The Mission of Elder Bates: December 17, 2012

hey dad.

i cant think of a better way either. and i guess neither could the lord because he blessed us with 2 more baptisms for the 22nd of december! now it will be mario, lundri, zania, and marovola. they are all ready and excited to recieve the saving ordanances of the lord! i will tell you a little bit about them all later on in the email. i have lots to tell you today. and lots of pictures to send!! haha so be excited!

how the world changes and grows. how much different is it now from when you were a child? i feel there is as you said so much evil and so many lost. we are truely in the last dispensation. where the worst and the best willl meet in babylon. people get lost in this world and slowly it destoys them. but it happens so gradualy that they dont know what did it or how it happened. we are privaledged to know that it is the influence of satan and his powers. its funny how here in madagascar always just blame everything on the devil. if someone is angry they say he has a devil in him, or if someone is sick or if someone is drunk anything along those lines means that he MUST have a devil in him. but that is not true. they have the devil beside them. and they can walk away from him any time they want. the devil enters our lives as soon as we let him. christ our ultimate example never let him in, and the devil threw everything he had at him. we can do the same if we work at it. but for us it must come over time. that we may learn wisdom in our youth. hahaha and dad your feet are just as beautiful as mine. dont forget you dont have to jump on the roof top and shout. it is as easy as a friendly word and testimony and a pass along card. you can help some of those lost and downhearted.

it must be a nice break from all the shoveling and things!! haha youu seemed to be getting pretty tired of all the stinkin snow. i on the other hand got totally sun baked on saturday at an activity here in tamatave. i think it was the hotest day yet here and we just so happened to spend all of it street contacting people and inviting them into an open house to see what this wonderful church is all about. my nose is flaking as a write this it was so hot hahaha. but we got so many people into the church and so interested in the church. i had a man tell me that he was convinced that this was the place where he would find salvation. and i am sure he wasnt the only one who felt that way.

i bet you spraying mom down with the hose was pretty dang funny! getting eachother all soaking wet. like a couple of kids! haha and i am sure the guy at the counter was having a hay day watching you two on the cameras hahahhaah. you will probably be up on youtube if your not already. and being santa clause must have been so much fun up until about 30 kids........ hahahah no but that is a great think for you to have done. and it sounds like the ward is so freakin big now!! i remember when i was still there we thought it might split. any news on that? haha.

so grampi sounds like he is doing a little better if he can manage to pull out that big old van! all though i am sure he was pretty tired after he did it for sure!

i am glad to hear that things are going pretty normal over there for now. and that christmas season is bringing blessings and ponderings.i am sure dallin will get used to the shift work. especially if he does end up getting a job on a rig... and emily will find a job soon enough. she just cant be to picky! ha.

my week went really well! we seemed to be very busy and things doing last minute preparations for baptism and things. we have four baptisms. lundri who is turning 20 on the 18th of this month, so tomorrow haha and he is way cool. he really wants to serve a mission and us already taking seminary class and things and afte that he will start missionary prep class. and there is mario. mario is a funny guy. him and fabio are twins who started to to learn a while back. fabio intsantly loved the church and the book of mormon and was baptised in june before i came and he has been helping us alot ever since. but mario had a harder time with it because he was previously of the adventist religion and there were things he didnt agree with. but he always loved working with us and lundri is actually a refferal from him. he even started going to times with us and then we descussed some thing in one time about how all things were meet to the children of men if they were taken in thanksgiving. (1 timothy 4 1-5) and then after that he started coming to church with fabio and he came to me within the week and asked if he could be baptised. so we talked with him and he said that he contemplated and prayed about it and wants to serve a mission with fabio and lundri and knows that it is true. so he to is getting baptised on the 22nd. and then there is zania who is 14 years old. i baptised zanias aunt in september and ever since then started teaching zania who is way bright. she loves the lessons and church. and her prayers get stronger every week. and marovola who was a refferal who has been learning for a long time now. she is 16 years old and had a hard time grasping everything at first but is now ready and excited to enter into the waters of baptism. so i give great tidings of joy in this christmas season to see all these people enter into the covantent. wednesday was pretty fun as we got our first real hard rain while we were working. haha it cooled us off quite a bit so it was pretty nice. and we were up to our shins in water in most places. elder ludwig was liking it alot as was i. haha. we did a little puddle jumping :D haha. but that is my week. i will talk to you all next week wich is pretty exciting. oh and yes i was reffering to the test call for the last statement there in your email. love you all!!

be fitiavana mandrakizay

elder bates