MADAGASCAR

Sweet Mada...BA BA BA good times never felt so good.

 

Well I made it to the island Wednesday afternoon. So great to feel some humidity and smell the nice poopy smell here. We finished some paperwork, met the mission president and his wife, and the other senior couples here. We then had interviews and dinner with the Mission president, assistants, and senior couples. The mission home serves as three purposes: Church building, mission office, and Mission president's house. I love the Pres Adams. He's very intimidating but you can feel his love big time. He knows exactly what this mission needs and is on track to accomplishing that.

 

Thursday we woke up and went downtown Antananarivo to finalize our visas and other documents. Then that afternoon we got our trainers and areas. I got assigned to work with Elder Gaul and we are working in AMBOSITRA. It's literally in the middle of Madagascar. So we took a taxibe (bus) down that night. The ride shoulda been 6 hours. It turned out to be ten....and it was so uncomfortable haha. These taxibes are supposed to fit like 14 people, but they always manage to squish 20 plus. Its crazy, I love it. It is just me and Elder Gaul in Ambositra. We also have a town an hour away called Anjoma. It's just us against the world haha.

 

Elder Gaul is a boss. Hes been in country for 8 months or so. Great at the language. Great teacher. FREAKIN HUGE. He is like six foot two and 250. Hes a offensive guard in football from Orem, Utah. Love him to death. And he makes pancakes every morning so that  is pretty sweet.

 

The language is so dang difficult. I barely follow along. Sometimes I just get lost haha. It doesnt help that in Ambositra they have a different dialect. It is just so hard to understand the locals. I can follow what my companion is saying probably like fifty percent of the time. The language will soon start to come, I just need some faith.

 

The Mada life: evrything is very muddy and dirty. It is incredible to see how humble these people are. I can definitely say Im not in Plano anymore haha. But honestly I really dont mind it. I love it here. It is just a different culture and environment but they are all still God's children. It's pretty fun to just walk through the streets and think: Im in MADAGASCAR. All the little kids are really cute and the people are super nice. They do like to call us vazahas, which is kina derogatory to foreigners, especially white people. When little kids call us vazahas, we just respond with, Where are the vazahas????? The little kids just start cracking up haha. It rains here everyday. Beautiful in the morning and then pouring down rain in the afternoon. It gets super muddy and we just walk right through it. My black shoes are already brown haha. The food is not too bad. When I heard they liked rice here, I heard wrong. THEY LOVE RICE. Every meal we have rice with some kinda topping on it. Like some meat or beans or veggies. It is just very plain but all the missionaries grow to love it. I think i figured out why I got called here: I can kinda fit into taxibes hahaha. My comp has such a hard time. I feel bad. Its rough for me so I cant imagine him. I think  I saw a world record being broken. In a space that would be tight for three Americans, they fit 11 Malagasies. 4 of them were toddlers, but still, it was amazing. I was dying laughing.

 

We teach a lot here in Mada. People love hearing about Jesus Christ and are very welcoming. They are super faithful people. It's incredible to me how I can be halfway around the world but still feel the same Spirit I do at home. God cares about every single one of his children. And he loves them all the same. Hard to wrap the mind around it but I know that's true. Just in these past few days I have learned even more that it doesnt matter what you have, people can still be happy. That is clearly evident here in Mada. It is great to see. This week has just been great and Im thankful for this opportunity. Christ died for every single one of us, remember that.

I have to by a converter for my sd-card so I can post more pics.  So....pics will be coming.

 

Have a good herin-andro

 

Elder Hein

My Mission President and his wife.

My first companion - Elder Gaul from Orem, Utah