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