Twas a Good Christmas

Hello Everybody!!

I had a wonderful Christmas here in Madagascar!!

On Monday we had a great party with the Todd's and ate and had a very nice time watching, "Its a wonderful life!" And we had a great zone meeting where we set some good goals for the upcoming months.

Tuesday we had a huge Christmas party with three branches combined, and had a lot of fun watching people singing and dancing, and they even made the missionaries dance. We also had a little spiritual fireside with a bunch of new investigators, which was great!!

On Wednesday, we went with the missionaries and sang carols to people in the hospital that were sick. The hospitals here are really quite sad, and it was sad to see the lack of medications and facilities that they have. Afterwards we had a great time at the cyber, taking to some people, although I dont remember who.

Thursday was back to work as normal. This week we did fairly well even though we had a short time working because of the holidays. I also went on a split on Thursday to do some bap interviews for Andranomanelatra's area. They had 5 baptisms this week that went extremely well!!

Besides that, it was just work as normal. We had a very solid 20 investigators at church this week, although we should be having more then that. We had a lot of new investigators come, the only problem with that is, they mostly came without their husbands. So we had 20 at church, but a lot of them were without the husbands, which would have been better.

Upcoming this Saturday, we have interviews with President Adams. Those will be good.

We think that there should be a lot of good progress this week with the area, and hopefully things will pick up in this area.

I forgot the camera today, so there will be no pictures today. I am sorry, but that means next week there should be a lot!! :)

We are preparing for some baptisms here in January for our area. And the other areas in the district are looking for about a combined 25 or so. So it should be a good start to the new year. I am hoping to prepare a lot of people for baptism in this area for hopefully in march and April, but we shall see!!

So three packages came on Thursday. The funniest thing about it is, in the package from Dear Elder that had Babas address on it, had Kims card, and the one with Kims address, had babas card. So thanks for the gifts, but I dont know which one came from who. The other package was from the family and was delicious.

We will see what else shows up over the next few weeks.

Lots of Love!

Elder Weber

Gingerbread Houses

Elder Weber received a pre-Christmas package with a Gingerbread Town Kit among other things

Photos of Future Christmas Presents

These pictures are created by hand using thread

The next is a painting

For Ron, there is a musical instrument with strings and beautiful carvings. Unfortunately the one picture is corrupt and can't be turned so you have to turn your head or your computer sideways. 

Zone Photo

Photo from Zone Conference with Elder Dale Renlund in Antananarivo

 

A Merry Christmas to All!!

I wish you all a very Merry and joyful Christmas. filled with peace, joy, love, and happiness!

And from here in Madagascar, I wish you all a warm Christmas.

So first things first. I actually dont know what is first.

This new branche is amazing. The members are just absolutely wonderful and I am excited to work here. The work is going well here, and we have been getting a lot of new contacts from members. We are excited to continue the work to help Antsirabe become a stake. The goal seems to be that it can be a stake within the next year. 

Tomorrow we have a branch activity for Christmas and it should be absolutely great. It is acutally combined between the three branches here in Antsirabe. There are a few outlying branches as well. But the three that meet in the same building are having a combined party. It is going to be great and there has been a lot of planning for it. This week I am a little crunched for time, but I will try and send a bunch of videos next week. They have a great idea though here. Each branch is providing rice and sausage to every family in the branches and most of the investigators as well, that way no one starves on Christmas, but everyone will have food to eat. I think it is a really nice idea, and I think it is a great use of the branch budgets. The people have been practicing really hard, and I am in a rock band for it tomorrow. There is an electric guitar, an electric bass, an acoustic guitar, and a electric keyboard. Since I dont play guitar or bass, you can guess what they are having me play. It should be a lot of fun! We are playing a bunch of Christmas music.

Tonight we have a zone meeting, followed by a Christmas party at the Todd's house. (That's the senior couple here in Antsirabe)

This week we taught a lot of different times, but I will explain more about people next week. Life is going really well here, and we are excited for all the future holds.

Merry Christmas everyone, and we will talk more on Wednesday!

Elder Weber

 The primary children in Elder Weber's branch.

Pictures of Antsirabe

A few pictures of the new area in Antsirabe

 Elder Weber and Elder Connault with their bikes (Vélos)

Some final pictures from Ivandry

In the short time between transfer notices and his transfer, Elder Weber was able to say good-bye to some of the people he met in Ivandry.

Some pictures from a Soiree saying goodbye

 

"It's begining to look a lot like Christmas" - NOT!!

Oh how weird it feels to be the middle of December, and to be riding a bike, in the nice pleasant temperatures of

So life has been going great here in Antsirabe. Antsirabe is a small city south of Antananarivo. It is a very clean city, with not very many cars. The modes of transportation are almost all bikes and Pouse-pouses. There are some cars but very few in relation to other places like Tana. Antsirabe right now is a district and is working very valiantly to become a stake. It looks like we have 5 very strong branches here in Antsirabe. My branch is Mahazoarivo and is like the northwest area of Antsirabe. We are a great branch it looks like, and both of the counselors of the District Presidency are from our branch.

Antsirabe.

Mom note: A Pouse-pouse is a rickshaw type mode of transportation where a person pulls the people inside as shown here:


My companion is Elder Connault from the Brittany area of France. It is on the west coast somewhere. He is very french, but he is pretty good at English. He was supposed to go into the MTC with my group, but got delayed due to visa problems, so he started his mission in France, and then went to the MTC, and then came here to Mada. This is his first area in Mada. He will either be seeing a change in 6 or 12 weeks most likely. I think that it is very possible that this is my first area in which I see more than one companion. All of my areas so far have been with one companion. We shall see though.

My language skills are during pretty well. I am able to converse everything that I want to say, and I understand almost all conversations. Every once in a while there are a few things I dont understand, but its going pretty well.

So this last week was interesting. After tansfers it was crazy saying goodbye and packing and all. It was a fast few days, but it happened. Attached are some pictures from a goodbye soiree i had with some of the members in Ivandry. I am really missing them all, they are great people.

Then on Wednesday night, I stayed at the APs apartment and left Thursday morning to Antsirabe with a driver from the church. The reason why, is the other Elders in my apartment now get a car, and so the driver took it down for them. I am in an apartment with Elder PAyne and Elder lambert. Elder Lambert has been in Tana though since I got here, because he has been very sick. So Elder Payne (my group) has been staying with us. We went out to his area once and his area is way nice. The Elders used to have to bike 45 minutes there and back each day, and then ride aroung their area. But now they have a car, and pack up the bikes in the morning, drive there, bike around all day, and then drive back home.

In other news, I found out that I am also the district leader down here. We have two districts down here. My district is Mahazoarivo (my area, mostly in the city of Antsirabe), Andranomanelatra (Elder Payne and Elder Lambert north of Anstirabe a little ways), and Manadona (Elders Rahamafandrona and Elder Babb, south of Anstirabe a little ways). That is the district, and the other district is the other two branches, Ambohimena and Antsirabe. They have two elders in each, and then 3 sisters in Ambohimena as well.

Riding a bike is fun..... but is so not for me. I am stuggling a bit right now, but I will get used to it. So Friday we worked in my area a little. Saturday we worked in Elder Payne's area, and Sunday we stayed home because Elder Payne was sick.

Mom you were talking about the plague.  yeah, we have known about it for quite a while,I just never told you. This year there have been like 60 cases with like 39 people dead. No missionaries yet..... ;) There are worried about it breaking out from the prisons, because there is a rat infestation and overcrowded prisons. And here is what we got this week from Sister Shupe, our nurse.

BUBONIC PLAGUE update: We are going into plague season with the rains and humidity as the fleas that carry the plague thrive in humidity. Some press is being given to the fact that Madagascar had the highest number of plague cases reported in the world last year. BBC reports that an epidemic could start in the overcrowded prisons and spread to the general population. The fleas are carried on rats and transmit the disease to humans by biting them. It is easily treated with antibiotics if given within 24 hours of being bitten. It can kill in four days if not treated. Be aware of the symptoms that I reported in my message a few weeks ago. The most common symptom being large swelling in the groin, armpit or neck. If it gets into the bloodstream it can be taken to the extremities, where gangrene can occur, or the rarest type can infect the respiratory system, which is also the most fatal form and you can die in 24 hrs. Prevention is by taking Doxycycline every day and that is not 100% reliable. So if you think you may have a symptom, call me immediately. It only takes one bite from an infected flea. If bitten by a flea and experiencing symptoms CALL ME. It is not likely to happen, but it can. Better safe!

You also asked about the elections. Elections are also supposed to be this week on Friday. We will see what happens, there could be problems, there could not be, nobody knows. We have 72 hour kits ready and we were just warned this morning to stock an extra week supply of food in the house for now through the beginning of January. The mission stays on top of it all. There is a malagasy who works for the church, and from what i have heard, part of his responsibility is to read all the newspapers everyday and give an update on security issues. The US embassy also issues alerts when they hear about things. We are completely safe, and we have procedures. This morning they had an drill in Tana for the 72 hours kits to make sure everyone was ready. We are not expecting any problems, but we are ready if they arrive.

Ok thats life right now.

Elder Weber

Transfers have arrived!!

Well Transfers happened last night. Last night in our house we built a nice large mattress fort in which to wait for transfer news, and if I can get pics to work today, then there will be pics of the fort as well. And as we waited until long after bed time t get transfer news, it finally came. And guess what?!?!?! I got transferred!! I am really quite sad about it, because I thought I was going to get to stay here in this area for a little longer. Right now I've been going through areas like candy. Until now, I have only worked with one companion in each area. I really love this area, it has been really good to me, and I am sad that I didnt have more time to work here.

But about the transfer, its a little exciting, as I am leaving Antananarivo, and heading out to province. Antsirabe here I come!! Good to know, but the definition of Antsirabe means place of lots of salt. The area I will be working is called Mahazoarivo. My companion is from France, and I dont know how to spell his name right now, so I dont want to butcher it. But I think his name is Connault, but dont quote me on that Ill fix that next week. He is the same group as Elder Bowler, so he is pretty new still. But I am pretty sure that I get a bike in Mahazoarivo, and so that makes me very excited.

But yeah, I think thats about it for the transfer stuff, but this week was a good week. Besides the fact that I was sick a little this week, it was good.

The zone conference with Elder Renlund of the seventy was phenomenol. It was extremely interesting and great. His wife is extremely upbeat and kept the meeting on an edge. We talked about a lot of different things, but the main one was TTIPF, which stands for, Teach, Testify, Invite, Promise Blessings, and Follow up. We also talked a bunch about asking inspired questions. It was great, and then we had a wonderful lunch, and got our Christmas presents from Sis and Pres Adams. It was a CD with the malagasy hymns on it, and also a Snickers bar.

This week will be crazy because of the transfer, but starting next week I will be emailing from Anstirabe!!

That I think will be all for this week!!

Elder Weber

Photos of the Transfer Notice Fort

See the December 9 letter for more information about this Fort.

Even more pictures from Dec 1

It looks like someone had a birthday ...

 One of the older chapels in Madagascar - about 10 years old

Elder Weber Being Strange

Here comes December!!!

It is weird to think that December has already arrived! And with it the holiday cheer! I am gearing up for Christmas and I am so so excited! I have started caroling day and night, and I am excited. It is a little weird it being so warm and being in the Christmas spirit.

This week was a good week. My companion and I worked hard, but the numbers werent quite what we were hoping for. But that is ok, because they were still pretty good. This upcoming week should be an interesting week.

This last week was Thanksgiving, and we had a good time. We wanted to buy a dukatra(I have no clue how that is spelled) but it is a cross between a duck and a chicken. They are really fat and look good to eat. But you couldnt find one to buy, so we settled instead for some really good sinoa food. Sinoa is Chinese, there is a nice expensive restaurant near us that has good sinoa food. It was good. I also bought a little package of deli sliced turkey, which was SO EXPENSIVE, but it was worth it to say that I ate turkey on Thanksgiving! IT WAS SO GOOD!!

We also taught a lot this past week, and did some contacting. Tomorrow we have a great zone conference with Elder Renlund of the seventy who has come to Mada for a mission tour. It should be really good. We are really excited.

We should have some more baptisms coming up this next week, if things go well with the bap interviews this evening. We shall see what happens.

This next week should be good, and we have transfer news coming up this next Sunday. I personally think I will be staying here in Ivandry for a little while longer, but it all according to what the Lord wants for me at this time.

Life is going well, and more details about Christmas and Skyping when we get closer.

Merry Early Christmas!
Elder Weber

More Photos from Dec 1

 Some Madagascar Scenery and Sunsets

Photos from December 1, 2013

This week, I decided to upload the pictures first.  The first are from a baptism last month. Elder Weber baptized the girl while his companion baptized the boy.

The next set of pictures are to show the rainy season.  Some have short descriptions after each picture.

 Elder Bowler in the rain

 This is a path and not a creek or river.

Picture of hail storm that comes along with the rainy season.

Happy Thanksgiving

Letter from 11/25/2013

Happy thanksgiving everyone!!

This past week was a good week, capping it off with two baptisms. My companion and I each did one of the baptisms and it went really well. We are looking forward to hopefully about 7 baptisms here in December, and a few more in January.

Coming up on the 3nd of December, we have a zone conference with Elder Renlund of the 70, who is also the Area President. It should be really good, more on that in two weeks.

This last week we had a zone meeting in which our zone leader recapped the meetings with Elder Cook of the 70 when he was here a few weeks ago. In that recap, we found that Elder Cook would like the missionaries working in a 30 minute radius of the church buildings. Yes that is a walking radius, not a driving. This is so that members live closer and can more easily travel to church each Sunday. They are also starting to work on reorganizing boundaries and stakes to make it more convenient for that 30 minute radius. They are also looking for more buildings to rent and lease in order to accomplish that goal. I believe in the next year they would like to get that all accomplished to better help the work progress.

On that front, we are not currently working in a 30 minute radius. Everyone was counseled to change their programs if they needed in order to accomplish that. We have since talked to the APs, because our entire ward lives more than 30 minutes away. So we are going to continue to teach where our members live, and then let the church buildings and ward boundaries come to us. My ward right now is leading this stake in full tithe paying Melchizedek priesthood holders. My ward is planning on splitting here in the next year, which will help grow the church. My honest belief is that before the end of my mission Mada will have 4 stakes. Three in Tana, and 1 in Antsirabe. Right now we only have two here in Tana.*

We have a lot of investigators right now and the work here is doing really well. We are hoping to have a great week coming up.

So yesterday was our ward primary program, which went really well. The only thing was naturally they asked me on Saturday night to play for them. It went well was really easy, but it was a little bit of a pain. We are also preparing for a concert in December, a combined concert between our two wards that share our building. We are excited for that upcoming concert. It should be a lot of fun!

Well the rainy season has kinda started here, and will continue until April. We have quite a bit of random rains now happening. It rains sometimes in the afternoon, or sometimes in the evenings, sometimes it hails, but I am still trying to figure out how to predict when it all happens. I have some pics of the hail, but I forgot my camera today and so I cant send any of the pics that I wanted to send.

Life is going really well, and I am really really excited for the upcoming holiday season! I love Christmas and I have already well started listening to the Christmas music in my apartment. I am so excited for what the future holds in store.

Until Next week!!

Elder Weber