Transfers! With an unexpected twist...

Another great week in Fianarantsoa! The best week so far actually; it was a way good one.

Monday was pretty uneventful, but Tuesday was good. We taught a ton of lessons. We taught Miadana, this rich girl with a way nice rug. It's like super thick carpet rug; kinda like the one Arizona has in her house if you know what I'm talking about. Super nice. I never though I'd be super thankful about carpet but yeah. She's super smart and I can see her going all the way. She genuinely wants to know the truth. We taught this way smart 18 year old girl, Andrianina, but we found out that she is moving to Mahajanga, which is north west Madagascar on the coast. Way far away. It's basically as far as Tana to here, so from her it's like super far. We did a lot of contacting that day too and taught Sandra, Fanasina, Orion and his mom, Nina. We asked Sandra who God is but she still says Jesus, even after a lot of weeks of trying to teach her that. It's very frustrating. 

Wednesday we taught Tahina and Alicia as recent converts! Way awesome! I love them some much! They were super out of control though. More than usual. We taught a bunch of contacts and other lessons after that. WE had Marcellan and Jean Chrys that night and we finally got a soiree this transfer with Jean Chrys. We had a way good vatsim-panahy with him and his family. Mario and Etienne were there so it was even better.

Thursday was a way awesome day too. We had a zone meeting with Elder Rigby that morning about change. It was a way awesome lesson and he had us write down things we don't like about ourselves or things we want to change and then burn them. It was a great learning experience for me and I have discovered more things that I want to change in my life to become more like Christ and be a better missionary. I'm super thankful for this mission and for the Atonement for helping change me into someone that I want to be. We taught Raymond after that and he'[s such a stud as I've said before. But he won't come to church... We taught Bethe and she is way awesome. We taught about Joseph Smith and she asked us for the 1st pamphlet to read and study before next time. Never had that happen before. We found these new people, Patricia and Patricia, sisters, that are related to Francois. They learned from missionaries before and really seem ready to change. We found a cool family by the hospital here that seems very interested in our message. They are the kind of people the church here needs right now. We went to Sofia's that night to eat and oddly enough, there was a white guy there. Even weirder, he spoke English. He was from England and he was travelling Madagascar on a bike for 30 days. Way cool guy; way funny. But he has such a sad life. He asked us what we were doing here so we told him and he told us some of his beliefs. He's a very smart guy, very educated and firmly believes in science and fact. He told us that he used to believe in religion but then he got educated. He believes that us as humans are just a big chemical reaction and that when we die, well that's it. He has no sense of real joy in his life. Talking to him made me realize how great we have it. I realized how great it is for us to know the things that we know about the Plan of Salvation and that through the Atonement we can live again. I'm comforted in knowing that I will live with my family for all eternity. I genuinely felt bad for the guy. The saddest part was that he didn't even know he had a sad life. 

Just some quick highlights from Friday. We went back to house we contacted and the lady's husband was home. We go in and he has like 25 trophies sitting on a table in the living room. They are basketball trophies from all the championships he has won here in Madagascar. As we taught him he got out his scriptures which were on a freaking iPad. An iPad. A real life, American iPad. He even let me use it for a second to pull up James 1:5. He's way good at English and French and has been to England and France. In fact he studied in France at a school that would be comparable to Harvard. Perfect for this branch if he is baptized. We taught the Patricia sisters after that and it was super good. They said they would try to come to church so we'll see. 

Saturday was a super hard but way good day. We taught one guy about the Plan of Salvation and when we asked if the Fall was good or bad for us he actually said good! That's like the first time ever someone answered that the first time. We taught a ton of families today it was way awesome. I love them all so much but they need to just come to church. It's so hard to get these people to go to church. To finish of the day we taught Olivier, the guy that gave us the liter and a half of milk. We had a way good lesson with him and his family and he seems very interested. He wants us to come back so hoipefully he'll progress.

Yesterday was a weird day. We got a text that morning from a number we don't know that said that one of the couple missionaries here was dead. Super weird because, well, she wasn't. She wasn't even sick. Church went way good though. Rakotovao is turning this branch around and it's doing so much better. One lady passed out during church today and that was interesting. The big higlights of yesterday were: first, suare with Rakotovao. We had Alicia and Tahina come too and it was so good. Sister Rakotovao is such a good cook. And next was our time with Etienne. We had a way good vatsim-panahy with him and his family. We also broke our previous record of lessons taught in a week. Way good week for us.

And now the moment we've all been waiting for: transfers. Well, contrary to popular belief, I am leaving and Elder Connault is staying. I am going to Antsirabe in Ambohimena. I believe it is a biking area so I'll probably be doing a lot of that. And my new companion is.... Elder Razakamandimby. Yep I'm getting a Malagasy. Sad thing about this is that Elder Rice leaves Antsirabe to go back to Tana this transfer so I don't get to see him. I'm super excited to work in Antsirabe though. I've heard so many awesome stories come from Antsirabe and the work is going way good there. They are super poor, more than here.

Well that's it for this week. Next time I'll be at a different cyber in Antsirabe and hopefully it's a good one. If not, it'll be an interesting next little while trying to send emails.

Brady Bunch house

Goodbye Fianarantsoa!

Inside Austin's apartment

Austin's bedroom

Elder Mack and Elder Hammer

Tantara

Austin's apartment building

Selfie with Elder Hammer