NOTE FROM MOM:
I think I
have mentioned this before, but when Hyrum was about 2 years old he had a
fascination with lemurs. This lasted for years! He loved everything
about lemurs and I was constantly trying to buy every lemur thing I
could find. Imagine our surprise when Hyrum opened his mission call to
Madagascar, The Land of the Lemurs! I think his spirit was always loved
the people and the land of Madagascar. His experience this week was a
dream come true. Hard to believe it actually happened! Prepare for a
picture overload! :)Akory aby! Tsara be akory aby o! Hey all. It has been a bit of a crazy time this past week for me, as I have been going all over the place. Also, FYI, turns out I'm staying here in Tamatave until the end of the transfer. Wooo! But, despite it being very crazy, it has also come with several blessings and special opportunities though. For example, on the road to Tamatave, which I was traveling one week ago, there is a wonderful place called Andasibe. This is one of the most famous lemur parks in all of Madagascar, and President Foote gave us (the AP's and me) permission to stop there and check it out for a few hours. And that was SO AMAZING! Definitely WAY better than the zoo in Tana. I will for sure send pictures. Don't worry.
Also, blessings have just been coming from all over. Just last Saturday, I was out to lunch with the AP's on their last day here in Tamatave. And as we go up to pay, the lady says it's already been paid. And then she points to a random white guy who was sitting on the other side of the restaurant and said that he had paid for all of our lunches. So we went up to thank him and then all walked out, amazed at what just happened, because that NEVER happens in a third world country.
But anyway, now on to my mother's questions.
Firstly, I live in Tamatave now, in the Mangarivotra missionary house, which is not the one I lived in last time. I will probably be moving though at the end of the transfer, and will be getting an actual area at that point.
Second: I do not actually have a companion at this point, but they may just put me in a trio with a companionship so I can lend support. We will see, and I will probably tell you all next week.
Third question: my schedule will either be what I just previously said, which would be me working with a companionship of missionaries that could need some help, or I could just do splits for the rest of my time here in Tamatave, which would be pretty crazy. So I don't know, we will see.
Four. Actually, I kind of just answered this question already, sooooo... Yeah. I'll just continue
Five. My feelings about this weird change of pace and direction in my mission are a bit mixed, but mostly are with regards to one thing in general, and that is a feeling of gratitude for the opportunity. Please don't misunderstand me though, it's not a big assignment. It's already over. I was just paired up with the AP's for a week, going on splits with the missionaries, and even then I didn't have any authority or anything. And now that's over, so all I do now is chill here, working in Tamatave for the next three weeks, and then I'll get an actual area and companion. But anyway, besides that, I was grateful to President Foote for giving me that opportunity to work with several missionaries and help them in any way I could, as well as have them help me improve personally.
Anyway, that's about it for this week. I really did enjoy the opportunity I had to work with the missionaries here in Tamatave, and I had an awesome time doing so. The missionaries I specifically worked with are Elders Hammer (Orem, Utah), Monsen (Salt Lake), Rasmussen (American Fork), Maluleka (South Africa), Cyusa (Rwanda), and Maleka (Uganda), all of which are awesome missionaries in their own regard. It was good to see so many different personal styles of teaching.
But anyway, that's all for this week. Thanks to you all for being so awesome! Love you!
Am-pitiavana,
Elder Snell
The beach in Tamatave |
New chapel in Tamatave |
Elder Covey (one of the APs) and me in a posiposy |
Cute kids in Tamatave |
My shirt after the lemurs! |