Akoriabe!

That's how they say hello here in Tamatave, where I am currently at. Pretty crazy. Here's my story.
The flights were terrible, I think the meds I was taking made me nauseous because I was sick to my stomach the whole time I was in the air. I met a malagasy elder in the Jo-berg airport who was going home. He lives in my area haha and is way good at english. I finally made it to Mada, got all my luggage, and went through the doors. President Adams was there with Sister Adams and the APs, welcomed me to Mada. We went back to the office, I bought some mofo balls at the store by the office. I had my interview with President Adams, pretty short talk. He told me I would be going to Tamatave and I will be in a trio with the zone leaders here, Elder Ludwig (from my MTC group) and Elder Payne (not related to the Paynes in Moses). In another week from today when transfers happen I will go to Morarano with a Malagasy elder I cannot remember the name of. So that should be fun. I uploaded a race tour of our house for you guys, kept it short so I could be sure it would go. Then the bus ride down here. Seven hours in a cramped bus going too fast on a windy road. I got super motion sick and spent most of the ride throwing up. Fun stuff, but it made me really grateful once I got here.

So now I am here. It is so hot here. It has got to be 300% humidity. An hour after I leave the house I feel like I am drenched. It is nasty. They speak a dialect here called Betsimasaraka. It is so cool sounding. It is super deep and the words for everything sound way more tribal and sweet sounding than regular malagasy.

We got up super crazy early this morning to go watch the sunrise on the beach for Elder Ludwig's last P-day. Posted pictures. Now we are going around doing whatever. Stuff here is way more expensive than Tana, which is more expensive than Antsirabe. So in general I went from the cheapest place to the second most expensive place. A little rough but the allotment is more than enough. So I am good. Everything I packed made it and the brown sugar won me major points with the senior couples and especially Sister Cloward and Sister Adams. So good call there. I don't have a place in our house yet, so I am living out of my suitcases and sleeping on a mattress on the floor. It's like camping. Except you turn the air conditioning on at night.

This place is amazing, the food is pretty much as good as I remember it being. We had talapia in coconut sauce for dinner the other night. Not even a special occasion, the branch made a bunch for an activity and we got to eat until we were full. They love the missionaries here so much. Also the little bananas are everywhere here, and they are so good. I do miss you guys all but not too much.

Anyway, I love you a ton. I am getting way tan here already.

Love,

Elder Galbreath (cue music "and I got back, from outer space"

Week 2

My area is pretty awesome, the investigators are solid. My new area I know nothing about except that it is a coastal area so the ocean is in my area. Pretty sweet. Also I will be on a bike, so stay tuned for the wreckage stories. Sand is everywhere here. Everywhere. It gets in everything. Also it is expensive here. And because it is not a farm town (at all, I haven't seen a single rice field) the people who are here are more educated so everyone uses a lot of french when they talk. It's pretty annoying but even their malagasy is different so I am getting used to that. My companion is going to be Elder Razakamandimby, he is a pretty cool guy and I am his mom so that will be fun.

I did not get to see my group before they left because I ended up down here in Tamatave. It's ok though, Elder Ludwig was one of my comps so I said goodbye to him and I called Elder Austin. He said he is coming to my homecoming, with a beard. So hopefully that goes well haha but a couple people have talked to me about being back. They are all really happy for me. It's weird though because I tell them what is weird about being home again. The locks. The locks get me every time. Good stuff.

Stories. Let's see. Right after I finished emailing you guys it started raining, and didn't stop for more than a few hours at a time until yesterday. So that was fun.

At our lesson last Monday night we spent most of the time talking about prayer, and focusing on praying to Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ. Then after the prayer I heard someone say something about a name, and everyone looked at me. I thought "they must have asked about the end of the prayer" so I said "yeah, Jesus Christ". As it turns out they asked what my name is. So we got a good laugh out of that.

I tried cutting my hair. It didn't go so well so I did what I could to save it. I'll try again when it grows out a little.

We took balloons to a couple members with little kids so they could play with them and it was awesome. They were so happy.

I am in the same house still, my companion is Elder Razakamandimby. He is pretty cool, from Tana. That's pretty much all I know, we will be working together tomorrow

 though. The language is coming back fairly quickly, I still get stuck sometimes when I can't remember a word. It's cool though, I am just super tired all the time. It's hot and humid and then you go in the houses and there is no breeze and then I am just tired on top of that and it is a struggle to stay awake. Pretty intense. My ear is fine. The people are very interesting but largely the same as inland people. One culture and all that. They have a sweet accent though, it is way deep and tribal sounding. Also they use a lot of french so that is kind of annoying. I pick up the point of what they are saying though. The food is pretty much the same here though, except the rice is always dry for some reason. I don't know. Not as much seafood as I would expect though. It's weird. There are 5 branches here in Tamatave. About 100 people attending in each.

So did your luggage arrive?

Yes

Was everything in it?

Yes
Who was the first person you saw?

President Adams and Elder Jensen
Where are you going?

Tamatave! right by the ocean.

Who is your companion?

Elder Ludwig and Elder Payne
What area are you in?

I am in Ambolamadinka for now, and I will go to Morarano when transfers come.
What did you do when you got there?

Missionary work mostly, bought a coke. Didn't have a lot of down time really.
Did your brown sugar make it?  Did everything you packed make it?

Yes and yes. I scored major points with the office couples on the brown sugar too.
What is your best tracing story this week?

None. We didn't really go tracting. Sorry

P.s. I found your camera charger.  I will send it to you.

Don't, I brought my camera charger with me so I don't know what you found but it's not that.

Other than that not too much interesting

Oh yeah the title is how they say dog in Betsimasaraka, which is the dialect here. (Amboa) It is way sweet and I am pumped to learn it but in the meantime they understand me when I remember all the words I want to say. Malagasy is coming back pretty quick but the ability to form coherent sentences is lagging behind a little. And I am crazy tired all the time so that doesn't help. I'll catch up one of these days.

Alright Mom, don't party too hard over there. Love you lots.

Elder Galbreath (I told you I'd be back)