Lyndi Sidenote

I just wanted to say sorry to all who were looking for a post last week, I was busy visiting family and didn't get around to it. Riley sent a couple of very short letters to my Dad, but they didn't really tell too much of what was going on in the mission so I've decided not to post them. But Dallin (Riley's brother) decided that I could post the email he received from Elder Bates, so I've already posted it, and it should be just below this post.

October 31, 2011 - A letter to Dallin

hey bro! so its called a taxi be bicause its not a car and its not a bus... its like a hybrid between a bus and a van. like one of those rv vans! but with benches.... and they pack as many people on the things as possible! seriously it is probably as wide as the old huderight van we had and a little longer and they fit about 35-45 people on it. welcome to a 3rd world country haha. its crazy here. i fell off as i stepped off the taxi and into a gutter and roled my ankle and fell int a gutter full of poop. hahahahaha it was interesting. then the rice patty. search up rice patty images on google and look for the little trails between each pool and you will understand. i walk through rice patties every day at work and the trail is very slim and rice patties can get very deep. but i slipped on the trail and my leg went into the water hahahaha. fun times. 

it is so exciting to me and brings me so much joy to hear about all you are doing in the church! seriously i will regret the stupid things i didnt before my mission for the rest of my life. but that is how we learn and grow. you are going to be 50 times the missionary i am because you will be prepared. i prepared myself in the mtc. not fun. i even talked to my branch president about some past sins. i was scared i was gunna be sent home. i hate that feeling. you will be so incredibly blessed for your decisions you are making now to be so involed with church. seriously. i look up to you and your great examle. ive learned on my mission even in this short time how small i am. (i know ironic seeing as how i am bigger than every single malagasy in this country) but i was reading in mosiah chapter 4 verse 9-11( probable some of my favorite scripture) and it really made life alot clearer for me. that and my patriarticle blessing. charish that and let it guide your life in worthiness. haha. charish this gospel with all your heart. it really is gods plan for us. but it seems like you already know that :P im so incredibly proud to call you my brother and i miss hanging out with you. i wish we would have spent more time together. 

itis a very very poor place here. hard to see all off the beggers and the starving people but it makes them an extremely humble people. but it causes problems to. its so sad. but i will tell you that it is very hard to be hendry(good) on this mission because there are very few missionaries who follow all the rules. nobody can understand you when you speak in english and so you can say whatever you want, it is a very open culture here so nobody really cares what happens. ive seen boobs every day since ive been in country because girls just whip them out to feen there kids and dont cover up. haha that is pretty weird. but you get used to it quick... missionaries here are just a different breed. i think god really did send me here to test me haha. i bet he though hmmmm lets send him to a place where girls tough you and where nobody cares what you do and see how good he is... haha its difficult litter bro. its bad but i can handle that. its hard to stay spiritual on your mission though. as weird as that sounds but its true. satan doesnt leave you alone on your mission. he doesnt say oh hes and apostle of god cant really do anything to him.... he is on your heals every day. him personally not just his miniuns. haha. dont forget that. now that you are so hendry (wich i am so proud of) satan will work incredibly hard on you. i feel like you are an emissary in gods work. you will do great things in your life. but we have to be worriors. its a constent fight with evil. the world is a disgusting vulger place and we are in the generation where there is more corruption in every minute of our life than ever before. we must be in the worl but not of the world. what an incredibly difficult task. during my teenage years i failed big time at that..... i was of the world in mind. now i pay for it everyday. but i know that through having a pure love for christ and god and there plan and gospel i can still do good things and be strong. i just have to fight my past in ways i wish i never had to do. im sorry im getting so heavy on you bro hahaha lately i just write whats on my mind. cause being set apart as a missionary many thoughts on life and past words from prophets come to my mind and i feel they are there to be shared hahaha. i hope ot was all good advice. 

so i work in an area where not many people at all are interested in the gospel. its super difficult. but we have this one super mazoto (dilligent) investigator who is super excited to get baptised and stuff. i finally feel the joy of bringing a soul unto christ. ive i only bring one my two years will be worth it. haha. i do need to strive more to learn the language and stuff. i cant understand a word said to me usually hahah. i can talk about the gospel ok but its super hard. but there is a reason im here and god knows that reason. thats all i need. i pray for you every day. stay strong and dont let the devil getcha down. take care of emily for me. i miss her and worry about her. she is in a difficult time in her life. help her with her fight. thank you so much for your example to me in missionary work

tiako ianao

October 24, 2011 - Email to Lyndi

hey lyndi!! so the french keyboard im using makes it really hard for me to
write so it will
probably be not so good of a letter and i apolagize. but all of the news
you sent me was super exciting. and dont worry about how much you write me..
any letter is a good letter. i completly understand that other people have
lives haha. i am hard at work here anyways. the president asked me to play
robyns song before testimony meeting tonight at island conffrence wich is
really exciting. oh ya its island confrence so like all the missionaries on
the island (about 75) are in tana learning and we did a huge prosaliting
project and such. it was pretty cool.
i wounder what day it was that karmyn poped. you probably told me its just
funny cause a few days ago i randomly thought to myself that karmyn probably
had her baby. that is way exciting though! i vote for ryland hahaha... i still dont know the really name though... still havent read that other email haha. but its all good.
kasper getting an ear infection is no good!!! i bet he is so uncomfortable.
i have been kinda sick these past couple days and it sucks! but hopefully it
doesnt turn into mallaria..... hahaha oh well i promise i will come home
alive. that would be funny if the home number. it would be pretty quiet at
the house for a while haha.

love you dones tena tiako ianao! tell jared to keep workin hard! many
blessings will come i promise.

October 24,2011 -Email to the family

hey family! how are you all!? this has been quite a busy week. i dont actually remember most of it.... haha the days are flying by. and im wat tired and a little sick. tonga soa madagascara haha. means welcome to madascascar. so the exciting funnythings that happened to me this week is that one i fell out of a taxi be and into a gutter of poop....... hahahaha and two i fell into a rice patty. not all the way in but enough. im still alivethoughand super excited to here about madysen!!! nice name choice...... hahahahahaha jk but seriously im super excited for you!
we have been teaching a few people and 4 or 5 of our investigtors came to the giant islang confrence this last weekend wich was super exciting cause our area isnt usually very easy to get tot to that. oh y so its island confrence this weekend. so all the missionaries on island are in tana right now. about è( elders. and some really exciting news is that elder nelson is here on island this weekend! an apostle hasnt been to madagascar since elder scot dedicated it like 15 years ago! so thats pretty awesome!  ummm lets see what else i can tell you. i havent recieved muck mail yet wich is completely understandable. i am half way across the world. lol. but i dod get a short dear elder from mom telling me a little about her reunion. it sounds like a good but tiring time haha. im tellin you its a completely different world over here.... i love it though and i love all of you. sorry this email isnt longer.....

tiako ianareo

October 17, 2011 - Numero Uno

* The spelling throughout this email is a little off. When he puts a "z" it should be a "w" but I'm not going to go through it all and change it, so good luck. -Lyndi

hey hey ehy so first of the key boards are different here and its really throughing me off hahah. lets see what do i tell you first... ummm i am serving in the amboimanarina/amboibao/ankazo be area!! my traiiner is elder wilson and he has only been in country 4 months. he is already way mahay at malagasy but we are still learning alot of things together. our area is one of the hardest baptism wise in the mission right now. we feel like we dont really know what to do but god put us here together for a reason.  life here is like a total 180. its ast and very very very poor. we teach a family that has 6 kids and they all sleep on one bed smaller thn a queen. and there houses are pretty much the size of our downstairs bathroom. its dirty sticky wet everything is uphill and i dont fit anywhere hahaha but i woudnt tradethis for anyhting: i absolutely love it. seriously though when i saay i dont fit anywhere it maen it haha. everythink is made for a 5 foot malagasy. everywhere i go i get looks and i hear geza be vaza! haha which means thats a huge whiite guy! lol but the peole are really amazing.

today was the first day i didnt feel tired all the time. which means im pretty much acustomed to the time which is awesome. i still cant understand a word aid to me but i am trying really hard to just talk to people. it getss easier and easier every day. one problem though is that malagasy girls seem to like big guys. especially big white guys. they go gaga for white guys. i get the thirsty eyes all the time! haha but i aint no thing haha. oh ya! so remember when we were at aunt leslies and mckelle (sorry bout the spelling) talked about elder goff!? well i am living with him. he is a really cool guy. way mahay at malagasy. he will live with me for a month then hes goin home. hes a fun guy. we have lots of fun in the house haha. so ive dropped 2 bap dates so far and they both said yes! way awesome right? they may not go through but at least they accepted haha. oh and the only place you can send mail is to the mission office. thats where packages go and everything. and dear elders work here so feel free to send me those!! haha tell everyone who wants to write me to send me a dear elder. i can^pick them up from the office every week. seriously the key oboqrds here are stupid haha. that is so cool that jordan got his call!!! tell him i sent a ton of congrats. chille will be so awesome. and tell spencer i say cograts as well! i cant wait to here where he is going! seriously missions are the bomb. its a ton of work but im still on an mtc high i guess haha. so how is life at home feel free to tell me everything! i am half way around the world remember. it would take a long time for the grape vine to get here from canada. speaking of canada...... everybody here thinks canada is french speaking..... so the all think that cause im from canada that i should speak freanch... and i dont hahaha.... i barely speak malagasy but i have gotten really good at saying i dont speak french.. they think all white guys speak french till you tell them you dont then they are dumb founded.

so the house i live in is the tolatamaty house which is haunted haha. its a nice enough house but it is definatly weird. oh and i think i already have some flees. its very normaly here though. you get used to them. hahaha. gotta love thise country. oh and if you send me packages zith anything expencive in it you better be very very good at hiding it. lots of problems with theft in the postal service. always send american candy with it or something to through them off. and if its electrongic put it in something metal hahaha. they customs guys have xray machines..this country is crazy but im still alive and doing very well. i am adapting very quickly. i actually kina like it here haha. god new i would. thats why he sent me. oh i figured out why the key boqrd is so silly.. its cquse its french. they do things wierd haha. oh! has karmyn poped yet??? ha i hear that should be pretty soon. so ill tell you a little about my area. its awesome. i still dnt knoz my way around very xell but that will change. we have alot of countryside. like we cross rice paties ands stuff. that is sketchy enough as it is. garunteed i will fall into one sooner or later haha. but it is cool. there are alot of builings every where and a ton more people but the are friendly enough. they loveit zwhen white guys speak malagasy. they will talk to you just because of that. but then probably wont show up to church. and every body and there dog asks you for money wich is really sad. alots of people let us in cause they think we will give tem money. xe tell them xe have soething better but to them nothing is better than money... its tough to deal with. but i love the people enough to get past that and i just want to help them in any way i can, except give them money... haha that wont help anything. they need to learn to work and actually build up there country.

so this past weekend was general confrience so i got to watch it twice. i had to watch one session in malagasy so i just read my scriptrues hahha. next weekend is what we call island confrence. we never have these anymore but elder nelson is coming to the is island so he will talk to us all and that will be really sweet. every missionary on the island will be in tana which is crazy!! haha. so people are very blunt here sometimes wich is really funny cause they will straight up be like you suck at malagasy and you just have to laugh it off cause they dont mean anything by it. they are great people. just miss led. imma do my best to change that. hmmmm lets see what else i can tell you. there are a ton of hills in our area and my feet have some pretty narly blisters hahha but they are starting to calace over wich is awesome! cause then i will be able to cruise! haha:

oh i can tell you about taxi be's and stuff. so there are taxis, taxi be's, and taxi bruises. taxis are really expensive but nice cause you dont have to sit shoulder to shoulder zith 100 other peope haha. taxi be's are like there bus system.... they are really cheap, like 200 ariary. wich is like 6 cents. but i barely fit on one bench and they sit 2 to a bench and zhen it gets really full they put a board across the half a fot lane and expect you to squeeze your butt in there..... its a little squeeze for malagasy's imagine me hahaha. and we take those all the time because our area is a long ways from our house and its to expencive to take a taxi every day and not efficient at all to walk haha. we walk home alot because there is no night life here. people drink during the afternoon cause if you drink at night you are like a witch or something... no joke haha. andit gets dark at like - so ze take flashlights everywhere with us.. one cause most people dont have power so we are the power wich is candels or our flqshlight. most of the time both though and a malagasy will take the flashlight from your hand cause they like to use it lol. they are a funny people. but i can see zhy im here. its a long way from home but god really does knoz everyone of us. how cool is that. hahahaha so they pronounce my name really funny here.... they say there t's like a ch and so its sounds a hech of alot like the B word....... its funny. you gotta love it!

well tiako ianareo batsika you are all in my prayers

Elder Riley Bates

He made it!

hey! so im officially in madagascar. its freakin crazy here but i love it. i cant help but say hi to everyone on the street. sorry i couldnt call you but we are super busy. its probably a good thing though cause you would have been able to smell me through the phone hahahah. seriously 2 and a half days of travel doesnt do anyone good. i love you all soooooooo much. it was great talking to all of you. now its back to work.

Arrival (hopefully)

Alright so I have not received any official word that Elder Bates is safe and sound in Madagascar yet. But I will post this in good faith that everything went as planned.

So in these past couple days Elder Bates hopped on a couple planes. One in Salt Lake City which took him to Chicago, and then another one to London, and then another to Johannesburg, and then a final one to Antananarivo Madagascar, and if everything went smoothly he would have arrived at 2:10pm Mada time which was 5ish (am) our time. So Elder Bates is most likely in Madagascar right now!

While Elder Bates was enroute he was aloud to call family from the airports. Which meant I got to talk to him! It was so good to hear his voice and he sounded so good. He said that the only part that was hard about being out of the MTC was entering a world with a lot of crap right out in the open. For example tons of magazines everywhere with scantily clad women, or girls walking around who don't dress modestly at all. He was very excited to take an air bus from the Chicago to London. He also mentioned that he was a little nervous, I mean just the thought of living in a different country for 2 years without family or really knowing the language that well is pretty nerve racking.

He said once he got into London that he slept on the floor of the airport for a long time (he had about a 9 1/2 hour layover there) and by the time he called me he had been there for about 5 hours already with not much to do, so he was happy to talk about ANYTHING no matter how dumb it was.

He also mentioned that he would really like to know more about what is going on at home, and that it will not make him miss it too much. So if your writing him letters don't be afraid to tell him about the happenings of your friends in fear that it would make him miss it a lot.

Here are his exact flight plans (mostly for his own records):

british airways leave salt lake at 1120am 10th

british airways arive in chicago at 325pm 10th

british airways leave chicago at 805 pm 10th

" " arive in london at 945 am 11th

" " leave london at 710 pm 11th

" " arive in joeburg at 655 am 12th

south african airways leave joeburg at 10 am 12th

" " arive in antananarivo at 210 pm 12th.

these are all local times. so your gunna have to do the math to figure out what time it will be there each time.

-Lyndi