October already?

It's crazy that it is already October... It seems just like yesterday I was in my first area with Elder Rice have a grand ole time in Tana. I looked back in my journal to a year ago and it was the last time I drove a car. And Elder Mack came in to country a year ago. Way weird. This week was an interesting one. One of those weeks that you just have to push through. 

Monday we didn't do much. We taught Hery and Sergio, his brother. The mom wasn't home. We taught them about tithing and had a very good lesson with them. They are super smart and just super cool. We got invited to Bernard's house to eat and it was super good! Probably some of the best rice and loaka I have had in country.

Tuesday was a good day although we had our first four times fall through. We were able to contact into a nice older couple and teach them. They are very interested in hearing about what we have to say. They are Muslim, of course, but are very smart and open minded. They accepted a book of Mormon so that was good. We contacted the house next door to them and were able to get in and teach. We had a good first lesson with them although the 12 year old was probably the most engaged. We taught a member family after that. The dad is actually French. Super old guy and super good at Malagasy too. Not a member and has not interest in being but a cool guy nonetheless. We taught Dieu Donne after that about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it was a great lesson with him. He is super smart. We taught Dada about the Atonement after that because he's been kinda down lately. He doesn't think he can make all the changes to make it to baptism. We shared Ether 12:27 with him and talked about how Christ is always there to help us. We taught Ulrich after that and shared a talk from the Liahona from last conference. I don't remember the name right now sorry but I believe Elder Uchtdorf shared it. It was very good. Ulrich just really needs to come back to church. 

Wednesday we taught Timoty about the Sabbath day and it was very much needed. He loved it and it cleared up a lot with him. We taught Emmy after that about the Temple and had a great lesson with her about that. We had Lalaclerc with us, who has been through the temple so it helped a lot. We visited another less active member, Bernadette after that and taught the Plan of Salvation. She was very unresponsive, frustrating and then she didn't come to church. We got a new investigator, Jackie, that we contacted on the street the day before. We taught him the first lesson and it was way awesome. They liked it a lot. We taught Ordance about Joseph Smith again and she continues to be frustrating. We may not be teaching her for much longer. She just is not progressing at all. We taught Arlette and Diam about tithing and they loved it a lot. I don't think they realized all the blessings we get from tithing. We taught Mahazo as our last time and taught about baptism, the sacrament and enduring to the end. 

Thursday we taught Vololona and Lala again about the Book of mormon and had a great lesson with them. The dad was super interested and really wanted to know how to know if the Book of Mormon is true or not. Our next few time fell through  but we were able to teach that one Muslim couple again. It was not a good lesson at all. It was just loud and people just kept coming in and going back and forth. There was some random Catholic lady there that told the exact same thing word for word about 5 times. Not super great. We had a meeting with the temporary branch president and talked about things that need to change in church on Sunday. Very good and very needed. Then we taught the other Dada. We got there and he had a bandage around his pinkey. Well while he was at work that day his finger got caught in the machine and cut off the tip of his finger. 

Friday we had a pretty good day. We were able to teach a lot and it was good. We taught Noeline about the Sabbath day and also taught Ordance. We taught her about Tithing. We taught Jackie and Eugette after that and he's doing super good. He is one of our best investigators right now. Then we went all the way out to Victor and taught him. We read 3 Nephi 11 with him and he asked us when he could be baptized! it was perfect because we went to the lesson with the intention of inviting him to be baptized. We taught a couple less actives after that and had good lessons with both of them.

Saturday we had English class which was pretty small that day. Not a lo \t of people came. We taught a new investigator that Norbert gave us. She was not super responsive but she came to church yesterday even though we only taught there the one time. We taught Joseph after that and had an interesting lesson with him. We taught the Plan of Salvation with him but he wouldn't accept anything unless we proved it with the Bible. It was very frustrating. We did it but i felt like he was trying to discredit what we were saying by catching us on something not in the bible. We taught Alex after that and he still has an issue about coming to church. The people he lives with won't let him leave in the morning on Sundays. They make him wash the cars and stuff. But he believes that the Book of Mormon is true. He is trying to find a new place to live right now and then he will probably be able to come to church. We went to Kristian and Lalao after that and we got there kinda late and then they just fed us and made us leave so we didn't get to teach them. It was a weird thing. We taught Arlette after that and showed the Restoration video with her. She liked it a lot and hasn't seen it before. Then when we got out of the lesson, Elder Heiden's tire on his bike was flat and we happened to be the farthest that we ever go from our house so we had to walk all the way back. Super fun. 

Sunday was a good day. Church went way well. We didn't have a lot at church but things went well. We taught Clemence after church and she is having a bit of a rough time. She is trying to prepare to go on a mission and people are giving her false information on what she needs to do and it's just a mess. We went to Mercien after that and taught about baptism. We found out after the lesson from Stephano that the member in America that was going to come marry her is not coming anymore and that almost made her stop coming to church. He convinced her otherwise however and she came. She also sees that the Book of Mormon has things in it that shes needs. We went with Stephano after that on a wild goose chase for less active members way far from everything. We got to their houses and they weren't home obviously. Big waste of time but now we know where they live at least. We went to Stephano's house after all our other times fell through and taught his family. Then we taught a recent convert Lucien. He is a super cool guy and is way good at English. 

Yeah a rough week and to top it off I have been sick like all week. It started off with my stomach just hurting like crazy and has now developed into a fever. Fast Sunday yesterday was very hard that's for sure. I hardly slept last night and I am very grateful that today I can just sleep.