Return to Ambositra (a visit to my first area)

Howdy.

Well, the fastest 6 weeks on my mission just finished. That's not a good thing. It has been a weird experience this transfer. Just working with a missionary that was on his last transfer was a weird thing. But, Elder Fisher is done. He's gone. On his way back to the US of A. We dropped him off last night with Elder Payne at the bus stop and they both headed up to Tana. Wednesday they will be on their way home and both get back to Utah on Thursday morning. Grateful for the chance I had to work with him. I learned a lot. He served a great mission and deserves some rest!

Fianarantsoa

A big time week to say the least. 

Last night was indeed transfer news. My next and last companion will be ELDER LAMBERT. I dont know him super well, but he's not a new face to me. I really like him a lot!! He's from St George, Utah (man I'm on a role of Utah comps)  and we actually share the same first name haha.  Way excited to get him down here and start my last transfer. 

We finally got to view all the sessions of General Conference this past weekend!! It was incredible.  Link is here -    General Conference Talks I thought al the talks were spot on. Lots of the same motifs going around through all the speakers.   Lots of marriage....I aint ready for that hahaha. Favorite three talks were obviously Elder Holland Link, President Uchtdorf (Sunday morn) Link. They were delivered perfectly. The Spirit of The Lord was so strong and it just fit so well with the Easter theme. My next favorite talk went to Kevin S Pearson of the Seventy. PHENOMENAL TALK on Lehi's dream of the tree of life Link. He outlined 6 very good tips to help us progress in this life. Also, shout out to Elder Renlund and Elder Hamilton, both of the Seventy, who had responsibilities in the Conference. Ive met them both as they have visited our mission. Shout out to Africa!!

I am so thankful for latter day Prophets and Apostles. I know they are men of God. They have the same keys that the Apostles of old did. No difference. 

Also, the big highlight of the week was....WE GOT TO DO SPLITS IN AMBOSITRA. Way good to see the old area. Hasn't changed too much. Same old same old. Great to see some of my favorite people. We got two ballin elders down there and the work is progressing. I had a way cool experience down there. So I got a little note from my Dad a couple weeks ago, that I totally saw fulfilled in Ambositra:

"Help people change Jess, even if it is  just a little bit.  That little bit they change will ripple through their lives.  You have been set apart to do so.  Don't let any opportunity pass you by."

Well, let me explain. I taught this guy named Joshua twice in Ambositra my last week there. Didnt really think anything of him. Completely forgot about him. Well, turns out he went off to the countryside and came back after a year. He couldnt remember any of the lessons, but he remembered the Spirit he felt in the two twenty minute lessons. He found the Elders in Ambositra and approached them asking about me. He wanted to know if he could see me and talk to me. Well, we were already planning to go to Ambositra so we set up a lesson with him. The lesson went beautifully. I was just a little confused how he remembered me. At the time, I wasnt great at the language, wasnt great at teaching, etc. But yet, I didnt realize the effect the Spirit has on a person. No matter if it's for 6 months or 5 minutes. 

I was very humbled by this experience. Very much in awe at the power and authority that can come from this call to serve as a missionary. Very much in awe at the way The Lord can work. Even when we might think it is just a little thing. A smile, a pat on the back, a small testimony of the gospel, whatever. We can help change people. The thought is too much for me to take. It is crazy how throughout my mission I have slowly began to figure these things out. Part of the learning process. Part of the growth and part of the conversion to The Lord. I love this work. 

God bless. 

Elder Hein

Fianarantsoa

Fianarantsoa

Food in Ambositra - my very first area in late 2013

Ambositra

Ambositra

Ambositra

Ambositra

Our General Conference set up

Saying goodbye to Elder Fisher

Saying goodbye to Elder Fisher

Urgency!

Howdy!

Hope everyone's week went well. Great to hear that Cody got his mission papers in!! I hope he comes here!!

Well Elder Fisher is on the brink of death, ladies and gentleman. Literally, he can see the finish line. This time next week, he will be up in Tana taking care of some final souveneir purchases, interview with President and then Wednesday he gets out of here!! Crazy crazy stuff. His group were a bunch of legends. (Fox, Christiansen, Roush,...) They will be sorely missed.

You can tell this mission has taken a toll on the Fish man. Up all night in the restroom...Poor guy.

He has been an incredible missionary and deserves a month long nap from his labors haha. But hes still got one more week with me!!!!!

Not too much has been happening here.

I'm playing soccer every morning. It is good to get back out and kick the ball around. I can already tell its gunna be fun getting back into shape haha.

I kinda had a theme in my mind all week. I had read a talk called "Four Minutes" given a couple conferences ago. I remember liking the talk when it was given because it talked about the olympics haha. He discusses how this life is short and we got to put everything we have into it. We have to prove our skills. We have to prove our diligence. We have to prove that we are disciples of Christ. One line in it really hit me though,

"Do you feel the urgency?"

I can say for a fact in my life I dont feel the urgency as much as I should. The urgency to do the right thing. The urgency to help someone. The urgency to always be progressing. The urgency to be more like my Savior. The mission has helped me realize this more and more. Esrecially with Fisher leaving and me going a transfer after, this bit of urgency keeps coming to the forefront of my mind. The difference is this: I know when my mission is ending. We DONT KNOW when our true mission here on earth is ending. That'
s the scary thing. We dont know when our time to shine and perform and prove to God our faith in Him is over. We dont know. There is no clock. There is no timer. We just have to do it. Do you feel the urgency?

God bless.

Elder Hein

A missionary who was up all night due to illness.  Yep, we get sick here.

Malagasy Stove

Puking Everywhere - Tons of Pics

Howdy!

Cutest kid ever!!

After a tough Saturday of throwing up everywhere alongside Elder Wiscombe, I've made it through another Madagascar sickness haha.

All the way in Madagascar!

Here's the story: Had a great day Friday and finished it off with some Macaroni and Cheese(thanks for the packets Mom). Woke up at about 5 feeling terrible and about to blow chunks.   I kept it down and still went to go play soccer with Covey and Davis. Made it back to the house, just chilling, studying, and then BOOM. It started to come. Luckily I had a casserole dish and I filled it all the way to the brim. Beautiful. Layed back down for the rest of the morning and went out to go work. Met the other Elders for lunch and Wiscombe was doing terrible....he felt like he was gunna throw up. So me and him head back to the house. We figured out we both ate the same thing Friday for lunch (an omlette). Get back to the house, we fall asleep. I wake up to the sound of him throwing up everywhere. HAHA i shouldnt be laughing but I had just done the same thing earlier so I felt his pain haha. There was only one good thing coming out of this: it wasn't the Macaroni and Cheese that got me sick!! 

Not much else this week. I still havent seen conference, but to get me pumped up, Ive been watching Conferences of the past couple years. Tad R Callister gave a legend of a talk last conference on Parenthood.   To read it go here  First things first, I am nowhere near ready for marriage (haha) but it was an absolute quality talk that just talked about how important the role of a parent is. They are the ultimate teachers. I struggle sometimes seeing members here, or even fellow missionaries, that dont know the simplest parts of the doctrine of Jesus Christ. Do Family  Home Evening. Love each other. The home is the best place to learn the Gospel. All the small little things that our church leaders preach all the time make the biggest differences. Trust me. I see it everyday. I am very blessed for the parents I grew up with that always had us learning in the home.  

I always felt loved in the home. Make home the preparation for the battlegrounds against Satan that young people go out to everyday. Young people need the foundation in Christ and they need it at a very young age. Family is the best. Just focus it on making it even better.

Pretty short this week, but tons of pics.

God bless.

Elder Hein

Bus Station

Bus Station

My companion sleeping at the Bus Station

Yep…my leg room for the 10 hour ride!

Leg room up close

My Bike

Double Decker Train

Elder Wiscombe egged on his birthday

Shall I pole vault?

Some strange mole creature.

P-Day (I am top right)

Easter Holiday

Howdy!

Hope all had a happy Easter holiday.

A busy busy week. We were up in Tana from Monday until Wednesday morning. The meeting went great. Great to see some different Elders again. Talked about a lot of things, especially helping everything be smooth for the new mission president coming July 1. It is great to see how President Adams leads up close and personal.

Left Tana Wednesday morning with Fox and Nohaingoniana. Drove the car down to Antsirabe. Got stoped halfway by Police because we are white. Said there was a problem with our papers and wouldn't let us go. Just looking for bribes. Well we weren't gonna do that. So we called a couple people(one of them being Norbert) and we were kindly let go after an hour. Ridiculous haha.

Made it to Antsirabe at 5 ish so we didnt make the trip to Fianarantsoa that night so we stopped in Ambositra and stayed the night. Great to sleep in my birthplace!! Made it to Fiananrantsoa in the early afternoon on Thursday and the work week officially started!

Investigators arent doing too hot right now. Just a lot of people dogging us and not really progressing. I think we might just rip the program out, with a few exceptions, and start over. I love doing that.

But we did have a baptism this past Saturday. It was a great baptism and Iandry is a baller.

Also other news: NORBERT AND HIS FAMILY ARE OFFICIALLY BAPTIZED. Yes it did happen. Everything went smoothly according to what I heard. Great family and great addition to the church here.

Easter here is awful. People just get drunk. Way sad. No one is really thinking of the real reason for the season. The single most important thing that has and will ever take place is being celebrated, and people here get drunk and get in fights in the streets. Very disappointing. Elder Fisher and I had a pretty good work day though, visiting some less active members and sharing thoughts about Christ.

This letter is coming a day late due to a holiday here called Lundi de Pacque. Easter Monday. Everything is closed and everyone just kinda chills all day. Basically, National Hangover Day for them....but our Branch had a great activity that we unfortunately couldnt attend. But we climbed a mountain again and had a very chill day with the other elders.

Cant wait to watch General Conference in a few weeks. Heard it was great.

Ive progressed personaly so much on mission. I see more and more weaknesses I have every day as I humbly turn to The Lord. Ive learned so much in the growing process and can honestly say that " weak things have become strong." He is willing to help us overcome our weaknesses at all times as long as we are humble enoughto admit them. Through the Atonement of Jeus Christ all things are possible. All wrongs can be right. All weaknesses can become strengths. I know that is true.

God bless.

Elder Hein