Zone Conference with Elder Cook

This has been a crazy week but a great one! And we had a great finish to the week as well! This past week we were able to get a lot done that we wanted to so that was way good!

Monday we just had a chill at home P-day. Those are probably some of the best P-days. We taught Liva and Hery that night about the Sabbath day and had a great lesson with them. They are awesome and I love going to them every Monday.

Tuesday we had a great day of teaching. We taught Modesta first about Joseph Smith again. He understood it really well. It was good. He needed it. Then we taught Dorice and showed him the Finding Faith in Christ video since he really has no background in that. It was good; the movie is very clear and it's a lot easier to understand as a video. Then we got Toky's dad, Lalaclerc, and taught those Muslim people that we contacted into. We taught the Restoration and the Book of Mormon and gave them a copy. The one really liked it and is excited to read it. Then we taught Dieu Donne about the Book of Mormon and he accepted a baptismal date for the 31 of October. We also taught Ulrich, a less active member who is a super awesome guy. He's a Melchezidek Priesthood holder and we need him so bad in this branch right now. The Lord needs him. 

Wednesday we taught Dada first thing about the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity. He just has a problem with smoking though that he has had since he was a teenager. He is already starting to quit and the desire is there so we are helping him a lot right now and praying for him to get him to quit. We taught Timoty after that and read the Joseph Smith story with him and his dad to get a refresher on that. They are doing awesome and are progressing really well. We had a great lesson with Ordance and she is reading! Finally! I kind of got upset with her last time we were there and told her that this is the most important thing that she could do in her life and that she needs to read on her own. We had given her a reading assignment in 3 Nephi 11 and I hate to admit but I had doubts about her actually reading it. But she read! And she loves it! She finally sees the value of it and it was honestly like a relief lifting from my shoulders when she said that she had not only read but had continued to 3 Nephi 18. We taught the Asian guy, Andry, and his family again. We want to teach him so bad but we'll just have to go slowly I guess. We taught Mahazo also to finish of the day and had a great lesson with him about the temple and he loved it. He came to church and it was just such a relief. 

Thursday we taught Dorice again about the apostasy and the prophets. We have to go slow with him because he has a hard time if we give to much information at once. Then we taught Olivier about prayer and answer to prayer and had a good lesson with him. We gave him a baptismal date also for the 31 of October. We did some tracting and contacted into a very cool lady that just let us in. She saw us and knew that we had something good to bring so she let us in. We had a good discussion with her and showed her the 1st video and she loved it. The only potential problem with her is that her husband works on boats so he is gone to France for months at a time on barges. We had a great lesson with a less active member that we were not able to get a hold of for awhile. We read from Alma chapter 5 which is a super great chapter by the way and has great insights and is a good right if you are feeling a little prideful or content. It'll burst that bubble real fast haha. 

Friday we got a surprise phone call from Toky. He told us that we needed to go to his house right now because there was some letters for us from the mission. He said they had pictures of the American flag all over it, like 7 pictures or I guess they were stamps. Hmmm...?? So yeah we went over to his house and there were things for us but also he had received his mission call and we went with him to the branch president's house and opened it. I took a video but I'm in the mission office right now and don't have a card reader to upload the pictures. But he is going to Congo and leaves on the 29 of Octobers. We taught Vololona and had an interesting lesson with her about Alma 5. At the end she had a lot of questions from a Jehovah's Witness book that she had received. It was a little annoying but we set things straight. We taught Ordance and finished the Book of Mormon with her using the guide that we were given at zone conference a couple conferences ago. We had a lot of lessons fall through after that which was very lame. But we did teach a less active that has been under the radar for a little while. But we had a good lesson with him and were able to get to know him a little bit better. His name is Jean Marc and he is really good friends with a member that is on a mission right now for our branch. He gets back pretty soon and so we should get some more solidity in the branch. 

Saturday we had a good English class and had a bunch of people show. We had Dada fall through and that was lame but we had Timoty and had a great lesson with them. They bore their testimonies to us about the Book of Mormon and the truthfulness of the church. And then they thanked us for coming and teaching them and helping them re-discover what they already knew. We then went to a lady that we contacted into the other day and gave her a Book of Mormon. She loved it and is excited to read and we are excited to go back and see how she is going.

Sunday we had church and President Lalari was there from the mission presidency. We had a lot of people come to church too. We had 70 people there it was awesome. It was also Chael's last Sunday because she is leaving for her mission tomorrow. After church we went to the airport and got on a p[lane and flew to Anosibe, which is this little island of the coast in the north. It is a super touristic place and so it was no surprise that tons of white people got on the plane there. And then we were off to Tana. We got there and got personally picked up by President and the AP's. We just went back to the mission home and hung out there while my companion and the new AP got interviews. So while we were waiting for that we got fed and had a photoshoot at Sister Foote's request. So that's why my picture was on Instagram. We stayed at the Ap's apartment last night with a bunch of other elders.

Today was an awesome day. We had the zone conference this morning at 8 at the church building right next to the US Embassy with Elder Cook of the Quorum of the 70. It was a great zone conference and it was all about conversion and obedience. Conversion is all about being true to the gospel. Conversion is a gift of gratitude to God for the gift of testimony. And Obedience is the key. It is our choice whether to live the higher standard or not. There is no in between. It is either you are doing it or not. I really liked it a lot and gave me a lot of conviction to try to be a better missionary and bless our investigators.

Thanks for tuning in this week to my droning on. Peace out and remember that the real show of our faith is through works. And nothing is too precious to sacrifice to the Lord. You can either choose eternal life or disobedience. And yes, even the little things count.

Elder Coleman

Austin wasn't able to send any pictures this week because of traveling but thanks to Sister Foote I still got some!!!

Zone Conference

These pictures were posted by Sister Foote.

Tracting, tracting, Muslims, and more tracting

We had a good week this week. I was very happy with it and we saw some success. 

Monday we had our regular lesson with Liva and Hery and then we had a soiree with a returned missionary and Nantenaina. It was way fun. 

Tuesday we had a good day of teaching. We taught Dorsia and are helping him to learn more about Jesus Christ. It's kind of pointless to go to anything other than that if he doesn't understand that. We ended up dropping Vololona and Lala. They just were not going anywhere; not coming to church or reading or doing anything. We were able to find some new investigators too. We taught a new family, Niry is the mom's name. The husband was home but he was sleeping in the other room so we just showed the Restoration video with her. She loved it and we could tell she felt something. We also found a new guy named Olivier. He's cool and pretty smart. He'll go far I think. We then taught a guy from our English class, Dieu Donne. He asked us on Saturday if we could teach him. He was taught before but something happened and now we are teaching him. 

Wednesday we taught a lot. We taught Timoty and his family again and taught about the apostasy. It was a great lesson because as we talked about the foundation of Christ's church, everything just clicked in their minds about what happened and why Joseph Smith was needed. It was a great moment. We taught a bunch of less actives that day too. We taught one 18 year old that hasn't been to church in ages and he promised that he would come to church. Well he didn't. We taught Arlette about what it takes to get to the celestial kingdom and she understands pretty well she just isn't motivated to do it is the problem. Then we taught Mahazo, a less active recent convert and taught a great lesson about enduring to the end. 

Thursday we taught a lot too. We taught a bunch of new people that we tracted into. Most of them were Muslims. Muslims are very interesting to teach because they don't exactly believe in Jesus. One of the ladies acted like it was ridiculous to believe that the Son of God was born on earth to an earthly mother and that that kind of thing couldn't happen. They are interesting people for sure. We tracted into a very cool family and they were super excited to see us. They basically dragged us into their house to teach them. So we showed them the video of the Restoration and it was a disaster. The lady that was so eager to hear was a hardcore 7th day Adventist and she just would not have it. She flat out refused that the story could be true and just completely turned against us at that point. It wasn't a total loss though. The one guy in the house saw the part about the Book of Mormon and that struck him with interest. So we gave him one and invited him to English class. 

Friday we didn't have the best day. Lots of times fell through. But as we were doing weekly planning that morning we came across a teaching record of an investigator that was apparently super smart and a great investigator. He left during the teaching and was going to come back a few months after. Well we decided to see if we could find his house.We didn't but we ended up finding another lady that let us in. She said that earlier that day, some missionaries had come by and knocked and she didn't let them in. She felt bad about it and wondered if they were sent from God to bless her and she turned them down. SO we she saw us come to her door she let us in. We had a great lesson about Joseph Smith and the spirit was very strong there and she loved it. We are excited to go back to her this week. 

Saturday we had English class in the morning and we watched Meet the Mormons. I thought they would like it because they don't have to listen to us drone on but no: they complained. Malagasies... You give them a gift and they complain. It's just a great thing. We had a lot of lessons fall through again on Saturday. We taught Timoty's family and had a great lesson with them. Before the lesson he told us he had been doing the homework that we gave him, that is, reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. And he said he knew it was true. I felt the power of it too when he said it. It was cool. 

Sunday we had Timoty's dad and Mahazo both come to church! IT was awesome! We didn't have a ton of investigators come but it's ok I guess. We'll keep working. A lot of our lessons fell through yesterday too so that was lame. We are going to work hard this week to fix up our program at the end of the week and we have a couple ideas for getting some of the members involved. 

Next week I am not sure if I will be able to email because the zone conference is on Monday. We are flying in to Tana on Sunday night, will have the zone conference on Monday and then come back Tuesday. 

Oh and also I forgot to mention but I crashed on my bike again. Friday night I crashed on the main road. The gears on the bike were super broken and they stick a lot and as I was going, they stuck way hard and I crashed somehow. Nothing bad, just a little sore now. My pants got destroyed though. 

Well have a great week everyone!

Elder Coleman

Cirque Rouge, Seaturtles, A little Asian/Malagasy wedding, sy Eldera Kôlmana...

Ok so this week was a short but long one. It went fast but I am so tired. I have never been so tired in my life as I have been here. 

Monday we went to a place called cirque rouge, which by translation means red circus if I am not mistaken in my very very broken French. It was a super cool place and it is right on the coast. It's just a super red canyon which would be like super cool if I hadn't you know like grown up with those around me my whole life, but nevertheless, it was a fun trip. I enjoyed it. We were able to walk around on the beach and climb up some hills and take some cool pictures. We were super tired after though. We got back and tried to go to Liva and Hery but we couldn't find their house. Yes I'll admit it; we got lost. As we were searching we started walking down this road that kinda felt sketchy. At one point a taxi stopped about 20m ahead of us and a guy got out with a gun. That was sketchy. No one has guns here. And right after that a girl came and told us that there are mpamono olona up the road so we decided to just teach them next week. It was already way late at this point anyway. 

Tuesday we had a really good day of teaching. We taught Modesta first thing about the apostasy and went super in depth to make sure he understood it. Well he did. it was a good lesson with him. We were able to teach quite a few other people that day as well from our contacting and we hope that they will be able to progress. We finished the day off with adolph. His daughter has been really sick and he told us he just doesn't know where to turn anymore. They've been to countless doctors and no one can find out what is really wrong with her and provide treatment. He asked us if we can give his daughter a blessing when she gets back from a visit with a doctor far away. This guy is awesome. He would honestly be baptized right now but his daughter is so sick that he hasn't been able to make it church and is repeatedly not home when we go to teach him but he is a stud. But right before our lesson with him we taught a less active member named Rogger. He is pretty old. We were there teaching him and his daughter came in and as we got acquainted, we found out that she is also less active. We asked her why she didn't come anymore and she said that she had changed to another church because at that church they cast out devils. Way frustrating.

Wednesday we taught Timoty and his family first thing and talked about the Book of Mormon. We are clearing a lot of false conceptions up about it such as: Joseph Smith wrote it and that the story of Joseph Smith is in the book and that it is the Bible. No matter how many times it is explained it seems, they still don't get it. Well it is the word of God and it is comparable to the Bible. It supports the Bible and explains concepts that are not entirely clear in the bible and more importantly it is a testament of Jesus Christ from the Americas. I have really gained a stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon here on my mission. I know without a shadow of a doubt that it is true and that it was translated by divine power and that it does contain the fullness of the gospel. And I know that it is from God. I learn new things every time I read it. Every time I open it and search its pages, it is as if it was the first time. I love that book more than any other book I have ever read. We had a couple more lessons after that with Dada and Vololona and finished the day off with a less active recent convert named Mahazo. He has a hard time understanding that he can't work on Sunday and that is why he isn't coming to church right now. We had good lesson about the baptismal covenant with him and just when we though he understood it, he completely flaked. So we will be reviewing that with him again I think. 

Thursday we taught a bunch and did a lot of contacting. A lot of contacting. We contacted into a couple times. The first one was a Muslim couple with two sons that are Catholic. Weird. But we talked about the Restoration with them and showed the video. They liked it a lot. We got  a return appointment and had them ponder about it to talk about next time. After that we contacted into a Lutheran guy that had never realized some things before. Well first off he said," Andriamanitra iray ihany" which is the biggest most frustrating sentence any Malagasy can say to us. It means,"there is only one God" and they use this to justify praying at different churches. Well we explained that if there was only one god then there should only be one church and that technically all the churches pray to a different god because they all have their own concept of him. That really got him thinking and he told us about how his family all pray at a different church. We showed the Restoration video and he liked it a lot.

Friday we had a wedding. A wedding for the strangest couple i have ever seen in Madagascar. Lucy is a member, less active. Andry is the name of her husband but that isn't his real name. He is actually from Myanmar which is in Southeast Asia. He has because a Malagasy citizen. Or I should say he became a Malagasy. Everything he does is exactly how Malagasies do things. He is amazing at Malagasy. But yeah it was their wedding and they invited us to go and so we went. We had lunch with them afterwards and we were fed sea turtle. Yep, Sea turtle. Super good if you want to know. We had a good day after that as well and taught Ordnace and then taught Vololona (Modesta's wife) and a less active named Juliette. 

Saturday was English class and I had a little surprise. I was sitting in the class teaching when all of a sudden Nantenaina from Antsirabe walked in. I was so excited and it was super random. But yeah she is up here vacationing for the week. It was so nice to see her. We taught Timotyagain about prophets and got a lot of things cleared up. They still haven't come to church so we are working on that. We had a lot of lessons fall through so we ended up doing a lot of contacting. We taught Dada again that day and then we went to the newly wedded couple and taught them. They ended up feeding us some more sea turtle so that was good. 

Sunday was a not so good day. We only had 52 people at church and only 4 investigators come. It was a little rough end to the week but we are hoping to get it going a lot better this week. We gave a couple of blessings yesterday, one to Toky's younger brother, Avotra. He is super sick. He was saying that he was freezing cold even though it was blazing hot outside. We were able to be a part of that so that was cool. For our first lesson, we taught some recent converts and she asked if we could give her a blessing because she is taking her final exam today. SO we gave her a nice little blessing. It's always cool to be a part of those. Our last few times fell through yesterday so that was lame. 

Today we don't have anything planned. I think we might just relax today. We are both super tired.

So the reason I wrote my name all Malagasy like is because I am Malagasy now. I have gotten quite tan since I've been here and there have been quite a few people that have asked me and my companion if I was Malagasy and it's awesome. Just a little side note for you.

That's all folks.

Elder Coleman

This is an answer to a question I asked Austin in my letter.  
 So that’s your question of the week.  What do you feel you learned or what part of your testimony was strengthened in each of the areas that you served?SO areas, let's see...

Betongolo, I learned really how to be myself and to trust in the Lord. I learned how to just open up to complete strangers and be myself with them. Elder Rice helped me a lot with that. He really just helped me be me and I am super grateful for that. 

Fianarantsoa, I learned really just how true the church is. I never realized how much I believed it was true until I came to a branch that was riddled with apostasy. Also I learned how important the fundamentals are, Charity, being Christlike, and how appreciative I am of my family. I learned a lot about what I can do and what I can accomplish; my potential I guess you could say and gained a lot of motivation for that. I really learned a lot about my responsibility as a family member, as a brother, son and future father. Also I was there when Grandpa died and my testimony of the plan of salvation really became more solidified. And also that we always have somewhere to turn in hard times. It is also pointless to dwell on things from the past but to always look forward to the future while living in the day. 

Antsirabe, I really learned how to relate to people. I learned what it means to be a member of this church and all the things that it entails. Every little thing we do or don't do will be a testimony for us or against us at the last day. We will receive according to our works and our desires. We can do good works but if we are not desiring to do that good then it is pointless. We should always desire to serve the Lord and grow. I gained a stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon and learned a great new way to study it. And that the Lord always knows what he is doing. Like having me train. I did not feel adequate enough to train. I didn't know how I was going to train when I was still learning everything my self but I learned so much about being a missionary and commitment from him. I learned a lot about working hard and always striving to be better. 

Mahajanga, So far I have just learned a lot of whys. A lot of whys behind things we do in the church. It just is starting to make more sense as to why we do things the way we do and why it is important. Also as to why nothing short of want the Lord wants us to do is acceptable. Why should we expect to get into the Celestial kingdom if we can't even keep the simple commandments let alone the big ones?

Sorry there are probably things that I have forgotten but it was kind of sudden but that is how it is this far into my mission.

Long walks on the beach and sunsets.....

It was a great week this week and had a great time! We are seeing things go well here in this area. 

On Monday we had a lesson with some studly recent converts, Liva and Hery. They are young men and are studs. They come every week and are just as solid as can be. We taught them and just shared our favorite scriptures with them. We both shared scriptures that had to do with overcoming and enduring hardships which was kinda weird, we didn't plan it. And it seemed to affect the mom a lot. She told us that she has been going through some hard things recently and that those scriptures see had never heard before. It was a very cool experience. We were guided for sure and ended up teaching the mom and not the recent converts but it's whatever. Then we went to a soiree with Ordance and Hanitra and had super good fried bread that they made for us. It was way nice. 

Tuesday we had a good day. We taught Modesta first thing and talked to him more about finding people to work for him so he can come to church. It is so frustrating getting people to realize the blessings that come from church attendance. They just need to come to church! But we had a good review with him about the nature of God and about prayer and he gets it really well now. We taught Vololona after that and Lala wasn't home. There were a bunch of other people there so we though it would be a good opportunity to play the Joseph Smith video. Well it was a huge fail. They did not get it at all. When God and Jesus appeared to him, they all said in unison, as if they had rehearsed it, after an exasperated gasp, "He saw the Holy Ghost!" yeah. Sometimes it's like trying to teach deaf people. We taught a new investigator after that, Abeline. She is a sweet girl that whenever she talks I feel like she is going to cry. We are teaching her neighbor and when we went to visit him once she approached us and asked to learn from us. We talked Restoration with her and showed the Restoration video and she liked it a lot. She even came to church yesterday. We did some contacting too that day and contacted into a house with two girls in it. Their parents weren't home so we told them we would come back later. We walked back out to the street and the one called us back. So I walk back to the door and talk to her for a  second to find out what she wanted and well she wanted to met up with us later to "get to know us better" to put it in her words. Kinda funny. I told her that we can talk more at church on Sunday at 9. Well they didn't come haha. 

Wednesday we taught Dada and had a great lesson with him about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We talked faith and repentance with him and he loved it  and understood it really well. He's a stud and is progressing super well. We taught Ordance after that and helped her with her Book of Mormon reading and the study helps that we put in the Book of Mormon. Well she did not understand the study help at all up to this point even though we had explained it thoroughly at least twice before this meeting. She finally understood and loved it. 

Thursday we taught a bunch of people. We taught a new investigator, Dorsia. He is 18 and we found him tracting and has come to English class and church a couple times already. Well he has like 0 knowledge of the Bible and of Jesus Christ. So we are not quite teaching the lessons yet but we are teaching him the life of Jesus in detail since he has never heard the stories before. After that we taught this guy named Michael. He used to come to English class and we randomly tracted into his house the day before. We taught him about the Restoration and showed him the video and he liked it a lot. He understood it very well and accepted to pray. Then we were looking for Lala by his house and we got kinda lost. Well we were just wandering through a maze of houses and small pathways and then just decided to knock on a random door. Well we got into the house and there was something weird about it just from the get off. First, there was a coffee maker in the house. I have never seen a coffee maker in Madagascar. Malagasies just don't have those kinds of things. And second, there was a Macbook sitting on on of the chairs. So it turns out that this Malagasy lady we tracted into is married to an American and they live there. He is Muslim and their child's name is Alma. Way weird. Haven't met the husband yet. 

Friday we taught quite a bit and we taught a new family that we contacted into. The dad is Muslim and the mom is Apokalypsy or Apocalypse. Yes that is the name of a church here. But we showed them the video Finding Faith in Christ. It was a great spiritual lesson and they really wanted us to come back. The wife was very skeptical of us coming into her house and wouldn't sit in on the lesson but as the movie was going she came in and watched and loved it. She was actually the one that asked us to come back so we'll see how it goes the next time. We had our branch president meeting at the beach and it was super awesome. We got there just as the sun was going down and let me tell ya, sunsets on the ocean are amazing! Super amazing. 

Saturday we had a great and very busy day. We taught Dada first thing after English class about baptism. He loved it and is super excited to get baptized. He realizes now that he needs to be way diligent to get baptized and he is willing to do it. He has seen lots of changes in his life from learning with us and is coming to a knowledge of the truthfulness of this church. It is seriously so awesome to see. We taught a less active family after him and helped them understand God better. They thought God was a spirit and that the three of them were literally one being. It's no wonder they were less active; they don't know the doctrine. We are working on that now. And then we taught this way cool guy named Dola and we had a great lesson with him. He had some great questions and we were able to help him out a lot. We are going to start teaching him more often and I can see him progressing very well. 

Yesterday was a good day. We had a lot of investigators come to church. Dada showed up way late but he still came! There was a bit of apostasy in Priesthood but other than that everything went well. Our program kinda of got shot in the foot yesterday so we ended up teaching a lot of less actives. It was still good though. 

One last thing is that there is this Italian food place here that is super good and has amazing ice cream. I had a banana split there the other day and it is amazing. We go there like all the time. 

Well have a great week everyone! 

Elder Coleman

The church he goes to.

Austin's apartment

Hot!

The weeks just go faster and faster. I know I say that like every week but it's true. It's just like after you hit a year it just starts going way fast. I don't like it. But yeah we had a very good week this week.

On Monday we went to a place called petit plage, it's French for small beach? if I'm not mistaken. It was super cool although it is way touristy. It was a way nice beach and there are some way nice houses that are just right on the beach. We also saw some sharks that some people had caught so that was cool. Then we went and saw the famous boabab that is here in Mahajanga. It is huge! And it is almost 800 years old. Super crazy. This is such a beautiful place I love it here. That night we went to some recent convert young men and taught them. On the way we had to go through this huge festival/party that was going on. The Sakalava, the tribe that lives in this part of Madagascar, throw a huge party at the end of July for like a king or something. Very old tradition. But it was pretty cool. 

Tuesday we taught a lot. We taught a family first thing, Vololona and Modesta. They are doing very well but Modesta is having trouble coming to church because of his job. He watches cows and he doesn't have anyone that he can trust to take over for him. We are working with him and have given him homework to talk to one person everyday and ask them to take over for him for three hours on Sunday morning. After that we had a lesson fall through so we stopped by a less active that lives really close to the beach. We taught him a little spiritual thought and then went to our next time Vololona and Lala (different Vololona). We taught them about the Sabbath day because they have not been coming to church. We had a good lesson with them and then we taught Jean Louis, the brother of a return missionary from Manandona actually. He is doing way well and is on date to be baptized on the 29 of August. Oh one cool thing about baptisms here is we get to do them in the ocean. So I'm excited for that. Our next few times fell through so we went and visited another less active member.

Wednesday we taught Dada, that isn't his real name but that's what he has us call him. He's  a way cool guy and he is on track for baptism in September. He is doing very well and I just love him a ton. He is our first time right after lunch and he always feeds us so we are always super full when we get there. and then we eat more so that's awesome. We taught a less active member named Aime and it was way funny. We had set up a time with her the day before and when we got there she was sleeping and we woke her up. She looked like a zombie haha it was way funny. Then we taught this other family, Ordance and Hanitra. We don't teach the dad (yet) but these two have been learning for quite awhile. They are pretty diligent in everything but are not quite ready for baptism and they want the dad to be baptized with them. SO we are working on that. And then we went to another less active member who is married to an Asian guy from Myanmar or Burma. It has both names on the map. But yeah he's from there and they just recently had twins. And the Asian guy is incredible at Malagasy. Like as good as a Malagasy. It's ridiculous. But he's started to show interest in us and we are trying to teach him. The only problem is that he can't read Malagasy so we might need to get a Book of Mormon in his language. 

Thursday was basically just a straight tracting day. And it was blazing hot. Even though it wasn't raining, I felt like I had been standing in the rain all day. We were able to set up a lot of times for later in the week but were not able to get in the door for any of them. We did have three lessons scheduled that went through so that was good. We taught Vololona and Lala again and got them back on track for baptism. They just need to come to church first. We only taught Lala and reviewed the plan of salvation with him. Then we taught some new investigators and then after that taught Jean Louis. With more tracting to follow. 

Friday we taught Vololona first, Modesta's wife. We taught her and her daughter about the baptismal covenant and invited them to come to church again. We are pushing very hard for them. They have already learned everything and so we are reviewing and trying to get them to come back to church. They were coming before. After that we taught a recent convert named Noeline. It was way funny when we got there because her little boy that is maybe 3, was terrified to see us. He saw us and hid behind a chair. When we were let in, he started screaming and bawling his eyes out. It was super funny. We taught Ordance after that and just reviewed the Book of Mormon with her. Then we went to TEddy. He lives with the Asian guy and helps them with their kids. Well when we got to the path to go to the house, it was flooded. The tide had come in or something but the water was higher than normal and so the whole path was underwater. But it was the only path so we locked the bikes, took off our shoes, and went on truckin. He was home and we taught him so it was all worth it. 

Saturday we had a busy day. We taught a ton of people and got a few new investigators. We had English class that morning too which is always fun. We taught another less active again and we found out there problem for why that aren't coming to church anymore so hopefully we can get that fixed and get them coming to church again. 

Yesterday was a great day. We had 11 investigators come to church and there was only minor apostasy in church during the testimonies. We got a bunch of new investigators too that have some potential. One person that we taught is a helper at this huge house right on the beach that has a pool table, a ping pong table, and a pool; and that is just on the outside of the house. It is the house of the guy that takes care of all the money in Madagascar in the government. And then yesterday right after we got home it started raining. IT was crazy. It literally sounded like cats were landing on our roof. It lasted quite awhile too.

Today we might be going to a place called Lac Sacre which has crocodiles and baobabs and lemurs. SO that'll be fun. Hope everyone has a great week! 

Elder Coleman