Austin's Madagascar Mission: Mother's Day

Well it's been a great week. It's been a quick one too. I can't believe how fast time goes.

Ponderize of the week is Moses 1:4

So Monday was great. We went out and taught a family that is all women basically. The guy had 7 daughters. It's crazy. We talked with them about the Restoration but they don't seem very interested or very into the teachings so I don't know how many times we are going to go back. But after that, we went to Fr Odillon's house and had a soiree and it was awesome! They are an awesome couple! I asked them about their conversion story and they led each other the gospel and got baptized about 3 years ago and are now married in the temple and have a way cute kid. They are awesome just awesome. It was a very spiritual evening and it went very well. We sang hymns in English too! It was awesome!

Tuesday we decided to stop by Makaferana and he was home! We taught them about the sacrament but he still has a problem with coming to church because he has to leave town to find work and that means he is gone for a couple weeks at a time. Elder Kopin was not feeling so well this day and so we grabbed some member help and Elder Jensen stayed home with him and Honore came with me. We taught Justin and he seems energetic to learn but won't do the things he needs too to get where he wants to go. Kind of frustrating. We taught Mahala and Alvine and they are doing awesome! Mahala is doing great! He is overcoming his cigarettes! Keep him in your prayers please! They are so close and are on track to get baptized on the 28. Francisca is doing great. Her uncle came and like destroyed our lesson though. He came and started saying weird stuff about stuff and it was just bad. We taught Dimby that night and he had a lot of questions and it basically just comes down to the Book of Mormon with him. He just will not pray about it and ask if it is true.

Wednesday we had a good day. We did a lot of tracting. We tracted into and taught 3 families that are pretty cool. They have a lot of potential and I am excited to start teaching them this week. Dodi and Sarah are going to get dropped I think. They just aren't willing to progress. It's sad but that is probably what is going to happen this week. Ruffin is awesome. He is progressing really well and is going to get baptized on the 11 of June.

Thursday we had a good day. We started teaching a lady named Emma that has come to church the past 2 weeks. Well there are some other things involved in this as well but we are hoping to get her baptized soon. Then she can get married and it'll be great. She's really cool and lives right by a member family so we teach her in their house and it is going great. We taught Naina and he is a stud. He is super smart and is so teachable. He really wants to know if the Book of Mormon is true. He's a really just all around good guy and has a nice family. I am way excited for him. He has a lot of potential. We taught Lanto and Dorothe and they are doing great. They should be getting married this week. We went to a soiree with our branch president that night and had some way good pizza that his wife made. His family is so awesome.

Friday was a good day. We were able to catch some less active recent converts and teach them about the sacrament. It was a really good lesson and he really wants to come back to church but works Sunday mornings. We are trying to help him find a solution. We taught Francisca again and had a good lesson with her about repentance. Another family member of hers came in during the lesson but he didn't interrupt or anything so it went well. We taught Anjara and Marciel and had a great lesson about baptism, gift of the holy ghost and the sacrament and how they all link together. It was great! We taught Odillon and Korinah after that and they want to get baptized. They just need a little bit of a push in the right direction so that's what we are trying to do with them right now. We had a soiree in the other area that night and it was super good. They gave me a mountain of rice again and it almost made us late getting home cause it took me so long to down it.

Saturday was English. We also had a great meeting with President Dimby that morning. We tested out the webcam at the church for the Skype and it didn't work so that was lame. We had to go find a new one. We taught Emma about the Book of Mormon and gave her one. We are going a bit slow with her just to make sure she understands everything super well. We taught this guy named Toby that we tracted into last week before the baptism. It was a good lesson but he still has some doubts about the church. He feels that we put too much emphasis on prophets and not on Christ among other things. But when we bore our testimonies to him I could feel the truthfulness of what we taught and I am excited to keep teaching him. He's a very smart guy. We taught Rina and Anita that night and had a good lesson with them on baptism, confirmation and sacrament. It went way well but they are having a hard time coming to church. We taught Tsoro and Gina and had a great lesson with them. They are having a hard time with the teachings and accepting that they need to change church if the Book of Mormon is true. Elder Jensen and I bore our testimonies so much and it was just awesome. They want to know now and are willing to try to find out if it is true and accepted that they would change if it is true. We had to go set up Skype at the church for Elder Ulrich at this point so we rushed over there and set it up and then went back and taught Selmann's family about Priesthood and Auxiliaries. Then we went back to the church and waited for Elder Ulrich to finish and then locked up.

Sunday was great as always! I got called out of the blue to pass the sacrament again which I didn't mind but they should have been a little more prepared. They finished the sacrament prayer and when the passers stood up there was only one up there. So a return missionary and I got up there real quick and passed the sacrament. All the teachings and classes went well, branch council went well and we even got a lesson in on the way home with Crystalline and Nono. They have everything ready to get married now! They can get baptized real soon! We were able to catch Ruffin too and teach him about baptism, confirmation and the sacrament. He's awesome. Then we headed back to the church so Elder Jensen could start skyping while I waited a little bit. Skyping was great! Happy Mothers Day Mom!

Today we don't have much planned but it is also the first day of a new transfer. my last transfer. That's really weird but we have a lot of good things planned this transfer and a lot of baptisms coming up! I also went for a run this morning on the beach. Awesome but way tiring. That sad is brutal. And I'm out of shape. Like way bad. Hopefully I can get into shape before I get back.