Well... yowzers. These last four days have been one of the greatest experiences of my life. This place isn't real. I swear I'm dreaming. I'm in Tananarive in area 67 (the nastiest poorest area apparently.) I don't know what the others are like but I've been told that I'm in the craziest place. I wouldn't doubt it. I've been running around with a guy named elder Slater and his 16 year old malagasy mini missionary named solter. They are already two of my favorite people here. I'm sorry ha but I can't even begin to explain this place. I guess to say that is third world or worse is correct. I have fleas and bowel issues after 4 days. Walking through the crammed city which has a population of 2 million and even breathing the air and just seeing how people live is nuts. The craziest part is that everybody is super nice. Everyone is smiling and having a great time for the most part. I say hi and people flip. We climb into these giant vans (buses) and you cram 30 people into and 18 seater and you have a blast smashing up against people. I'm not being sarcastic, I love it. You literally are laughing and smiling the entire time even if it hurts or super gross and filthy. I love it! I want to hug everyone I see haha The little homeless beggar kids that come up to ask for money either want money or a fist bump. I think the fist bumps make them happier than any money. we've been teaching the entire time as well. Pictures can only describe those settings. It's literally what you see in the movies. People just in huts and accepting the good word. The language is super sick as well, It sounds like russian when we speak it but when the Malagasies talk it's nuts ha. Tons of people speak french too but they struggle. The first rendezvous we went to was awesome. As we're walking in Slater looks at me and says, "When I give you the nod say, Voonavaya towatis." It was too late for questions so I went for it. He gave me the nod towards the end of the lesson and now those 3 people are getting baptized. It was sick. It's crazy how people accept it here. To be honest I'm dreading the flight back to Réunion. Sure I feel better there as far as health and comfort, but the love you feel for people here outweighs the living circumstances. It seriously is the best. We ride around in these little car/taxi things and there isn't a single traffic law. It's an adventure. We had our leadership conference on Saturday and that was nuts. We had tons of straight formal lecture training and then later on we had some task teamwork activities that were really cool. The guys here are studs. I want to work with them so bad. They get after it and are men and not punks. These are guys I want to be associating with. So maybe if I'm super lucky they'll send me back over here. We had mental health doctor (elder Hartman) and President Donnelly running the training and it was something that Businesses would pay big money to send their employees to. I can't believe how lucky we are to be able to have this type of training and instruction for free. We learned a ton about how to interact with different personalities and how we can lead them. Well sorry this email was lame and didn't make much sense, but I'm just having a tough time wrapping my mind around everything that is happening. Mada is the best. It's the craziest ha. I love it. Take it easy and if President Adams is sneaking around on my blog, forgive me for anything dumb I've said or done and feel free to bring me back to Mada when you get here ;) but seriously :) Love you all!

Jeff

Tired and just ready to crash. Time is going by faster than it ever has. Weeks feel like days. I swear I emailed you yesterday. Well Elder Chong-Mook and I have cranked up the intensity of our work and it's fun. When we're out and talking to people and it comes time to go home and work in the office it is a struggle to get back to the car because there are too many people to talk to on the way and we end up cutting an hour or two out of our administrative stuff... ha... Whoops :) Well for exciting news, Friday morning Elder Chong-Mook and I will be hopping on a plane and flying over to Madagascar for a leadership conference. I don't know who will be there or what, but it must be a pretty big deal if they are pulling us out of Reunion and another elder out of Mauritius for it. We stay until Sunday night and we will get to go on splits and work while we are over there as well. I'm excited to have my eyes opened to how life is in a developing country. Mada apparently doesn't even qualify to be a third world country, just developing. I'm also interested to see what the work is like there. I'm excited, that's for sure. Well as far as the week went, nothing too special happened. We are starting to teach all the time and we always have fixed rendezvous, the struggle now is getting people to progress and come to church. It's one thing to get into people's houses and then an entirely different challenge to guide and shape the meeting so that they feel the spirit and accept the doctrine. Sometimes people just don't get it, sometimes people are so wrapped up in tradition that the spirit can't penetrate the barrier, sometimes people just want to bash, and sometimes people are overcome by the spirit and can't deny it but then later forget or the fire goes out. Oh yeah, and sometimes people's lives' are turned upside down and they are baptized :) So many possibilities which makes this work so amazing and challenging. Can't get enough. Missionaries are dumb haha I'm super tired of dealing with unnecessary problems. I sound like quite a complainer don't I? I try to vent when I write in my journal but that doesn't quite cut it. Well hmmm... I'll take a look in my planner now and try to remember what interesting things happened this last week. Oh my HHWORD! I forgot about our lesson with this part-member family. The Madin Family!!! So the Mom is excommunicated and lives with her boyfriend (should be husband) and two kids. Brian and Julee are the kids and they are 17 and 20. The parents come to church every week and we teach them every week. The problem though is that they are super sensitive so when the last missionaries taught them and tried to push them a bit, they stopped having lessons and quit coming to church. Sooo we've taught them 4 times I think? Just spiritual thoughts/F.H.E.'s. We get bolder and bolder every time and this last week the lesson was just with the parents. They need to get married first off and then they will be prime for baptism. We talked to the husband about why he comes to church and studies the scrips and practically why he is 100% practicing but not a member. He is scared to get married. Well after our intense less he committed to pray to know if they should get married. That my friends was HUGE progress. They are super solid members, but they aren't members ha. It's ridiculous! They know and do everything a faithful member knows and does. That was the coolest thing that happened last week. The week before we were in the streets of Moufia and this lady came up to us and attacked us. Verbally attacked us, forgive me if i have already told this story. She was like, "Who are you guys!? What church are you from!? What are you doing here!?" Yowza lady take it easy ha. We answered her questions and then she calmed down a bit and started to ask more questions. We answered again, and then started too ask her some questions. She got really calm then and started listening to what we had to say. At the end of the conversation she asked if we could pass by her house because she could feel something in her chest. I love it when the Holy Ghost brings it all home. It lets me know I'm doing my job ha. We taught her and it was sweet and she's still interested and is planning on coming to church. We taught 10 sit down lessons last week and they all were solid and we now have 10 progressing investigators. If the rest of the new people that we taught for the first time last week follow through, we could tack on 5 or 6 more progressing investigators and fix oodles of bap dates. We just have to be 100% obedient and not blow it! It's so hard haha! Every single little thing you do and every little thought you have affects this work and It is just a never ending battle. It's so crazy I can't even begin to explain it. I love it though. I'm creeping up on the year mark now and at times I think, "Nice I still got another year of this stuff," and other times I think, "Yikes, a year is already over? Better step it up." well yep, thats about it for me this week. Hope all that blabberin' made sense and you enjoy it :) à plus.

Jeff        

Hi everyone :)

I feel like SCREAMING! Yikes, well we had a zone conference with President Donnelly and Elder Soares from the first quorum of the 70. Holy moly it was perfect. We didn't necessarily get reamed but just told to be more diligent and everything Elder Soares said was exactly what I wanted to say to everyone here. It was rad. But I also feel like an absolute failure and I don't like that too much. It's hard because I have a pit in my stomach all the time now instead of just most of the time ha. I can't seem to feel like I do enough ever. I don't know why but I just feel that way. I don't mind it too much though because it makes me work harder and do more. I wish everything could just be happy and peaceful all the time haha I guess if it was like that then life wouldn't be life. Enough of that. The time goes by so fast that I can't remember what has happened. Well after the conference on Saturday there was a fireside for the entire island where Pres and Sister Donnelly and Elder and Sister Soares spoke. Sister Soares and Sister Donnelly don't speak french though... so I got asked to stand up there with them and translate there talks. They decided to let me know as the meeting was starting so that was cool too. My HHWORD, it was tough. They were reading scriptures and just saying whatever and I was praying for the gift of tongues the entire time. It worked out though so no worries. I was awfully sweaty afterwards ha. Now I'll just give all the names of our top priority ami's to fill you in on the work and stuff. Emanuel, Daisy, Jean-Louis, Jean-Paul, Nicole, Ann Gaelle, and Jean-Freddy. There are others but we see these people pretty consistently. We had a sweet lesson with Emanuel on Friday about why we are on the earth. He really grasps the logic of the gospel and our lessons even though he smokes 7 billion doobies and drinks rum like a pirate. We only teach him when he's sober and awake and the spirit is strong. He really knows we want to help him and he said something about coming to church before we even mentioned it. He's the man. After we helped him paint he really changed and it seems like his heart was really softened. I never would have thought that we could have even taught this guy about prayer, but he reads the B.O.M. and understands what we say. We had an awesome lesson with Daisy as well last week. We taught here  about the plan of salvation and stuff and she was pretty taken back by all of it. It's really surprising to find these educated people that have raised families and lived their lives without having the slightest clue about how the whole plan works. She had lots of questions and we had every answer. I love it when that happens :) The spirit was super strong there too. She is coming along little by little as well. Jean-Louis! hahaha Do you remember my second week in the field when I told you all that Elder Bize, Elder Flint, and I fixed a bap date with this little creole guy and I was the one who extended the invitation? Well He's back in the line up now. We were going through the area book one night during the riots and I called him and he was reading the B.O.M. as I called. MIRACLE. We went and taught him on Thursday and it was solid. He wasn't as slow as I remember him being. He was grasping things and answering questions and he just ate it up. We knelt and prayed at the end and i didn't specify that we only say amen at the end of the prayer, so he kept saying amen after every sentence during the prayer haha great guy :) Jean-Paul... Super huge (obese) and lives with his mom in a tiny apartment. He's 30 and Pentecostal and is all about speaking in tongues and that garbage. We taught him the restoration and he was trying to act like it was impossible that all that happened but we put him in his place and the spirit confirmed it. I love nothing more than when people try to say dumb and incorrect stuff and we teach a principle and testify and the spirit is so strong that they have to put their heads down and look away. After that happens they realize that what they were saying was crazy and they start to listen to us. Without the spirit all this would just be a debate and we would accomplish nothing. I think you already know Nicole a bit. He has a bap date for March 17th but that's not going to happen. He is going to take some time. Last time we  were at his house we talked about baptism AGAIN and he still thinks that he just needs to get baptized and then everything will be perfect. Wife, kids, house, money, job, NO Nicole that's not how it works. He can't wrap his mind around the idea of enduring to the end ha. Curse you catholic church! People think, "Yeah hey, I am baptized, oh wait that wasn't enough? Alright baptize me again and we'll be good right?" NO. I just realized that I have catholic friends who read this... Sorry hehe :) read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. Moving on! Ann Gaelle, 20 year old single mother, you already know why she lets us teach her ;) nothing happening there really it's still in the developing stages (her investigation of the church). Yucky. Finally Jean-Freddy. He's the brother of an in-active girl that we ran into one day knocking doors. He is 22 and has met tons of missionaries before. He is on his computer 24/7 with his two cyber girlfriends who live in Spain and Madagascar. He likes our lessons though but he we'll be kicked to the curb if he doesn't progress soon. Come to church homie! Yikes my time is almost up. The riots are done. My favorite little city "Chaudron" is destroyed. Yep uhh Mom I got your letter and I'm doing great :) have a good one

Jeff          

We've been eating lots of pasta with beans in it lately :) it's delicious. Tons of super sick stuff happened this week. I have trouble remembering what happened when though so sorry if I tell stories that have already been told. Thursday we did pretty much an entire day of service for two of our Ami's and a recent convert. The first was for Daisy (divorced 45 year old lady) and it was just usual yard work but while we were working she stopped and started to tell us how unusual it is to have complete strangers come to her house and work for her just to help her. Super cool. We went to Emanuel's (rasta blackjack guy) apartment and helped him paint his apartment. He had his TV on a music video channel and I'm all caught up on all the nasty music I've missed. T-Pain and Rhianna are dirty sinners ha. Anyways, we were painting and Emanuel was being his usual goofy self speaking with his french/creole/jamaican accent and then out of no where he was like, "Jeff, am I dreaming?" I didn't have a clue what he meant so I said, "ha... What?" He starting saying the same things Daisy said and it was awesome. When we got to his house that day he had a friend there who was just chillin but split when we started working. Emanuel said, "I've known you guys for like 3 weeks and you're there for me more than my friends who I've known for years." It was nuts seeing these people get emotional and just being able to see that what we were doing was blessing their lives. Now just get baptized you fools! Really though, those moments were some of the most fulfilling experiences I've had out here. The feelings of love that I get for these people are overwhelming. It's nuts. We went to Patrick's house last and helped him clean and get his apartment ready for a bed that one of the other members was giving him. Holy moly ha hair, grease, and spider webs galore! It was pretty rough work. I was trying not to gag half the time. He is a pretty simple guy and just does what you tell him to do, for example - Come to our church and get baptized - haha He's super cool though and we were able to help him which is all that matters. Later that night we drove down to St. Paul and I left Elder Chong-Mook there and brought Elder Twitchell back up to St. Denis for an exchange. It was super nice to be back with Elder Twitchell and just run around with our heads on fire. The Tahitian elders don't have quite the same intensity. We worked all day and found new people and taught lessons! YES!!! One girl we met was named Annaelle who is 18 and lives alone in a tiny studio. She has had a super rough childhood and she is dirt poor. She dropped out of school and left home when she was 15 because her dad was dumb and there were tons of problems there. We were able to teach her about the Book of Mormon and explain what we do and she was pumped. Another awesome experience that can't be described with words. This last week there has been some civil unrest as well. Mobs gather at night and there are riots like crazy over how expensive everything is here. People have been destroying stores, looting, burning down buildings and blowing up cars in the streets and it's just crazy. We have to be in our apartments every night at 6 and we sit and listen to the cars explode and tear gas bombs go off all night. The police and gendarmes here don't do squat and people just run wild. It seriously is crazy how mobs of like 200 people can go into Jumbo (Wal-Mart) and just wreak havoc and do whatever they want. The police show up and don't do anything! We have been asking people about it and they tell us, "Yeah, there is nothing we can do. We don't have the right to really fight back or do anything." It sure isn't like America here, these poor people who own little stores in strip malls or gas stations have to just sit back while punk criminals come in and steal and break everything they have. Houses get hit up too and the cars that are being burned are just random peoples cars. It's weird to think that no one has guns ha I could only imagine if we went around and gave all these store owners shot guns and let them do work. I guarantee after one of these little creole guys got his legs blown off no one would go back to rob that store. Sorry that was a bit graphic. But yep, it's nuts here! We have had problems with creepy guys messing with the Soeurs at their apartments as well and it's just... crazy ha. People are just going nuts but we're safe :) It's not as bad as it sounds, it's just somewhat exciting and for the most part it is a few angry/crazy people and then the rest are just scumbags that are taking advantage of the situation and getting free stuff and lighting stuff on fire. Well that's all for me. I'll send loads of pics next week because it's been a while. Have a good week :)

Jeff      

Hi

It's humid and sticky and sweaty and just my favorite time of the year :) I was complaining before, but this is just ridiculous. It never stops ha. Members tell us that around the end of March it will stop getting hotter and will start to cool down. Hallelujah! Well this last week was pretty sweet. We didn't get to work as much as the week before but we did some cool stuff. Wednesday we picked up sister Kenny at the airport. She came back from Mada to go home from Réunion. President made us throw her a little party, so we went to a church and played a game and had a testimony meeting and then we all ate lunch at a restaurant. She stayed one night here with the soeurs in St. Denis but the Soeurs from St. Pierre wanted to drive all the way up to St. Denis as well and spend the night and party. No. Are you dumb? Stay in your area and work, we're having a party with the entire zone isn't that enough? They were upset. So we had the party thursday morning and were finished and gone by noon. At about 6:30 P.M. we went to pick soeur Kenny up to go to the airport the St. Pierre soeurs decided to come up and play all day. When we showed up and they saw us they were all on edge because I have a reputation for... putting people in line. I didn't say anything because they were soeurs. One of them was like, "...Are you mad that we're here...?" I just smiled and didn't say anything. I don't know how to react to people in a positive manner. I just want to tear into people when they do dumb stuff, but I refrain. We got soeur Kenny sent off and it was not a pleasant experience for me ha. Going home looks like the most bittersweet experience in the world. Yowza, I'm not looking forward to that feeling. Can't wait to come home and see ya but leaving is going to be tough. Well back to the real mission stuff. We had this really awesome Ami named Marie Claude. She was GOLDEN and we had taught her twice but yesterday morning we got a call :( She told us to come get our book from her. We passed by and she came out of her apartment and told us that she didn't want anymore. So we talked and she looked at me and said, "I prayed like you told me too. Do you remember telling me to pray? Well I did and I did it sincerely and I went to bed. In the middle of the night something was outside of my door snarling, howling, and banging against the door." At first I was like what? And then I wanted to say, "Don't give me that garbage." And then I realized that she was the first person to ever tell me that she had gone and done what I asked her to do. Granted, people have kept commitments and stuff but Marie Claude was by far the most golden Ami I've had. We tried to get another time to meet but she wasn't having it and she made us take the book. HEART BREAKER. What next... uhhh oh yeah crazy time. We were porting in some gross apartments and an old lady answered her door without a top on and jumped back when she saw us and said, "Oh! Get in here!" haha So I peeked in and saw this young chinese looking guy and we went in. The lady was plastered. It was disgusting. The kid was from Vietnam and he knew a bit about Mormons so we had an interesting discussion with him. He wasn't drunk but super weird and his teeth were all rotted out. He was probably about 27 and the lady, I'd say... 60 ish. They were lovers :) There ain't no age when it comes to love baby. The lady kept touching me and being gross and she would go through phases of anger, singing, and straight comedy. Holy hannah it might have been the craziest thing that has happened. I got some pretty sweet videos of her being nuts. She would stand next to her boyfriend and look over at me and say, " Oh. Tu es beau. :)" and then , "Mmm. Je t'aime. :)" The videos will help you enjoy this story more than me just telling it. Yep time to go. See ya :)

Jeff         

This last week went by pretty quick. We had some awesome lessons and found a pretty golden family. It's the Marie Claude lady I told you about earlier and we taught her and it was awesome. We will fix a bap date this week with her. Our other investigator named Nicole came to church again and this time he stayed for all three hours and he loved it. He was making me tear pages out of my planner so he could take notes during priesthood. He kept raising his eyebrows and looking at me and saying, "This is good stuff man." haha the guy cracks me up. We taught a TON of lessons this week. We actually have a pool of investigators now and life is great. On Friday I had to do a baptismal interview for an old guy from Le Port. It was great... He was ready and we gave him the thumbs up. Yikes haha There was a hurricane that slid on by this weekend too. It barely touched us so that was a real let down. It's super windy though and the humidity is unbearable. I think this is the hottest it has been. It's not even sunny, it's just the humidity that kills me. there is lots going on at the moment. We had a branch activity on Friday night and it was alright. I really have nothing to talk about, sorry. I gave myself a pretty good haircut this morning :) Uhhh.... yep it was a good week. Oh yeah! Elder Chong Mook and I had an encounter with a giant spider in the basement of this nasty apartment building. It was just chillin on the wall staring me in the face. It was beefy and black and just creepy as can be, so I poked it with my pencil and it attacked us. Holy Hannah those things are fast. Don't worry it didn't get me. We stopped by Emanuel's house on Saturday and he was blazin' it up with his homies. He was getting ready to give a tattoo to the girl and she was sweating bullets while he was cleaning all his little needles and tools. His apartment is the grungiest place on the planet and I can only imagine the infections people get when he gives them tattoos. His Indian looking friend was there again and they were happy to see us. We didn't get to stick around long enough to see the tattoo happen which was a bummer, but the visit was entertaining enough. He's a sweet investigator when he isn't partying. We helped another one of our investigators clean her house and get ready for some inspection thing that she was having. We pulled weeds out in the yard too and I loved it. I miss yard work. While I was working in one of the flower beds I managed to rub up all over this little cactus and that was the worst. I had little needles everywhere in my right arm and leg. Yeah, that's about it for this past week. The work is going great. This little kid sitting on his mom's lap right next to me just ripped a loud fart and laughed and then said, "Pardon" hahaha Yes! Time to go. See ya later 

Love Jeff 

Hi

Great week. Time is back up to warp speed and it feels like yesterday I was sitting here typing. We had some success with a couple of Ami's and fixed one bap date. Hes an old guy named Nicole and he lives alone in an apartment. We had planned to teach the plan of salvation but when we sat down the spirit took over and I started talking about the third lesson (gospel of J.C.) and it was crazy powerful. Normally people can't grasp anything that we teach and it's just a struggle but this time Nicole was keeping right up with it and actually answering questions. It was one of the most powerful and perfect lessons that I've been a part of and at the end we committed him to be baptized and he accepted. Earlier in the week I had been studying in P.M.G. about teaching for understanding and it was just crazy how I was able to apply exactly what I had been studying and see the miracle that came from it. If only it was like that all the time haha. Man I can't even describe the feeling I had that day. Another thing that was amazing was how quickly I started to think to myself, "Hey... You're getting pretty good at this teaching gig" NOOOO!!! Haha luckily I caught myself and repented quickly. It's so easy to give yourself the credit and forget that you had been guided and prepared all week and in the lesson by the spirit. I'm so humble :) We taught some other pretty sweet lessons and the area is picking up. Nicole ended up coming to church as well and also three of the less actives that we had taught came back. Oh.. the joy that filled my soul.. haha. We had a few soirees with members this last week and I have been eating sooooooo much. I'm dying. I've noticed however, that I can't put food down like I used to. Before I left I was eating half or three quarters of the pan of every meal Mom cooked and now one rather small plate puts me past my limit. I don't drink very much either, the portions are so tiny! I can't believe how much I have changed. This morning we went down to St. Pierre with the St.Paul elders and the soeurs from St. Pierre to see some of the sights down there in the south. An old couple from the St. Pierre branch showed us around and we took a ton of pics. We played around on the lava flows and went to a few different beaches and waterfalls as well. I'll attach some pics for ya. They took us out to lunch afterwards to a really expensive buffet. It was heaven. The members are too nice and I feel bad but they are always trying to feed us and take us out. It wasn't like that in St.Marie but now in St. Denis and in St. Paul I might not look like I'm a 12 year old wearing my dad's suit. This week coming up is looking like it will be full of fun administrative stuff as we have a new sister arriving, a giant zone conference with a G.A. to organize, new cars to buy, and a visa to prepare for Mauritius. I miss being able to work in my area and that's it :( Now it's big stuff that involves everyone and the pressure to perform and organize awesome conferences and activities is kind of stressful. I can't wait to get home and have a family and career and school to worry about. I'm going to go crazy. Oh I forgot to mention that today We ran into some Americans and it was the weirdest thing that happened this week. They were from New Mexico and one of them was a member. I am so used to the culture here that seeing Americans gave me a taste of culture shock. Coming home is going to be quite an adjustment. Well, picture time! Love ya

Jeff