From Mom: This is information from our call with Hyrum. Because the cybers were closed on Christmas, he was told to call on Christmas Eve Day at 7a.m. our time (5p.m. his time.) It was so amazing to see Hyrum's face, to hear his voice, and feel his spirit, testimony, and great love for the people of Madagascar. The power went out twice while we were talking, but we were able to restore our connection soon after each outage. Hyrum was at a reliable cyber that had a back-up generator, so that was great! I tried to take
notes, so keep in mind that this information below is coming from what I can remember
about how Hyrum answered each of these questions. I thought it might be interesting and/or helpful for others heading to Madagascar:
Power outages? How often and how long? The longest I have gone without power is a few
days, although typically the power goes out at some point every day. Because we live on the second floor, when the power goes out, the pump that brings water to our apartment doesn't work. Thus, no showers when the power is out.
What do you do about refrigeration of your
food when power goes out for days? I just leave it in the fridge and it seems to be
fine. :)
Do you store extra water? Do you have a 72
hour kit? We do store water in 5 liter bottles and various jugs to have on hand
and we do have 72 hour kits.
Is your water filtered in your house? Shower
water? Yes, we have filtered water in our house, but the shower water is not. Don't worry, Mom, I keep my mouth closed when I shower. :)
Showers- cold or hot? We could take warm
showers, but I prefer cold because it is so hot and muggy here. The mission did
install A/C units in the missionaries apartments a year or so ago which has
been nice and cools off the smaller rooms and bedrooms nicely. It drops our
house temperature from 95 to 80 degrees! :)
Do you use your filtered water bottle we sent? Not much, I just
buy water bottles.
Have you been cooking at all? Using your
cookbooks? We don't cook much because it is quicker and very cheap to buy meals. We have found restaurants that are 75% safe to eat in. No place here is 100% safe when it comes to food. :) I have made your granola and a great baked oatmeal recipe from Sister Adams. I have also found that if I eat one yogurt and one apple a day, I have stayed a lot healthier.
How are your shoes? They are doing great! I have only used the Rockports and the Keens. Haven't used the Hush Puppies yet, but so far both shoes are holding up!
Do you have a washer and dryer? How is your
laundry going? The laundry is going fine. We do have a washer and dryer, but the water that comes into the washer is brown, so slowly my shirts and becoming a cantaloupe color. (Interesting side note, one of the native Malagasy Elders had never seen or used a washer and dryer or even a microwave. We have tried to teach him, but he keeps putting his dark blue pants in with his whites and all of his whites are now a nice light blue color. We have had a few close calls as he has tried to use the microwave, but he is learning.)
How are your feet? Any fungus? No fungus. I always put on clean dry socks each day. Believe it or not, I have only gotten one blister because my feet were super wet all day while we walked.
Are you using any of the essential oils or
medicine I sent? I have used Digestzen, peppermint and lavender.
What about toilet paper? What was the Coke
bottle for in that picture a few weeks ago? Malagasies don't buy toilet paper, although you can get it here. The Coke bottle was at the church building and they keep it full of water in a bucket by the toilet. They pour some water in their hands and wipe with their hands. Many find various other items to wipe on.
Bed bugs- any more problems? Nope and I haven't used my permethrin treated sheets yet because my area doesn't have a problem with fleas like other areas do.
What are you running out of? White clothes. :) What can I send
that you need or want? We really can get most things here at Shoprite or Score stores.
Piano- Have you played much? No, they have a really good piano player in our branch.
How is the biking going? Our bikes are broken constantly and we have had to pay to get around by riding in pousse pousse. When we take our bikes to get repaired, sometimes they come back worse or with other new problems. There are lots of bike repair shops which consist of anyone with an umbrella and tools. :)
How are you sleeping? GREAT! The minute my head hits the pillow, I am out!
How's the language coming? Good. I still have a hard time understanding some of them, but I am able to speak pretty well.
Tell us about your area? It is massive because they had to combine two areas. The church is extremely young in Madagascar. The mission has only been around for 17ish years.
Interesting facts? The sun sets around 6:30p.m. and the sun rise is around 4:30 a.m. The Malagasy people go to bed SUPER early, around 7 or 7:30p.m. and get up around 4a.m. The Malagasy men grow out their pinky finger nail simply for scratching. I am growing mine out.
Would you prefer a backpack? President Adams prefers we use shoulder bags because it is harder for people to pick pocket you with a shoulder bag.
Are you wearing your retainers? Yes!
Can you print off emails? Yes, but I don't.
Packages and letters? Everything is sent to the Mission Office so we only get letters and packages about every six weeks when it is transfer time.
How have the rains been? Not too bad, but it is not really the rainy season in our area even though it is super rainy right now in other parts of Madagascar.
What’s the scariest thing that
has happened to you so far where you have felt protected as a missionary? The recent riots that began against the power company because of the unreliable nature of our power. It sometimes goes out numerous times a day. (More info on the riots in the next post.)
Can you live within the budget
you have been given? Yes, but things get tight when our bikes are broken because we have to pay to travel.
What was your favorite meal
from members during the mission so far? Once a week our District President feeds all 11 or so missionaries in our District. I love the meals he makes! I have even started to really enjoy tomatoes! (Note: Hyrum has never been a picky eater. About the only thing he didn't like were fresh tomatoes.) When I first got here, I would try to find "normal" food, but I have to say that my favorite thing to eat now is rice with all the different toppings they put on it.
What has been your favorite
P-day activity so far? I really just enjoy emailing all of you and reading all the emails and letters I receive.
How much service do you do? Our main service each week is teaching English class for 2 hours.
How much do you work on
retention in your area? When I came to this area, there were a lot of people in the area book, but we mostly just have their names and no other contact info. A lot of the people don't really have an address so it has been hard to find existing members that have gone inactive unless someone knows them. Are there a lot of less active members? We are encouraged to teach our investigators for a long time so that retention is higher. Some people we are teaching now have baptismal dates set for some time in February.
What is your favorite smell
in your area right now? I LOVE the smell of rice and loca (toppings). Least favorite? The Street Side Bizzarre. They sell a dried fish that is rotten and smells terrible. I also don't like the smell of rotten Jack fruit.
What do most people do for
work in your area or is it pretty mixed? Women sell goods by the road and many other Malagasies drive a pousse pousse.
What about exercising? We walk and ride our bikes a lot (until recently) so we get TONS of exercise!
What about the children?They are so cute! Most of them don't wear shoes...just bare feet.
Here is a link to a great article about the church in Madagascar, but keep in mind it is over two years old and some of the info is outdated:
http://ldsliving.com/story/70652-the-lds-church-in-madagascar
