Herro 

We went to Antsirabe this last week for splits and zone conference. Elder Steele and I drove down on Wednesday and worked with everyone in the zone. I got eaten alive by fleas. I have bites from my head to my toes. It's miserable. I got to work in some sweet places while we were in Antsirabe. Sradroa is the name of a small valley up in the mountains of Antsirabe. We had a 30 minute hike in just to get to the place. You can't get there by car. When we got there none of the people that we were supposed to teach were home so we helped one of the member families bring in their bundles of rice from the fields. It was so hard. We had to balance a huge roll of rice on our heads and walk along the tiny mud paths between rice patties for a solid 150 yards. Little girls were doing it like it was nothing, but I was dying. Once we had gotten all the rice in we went and taught the investigators the restoration and hiked back out. It was a pretty neat experience and I can't wait to show you the pictures we took. Our zone conference went well on Saturday and on Sunday we went out to another small group out in a place called Besoa. You have to have a 4 wheel drive vehicle to get to this place. We went out there with President and Sister Adams, Elder and Sister Todd, and Elders Moore and Baker. We went out there to tell them that their group was being closed and that they now have to walk an hour and a half to a place called Manandona for church every Sunday. It was really uncomfortable and I felt so bad for them. I could only think about how happy they must have been when they built their church building out there. That is the 2nd unit that President Adams has closed since being here and it will not be the last. It's tough to see these places close, but it is awesome to know that what we're working for is 5 stakes and then a temple. I'm so thankful that I have been able to be a part of this preparation here. The work is going so well and it is only improving. Missionaries are becoming much more obedient and diligent and the unit leaders are starting to run the wards and branches like they are supposed to. We just got handbook 2 in Malagasy and the missionaries are training the leaders and members how to use it. I get so excited talking about this haha. I can't wait to come back to the temple that will be here. I'll just need Jeremy to hook a brother up with some sky miles right? :) Well I don't know If I will have time to send an email next week. I will be flying to Reunion next Monday and there we will have our exit interviews and departure dinner. It has been a quick two years. I think I'll take this last week off and treat myself for the hard work I've done. I love you all and I hope you have a great week. 

Elder Barclay

Well my friends 'twas a gooood week.  We had some funny happeninsss. First I'll tell you about sweet little ol' Elder Gaul's fahalavoana. We eat at this little pink & green restaurant everyday for lunch and on Saturday we were enjoying some juice before our food came. Out of nowhere the legs of Elder Gaul's chair bent in half and he dropped haha. On his way down he smacked the table and catapulted Elder Robinson's juice into his lap. Elder Gaul was Elder Steele's right guard in high school and is a man and a half. He looked up at me after he had fallen and said, "Are you kiddin me?" I had tears in my eyes for the next hour from laughing. The chairs were garbage. Funny happenin faha roa... We had just taught a lesson late Friday night and we were walking the member that helped us home. As we came around a corner we saw a man stumble out of a bar to the ledge of a canal and start to relieve himself into it. Then his knees buckled and he dropped onto the ledge while urinating all over himself and then fell face first off of the 4 foot high ledge into the canal of sewage. I don't know how his neck didn't break. He was too drunk to put his hands out and so he literally landed on his face. After we had dropped the member off at home we walked back past the man still in the water (he wasn't drowning) and saw his buddy who was also plastered drunk "going" into the canal right onto his friend. Classic. Luckily they won't remember any of it. Sorry if that was a bit gross. We had some good experiences teaching. Lanto is working to get off cigarettes and he is so happy to learn. I asked him a question during our lesson and he answered perfectly and I said, "Yes! Exactly!" He started to smile and then turned to his daughter, raised an eyebrow, and then shrugged his shoulders like, "Yeah.. I know what I'm talking about." haha I love seeing him get excited about the gospel. His and my favorite part of each lesson is him explaining what he has read in the Book of Mormon. He gets all sorts of pumped up and his voice raises a bit haha. We are still trying everything we can to get Alicia's family more involved in the lessons and get them to actually investigate. We took a lady from the relief society with us to our last lesson with them and Alicia's mom and the member clicked so well. Alicia is a STUD. We have taught her every lesson once and she can explain everything we have taught her. Her father is the one that we gave the blessing to not too long ago. We had that awesome experience where Alicia's mom had the dream about us giving the blessing to her husband and when we gave the blessing he was told that he would be healed. All he has to do is read the Book of Mormon. He still hasn't done it. We told them again that all he has to do is read the Book of Mormon and he will get better. So many times the spirit has moved my companions and I to promise people blessings like that and for some reason people just won’t do their part. That is definitely something that I'm thankful to have developed throughout my mission, that is, to have faith enough to follow the impressions of the spirit and believe that if the person will do their part then a miracle will come to pass in their life. Some people have done their part and the promises have been fulfilled. Its nuts how it just works. Today we played soccer against the elder’s quorum of the Tana 1st ward and beat them 6 to 4. Chumps. Life is good. I love you all, have a good week!

Jeff

It was a great P-day. We played some football americaine and got some sun. I was wheelin' and dealin' at QB. The only problem was that no one could reel in the ball. Anyways, we'll start off with a tid bit from this morning. I got out of bed and started cleaning and then went back into our bedroom and Elder Steele said, "President just called and he wants us to go to the office and meet with him." I thought great there goes p day. Then he said April fools and we laughed and I picked up our phone and called President Adams and told him that we had an emergency. I said that as Elder Steele and I were coming home from our morning run a scooter hit some loose gravel and slid into Elder Steele and his leg was split open and bleeding pretty badly. He fell for it and started asking me where I was going to take him and what we were going to do. My courage ran out about there and I told him it was April Fool’s day. He laughed and said, "I'll remember this." Uhhhh... ha goood. Then I walked into Elder Robinson's room and told him to get his rear out of bed and start calling his zone because we were evacuating due to major rioting in downtown Tana. Elder Gaul had his shoes on before I could even get out of their room haha. I waited until Elder Robinson was about done telling his first district leader about the evacuation over the phone to tell them all it was a joke. Suckers :) We had some really cool things happen this week. Alicia has a bap date for April 20th. Her Dad loves what we teach but he can't leave his bed because he is so sick. Last week as we were leaving their house I felt like we should give him a blessing. The next time we went to teach them Elder Steele and I had forgotten about the prompting to give the blessing and as we were finishing the lesson Alicia's mom told us that she had a dream in which Elder Steele and I gave her husband a blessing. It was an awesome blessing. He was told that he still had work to do here on earth and for that he would be healed and able to lead his family as they joined the church. We taught Lanto on Saturday for the first time in a while because he had been out of town working. He has almost finished 2nd Nephi and it had been 4 days since he had last smoked cigarettes. We have been praying very intently for him and he is starting to make progress. We taught Helen twice this week and Bruno and her can finally get married this Saturday! So... we have a possibility of 4 baptisms the Saturday before I leave. Either way, they are all going to make it and I'm so happy. We had been in a bit of a rough patch as far as people progressing throughout March, but we're moving again. I interviewed a young lady for baptism last Sunday and she invited us to her baptism on Saturday. It was great to hear her testimony after the baptism. In the interview she told me all about her plans to go to the temple. The work is going so well here. People are being retained and we are seeing real growth. Our ward council meetings have gone from activity planning and verbal battles to a detailed discussion about investigators, less actives, recent converts, and potential Melchizedek Priesthood holders. I'm so grateful to have been able to be a part of all this and to have been able to seen the change that has taken place. Well, have a great week everyone. Make sure to so whatever the Lord needs you to do in each of your personal circumstances this week. You are all where you are for a specific reason. So don't be lazy chumps. Loves :)

Jeff

It was a good week but I can't remember what happened. Tuesday I was on splits with Elder Arrington in Ambohimanarana. We got slapped by a crazy storm. It was super hot and the sun was shining bright when I thought a flash grenade went off right in front of us. It was lightening and it was so bright that it blinded me for a second haha. Yowza! It scared us so bad. Then the black clouds rolled in from every direction and dumped on us. On Wednesday I was on splits in my area with Elder Razafimandimby. We did a lot of street contacting and no one was having it. It was refreshing to get rejected like that. It took me back to the good ol' Reunion days. Elder Fennell went home on Wednesday. He is done! I called him and said goodbye, it’s crazy how much you can love people out here. These guys will all be friends for life. On Thursday we stopped by a member's house because he was sick and had been throwing up blood. He didn't have enough money to go to the hospital and the doctor he talked to told him to eat more food. That's hard to do when you don't have money. So we gave him a blessing. His house was the dirtiest and creepiest house I've ever been in. I can't even explain it. Elder Steele and I went running this morning for the first time in a long while and woooweee I'm a tub of LARD. I almost ralphed. Yeah... have a good week everyone!

Elder Barclay    

It was a quick week. We hand Manakambahiny zone conference on Tuesday and then we taught the rest of the week. We were able to work a ton with the members. We visited tons of less active families with our bishop and other members and it was so sick! We flat out told people to repent and come back to church.  Our investigators have all kind of hit brick walls. Helen can't get married because she is underage and has to wait until July and Lanto has been out of town working and still has word of wisdom probloems that he isn't doing very well with. Alicia's family is starting to come around though. We gave her a bap date for the 20th of May to try and get her family jumpstarted and it's kind of working, we'll see. Our ward is doing so well. We had a ward council yesterday and the progress record that we had given to our bishop Thursday night was the main focus throughout the meeting. He talked about every investigator, every recent convert, and every less active that we had on the paper. They followed up on last week’s visiting assignments and everyone had done what they said they would do. Now as we go around town we see our members out visiting people and we even run into members at our appointments. I want to throw a fat fist pump and shout hoorah for Israel. Stuff is getting done! I love it so much. Thats about it for this week. Je vous aime!

Elder Barclay      

Hey errbody. It was a fast week. I'm tired and we have an office meeting in a couple minutes.... so.... this will be quick, I'm sorry. We had stake conference yesterday with Elder Cook and his wife. It was AWESOME. It was packed and we got there 2 hours early to get the good seats. Lanto and his daughter came and also Hanitra, Lalaina, and Anita came. They all got to meet Elder Cook. The speakers gave great talks and the Cooks spoke to all the investigators and recent converts after the meeting. It was so sick! We had a sweet P day at the beach last Monday and a safe trip home to Tana. Another busy week coming up!

Elder Barclay

Awesome week my dudes. We sent elders Fryer, Wilson, Walker, and Maua'i home on Wednesday and welcomed 6 new elders right after the departing group went through security. On Thursday Elder Steele managed the training and orientation for the new elders while I was out with Elder Bergera (new office elder) taking care of transfers. All but maybe 6 companionships were moved. It was the biggest transfer I've seen. I don't know how bigger missions do it. Elder Bergera attended "Barclay's Auto Ecole" Wednesday night and all day Thursday haha. Boy was that a rodeo! I almost wet my pants numerous times because I was laughing so hard. He's getting the hang of it now. I actually am very impressed that he was able to learn to drive a manual so quickly, let alone do it in Madagascar. He must have had a ballin instructor. Thursday morning we Elder Steele and I packed our bags and drove to Tamatave. We had Elder horman and Elder Rasoanaivo with us who were getting transferred to Tamatave. The trip was an adventure, and... we'll leave it at that for Mom's sake. We slid halfway off the road at one point what...??? Moving on! Elder Rasoanaivo was not enjoying the ride haha. He is from Besoa which is a little village about 8 billion miles off the beaten path. He ralphed his guts out 3 times throughout the drive. One of those times he almost didn't make it out of the car. He tapped Elder Horman on the shoulder and let him know what was about to happen so Elder Steele slammed on the brakes as Rasonaivo's cheeks bulged. The force of the car stopping made it impossible for the sliding door to be opened so finally when we had come to a complete stop Rasoanaivo ripped the door open and spewed across the two lane highway that we were on hahaha. Poor guy... That was probably the most intense ride of his life. So now we have been in Tamatave since Friday and we are heading back to Tana on Wednesday. It is bloody hot here. I love it, it reminds me of Reunion. We have been on splits everyday and it has been a party. I love these guys out here, I've never had this much fun. The only problem is... It's so hot that no one wears clothes. Wooh! So today we're going to take a walk on the beach in our flip flops and drink the milk of coconuts through bendy straws. Before I close I'll share a proselyting experience. Elder West and I were on splits on Saturday night and had finished teaching a lady and were headed to the car to go to our next lesson. I saw a man come out of a gate and thought well, we should go talk to him. He was just the guardian and after talking to him he finally went to get the owner of the house. A woman came out and she said, "I have a cousin who is Mormon." We talked more and her cousin was the wife of my ward's bishop who just recently passed away. I told her that I was at the funeral and that I was very close friends with that family. It turns out that the lady that I was talking to lives in my area in Tana and is married with kids and has a beautiful family. We got her information and will contact her next week. It was a miracle. I know that we were guided to that house to meet her that night. Have a good week I love you all! 

Elder Barclay

Great Week. Saturday we baptized Hanitra, Lalaina, and Anita. Everything went smooth and the spirit was strong throughout the entire service. I haven't felt the love of the Lord that strongly in a while. I couldn't even hold myself together during the talks. That was definitely the highlight of the week. On Sunday we taught a man named Raymond for the first time. He works for the U.S. embassy and speaks english pretty well. We started teaching him about the Godhead and we asked him who God, Christ, and the Holy Ghost were. He gave us a long explanation of how he feels that churches have completely distorted the doctrine of the Godhead and he thinks they are 3 seperate beings. That was a first. Our lesson with him was very spiritual and exciting because he is so ready. We have been so blessed with cool people to teach who progress. The three who were baptized on Saturday couldn't even name a prophet from the bible and now they are bearing testimony about the restoration, the Atonement, and the living prophet. I love seeing the gospel change people. We released transfer news last night and the complaints are coming in hot today haha. Guys have been calling us and chattin' and shmoozin for 3 months now and they apparently didn't get what they wanted as far as transfers go. It surprises me how representatives of Jesus Christ can be so two faced and fake. I'm glad that I have never been that concerned about what area I'm working in. People must forget that they are in Madagascar, and that any missionary in freezing cold North Dakota would love to work in the worst area in Mada. Actually I take that back North Dakota elders are probably know who they are and know what they have been called to do regardless of the area. ANYWAYS, We made some good transfers and the work is going to really progress. I know that because the Holy Ghost told me so in our last transfer meeting haha. Elder Steele and I have a busy 2 weeks coming up. We now have to actually move everyone to their areas, pick up the 6 new elders, orient them, train the trainers, send 4 elders home, and then prepare Tamatave's zone conference and then drive there and do it. We won't be doing as much teaching as we would like to, but I'm very excited to see the elders in Tamatave. We picked up Elder Fryer from the Tamatave bus stop this morning and he ralphed all over himself during the ride down here. He's a champ haha I wish we could send other people home and keep hardworkers like him. Thats about all I have for you this week my friends. I love it out here. I love you all! Bonne semaine!

Elder Barclay      

Hey,

Good week :) Hanitra, Lalaina, and Anita have bap interviews tonight. I'm not sure how they'll do but we'll see. We spent a lot of time this week setting up video conferences in other areas of the mission. Skype and Webex are pretty neat. We also taught a lot. We had two lessons on Sunday evening that made me want to scream. First was Miora and Manjaka. We have been teaching them every Sunday for about 4 weeks now and every lesson is us disproving their "logical" reasoning with the bible and then laying into them with testimony and begging them to pray. The lessons have been so slow because they object to every single little thing we teach because they have no clue what is really in the bible and they have been blinded by false churches and have no idea who God really is. When they come up with all their objections I want to slap them and say, "Well what in your mind allows you to be a member of the Catholic Church that is not even close to abiding by the doctrine of the Bible?" The Pope just quit if I'm not mistaken! Does that not send up a red flag in anyone else’s minds?! HELLFIRE DAMNATION!!! AHHHHHHH!!! REPENT!!! haha I think I was supposed to have been born around Joseph Smith's time and preached in the streets of Wales with Dan Jones. Our other lesson of blood boiling frustration was with Johnny and his family. We had another round of the dumbest questions and flat out stupidity. I stopped talking because I was getting so mad. Voangy asked why I wasn't talking and I said, "You don't listen when I talk." I don't mind when people don't understand and we have to re-teach them 3 or 4 times but when they are screwing around during our lessons and daydreaming and then make sarcastic comments about what we've said, the red hairs in my beard stand on end and the Barclay fury is unleashed. Not really, I just say bad words in my head while Elder Steele teaches haha. I'm scared to drop people when I'm mad like that because I feel like it might just be a result of my impatience. They asked us to give them a chapter to read in the Book of Mormon and then for us to come back and help them understand it. So if they haven't read... MATY. We had some positive experiences also, in fact everything about this week was rad. Sunday night just chapped my hide a bit :) Sunday afternoon we were walking by frère Jose's house when his once LDS turned Adventist wife waved us over. We have battled with her a few times haha so it's kind of awkward. She asked us if we had any medicine because her teeth hurt. In my mind I knew right away that she wanted a blessing, but my pride got to me and I said, "Yeah... sorry we don't have any." Then we chatted a bit and left. We were about halfway through the rice field when I told Elder Steele we had to go back and give her a blessing. He didn't hesitate because he had the same things going through his mind. So we went and offered to give her a blessing and she continued to play dumb and said, "Oh, like in the house? Yeah sure that works." haha. She was healed instantly and smiling from ear to ear once the blessing was finished. The blessing was also pretty straightforward about her need to read the Book of Mormon and get back to church. It blows my mind that people can have miracles performed in their lives by the priesthood and still deny the Restoration. On Thursday we had a similar experience with an investigator. Her teeth were also bothering her. No one owns a toothbrush. So she asked for a blessing also. I gave the blessing and she also was healed instantly. We teach her and her husband and they have been pretty reluctant as well, so hopefully that miracle will help them to really read the Book of Mormon and pray. Who needs a dentist when you got the priesthood right? We played basketball with the Malagasy guys this morning even though I told myself I never would again the last time we played with them. They played hack-a-shaq as usual and almost successfully broke my back. I'm pretty sore. I took a good nap afterwards though and now I'm good to go! Have a great week! Mi aim à Zot!

Elder Barclay

Well thank you all for updating me with all my flight plans and release interview information. Will we have enough time to stop by Crown Burger before my interview? Thinking about home is horrible on the mish. It's kind of like sinning, I feel good while thinking about the family, music, food, ladies, and naps. However once I slap myself and look at my planner to see where our next appointment is I feel the guilt for my selfish day-dreaming haha. I'm pumped though, we have 6 baptisms coming up and they all are sure. If we can get Alicia's family to pull their heads out of the clouds and actually learn then we could tack on 4 more. Yesterday we drove President Adams and one of his old mission buddies to the airport. I got to drive President's ballin Toyota Fortuner (no I did not misspell that). While we were loading their luggage Revenaldo's mom (I baptized Revenaldo in Betongolo) came out of the church and told me about how she and all her other kids are getting baptized now! I love it. On Thursday we picked up Elder Mkabela, who is a seventy, from the airport and took him to his hotel. He is South African and speaks 7 different African languages. We picked him up again on Sunday morning to take him out to the Ambohibao ward for church. When we got to the hotel we went in to pay for the room and Fabrice Gonthier from Reunion was there! I gave him a big hug and mumbled out some French and caught up with him. It's crazy how much you love people out here. So we all went to church and Elder Steele and I had to translate for the both of them. Elder Mkabela spoke in sacrament meeting and taught the elders quorum lesson. Elders quorum was intense haha. On Wednesday we went on splits with the Ivandry elders. I was with Elder Wilson in my area. Elder Wilson was in the MTC when I was there and he goes home February 27th. We did a ton of finding all week and the first couple of days were dragging along. We ended up having 11 investigators show up to church and we weren't even there. So the work is going good and time is flying. I broke one of my teeth today while eating lunch woohoo! So I'll probably just suck it up for a few months. My glasses are falling apart too so I'm back to contacts. Elder Tregeagle just called me and told me that he got punched in the eye last night hahaha. Elder Cusick also texted us today and told us that his pre-mission girlfriend is getting married and as for Elder Barclay, he has rampant irritable bowel syndrome and hasn't had a full nights rest in four months because of it haha wooo! Mi aim à zot!

Na trouv

Elder Barclay

 

Hellllo

Great week woo! We went on splits with two elders who work out in Tanjombato. I worked in the other area with Elder Horne who just finished his first 12 weeks in the field. We had fun and slapped bap dates on people for February 23rd! I love splits. We did a lot of teaching in our area as well this week. We had a really good lesson with Lanto and his daughter on Friday. The second counselor and his wife taught faith and Elder Steele and I taught repentance. The ward loves them and they have a bap date for March 9th. We had a great lesson with Alicia as well. She taught the plan of salvation back to us perfectly and did a decent job explaining Lehi's dream. As the lesson was ending someone knocked on the door and I turned to see who it was. Alicia's friend who happens to be a model was who it was. Great. So we said a prayer and bounced ha but the member that was helping us said to the girl, "Where do you live? Do you want to learn with these guys? They'll teach you, we can go to your house right now!" In my head I said, "Bruno, la ferme." After that lesson we went to another member’s house to teach his fiancé. She was sick and so I asked what was wrong. "Oh... just a headache..." haha Elder Steele and I looked at each other and smiled and said "Izany... (really...) well why are you sick?" a detail that I have been leaving out in past emails is that this investigators stomach has doubled in size. So we kept asking questions like, "Well... that's weird why do you have to keep going outside to spit?" finally one of them said, "Yeah she's a little sick to her stomach..." hahaha "Really? Why does her stomach hurt?" "Well because there is a baby in there." haha we had already had the Law of Chastity lesson a while ago and we have been working on that, but they just finally let us know she's pregnant. It was pretty funny :) We'll just do some repenting now and get baptized a little later. They're so solid. I love all the people we teach so much. Last night we had a lesson with Johnny and his family. Last time when we were on splits Elder Steele and Elder Hansen taught them and laid it down! They told them very plainly and clearly what we are here to do. So this lesson was a little tense. We started teaching and it turns out they couldn't even remember who Joseph Smith was. Wow. It was one of the most frustrating lessons I've been a part of. By the end I hated them. They were so rude to us. They kept laughing about stuff we taught and weren't taking it seriously at all. They are getting one more chance before we dust our feet off and drop them. It was crazy how much they changed. They were my favorite family and I was always so excited to go see them. So pray for em. This week we will be doing a lot of teaching again. I'm excited. Our area is doing well. We have three baptisms planned for February 23rd and two, maybe three for March 9th.

Oh yeah! On Thursday President had us create a facebook group for the mission and we had to get on my account to do it. Holy macrole... I didn't recognize any of the girls names I knew from high school because they're all married. A lot of my buddies look like rough scary guys. It was a slap in the face. I'm not coming home. Ever.

Love Jeff       

 

 

Hi,

Sooo.... We did a lot of traveling this weekend. Before that we had a z.l. council on Thursday and we spent a lot of time in the office getting stuff ready for that and the trip. We stopped in Antsirabe first on Friday to do interviews for the missionaries. Then we drove to Ambositra later that day and did presidency trainings and more interviews. Elder Steele worked that area a while ago with Elder Abney so while President did the interviews we were able to run around and visit some people. Saturday morning we left at 7 a.m. for Fanarantsoa. The stretch of road between Ambositra and Finanarantsoa is probably the worst road in Madagascar. Very curvy and loaded with giant potholes. Four hours later we were there and had zone conference. Sunday we went to church (circus to the max haha) and then made the 8 hour drive home. It was cool to see the elders out in those areas and meet the members. During sacrament meeting I sat next to a little kid whose front tooth was loose. We wiggled that puppy the entire time and it just wouldn't fall out. So nothing really nuts happened this week. Lots of long conversations with Sister Adams and getting to know what President was like in college. We didn't get much dirt on him. Lanto is still coming to church every week and the members love him. He is loving it all as well. Helen is in Mahajanga getting ready to marry Bruno and then get baptized. Alicia is coming to church but we're working on her parents. We should have some awesome lessons this week. It's really hot. I'm sweaty all the time. Sorry I don't have much this week. That oughta do it haha. Smell ya later.

 

Jeff 

 

I can't wait to come home and live in a clean house and not clean a toilet used by four dudes.

 

Hi

 

I was sick all week and it hurt really bad. On Tuesday night I started to have a sharp pain in my side and then it spread to my back and up into my shoulder. Wednesday morning it was everywhere in my upper body and it hurt to breath. So I stayed home with and Elder who had gotten 4 teeth pulled that morning while our companions went out together. Thursday I was fine and then on Friday We were on splits with the Manakambahiny zone leaders and I got the sharp pain in my side again. By the end of the night I was on the floor in our apartment taking short breaths with a fever. Elder Steele and Elder Robinson thought I was being a girl and told me to suck it up haha. The next morning I drove to a doctor’s office and got checked out and the doctor said, "You're fine, maybe a cold if that." Great haha. They gave me a bunch of medicine and I've been doing great since. I'm just a woman. So I haven't had as much macho man swag lately, but I'll get it back. We had 9 investigators at church yesterday. Lanto, Alicia, and Helen are our progressing investigators who are close to baptism. Helen just went up north to Mahajanga so the elders their will finish preparing her. Lanto came to our ward party on Saturday and loved it. The ward is really integrating him. So the work is going good. We leave for Antsirabe on Friday this week, Then head further south to Ambositra, then further south to Fianarantsoa. Zone Conference and branch presidency trainings woohoo! I love traveling with the Adams. They're just a hoot :) haha I don't know what I mean by that, but I enjoy their company. So next week’s email will be a doozy! I hope you’re ready fools! Sorry this one was lame. Mi aim à zot!

 

na trouv

 

'ti Clay

Woooohoo! Your boy is TIRED. This last week was a whopper. We had 3 more elders go home on Wednesday. They were real fun to have around before they left. They had lots of good stories and they had a real tough time saying goodbye to their missions. They had become malagasy and loved the people more than I thought anyone could. We weren't able to teach as much, due to meetings and getting ready for our trip toAntsirabe for zone conference and splits. Elder Steele and I drove down in our sweet silverBerlingo on Friday afternoon and finished our 3 1/2 hour road trip around 5 p.m. We went out on splits and I was able to go do two baptismal interviews for ElderKumar and Elder Andriamamonjisoa. One of the interviews was a 10 year old little girl and when I asked her to explain to me who Jesus Christ was she gave me a 5 minute response about his divinity, life on earth, and Atonement.Haha what? She barely passed... haha. Later on that night after one of our lessons we heard the neighbor of the family we taught crying. We asked what was wrong and she explained that her husband had taken all the money and left and that she and her children had no money or food to eat. We said a prayer with her and sat with her for a minute. It was a pretty sad situation and I just wanted to hug her. On Sunday we went on splits with the zone leaders. We were riding bikes and mine was a death trap. No front brakes and the back tire was so bald that when I would apply the back brakes the tire would slide out from under me. The terrain was nuts too ha. As we were climbing one hill the back tire popped off and then later on the seat fell off. Now you're probably thinking, "Jeez fatty lay off the rice," but I'm smaller than the guy that usually rides it so it wasn't my weight that was the problem I assure you. It'sok though, I survived. Monday morning we were still in Antsirabe so we took advantage of that and drove up to a sweet lake in the mountains outside of the citycalled Lake Tritriva. I'll send some pictures. It was beautiful. Around 1:30 we started our trip back to Antananarivo and arrived at 2:40. If you look scroll up to the beginning of this email you will notice that there is a significant difference in the amounts of time it took driving to and from Antsirabe. I was making some serious moves ha. Elder Steele was dying in the passenger seathaha. I was laughing so hard I was crying. The Berlingo is sporty I tell ya. Well now were in the office waiting to get stats and do some other sweet office work. The power and water in our apartment have been shut off because our bill didn't get paid and I have no clean underwear and haven't showered or shaved for two days. WOO! But nevertheless life is splendid and we have a fun week ahead of us.Lanto, Alicia, and Helen all came to church and our progressing towards baptism. This week we get to work our area hard and get some other folks on track as well. I pumped! You gonna bring the demons outta me?! Have good week!Je vous aime!

Elder Barclay

 

 

 

 

Salut les mecs,

 

It was a great week with tons of stuff happening. I snoozed through the coming in of 2013 and we tracted all new year’s day. Everybody was suffering from the aftermath of their parties. We ran into one fellow who was a bit strange. We knocked on his gate and the next thing we knew the shiny barrel of a rifle was coming through the gate. So we left haha. That was our first day of 2013. Wednesday was cool. One of the Elders in our apartment has been sick throughout his mission and was having a tough time and broke down just before we were all about to leave the apartment after lunch. He asked me to give him a blessing. It was one of the more powerful blessings I have been a part of and it was such an uplifting experience. The priesthood is awesome. Saturday was nuts. We went down into an area called Ampandrana which is kind of the low part of the valley. It started to pour once we got into our investigators house. When the lesson was over we walked outside and found 3 and 1/2 feet of water waiting for us to walk through. It was still pouring as we left the house and it was late at night so it was dark. The lightening would light up everything around us about every 10 seconds. We had to cross two bridges that were submerged under water which means we didn't know where the bridges were haha. So Elder Steele grabbed a stick and felt for the bridge as we tried to cross. We were about halfway across the small bridge and thought we could go the rest of the way Elder Steele put the stick down one more time and didn't find the bridge ha. We were one step away from being whisked away by the rushing pooh river. It took us about 10-15 minutes to get out of the valley and onto dry ground. It was way intense. Sunday was also awesome. We got up early and drove to office to meet President and Sister Adams and go to Moramanga for church. The members out there were so excited to see us. The girl who sat behind me and Sister Adams during sacrament meeting leaned forwarded and said, "Please don't leave. Stay here." Missionaries were pulled out about two months ago and it was the end of the world for the missionaries there and for the small group as well. We taught a lesson after church for all the nonmembers and committed them all to be baptized. They all accepted haha. YEAH! After church was over everyone got out their cameras and took pictures with us and what not. They were soo excited, I couldn't believe it. The missionaries that worked there before must have done a great job. And... That’s what happened last week. So much fun and exciting stuff. We went out to ambohimanga today and played with the lemurs and stuff. We watched a crocodile eat a chameleon which was nuts. I got it on video ha. Sooo until next week! Love y'all.

 

Jeffrey Charles