September 17, 2012

hello father

hahah i am glad that you got the cance to speak spanish so much today. i am sure it brought back so many memories from your mission and such. i am sure mitch would have loved to be there as well!

i am possitive sister banting apreciated so much you all going out there and helping her with her proberty and such. i didnt realize she was that old and living there all by herself must be hard. if i were me now back in the day i would have spent more time out ther maybe trying to help her more. but it makes me happy that you guys are out there helping her now. maybe just dont forget to go plow her driveway every once and a while. i did get those last pictures you sent me but the ones from that google plus thing never got to me. and the cart we were sititng in is called a pousse pousse and it is a bycicle one. its is like a trycicle just big boy sized and a seat attached to it. its how we get far places here cause its cheap and quickish. haha. but yes he did look like a deer in the headlights in that picture. lol. i didnt even recognize the one guy on the left helping bishop gibb move that log but theo looks really good! he looks taller haha. and cameron orr looks like he is getting big! i still imagine him as that little 4 year old who learned how to drive a quad.... by using my leg as a stop board hahaha. good memories.

so did i read correctly that you and mom went to cabela's!? do you mean outdoor outfitters or what. cause when i left there was no such cabelas in edmonton........ and if that has somehow changed then if you feel like getting me anything when i get home from my mission look no further... hahaha but seriously is ther a cabela's in edmonton? im sure you and mom will have a good time and that little day camp and feel fullfilled after filling all the little tummies of the 11-13 year old boys.

thats good that your employees are working out so well. makes me feel a little bit better. there are times where i wish i could be here and there so that i could help you and the lord. but its not that way and the lord comes first hahaha. then your second. sorry.

that will be way fun to have colter and karmyn and there family up for a visit. and it was way nice of you to buy those horse tickets for them. payton and karmyn and emily will love that!!!! and hey. if i have time can i come hunting with you kevin and george?? lol just kidding. but you need to make sure to tell me all about it.

me i am doing really well. i have seen so many blessings in the past couple weeks its incredible. in my life and in others. truely the lords hand is in evertyhing. we had a visit from a seventy named carl b cook. he is an incredible man. he gave the talk in confrence about how he was in the elevator and president monson told him "its better to look up" and we got personal instruction from him and i was even lucky enough to get a personal interview with him. it was incredible. very inspiring. i hope one day you and mom can go on a mission together. you should plan for it. it is incredible and truely the most important thing. but back to my life. we just had 2 baptisms on saturday and they went really well. elder ludwig did them both and had already memorized the prayer in malagasy and everyhting. he only had to do both of them once. wich is way good. he is an incredible elder with ver yhard work ethics. in our confrence we talked alot about the natural man and conversion to a saint. read a lot of scriptures and had alot of disscussion. it is the best learning enviornment when it is a disscussion and not just a listen session. malagasies have a hard time understanding that because they are used to just listening to a guy stand at a puplip yellin halalulia!!!! amen!!!! avoreno!!!! hahahahahaha but its fun to see them change. thank you for all your support and prayers. i love you with all my heart and cant wait to get home and work with you! thank you for teaching me to always look to the lord and have faith.

be fitiavana mandrakizay
elder bates






the little boy is wearing a skirt because it hurts to much to wear pants. it is tradition here to circumsise kids at the age of about 8.........












- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

September 10, 2012

hey!

well good for amiee orr! haha i hope the guy is great! so many people getting married! james too huh!? haha when did that happen. i hope he is happy. thats good. so five mexicans at church huh!? that must have been eventfull. and i am sure nice for you to refresh your spanish! and you get to eat dinner with them thats way cool! do thy live out on the tree farm by oldacs or something? i would assume thats where jack payne would but a couple trailers for them. i thing deanna was working ther for him for a while as a cashier or something. haha but thats nice of you guys to give them a nice meal!

and work keeps going... hahahah sounds like a fun time. i hope both of them are hard workers who appriciate a good job. it is really hard to find that these days. but they are both older men so it might be diffrent. even here in madagascar where money is very short men are very lazy and use what litle money they have to buy a little beer. because beer is cheeper than water here. sad right. oh but hey. remember that day i told you i wasnt so sure i wanted to take over your business after i got home? well i have been thinking quite a bit about that and i think i might reconsider. but that isnt important right now. just a thought. and a nother thought i had was about the school situation. again not important and i really dont think aboutit to much but i really do want to go to byu. i dont know if you all are still looking into that for me or not but if you could that would be awesome! maybe to get a degree in business and biolagy. if you could look into that again.   that would be awesome!

ya for school and seminary!! haha i wish i would have paid more attention in seminary and really got full of enlightenment. so you can make sure to tell emily i said that. its worth it. and i am sure you are happy mom is home. she said something about eating at costco everynight?? hahahaa i kinda guessed it.

kensey and her husband are up there huh?? thats fun. that would be way cool to catch a sturgeon out of the northsaskatchewan and see a real live dinasour. hahaha but i am glad she didnt fall in lol. tell them i say hey if they are still up there. that will be way fun to go on the week trip to fox creek with kevin and george and colter. i really enjoyed that trip alot. even though i was with a bunch of old farts hahahahahaha. be sure to buy a bear tag. we could of had one. lol

ok so i will tell you about myself. sorry if my emails havent been up to par lately..... i havent been taking alot of pictures and things just seem the same to me so i dont have alot to write about.... but i am doing really good. we have 2 baptisms for saturday and alot planned for november. i thing 9. wich is great. my companion elder ludwig is from saltlake city and is the prodagy for organ players. he has already finished 2 years at byu and he is incredible with any kind of instrument with white and black keys. and the penny wistle hahahah. he is a great guy great heart. i got in trouble for killing a spider hahahah. so i cant talk about huntin much with him but thats alright. we talk about music instead. this week wasnt to eventfull. i stayed home tuesday with a sick missionary and elder ludwig went out and worked with a boy from our ward. he did awesome. he is already way good at malagasy and it helped with his confidence. then we went through the schedual all week teaching and trying to help people come closer too and really understand christ and god our heavenly father. it has come to my attention in the past couple weeks that desire is something lacking in the lives of many people. and then the second thing lacking is knowlage. in this day and age people dont really have a desire to truely know god. they are content with what they have. to be content is to be lazy i feel. in one definition. and it is really weighing on my mind lately. but i do love the work and i love it when you see people gain that disire and that knowlage. and i will continue to work hard! love you all!

be fitiavana mandrakizay
elder bates

September 3, 2012

already september huh!? crazy. soon it will be christmas time and we will be speaking once again. things really are going by fast. and after that chrismas we will only talk once more and then 3 more months and i will be home! thats pretty weird to think about. it feels like just a few weeks ago i was sweating away in a little brick box in utah...... now i have been here in madagascar for 11 months. its definatly been an experience. hahah. who did aimee orr get married to? thats way cool. didnt nathan orr just graduate this past year as well?? thats way weird. why the heck isnt he working for you!? that guy is solid! haha but he is probably already in school again till his mission huh? 

welcome to the family little elsa jacoba hamon!! haha it brings so much joy to my heart to hear that she has been born and is healthy! i always tell peole here when they havea new born child that it is like having an angel in your home. because they are still so incredibly close to god and our heavenly father. not tainted by the world and all its downfalls. they really do bring such and incredible spirit to them. and so many blessings. i am excited for the time when i can have that same blessing and experience. of bringing something so precious in the eyes of god into this world. and i am excited to meet both elsa and madison when i get home. i hear madison is walking now! thats crazy. 

its good that you are finding some employees. its unfortunate that he smokes. especially for his sake. those things are discusting. i dont understand them whatsoever. you cant justify them. it is in complete ignorance that someone would start smoking. complete lack of care for life and god. alcahol as well. it destroys everything we live for. and everything god gave us to be successfull. and i hope that anybody who reads this would take it with an open mind and not as an attack on them. but as a humble plea to stop. cause i know this go's on my blog. and where the heck is gordan when you need him huh!? hahhaa hes probabmy up in northern saskatchewan loving life and shootin stuff hahaha. 

haha ya the hot days have started back up here. i am sweating like a dog! haha. but hey. ambany lanitra tsy maintsy lena. wich means it must be wet under heaven. haha i am prayin for rain! wich comes in abundence here. its always wet. 

that was way nice of lamberts to invite you all for dinner! are you guys gunna go huntin again up in fox creek. i would love to do that when i get back home. just sayin haha. i would also like to go horse back up at ram falls again for a while. i freakin loved that haha. but i really need to just work or go to school when i get home. haha so i  know that you havent had any male influence in the house for a long time now dad but useually we dont say things like "in your face sista..." hahahhahaah i love you! 

so i am doing very well here in madagascar. i definatly cant complain. i love it all. training is an incredible experience teaching me so very much. my companion elder ludwig is an amazing person. and very good at malagasy.  we are having a great time together and have been very blessed with some very spiritual experiences. there is no better feeling or experience than to see someone so against hearing us change in the amount of one hour to telling us that they believe there is a prophet today and that there is something weighing very heavy on there brain. it is conversion to the the truth through the light of chirst and i have the privalage and blessing of wittnessing it time and time again. there is nothing better on this earth. 

be fitiavana mandrakizay

elder bates 

August 27, 2012

hey!

yes i am now a trainer! and i love it. it is awesome. my new companion is Elder Ludwig from Saltlake City. he is way cool. a world calss organist. super smart. way nice guy. i love it. and he is way good at malagasy already wich is sweet. and the trip is 7 to 9 hours one way depending on the driver and the type of bus you take. though the distance is equivalent to edmonton to okatoks the rodes are so windy that it takes forever. but htats alright. cause imma wanna take some road trips when i get home and i have a feeling that no matter where i go it will be a cake walk. haha. so i guss i will start this email off with tellin you how i am and stuff. switch it up a bit. i am really good. the trip was fun and on the way back there were these 2 adorable twin girls i was playing with and making faces at the whole trip and then at the end of the trip they got really friendly and the one came over and sat right on my lap and started talking to me hahahah. it was pretty cute. they ended up finding out hat we had cameras and so we let them take a bunch of pictures and stuff wich they loved. they wer eabsolutely adorable. and then we got back to tamatave and started working. got some food from people wich i thought was pretty good. my companion however suffered a little hahaha. it was something called ravitoto. wich is just crushed up leaves un some liquid hahaha. i liked it. and he was polite and ate two plates of it so i was very impressed. ever since then we have been hard at work trying to help people the best we can. i move it. oh and in moms email she wrote me this week se talked about sacrifices and how i am making some to be on a mission. then she mentioned the incredible sacrifice that her parents made coming to canada and becoming members of the church. and ever since i started my mission i have not felt that i sacrifice alot but am constantly pondering on my ansestors and how much they have done for me. it is something that has weighed on my mind quite heavely since last year. i love reading church history books and constantly think and speak of moms parents and all they did and went through. and i wish to show my graditude for them and all others who sacrificed there whole lices for us and a better future. it is truly inspiring to me. and has really helped me to strengthen my testimony. currently i am reading a book called the history of joseph smith by his mother. it is incredible. 

sounds like you are all having a great time back at home at three gun shoots and going to the lake and just getting to relax. and it is true dad we really didnt help much at all with preparing the boat and things and the work was usuall on you. sorry. hahaa. but i am glad you can all find time to visit with family and rejoice together. i think what colter did with the coins was hilarious by the way. really made me laugh hard. colter really is a funny guy. especially when he says things like he is your favorite or he is the best liiking. thats areally fuuny thing. haha but i am excited to hear all about the new baby i love you all and thank you for you emails! oh! congradulations to emily for killing it in rugby and getting second! that is freakin awesome! and good luck in school.... deosnt that start soon? haha love ya! 

be fitiavana mandrakizay

elder bates

August 20, 2012

hey!

haha yup. i am pretty old now if i am the longest missionary out in the ward! haha it does jsut seem like yesderday that i was walkin through the mtc for the first time. its weird to think that was over a year ago. and now i have lived here in madagascar for over 10 months. crazy! haha life just keeps a movin on! 

sounds and looks like you guys have been having a good time up in canada the past few days! going to the lake fishing and just relaxin! haha. thanks for sending all those pictures! that was great! and dallin has gottin freakin skinny holy cow! he is skinnier than my! good for him haha. but in the prosess his hair has also gone missing. and i can bug him about it cause mine is starting to go as well..... yup. its getting pretty nifinify up there ... oh well. if he can look so good with out any hair just think about how good i will look. hahahah im just kidding. but seriously emily had never caught a fish before!? thats crazy! good for her for catching such a big one her first time out! hahaha. and it is a good thing you all went and got your fishing liesences before. that would have been a headache and a half if they had roled up and you didnt have one. 

hahah i am sure you are pretty happy that mom and emily got home monday and you get to eat stuff like roast beef and mashed potatos and everything.... i miss walking into the house sundays after church and just smell that roast cooking! dang that was a good smell haha. but now all i can imagine is having that on top of a big plate of rice! lol cause that would be incredible!!! lol and now you arent lonely anymore! so thats another bonus. and its good to here you got someone to work right now. i wasnt to worried. it all works out in the end. we are save by grace....... after all we can do haha. and i know that you do all that you can and more. 

so now for my week. not going to ly everything blurs together. haha this week was good however. my companion elder gunnel has been sick lately so we havent got as much work done as liked but in this country if your sick its best to get better instead of keep going. caue you just get sicker if you keep going. but there was a mormon helping hands project here in tamatave on saturday morning wich was cool. there was a way good turn out and we cleaned up a basketball court and made it all nice and clean.. that was all fun. god to bond with members and stuff. wich is mmuch needed. and we had a baptism of a twenty year old man named oscar. he is way solid. he showed up at church himself and just asked to learn and shared really strong testimony after his baptism. wich is awesome to see. also the rain has started a little. still not very bad but it has rained almost every day this week i think. so we have been getting a little wet. we were walking down a path one day when it was raining really hard so i was using my umbrella when we passed a frail old man about 80 huddled over his bike under a tree trying to keep his bag of rice dry. knowing that the rain wouldnt stop any time soon i stopped and asked the man if he needed help. he first said no but i insisted and said "lets go!!" and he gladly inclined. so i walked holding my umbrella over him will he pushed his bike and held the bag of rice on the frame. he was very greatfull because he lived quite far from where we met him and just as we got to his door the trecherous rain stopped. like someone it the rain switch and turned it off. haha he was extremely greatful and invited us in for some milk. all he could afford to give us. but i politely declined and told him to have a nice day. he was old and lived very far from the church. and we have been counciled not to teach people far from the church especially if they are old haha. but he gave me a big teethless smile and said thankyou and we went on our separate ways. and i am so greatfull for the opportunities i have been givin to serve my fellow men in this life and do as my savior jesus christ has done and still does today. we had another transfer this week and i get to train a brand new elder. i am very excited to train and know that i will learn so much. but it means i have to go to tanna on wednesday and then return to tomatave again on thrusday. its a 7 hour drive of a very windy road....... hahaha oh well i love the work and the lord!! 

be fitiavana mandrakizay

elder bates

**Also Riley would like to Wish Deanna a Happy Birthday this week!

August 13, 2012

hey!! 

how are yall doin!? yup thats right. i will never have another august 13th in this country.... thats really weird to think about..... i am scared for this time next year hahaha. its funny. i was scared and sceptical of a mission a year before i left and now a year before i come home i have the same feelsings. just about home. its interesting how that works. and i am glad you enjoy reading my letters! makes it worth writing them! hahah. and my companion is great. we get along way good. but the other 4 elders in the house have a hard time doing them. sometimes. and its really not a huge deal. i just do them. not a huge deal. 

hahaha i am sure you probably ate steaks and baked potatos every night! but thats fine you dont have to tell me. i will jsut continue my thoughts about you eating burnt grilled cheese and raw chicken.... hahahaha though i could go for a good steak right now.... its weird that theo is getting home already. good for him!  thats way cool! and i am sure his family is way excited! and the family is doing good! thats always great to here. i am sure it was nice to have leslie and brady up for a little bit. i got nannies letter! sounds like the storms up there have been pretty crazy! was it a big tree that fell on grampis truck or just a little one? that sucks that it broke a window. hahahahahahahaah that is way funny what you did to scare emily..... i bet she just about died! i mean, its a little weird that you are hangin out in girls bathrooms and stuff.. but we wont talk about that to much. so i though emily and mom were supposed to go though bc with natellie and stuff to get home. did they get re routed or something?? oh well. at least they are getting home! and i hoe they had a good time down in the usofa! and im sure you will find a new employee just in the nick of time! we just gotta have faith! 

i am doing really good. had a good week. my companion has beein a little under the weather so we havent got to work as much but we still got alot done. and i climped a tree.... thought i should follow in my dads footsteps haha. but i didnt go all the way to the top. dont worry. and i say that cool little tractor trailor think!!!! first something kike tthat i have ever seen here in madagascar!!! its way cool. and we had fun with the kids playing on it and stuff. we have a baptism this week of a 20 year old guy who just showed up to church 4 weeks ago and we started teaching him and he sings in choir and everything and it is all on his own doing. is is so interesting and joyfull to see that. the miricles of god and his blessings in our lifes. i hope and pray that we can all strive and work for those blessing. and that we will find our great reward once again in heaven. thanks for all your love and letters 

be fitiavana mandrakizay

elder bates

August 6, 2012

*This week I am adding some of the letter that was sent to Lyndi (Riley's sister) as well as the one sent to his Dad 


(the title of my email to him was "Barnacles, another funny word for you" ...)


a vc is there little out house like squating thing that they use to poop in. barnacles eat away at the poop and so you can use the vc for longer.... bet you didnt know that!!! hahahahahaha and yes they are very stinky and unsanatary and unenjoyable to use. but i havent missed the hole once..... hahaha

hey lyndi! i hope you liked my little educationary comment there at the beginning!! lol and i actually kinda liked my last area!! haha i was getting some really solid investigators who genuinly loved god and wanted to come closer to him. but this area is good as well! just a little harder to find solid not lazy people who will get married and get baptised..... hahaha but i do love it where ever i am.... can you believe i have been out here for a year now. seriously crazy. there are so many different feeling running through my mind about my year mark its insane!!! haha. i dont know if i like it or not. obviously i do because its all downhill... but at the same time i dont like it... at all hahaha. 

its good that you had the missionaries over for dinner!!!! because i have had a very dry spout since right around may actually and i just got one dinner appointment for tonight! hahaha but its with a really cool family!! the father actually reminds me a ton of colter... they are the same personality type. any he is my favorite investigator right now.... he promised me that he would get baptised before i left!! so i am holding him to it!! lol. and its a dang good thing that the elder did your dishes!!! i would be over there in a second if he didnt! hahah but he seems like a really good guy so that is good. 

yay for friends!!!! haha that is way cool!! it helps to give you something to do! makes the time fly by faster! its crazy how close you are to poping. and its weird as well. you figure out a name yet? hahaha thats funny that kasper steals food from people. he really is nothing like you.... i dont even understand how you 2 are related what soever..... lol. and that putting things on his head and running into thintgs stage might stop pretty soon... hopefully anyways haha. all though i am sure it is funny. 

i hope my next week is fantastic as well! its hard getting to know a whole new group of people! and there are so many here. lots of people who are only half dilligent.... its really frustrating haha. yesterday was a very tiring day.... not only was it fast sunday but we walked to the furthest to parts of our area...... talk about dehydration... my head was pounding!! ha all i wanted to do was go home and sleep... but i kept going! wich was good. i know we will start seeing blessings out of this area we just have to work exctremely hard! which is fine with me. other than that my week was very normal. we had a baptism of 4 women. they are all very simple people..... lol. not much to them. there were two old women of about 70 years of age who are sisters that live together and they are seriously the cutest together. so funny. the one is a little deaf and so the other always just yells at her and they tease each other and stuff. its really funny. then the other two were 2 18 year old girls that the missionary prior to me taught. my companoin baptised them. i really dont know to much about them... lol but they are good people. oh! i saw fireflies for the first time in my life!! they are all over my area at night! i have a blast catching them and playing with them while walking home lol. its fun. when you hyave them in your hand they actually shock you! lol. but other than that a pretty average week. nothing much to talk about unfortunatly. oh we did have a drunk guy come to church. we had invited him earlier in the week and he ended up comeing. still kinda drunk.... hahha and he was kinda comical. but we will teach him and hopefully he will stop drinking! haha. thanks for your letter! i always look forward to it! haha hopefully throughout the next year youwill find the same amounts of time to continue to write!! 

be fitiavana mandrakizay
eldre bates


(below is the letter to Dad/the Family)

haha hey!

so i held a flashlight while they changed the tire! but there is no really helping malagasies when they do things.... they are going to do it there way no matter what... lol so i just sat back and laughed. but no everybody did not have to get off the bus. they all stayed on the bus actually. except the people who had to relive themselfs... lol hey people arent chickens...... thats what you say here if you are on a bus and have to go to the bathroom. because chickens can just go on the roof without making the bus stop. but people arent chickens so when you say that the buss will stope and let you out to go. lol so there are 5 branches here in tomatave and 2 meeting houses. there are 10 missionaries and 2 house that they live in. i am in the house with 3 companionships in it. its pretty good. we get along good. although there is a problem with everybody doing there dishes... hahaha but i just do them and dont complain. its not a huge deal. sipping a coconut on the beach was pretty dang nice hahaha. relaxing. the ocean is a crazing thing to think about. it blows my mind!

so you have a week all by yourself in the house huh!? that must be weird... i bet your gunna be eating a whole lot of grilled cheese sadwiches. hahaha and of couse some delicious food from nani. woo hoo for emty houses! right? haha. thats way cool that brady and leslie are up there for a couple days visiting though! its probably nice for you for a couple of days and for nani and grampi. then he probably starts school pretty soon huh? thatll be fun for him. i cant wait to go out to grampis house and shoot some guns again. its getting close to septemper and my finger is really starting to twitch hard!!!!! hahaha. its just in my blood! you can take the boy outta the country but you cant take the country outta the boy.


haha lyndi is about to po (pretty sure he meant pop...) huh!? thats pretty crazy!! thatll be way awesome to have yet another member of this family. seriously. we gunna be huge!!!

so my week was pretty good! nothing to special to write about. i am still trying to get to know the area and the investigators and such but it is going pretty good. we jsut had a baptism of four women. they are all very simple people. nothing much. but they love the gospel. and that is all you need. the small and simple things are great things come to pass. we also have about 4 or 5 more people to be baptised in the 1st of september. then a few more after that. so the work is moving along! haha. i am loving it. it is very incredible to think that i have already been out a year. and done so many things. it has gone by so unbeliveably quickly. filled with emotion and learning. i swear that is all i do lately. is just learn new things all the time. i learn the language i learn from my companions i learn from the people i learn from the culture. i learn from my god. who has blessed my and has opened up my mind to how life is and what it should be and how we need to be in order to succeed. and i have learned what true success is. it has nothing to do with money or work or apperennce. it has everything to do with service and love and kindness. it is about following in christs footprints no matter what the cost. and giving up everything for your lord. wich is so unbelievably hard to do. but if it was easy there would be no satisfaction in the celestial kingdom. no sense of acomplishment. but i will be able to look back and say i was once on earth, and i overcame it all. there will always be another trial. another hardship. what will we do with it. we can not give up or turn away. and we must bring others with us. it is not enough to bring only ourselfs to the kingdom of god. that is why it is a priesthood duty to serve a mission. not a priesthood option. not something to do if you got a free schedual. but it is the least we can do in the service of our god. and after this we will be called to do more. it is never ending. and neither are the blessings. i look forward to my next year of serive and hope that i can be the instruments in the hands of the lord to bring some soul unto repentance. and that is my joy as it was the prophet almas. i love you all with all of my heart and have missed you this past year. but sooner than later we will see eachother again and glory in our accomplishments. please dont get lost on the way.

be fitiavana mandrakizay
elder bates