They did it! And Elder Tshuma had a birthday!

Monday we had a little soiree/ family home evening with some less actives named Lova and Mamy. They are super awesome people and so fun to meet with but the reason that Mamy cannot come to church is because of his work and he apparently can't quit because he has a contract but on the good news his wife Lova has started to come back to church so that is something. But during that little soiree we got some super good food; Elder Tshuma brought some bap (South African food) and I made Peanut Butter cups, super good. Then that night  it just so happend to be Elder Tshumas birthday so needless to say he was destined to get an egg and flour on his head. Oh he tried to avoid it but we got him.

Then for a good portion of this week our times dropped us so instead of going tracting as we normally would we decided to go and begin visiting members and getting them looking for people for us to teach. In my opinion this method is way better than tracting (we still tract but visiting members breaks it up). What we usually do go in and really try to get to know them and build up a great relationship.

On Wednesday we got to go on a suprise split with our wonderful APs, Elder Rigby and ELder Morley. We got to go work with Elder Rigby and is was just such a blast, we taught, Elder Rigby told us some cool stories, and we learned great deal about planning and preparing for lessons along with things to do in the lesson, it was super fun. That night we get home and it turns out that our gas was out so we go out to eat with the Itaosy elders and Elder Morley. Lets just say that we were all dying from laughter near the end.

Thursday was year mark! Woh, were did the time go!

Then Friday I got to go on a split with Elder Evans from my MTC group so he could show me where more of the members and less actives in our area were because he started in Ampefiloha. OMG it was so fun. Elder Evans is just a baller and a great missionary and we had so much fun through out the day. The best was ending the day with a soiree with some members that Elder Evans really bonded with during his time here; we talked, taught a great lesson together on the fly (high five), ate some great food, and played some super fun games.

Saturday Rasolo and Colette got baptized! They had our DMP Nambinana baptize them which is fine but this one was so great because I had found these people and I was able to see them progress until baptism.

After her baptism Colette shared a great testimony about  things that I was not aware of until that point. Apparently their oldest son had recently passed away and she said that is was a very hard time for them. But she says that son after her sons death did the missionaries knock on their door aka Elder Nelson and Elder Munanira. Colette said that she feels so grateful to know that God cares enough about her to send the missionaries at that time, she truly feels that the missionaries were sent from God at that point in time. Lets just say that I was a bit stunned and humbled to know that at that time that through us God was able to comfort one of his daughters, a very amazing experience.

I think that is about it for this week, have a great one everybody!

Elder Nelson

Elder Nelson's Mom here: He sent home a BUNCH of pictures and 2 video clips today.  I was going to sort through them and pick just a few then decided to just post them all.  I think some of the later ones correspond to some of the events in his letter above.  The only other commentary he sent was:

"I forgot to write in the big letter but we also did some Mormon Helping Hands by cleaning up part of the zoo called Tsimbazaza, super fun."

I assume that's what all the pictures in the yellow vests are from.  Enjoy!

This shows the aftermath of the eggs and flour celebrations.  Happy Birthday, Elder Tshuma!

I played ball and Elder Tshuma got to go prevent himself from being deported

So once again the letter comes on Tuesday and for a very random reason. Monday, four elders just going around on a normal pday when suddenly a random phone call appears. It is Elder Ahlstrom in the office. He then relays a message of great importance " you elders need to get to the office right now, there are papers that Elder Tshuma needs to sign and if he doesn't he will be deported". Well that sorta shot those elders plans for the day as Elder Tshuma was gone a very long time. But President Foote was very kind and gave permission for them to finish their pday preparations on tuesday.

Hey everyone, as you can see above we had abit of a scare with Elder Tshuma but everything is great now and he is not getting deported, Ya! But here we go with the rest of our week.

Monday we did some service for a family here in Itaosy izany hoe: we helped them move houses. But the catch is that they don't have moving trucks but hand pulled carts with furniture and the like stacked on top and we had a great time pushing it up a decently sized hill. That thing was just so heavy and I was just so exhausted at the end but all of the stuff got there alright. But now I have a greater appriciation for all of those people that do that all day everyday for their job, it is very difficult and they do it for little pay.

Tuesday we ended up doing some contacting and found some potential new investigators named Fidy, Joce, and Michelle. It was a pretty good lesson and it felt guided by the spirit, it was super fun and enjoyable. They had some questions that we answered for them and I think that they also enjoyed the lesson but they are Catholic and it is a big "no no" to switch faiths but we will see.

Wednesday was spent mostly tracting and meeting with members. I have actually been wanting to be having more meetings with members to 1. Get to know them better, 2. Help them be stronger in the church, ands 3. Hopefully get a referal/ help them begin looking to people to refer to us

Thursday Elder Tshuma got sick, he felt like throwing up all day. Luckily I was still able to go out with Elder Ralaivao to give Rasolo and Colette their baptismal interviews and they both passed! They will be baptised this up coming Saturday, August 22. After that we went home and I studied and hung around while Elder Tshuma slept.

Then honestly the rest of the week was spent trying to contact and visit with members, so not much to say about that. Have a great week everyone, mirary soa!

Elder Nelson

Never let a drunk man cut hair

Hey everyone this week has been great, I seriously enjoyed it and a quick explanation about the title this week. Elder Tshuma and I went to get haircuts today and the first guy we went to was apparently very drunk and we didn't realize that in time. By the end he had done so much damage to Elder Tshumas hair that we had to take the rest of it off (Elder Tshuma even had me do part of it because he was so mad at that guy). So right now he is sitting next to me with a nice shiny dome. But luckily for me we were able to find a much better person to cut my hair so I am not yet bald.

But this how the rest of the week went,

Monday we went to the office, picked up some supplies, and went shopping. Then the power went out as we were finishing up our emails so that is why I was not able to send the weekly letter this last week, sorry!

Tuesday we were able meet with Ollivie and Rosa again. They are such a nice family and I really enjoy teaching them. We had a good lesson on the Apostacy and asked how Ollivie was doing with the Word of Wisdom. We could tell that he was a bit uncomfortable but it is ok (this is Elder Nelsons opinion) that right now he is still drinking and smoking as long as he is trying and following the advice that we give them.

Wednesday we had a great time with Joseph and his familly about baptism and enduring to the end. Also one thing that we learned during that meeting is that Joseph was able to get better work (being a guard for the new church in Manakambahiny) by talking with the bishop who was able to find him that job, we were so happy that he was able to recieve that blessing.

Friday I got to have an awesome split with our zone leaders; Elder Delbar and Elder Lehr. I got to work with Elder Lehr in his area in Mahamasina and I just have to say that I really would love to work in Mahamasina, it is such an amzing area, you work on a giant mountain all day, its great!

Sunday we managed to have an awesome day of meeting with people that we were not able to catch through out the week, one of which is Roland. He is a referal from a member and just doing really well. He learns a bit slow but he has come to church almost every week and loves to learn.

I think that is about it for this week and sorry everyone that this is late, the power went out again (something about the power company workers going on strike or something) as we were writing so we got permission to quickly finish up. Have a great week everyone and see you all later.

Elder Nelson

Some of our English students 

a bus from the Winners Chapel but we claim it

Joseph and his family

Zone Meeting- Zones Leaders Elder Delbar and Elder Lehr

Elder Evans!

More pictures from our zone meeting

English

Elder Ralaivao shooting someone

Elder Tshuma talking with one of our students

Pictures of Mahamasina from my split

Soccer field in Mahamasina

Just finished translating a PMG survey for Elder Ralaivao and Elder Razafimandimby while they took it (took a while, you could say that my brain was a bit tired)

Aaannnnddd Harry Potter, right after teaching Roland