What a week. I'll start out with the biggest news first and that is that Elder Horn is going to Tamatave. Woo!!! I am so happy for him! He will be in a super cool area and he'll get to baptize in the ocean. I'd love to be there someday, but right now I love my area so much that the thought of leaving it makes me sad. My new companion is named Elder Echler. He is six months older than I am and probably one of the best at the Malagasy language for his age. I will learn tons from him and I am so excited. He has had mostly Malagasy companions his whole mission so he has had tons of experience. I'll take lots of pictures soon for you.
The work went pretty slow this week because of scheduling mishaps, a random zone conference that no one knew about, and Horn being pretty sick for two days. All in all, we got a lot of work ahead of us this week to make it up. So goes the life of a missionary in Madagascar. The baptisms that we were suppossed to have this Saturday got shot in the leg for now. Because of General Conference showing this weekend, we've had to reschedule them for the next weekend. Ahh! So frustrating. I just wanna see these families baptized and receive the greatest gift you can possibly receive! Luckily, and I really do feel lucky, I am here in Ivato for at least another month so I will get to see them enter the water. What an amazing blessing this will be in their lives. Eric, one of the men getting baptized, is refered to as Missionary Eric in his neighborhood because he is so knowledgable about the gospel and so ready to teach. When we teach one of his friends - and we do this a lot - we explain a principle, they don't really get it, and then Eric explains. He's so good that the investigators instantly understand the principle of the gospel we are teaching. This is one of the main benefits to teaching with a member.
Right now I am reading in Mark as well as the book "Jesus the Christ". I got to thinking one day that everything I knew about Christ and deep-doctrine stuff came from people who had read Jesus the Christ. I absolutely love it! No real surprises, it's just been cool is to see my own ideas - which I formed before I read the book - proven with the scriptures. There are so many places in the Holy Bible that totally prove our church 100% correct. Again, as you might imagine, I get to thinking about how people have come to such a distortion from the original truth. I mean, BoM and prophets or not, if you really study the Bible and pray about the true meanings therein, you would never think that conventional or contemporary Christianity is in the right. It has been a blast to reacquaint myself with the old stories about Jesus. They never disappeared from my mind, but like the BoM, it is always good to go back to.
And now to the Mom Questions of the week:
1. I wash my clothes in the washing machine in our house. We have no dryer so I hang all my clothes up to dry. They usually get all hard and crusty because of the lack of a dryer. No big deal.
2. When you put money in my account, I have to take it out as soon as I can. I pay for things that are super needed and then divide the rest into my weekly alotments. The ATM is really hard to get to in my area and is usually broken. So, if it is available, I take everything out at once because it is much easier that way. Convenience conquers!
I miss you guys. Once you go on your mission, that is really something that shines through, how much fun it was to hang out with my family. I love you Mom and I love you Paps and I love you Family. I find myself talking more and more about my memories of us camping. I love you and miss you so much. In closing: Mad Ant is the best mission in the world, the Church is true, and adventure and experiencing God's creations the way they were meant to be experienced is the best way to live life.
Love,
Elder Cryer
The Curly-Headed Wanderer
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