Faly mirahaba isika rehetra e!
This week has gone by really fast, and it has been an interesting week. For one thing, Elder Armstrong went home last Tuesday. We were all pretty sad to let him go, but his work was done and he had done his part in the work. So, we said goodbye and saw as he drove off with the APs. That happened on Tuesday. As a result of that, elder Leavitt and elder smith and I are all in a trio up until this Saturday when transfers come again. It has been my dream to be companions with elder smith, as we knew each other a little before the mission. We grew to be great friends while we were on the mission in our reassignment mission in Texas. At any rate, on that day we had another appointment with one of our investigators on date named Tafita. She is a really nice little 12 year old girl who is ready for baptism. Her younger sister isn’t that far behind her.
On Wednesday, the trio went and taught lalaina, our most recent convert. I baptized him two Saturdays ago. He is 67 years old and he is our most diligent recent convert in our teaching pool. I enjoy every visit that we pay him and I will never forget him if I leave this area. On that day, I went on an exchange with an elder named elder Olara of Uganda. He is a really nice elder and I enjoyed doing work with him while we were together. He told me that part of Ugandan tradition is when a young man reaches adulthood, he must prove that he is now a man by killing a lion with his bare hands alone. His father has killed a lion according to that custom. During our time there, I did 2 baptismal interviews and both of the people passed. The rest of the night we didn’t do much since elder Olara got pretty sick and threw up during one of the interviews.
On Thursday, I hit my year mark on my mission. It was an emotional day for me, thinking of how far I have come, and how much work there is still left to do. I am proud of my efforts and feel satisfied with my work, and I am happy that I still have one more year left out. When I came back from the exchange, the rest of the day was spent by a tour from elder Smith of his area.
On Friday, a miracle happened. After we had completed our lessons for that day, we were headed for a house that was our dinner appointment. Right as we arrived and knocked on their front door, I noticed a little girl. And this wasn’t just any little girl, it was a miserably poor little girl who was deaf. Little children already have a extra special place in my heart, and for this sweet girl to fill my vision was to melt my heart like a stick of butter in a microwave. I had in my hand (and had been playing with before) a very powerful toy blue laser that shined so bright that if you pointed it upward then you could see the path of the laser go into heaven. I noticed that this girl wasn’t asking for food; she was looking for something to do. I felt my old friend, the holy ghost, nudge me to give that laser to this girl. I obeyed. I told her, “Try it!” She gently took the toy from my hand and pointed it at the southern cross in the sky and to my joy her face lit up with excitement. She was ecstatic to have the laser. The best part was when she came to say thank you. I shook her little hand and as I tried to give her a gentle, warm smile, her eyes conveyed a priceless message to me that was yet magnified again by the holy ghost: Love your life. Be grateful. I felt so warm after that experience, and as I played in the courtyard of the house we would be eating in, I could see the blue beam of the laser shining on and off going into space and onto the wall. I am forever grateful for the example that little children set to me, and it always reminds me of the doctrine that Jesus Christ taught Except ye become like little children, ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of god.
On Saturday, I went on another exchange with elder Wilkes again. This exchange was a cool exchange. Around companionship studytime, Elder Wilkes read from the Saints book about the ancient Egyptian artifacts that Jospeh smith bought to obtain crucial lessons written in plapyri from Abraham himself. After that, we went out and taught a lot of people, a lot of which I don’t remember their names. But there was one lady in particular who was on the eve of giving birth to her 2nd child. She is from a city in Madagascar called Toliara, which has many dialects of its own and has its own accent. She taught me a little bit of that accent and taught me a lot about her tribe which is called the Vezo tribe.
Sunday was a great day as always. Sacrament meeting was wonderful, and we had our last choir practice. I made chicken nuggets for lunch afterwards, which obviously is something that a Malagasy missionary could never get sick of!
Malagasy scripture: Fotompampianarana sy Fanekempihavanana 19:23 “Mianara Amiko ary henoy ny teniko; mandehana amin’ny fahalemem-panahiko, dia hanana ny fiadanana ao amiko ianao.”
I know that if we walk in the meekness of the spirit of Christ, we will not only receive peace of heart, but also spiritual guidance which can protect us from the temptations of satan. He wants to lead us to hell so that we suffer with him, but we can’t allow that. We were made to have joy. Follow Christ, and then you will receive the kingdom of god at the last day.
Fantatro fa raha madeha amin’ny fahalemem-panahin’I kristy izany isika, dia tsy hahazo ny fiadanam-po ihany, fa koa ny torolalana ara-panahy izay afaka miaro antsika rehetra avy ny fakam-panahin’I satana. Te-hitarika anstika amin’ny afobe ‘lay izy mba hiara-hijaly aminy, nefa tsy afaka mamela izany isika. Ahariana isika mba hahazo fifaliana. Manara kristy ianareo, dia amin’zay hahazo ny fanjakan’Andriamanitra amin’ny andro farany.
I love you all and I hope that these pictures will be as realistic and as adventurous as they are here in Madagascar.
Love from,
Elder Johnson
P.S Compare and contrast the last two pictures...me today and me a year ago!
