The Mission of Elder Bates: September 24, 2012

hey dad

sounds like you ahve had a full week. i am doing incredibly well. i love the mission. my companion is extremely good at the organ. as in world renound. he is the best organist at byu and stuff. i guess hes a big deal in that stream. haha. but the penny wistle is like a miniature recorder. but tiny and cool sounding haha. and i was a little sick last week but nothing serious. we do take care of our health and try our best. i just had a little cold. its unavoidable here to get sick and such. you just get used to it. i am not going to die. dont worry hahaha. i am healthy. and i could have sworn that theo was in one of those pictures... hahahha oh well. i only recognized one young man out of all those pictures and that was cameron orr. lol.

sounds like that scout camp food worked out great! and its good that nobody has gotten food poissoning as of yet hahahah. seeing as how you seem to think someone might. lol. but that food sounded delicious. especially that 65 lbs of bacon mom mentioned!!! hahaha thats alot of bacon. and the hardicks are pretty picky about who they let hunt and so on and so forth hahaha. i remember talking to jordan about it. but thats alright. they can have there land. my deer was bigger than jordans last year anyways ;) hahahaha. and while we are on the subject that is way cool that justin shot himself a bear. its got a tsara tareha. its a good looking animal. it'll make a great mount. nice looking coat. i wanna get a second chance up in cherry grove with my bow if i can. that was really fun. and just my luck we get a cabelas in edmonton while i am in madagascar!!!! hahaha is it a fully stocked one or just limited?

and i am sure that is was nice to go out to nannie and grampis for dinner sunday night. and i am sure they appreciate your help on the tractor. i think nannie will be a great librairian!! that is a perfect call for her and i am glad she is taking it in full stride!! man robyn and bevan must be getting in shape with all the bike rides they are doing!!! i wish i could join them! i have done a little cycling in my day..... hahahah

the church is incredibley new in madagascar. and it is shown by how the people still look so much to the missionaries for instruction and guidence. for instance i was asked to give a talk in sacramet on eternal marriage...... wich i presented this past sunday. because nobody in the branch could do it really. they didnt know much about it. i would send you a copy of my talk but its all writen in malagasy. but i based it on the family, a proclamation to the world and i think it helped a lot of people. so you can read that and pretty much know my talk. i just think that off all people to speak about marriage they ask a 20 year old missionary who has scarecly even thought about marriage.... hahahhaha but i tried my best. i lvoe the work here and we have been seeing many blessings. we taught over 40 times this week and all while doing the training program for 3 hours each morning... its been hard work but it has really payed off and i have learned so much. i have many different varieties of investigators. and we teach a ton of people but the ones we are focusing on are merance and christian who are a couple who recently had a baby die. he works on a ship and she works in the market. they are awesome. also dona who is a 21 year old with a 5 year old son. she didnt like my talk in sacrament because it ment she had to get married and she has sworn off men.... hahaha and a boy named zeze who is a stud. he is 16 years old and very mature and responsible; he is awesome. thanks for all your emails and love. and thanks mom for the scriptures. i know so many people appreciated your cooking work for the scout camp. have fun playing with the family all week!!!

be fitiavana mandrakizay

elder bates