Poopy Week

I apologize for the vulgar title but it is very appropriate for this week. But it wasn't entirely poopy.

This week was a transfer week so it was kinda hectic. We got 2 new missionaries in Fianarantsoa and it is now a zone. But on Tuesday before they got here we had to move stuff into a new house for them. So that was actually pretty fun not gonna lie haha. But that day when we woke up we had 0 water pressure at our house which means 0 water was coming out of the sink or the shower or anything. That was super lame but it came back on later in the day and it's back now so it's ok. We just had to get pump water to brush our teeth and shave and stuff so not a big deal. 

Later that day we were contacting because our whole program just fell apart this week which I will get to later but anyway yeah we were contacting. We came across this way cool family and showed them the Restoration video. Well it turns out he is a 7th day Adventist and if you don't know what that is basically their only doctrine is that the Sabbath is on Saturday. Obviously they believe more than that but it's like the main thing they talk about. Like we talk about the Restoration and they talk about the Sabbath on Saturday so that's that. Anyway, he starts quoting scriptures at us and they just go along perfectly with what we are trying to teach him but he reads into them so backwards. I just wanted to slap him in the face and say "look what you are saying makes no sense". For example, He talked about how Adam and Eve coveted even though the 10 commandments say not to covet. Well that's true that they say that but the 10 commandments were after Adam and Eve. You would know that if you read the Bible like you were supposed to.

So yeah on average this week, 1 person didn't dog us each day. Which means we did so much contacting... But we got tons of good contacting in. We contacted this rich neighborhood and found tons of people. We found this lady whose husband runs the airport here in FIanarantsoa and while Elder Connault was talking to her this random lady from India came up to me and started talking to me in really good English. So I got to do my first contact ever in English. It was really weird actually. It didn't feel natural I guess haha. 

I've been looking so much ever since I got here for some of that tea that I had in Tana and I finally found it. Our member help showed me where some was growing and I got to pick it fresh from the ground. So great. And we had a ton last night and it was sooooo good! I love this Fruit Loop tea.

We taught Marcellan that night too. He's someone we're working with to get the Melchezidek Priesthood. He doesn't have it right now because he is currently married to two wives. He has to raise 400,000 A, which is a lot for a Malagasy in order to get legally divorced to his other wife before he can get the priesthood. We gave the spiritual thought from DandC 122 which is just super awesome. Read it sometime it's way good. We shared it at Jean Chrys soiree too. 

Elder Johnson and Elder Rigby got here Wednesday night and I got to see them the next day at district meeting. It was so good to see them. Elder Rigby was Elder Hammer's trainer and Elder Johnson came with me. He's from Las Vegas. And on our way to the district meeting we found this huge chameleon that was at least a foot and a half long it was so cool. Elder Connault put it on a stick a carried it around with us for a little while and terrified all the Malagasies. That was way funny. 

We taught Soa and Philibert out on the mountain on Thursday and it was a way good lesson. All we did was read the first chapter of 1 Nephi with them but it was way awesome. It just brings a special something; the Book of Mormon. Yeah we just invited them to read it on their own. They had already been reading but they are a big family and only had one so they all hadn't had a chance to read it yet. We gave them another one but I don't see why they couldn't just all read it together.

All of our times after that dogged us so we did more contacting. We knocked at this one house and they guy comes out and asks if we are the Mormons. That's weird because no one knows that name out here but yeah. He told us he wanted to know more about Joseph Smith and about that Joseph Smith book or the Book of Mormon. We are obviously super excited at this point and try to teach him right there but he didn't have a lot of time so we just tried to set up a return appointment. That's when we found out he doesn't live in our area and he is visiting his brother right now... So lame. 

But anyway we visited that lady whose husband works at the airport and she says that her husband can't learn cause he works all the time but she can so we showed her the Restoration DVD. She seemed really interested and we are going to go back this week so hopefully something will become of it. 

I think I've already talked about Ludovic but we got him a bap date set up and did a little interview with him to make sure he knows everything. He's pretty good and knows most of it so it shouldn't be too much of a problem to get him baptized. We also have Jeremy whose baptism is coming up and we didn't get to teach him this week because he just was never home when he was supposed to be so it's whatever I guess.

We started teaching this new guy, George and his family. He's way cool and asks a lot of good questions in the lessons but because of that we don't get very far with the lesson. Like we have taught 2 lessons and have taught through prophets. But he's a way cool guy and I have high hopes for him. 

Saturday morning started off with a wedding. We got to attend the wedding of a guy in our branch. He is now officially married and can hold the Melchezidek priesthood which is soooooo good. We need so many Melchezidek priesthood holders. 80% of the branch is women I swear. 

We taught Fanasina whose baptism is this Saturday and just did a quick review before the real interview tomorrow. She's super ready and I don't think we have anything to worry about with her. 

Jean and FLorine are doing awesome too. We read the first chapter of the Book of Mormon with them too and they seemed to like it. Jean said he had read a little of it already but I don't think he had. He did read the pamphlet we gave him all the way through though. 

We went to Etiennes and gave them a spiritual thought and they brought so investigators to us too so that was way awesome. They are 18 and 16, boy and a girl, and they want to learn from us so that's way good. We could use a lot more of these kinds of referrals too. They would be so much better than tracting. 

So church yesterday... just poopy. Neither Ludovic nor Jeremy came to church. This is Jeremy's 2nd week not coming so we can't baptize him on Saturday obviously and Ludovic needs to come if he wants to get baptized. It's super frustrating. But Later that day Elder Lehr gave us a referral of 2 FLF's and they were super drunk and crazy but I guess they want to  learn. We just told them not to be drunk at our time with them tonight. 

The last 2 nights we made tons of good food. We made tortillas and the red beans and rice and last night we made more tortillas and spanish rice. So so so good (thanks mom). Fun story of the week, I fell in a hole. The roads here are awful and there are some huge holes in them. Well it was dark and we were walking down the street and I fell in this huge hole in the road. Don't worry I fell with style rolled and climbed out of it so smooth it hardly looked like anything but yeah. 

Today we all climbed up this hill and went to the other side with this super awesome view. I will send pictures when my camera is not dead. 

Shout out to Mrs. Kelly and Susan Honey who emailed me this week. I love getting emails from people and they totally just made my day.

I think that's all for this week. Keep it real everyone.

Elder Coleman