No words can properly express the excitement and anticipation for this moment I have been waiting for all week! I enjoy every moment of doing this and I have to because the time slips by like sand through my fingers. I can't wait to tell all that has happened!
Let's get to it!
Tuesday: On this day I started to notice that I am starting to get the hang of this language. I can start to understand the people more clearly and ask more questions and incorporate more words into my vocabulary. I was able to teach an entire restoration (no help included) to an investigator named lalina. He is very solid and very ready for the gospel of Jesus christ. Elder Keener was proud of me which was also a tiny little thing I was shooting for! It rained a little bit that day, which was a precursor to the following day, when it poured buckets!
Wendesday: On this day, it poured rain a whole lot. I was at the top of the hill with elder keener when it started to rain again and I was very happy and grateful that we got some moisture. We went and visited a lady named anastasia and she is someone we recently found to teach. We taught a lot to her about prophets and authority. She seemed to understand a lot of it, and she also loved our message, which was really good. After her we went finding a little bit, and something you have to understand about malagasy children is they are always wanting to hang out with white people. With us being the white people, we were at the center of the spotlight. The children always made me laugh as they asked me for a donadona kely (little fist bump). I love the malagasy kids, but elder keener not so much. He is really set on getting from one place to another without delay, so to him the kids are a little bit of a drag but I love the kids and it honestly teaches me a lot about how to be perfect and happy. Madagascar has taught me so much about temperance and patience and humility that I would spend too much time naming all the things that have already helped me to become a better person.
Thursday:On this day, we had district meeting and we talked a lot about our areas with elders oberhansley and leishman. They are the zone leaders for our zone and they are amazing. After the district meeting we went to a little restaurant called fish and chips and I bet what y'all could guess what we got! After that, we went out to go finding and we stopped by this one man at an eppisserie who was drunk (I didn't know until afterwards). He started trying to break us down saying stuff like madagascar would still have the gospel even if god didn't send missionaries like us down here. I tried to explain to him more, but he just rebelled, so we left. I didn't want to have another experience like pablo again.
Friday: We met up with an investigator named francois and she is really curious about the gospel but she's a little bit wishy washy about it. We went to her house and shared a vatsim-panahy (Spiritual thought) and invited her to be baptised. She said she would think about it, but we are fairly confident she will say yes to that. The gospel is so amazing and I couldn't be more happy to be preaching that word to his children to the far corners of the earth.
Saturday: I went on exchanges with the zone leaders. I went with elder leishman while elder keener went with elder oberhansley. Elder Leishman and I taught the somewhat fluent class about tongue twisters, space, mathematics, and a lot more. We had lots of fun and ate out at fish and chips again afterewards. I had to lead elder leishman around mahamasina 2 for the first time without my trainer, and I was able to get 2 out of 3 lessons done. I was so glad I could talk to someone who actually understood my feelings and respected them, because I really don't have that privelige with elder keener. I still pray for him every day and I still love him with all my heart.
Sunday:we had fotoam-bavaka and fracois came to church! She actually had a hard time with that commitment and with sone other things but she actually came to church and we were both so very happy about that! Elder keener had to do a couple of baptism interviews with some other 9 year olds. They all passed, which was good. After church we went to a members home in manakambahiny and it was awesome. The person who makes the food always makes us a mountain of rice with some sort of topping with it and its awesome. The name of the member is andie and she's getting ready to go on a mission, and i'm so happy that she has made that desicion to serve the lord.
Everytime I stand in the middle of the busiest streets in Antananarivo, I think of how many people are actually on the earth, and all the necessities that are needing to be met. When I look at the children, I think of how selfless and brilliant and strong they are as friends and as individuals. Everytime I see someone holding their hand out to me on the street begging for food or money, I can't help but feel my heartstrings get plucked out of their places because they are in so much need and I want to help them so bad. I know they are in good hands though, because two thousand years ago in the city of David, a savior was born to a virgin. His name was called emmanuel, or Jesus. He was born to take on himself the sins and struggles of the world. Only HE knows what it is like to hold out his hand for food and money on the streets of a third world county in a prefect manner. Only HE knows what it is like to lose a son to brain cancer, to contract a terminal illness, to lose a job, to have his home burn to ashes, to have his town washed away by a tsunami, to have a tornado rip a loved one from his grasp. He knows your pain perfectly, and he can help you see the good in this world like a flashlight in the dark. It is a gift so precious, so divine, we must always remember to use it. We always say each sunday I will take his name upon me that I may have his spirit when we eat the bread and drink the water, but what does it mean to you as an individual? I invite you all to ponder that as the chirstmas season passes. I humbly express my small yet fervent witness that Jesus christ is the savior and redeemer of the world. I know that he is our only hope of coming home safely. If we choose to embrace the ultimate gift of repentance and hope, he will guide us to the farthest reaches we need to go to. I know this to be true, and I invite all who read these words to come to know it for themselves.
God bless you all my friends!
Elder Johnson
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