Ambohimanga / Transfers

Letter from Feb 9, 2015

So another week has flown by. And this one was transfer week. So it was crazy busy like normal. Airport trips and trips to bus stops, and new missionaries, and all of that. I'll share one crazy expereince for you all.

So Wednesday came and two new missionaries came. The one is a missionary here and the other one is a missionary for Reunion. They flew in on the flight to Mada and then they didnt want to let the one in because she didnt have a visa. However you can get a visa at the airport, but she didnt have a copy of her ticket out of the country, and so then we had to wait for a copy of the flight plan to come on the email in order for her to get a visa to get in the country. So they wanted to send her back to South Africa. Now obviously we didnt let that happen.

It was a good week, but I really don't know what to say. But we did go to Ambohimanga today, which is a lemur park I went to a long time ago. Ill send some pictures in a minute.

But we have been having a lot of fun with our two visa waiters that have been working with us. They are a blast! 

But other than that, not much news. We should have two baptisms within the next week and a half, we will see on that. It is depending on a marriage. 

Life is going really well, and I keep running out of things to write,

I saw another Dublin Ohio shirt this week, at the airport! This brings the total to four Dublin shirts I have seen here. I think the donation bins from Ohio all get sent here, because I see a lot of Ohio shirts here. Ohio State, Dublin, all sorts of things. But that is great!

I have also been very distracted while writing today. So I am sorry if nothing makes sense at all.

But there are pictures so you better be happy!

Elder Weber 

More Feb 9 Photos

And to make everyone jealous of the coolest mission in the world. A lot of pictures of ...... Lemurs.

More lemurs. Some really cute ones

And yet more lemurs. It was a fun day.

Photos from Feb 9 Letter

Dusty the Duster x2

Elder Randriamanampiherinaivo - Longest missionary name we have seen. Yes with a name like that, he has to be malagasy. (I can also spell it without looking at it)

The house across the street is being torn down because it was unsafe to live in or something. So malagasy demolition is with a shovel, taking out one brick at a time. 

Letter from Sister Jessica Turley

Mom Comment - A while back - two worlds met.  A wonderful young lady that I met through work (Sister Jessica Turley) is serving a mission teaching the Gospel in American Sign Language. Elder Weber one week asked for ideas on helping a deaf member in Madagascar learn ASL so that he could go to the temple. Since then, Elder Weber and Sister Turley have been working together via Skype.  I thought you all would enjoy reading this whole letter, but the Skype part is in paragraph 3.

Week 9.2 (btw, I have a lot of people on the general list, if you don't actually want my general emails will you please email me telling me that? No offense taken at all, makes my life a lot easier :) 

Wow! What an amazing week! Just a brief overview for my digest readers: a plethora of new investigators, a new excitement on campus, amazing recent converts, branch fast, miracles!!! 

Ok so to start off, this week I got to Skype with the Zernas! The deaf couple in the Philippines that we taught in the MTC! They are both baptized now and we are doing the new member lessons with them. I was sooooo happy to see them again. I love being an ASL missionary! So many unique opportunities. We also got to skype with Jules, the member in Madagascar that we are teaching ASL so he can go to the temple. Jules is the sweetest man and he gets soooo excited when we skype. I was talking to his missionary, elder weber, and he explained that going to the temple is a once in a lifetime opportunity for the members there, and a huge effort. I felt so spoiled. I use to go twice a week! And yet this man gets to go once in his entire life... It really put into perspective for me how much responsibility we have, those of us with soooo many blessings and temples close by. With great blessings comes great responsibility. 

We met with Ivy again! She didn't come to church yesterday but she was there last week and that was huge! We talked about the Book of Mormon and read some of it with her so that she would feel more comfortable reading it on her own. I'm really excited to see her progress, we just have to be more persistent with her. I absolutely love her, she is so sweet! 

On Wednesday we got to go with Michai (recent convert) to the institute in Georgetown. Sooo much fun. It made me really trunky though. I miss being with other students in an institute class. So that was fun and Michai and I got to chat a lot on the metro and such, it was some much needed bff time :) 

Thursday was full of miracles! Michai, the most amazing recent convert, introduced us to about 7 of her friends who said they wanted to meet with us. So far we have met with three of them, and they all seem pretty solid. We had a lesson with Syretta, Shaneque, And April. They are all pretty open to it and Syretta is right there on the edge of being ready for baptism. She even accepted a conditional baptism! Which is huge!!! So we are really excited about that. We went to the basketball game on Saturday to support our investigator Zamica and to be more seen on campus and meet more people. Best finding activity we've probably ever done. We met so many people that said they wanted to meet with us and ran into a bunch of less actives, and had dinner with a huge group of non members and just talked about church stuff the whole time. It was the coolest thing ever!! Heavenly Father is truly hastening his work, and he has called the strongest people like Michai and Mark to help do it, they are so unashamed to share the gospel, they live their testimonies and share them often. It's an incredible example to me. 

On Friday we went to the temple. I had a really neat experience in the celestial room. As I entered I looked around and saw all of my sisters, and instead taking some personal time like I normally would, I had this prompting to go talk to as many of them as I could, even if it was just a quick hug or a wink and a smile, just something to let them know that I love them. So I did, and I sat down next to a few different sisters and I just had this overwhelming peace and a remembrance of a promise Heavenly Father made to me in the MTC while we were in the provo temple. I had been really struggling and seeking comfort and as I had been praying for it, the most distinct voice said to me "comfort my children and I will comfort you". And as I looked up I saw one of my sisters crying, so I went over to her and hugged her and we talked and as I did, I received the most amazing peace. And again, on Friday that all came back to me, and as I sat and talked with these different sisters, I was filled with peace and comfort, and an excitement to be serving them. 

I am so grateful for temples, and for the opportunity that we have to use them often, and to save our ancestors, and to have that time of peace and reflection, and closeness to our Heavenly Father. 

Yesterday was amazing! We had our Super Sunday, which means deaf members in the surrounding area, all come to the branch (most don't come every week because it's a 1-2 hour drive for some of them) and we had about 85 people there! Including two of marks non member friends!!! Tyler and Mike! They were super involved in the lessons and kept talking about how much they loved it here and wanted to come back! I'm so pumped :) And our branch fast was focused on finding ways to make our branch become a ward. So many bore their testimony about how excited they were for this and I think everyone caught sight of the movement of hastening the work. I am thrilled to see what happens in the next few months before I leave. 

This work is rolling forth with our without us, so let's hop on and do our part. This is why we are here at this time, this hastening of the work of salvation is our responsibility. Find ways to share your testimony in the day. When someone asks how your weekend was, tell them about church! Or if you went to the temple recently, or invite them to ward activities, or bring them a care package, or a cake, just be close and involved with the people around you and they will start asking questions. We have an incredible light that we need to let shine and bring people closer to Christ. 

I love you all so much. Seek missionary moments is week., if you pray for them, they will come :) 

Love, 

Sister Turley 

February

Feb 2, 2015 Letter

Another month done. Time is really starting to kick into gear. And this upcoming transfer is going to fly by as well! Thats just part of life.

So this last week we were rather busy and we had OLC and MLC and ran to the airport to pick up a suitcase, and ran to the Antsirabe bus stop, and planned transfers, and taught a few lessons, and went on splits in Ambohimanarina. Norbert got married, threw a party, and more. So it was rather busy, and now it is transfers again. So this week is going to be full of running to the airport, and to the bus stops, and back to the airport, and more bus stops, and dinners, and lunches, and lots of normal craziness. That is what we do here, and so I am used to it. And now it is offical and I can tell everyone that I didnt get transfered and will be here another 6 weeks. And everyone knows that in 6 weeks I will be leaving the office. The reason they know that is because I will have been here for 6 months, and also I cannot stay because if I stay then Elder Payne and I would finish together and then they would have to white-wash the APs. Thats not going to happen, so everyone recongizes that I will be leaving in 6 weeks. But I don't have to wait 6 weeks to find out where I am going. I will get to know that one a lot sooner. :) 

But Norbert suprised his wife by marrying here. Yes I understand how weird that sounds, but it happened. He had her brother pick her up from work and bring her to the Commune, and then she walked into the office and Norbert and the offical person were standing there. And then they did a small marriage cerimony. So there was only like 8 people in attendance. She was so happy, because she had been pressuring him to do it for such a long time. She really wanted it, and so eventually he just did it, without all the pomp that he wanted. So it was a good thing. And then they threw a party with all of the family in the evening. Very fancy, very expensive party. 

OLC and MLC did well this week. We talked about some really good things. Everyone is doing pretty well. So hopefully as time goes on, everything keeps improving. Thats what we are hoping for at least. The new President has been announced for a while, but I don't think I ever told you about him. President Foote is his name, he is on the younger side. 54 years old, and he is from Reno! So that change will be heading this way in July. Long after I am not here anymore.

Good week. We also went to buy things to outfit some malagasy missionaries that do not have enough clothes and things to last a mission, so we are working on helping them out.

This week is going to be fun, I am excited for the food, It has been a while.

Until next week.

Dont count the weeks, its kinda scary how few are left. 

Elder Weber 

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2015!!

Monday Jan 5, 2015 Letter

Its a brand new year and looking forward to all of the excitement that is coming up!

The end to 2014 was pretty good. We got to teach some lessons and things. Watching the drunk people from our house was also rather enjoyable.

But this week was work as usual. The mission is so greats, but I feel like I dont have things to report on each week.

So Tuesday we did office work, taught english, and then we did a short skype with Sister Turley to help Jules learn english.

Then on Wednesday President Collins, the Johannesburg MTC President, and his wife visited Madagascar. We organized a small meeting for them with some current missionaries and returned missionaries to talk about their different experiences in the MTC to find out some things that could be improved on in their MTC. So there were representatives from the Johannesburg MTC, Ghana, and Provo. It was a good meeting and everyone was able to participate. Then in the afternoon and evening, we got some good work done. AKA we did a lot of tracking, and because it was New Years Eve, nobody let us in. But thats ok, it was a good day nevertheless.

Mom Note: MTC is Missionary Training Center.  The church has them all over the world and missionaries go to an MTC for 2-6 weeks to learn to teach the Gospel and to learn the language where they are serving if necessary.

Thursday we went on a split. I ended up in Ambohipo with Elder Tavo and Elder Armando. We had a good day, but it involved a lot of walking. A lot of walking. But they are doing well, and we got to teach some really good times. We also got fed three times that day, because it was the 1st, everyone had lots of food and was excited to share it with us.

Malagasy's do not have much money, but they go all out on the parties. They save up money just to have some good parties for Christmas and New Years. A lot of the people do it to get drunk, but not the members. 

So then on Friday we were back in our area working on some things. We had another good day, but it involved more contacting. Good day of hard work.

And then on Saturday we had another split. This time I ended up in Ambohimanarina 1. We had an excellent day of work. We taught english class in the morning and then in the afternoon got a full day of teaching in. I got to run into some old investigators that I had taught before and it was a good day. We worked hard and got a lot done.

And then on Sunday. So we now go to church at 1 instead of 10. And so it was a long day. So one really exciting thing that happened. Jules, the deaf member, bore his testimony in church, and he did it without a translator. He spoke it. It was mostly understandable. All of the members were amazed at what happened. So then they have assigned him to give the opening prayer next Sunday at church. So church went well and then we had a good rest of the day as well. Took some stats, and now its Monday again. Time just goes by so so fast. I cant believe its already the 5th.

Time keeps going, and the mission is reaching an end, but its going to a crazy marathon to the end.

Elder Weber 

Happy new year!

I am quite a few weeks behind on letters, but I will start with the most recent, and then over the next couple of days, I will post some of the older letters.

12/29/2014 Letter

2014 is over and a new year is about to begin!

This year has been full of so many exciting things. During this year I have served in three different cities in Madagascar, met three very different types of people and all sorts of cool experiences I have had. 

So this week was Christmas and was very exciting. We had a lot of fun.

So we tried to visit some people throughout the week and we had some fun things like the ward Christmas party. The ward Christmas party was on Friday and despite it being very poorly organized it was good. The members went on the streets and passed out some pamphlets about the church and then met up for a nice picnic. The members in Madagascar are the best members in the world. I am sorry for the rest of you, but you have some serious work to do to catch up. 

This week we also had the opportunity for President and Sister Adams to go and teach with us. They taught with us yesterday two lessons. One to this great member family of which the father is less active, and one to Andry the recent convert. It was a lot of fun. 

We also got to go on a split on Saturday to Ambohimangakely and Ankadnindramamy Elders. I went with Ambohimangakely and had a great split. We taught a lot of great people and were able to grow more as missionaries. We have two great missionaries out there that are working hard in preaching the gospel to all of the people out there at the edge of the city. 

But besides that it was a pretty quiet week. Getting to talk to the family which is always good. Christmas eve, Christmas day, all of that stuff. I am excited for the next four months. For those who may notice I am writing this on the 29th of December and I leave Madagascar on the 29th of April. Time is a funny thing because time flies so fast and I just cannot believe where all the time has gone. It is interesting looking back at the time where I wasnt any good at malagasy and I could hardly communicate. I have so much hope for the future, the future looks bright.

This is a really short email, but I run fast out of things to write.

Enjoy your holidays.

Elder Weber