Ry fianakaviako sy ireo namako be! (Dear family of and good friends of mine!)
I'd hate to get redundant, but yet again, I appreciate the emails all of you sent to me and the encouraging words you all write. I am grateful beyond words for the kind things, encouraging words, and uplifting thoughts that I receive week in and week out because of you all.
This past week has been a little bit crazy, but pretty good. Last night we received our transfer news, and it turns out that I was right this time. I am leaving Tamatave, but I would not have guessed where I would be going. My main guess was Antananarivo, but I was pretty far off with that. I am going to (drumroll please).................... Ambositra!!! Now, I am 99% positive that all of you have no idea where that is, so a little explaining is in order: it is about a five hour drive south of Antananarivo, and is a small town known for it's skill in wood carving. Actually, it is probably one of the top five cities for wood carving in the entire world. So, let's just say I'll be getting some pretty awesome souvenirs over the next few months. Also, a little piece of information that would be interesting to know is that there are only two Elders who work in Ambositra. So it will be just me and my new companion, Elder Delbar, who came into Madagascar the transfer before I did. So, this will be much different than the past three transfers, as I will be working with someone who has just about the same amount of experience as I do. But I know for a fact that it will be a time of growing, and that I will have some great experiences to show for my service there.
Anyway, down to the questions. First the weather this week. It's been pretty good. A LOT less rain, so that's been nice. It hasn't flooded quite as much. But it's also been kind of cool, so I've really enjoyed not being super sweaty all the time. :)
Secondly, my mom asked for a background story on one or two of our investigators, so I will give details about our investigator Aldo (seeing as he is actually getting baptized this Saturday! WOOOOOOOOO!!!!!). So Aldo is a twenty-one year old young man who is living here in Tamatave in order to go to school at the local university. He is originally from a place called Sambava, which is up north and speaks the Malagasy dialect called Tsimihety, which sounds very cool, but is oftentimes hard to understand. But we still manage. Anyway, his entire family still lives in Sambava and is quite poor. Due to that fact, Aldo is even more impoverished than they are, seeing as he is living away from home as a college student (seeing as college students are usually quite poor to begin with). So Aldo has a really hard time finding the money to pay for food a lot of the time, and lives off of straight rice most of the time. For instance, last week, he was still eating when we came to his house, and all he was eating was the straight rice with just some sugar for his loaka (toppings, which usually consist of beans, vegetables, and meat). And yet, despite the fact that he is literally living off of a single simple carbohydrate, he still walks the three or so miles from his house to the church every Sunday without fail, which is quite impressive, especially for college students who oftentimes don't care about anything (at least, American college students that is). But now, since October when I first started teaching Aldo, he has come all the way and now, like I said earlier, will be getting baptized on Saturday. I won't get to see him be baptized, as I will already be in Ambositra, but that's okay, as it's the fact that he's doing it that counts for me. I'll still see him in the Spirit World after this life, and I hope to spend some time with him in the Celestial Kingdom as well.
Another investigator we have that is very similar to Aldo is Franco, who is also a college student but thirty years old instead of twenty. He's awesome, and probably one of the smartest investigators we have. I don't know much about his backstory though, so that's about it for him. :)
Anyway, onto question three, which asks if there is a vatsim-panahy (spiritual thought) that I would like to share with all of you. So, I will use a scripture we use all the time in our missionary work that is very mazava tsara (clear). It is in Romans 8: 16-17. In Malagasy, it says "Ny Fanahy dia miara-milaza amin'ny fanahintsika fa zanak'Andriamanitra isika. Raha zanaka, dia mpandova;" It says that we are God's children, and if we are His children, then we are heirs. Heirs to His kingdom, His glory, everything. And that is the promise that we have in this life. If we do the things that we should do; follow God's commandments; keep our covenants and the promises we make: then, after we do those things, we can inherit the kingdom of God. That is such an incredible promise, and worth giving up all that we have in this life to obtain it. I know that is true, and that--if we follow the counsel we have been given, from God and the mouths of His prophets--then we will obtain the kingdom of God. And, seeing as God cannot lie, I think that we are pretty safe in putting our trust in His promises. It's my testimony that these things I've said are true.
Love you all so much, and hope that this week is absolutely wonderful for you all!!!
Love,
Elder Snell
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| This is a picture of Franco and me at his house, which is actually just twice the size of the bed we are sitting on... But he's a stud, and always comes to church. |
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| This picture is of a little chicken that I picked up and thought was cute. |
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| These are two of our investigators, Lariano and Jantelle. They are awesome, and I hope they get baptized. |
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| This is Landry. |
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| This is Aldo. |
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| This is Michelle. |
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| This is Fabio. |
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| Group Picture |
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| Another group picture. |
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This is the District President and his wife. They have been so good to us!
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