Mission to Madagascar!: 5/4/15 - Cool new comp & prayers needed for Roby

Akoryabio! Tena marina, ny namako vaovao de akaika maty.

Hey y'all! So I've had a way good week. Transfers went well. Every companionship in Antsirabe changed. We even had one companionship from Antsirabe get transferred to whitewash in Tana. Same companionship. Elder Gariki left to Tamatave on Tuesday. I still miss him a lot but I got a new way cool companion! Elder Mumford came on Wednesday and we are getting along great and having a good time! This is his last area before he goes home. He has only 2 transfers left. Crazy. I'm trying to make him super trunky right before he goes. Joke. He's not trunky at all. He is from West Jordan and he is super tall - 6'5". This is my first companion that's taller than me. I'll include pics of course!

So I just got to give a little shout out to my Tongan sistah Aitana Alapa who just got called to CAVITE PHILLIPINES!! Super stoked for you!

Well next week is mother's day and I have to give a shout out to all the mothers out there! I am so grateful for all the women in my life and especially for my own mother. You're incredible mommy! :) Next week, SKYPE!! woot woot!

So for the word of the week let's do 'sary.' You say it like you would say the word 'sorry' but you have to do it with a malagasy "r". I don't know how to explain that but it means 'picture'. We as vahaza love to take pictures and malagasys love getting their picture taken. So random malagasys, if they see our camera out, will say, "Hey vahaza - take a sary of me." Then we try to tell them that the camera just died. haha We've got to be careful here because some people will then try to get you to print the sary haha.

This week, as you all know, was transfer week. On Tuesday I got to go on a split with Elder Nohaingoinaina. He was waiting for his comp too so we got to spend a day together. This is Naina's last transfer and then he is done with his mission. He is way cool. He got his mission call to England and loved it there but he had visa problems so he asked if he could finish his mission here in Mada. He helps us a lot with malagasy. He said it was weird teaching the gospel in his native language because he had learned all the lessons in English. I feel like it will be the same for me. So just FYI, if you want a gospel lesson from me when I get home it may have to be in malagasy :p haha

The work is going really well. We have an investigator in Saradroa named Roby. He is so ready for baptism but he has a problem. His wife did not want to accept the missionaries so they separated. This happened before I met him. They still live together so he is not able to be baptized. He has been trying to find a new house so he can be baptized. I thought originally that Roby and his wife did not love each other anymore and so we were encouraging him to find a new house for the last few weeks. Last Friday me and Mumford dug a little deeper into the story and we found out that he still loves his wife and wants to get baptized with his family. Totally opposite of what we originally thought! We told Roby that we want him to try to share the story of the restoration with his wife. We told him for fast Sunday we would fast that his wife's heart might soften so she would be willing to hear the message from the missionaries. We are really putting our faith in this. This next Friday Roby is going to take us to his house. We have not been teaching him at his house because of the wife. We've always met him at a member house. So wish us luck and say a prayer for us. There are a lot of good things happening here. Me and Elder Mumford have a few new investigators and we are excited to teach them!

So I think I'll end right there! Y'all have a great week! Happy Mother's day again to all the moms out there! Bisous bisous!!

-Elder Mack