Howdy - Spring Break - not jealous!

Howdy!

Heard it was Spring Break back home and I cant say I'm jealous....I feel like I am on vacation here everyday in Fort Dauphin. Oh yeah, I will probably be here on vacation for 6 months...who is jealous now?? Haha

I feel like I am learning a new language here!! It is because I am. There are two crazy dialects down here that are way different thhan what I am used to. Antanosy and Antandroy. And then there is Southern talk, which is a bunch of new words too. Three new languages. Pretty awesome stuff. Most people understand Merina(official) but there are some people that dont, so Ive really been working hard with Elder Fox who is a linguistic genius. 

My hand: I am getting better and better everyday. They will be pulling out the stitches on Wednesday and I will be interested to see my killer scar start to form. I have been taken care of down here quite well. The mission nurse, President Adams(who is a doctor), and a doctor in South Africa have been keeping tabs on me. Thank you for all the prayers. Fox, Rice, and Rakotonjanahary all make fun of me, which is nice haha. They are a big help as well. 

So a little bit about the two other elders here in Fort D. Me and Fox work in the Tanambao area and Rice and Rakoto work in the Ampahiry area. 

Elder Rice is from Boise, ID. Played a bunch of sports growing up but Rugby is his love. He got into country six weeks before me so we are both sorta just getting the language down. He's a boss. 

Elder Rakotonjanahary is from Antsirabe, Madagascar. He is one of the chillest guys I have ever met. He doesnt speak the best english so it is great practice for my Malagasy. He finishes his mission in August, which is coming up pretty fast. He's a boss as well. 

The people here in Fort D are incredible. So nice and so open to hearing about the Gospel. It is a very chill lifestyle here. I will get more pictures of the city next week. It is like Jamaica collided with Africa. Hope that helps haha. 

We get to teach English every week here and people actually show up!! No one would in Ambositra. We get like 40 people to our class for a couple hours. It is fun to see what questions people have. Mainly just music lyrics hahaha. 

Well moving here to Fort D has made Mada so much bigger to me. Im so far away from my last area but Ive come to the same conclusion...God loves all His children the same no matter where they are. Whether in the middle of the Mada mountains, or where the land meets the Indian Ocean. We cant fathom that love, but I see it each and every day. Im learning way more from the people in Mada than I can possibly ever teach them.

God bless, 

Elder Hein

PS Happy March Madness. GO BYU

The four of us:  Elder Hein (TX), Elder Rakotonjanahary (Mada), Elder Fox (WA), Elder Rice (ID)  

View from our apartment

View from our apartment

The beach this morning

Walking with the Elders

Beach this morning!

Our apartment is on the 2nd floor.

Crazy Week - Injury!

CRAZY CRAZY WEEK

Well we start on Tuesday. Took a 7 hour busride up to Tana. That place is just a massive concrete jungle. It is seriously insane. So many people, so much dirt, so many houses, and so many members!!! While I pulled into the bus station, there was a Malagasy wearing a Plano Football shirt....10000 miles away and people still know Plano is better than West. PLAAAAANNNNOOOOOOO

Stayed the night in Tana then woke up bright and early to get to the airport. Yes we flew!! The office elders took me, Rice, and Rakotonjanahary to the airport for our flight. The plane ride was awesome. Touched down in Toliara shortly then off to Fort D!!!! 

The plane flew over some glorious mountains as we landed in Fort Dauphin. The smell of the ocean was beautiful. This place is incredible. Hard to describe. Just a little beach town with the coolest people ever. They live such laid back lives and are a super faithful people. So about our house....We see the ocean from our window. I also fall asleep to the sound of waves crashing on the beach. Its okay, you dont have to tell me youre jealous:)

Elder Fox my new comp is a legendary missionary. From Seattle, Wa.,  he started his mission in May of 2013 so we are pretty close age wise. We both go to BYU and both have a love for soccer. Dont have a pic of us yet....really busy today and couldnt get one yet haha. Next xeek for sure. 

We teach people in little beach shacks made out of wood and tree leaves. There is no cooler place to work in the world. The streets are pretty dang nice!!! Rio Tinto has a massive mine here and part of the contract is to clean up the place here!! 

Well...I split my wrist wide open Friday night. Walking home with a jar of spaghetti sauce and couldnt see the path. Biffed it, fell and glass split my wrist WIDE open. Im talking you could see my bone. I immediately put my fingers in the cut while Fox ran to go get stuff. I put my finger in the cut and it was wider than my finger...Malagasies all huddled around and started screaming. I wanted to pull a Saving Private Ryan and yell "MOMMA" haha. Got to thehospital...if you can call it that, and they put 9 stiches in my left wrist. Most ghetto stiches ever haha. Im doing okay now. Just a slow healing process. Im typing with one hand right now !!Please pray for my recovery!! Thanks. 

Funny part was, there was a combo of spaghetti sauce and blood everywhere...which was which??? HAHAHA. 

This morning we climbed Peak Saint Louis. Incredible hike. No path, just bush whacking through a jungle. Kinda hard with one arm, but we made it!! 

I LOVE THIS PLACE!!!!

I will have better stuff next week. Reallly crunched for time today. 

Love yall. God bless

Elder Hein

FORT DAUPHIN!!!

What a final week here in my birthplace of Ambositra!! 

Pretty solid week work-wise. We got some more baptisms planned for the coming weeks and it is kinda sad that I can't be a part of them. But; the work of The Lord goes on no matter what missionary is there. 

All week I knew I was going to get transferred so I said goodbye to pretty much everyone. I realized how much I loved this area and have come to love the people in it. Last night, we had a farewell with the family of Richard and Odette. I became very close with them in a very short short period of time. I have seen them "become new creatures in Christ" 2 Cor 5:17. When I got here, they had a bad problem with chewing tobacco. They were not members and they were still learning from us. In my four months here, I have seen them drop the habit, get baptized, seen Richard baptize his daughter, to finally this past Sunday, Richard blessed the sacrament. I feel like I needed this family more than they needed me. I have seen amazing things happen in the hands of The Lord. 

Transfer News comes in Sunday nights and I was super anxious. Couldnt stop thinking about it. I thought for sure I would make my way to Antananarivo. Well President Adams dropped by our house early Saturday morning. He was on his way further South and decided to drop by. He spoiled the Sunday night news a little early and told us where I was going, and who Elder Dickson's new companion would be. Drum roll please....

FORT DAUPHIN

I could not be more excited to go down to the beach!! Ever since I got in country, I have dreamed about going to Fort Dauphin and I cant believe I'm going!! So excited. I have seen pictures and it looks like paradise. We can see the beach from our house....yeah it is awesome. There are also lemurs, crocodiles, dolphins!!! I am so pumped. 

Also, right now there are only two missionaries there but it is growing to 4 missionaries this transfer. The work is incredible down there. That is all Ive ever heard and I cant wait to be apart of it. 

My new comp is Elder Fox. He has a blog: elderchancefox.blogspot.com

I leave Ambositra tomorrow and drive up to Tana. Then I will fly down to Fort Dauphin on Wednesday. 

Very sad to leave this place, but excited for the journey ahead. 

God bless, 

Elder Hein

PS Go look up Fort Dauphin right now. Trust me. 

You will be jealous.

My Favorite Picture of me in Madagascar

Love this family!  This is in Anjoma.

Love this family!

Love this family!

Do I look like my dad here?  I think so.   - This is in Anjoma. 

Rainy Ambositra

Two bananas…..in one!!

Elder Dickson got a haircut….is Eminem in Mada right now???

Transfer News!!!

Work, Work, Work

You reap what you sow! Saw that this week.

Its getting a little chillier here in Ambositra. Which means, the temperature is almost perfect. Not that much rain, and rice fields are being harvested!

Started the week off great with a nice visit from the Zone Leaders. Elders Hamm and Eppich. Great guys. Both from Utah. Like everyone in this mission haha. We went and ate first, and I felt super young; All of them go home in the next few months, and I just got here haha. Great to hear some of their memories, and know that I'm gunna make tons of memories in the next couple years. Then we went out on splits for the day!! I went with Hamm, and Dickson went with Eppich. Put in a great day of work. Great to see how someone else teaches and I always learn a lot in splits.

Havent been able to harvest any rice yet. Really disappointed Hopefully I get my chance this week!

Elder Dickson and I have really worked on reactivation. Getting inactive members back to church is a tough deal. Well some of our labors have payed off this month as we know have reactivated a few people!! It's crazy seeing the different reasons why people stop coming to church. Sometimes they are the littlest things, but that is how Satan works. Little by little. This month has been great as I have seen attendance rise at church and inactive families start coming back. There are definitely fruits that come with your labors.

Sorry, not too much this week, but there will probably be big time news next week....TRANSFER NEWS SUNDAY NIGHT. I have a feeling I will be heading off to my second area. Super excited and nerve racking at the same time. Crazy how time is flying by.

God bless,

Elder Hein

Little Village on the way to Anjoma

Countryside

Frodo and Sam

Akory abe!!!!

Hit me this week that I am literally in the middle of the Madagascar mountains halfway around the world serving The Lord....I love my mission.

Had deja vu this week as we came back on Tuesday from a weekend trip in Antsirabe again. Once again the taxibe journey decided to be a good 7 hours instead of 2 haha. I might contact the Better Business Bureau...yall know if they work out here too? Haha its all fun though. Love going up to Antsirabe. Great elders their. We had a great Zone Meeting where we went over goals for the mission and for the District of Antsirabe specifically. Being only me and Elder Dickson in Ambositra it can get kind of lonely. So it's great to see other Elders working as hard as you and wantig the same things: helping the work of The Lord progress here in Madagascar.

The week went by great. Lots of lessons and hard work. I love it. Got a referral from someone in the branch. This girl named Lando. She's about 25 or so and super mazoto (dilligent). Without us even telling her, she goes to institute and knows the lessons practically before we teach her!! Haha it's awesome to see how prepared someone can be by The Lord to hear his true restored Gospel. Trust me, usually it's not that easy haha.

Sunday was awesome. We had a packed house. Great showing, members and investigators alike. Plus, it was clean because of the recent branch clean up!! I didnt talk too much about it a couple weeks ago, but it was a great activity. Tons of people there cleaning up the church!! Kinda reminded me of cleaning up the old church house back home. One difference, no vacuums. Carpet doesnt exsist in Mada. Could yall send a square of it?? Haha

But.....for the big tale of the week.....Elder Dickson and I conquered a massive mountain this morning. There is a massive hajo fijaliana(cross) on this mountain that we see everyday when we work. Elder Gaul and I tried a few weeks back to conquer it, but got caught in the rain big time. So me and Elder Dickson set out early. It gets to a point on the mountain where there is no path and you gotta make it yourself. So, we did. Felt like Frodo and Sam going up there. Except I was Sam and Dickson was Frodo...I had to carry him. Hahaha tsangysangy fotsiny (only kidding). We finally made it to the top basically rock climbing. It was awesome. Hope yall enjoy the pics of my birthplace Ambositra!! Tons of beautiful waterfalls and pools.

All that is our area....no car, just feet hahaha. Crazy how I only have 2 weeks left here!

I really love this place. Mada is incredible. Learned a lot and Im only 5 months in. I know the Gospel is true and all I wanna do is share it with people. God is preparing His sheep everywhere to hear the message of the Atonement of His Son Jesus Christ. Even in the middle of the mountains in southern Madagascar.
   

God bless yall,

Elder Hein

I love Mada!

The Mountain!

Ambositra - my birthplace.

The cross is 35' tall.

Panorama

A Chameleon!

Another Week here in Ambositra

Another week here in Ambositra. Time is just flying. The weeks go by so fast. 

Got back from Antsirabe last Tuesday afternoon. Shouldve been a two hour journey, but of course it wasnt. It took 6 hours for us to get back home once we got dropped off at the station haha. This Taxibe system is something else. It is so difficult to explain. Saturday, we took a taxibe to Anjoma. There was already four people in our three person row and the driver was trying to fit a fifth in our row....I wasnt having that hahah. It's so different than home. Road trips back home will be glorious. 

Really not too much happened this week. Elder Dickson and I are working super hard all day, every day. And the weeks are just flying. My Malagasy is also improving so much. I love just talking with Malagasies because that is how I pick up the language faster. Its weird knowing I will probably be transfered in the next three weeks. Ive learned to really love Ambositra and I will miss it. 

Now for the work: A goal in this mission is to really focus on teaching Father Led Families. (FLFs) You can really see the benefits of The Gospel changing the lives of the whole family with the Father at the head. Families are ordained of God. They help us grow together in the Gospel. I am so thankful for the family I grew up in. It is very hard to find these FLFs in Ambositra though. We work really hard and it's tough, but we found a couple really good ones this week, which we were stoked for. Please pray for them!!

The Gospel is true. Jesus Christ is the only way. 

God bless, 

Elder Hein

PS Happy Valentines Day

Pushcart Driver!!!! They have tons of these on the streets. COOL RUNNINGS

Misty Mountains!

The Week!

Great week here in Ambositra!! Pretty quiet, but awesome all the same. 

Elder Dickson is a stud. Great guy. He's so close to going home and I'm barely starting. Really funny, but it works out great. We have really gotten along and Im looking forward to these next four weeks together. 

Ambositra is super beautiful right now. The weather is rain, rain, rain. So everything is super green. The rice fields are just about ready to be harvested. Im ready to thrust in my sickle with my might!! I really hope I can help harvest some rice in the next couple of weeks. 

We worked super super hard this week. We must've walked at least 10 kilometers a day. You reap what you sow. Thats the way I look at it. We are starting to see some pretty good success. Found some really cool people that are accepting the message. We also come across people that dont accept us. Its very hard for me. Especially, when all I want to do is help them and show them the happiness of the Gospel that I have seen in my life. But, I never get too down. I love the work and one door closed on us, is one closer to an awesome family. 

My Malagasy has improved so much!! Thank yall for all the prayers on my behalf!! I really feel them. It has been an incredible blessing with how fast I have picked up the basics of this language. There is no program in the world (Rosetta Stone) that compares to the gift of tongues from God. It is crazy that I just got over the 4 month mark and how much I know. What a blessing. Still very very very very far away from where I want to be, but I am improving. 

Sorry not too much this week. I love you all and hope all is well wherever you are reading this. Just know that I couldnt be happier out here and I love The Lord's work. It truly is His. 

God bless, 

Elder Hein

Rice Fields getting ready for harvest.

Ward Activity - Cleaning the church house.

Chopping wood - look at my form!

Elder Dickson being Elder Dickson.

Elder Dickson caught me eating my rice.