3/9/15 - Teachings, Poop, & Nine

Bonjour, tena tsy mahay amin'ny teny frantsay aho.....

Hey guys!  This week was poopy.... haha.  So so so many problems!!!  Pray for me!?  Yah?!  Cool.

Word of the week is Fampianarana which means 'teachings'.  If you add the "foto" then change the "f" to a "p" then it means 'doctrine'.  "Fotopampianarana sy fanekempihavana" means "Doctrine and Covenants".  We use this word for English class too.  "Misy fampianarana tena anglais amin sabotsy am folo maraina" which means, "There exists teachings in the English language on Saturday at 10 in the morning."  Cool right!?

So, about this week.  One word - poop. haha.  I can say I have definitely had better weeks!  But it has been a fun learning experience!  Missionary work kinda just failed this week... hardcore...  So last Monday and Tuesday Elder Hammer was sick so we didn't get to work in our area at all.  I did get to switch with Elder Connault during that time and went on a split with Elder Davis.  Such a baller! Twas super fun.  Wednesday and Thursday were normal.  We got to do our usual work.  Friday is when we found out some interesting news that made the week pretty much poop.  I can't go into detail or anything but the Branch members got into a disagreement and some members are causing problems.  President Rakotovoa is not a very happy camper right now.  So the missionaries stopped teaching investigators while we went around and visited with members.  We are continuing to do so. #branchprobs

Well let's look to the brighter side shall we!? :)  So yesterday me and Elder Hammer beat our record for investigators to church!  We got "9"!  So swag! Tarsile and Onja came of course!  Super ballin! Jean came again!!  Super excited for him!  Danny came and brought a friend!  His name is Mario and he joined us for a lesson one time and loved it.  Landy also came!  I don't know if I ever talked about her.  She learned from missionaries forever ago and never got baptized but she comes to church every week.  We thought she was a member already but no, so we reviewed with her and she actually had a baptism interview yesterday and passed!  So she will be getting baptized on Saturday! Woot woot! Ok - then we have Gilbert who is cool.  We also have a guy named Anglonie who comes to English a lot.  He came to church today and wants to learn more!  We found out he was in our area so that's great. Then there is 1 more investigator.  Her name is Tolatra.  Funny story about her... haha.  So last week me and elder Hammer found out that Rose, wife of the 1st out of the 16 brothers, moved into another area.  So that was sad KANEFA(but) Tolatra is Elder Connault and Elder Davis's BEST investigator.  She is super awesome and has come to  church every week for the past month or so. Then she recently got kicked out of her house and found a new house in our area!  haha  So yah, we got their best investigator.  Lost a baller, gained a baller!  I'm super excited to teach her!  She is a super nice lady with the most adorable little daughter!  I'll have to send a pic!  Exciting things coming.

To answer mom's questions we have had no signs of a cyclone yet.  It's not raining right now.  I appreciate the prayers so much.  President Adams is really on top of things and calls us when there are weather issues like that.  We get transfer news next Sunday.  We'll see what happens.  Well, that's it for this week!  Y'all have an awesome week!

Love you all,
Elder Mack

I wasn't sure if I was going to like this but it was good

This is Bota.  It means chubby.  Such a funny name and a funny kid.

Elder Hammer was sick for two days.  As you can tell I needed to get out of the house

I thought this guy was dead at first but then I realized he was heckah drunk

Tena mahafatifaty kely izy Kanefa, tena maditra loach izy.  Haha.  (Mom:  I tried to figure out the meaning of this.  I think it says something like, "She is adorable but naughty")

This is Tolatra's little girl Faniry.  Her name means desire.

Getting a picture with Francia and her family just in case I get transferred next week.