February 27, 2012

hey! so its been a good week here and its sounds like its been a hectic week there! hahabut im sure you are all makin it through fine! it is cyclone season here in mada so we are having a good old wet time! and windy hahahha. but im sure its better than shovelying through all that snow! it must be alot cause i didnt even get a letter from my dad today! haha wich i totally understand!

life here in mada has been hectic though. so my week has been pretty good. lots has gone wrong and i have been frustrated quite a bit but i am trying to cope with it. but this past week started off with our house flooding... haha. we moved and ever since then there has been problems galor with the new house. there is not enough power. and it is smal and stuff. so we spent tuesday morning bailing out our house with cups and buckets. it was quite a bit of water hahaha. and we live on the 3rd floor so we have found out it is water proof! lol. and my bike has been braking alot the past one and a half months ive been in this area so i hae spend alot of money trying to fix it. so i am right broke!! hahaha oh well. it doesnt help that i ride 150 km a week on the bike... hahaha i have been having a tough time but i am working through my tribulations for the lord. and i love it! no matter how frustrated i get. but that is my life here in mada. love you tons! i cant complain about my life really. i love it. and i love this work. sorry my letter is so short but i am sort on time hahha. oh but i will try to describe the pictures from last week sorry.


1;fell on my bike.... ripped my pants

2.got them fixed.... ripped again

3. we are tired...

4. tall corn!!!!

5. cute girl

6. dirty shirt,

7. because its muddy here always

8. me on a bike

9. bike on me!

10. her name... is burtha

11. me bein a hick

12. kids!

13. service! cyclone blew over alot of fences

14. hang loose bro!

15. my friend the chicken

16. his friend the chicken

18. climbing hill.

19. top of hill. beeeeaaaauuuutifful

20. manga hazo. it is a root. served with beans. apettising aint it?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Madagascar

February 20, 2012 - email

hey fam! how yall doin!? thinks here are good! its nice to here from all of you. im glad you are all having a blast! dont worry im not to kivy. trunky to come home. dont worry about me missing out on anything. haha you mentioned dad how much you think i have matured already since my mission but i still got a little of the old me in me dont worry bout that! ;) ahah. holy family reunion at our place this week. sounds like some fun! haha finally a little snow at our house holy cow! haha dang i miss the snow. snow is fun if you dont gotta shovel it right?? that saying works for some jobs. not for a farmer though i guess. no matter what way you look at it you cant make shoveling poop fun.....hahahaha 

Kasper looks like a stud in the picture with Mom! alot like Dallin in a suite when he was a kid. haha. but not as like a baby. Dallin wasnt that good looking as a baby hahahahha. sorry to say it dall but you know its true lol. so Dad you expect me to send you all these pictures then i get like 2 from you this week...... a little lop sided eh?? haha kidding. mostly.. lol. im sure the kokapelli choir sounded great! they always do. its a great choir. with lots of opportunities. and its a great way to show your talent. a singers dream really hahaha. i would have loved to be part of it.  maybe i still can be when i get home. 

and for the recard Dad my truck wasnt purple!!! it was definatly blue. maybe your eyes are goin in your old age but it was deffinatly blue hahaha. sad to see that thing go but it was probably for the best. concerning the safety of all else on the road anyways hahaha. its weird to me that Max is already home... it didnt feel like i went out that much after he did. i guess am already six months through but still haha. Ive got another 2 1/2 years to go right!?(for any who havent been reading, Riley has joked in the past that he is going to request to stay out an extra year...) hahaha so i found out who my new mission president is going to be. his name is Adams. lives in calafornia. haha. so does that mean that Bob and Fran know where they are going!? probably somewhere in Europe. haha. it will be exciting to know where. it is so exciting for me to see  others go out in the field. Austen will do great in Montreal and Jordan in Toronto. it is so cool to see others come serve the Lord. i love it! haha oh ya its been a pretty exciting week here! so on tuesday we had a cyclone! stuff got wrecked!! haha mostly just fences and corn fields and stuff but a ton of trees fell down and stuff. it was a mess here. we couldnt work all tuesday.we were under house arrest. then in the afternoon when the cyclone left we went out and did service. mostly just cut up trees in the road and rebuild fences. it was a good time! haha. malagasys dont work much but whe they absolutely have to they work quick! haha i was impressed. then wednesday we did splits so i was with a funny scottish man named Mclaughlin all day. then thursday we stayed and worked in antsirabe. then friday i hade some bad bowl issues so we did splits again. then saturday is baptism day. we didnt have any but we helped set up for it. then sunday i went to monandona. so i only road about 60 k this weekon the bike. but it felt good to finally ride for a while. then today we are going to go on a little hike. it will be fun. i love my area and the guys i live with. but that is more or less my life here. i love God and the work. the most satisfying thing. so full of joy. 

be fitiavana mandrakizay. 

elder bates

February 20, 2012 - Pictures

February 13, 2012

hey fam! sorry for the no pictures but imma have to do that again this week cause we just moved houses and my camera is at the new house still. oh ya. we moved today. it was ok. most everything went off without a hitch wich is incredible with malagasies but it turnned out alright. the only sucky thing is im sick and it was no fun halling heavy stuff up 3 stories all morning. but i still worked hard and got er dun. other news we have 2 baptisms in an area called be soa on saturday. it is one of our groups. and then 3 in ibidy the next week. another one of our groups. . so work here is going great! i road 150 km on my bike again this week and it doesnt seem to be getting any easier even though i have been in this area for a month now! hahah buit i think that is because i am going quicker. but i am definatly gettting in shape wich is fun! i am loving madagascar. i am still not very good at the language. but i can get by. i hit my 6 month mark on a mission on friday! so i am a quarter way through. unless i extend for a year ;) we will see what my new president in july says about that. hahahha. maybe not a year. maybe just like 11 months. we will see. sos i love my area. i wouldnt mind being there for the rest of my mission. it is way in the mountains. and we work really hard for not many times or success but it just suites me. haha. i like it. hopefully i start to really progress in the language but i havent had a senior comp who is very expeirienced in it yet so we will see. i will jsut keep working hard. i can teach and answer questions and bear a strong testimony. that is what the lord has called me to do. haha. nothing more nothing less. just preach. its great. scared to come home though and actually make decisions..... hahahaha.

the story you shared with me about brother anderson is great. i love it. and if it is james i am extremely happy about it! haha. i know what a mission can do. it is an incredible blessing and learning expeirience. i dont think i spell that word right ever! haha. sounds like dad and emily had a good bonding trip down to olds as well! and i recieved the letters from lyndi and hesston and stuff and i will write back very soon! fa am'zao tsisy fotoana.... sorry. other than that nothing new here really. i havent gotten an email from dallin lately. it be nice to hear from him again! hahaha kinda blunt i know but write me boy!! lol. its not like i can rip the earings out myself im way over here in madagascara. aza mataoatra (dont be scared) hahaha

also. i did not know about brad mitch and west before all the emails today but i am so greatfull that they are alive and well and that god has preserved there lifes. (once again) hahaha but seriously i am just glad they are safe. i wouldnt want to see any of my family members die in such a tragic accident.

woooie i am tired right now!! work in the dona will do that to ya though. of you thought my legs were big before you should see them now! i got a couple tree trunks strapped to my hips! oh and thanks for all the pictures of the dear and stuff! i cant figure out how emily melted those spoons together though... and why is there so little snow!!!??? has the skidoo been out even once!? sad day we are coming to hahaha.

i cant really think of much more to talk about right now. oh ya!!! those packages! so i loved them once again and i forgot to mention the nuts and bolts because i was so focused last week on the struap waffels. if it is possible send be a receipe for straup waffels by the way! :D haha. and dont worry about the shoes. i may be able to get some custom made ones here for cheaper. but i would have to use a little personal fund. with the credit card. should i just pull a lot out at a time so that i dont pull little bits out alot and waste more money? dont know if that made sense but it did in my head hahaha

eniary love you all tons.

be fitiavana mandrakizay

elder bates!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Madagascar

February 6, 2012

Hey fam!! How are you all!! I am doing great. We have rode a totall of 150 km on our bike this week. So I'm pretty tired but my leg muscles are huge and I'm getting nice and skinny hahahahahaha its harder to get skinny here in Antsirabe though cause the food is so dang good here. but its expensive so we stopped eating at the good restaurants haha. so I'm not sure but I think I forgot to write about the packages I got last week... hahaha so I'll tell you my favorite thing in there were the straup waffles. send those puppies everytime!!! lol then the mose jerky!! its already gone. it was delicious. all the candy is already lany (gone) I shared all that with the others in my house. but it was also delicious. i think the ants liked it just as much as we did hahahh. there are alot of ants in our house. along with other things.... the shoes Mom sent did not fit. just a little to tight hahaha. im a size 11-11.5 those were a 10.5. so it was a squeeze. so i might just give them away if they were not expensive. but if hey here I can maybe sell them to another missionary.everything else in there was awesome. i love the under armour shirt. I'm wearing it right now hahaha. and the shorts. and i beat all those mind puzzles but don't know how to set them back up again hahahhah. the football is way cool and so are the hockey sticks! just gota find someone to play it with hahaha. reminds me of home. i miss playin hockey!  but thats ok. the work here is so worth it. I have never foud anything more rewarding in my life then this work. to see people change to be closer to Jesus Christ. its the hardest thing i have ever done by far and I get way kivy and tired but then i see people fall in love with this gospel and it makes it all worth it. but the packages were awesome! dont know what to do withall those canadian souvaneirs but i will find something hahahahaha. 

So lets see this week was pretty good. we have started working a program than makes it so we can actually work more than 3 hours a day in our area. but it also means leaving early in the morning and I'm gunna be tired hahaha. but its all worth it. they keep telling us we are spposed to get a car for his area cause of the distance but those are still just fairytails wich is fine hahahah. who wants to make life easier. that would be just boring. cause no matter where you are or what your doing there will always be tough things in life. but when you handle those tribulations the way God expects you to. the way you know is right. then you find true joy and happiness . Then you find peace. If you feel your life is fine the way it is and dont need anthing different. then you do not know the true joy of this gospel. everybody should know the true joy found in this gospel. through our Saviour Jesus Christ and is everlasting atonement. that atonement makes it so that nobody can sink so low as to not return. there is no "point of no return" in life. Christ made that possible. this gospel and this plan is so simple. so purely true. It brakes my heart to hear of (a friend, who will not named)  and the consiquences that come from a life of living for the moment not for eternity. and I truely hope and pray that she will find joy some day. everybody deserves joy. life does not end after we die.we cant live like it does and nothing else matters. I know this gospel to be a true gospel. and I know that the only way for me to have this joy I feel now eternaly is through my Saviour Jesus Christ and that is the only way I will every be clean. I love you all with all my heart. mba mazoto. dont let the devil getcha down ahhahaha. 

be fitiavana mandrakizay

elder bates