Hoo-raa

First in email, I suppose I'll tell you about my new companion, area and general surroundings. My new companion is named Elder Nash and he is from Newcastle, California. We like pretty much the same things and he is pretty chill and awesome so we make a good match. I wonder if we'll be riding out the next 8 months in Akorandrano with Elder Nash. O ya, and he's about a million times better at Malagasy than me when I had been in country for a month.

My new area is called Akorandrano and it is right in the middle of the smelly, amazing, weird, noisy, fascinating city of Antananarivo. For the entire portion of my mission that I have spent in Tana, I have spent the majority of my p-days in this area, which is kind of equilibrium-shifting. I love this area. There are some of the richest people in Madagascar here and some of the poorest. The ward here is called Tana 1st and it is the original unit organized in the country in 1992. The ward is stable, all the major callings are filled, everything runs smoothly and the members help us a lot with missionary work.

My house is awful. I am not even joking. We rent out the second floor of an apt. and we deal constsantly with ruckus all around us. The excellent news is that this house will soon be closed to any and all missionaries. One of the wonderful features of this area is the amount of tracting we do to fill up the schedule. I have learned that amazing things can happen when we tract. We've had some pretty interesting experiences, sometimes crazy, but sometimes people that are so ready to receive the gospel.

One of our most interesting experiences here came when we went to a return appt. with what we thought was an interested man. Approaching the door, I called in my usual-I-am-here-let-me-in voice, "Ody O!" Nothing happened at first, no one came to the door. Both doors were open so we knew that someone was there. After calling "Ody O!" a second time, I notice a rustling behind these curtains covering the door of what I assumed was the kitchen. Pulling the curtain back to see what was going on, I saw a sight I will never forget. The man was in the process of climbing under the kitchen table to hide from us. I closed the curtain, told Elder Nash and we had a good laugh. The man also laughed and said he was praying AND cleaning the underside of the kitchen table at the same time. Who doesn't pray while cleaning? You'd be a fool not to.

I am short on time at the moment, so the next story will have to be greatly condensed. A lady approached us on the street and asked us to come to her house and pray for her injured husband. Of course we went right away and gave the man a blessing of healing and together a lesson about faith and priesthood power. They are taking the lessons now and they are experiencing a miracle of the Savior in their hearts.

I love you guys so much and pray for you constantly. The Church is true! Hoo-raa

Elder Cryer