Mission to Madagascar!: 11/3/14 - APs, Funeral, and Conference

HOWZ IT!!!???

Hey y'all! How's everyone doing? I had an AWESOME week this week!! I'm super happy with how this week went! Before I forget, word of the week is "Mivoa" (Me-vuah). This is a fun word and not rude. It means "leave my presence". Me and Elder Lehr use this word on the little kids all the time like when we're trying to do something and they are being loud. When we use it they just laugh. haha

This week, we got to do splits with our zone leaders and the APs! They are all swag elders. Our Zone Leaders are Elder Galbreath and Elder Arrieus. They are awesome. They are almost done with their missions. They leave in like February. The APs right now are Elders Fox and Weber. Elder Fox is a boss! When he was with Elder Christiansen as AP, (that is Elder Snells Trainer currently) they created a book to better help the new Elders with their language! It's an awesome book and gives a lot of good tips. Elder Fox has a photographic memory too. So not fair. He speaks like a malagasy.

On Wednesday, we didn't do splits with any of them so it was just me and Elder Lehr. We were walking around and we heard that there was a death. My area is not very lucky right now. Malagasys, they have a certain fomba (way) at viewings. Visitors will walk in, give money to the family in an envelope and they whisper in each family members ear, "mahaiza mionona" which is like saying, "my condolences." The funny thing when Elder Lehr was teaching me that, he said "Whatever you do, don't say mahaiza miNona." The difference between mionona and minona is condolences and breastfeeding. Very different. haha. For this family, we did the malagasy fomba and even sang a song for them in their language and it was incredible. Everyone started to join in and it was so powerful. We said a prayer for them after. The brother was in tears just thanking us soo much. He was thanking us for respecting their culture enough to learn their culture. They could tell that we cared and it really softened their hearts. Such an amazing experience. We hope that when they see missionaries again, they will talk to us.

Thursday and Friday, we got to do splits with Elder Galbreath and Elder Weber. It was awesome! They helped me with door approaches and I think just that helped my language. This week, I totally recognized progress in my language! So grateful for the spirit and for the additional help! It's awesome! My ears are starting to get used to the Malagasy accent and I'm starting to pick out words. It is not quite to the point where I know what they are trying to say but you know, it's progress!

Well, time to get spiritual. General Conference! Such an amazing conference! After a month of waiting, we finally got to watch it! My three favorite talks would have to be Elder Anderson, Elder Ballard, and Elder Scott. These guys are Studs! Elder Scotts was a really powerful talk. He talked a lot about family. The four ways he talks about to strengthen families is prayer, scripture study, family home evening, and going to the temple. The power of prayer is magnificent. Always have family prayer. Before kids go to school have family prayer. Before bed have family prayer. Me and Elder Lehr always have companionship prayer before we go to work and before we go to bed. We believe that it strengthens our companionship. Same thing with families. Study the scriptures. Ponder the word of god. Don't let anything get in the way of spending time with family. Family home evening strengthens family bonds. It brings happiness in the home and adds protection. Go to the temple. Be qualified to go there and go OFTEN. There is no better way to feel peace. My mom sent me an email today and talked about my sweet sister Lindsay. She has worked so hard this term with school. She is so tired. The young women had a temple baptism time and Lindsay went even though she was exhausted and could have really used the extra sleep. She told my mom what peace and relief she felt just from going to the temple. My dad told her it is because Satan has no influence there. You just feel the comfort and the love in there. The temple is incredible and I can't wait till I get to go again. General Conference was amazing and I can't wait for the next one in April.

Well, it was a great week with little miracles and awesome spiritual experiences everyday. I hope you all have a splendid week! Love you all!

-Elder Mack