2/16/15 - Surprise Baptism, Leave it Better, and We'll See Uncle Dave Again

AIZEEE!!!! Aona ny Fandehany!?

My beautiful family and friends! I had another great week! Can't wait to tell y'all about it!  But I gotta GOTTA do the word of the week first! :p duh! haha.  So today we are going to learn some "tena bondie" (teenager words).  The proper word is, "Aizeee".  That means, "How are you?"  The more common "bondie" phrase used is, "Aona ny Fandehany?"  Which means, "What's up?" That's it!

 

So on Saturday I had a surprise baptism!  Friday night I came home from work and Elder Connault turned to me at dinner and told me, "Oh, I forgot to tell you but you have a baptism tomorrow morning."  I got asked to baptize a member's daughter who just turned 8 and how could I refuse?  So I said "SHOOTS"!  haha  I'll have to send pics next week.  This computer is not being kind today.  yah yah, I know I look good in white! ;) nah nah!  She's a cute little girl.  Her name is Malina. She is Jean Chrys' daughter, our last Branch President.  The baptism went well but poor Malina was so cold in the water.

 

Yesterday we beat our record for investigators coming to church! Woot woot!  We got 8 to church! Tarsile and Onja came again!  Awesome right!?  They are progressing so well!  Onja is super shy and yesterday in the investigator class the teacher (who happens to be President Rakotovoa's wife, so AWESOME) got Onja participating in answering questions.  I could tell that he felt good when answering them too!  So great!  They even brought one of our other investigators!  They brought a kid named Danny.  Super cool kid!  He comes to English class a lot and has been interested in the church!  He also came to the baptism on Saturday and yesterday he told us, "I want to get baptized!" I can totally see him going on a mission!  I probably won't be able to see his baptism.  That makes me sad but if I can only help plant the seed... same with Tarsile and Onja.  I have a month left here (most likely) :p  I better make it count.  Something my mom would tell me when I would go hang at someone's house is, "Leave it better than when you found it." Something like that. haha.  But that's a goal for all of my areas is to leave it better than when I found it!  I hope I have done that for this area.  There are still many, many people who have yet to hear this message. Right now because I may be leaving soon, planting seeds is what I need to do.  Then maybe a couple of companionships later the area will just explode and the church will grow super fast!

 

On Friday I went on a split with Elder Fisher. Elder Fisher is the Zone Leader with Elder Rigby.  He is so so cool!  He has two more transfers till he goes home.  He just came from Fort Dauphin where the dialect is Atondroy!  It's not even Malagasy!  Sooo hard!  But he is definitely a missionary who has worked his tail off on the mission!  Great guy!  The split went well!  Taught some great lessons, etc. 

To answer my dad's question.  The language is definitely coming.  I'm seeing progression everyday.  I am to the point where I can teach full lessons.  They are not perfect but I'm getting better.  The challenge right now is understanding what people are saying. 

 

This week I have taught the Plan of Salvation a lot.  I have really gained a strong testimony of it.  God loves us so much that he created this beautiful plan of happiness.  We can all live together forever.  Families are eternal.  It is super sad to hear about Uncle Dave passing away.  He was a great guy.  He was so fun.  That's one thing I love about this plan.  I know that we will see Uncle Dave again.  I know it. 

 

Well, that's it for this week!  Hope you all have an amazing week! Love you all!

-Elder Mack