(Mom: We just got last week's letter from Elder Mack today. Something was wrong with the email server last Monday and affected many missionary emails. Elder Mack was able to resend this and it is a good one.)
Wow, where do I start...? Infindra faritra aho ary izao vao any paradisa!!
Hey ya'll! Well, first of all the day has finally come. I left Anjanahary this morning to go to my new area. This could possibly be my last area! I am now in MAHAJANGA!!! This is a sick area and I'm way stoked to be here. It is a 4 missionary beach province and it is BLAZING HOT!!! I took a plane this morning to get here so I'm wayyy tired right now. We woke up at around 4:00am to leave. I flew alone which was kind of scary because I had no companion. I took two flights. The first went to Nosy Be and then from there we flew to Mahajanga. I got there around 11:00am. This area reminds me a lot of Hawaii, which is cool. You got the beach, and all the palm trees, etc. I'm companions with Elder Anderson!! He is from Idaho. I lived with him when he was office Elder and I will probably be his last companion before he goes home. He only has two transfers left. We'll make the time count! The other Elders here in Mahajanaga are Elder Wootan from Boston and Elder Reynolds from New Zealand. Sorry that I have not emailed the past couple of weeks. I have been sooo busy and I was trying to cram everything in. I should be able to send out some decent messages to you all now. I have so much to talk about with two weeks of catching up to do. I think I'll just give you a few of the best stories and call it good. Sweet!!!
- First, Dola and Nimrode got baptized. I had the honor of performing the baptism and what an excellent baptism it was. They were both so happy, especially Nimrode. When I first met him I thought he was kind of a punk but he has changed a lot. I thought he was going to cry when we went into the changing room. He just kept saying, "Thank you" over and over and it felt so good knowing that I did my part to get him there. I'm grateful for my Heavenly Father in allowing me to see both of their conversions. Dola gave a beautiful testimony and filled the room with the spirit. He is going to be a strong member and is going to do a lot of good for this ward. I am way happy for both of them.
- Well, now let's talk about Lemanana, Ianta and Janine shall we? They are an INCREDIBLE family and I have loved every moment of teaching them. Lemanana was never a part of the lessons at first but just kinda sat off to the side. Janine and Ianta have been the most diligent from the start. Then one day both Janine and Lemanana were sick and Ianta came looking for us to give them blessings. She found us and we were able to perform that service for them. The next day they were healed and were able to go about doing their daily work. Janine told us about what happened. When she did I could feel my own testimony of the priesthood growing too. She said that after the blessing and after we left she felt burdens come off of her and she knew that this church is true and that she needs to be a part of it. We moved her baptism date to March 12. I know she will make that date. Her and her family. I love the priesthood and I know that it is real.
- Last fast Sunday Nadia bore her testimony of the priesthood as well. She told the story about when Valery was sick one day. She said that he acted like he was bewitched or something. He stood up and stood still but he couldn't talk, or respond to anything. She said he was like a walking potato. Valery's brother is a pastor for another church. He happened to be around and so he tried healing Valery but nothing was happening. Nadia felt the need to call us and we came right away. It was kinda scary to see Valery like that but we gave him a blessing and then we left. Nadia said that after we left Valery fell down on his bed and fell asleep. Then a couple hours later he woke up and was fine. Nadia's brother-in-law asked her, "How did this happen?" and she told him that those boys are missionaries who hold the power of the Lord. I know that the Lord loves each and every one of his children and gives us experiences like that to strengthen us.
- Another little priesthood story... the other Nadia, Moses' wife, has kind of been a hard-hearted investigator and has been hard to teach. She has not accepted a baptism date because she said she has already been baptized in a different church and doesn't feel like she needs to be baptized again. Last week she was really sick and Moses called asking us to give her a blessing. We explained to her about Christ and that God heals those who have faith to be healed. We gave her a blessing. The next time we visited her she was up and running. She first brought us to a couple of people that she wanted us to bless. One woman was about to have a baby and the other was a child who was sick. The woman had a beautiful healthy baby and then the mom of the one who was sick invited the missionaries to come over tomorrow. Too bad I won't be there! I hope Elder Tambula gets a cool investigator out of that. After those blessings we went back to Nadia's house and she told us, "I am ready to be baptized." :)
Well folks that's it for now! Love you guys! Have a great week! :) Bisous bisous!
-Elder Mack
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