Another week down! It's been a really good one. First off, we did meet our new mission president. He and his wife are really awesome, but we only got to talk for like half an hour. So we'll see more of them once we get to Mada.
So, where to start. Last Wednesday, it was the Fourth, so no missionaries came in til Thursday. The Fourth was awesome here! I expected it to be lame because I'm used to being out partying and doing pyrotechnics with everyone, but it was awesome. They let us stay out an entire extra HOUR to watch the fireworks ha. It was out of control. I got your 4th of July package and we decorated the room. We also had a really cool 4th of July devotional thing. Instead of just focusing on America, they talked about freedom in general. I realize that sounds boring ha, but it was way cool. They had a flag ceremony with like 40 flags and the Mada flag was in there. Basically rocked.
A sister from Mada got to carry the flag, and we talked to her before the devotional. Malagasy people are SO nice. We see her all the time and always talk to her in Malagasy and she loves it. She always says "Mahay!" when we say things right (or close to right, or not right at all). Mahay means "skills or talent". Bro Sender says that EVERYONE does that when you first get to Mada. They're just super nice, even though everyone stinks at the language at first. Bro Sender and Bro Sell tell us stories every single day, it's so easy to get them off-topic and start them talking about Mada. I'm so stoked to get there! They had the weirdest and coolest experiences.
We got our first Malagasy investigator last Saturday. She's the Malagasy professor at BYU (Who knew there was a Malagasy class there? Weird.) Her name is Claodia. It was definitely nerve-racking teaching a real Malagasy person. But she went nice and slow along with us. It's super hard talking to people sometimes, because even when I understand them, it's really hard to say what I want to say back. And the grammar rules are so weird! Like I was asking Claodia what she liked to do and she started talking about "gitara" or guitar. I got super excited but my mind just blanked. All I could do was smile and point at myself and say "Aho". Which means "I/me" But it's definitely coming along. Most of the time we teach Tojo, we can go for like 20 minutes with only a few queue words written down, but I think I was just nervous teaching someone new.
Elder Galbreath and Mitchell had a funny experience teaching Claodia. Galbreath was trying to ask if she was married (Manambady ve ianao?) And instead, he said "Manambody ve ianao?" Which to put it appropriately, means "Do you have a butt?" Funniest thing ever. Claodia was hysterical.
When any District leaves, they sing in Sacrament meeting, so we're gonna learn "If You Could Hie To Kolob" in Malagasy and I'll have someone film it so you can see it. I love singing in Malgasy. A lot of the time, we have no idea what we're saying, but the songs all sound awesome.
Oh, I forgot to mention, we got roommates! It was just Jensen and I for the first two weeks, which was cool, because then we could always have parties in our room with everyone on our floor. (And by party, I mean as party-ish as missionaries get.) But the new guys are Elders Danielson and Allen. They're going to Rochester, NY. They're both really cool, it was kind of funny seeing how uncomfortable people are the first few days. I know I was like that, but it goes away quick once you realize that you're gonna be with the same people for a long time.
The Pokies and the Ogden's left this morning. I love those guys. But we got a shipment of Reno's, and a bunch of Sisters finally joined the zone! About time, it was purely dudes forever. People here try to beat it into you that Sister's are the black plague, and if you talk to them you're a sinner, but it's so nice not talking to guys all the time ha.
Anyway, let me know when you guys get the package I sent out. I sent it yesterday and there's a bunch of exciting treasures inside. Be stoked!
In Taylor's package he sent the following...
"Here is a 100 ariary bill. It's worth about 5 cents. Don't spend it all in one place!"
and a copy of a Malagasy "The Living Christ".
Love you guys!
Taylor
P.S. I wouldn't say no to a package of Oreo's!
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