Transfers!

This week went by so fast! Seriously just flew by! This week was very tiring but it's over and we move on into a chapter of the mission. So Elder Heiden is leaving and I am getting Elder Stringfellow! He is one transfer behind me and I knew him in Antsirabe. I am very excited and ready for this change!

So Monday we went to Liva and Hery and taught them about the temple. They loved it and they have that goal in mind to go to the temple. They are probably one of the strongest families in this branch and it is way awesome to know them and be able to interact with them. Liva just had her baby and got to see her. I'm sorry but I did not get a picture. 

Tuesday we taught Modesta first thing and taught the Plan of Salvation. He is one of those "Eternal Investigators" and I am really sick of it. SO we are pushing them hard for baptism but if they aren't willing to move or change or do anything, we are dropping them. It's just a waste of time and there are other people we could be teaching. Our next two times fell through after that and so we went and taught Fabien. He is a semi less active member, teenager and really just needs some help being diligent and not being lazy. Then we went and taught Toky's family, looking for a referral. We had Dieu Donne after that and taught him about baptism. It was a great lesson with him. Now we just need him to come to church. We taught Teddy after that about the Plan of Salvation. It was a good review for him. We taught Dada after that about service in the church. He is starting to realize that he can do this and is starting to make the changes necessary to be baptized. I think we can get him baptized at the end of the month. We taught Ulrich after that and talked about the temple. We are trying to get him motivated to come back to church but it isn't working so far. 

Wednesday we had a pretty good day of teaching. We taught Timoty and found out the problem with his dad. He goes to the Assembly of God now. He said that he is "tied to his responsiblities as a deacon in the church" I wonder what the Melchezidek Priesthood and the baptism covenant mean to him. We went and taught a sister Helen and looked for a referral. No luck but we went to Bernadette next, and taught her about the gospel of Christ. THey liked it a lot and she actually came to church yesterday! For the first time in years from what I understand. We taught a new investigator, Jackie about the Book of Mormon and he loved it. he said he was going to come to church but he didn't. We taught Ordance again after that. It has really become almost a chore to teahc her. I know that's bad to say but we have taught her everything 3 times since I've been here but I haven't seen her at church once. We went to Teddy again after that because they wanted to feed us and while they were making the food we went and taught Arlette about the Book of Mormon and how to gain a testimony of it and why. 

Thursday we had our first time fell through so we taught Stephanon and Fabien and asked for a referral. Still no luck but at least people know now that we are searching. We taught Vololona and Lala and had a good lesson with them about the Book of Mormon and prayer. Lala was very intrigued but the daughters and the mom were very irreverant and just straight up rude during the lesson. Kinda frustrating but it worked out. We taught Dada and we were supposed to have lunch with him for his birthday but he forgot it was his birthday. He was very confused when we showed up at his house with juice and snacks. He was kinda embarassed too. We taught Emmy abouyt the Word of Wisdom after that and it just went nowhere. She just would not pay attention and was completely unresponsive. We did some contacting after that with not a lot of success and then we met with the brach to talk about things that need to happen on Sunday and make sure that everything is going to go well. We taught the other Dada about baptism after that and had a great lesson wit5h him. He really wants to know if this is the path that he should take. We told him to pray about it and when we come back we will see where he's at. 

Friday we actually had lunch with Dada and it was super good. We had corn in hot milk with sugar. Soo good. Probably one of my favorite Malagasy foods. He asked me to give his wife a blessing and I was very happy to so. We went all the way to Vololona after that and taught them about prayer and answers to prayer. They are also in the "Eternal Investifator" category. We taught Noeline after that about scripture study and prayer and stuff like that. She struggles with that a little bit. After that we went on a split with the members adn I went with Stephano. We went to a bunch of less active members that have not been to church in a long time. We actually were able to catch a lot of them at home. None of them came to church yesterday but at least they know we haven't forgotten them and that there are still people that care. We met back up at Philibert's house and taught that family.

Saturday we had English class and it went super well. We had tons of people come to English  and Elder Heiden in the more fluent class taught the restoration so we got some seed planting going on in there. We taught Timoty's dad, Alphonse, after that and his sister about covenants. Then we went all the way over to Josefa and found him not home. So we went on over to patrick's house and shared a little spiritual food with him about the temple. He also asked us to give him a blessing because school just started for him. It was way cool. We taught Alex after that and he is progressing marvelously. Still has an issue of going to church but hopefully that will be resolved soon. Lalao and Kristian were not home when we went by which was kinda strange. We did a bunch of contacting after that with not a bunch of success but then went to a less active member, Rakotomalala. He's the young men's president if I'm not mistaken. He's a very cool guy, very smart and he's actually read the whole Book of Mormon. Not sure why he's less active, maybe just lazy I don't know. After that we went to a way nice hotel and ate dinner. I had a fish fillet and shrimp. It was super good. While we were eating, President called us and told me that I was getting Elder Stringfellow and that Elder Heiden was going to Ambohimangakely to be with Elder Knight. And on the way back Elder Heiden crashed. he didn't have a light, it was dead, and we were going down a huge hill. They were doing construction on the road and so there was a big hole on one half of the road. He was ahead of me and I just hear a load crash. I thought for sure that he had crashed in the hole and I was going to have to pick him up out of there. Also our phone was dead so things were not looking good. But he had just hit the caution sign before the hole and was perfectly untouched. He said that he somehow like glided off his bike and landed on his feet, unharmed. 

Sunday we had church and it went very well. Elder Heiden gave a talk because it was his last Sunday. Dada came to church and had a great time. We taught Clemence right after church and had a great lesson with her about following the prophet. Then we went and taught Mercien about the Sabbath day because we know that she works on Sunday. It went very well and she's pretty sure that she can work it out with her boss to get Sundays off. We taught Ordance and I tried really hard to drop her but it didn't work super well. So I'm going to give her another week and if things don't change then we are going to have to drop her. Our next time just completely fell through. it was a new investigator. The husband, that we had not met before answered the door. He told us that he didn't even know who it was that we were searching for even though it was his wife. I had asked what her husband did as an occupation when we first met her and she told me that he was police. So I slyly asked this man what his job was and he told us that he was in the police force. I really hate when people lie to us. Just say you don't want us to come in. That's all I want. It's way better than being lied to. We had dinner again with Teddy, they invited us over. We had to eat super fast because we were running late and had to be home by 9:30. 

No super big plans today. I think we are going to go hang out with some people today on the boardwalk here. it's where the big Baobab is that I took a picture of when I first got here. President comes up here this Saturday and I'm not sure when Elder Bednar is coming or if he is still coming at all. I'm very out of the loop up here.

This was an answer to my question this week... How have you seen the hand of the Lord in your life?

There are so times now that I look back that I can see God's hand in my life. It just seems like everything that I've done and who I've become has been influenced by small things that have happened that could only have come from God. Just like the people I have grown up around and the people I have met. It just doesn't make sense if it was jsut by chance.