I am still alive!

I am good, I am still alive, even if only barely haha I haven't been sick since last time. That makes Mom happy to hear.  I rolled my ankle about four times in one day though, then while it was all swollen the next day I rolled it again. That hurt so bad; I tried wearing my ankle brace all day but at about six my foot started falling asleep, so that didn't work. So I just watch my step really carefully. I found my blog haha I like the title and the drummer guy with a tie on. We have two investigators getting baptized this Saturday, so excited! Elder McLaughlin is doing them though, so I just get to watch. Still excited!

My most spiritual experience: Well I'm not sure to be honest; I don't understand what anyone says. I will keep you posted though.

Interesting food: Um, nothing too interesting really. Sunday I realized I didn't have anything to eat really but I couldn't run to the episcerie because it was Sunday; SO I had plain pasta with some hot sauce on it, yum.  Ah, missionary spaghetti!!  What a treat.

Wildlife, not really. We saw a giant moth Saturday though. Super cool. Like the size of my calf, giant. I almost peed myself when I saw it, because I saw it about two inches in front of my face. Silly big. Got a picture of it on McLaughlins leg, I will send it next week, this computer is being dumb.

The kids are hilarious, but most of the time they just yell bonjour fahaza! and run. That gets old pretty fast. They are really good at making up games without having anything special though.  Lots of rocks and garbage used in their games.

We have been using Elder Austins soccer ball here, so no need for mine yet, but it's time will come. They just get ruined anyway, grass or turf fields are a joke here, it's all dirt.

Alright, I made a list of things for the package. I think my planned package just doubled.  Good thing holidays are coming. First, batteries. More triple A for the flashlights. I left my alarm clock in the MTC on accident so that would be nice, but if you are worried about it getting here or anything we are using the phone right now. I don't think I told you the story but on the first day I accidentally gave away my Captain America to a lady speaking very very poor english, so if you wanted to send a small one of those I wouldn't mind. A desk calender, like one of those single sheet ones that has the whole year on it, just so I can know the weeks and number dates would be nice. A small calculator for adding up shopping budget would be helpful. As far as mixes and stuff like that goes anything that doesn't require meat would be greatly appreciated. Meat is expensive and frankly not that good here, so we eat a lot of eggs, and I do pasta a lot. So pasta sauce I guess. Candy would be super cool, send pop rocks! The people here have never had them so they think you're a warlock or something.  They freak out.  Awesome. Nerds, sweet tarts, stuff like that. Twix, milky way, don't worry too much about candy but it's not easy to find here. Seasoning salt, Dad's favorite ingredient, would be sweet too. Anything to spice up eggs really, any recipes you know of to make with not too many ingredients would be greatly appreciated. Fruit is very easy to come by too, so fruit smoothie recipes maybe? No strawberries though, they give you brain worms. Drink mix, don't bother. I just drink a lot of water and chocolate milk here, and they sell the stuff for those so don’t waste the space.  And of course mac and cheese if it will fit.

I will certainly try to tell you about my days without questions, but my memory sucks so no promises.

We have an investigator that lives on this crazy walk, I am gonna take a video of it and show you guys next week hopefully. Alright well I should go, I don't think we are staying too much longer and I still have to write Dad. Oops, sorry Dad did get jipped in the email department  Love you!

Oh, and everyone here wears soccer jerseys from their favorite teams. I am going to try to find a Seattle Sounders jersey soon, but I doubt I'll find one. Tell Jay I need one and see if he has any sweet hookups to get me one cheap or something. He will like that I want one haha Trying to find one.  Anyone have an old one to sell cheap?

This is his letter to Wyatt.  Love this stuff!!!  Shared with permission from Wyatt.

Dude, your letters light up my day. I laughed so hard, the Malagasy chick next to me kept looking at me funny but I don't even care because she is paying 200 ariary a minute to look at pictures of herself on Facebook. Anyway, I'm glad you guys are doing well in football! Also, sorry to hear about the homecoming stuff. Girls don't get any less frustrating, in fact they actually get worse with time. Julissa will be a good date though, good family with high standards. Just don't forget to be incredibly good looking, I know it comes pretty easy to us. Gel your hair is what I'm saying. Hopefully you can see my haircut soon, it's dope. By looking at the picture they only know how to do one haircut in Mada.

I'm pretty pumped you are learning to weld, that is way cool and people look for that kind of skill for menial farm laborers. I think that is the only thing that would have got me hired at Irrigators any faster, except being buff like you. Seriously haha

So, question time.
1.  How’s your companion? My companion is pretty cool. The language is still crazy frustrating but I am learning; The people are so hard to understand, it's ridiculous.

2.  Are you playing nice with the other kids? Am I playing nice? Of course not, I play to win. No haha seriously though I get along pretty well with everyone, so that has been nice. It is not easy though, I pray a lot. I never used to pray, I always thought it meant I was weak, asking for help you know? Then Brother Sell in the MTC told us what his dad told him. He said "It's not a sign of weakness to ask for help, but a sign of strength to accept help from those who love you."  As a parent this is the stuff you love to read coming from your kids.

3.  How’s p-day going? Doing anything fun and exciting? P-day, I think today we are just doing email lunch and going to the office then getting home and catching up on some rest. There are not a lot of opportunities to rest during the week, even Sunday. It's go time baby, and we are going. Last week we went to the zoo though, and that was way cool. Or maybe that was two weeks ago, I don't know. All the days start to run together. On Saturday I have been in country for a month. It feels like a day. It goes by so fast. I had a dream the other night that I was done with my mission already, two years had passed; I almost cried, and then I woke up and I was like "I am so glad I am still in Madagascar."

4. Still struggling with the language? Yep. I always tell people "Azafady, fa mbola mianatra teny gasy" which means "sorry, I'm still learning Malagasy."

5. If you could have 1 object with you that you know we can’t actually send you what would it be? I’ll give you a spiritual and a personal  answer. Spiritually, a rock that gave me the gift of tongues without having to try so hard haha and personally, a personal mind reading translator so I could speak the language. Can you guess what I want? haha

 Well bro, I love you man. Stay fresh, and stay strong.