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