Austin's Madagascar Mission: Cow hearts, Peanuts, and a baptism....

The weeks just go faster and faster I swear. This week was a good one but a hard one as well.

On Monday, while I was emailing, I got a call from Elder Lehr saying that Elder Connault was here in Antsirabe with his family. SO we went and ate lunch with him at Chez Billys. But then all of our times fell through in the evening. Donelson decided to go to Tana and not tell us and then Michel said that he couldn't learn even though I called him that morning and confirmed the appointment. That was frustrating. And to top it all off, Elder Reynolds tire was flat when we left the house and we spent 30 minutes looking for a bike repair place to get a pump. Our pump broke so it was no bueno. We did get to teach Nirina's family and have a soiree with them. And that's where the cow heart comes in because that's what we had for dinner. Way good actually. You should try it sometime.

Tuesday we had a good day. We taught Sr Juliette's husband, Desirè. He's a very cool guy and is very willing to learn. Cool story: His wife told us that tons of missionaries have gone to their house to teach them but none of them really got anywhere. He could hear their voices and he would hide or sneak around the back and leave. But he's being very friendly with us and doesn't hide from us so we must be doing something right. And then after that lesson, we left, walked around the corner and got a phone call. It was a number I didn't recognize but when I answered, it was obviously a member. He said,"Elders, I need some help" "Ok,"I said, "What do you need help with?" He said,"I need a spiritual thought" So we go back to Sr Juliette's house and there is Sister Zanarisoa's husband, Ranzato which two other guys. He teaches them English and decided to bring them to us so that they can be taught the gospel too. He was the one that called us. Such a kidder. He's super good at English though, He just got home from his mission in Johannesburg about 7ish months ago. We were able to go teach Michel after that and it was a very hard lesson. He is just very deep in the pit of apostasy and we need to dig him out, for his sake. Then we taught this less active member and his house. He's the one that has been a member for a long time. After that we had dinner with Elder Connault and his parents at Chez Billys. We got some pictures and it was way nice to see him before he leaves for good. He's lost a lot of weight too.

Wednesday we taught those two referrals again that we got from Ranzato. They are pretty cool guys and they are already getting pretty good at English. We also got a lunch set up with Ranzato and Zanarisoa on 26 so that'll be fun. We taught English class and taught them sayings in English. They loved it so I'll consider it a success. Then we had a great lesson with Rolland and we were hoping that he would come to church. We taught Mampionona about tithing because she needed a little review on it and we got it all super clear for her. Also she still hadn't decided who she wanted to baptize her and she finally decided. She asked me to do it and I was super honored. She is such an amazing young lady.

Thursday we had a good day also. We got to have lunch at the Tolman's house for lunch which is always a treat. We were able to teach quite a few people too after that. We went to one time and got in to the little compund where a bunch of people live and found that the guy we were there to teach wasn't there. But all the people were sitting on the ground outside de-shelling peanuts. It was the perfect opportunity to not tract so we helped them for like an hour and a half. We just sat and talked to them and they wanted to learn with us once they say that we weren't prideful white people. It was a way cool experience. The highlight of Thursday though is always Raivo and Prisca. They are super amazing and we had an amazing lesson with them. They were super involved and interested in the Drafitry ny Famonjena because her husband died. They were super eager to come to church too and I am very excited for them. They are doing awesome. We had our regular soiree with Filoha Mampionona and had super good food. I always love going to their house for dinner.

Friday we had a lot of things fall through but we were able to teach a lot regardless of that. We found a new family that seem very sincere in their desire to learn. We tracted into them and they just let us in. They are Adventists so I was a little scared that they were going to bring up the Sabbath but they didn't so it went well. We also taught Maxime and had a good lesson with them. We are trying so hard with them to get them to come back to church and get Maxime to quit drinking. We can't make him want to quit though; he has to have the desire and we can work with him at that point. The stressfulness of missionary work sometimes...

Saturday, we had a lesson in the morning that fell through and that was super lame. We went to Tiana and Naina's to teach them but they had gone to Fianarantsoa to get Naina's copy so they can get married! So we taught Pascal and had a good lesson. We then had Mampionona's baptism! It was super awesome! I was a little hard getting her into the baptismal font because of her leg and a little interesting getting her under because her leg doesn't bend anymore but we made it work. The water was freezing cold though. Like so cold. After the baptism we taught a couple more people and finished of a very good day.

Sunday was super good and super depressing. We only had 1 investigator come to church, Fidelis the 9 year old son of a member but tons of members showed up to church including 2 less active Melchizedek Preisthood holders. We had members set up to pick some investigators up and Raivo and Prisca were supposed to come; they asked us to call them the morning of and then they would come. But none of the investigators were home and Raivo and PRisca didn't answer the phone. But branch council went amazing. We focused on people and got assignments made. It was probably the best branch council that I have been a part of my whole mission. This branch has really come a ways since I first got here. It's weird that I have almost been in this branch 6 months already. We were able to get help to teach Raholy and Hery with Sr Voahangy and Marcel. They got along super well and now they have friends in the ward. Sr Voahangy was able to relate with them on the Word of Wisdom problems and it was just a super awesome lesson with them.

Then this morning my awesome companion made this super good cake called pavlova. It's from New Zealand (not Australia) and it is probably one of the best things I have ever tasted. I'm going to learn how to make it because there isn't a lot to it. The simpler the better for me.

Well that's it for this week. I'll be sure to think of you all when I eat more of this cake and how much y'all are missing out.

Elder Coleman