply, "Tsara be!(it's wonderful!") & all the while you're smiling & thinking: just chew, don't think, just chew. They're so nice it's almost heartbreaking.


This place is so interesting. One minute you're walking through rice patties & brick houses piled on top of each other(which might be considered the "2nd world") & then suddenly you turn a corner or walk through an alley & you're in the 1st world & it looks nicer,in some ways, than the U.S. Then, if you walk a little further, you get the grass huts(3rd world.) We have investigators from all three. I was teaching about the Book of Mormon in a very nice house, one that I think mom could see in one of her design magazines(& only 1 person lived in it.) After that, we went & taught about baptism in a tiny grass hut(& 5 people lived in that,) & we've taught in everything in between. Now, when I say "I taught," I mean I actually said things & they were actually understood! Amazing!

The people here love that we speak Malagasy. As we walk through out the day, hundreds of kids follow us, or shout, "Manahoana Vazaha! (pronounced vaza) which means 'foreigner', or 'French guy', or basically 'White guy'. It's true, we are the only white guys. But it's great and the kids are wonderful. I'll tell you more later but I gotta go! veloma!

Madagashlycrumb

Elder Draper

06 June 19--Broken String

Hey,

This week was fun. I had only been in the country 4 days, body's guitar string. Two Malagasy men were playing guitar on the side of the road, and of course I ask, "Afaka mitendry ny gitaranoa?" So the guy happily gave up his guitarand I already managed to break some momentarily to this weird "vazaha" and let me play. It was tuned really weird, so I couldn't really play what I wanted. So, he told me to tune it how I liked. I did so, and started playing. As I was playing, I noticed that this had drawn a crowd, and I was surrounded by Malagasys. I stopped playing, and the people applauded, and said things like, "tena mahay izy!" (he's really good.) My companion said that we had to go, so I gave the guitar back. But now he couldn't play because of the tuning, so he asked me to tune it back. Thankfully, there was another guitar so I actually could tune it back. Every thing was going fine... that is until the Last String, and well... you Know the rest. He didn't seem to mind too much. But we got his address (which is almost completely useless here--nobody actually knows where they live or how to give directions, and they all point in different directions... but we find it eventually...with the help of the spirit,) and I bought him another guitar string in town, and when we find his house, I think it will be a good 1st discussion:)

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I live in a place called Talatamaty (which literally means, "Dead Tuesday") and it's wonderful. I spent my first 7 nights here eating in a grass hut. In fact, I've already eaten Cow Stomach with rice (which my companion neglected to tell me until after the appointment. All I knew was they said it was "hena omby" (meat of cow) and I was thinking the whole time, "This doesn't taste like "hena omby".) But I still haven't gotten sick, so count your many blessings. Speaking of food, my companion is actually a really good cook... we had pot roast on Sunday or Alahady, and it was good (and it tasted like hena omby--fuzz free.)

The people here are wonderful. They never get used to seeing " vazahas" (white guys) walking down the street, so everybody stares, and says, "Bonjour." The kids always stop whatever they're doing and shout, "Bonjour vazaha!" ("good day white guy," because everybody knows that all white people are French.) Our retort is, "Manahoana zaza!"(how ya doin' children!...(it rhymes with vazaha)) and their eyes go wide--it's pretty funny. The kids love to follow us, and always request a "dona kely," which is basically asking for a knuckle handshake. It's cool. It's also fun when it's later in the night and very dark outside and we can't see people until they're about to run into us, and they can see us a mile off in the dark (being the only white people, and in white shirts,) --and somebody sees you and says, "Good Morning!" Funny.

I'm amazed how interested in the gospel people here are. We did a first discussion earlier this week (and I actually was partially, semi-understood! Awesome!) And the people were so receptive, it was unreal. More and more people kept coming into the room to listen. They even turned off the fuzzy television football game to listen! They were answering questions and asking great questions, I almost felt like stopping the lesson to say "Are you serious? You're just eating this up! Are you sure you don't have any problems with what we're saying? Like--I don't know--your church isn't true? Really? OK then." This has happened more than once. It's great\Well gotta go. Veloma!

Elder Draper\Madagashlycrumb

06 June 27--Beautiful Place

Hi,

I kind of got the luck of the draw with the computers at this internet cafe. Every thing's really slow so I took most of my time waiting for your letters to come up, and creating this account. But no worries. I got mom's letter this time. It's great to hear from you and to hear how every one's doing (I didn't know Tim was getting married and everything else was nice to know.)

I finally got sick this week. But generally speaking, I feel great. I sleep here! And it feels wonderful! That didn't happen at the MTC. And I will only sleep better once I actually have a bed (The elders before me kind of destroyed it the day before I came. Apparently it was a "back flip" competition.) And I spoke too soon about there being only "little" cockroaches in our house :)

This place is beautiful! I wish all of you could see it. There is nothing that is "Disney Landish" or fake about this place. The rice patties that we walk through everyday are incredible. I make my companion stop every so often so we can just look at this place. I am taking pictures, but they will never do it justice. Jesse would love to come here and just Paint.

I will have to write a letter during the week so that I can include more in these things. Yesterday was Madagascar's Independence Day, so we moved our P-day to today. Sometimes some Malagasys show their dislike for the French on this day (and since all white people are French, we changed our P day to today and went home a little early so as to avoid those Malagasys.) But no worries, We are bigger than almost everyone here, and most people know who we are and what we do.

I will tell you more next week about this and I WILL include a good spiritual story if I can help it because that's primarily what this experience has been. I love you all. Veloma!

Elder Draper

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

06 July 10--Mormon Choir

Ny fianakaviako,

Sorry about not letting you know that I did, in fact, receive your e-mails. I also got Sascha's. It's great to hear from you. It's amazing, it seems like you guys are keeping pretty busy.


This week was fun. I got to know the new president and his wife a little bit better. We drove into town almost everyday this week, which completely depleted our taxi fund. The drive from Talatamaty (or "Dead Tuesday" where I live) to Antananarivo is about a 45 minute to an hour and a half drive. This week we had P-day, Independence Day, Island Conference, and our individual interviews with the new president, all on different days. So, consequently, we didn't get to spend as much time with our investigators as we would have liked. But It was a good week.

Recently, my companion and I have been focusing on reactivating some of the less-active members. Among them is a guy named Frere Parfai. Parfai is a cool guy. He was actually the World Champion Kick-boxer twice in a row. (I'm not kidding.) His house is interesting. He lives in what we would consider to be a shack next to a dirt road, but in this house, he has brand new leather couches, a nice TV, and system to go with it, and a whole wall dedicated to his Trophies. Interesting guy--I'm kind of scared to "Chew him out" about not coming to church, though. But not to worry, I think he'll come to,(now that the missionaries are visiting his house, I think he knows that he's now on the "inactive" list, and that we won't leave.)

President Gaya is wonderful. I think he will do some great things for this mission. He wants us to focus on bringing inactive members back to church, and to strengthen the members in our branches, by having them participate in the lessons, and in fellowshipping. I have thought of the same thing since I've been here. My companion told me that he has been frustrated that he hasn't seen that many baptisms on his mission, and knows that lots of other elders are baptizing a lot. I told him that I would rather baptize 2 people that were going to remain strong in the church, than 10 who would just go inactive. (Of course, you can only do so much to make sure, but it's important that people understand what they're doing BEFORE they're baptized, and I'm not sure all the missionaries here are doing that.) But when President Gaya came and said exactly what I had been thinking, I knew that it was a good thing that we have been so careful about making sure our investigators really understand the importance of the Gospel, before they're baptized. President Gaya wants us to build up the branches with the existing members first. (We still have lots of investigators, but we'll focus more on this.) He said that statistically, it might not be as satisfying, but if we had all of our members coming to church, we would have THREE stakes in Antananarivo alone. I think that's important too. If we strengthened the members first, then the new converts would have something strong to come into, and they would have a strong support system, and so on and so forth... I'm excited for the future.

This morning was a sad morning for elder Prouteau, as he found out that France lost to Italy in the Final game in the World Cup, in other news. (We couldn't talk to him for a while there, but he's doing alright now.)

I love this Place. I find something new everyday. There is beautiful sunsets every single day, like, if not surpassing Florida's. I walk through rice patties every day and I still have to stop sometimes, just to look at everything. This is changing my life. On the fourth of July, we went to the Hilton Hotel to sing for the American Embassy. (It said on the program, "Mormon Choir"--I think they were a little disappointed that we weren't the Mormon "Tabernacle" choir, but oh well.)

There were a lot of "important" rich people there. Ambassadors, The Vice President of this country, Representatives from every Major Religion, and Big Business in Madagascar. Lots of French, lots of Americans, lots of Affluent Malagasy People. From the moment I walked in, I felt out of place. There were too many white people. Nobody said, "bonjour vahaza," or "Manahoana." They said, "How ya doin' guys!" and we didn't know what to say. Everything was so Nice--there was an ice Statue of Liberty, and a buffet table (so good,) and lot's of political speeches, that, while very passionate, were almost pointless, and very political. Everyone was given champagne (we all refused of course,) and they made a toast. It was nice, and we met some nice people, but in the end, it was an elaborate, expensive, NOTHING when compared to what is really important. That night, we taught Seor Bertine in a grass hut, and I felt more comfortable there. We were doing something important. This meeting was far from pointless, in fact, we taught THE Point. It's hard for me to describe this feeling, but I'm so glad I'm here. I can't think of anything right now that would be more important.

Elder Draper

06 July 31--Rice

Hello again,

It's nice to hear from all of you! I would love to get Jeff's address. I would also love to get that recipe for Fasanjan, because while I have never eaten more rice in my life, no one here knows what basmati is, BUT you can get it here. And my companion, Elder Kofoed, is THE best cook in the mission, so he would also like a go at the Persian food, as this is our last week together before transfers--time flies.

This week was lovely. Elder Golden, who is the Presiding General Authority over the Southern Africa area, came and spoke to us this week. It was very enlightening. My companion and I were able to have some great teaching and learning experiences this week, because of Elder Golden's counsel.

We have an investigator named Henry, who lives with his family in a small one-room, dirt-floor house with a tin roof and a bed that takes up about a third of it. He works every day of the week, and as a result, cannot come to church on Sunday. This has been a very difficult problem for us to help him with. He is very diligent in reading the scriptures and understands them very well, BUT he cannot progress until he comes to church. He even knows that church is very important, and wants to come. So, we've tried to help him overcome this obstacle for awhile now, but with no success. This last visit was very interesting. I think we were able, through the spirit, to get through to him. We almost had him teach the lesson. I was trying to think of a good example, to convey the importance of faith, and putting God before anything else; without DIRECTLY telling him that he didn't have enough faith to stop working on Sunday, and come to church to SHOW God his faith, because who am I to tell someone who barely makes enough as it is, to stop working on Sunday? That would be impertinent. And then, an example came. I was reminded of the excuse that A LOT of other investigators put forth as to why "they CAN'T come to church." Namely, "I can't come to church on Sunday, because that's the day I wash my clothes,"...pitiful.(Admittedly, washing clothes is a more involved process here, but come on!) So I gave him this example, and then said, "which is more important...washing clothes, or God?" I honestly didn't know if that would help him get it at all, but there it was. But to my (and my companion's) surprise, he took it EXACTLY the right way, and said, "WOW, that's exactly what I'm doing with my work! I don't have enough faith that God will bless and help me if I do his will," and then proceeded to teach the lesson. We felt the spirit very strongly, and after we left, we realized what we were asking him to do, and it was exciting, and scary at the same time. Then we went to our next appointment, to another investigator with the same problem, but with a bigger family to support, and I gave the same example, and the SAME thing happened! We went home that night feeling like, if we expect these people to make a sacrifice this big in their lives, we had better do everything we can as missionaries to obey the spirit and the rules with exactness, and NOT MESS IT UP! It's a little daunting sometimes.

So much is happening that is changing my life for the better. Seour Bertina was baPtized yesterday (thank you dad, it's "atao ny batisa" in Malagasy;) and it was wonderful.

I would love to say more but my time is gone, so Love ya, And I'll write the rest in my journal (if I have time;) VELOMA!

ELDER DRAPER
( I like the way our last name sounds here, people say it like, "Jappear:" emphasis on the "PEAR" and they roll the "R")

06 July 1--Cow Feet

Hello again.

Another week has come and gone. It's good to hear from all of you--(Mom, Dad, Sascha and Jesse) Thanks for the E-mails. You made my P day
better.

This week was a little more frustrating than most--in that most of our appointments fell through, but I remain optimistic for the future. I also have found LOTS of things about myself that I can improve on (which, to be completely honest, also made this week a "little more frustrating than most.") I have a lot to do, and a lot to improve, but I'm looking forward to the "improving" with confidence. I'm looking forward to competently speaking this language as soon as possible. And I think I know what to do.

This place remains amazing. I hope I never forget that during the course of my mission, because I think that some of the missionaries here have forgotten. How sad for them.

We had the opportunity to help build a "house" this week. Soeur Bertina, who will be baptized in about 2 weeks, purposely demolished her grass hut because the mud-bricks were starting to... well... turn back into mud. So we helped her build a new one. Everybody was watching us from their windows. People stopped on the street--the workers stopped helping us build, just to watch the four white guys work with their hands. It felt a little weird. But apparently it sparked interest, and a bunch of people came to ask Soeur Bertina who we were, and "where we prayed." (You don't ask, "what church do you belong to?" here, you ask, "Where do you Pray?") Anyway, I think we helped out a lot, and they gave us lots of food afterwards to thank
us,(lots of rice, and ... something else :)

Speaking of food, I also had the opportunity to have Tongotraomby (cow feet) this week. My companion honestly didn't know what it was. ("just eat it, elder") It was funny because my companion's name, "Kofoed" means "cow feet" in Danish, and he always said to the Malagasy, that he would never eat his name, so he was kind of upset when he found out. (His name didn't taste very good, I guess.)

Anyway, Got to go, but it was lovely to hear from you. I'll let you know if I accomplish some of the things I hope to improve this week.

Love ya