Finale: Take Care Of Yourself

Thank you so much to everyone who wrote me this week. Im not going to respond well right now to you all because id rather do it in person in a little bit.

Thank you so much to my parents, who sent on this mission have done eveything for me my whole life and are my role models in everything I do.

Thank you so much to my Grandmother who never failed to write me or take time to involve herself in my life, and to all my extended family who supported and prayed for me as well.

Thank you so much to my great friends, especially Jeff, Jeremiah, and Reed who have unfailing been everything a friend should be and more no matter how physically distant we've become.

Thank you so much to Elders Cyusa, Heiden, Horspool, Ahlstrom, Garcia, Te'e, Johnson, Liao, Wilmot, Band, Walker, and Reynolds, each and every one of my perfect companions who each became a bizarre replacement of friends, family, and girlfriends, a man-wife who literally never left my side (they werent allowed). Im severely indebted to all of you for your care and for whatever personal development Ive had over the past two years.

In addition to that, every great missionary Ive ever lived with, perhaps too long of list to write. Each of you were a brother to me.

Thank you so much to Presidents and Sisters Foote and Adams, who were my parents. I can distinctly remember meeting each of you and feeling impressed that I was standing in the presence of someone who was truly great, like shaking hands with Lincoln or Einstein. 

Thank you so much to God and Jesus Christ for literally every thing.

Ive never been good at bearing my testimony or talking about spiritual things when writing you guys, but I think I must get over that now. Henry B Eyering taught me i should fear God more than i fear being trite. I want everyone who reads this to know that I know its all true. God. Jesus Christ. His Atonement. Joseph Smith, and all the prophets after him all the way down to Thomas S Monson. Ive felt it, seen it, said it far too many times to count. I know it more than I know anything else. I want it to infect and permeate through every part of my  life until God stops me from being me and makes me into something better. Im still working on it. But i know fully that it can happen and will happen, through Jesus Christ and His church. It can happen for you. Im sure it already is happening for you. YOu already know it, probably better than I. But Id like to remind you. 

I love you all so very much. I thank God for you every day.

And I thank you for reading.

On A Siggler From The Conductor

Seriously it must be an in joke in the first presidency to never say signal right. 

Uhhhhhh I have very little to say sorry. Im loving and a ppreciating my mission more every day. Im both sad and ready to go home. I loved General Conference, even though it was less bombastic than last time. It taught me a lot. It made repent. Therefore, its of infinite value to me.

MAN signing up for classes is scary. 

Were going on a lot of splits recently, and im loving it. Pictured is split with Elder Nortje, my afrikaans man crush from south africa and my split with elder monsen, the only person ive ever met who knows lore from the legend of zelda better than i do. He an interesting Cristoph Waltz looking mix of Crossfitter, Wrestler, and mega nerd. He told me all of Dragon Ball Z over the course of just one lunch sitting somehow.

theres a picture of lot 923b because as monsen and i turned a corner and simultaneously saw it i expressed "thats a pretty nice door!" and he simultaneously exclaimed "it looks like its from a horror movie" .

"Milk Sheck" and "T Shirtererie" are among my favorite french/english abominations seen in madagascar.

Modia Vadiko Fa Izaho Ngoma is hilarious because it translates to "get back home spouse, for i am horny". great picture with it.

Do you see how high that one kids kite is?????

The aforementioned Tony and Gina, investigators extraordinaire. This is the couple that had a dream and has never stopped coming to church since.

  

And this is Clovis Sely, Claudia, Dolin, Jacqueline, and Haritina, from last week. They came to conference and i love them with my whole heart. They eat every lesson up and talking to them casually or about the gospel is among the purest joys ive experienced.

to wrap it up with the video

Elder Soper is an exceptional song writer, able to create tunes on the spot. Pretty impressive. He created a theme song for another missionary in our district, named, no joke, Jean Paul Javier Parraga. We performed it impromptu at District Meeting.

The lyrics:

Oh Parraga   

Oh Parraga   

Parraga, Parraga   

Parraga, Parraga   

Oh Parraga   

Oh Parraga   

Parraga, Parraga   

Parraga, Parraga  

Oh Parraga   

Oh Parraga 

Oh Parraga   

Oh Parraga   

Parraga, Parraga   

Parraga, Parraga   

Oh Parraga   

Oh Parraga   

Parraga, Parraga   

Parraga, Parraga  

Parraga

Parraga

Parraga

Oh Parraga   

Oh Parraga   

Parraga, Parraga   

Parraga, Parraga   

Oh Parraga   

Oh Parraga   

Parraga, Parraga   

Parraga, Parraga  

See you next week! For the last time...

I Really Identify With Judges 11:37

The work remains amazing and madagascar still alternates between hilarious and infuriating. I think the charm may wear off in about 3 weeks, which seems about right.

The aesthetic remains larges the same, with the important discover of this masterpeice painted on the side of a school in our area

whenever i see it, i whisper "I caught ya peekin', laddy"  

A photo essay of me getting my face painted in "the most vezo style you can do"

We went Foulepointe on p day, which is why theres all these beachy pics again

a $100 camera sticking out of a $2 house

okay thats enough entertaining pictures time to talk about the people im teaching

A personal favorite right now is Clovis Sely and Jacqueline, not pictured above. We were tracting one day, starting talking with this friendly woman, and we hit off great casue shes from tulear and yall remember how i was there and whatnot. We had a great chat with her and her fam, i could see her husband and i thought we were in for a baller first lesson for sure. But then she revealed to me that the man was not actually her husband, he had just left for tulear the day before to attend a relatives funeral. (read: no man in the house read: THWARTED) i was very dissapointed and gave em the usual spiel about where church and "come on over if theres time on sunday". Surprisingly enough, their two daughters came and so we invited them to start attending our bap class, a place for all of our young men and women to learn the gospel on fridays who dont have grown men with them. They turned out to be super dilligent, until one week they didnt come and so we stopped by their house to find, lo and behold, they hadnt attended because they were out buying medecine for their dad for their dad who had just come back from tulear! he was, of course, very sick, as all thing that have just lived in tulear are. What proceeded after that was probably the single best 1st lesson ive ever had with their dad and mom and all them together. Clovis Sely straight up said stuff like ''Oh i get it, joseph smith continued the work of the apostles. But what about the time in between Jospeh Smith and the apostles? Oh no one had the authority. I gues that means all the other churhces are false. Wow i have like a big responsibility in the Catholic church, but i can see that church isnt true. I really need to switch over to this one.'' I cant really express how great it was.

Were also teaching Ernest and Olga, a lovely couple thats still a little new. Ernest works at a factory that makes plastic things and the factory excess he takes and molds into sculptures, Tim Burton's Willy Wonka style. 

All the old stalwarts are doing great as well.      

Here weve got Ndrina and Lucie, so quiet and intellectual, and finally coming out of their shell with the ward. their papers are soon to be finished, which means baptism is fast approaching. Ill probably juuuust miss it. Ndrina is a paradox, and extremely organized and mechanically inclined malagasy. He probably would have been an engineer in another life, though he still kind of is, as he the head of a team of house builders. Dont think the american version, think a bunch of guys covered in dust breaking rocks and using mud as mortar.

And the perfect, insanely talkative Frederick and Eleanor, still moving forward towards marriage and baptism, making real progress. Their house is a black hole that it is impossible to leave in under and hour and a half. Some times it takes 30 minutes just to cut through all the talk and stories and get an opening prayer out. Their smallest child, Leon, is the most angelic boy ive ever met. One day they sent him off to primary and finding there was no teaching and bunch of kids making a mess, he carefully organized the room, sat down, and waited with his arms crossed. His usually cleaning in some way when we come over. 

I should mention their duck and geese that the kids are holding, named "Qui Qui" which beeing transladed means "Quack Quack" and "vavan'la pelle" which being translated means "Shovel-mouth". Classic Eleanor quote "be careful just in case he sh*ts on the table" followed promptly by shovel mouth pooping on the table.

I guess that it for today folks.