Baptism!!

Howdy!

Not too much time today. Just a couple things:

THE BAPTISM WENT GREAT. Saturday rolled around and the rain was coming down. The font is upstairs on the balcony so we were gunna have a nice rainy baptism! Well, we go up to do the service, and the rain stops. Baptism was finished and then the rain started coming down again!! Little tender mercies from The Lord. It was a great service and The Spirit was in abundance. 

Desire is a changed man. Incredible to see his journey. String and I tracted into him. I was a part of all the lessons, and I had the chance to baptize him. Never had that experience on my mission till now. Awesome. Just awesome. 

Desire on his baptismal day.

He bore his testimony about the first time String and I came to his house. I didnt know it that day, but I see now, how The Lord guided us that day. 

We saw some people working in the fields and we went over and helped them. Dug in the mud and got some rice fields ready to be planted. Well, String and I finished, and we decided to go up the mountain back to the main road. Pretty steep mountain. Well, the whole time we were down there, Desire was watching us from his house and was amazed at us in our white shirts and ties, helping people in the fields. He was touched and when we knocked on his door, he immediately let us in. I never knew that, or put the pieces together then, but now, seeing the whole story, I see how The Lord works in mysterious ways. 

Elder Babb with us.

On a spiritual note, I have a quote I came across that I love. Its from Marianne Williamson. 

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

Sometimes, especially in this country, people are scared of their potential. They are fine of what they have now, and dont want to become better. Little do they know, thats what the Gospel is all about. Reaching your goals, becoming the best you can be, etc. We were born with an unlimited potential. We place limits on our potential when we are lazy, blame others, disobedient to God's commandments, etc. There are no limits on what we can acheive. When we reach our goals, we become examples to those around us. "Let your light so shine." 

God bless, 

Elder Hein

Turkeys are the ugliest creatures in the world!

This was a family that was baptized the same day as Desire.

Howdy!!

Howdy!! 

Things are popping here!! 18 investigators at church yesterday. A few of them new ones!! We would have gotten over 20 yesterday, but it was raining cats and dogs all morning and its tough for some people to walk an hour in that. Well the new building is, the new building....Still has little minorthings. I hope I get to see it open. 

Well, the government lost Flavien's ID so.....he has to go 16 hours away and do it again. He leaves tonight and will come back with it completed on Wednesday. MIVAVAHA(thats me commanding yall to pray)

BUT, Desire passed the baptismal interview and he will be baptized this Saturday!! I am so excited. It has been a while since I have seen a baptism. Baptism is about a change in life. A change in direction. A change in the way someone looks at life. Ive seen that change in him and he is super anxious for Saturday! 

Thats all the big time news this week. Things are just going on like always. We have put a big focus on member missionary work as of late. Visiting all the members and giving them homework: one referral in two weeks. We are really excited to see the results of this. All the members seem pretty excited. We have pretty lazy members, and sometimes they just need a little waking up to get going!! Haha. DONT LET THE MISSIONARIES COME AND REMIND YOU OF YOUR DUTIES AS A MEMBER. We are all in this work, together. 

On a spiritual note, we talked about trials yesterday in Elders Quorum. I loved it. One of the questions asked by the teacher was, "How should we act as we go through trials?" I immediately thought of Job and Paul. One of my favorite scriptures is Job 23:10. 

10 But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. 

I also love Paul's glorying in tribulation, 

 9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for mystrength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may restupon me.

 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

Trials are a part of life. The second we realize that and understand that we NEED trials, we will learn to glory in trials like Paul did. It is a time for us to show God our love and faith. It is a part of the process of becoming a Celestial being. We cant get to that point, if we dont go through the trials. When a trial comes, be happy. Pray for strength. Overcome it. Thank God. And come through as gold. 

God bless, 

Elder Hein

Investigators!!

Howdy!

This week was great!! Nothing too exciting. Yesterday was amazing. We had 15 investigators and 2 less-actives come(who are completely active now!!). So the work is going great! There wasn't any super amazing cool story this week unfortunately, so I was thinking I just might tell y'all about some of our investigators. 

Desire: Ive never mentioned this guy before. He is turning out to be one my top 5 favorite investigators of all time. He's 35, not married, but lives with his family. He is kind of a loner. Stringfellow and I tracted into him one day. Taught him and I wont lie, I thought, "This guy wont ever progress." But, he liked the teachings and so we kept going back. He kept reading The Book of Mormon and the small fire began to grow within. We had been teaching him for about 8 weeks and he still hadnt come to church. Just a nervous shy guy. Well, he came once. Just once. Like 6 weeks ago. We werent there(due to Babb being sick) and the Elder's Quorum President took him under his wing. He hasnt missed a week since and is on absolute fire. Havent ever seen an investigator so pumped about us coming over haha. He will be baptized on the 21st. He will be the first investigator I tracted into, taught all the lessons, and see the baptism!! I love this guy. 

Tanjona: Well this guy is probably my favorite investigator of all time. I have talked about him before. He is the house builder that yelled to us from the roof. HE IS A LEGEND. Hes 25 and now married(in Malagasy standards, which he knows isnt enough.) This guy has had one trial after another. I have never seen an investigator have to deal with so much. I have also never seen an investigator with as much faith. God pulls through for him at the last second every time, purely on his faith. He was getting married on Sunday two weeks ago and needed 150,000 AR. (A lot of money.) He came begging to us for money saying that he would pay us back the next week. His boss didnt have the money but would the next week. Well....that cant happen. We just counseled him to pray. At 1 PM on Saturday afternoon, his boss called and said he had 200,000 AR for Tanjona. Literally 15 hours before the wedding.....thats called cutting it close haha. The Lord has pulled through for him many times and Tanjona knows that. He will be baptized in March. 

Hanta and Flavien: They are struggling with the papers still. BUT THEY ARE FINISHED. For good this time. They are just sitting in Tamatave and will be put on a bus today to come here to Tana. It's been over 2.5 years of trying, but this is it. I feel it. We have them scheduled for the 21st along with their adopted niece and their neighbor!! PRAYERS FOR THEM WOULD BE GREAT!!

Norbert and fam: Just pure legends. Isabel(his wife) will be General Relief Society President one day. Trust me. Always bringing new investigators to us!! Just awesome. Waiting on new building....whats new? But the consturction company has completely left the building. Everything is set up, etc. Soooooo Im thinking this week! But dont quote me on that. 

Thats just a few! I'll live yall some more next week. 

I read this talk called "The Fourth Missionary" this week by Lawrence Corbridge. Unbelievable. Incredible. I cant stop raving about it. EVERY SINGLE FUTURE MISSIONARY NEEDS TO READ THIS. The talk was given when he was a mission president. He is now a Seventy. He talks a lot about desires and our wills. It completely applies to our lives as well. If we follow the commandments with exactness, but dont do it with good intentions, IT PROFITS US NOTHING. God wont judge us purely on what we've done. He will judge us based on HOW we did it. We need to have a desire to do The Lord's will. Don't go to church just because that is a commandment. Go because you want to. It will profit you nothing if you just go. We cant have that constant battle in our minds. "I dont wanna do it, but that's what God wants." We cant do it grudingly. We have to DESIRE it. Very difficult to do, but we can do it. That's why we are here. To prepare, to learn, to change, to BECOME. To become like our Father in Heaven. If you want to do that, we need to WANT to do His will. 

God bless, 

Elder Hein

Suits!

Howdy. 

Transfers were exciting...NOT. Nothing happened haha. Babb and I are together for another transfer here in Ambohimanarina. Ive never spent more than three transfers in an area, so it will be exciting to see how it ends up. 

Which means....I should definitely see the baptisms of Norbert and fam, Yanta and Flavien, and some others that are progressing. Also, I should see the grand opening of the new church.....fingers crossed. I dont wanna promise anything, because I have for 4 months haha. Last time I went by it, everything was set up, and they were just putting up paintings. Soooooo, we should be in there pretty soon. 

About Norbert....so Im an a split on Thursday night in another area and I get a call from Norbert saying he is surprising his wife on Friday morning and getting married(officially, on paper) They were going to do it the day of their baptism, but he wanted to make it a surprise. So we showed up at the governent place in the morning and helped take part in the surprise. She walked in and just died laughing. Norbert was so happy. He shared a scripture out of 3 Nephi and started telling the Area Mayor about the temple. The man is a legend. It was just Babb, me, one of the APs, Norbert, his wife, and three witnesses. It was awesome. Only in Mada can you surprise your spouse with a wedding HAHAHA. Then that night we were invited to a party he trew for close family. At an insanely niceretaurant. There were 5 courses and then cake haha. Best fish and shrimp Ive had in a loooooong time. 

The work this week didnt progress too much. Our house we are living in now has some problems so we are trying to find a new one. So whenever we arent teaching, we are looking for a new house. Kinda reminds me of my first area when Gaul and I looked for a church building. Had a Zone Meeting this week where Babb and I taught out of a talk from Gordon B Hinckley called "Dont Drop the Ball." A MUST READ. Talks about our reputations as individuals and how people often remember one small dumb thing we did in our lives. It completely applies to missionaries. Its crazy how everyone in this mission knows so much about everybody. We want to leave great legacies and because of that we cant drop the ball. Not even for a second. 

Got a call yesterday morning from President saying they needed one of us to translate for Elder Von Reenan, a Seventy....so I had to go on a split and translate for him and President at another Ward's meeting. It wasnt too bad. But he got up to bear his testimony....He started out saying, "I am grateful to bear my testimony today. My cup truly runneth over." I kinda looked at him like, "You think I cant translate that?" Haha. The rest of it was fine. Just a little nerve racking. 

Not too many exciting things this week, but Ill share a small experience that I had yesterday on a split:

We had just walked over 15 minutes through rice fields to teach this one family. Pouring rain, slippery paths, i fell in, the whole nine yards. Start teaching this famiy and they just obviusly arent too interested today. The lesson was coming to a close and I hadnt said anything yet. We were teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, my favorite lesson. Elder Razazarohavana looked at me for some last words and I just felt prompted to go off. I had thoughts run into my mind of Christ suffering for them in the Garden. I had thoughts of Him on the cross for them. I had thoughts of Christ overcoming death for them. I couldnt let it just be. The power of the Holy Spirit came upon the room as I talked of the atonement. I spoke some of the best Malagasy I have ever spoken. The words I spoke did not come from me. The words were straight from The Spirit. It was an incredible experience. When we just go with the revelation that comes in our lives and let the Spirit guide, we see how powerful God truly is. We cant be afraid to act on promptings. We cant be afraid to teach the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We cannot be"ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." 

God bless. 

Elder Hein

Norbert's Party

New Suits - with traditional Malagasy cloth inside.  I got a light and dark (both blue) suit now.

Elder Babb and I showing our new duds.

The Past Two Weeks

Howdy. Sorry for the lack of an email the past week. Got caught up in traffic and couldnt get to a computer fast enough. 

Well all you need to know about two weeks ago was that Elder Babb was sick…all week. It was pretty rough so I bet the email wouldn't have been that great hahah. 

Elder Babb's health is back and he is just on the brink of committing to BYU. Lots of my personal prayers have gone into this hahahaha. 

The Flood

All of Tana right now is a big lake. All the rice fields are being harvested and the water is about 4 feet deep. So there are some areas here in Tana that are just completely flooded. Some charities have provided tents for people to stay in as the water has flooded neighborhoods.I had the grand opportunity of walking through crotch deep water this past Thursday for about 1 km. The water was pretty cold, but around the overflown bathrooms....the water got a little hot...hahahah;  

Well, let me tell you, on a mission, sometimes nothing goes right. This past week has been rough. We couldnt catch anyone. We had 7 lessons planned on Saturday, only 1 was there....it was that kind of week. Our baptismal dates continue to be pushed back. Norbert is insistent on getting baptized in that new building so we are still waiting. God's gift of agency is a little annoying sometimes hahaha. Newest news on the building is, they are receiving the key to the church this week. Ive heard that a million times ever since I got to this area, but I think this is the one. Yanta and Flavien are still having problems with their papers. The government messed up Flavien's ID. Put the wrong age on there....Satan is working pretty hard against this couple. We have a couple other investigators though that are really progressing and there should be some baptisms in February and March. 

From a couple weeks ago

Went on a couple "surprise splits" this week. Just showing up at the Elders house and saying, "ITS YOUR LUCKY DAY!!" Hahah. I got to go with one of my favorite missionaries in the mission in his area this past Thursday. His name is Elder Davis and he is from Scotland. He is the biggest Celtic FC fan I have ever seen in my life. He is probably the biggest fan of any sport team I have ever seen in my life haha. You mention Celtic's rival team, Rangers, and you're getting thrown into the rice fields haha. The whole day we just talked about the great game of soccer. Loved it. 

Transfers are next week and I have no idea if Im staying or leaving. Either way, ive learned a lot in this past 4 months. One thing I've really learned here is PATIENCE haha. Patience is a big character trait that everyone has here in Mada. Everything is in God's hands and it is going on His schedule. He's got this master clock that aint gunna change, no matter how hard you try. And Ive noticed it has been in  the times where we endure, that we learn the most. Its when we are frustrated that we finally suck up our pride and get on our knees and ask for help from our Father in Heaven. It shouldnt take frustration to do that. Instead of asking "Why?", we need to ask Him to show us what we need to learn at this specific time. Once we open our spiritual eyes and take a good hard look, we begin to see the ways we have grown. Thats what I have seen over my mission. The goal is perfection. It takes eternity to reach and eternity starts today. Its the little things we dont even think about that over time, will help us reach that goal. I testify of that. 

Have a great week. And God bless, 

Elder Hein

Tana is an ocean!

Tana is a flood right now

Babb is sick

Howdy

A pretty slow week here due to my comp getting sick on Friday night. He might have the black plague....hahaha just kidding, but in case yall didnt know, that disease is not dead. It is still alive and well here in Madagascar. I think Elder Babb just ate something funky. Thats usually what sicknesses come from here. And it kinda sucks because Babb turns 20 today!! Sick on his birthday woohoo!!

So we didn't get to go to church, but we had 13 investigators with a new one coming for his first time. The Branch leaders decided they needed to get closer with the investigators(after months of begging hahha) and had a little "get to know your Branch leaders" thing after church. I heard it went great and Im sure we will have great success from it. It is incredible how much help we need from the members. I dont care if you can preach as great as the Apostle Paul. WE NEED MEMBER HELP.

I had one of the most heart warming experiences of my mission on Tuesday. I almost burst into tears. We have been teaching this family of 9 who live in a one room "oven." No water, no power. Which isnt too uncommon in this country, but they are very very very very poor. They are farmers and look at life with the most incredible outlook I have ever seen. We showed up late to the lesson so we werent going to be able to teach them. But, we brought a Book of Mormon for them to drop off. When they saw the Book of Mormon, it was as if Jesus Christ had given it to them himself. I have never seen nor felt that incredible of a reaction on my mission. The whole family crowded around Babb and I as we showed them the pictures. To top it all off, they would not let us leave without them giving us something in return. They had just harvested rice that day and insisted on giving us some. We didnt have a plastic bag, so they took us down the street to a shop and bought us a plastic bag so they could give us the 2 kilos of rice as a gift. I could not believe the unselfishness and love demonstrated by them. It is moments like that, that make the whole mission worth it. It puts into perspective how far I still have to go, to become like my Savior, Jesus Christ. Those people, are really close.

In the season of goal setting, read this talk: http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=1819

One of my all time favorites. Look forward to the future. Remember Lots's wife.

God bless.
Elder Hein

Doing some farm work baby!  We eating rice tonight!

Harvesting Time!

Tratra ny Taona Vaovao!!

Happy New Year to all!!

Hope everyone had a great holiday season and HOW BOUT THEM COWBOYS!! Hahaha

The work this week just went. Even dealing with New Years Day and no one inviting us, or being sober enough, to learn, we had an outstanding week. We found ten new investigators this week that are ALL solid potentials. It is easy to find people that want to let a white person into their house, but someone that actually WANTS to learn, thats a little different. Found a couple more families. One of them, another wealthy family who are the Presidents of a big Protestant Church just outside of Tana. We also teach now, an Elder at another Christian denomination. I really dont know why we are teaching all these highly influential church leaders haha, but everything happens for a reason and I am loving it!

Might be a little short this week, but man it is great to get to a New Year. You get toturn a page. Become better. Set goals. And look to the future. Something that Ive always loved: DREAMS. We all have dreams. No matter what it is, we can accomplish it. Its how hard we want it. The way we reach those dreams is through goals. They just help us on the way. I have seen each and every day on my mission the importance of written goals. We all have them at this new year. Write them down. Put them in a place where you can see it. Then, DO IT.

Most importantly, lets set goals that really mean something. Lets set goals for the stuff that matters. How we can be a better person, mother, father, sibling, etc. And most of all, how can I be a better disciple of Christ each and every day? Through prayer and desire, I know we all can become better disciples in this coming year. He has done everything for us. Lets try and give some back to him.

I love this story: http://www.christinyou.net/pages/pushups.html

Have a great week. God bless.

Elder Hein