Akory!
Another great week gone. My companion and I have definitely been upping the Antie with getting to work and restoring this branch in Tanambao, Fort D. Yesterday`s sacrament meeting was a little more that just chaotic. We only had around 4 Melchizedek priesthood holders attend church, and we had lots of funny little kids running up and down the isles throwing rocks and tackling each other. Everytime I think about the struggles we (my companion and I) face, I always think of the amazing revelation given to the prophet Joseph in Liberty Jail, ''Thine afflictions shall be but a small moment, and if thou endure it well, thou shalt be exalted on high, and thou shalt triumph above all thy foes''. What a glorious promise.
It is a heart-shattering sight to see so many poor people wandering the streets, with their clothes ripped and their spirits weighed by their situation. Who could ever forget the little children who only have the sticks and sand and rocks to play with? No room in a 16 year old's house has any video games, air hockey or iPhones of the latest. No 3 year old has any tricycle to play with. They play with car oil bottles. They play with tires. Toilets are even a seldom feature in the majority of the homes here in Madagascar. Most just have dirt, cockroaches, wasps, wood, and some wires. Put those things together, add a single ghastly looking bed with a mosquito net, and you have the average malagasy home. Often when I eat out with other missionaries, little kids will gather at the entrance and call us by our names so that they can get money or food from us. It happened to me just before I wrote this email. I never go through that experience feeling good afterwards, knowing they don't even have electricity or water. They don't beg to beg, they beg to live.
The encouraging thing is that the all searching eye of out Loving Father in Heaven knows these little kids, amidst all of the asian, european, african, american, and polynesian people of the world. He knows and loves them so dearly. They are part of the sheep that are not of the fold told by Jesus in the scriptures. I take comfort in knowing that God knows their needs. He's got the whole world in his hands!
May God bless you for your gratitude (keeping in mind that Thanksgiving is around the corner) and for your efforts to feed his sheep!
Love,
Elder Johnson
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