December 26, 2011

hey famly and friends!


how are you all?, i hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Chistmas here is very diffrent because theres no family and its extremely hot haha. so it was kinda weird. ok so it was really wierd but thats alright haha. i did get to talk to my family on the phone yesterday wich was very nice. i do need to tell my sister Robyn and my brother in law Bevan that i love them tons and that they are always in my prayers and thoughts. because the phone died before i got a chance to say goodbye to them. and the power was out in our house so i couldnt chard the phone. but i didnt enjoy getting the opportunity to talk to everyone. however Christmas is a short holiday here and today its back to normal life for all the malagasy people haha. its like it never happend. i miss you all so much and thank you for your support.


lets see not much happend this past week. Monday i took the new missionary into tana to get some things done for him. his name is Elder Landon and he is a very nice guy. very excited to work which is nice. he is from Las Vegas city so he is used to this heat already haha. i am just starting to get used to it. Tuesday we did splitts and worked all day tracking. it was pretty good. the rest of the week was pretty slow. just getting ready for Christmas. people dodnt really want to learn very much so we didnt get many times. this week will hopefully be better. there isnt much goin on here so there isnt much to tell you really. love you all tons and hope to here from you soon


be fitiavana mandrakizay


elder riley bates


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

December 19, 2011 - hey fam!

So I need to start this letter of by saying how greatful I am to my Lord for preserving my fathers life. That is my biggest fear here. That someone I hold very closely to my heart will die. I pray every day and plead with my Heavenly Father to protect my family because that is all I can do. I've really learned on my mission that I can do nothing without God. Being so far away I feel helpless when it comes to things at home. but I have learned more than ever that the best thing to do is pray. Because through Heavenly Father we can do anything. And I am so greatful for the gift of prayer and the willingness of God to help his children. It would have been devistating for me to have Dad die. But I know that through so many prayers and through being a worthy priesthood holder and active member of zion that my father was protected. It truely is a Christmas miracle. I hope you know that I love you all will all of my heart. And that if anything were to happen to any of you it would crush me. and i love our God with all my heart for I am nothing without him. I praise him and thank him for all he gives and blesses our family with. 

This week has been good. Lots of work as always haha. so the number you guys are going to call me on is ...... give it a try to see if it works thats no problem. and because of daylight savings time you guys are 10 hours behind right now so call me on christmas eve. and hopefully I will wake up early enough to answer ;) haha  I look forward to talking to you all so much. I'm very excited. all though I talked to you all 2 months ago it seems like a lifetime ago. probably because I have learn more so far on my mission than in the better part of my life. so lets see i got my guitar this past week and I've been playing it like crazy haha. oh ya and I got a little package from the Jaffrays for Christmas with some chocolates in it which was nice. tell them thanks for me. still havent gotten the packages you sent but I'm sure I'll get them sooner or later haha. we also have bap dates for lots of our investigators wich is very exciting. we had 2 baptisms this saturday, Mamysoa and Yando. They are our recent converts children. very funny kids. Mamysoa is 9 and Yando is 10. Their father also has a bap date for the 7th of January so that will be a whole family.  that would be awesome. I did not get to see this past baptism because i was in Ankazobe which is fine. I do not need to see them get dunked to know they did it haha. me and Elder Wilson started working Amboitrimanjaka this past week which is cool. The path there though really brought it home that I was in a developing country though. It was straight out of one of those Africa commercials I swear. It broke my heart. The walking path is lined with garbage on either side and there are people, adults and children all throughout the garage sorting through it. sorting food clothes and anything else they could find. It really was sad. It bugs me that I cant do more to help them. it really breaks my heart. But I know they will have a chance for salvation one day. 

oh and in one of dads dear elders he sent me he mentioned how in the picture the houses looked very big. One of those houses is a white guys house and it is big. But the thing is, is that france had Madagascar for a long time and it was a first world country. So some houses and things look large and not very third worldly. But now one of those houses is home to 6 or 7 families. And the people live in a space smaller than my bedroom at home. I've been in homes smaller than our bathroom. they all share one bed and they are lucky if they have an old broken wooden chair. So the houses dont look very poor but they are. unfortunatly. i remember Robyn and Bevan being very interested in what we eat as well so I will give you the food I eat every day. Its called sedapp. Its itchyban pretty much. and eggs. and if we are lucky enough to get fed then we eat rice and laoka. The laoka verys quite a bit every time but its either vegies with a little meat or pork fat with a little meat or ravitoto which is just ground up grass that they boil. You think ground up grass would help with the digestive system but think again. It aint like the bears do in the winter when you grind it up first hahahaha.  So that is a taste of madagascar. Everything invoves rice. Sometimes we go to a hotely which is a little resturaunt and buy a pethetic excuse for a steak but we cant afford very often. I cant complain though because we are wealthy here. And still cant find out a way to live on our alotment they give us for a month.

I'm also very excited to hear where Dallin gets called haha. its all very exciting. This is the last email yall are getting from me before Christmas so i guess i will just end by saying Merry Christmas!! haha always keep in mind who this day is really for and what it should remind us of. Think of how lost we would be without our Saviour and his atoning sacrifice. He lived and died for us. And lives today so that after we die we can live again eternally. And if we endure here on this earth we can live in the presence of our God and become like him. I love this gospel with all my heart. I know without a shadow of a doubt that through the prophet joseph smith god and Jesus Christ restored the gospel on this earth. That very same church that Jesus started many years ago. 

be fitiavana mandrakizay

Elder Riley H Bates

November 12, 2011-dia ahoana!? (whats up)

hey yall! hows it going!!?? those pictures of Dallin are absolutely priceless!! made me laugh so hard. the blond was just rediculous then he litterally looked like he was 60 with the whiter beard. and his beard was sooooooo long!!!!! i was amazed at how long it was. blew me away. my companion and Elder Walker both enjoyed it as well. i feel for you with those chemical burns though. and you had to shave which is probably why you look so bummed out in that one picture. that beard was your pride and joy.. haha. youve got time to grow it back though ;)ssshhhh don't tell Dad i said that. Dad i think he should stay clean shaven too but don't tell Dallin i said that.... hahaha its hard to appease two people reading the same email. but i really think Dallin should grow it out again hahahaha.

and yes i did hear that Emily backed into Davids car... that sucks but I'm sure David can handle it hahaha. i hope Emily didnt let it get her down! you cant know what its like to be a good driver till you put a few dents into some other cars haha. that may seem silly but here is my logic. its like the plan of salvation in a way. in 2 Nephi 2:27 it explains how we could not have known good if we did not know evil. makes sense right? so i believe thats true in all things. we cant know what its like to be one thing unless we experience the opossite of that thing first. other wise what would we have comparitavely. absolutely nothing thats what hahaha. so there ya go. don't worry Emily now youll probably look behind more carefully when backing up. which will make you a better diver. and Dad is so awesome that he is even taking your burden of having to get Davids car fixed. which is very nice of him. make sure you dong forget to thank him for that ;). Dad really does save our butts alot in this life. hes saved mine a ton anyways. haha and im sure thankfull for that.

so did you all hear that Kasper took his first big boy poop on friday!? quite impressive if you ask me. i like how proud he was of it in the picture that Lyndi sent me. nothin like pointing at your first victory in the toilet. hahahaha i really was impressed though. a mild winter eh Dad? im sure your hating that so far and capital region probably adds to the fire enough to make it seem less mild. they did last year anyways. and no i still haven't gotten my guitat. i got it costum made by a guy in Tana and he is giving me the run around a little bit so i am going to talk to him today with a malagasy and he will have a nice chat haha. transfer news came this week and i am staying in this area with Elder Wilson for at least another month. we will see from there though. i would like a change sooner than later. maybe slip that in a prayer or two hahaha. but God has a reason im here so i cant complain.the other Elder in our house Elder Walker is training this transfer so we will se how that goes haha. we will be the youngest house in the mission. the languae is still proving to be very difficult for me. i can talk about the lessons alright but its the understanding of what people are saying to me that is very difficult. extremely difficult acctually but i wont stop trying. i got a couple dear elders this week form Dad and one from Mamma Behr. those were nice to get. i still havent gotten any packages yet but i will keep lookin. still no hand writen letters but im not even sure if anyone has writen my by hand yet hahaha. but i definatly enjoy getting letters from everyone who wants to write me.

oh ya congratulations to Adam on his engagement!! Lyndi told me about it. i dont know Victoria personally but from what i know about he she is a very nice girl. so good for him! is she gunna let him keep the bike??? hahaha all of the pictures and things sent to me by Nannie got to me so that was very nice to read. Mitch and Brady seem to be finishing so quickly while my mission seems so slow. haha but then again i look back on these past 4 months and they seem to have flown by. the work is going alright but its so hard to get mazoto people here in our area. we have one family who is way ready for baptism once we finish the lessons but they arent married and getting people vita soratra here is a task and a half but with the Lord on our side i know we will be able to pull it off. and our recent converts 2 little boys just finished learning and they are getting baptised on saturday which will be nice. but all of our other investigaters either dont want to be baptised or just arent ready. which is disapointing at times. but the work gos on.

so for Christmas. is it alright for you guys to call me Christmas eve instead of Christmas day? i know robyn and beven usually have stuff with Bevan's family Christmas eve so i hope it will all work out but thats what is going to have to happen this Christmas i think. cause my companion is senior comp and he made the decision that he gets Christmas day. just the way the time zones work out. so the way it works is that you call me on our phone here by using skype or a calling card or something because its cheaper through skyp and other things. im trying to give you enough warning to figure it all out cause im really excited to talk to you all. but you will be calling me christmas eve at like 830 or nine. if you want to call earlier than that thats fine i can get up as early as you want. just let me know the time you want to call in the next email. i hope it all works out cause its seems very little works out right in this here country hahaha. but that is the plan. i love you all and i love this gospel. till next week!

be fitiavana mandrakizay

Elder R.H Bates

Location:Madagascar

December 5, 2011 - Pictures

The next few is him showing off his manly stubble he was forced to grow. (Only cause there was no available showers...ew)

Location:Madagascar

December 5,2011

hey family!!!!!! how is everyone this hot December day???? hahaha it makes me laugh to hear of all the adventures in the snow you are all having. im glad to know you are all safe! sounds like you lived a little on the risky side this weekend. (raised eyebrow) haha. im sad to be missing all the singing and Christmas spirit that is already at home. its not quite here yet. it really doesnt feel like Christmas at all.... haha no snow, no decorations, no family. its a little weird im not gunna lie. but im sure itll get better. im sure Emily loved that the tire blew with you and Dallin in the car and not her driving! haha that was lucky for her but not so lucky for you and Dallin. sounds like Madesyn's baby blessing was great though. so im excited to talk to you all in a few weeks. the way it works here is that i give you our phone number and a time to call then thats when you call. you may have to call on Christmas eve... i hope thats aright with everyone. just the way the time change works out. if you call me at like 9 at night on christmas eve its 7 in the morning Christmas day hear. but if you call Christmas morning its like 5 at night here.... hahaha so im not completely sure yet when youll be calling but just plan for either Christmas eve or day. lol i wish i could heard you all sing. i wanna hear Dallin in that quartet! haha thats awesome.

so i get my guitar today hopefully if the guy making it is on schedule. but from what i hear he usually isnt on schedule. so we will see. i have used my mastercard and it does work if you can find a bank that takes mastercard hahaha. luckly there is one not to far from where i live. i need about 70 dollars to pay for the rest of my guitar. so i will use the master card for that but i dont want to spend much personal fund wwhile on my mission because the mission already costs alot of money so im going to try to stick to my alotment from the church. if i do take personal money out i will let you know.

so this week my companion Elder Wilson bought himself a pet turtle and named it rico. he bought it for about 2.50 american. which is 5000 ariarys. i feel very rich when i walk around with 30000 ariarys in my pocket but its only about 15 dollars hahahah. so that was pretty exciting. i dont actually have pictures of the turtle right now but i will send you some next week. i must say not much has happened this week. we teach and we knock on doors haha. not many people are letting us in right now but thats Ambohimanarina for ya. i have been very tired lately but i think that will pass. i just gotta stay more hydrated. i was excited to here about jordans call! he emailed me a short letter telling me where. i hope he is excited. it really doesnt matter where you get sent. we are all doing the same work. spreading the word of god. and he only has to be in the mtc for 3 weeks hahaha. thats a bonus right there. hmmmm lets see we had a couple big rain storms this week. those were exciting. i will try to send you the video i took of it the river that once was our path hahaha. i wrote a few personal letters to people who sent me dear elders so look for those in the mail. i will try to reply to all of them as best i can. i hope my letters are getting to you all in the mail hahaha. its difficult to say if they are or not cause it takes so long to send and recive them. i did get a big envelope from the primary in our ward which was cool. i was planning on replying to that sometime this week. probably tonight actually. and maybe i have some letters for me at the office. i will find out today. i got a nice card from Nannie and Grandpi for Christmas!! thanks for the gift Nannie and Grampi!! it was very much apreciated; and the other elders got a kick out of the fact that they put Elder hippo on the fake check so that was funny.

i am almost done the New Testament and i have really come to appreciate the life of Christ more in my life. i guess it is a very fitting time it being Christmas to finish the New Testement but its amazing how much you come to learn and how much revelation the Lord provides us if we just put in some effort. ive learned more about our life hear on earth and our eternal purpose and this gospel in 4 months than i ever learned in my life before the mission and its because i am only now starting to put an effort into picking up my cross and following in my saviors footsteps. i kick myself for not trying earlier in life. and i look up to Dallin and and so proud that he is puting in the effort before his mission. he will gain so many blessing for it. countless blessings. i love yall so much and think and pray for you every day.

be fitiavana mandrakizay

elder R.H.Bates

Location:Madagascar

November 28, 2011

so lets see what i can tell yall about this week. monday was good. i went to the guitar guy and mine should be done in a week from today!! haha so im pretty excited about that!! tuesday we teached some people. just our regular investigators... we having had much luck at finding lately. buht we are still workin hard! wednesday was the same as tuesday. teachin the gospel. our investigators right now are all iao iao iany which means like on the fence. which can be a little discouraging. but all we can do is our best and look for the grace of god to make up the rest. if your still looking for a scripture to put on my plaque i would like you to but alma 29;9. its my favorite. 

so ill send yall some more pictures tis week but wednesday i fell through our resent convert louises stairs. ya like all of them.... hahaha its funny now but at the time it made me a little home sick. because i have now broken a chair and well a set of stairs and it just made me feel to big for this country haha. which i am but thats alright. i am lasa kely vety vety. (becoming small quickly) haha im trying to learn the language as best i can but when i have a trainer who is so new it leaves me to kinda learn things on my own which is incredably dificult. but i am striving. thursday was the american thanksgiving so my companion decided to take the day off and cook a meal. which ment killing plucking and gutting a turkey then cooking it. which was fine i guess. he has been in a slump lately so i just want him to be happy. once he is happy we can start working hard again. cause if theres issues the work doesnt go very well no matter what. so we killed this little turkey and i cooked it. mom would be impressed hahaha. it looks decent from the picture anyways ;). it didnt taste that bad either. so that was thursday. then friday we had interviews with president. my first one in the mission and i loved it. president donnely is one of the most inspired men ive met. there is no doubt that he is a servent of god. and he hinted that i may get transfered sooner or later so thats kinda exciting if i do get transfered. i want the beach hahaha. then saturday i went out to ankazobe. i dont know how far it actually is but going there it takes about three hours cause we have to take a taxi be south into tana then buy tickets to ankazobe then wait about an hour for the bus to leave and then we go right back where we came from north to ankazobe haha. so the drive is about 2 hours tottal really. and thats on taxi be not a taxi brusse. so my legs dont fit inbetween the seats at all hahaha no lie. so thats an interesting ride. then we got there at around noon and went to the group leaders house. there are only about 30 members in ankazobe.... i baptized a little girl in this canal haha. that was a cool experience. went and taught a couple tiles then went tot the hotel. ankazo be is very hard to work. its about as big as bow island if not smaller and everyone is prodastent. story of my life hahahaha. gotta love it though. sunday we went to church there and taught a couple people. then the group leader fed us rice and laoka and we took a bus home. got home at about 6. it was a long weekend haha. and now its today and i get to email yall. i send robyn and beven both a letter so they should be getting that in a couple weeks at mom and dads house. 

so does mom have christmas music playing yet??? haha it seems like christmas is coming so quickly. im way excited to talk to all of you. see how things are going at home. should be fun. the way it works is that i give you my phone number here and you call me at a certain time. cause getting credit here for phones is rediculous. ill let you know more about that in a couple weeks. the mission seems to be going by fast until i think about it hahaha. oh ya and president asked me to sing at the office christmas party. so just for the APs the elder missionaries and president and his wife and his councilers. that should be cool. i have no idea what i will do though haha. i'll figure somethin out though. it does mean that i get fed a goooooooooood dinner from sister donnely haha. she was in the catering business. she cooks good food. not as good as moms though. ive been missin that sunday dinner lately haha. you dont realize what youve got till its gone! i love you all with all my heart. tell colter to be carefull if he does end up having to go fight fires. your all in my prayers. 

be fitiavana mandrakizay

elder bates

November 21, 2011

hallo hallo hallo!(supossed to be british) haha how are yallz doin???? i missed you guys a ton this week! but thats alright. cause i dont miss you right now............ hahahah kidding but im so glad to hear goff is alright. i hope the anderson family takes care of him! :D lol thats way cool that nannie and grumpy oh i mean grampy got to talk to a rm from mada! it makes sense that he recognizes the house its one of the oldest in the missions. they are acctually talking about getting rid of it haha. way fun. and dallin sent me an email telling me all about his trip without mommy and daddy hahaha that sounded like an absolute blast! i got pictures from lyndi and i will attempt to send a few pictures today. i didnt take many this week. but i will send one to prove that i ate the spiders.... it would have been rude not to haha.  

so first if through this email i am sending singing robyn happy birthday in whatever accent she wants!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! but shes gunna have to use her imagination for her gift hahahaha. but i misss her tons and i also give her a huge sloppy kiss on the cheek. i expect bevan to pass that along for me! im sorry but your gunna have to remind me how old you are robyn cause the hair is grey but to me your still my 18 year old big sister driving around in a honda sprint.... haha. 

woo hoo for the first snow storm of the year!!! not gunna lie i really do miss it. i wanna take the skido for a rip right now or go snowboarding with dallin in the mountains..... but i think ill just sweat it out here.... lol not like i have much of a choice. its weird though. somethimes i feel like i can get in a car and drive for a few hours and be home.... dont ask me why cause i dont know haha. sounds like yall are hard at work though! i have a feeling some people may be thinking it good for dad to get some more employees....especially with capital region. i would agree with them cause thats usually always the case haha. is gordan around again this winter? im sure he'd love some moose.... i know i would lol. im sure dallin will get up earlier and quicker eventually..... if you pray really really hard hahahaha. 

so lets see i guess ill tell you a funny story i already shared with dallin.... but first you must understand something...... wez dont eat much here and its usually not very healthy food so our bowels dont like us very much. i havent been solid since a week in country actually. to much info? to bad hahaha so we were working in ambohiboa which is a little closer to our home and i had a situation. however close to our home i was i wasnt going to make it. so i used a ditch. luckly i was prepared with toilet paper. the funniest part is though that i didnt realize this ditch was also a walking path. that is until a man walked passed me. now you think he would be discusted or walk by quickly but not in mada. its a very normal think to see people using nature as there restroom. so he told me to enjoy and i thanked him hahahaha. welcome to madagascar. i hope you enjoyed that story. i know lyndi probably did. hahaha

now to answer my some questions. the building we meet in is a church rented building. it has a plaque and all. but it is very small. it doesnt look small from the street but our branch has about 110 active members and its not enough room. and i really dont mind emails. its nice to get them as well. and i get to reply to them as soon as i read them cause we email in the morning. then we go into the office and get our mail so i cant reply to them until the next week. but i still like getting those haha. we email at a cyber cafe about 3 minutes from our house. the internet is actually very good when the power is on. but usually the power gos out at least once haha. i am able to print off thing and read them if i like. it cost money but thats fine. im out of my alotment at the moment but i will get more in 10 days. i starve till then though hahaha. there is a baptismal font in the mandroso ivato chapel. so when we have baptisms in ambohiboa or ambohimanarina then we do them there. but we also have an area called ankazo be in our area so once of us goes out there every weekend. its my turn next weekend. and will be baptising a little boy in the river. and yes dad talatamaty is by the airport somewhere hahaha. i dont know which direction though. my bearings are all screwy here cause i havent seen a compass. sounds like you got it right though. and the office is like right in the middle of tana. by the mouselee. you can see the locations of some of the church buildings and the office building if you go to lds.org and go to the church building locations map and look at madagascar. so that is all i can think of to tell yallz this week. i miss you all to bits!! hahah seriously though

be fitiavana mandrakizay

Elder R.H Bates

November 14, 2011

Subject: another week in the heat!

hello hello hello inona no vao vao haha so this week has been really decent.lots of hard work and fun. and first things first. we did eat the spiders.they were juicy and pretty bitter. crunchy to. like when you bit into it yougot an explosion of this goo in your mouth. thats the juicy part. the legswhere the crunchy part. they were like toothpicks and a half. not even mybig chompers could handle them... so really if you like a variaty of texturein you snack then cook up some giant spiders in some oil and a littletomato. i would play around with the recipe cause it needed a littletweeking. maybe some paprika,a little spice would have been nice haha. tryit some time i dare you. after the third time it got easier to down.

hahahaha.so i got dear elders this past week!! woo hoo! haha those were nice to get.i got 2 from mom and 2 from dad and then 1 from emj and 1 from sister hoy.maybe a couple other people but my mind is drawing a blank right now. solets see what went on this week. well for starters they are doingrenovations on the house we are in so the walls have all been painted and wehad some fun with the workers cause they were all RM's so we played somejokes on them. i am my fathers son ; ) haha its pretty dang hot here. i dontknow the exact temp because i have yet to see a thermometer in this countrybut i sweat 24/7 lol litterally if i had to guess an average temp it isprobably like 35-40 C on a normal day but even malagasy's have been sayingthat it is unusually hot for tana so its like  45 or something im sure. butim not tanning that much cause of the doxxyciclene we take for malaria. itmakes your skin funny. but it also clears up zits wich is a bonus. haha. sohave you found where im livin yet? i think the only way your gunna find itis by typing it in on google maps. where i live is talatamaty. thats thearea. where i work is ambohimanarina its outside of the capital city ofantananarivo. it takes us about an hour on taxi be to get to the office butwe go there every p day hahaha. cause thats where the mail gos. so send melots!!!!! :D haha. its just nice to get something ya know? but i am very faraway and its understanable for sure if you guys for get about me from timeto time................. NOT haha but all joking aside i do understand.mbola manana be fitiavana mandrakizay ho ianareo aho hahaha.(i still loveyall a ton for ever and ever) i know its a mouth full aint it.

so i missed hunting season so much i went out and bought a camo hat....hahaha its a sweet one and i where in on the occasional p day. still haventgotten any pictures of those moose by the by.... hahaha my mouth is wateringjust talking about it. what i wouldnt give for some nice tender moose meat.or any kind of meat other than a sliver of pork with 2 inches of fat on thetop then the skin still attached... so when it goes down the pig hair givesyour tounge a nice little scratch.... that is a favorite to feedmissionaries here cause its the best thing they got here. haha but they dohave some good laoka. laoka is what tops the rice. like when mom makes thatrice and ananas (pinnaple) stuff the ananas is the laoka. its pronouncedloke. like vanjambory. deliciouce. or this coleslaw type stuff is good. orsome cucumber stuff is good. or this shredded veggie stuff with this goodsauce. i love rice right now by the way. it is soooo goood with the rightloaka and it fills you up more than anything else in this country haha. butwe dont make it for our self because we dont have time to cook like thatusually so its oatmeal and peaches or egg on toast hahaha. which does notfill you up....... oh well! you gotta love the mission. i am feeling so weakthough haha. cause we dont physically work out and we just walk all over allthese hills so im loosing a ton of muscle... its sad and i got sick of itand so we are starting a work out program tomorrow. i hope it works out. ohya! i took out some personal fund for the makings of a guitar. we are goingto look into it today. imma get one custom made for about 200 bucks. i hopethats alright hahaha. but if your woundering why thats the antony(reason)

holy cow so emily is driving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! haha i knew shewould pass shes a stud. it would be weirder i think if i was at home viewingit for myself but im not so its kinda not that weird haha until i use myimagination and pretent that im there... then its weird! lol but im happyfor her! dont be going to crazy kid! ha. not gunna lie im missing the snow.i can just picture dallin and emily going snowboarding or getting the skidooout for the first time.... you dont think the heat would get boring but itdoes...... its great for vaccations but when your hiking around all day in ashirt and tie and slacks with a backpack on its getts old quick. i dont knowif i mentioned this yet but malagasy people are very very blunt about somethings hahaha so they mention to me how i sweat all the time and they dontunderstand that its just from the heat and they think im out of shape causethey think all people are like them...... no joke haha. so when i have zitson my face they point it out and say something i still dont understand, andthey give missionaries nicknames here and my nickname is elder bota.... botameans fat or chubby... hahahaha so they call me fat. but even strangers callme fat. especially little kids. its not a big deal. or they tell you yournot good at malagasy hahaha wich is funny cause i just tell them to try andspeak english and they cant and the dont have much else to say. definatlysome fun times.

hows blaine doin!?? i didnt get an email from him this week cause hes homenow. i hope hes adjusting alright! send him my love for sure! all hes gottado is stay active and the rest will pan out. we have a dieing missionary inour house who leaves on thursday. he is definatly ready to go home but ihave grown to love him alot. the andersons actually know him pretty good.his name is elder goff. or flow haha. he is way cool. but way scared to gohome. he doesnt have much at home cause both of his parents have alreadypassed away and he feels like all his friends are out on missions. but hewill be alright haha. hes got a strong heart. hes just gotta stay true tohis beliefs when he gets home.

oh ya! so i baptised a couple old ladies on saturday. hahahaha it was funny.they arent my investigators but they didnt trust elder walker who is eldergoffs companion because he is really small. so they asked me to do it. causeaparrently i am big? whoda thunk..... hahahaha but the first one was a bebe(grandma) and she did not go under for the life of her so i had to do it acouple times but shes clean now hahahaha the second one was a mother who isabout 45 and she went down but didnt seem to want to come up again...... ihade to lift her right out of the water. like her feet were off the ground.then as she was getting out of the faunt she bathed herself in the waterjust to make sure we didnt miss anything haha. malagasy's are funny people.i love them. and elder wilson, my companion baptised our investigatorlouise. she is so excited. she wanted me to give her the holy ghost but idefinatly am not mahay(good) enough yet so it didnt happen. our branchpresident did it. it was fun none the less.

right now it is 12 at night here... i think that is so funny. what are yalldreamin about?? haha last night i didnt dream. not that i remember anyways.haha did yall hear about spencers hoys call to bulgaria!? that is insane!the guy is gunna be a stud for sure. im way excited for him. he you shouldget dallin to contanct jordan hardick for me and get him to send me an emailtellin me whats goin on in his life haha. or dear elder or somethin! haha heshould have his papers on already and im way curious. kyle kristienson aswell. id like to here from both of them!!!!! just a thought though lol. okeniary tsy maintsy mangata-dalana aho(i gotta ask for a path hahaha) its thepolite way to say gotta go. then they respond by pointing at the door andsaying theres your path hahaha. fun fun fun. i love you all a ton! and youare all always in my thoughts and prayers. take care back at home! dont haveto much fun in the snow haha. veloma

November 12,2011 - Pictures!

MTC

On the Plane

 "yes that is a plate of spiders..... they were interesting"

Riley didn't say for sure, but my guess is the next two pictures were the result of falling into a gutter of poo...