So Much Rain....

It's crazy how it's freaking Monday again already. I swear it goes by faster and faster here.

So last Monday was interesting. We went to go contact this crazy drunk family but they weren't home and so we contacted the house right next door. The guy seemed nice and let us in but then he just started ripping into us. He told us that we can't teach the bible if we don't have a degree and nonsense like that. And he also was talking about how God is different for everyone and then he pointed at me and was like "like you, God for Americans is money and that's it." And he said a bunch of other stuff that I can't remember but he really ticked me off. I just told him straight up that he was wrong and lit him up a little bit but we got a return appointment so you can see that this is a really weird place.

Tuesday I went on a split with Elder Lehr in our area to give a bap interview for one of our investigators and it was way fun. We taught the Brady Bunch first and taught them about the Book of Mormon. They already knew a little bit about it because they have all been to church a couple times already. After that it was just more contacting... Contacting isn't all that bad but I would prefer to teach people. We lost some time after that because we had to print a bunch of invitations for an open door we are having at the church on the 11 and 12 of December. We taught Jeremy after that and holy crap was he on one. He was bouncing all over the walls and all his friends were there too and they were bouncing off the walls too. We tried to do like a game to teach some principles but it just made it worse. We had Fanasina after that and she was the one getting interviewed for baptism. We did a quick Vatsi-panahy (spiritual thought) from Alma 7:11-13 and it was so spiritual filled it was ridiculous.Then Elder Lehr told me about this way cool thing that that scripture talks about why we use consecrated oil. It has literally no healing properties but it's a symbol. If you read the first verse of that passage, that is what it is symbolic of. But olives, when they are first crushed, are the color of blood. The oil is a symbol of the blood that actually heals and everything that it covers is in that first verse. I thought that was way cool. We ate at Sofia's that night and the food took freaking 2 hours to make and that was super lame.

Wednesday was the day of rain. So much rain in not a lot of time. We did a lot of tracting in the rain and that was a lot a fun... not. Everything just becomes super slippery and I almost fell a bunch of times. Actually I did fall once and it hurt so yeah lame. We taught this new Investigator at the church after our meeting with the Branch President and it went way well I think. We taught the whole first and she seemed to understand and be ok with it so that's a start. She wants us to teach her again so that's a good sign. We contacted these other people; well actually they pretty much contacted us because they were like "hey come in and teach us we want to learn from you guys" so that's was good. They are way awesome and we have another time with them this week which will be cool. We had Marcellan and I gave the vatsi-panahy from D and C 58:2-4 which is a way good scripture. If you have time, read it it's awesome. We went to J to finish off the day but he told us that he and his wife would not be attending church anymore until President comes down here because they are sick of all the rumors and negative comments they get all the time. We tried really hard to convince them otherwise but they would not budge. But we found out later this week that a lot of what they said is coming from themselves only. They are just putting words into other peoples mouths in order to have an excuse not to go. Soooooo lame.

On Thursday we taught Ralaivao's dad again about the Pre-Mortal life. We went to Soa and Philibert after that and taught them and it was an awesome lesson. We get there and they are like "Where is your church at? cause we really want to go. We've let Jehovah's Witnesses teach us before but you guys bring something else and we really want to go to church. But we have to work on Sunday in order to have food but we really really want to come and will try to make it." We just promised them that if they really try, that God will help them and bless them for doing so. It was way awesome. We dd a little contacting around their house and found some cool new investigators so that'll be good. We went to Olga's house and she had had her baby the day before! And she totally seemed just fine  like nothing had happened. Like she hadn't pushed a watermelon out of her body the day before in a 3rd world country. We visited a contact after that, Lalao and Jean Jacque. They are way cool and were way accepting of our message from the start. They asked us where our church was without us even bringing anything up about going to church. 

Friday we spent freaking 3 hours making a bap program because of slow internet and the Office Elders not sending us the template for like an hour. So during that time we read about other religious beliefs and it was way interesting. It just made me realize how true our church is. Nothing that any of the other ones had made any sense whatsoever. For example, Jehovah's witnesses believe that Christ was not resurrected but returned to earth as a spirit and his body was destroyed by God. And that he was not crucified on a cross and that Christians should not celebrate Christian holidays because they are Pagan. None of that makes any sense. We also happened to come across some stuff about our church which was so ridiculously false it made me laugh. It was also on the same website as the J W stuff so I'm not sure if I should believe the stuff about them. We taught Ludovic after and he ticked us off way bad. He straight lied to our face more than once and just kept making excuses so we aren't sure that he will be getting baptized at all cause he is so lazy and won't do anything. We did more contacting and found even more awesome contacts and then taught a member family about Lehi's dream.

Saturday we had a baptism.  Super weird though. We had one getting baptized, Fanasina, and the other branch had 2 getting baptized but they never showed up. For some reason we ended up waiting for 2 hours for them and they never showed up. After the baptism we taught a guy right next to our house named Be. He has at least 100 birds in and around his house. They wake me up every morning because they all like to make a lot of noise at once and it's usually when the sun comes up. It was good though; he's a cool guy. We got dogged by a lot of times but one of our recent converts was home so we taught her. I shared the same vatsi-panahy from D&C 58:2-5 and it went way good. As soon as I started the Spirit just came in and my Malagasy just started flying from my mouth it was awesome. The Spirit is a great thing. 

Yesterday we had a "stake" conference but it was a DVD of General Authorities over the Africa Southeast Area talking about things specific to this region. I'm sure Elder Gant saw the same one but he actually understood what was said. The only thing I understood the whole time was the word "ebola" which was said by all of them at least twice. We got the DVD though so we'll watch it in English at some point. Only two of the Brady Bunch came to church today and that was it for investigators so that was kind of lame. But we are making a push to get a bunch more investigators to come to church so hopefully it'll be better next week. We taught that rich family again with the servant whose name is Alfred. The lady's sons were there so we just showed the First Vision DVD again. The lady is way awesome and as soon as it was over just asked where our church was cause they really want to go. That is like so rare with rich people here. First off, to get in the door is a miracle. Getting back in the door is another, and wanting to come to church is another. And they aren't making excuses. The sons go to a Catholic school and they usually require students to go to their church on Sunday. They could have said yeah we have to and it would have been normal but they just immediately were like, no, we don't have to. We can go to your church. Super awesome. We did a bunch of contacting after that and came across a naked guy which is just all kinds of fun you know. We knock on the door, the wife comes out and says "oh yeah come in" so we go in and this guy is just naked with a blanket over his dignity and he had his legs crossed. So at least he was considerate. We got a return appointment and told him that it would be perfectly fine if he wore clothes next time. And to finish it off, we taught the investigators that are related to Etienne again. It's an 18 year old guy and his 16 year old sister. All the Elders here think she is like super attractive so that's probably why she's been taught before haha. 

Well for today we haven't done anything and I think today is just going to be a chill day. Last night we made the chili and the breadsticks that mom sent me and it was way good. We didn't have garlic powder so we used Cinnamon instead and it ended up being pretty good. You'll have to give that a try mom and see if it works. 

For Thanksgiving this week our zone is going to play frisbee in the morning and then have zone meeting and eat pancakes. Then for dinner we are going to this way nice hotel on the other side of town to get a way good dinner. We've been eating at home a lot this month to have enough money to go and we are going to make it haha. It won't be turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and funeral potatoes but it'll still be good. 

I think that's it for this week. Well keep on keeping on and all that. Read Matt 18:23-35 if you have time. Way good story told by Jesus and I read it the other day in Jesus the Christ and it really stuck out to me. It's just super good. 

Elder Coleman