Ambohimanarina, Madagascar Week 6

January 26, 2014 - Tropical cyclone hits, flooding and cockroaches. Prayers needed for investigators to come to church.

This week wasn't bad. We got a referral from a recent convert and he is looking strong as of now. He already has a baptism date, his name is M---. I personally think that tracting is sort of a waste of time, you waste hours knocking on doors, and most people won't let you in. If they do let you in though, they usually aren't the strongest investigators, most of the scrubs won't even come to church once.

There is this one family that kind of gets old, in fact, every day they all age a little. But yeah. We come like twice a week and give our longest lessons (because they ask loads of questions), and they still won't show up to church. We ask them why they won't come to church and they will say that the things they are learning still don't help them. What they don't understand is that in order for them to help you have to actually come to church. Last week our DMB (ward mission training leader) helped us a lot so we had a lot of Member Present Lessons. The mother of the family is name C---, the husband is T---, and their children are named D---, and other Ina names. But C--- always asks loads of questions so last week we taught a 3 hour lesson with the DMB. I felt bad for the poor sap, he had to answer loads of questions loads of times. C--- would keep on asking, "What is baptisms for the dead?". She legit like asked the question 4 times, and Tojo (The DMB) would keep on answering. We told her to come to church, she promised she would, and to me and my companion's utter amazement, she didn't show up. But yeah, I really like Tojo, he is a pretty cool guy. He is also really good at English, and really funny too. It seems like the only Malagasies who speak English are members of the church (probably because a lot of them have gone on missions and learned English there).

It seems like all of our progressing investigators right now are all under 15. We have M--- (a recent convert's friend who just committed to baptism) who is 12. We have J--- (a less active turned active family friend). And we have L--- (I don't think that is his real name because it means tall head, and the zone leaders were talking with Tojo about how he has a longish head, and then when we asked what his name was Tojo said it was L---) who is 9 years old and not a member. The best investigators are the ones that have relationships with other members of the church.

Last week part of Madagascar got hit by a cyclone or something (that is what the rumor on the street was at least). It rained non-stop for like 2 days in Tana. We have a sodding awful roof, so our house flooded like mad. There was almost an inch of water in some areas of our house. The funny thing is that it flooded right after we cleaned our extremely dirty house (we cleaned it as fast as we could because we heard that a missionary couple was coming to check the place to make sure it was tidy and clean). We did pretty good for the hour and a half we had. The couple only had a few complaints about the cleanliness. If they would've not called us and just shown up we would've all been murdered on the spot, our house was a bloody mess. It was so bad that we had like 5 dead cockroach bodies just in the bathroom alone that had been there for ages. We most likely would've all been sent home because of how messy it was. But yeah, the next day it rained and rained and rained, and our house got nasty again. When Elder Schroedter and I entered the house Elder Tangarasi was using a bucket to try and remove some of the water from one of the rooms. Elder Hein then said this (in his favorite English Soccer Commentator voice), "The island man is trying his best to stop the house from flooding, but I believe his efforts are in vain. The water is coming in faster than he can dump it out". We are thinking that we are probably going to move out soon, so that will be nice. I really don't like our house right now, it is too messy and has lots of broken parts.

Saturday Elder Schroedter and I ate at what we call "The Sinoa Place" (Sinoa means Chinese) because it is owned and operated by a Sinoa. While we were there we met two big white dudes from Australia. We have seen them a few times before. They were talking and said that "After you get to know Mormons and meet them, they really aren't that different from the rest of us". They were drunken out of their minds. They asked us what drink we ordered, and then we asked what they had. One responded and said, "water" (which was honest, he had like a sugar problem or something), the other then jokingly said, "I've got water but it seems that it has some bubbles in it, I'm not sure what they are though" (He was drinking beer). We then all laughed. They were loud throughout the entire dinner, it got annoying at times. One time I overheard the two sharing a joke with each other. One said to the other, (read with your most thick Aussie accent) "Do you know what Holy Smoke is? Its the steam that comes from the Pope's piss". I thought that was funny. Most of the time whenever I see other white people here they are usually older, larger, and drinkers.

Well folks, I am out of time. That is all for today. I'll be here all week (for 21 months in fact).

Elder Anderson

Mom notes:

We heard about the cyclone through the news last week. This is the report from yahoo news. 

Antananarivo (AFP) - A tropical storm which battered Madagascar at the weekend left 46 people dead, according to a final toll published by the authorities on Wednesday.

More than 120,000 people were left homeless or otherwise affected by the storm known as Chedza which lashed the Indian Ocean island with heavy rains for days, according to the national disaster management office.

Benjamin forgot his camera cord but we found some pics from Elder Hein who lives in Benjamin's apartment! 

This is a pic of Ambohimanarina. Some areas are 4 feet deep. Notice the main road in the middle of the pic is a river.

Another view of the Flooding.

A pic of Elder Hein showing the water they trudge through. He commented that it is cold except when they walk near overflown bathrooms!

Ambohimanarina, Madagascar Week 5

January 19, 2015 - The hills are alive with the sound of music and walking like a Gangster.

Well I do not have a lot of time so I will be brief. This week was pretty good I think. During lessons there are rarely times when I am completely lost. The hardest part is trying to not sound stupid when I try to speak my thoughts in Malagasy. There still are lots of words that I have not yet learned. A few days ago while I was teaching a lesson about Baptism and the Priesthood Authority I made a mistake without realizing it at first. I was on the part about the Baptism and I said, "Iza no nanao batisa i Jesoa Kristy?" - that part is good. They responded, "Jean mpanao Batisa", and then I clarified and said, "Eny, nanao batisa i Jesoa Kristy John the Baptist". The important part in understanding the story is that midst the Malagasy sentence I used the English Name "John the Baptist" which they won't understand (I did say it with a pretty good Malagasy accent though). My trainer then corrected me and I laughed after realizing my mistake. So ya, it was funny for me.

Something that was sort of strange during the week is that while Elder Schroedter and I were relaxing for a few minutes on a hill some random dude comes up on top and starts breaking out into song. It was really strange. It sort of sounded like gospel and opera music mixed together. He just looked over part of the city and sang his soul out to no one in particular. The only ones who were really in listening distance at the time were the two of us. 10 bucks says he was drunk.

Every Saturday here from 10 AM to Noon the six of us (missionaries in our house) teach English to all of the Malagasies who wish to learn. Lately they have turned more into lessons on politics and business and stuff, sometimes I even learn a thing or two. So anyways, when it was Elder Tangarasi's (my black MTC companion from Vanuato) turn to speak he started lecturing about current "problems that spoil the lives of the young people". So he started talking about the basic things like drugs, alcohol, Rongony, and teenage pregnancies. Something about Elder Tangarasi is that whenever he teaches English class he will always do giant motions to help clarify his words. The funniest part for me was when he started to talk about fashion and how that affects lifestyle. He gave an example of before he was baptized and said he was a good kid and wasn't a gangster, he then said that his friend gave him a hat (the caps that modern gangsters wear) and after he put on the hat his mannerisms changed and he started to walk like a gangster. He then demonstrated and took low thugish swopping stepps with his hands behind his back. He then compared the two types of walking: normal, and gangster. I don't know, to me it was really funny, but you probably had to be there. When he was finished talking about the negative influences on the youth's lives, Elder Hein (our zone leader) took the stage. He began talking about business and how easy it would be to make money and be successful in Madagascar. He gave an example of how in Madagascar people will all have the exact same inventory in their road shacks (called episteries) and the shacks will be right next to each other and the items will all be the same price, there is no incentive to go to one episterie over another (when it comes to Business, don't ask a Malagasy for advice). He said that all someone would have to do is to just have a different item than the rest, or cheaper prices and then they would make more money than the rest. He then ranted about the small roads and the horrible bus system in Antananarivo. Elder Hein dreams of starting a business here and becoming rich.

Thats all for now folks, hopefully I will upload some pictures next week. Have a decent week,

Elder Anderson

Whenever I walk by the chickens they all turn their heads and watch me, while clucking harshly, I imagine they are attempting to formulate the phrase everyone is saying (bonjour fahaza).

Ambohimanarina, Madagascar Week 4

January 12, 2015  - A friendly (drunken) man, young teen masters of the rock polishing trade and a crazy lady!

This week was pretty good. I did get diarrhea again a few days ago, and I still have it right now. It probably wasn't a good idea to drink the soup broth at a local roadside shack, it probably wasn't filtered water (I can guarantee it wasn't filtered, none of the water here is).

I feel as though I have gotten a lot better at the language this last week. My comprehension of the language has gotten pretty decent. I still have a hard time responding to some things though, as the amount of words sitting ready at my disposal is limited.

Today my letter will be shorter than usual, it is very difficult typing on a French keyboard, when I have the American layout memorized. My wpm right now is at like 10 instead of the usual 120, it is very frustrating. The only thing that keeps me typing is this scripture, Revelation 3:21 "To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne". I must overcome the significant trial of French keyboards. On most computers you can switch to the American layout, but not on this one, very sad.

A few days ago Elder Schroedter and I went through a part of our area that I had not yet been through. In order to do so we had to go down a very long and steep downhill path (travelling back upwards wasn't near as fun). As we were going down we noticed an older lady whom we had seen before previously in a different part of town, we said Manahoana and decided to continue downwards. We then continued downwards and met a friendly and drunken man (those two adjectives are synonymous here in Madagascar, the promised land). He was excited to see two white dudes and firmly led us to his house (a wooden shack, smaller than my good old bathroom at home (which I do dearly miss, mind). As the seven of us sat on top of each other, the friendly (drunk) man gave us a heart-warming introduction: "I smoke weed, I drink alcohol, and I do things with girls that aren't appropriate (this is the PG translation of course), but I still love the Bible and believe it is true". After some more small-talk, we moved on to holy things. We gave a brief introduction to the Restoration of the Gospel and asked the chap if we could return, he said that he would be more than happy if we did. We then asked if he would come to church on Sunday, and to our uttermost surprise (not) he said he would! SPOILER ALERT: he didn't come. But yeah, I am still really interested to meet this man again (hopefully a little more sober the next time).

Immediately following that we met some 20 year olds polishing rocks (a very successful trade in 3rd world countries I hear, who needs meals when you can buy fancy looking rocks?) and they said that we could teach them later. When we returned a wild pack of young girls followed and listened to the outdoor lesson. They all said they wanted to learn and that they were around 18 years of age (from their size and looks I would've guessed 13 or 14 max). They most likely just wanted to flirt with white boys, and hope to eventually go to America with them. But yeah, they all promised to go to church on Sunday as well, but lo, Sunday arrived and not a single one of them was there, nothing that I didn't expect.

After meeting with the friendly (drunken) man and the masters of the trade, we decided to call it a day and head back home. But alas! On the way home we met the older lady who we had seen 3 times now again. She insisted that we entered her home (cardboard box) and help her, so naturally (reluctantly, she seemed crazy) we did enter. After we began with a prayer she began ranting about how she needed help and that she was in trouble with the police and that her husband was gone until late every day. The next 10 minutes transpired as follows: CRAZY LADY: I need help! SCARED MISSIONARIES: You should pray to God and he will help you. CRAZY LADY: I need help! Help me! SCARED MISSIONARIES: The only advice we have is to pray to God for help. And it continued, with little to no other words added to the mix. We have since seen that exact lady 3 times more, I believe that we are cursed. Now we try to keep our distance whenever we see her, she could have commited murder for all I know. She isn't interested in the Gospel, she only wants the protection from the government methinks.

Well that is it for today. We weren't able to meet with T--- my good ol' monkey friend this week, we called and he said that there was a death in his family. We returned to his house at a later date and noticed that there was a lock on the gate. He probably just doesn't want to meet with us anymore, though he did say we were always welcome.

That is all,
Elder Anderson

Local Roadside shacks in Ambohimanarina from Google.

These are along the main street in town that Benjamin 

travels each day. 

Ambohimanarina, Madagascar Week 3

January 5, 2014

This week was a pretty average week, nothing really spectacular happened. During lessons I can understand most things that are said, as long as they are concerning holy things. I feel like my ability is improving each week (who would've thought). I got sick a couple of days ago, so that was not fun. It wasn't that bad though, it only lasted like half a day. 

Today Elder Schroedter and I went over to the office to drop off some baptism documents. The Taxi Be (Van packed with a bunch of Malagasies (I feel really bad for the Malagasy that I was almost sitting on, poor guy) ride took 2 hours to get to the office from our area. Traffic today was really bad, Elder Hein said that the reason for the traffic today was that today everyone was returning to school from their families today and tomorrow. So, after we arrived at the office we stayed for like 20 mins and then went back on the bus. Before we returned I bought a donut from a shady looking street shop, it was pretty good (not quite sure if I would classify it as good enough to justify the inevitable diarrhea) The ride home was only 1 and a half hours (much better than 2 (sarcasm)). 

A lot of our investigators have been progressing really well. In fact, just yesterday we got three more to commit to a baptism date, now all we have to do is get them to actually come to church. One of the major problems in the Madagascar mission is that it is very hard for people to actually come to church. If you ask them to come they will accept and promise to show up, but when Sunday morning comes very few actually attend. Yesterday one of our AP's went on surprise splits with me and Elder Schroedter to see how we were doing as a companionship (he probably just wanted to make sure that we didn't accept any of the Rongony from the Malagasies we met last week - haha). While the three of us were walking along the sewage and litter streams to our next appointment he shared a story about a family that he was teaching. In summary: he and his companion taught a family and got them all baptized and coming to church. Everything seemed fine and good. Then a few months later when a new companionship was in the area they came to visit at a different time and noticed that the father wasn't there, Eventually the companionship learned that the Father of the family lived in a different house with another woman, and that he only was with his family during the regular times that the AP and his companion would visit the family and during church in the mornings. The family had been lying to the misisonaries for months, and the AP and his companion didn't notice. The moral of his story was that Malagasies are flawless liars, they start from the time they are young. When they are just small children their parents will tell them to say that no one is home so that they aren't disturbed, even when they are. They continue the rest of their lives and become expert liars. Elder Weber (the AP) reassured us that they were amazing people, but they had problems with lying. Even though all of our investigators and less-active members promise that they will come to church next Sunday, very few of them actually do.

This week we taught T--- ("I am just like that monkey") again, the lesson was about the Plan of Salvation. Things were going pretty good until we talked about the ressurection. He was concerned by the fact that after we are resurrected we get a body. He firmly believes that God doesn't have a body. We then said that when Christ was resurrected he had a body. He then responded saying that when Christ was resurrected he went straight through walls trying to explain that he didn't think that we needed bodies after this Earth life. I think that if we could convince him that God has a body, and that he isn't a spirit only, that he would progress drastically. If you have any ideas please let me know. 

In closing, I am having a great time in Madagascar, even though I still hate rice with a passion, it is a real shame that rice is the only thing they eat. All day, every day. Rice. Oh, I also am not too fond of the amount of litter. There are some areas that are literaly just huge mounds of junk and trash. The uncleanliness and the sewage lines on ground level also aren't my favorite, but that's just life I guess. I also hate the fact that the computers are all in French, it makes it hard to type.

Love,
Elder Anderson

Pic Elder Schroedter took at the church waiting for 

investigators who didn't show.

Trash in Ambohimanarina

Ambohimanarina, Madagascar Week 2 - Monkeys and Rongony

December 29, 2014

This week was pretty good, it had it all, from monkeys to rongony (marijuana). This week I have noticed that I am able to understand Malagasies a lot better. Last week I could discern a word or two in a sentence, but now I can make out 3 and sometimes even 4. From this data we can conclude that my language comprehension ability has improved two-fold. Madagascar is a swell place.

Early on in the week, Elder Schroedter and I went contacting around Ambohimararina. On our way across a thin path through the rice paddies, we realized that we were lost, and didn't know which fork in the 1-foot wide path we should take. As we began to head down the path that we thought was the most correct, a fellow in his late 20's corrected us. He told us that we should turn around and so we did, while travelling along this new path we, again, spotted the same fellow. This time the man was sitting down with his friend and what I concluded was the friend's young son. They beckoned us over and wished to talk with us, so we came. As we came nearer I noticed that they had in their hands what appeared to be seeds of a plant of some sort and pieces of paper. My suspicions were confirmed when the man in his late 20's asked, "Te-hifoka Rongony ve ianareo?" (Do you guys want to smoke weed with us?) So naturally my companion and I accepted. Who could refuse homemade Rongony? (just kidding, we sharply refused. Obey the Word of Wisdom) Elder Schroedter told them that our church believes that illegal drugs are not to be consumed. While he was introducing himself, he handed the first man his plaque so that he could read the small letters. But rather than handing him back the missionary badge, the Malagasy in his late 20's put the plaque on himself. (Even without strong and convincing proof I'm fairly certain the man was stoned) Elder Schroedter then asked for his badge politely, but alas, it was to no avail. After a few minutes of the back and forth asking and refusing (and the smoking of the rongony by the Malagasies), the fellow's friend took the badge and gave it back to Elder Schroedter when the fellow in his late 20's wasn't paying attention. We then quickly yelled Mazotoa! (diligence) and left them to their hard work. In Madagascar lots of people smoke rongony, I am pretty sure it is legal here.

A few days ago, Elder Schroedter and I taught a lesson that he remarked was, "The coolest lesson I have ever taught". After a long day of contacting we arrived at a red gate. After knocking, an older Malagasy gentleman opened the door and spoke to us in French. "Bonjour! Comment ça va?" He then realized that we were Mormons and got excited, yet cautious. He said, "I won't let you in because I don't want to have to get baptized, but I want to learn more about what Mormons believe in". My companion reassured him that we would only teach him, baptism wasn't our goal. He then let us in. As we entered into his home, he asked us something in Malagasy, he noticed by the puzzled looks on our faces that we didn't understand his question. It was then that we learned that he spoke near flawless English. No Malagasies can speak any English really, so to learn that he was near fluent made us excited. As we began teaching, he asked us a question about what we believe about the Holy Trinity. He then stopped us and began sharing with us his own beliefs. He started by saying that he believes that God is a spirit only, and that he was confused by a scripture that said something like, "God created man in his own image" He asked us (in English mind) "How could God create man in his image if God is only a ghost, just air?" We shared an article of faith and then he shared a story with us. He said that for a time he worked in Senegal in Africa. And one day he went to the zoo and saw a peculiar sight. He said that he saw a monkey that was smoking cigars, visitors to the zoo would throw cigarettes into the monkey's cage, and then the monkey would smoke them. He also added that whenever a guard came close, the monkey would throw the cigarette away. He then said that he was just like the monkey, in terms of behaviors and such. He then said that that day at the zoo a question that he had personally was answered, "He wondered about the beginning of the human race, and whether Adam and Eve were the first humans on Earth or not". He told us that Adam and Eve weren't in fact the first humans on Earth, but that they were the first to receive the breath of life from God. I am pretty sure that he believes in evolution, and that was the basis of his story. He then said that he wondered why Cain was afraid of being killed by other humans if the only humans on Earth were Adam, Eve, Cain, and Able. He concluded that Adam and Eve weren't the first of the human race to have existed, but the first to receive the breath of life from God. I'm running short on time so I summarized the story pretty heavily, but I was shocked by how smart and deep-thinking "T---" was. He has really thought hard about religion and life and such. We then shared a lesson dipping into many areas of our beliefs like Joseph Smith, The Book of Mormon, and the articles of Faith. After an hour we asked if we could return, and he said yes. He told us that he has many questions about the Mormon faith. T--- is a pretty cool dude.

Well, I'm just about out of time. I regret to announce this is the end. I am going now. I bid you all a very fond farewell. Goodbye.

Love,
Elder Anderson

Rice paddies in Ambohimanarina, Benjamin's first area, pictures taken by Elder Hein one of Elder Anderson's roomates and zone leader.

Close up of a rice paddie path.

Benjamin's Christmas skype.

Mom Questions

Mom: How are you feeling.
Benjamin: Fine. I have all of these red itchy bumps on my arms and legs and everyone. what are they?
Mom: From what I've read on other Mada mission blogs they are flea bites, there's not a lot you can do about them - sorry, they are quite a nuisance! You can try to vacuum your apartment a lot and wash your sheets with permethrin you can get from the mission home - but you will likely pick them up at investigators homes anyway.
Mom: How many people fit in a taxi be?
Benjamin: I am not sure, a lot are crammed in.
Mom: Did it make you homesick to skype?
Benjamin: No
Mom: When is your next meeting or visit to the mission home and is that the only time you get dear elder letters?
Benjamin: Not sure and yes.

Excerpt from Mom's email to Elder Anderson

I used you in my young womens lesson today and they were touched by your example. I told them the story of how our family did our traditional sub for santa. We all loaded up in the minivan Christmas Eve to deliver clothes, food and some fun things to a family in need. All the kids got out of the car and carried the bags to the doorstep, then Rachel rang the doorbell. They all got back in the car quickly. Dad said he thought someone had stepped in dog crap and the car smelled awful! We got home, everyone checked their shoes and Isaac, Hannah and William had stepped in it. William's boots were the worst. He had stepped on both seats in the minivan, and on Grace (she had poo on her legs and on her jammies) as he had climbed over the seat to get in the back. There was dog crap all over the place. As I sat in the freezing cold garage scrubbing poo out of their shoes, both van seats and the van carpet - it was hard not to have a really bad attitude and wonder how something so disgusting could happen when we were serving and giving of ourselves. I wanted our family to feel the true meaning of Christmas and instead they were all grossed out. I got the distinct impression at that moment that it was not about me or my family - it was about the family that we served and then I got the impression that said 'Your son serves everyday in situations much worse and doesn't complain!' It is not about the condition - it is about the service. I had wondered if our kids would be able see the good after such a gross experience. Then at dinner tonight Hannah, Isaac, Johnathan and Rachel explained how they told their classes at church that they got to do sub for santa to help a family and how happy it made them to be able to serve. I am so glad that they were able to catch the real meaning of it all - even with the dog poo. I am grateful for you Benjamin! I admire the service that you so freely give, even with the poor conditions that you must give it in. It's not about the sewage - it's about the service - haha. I am touched by your willingness to serve in the conditions that you do - you are such a great example to all of us.

Side note: During Elder Anderson's Christmas skype he mentioned to us - without any complaint - that he walks daily through sewage during this rainy season because the sewage is on top of the roads and they become a 'river of poo'. 

Ambohimanarina, Madagascar Week 1

First week in Madagascar!!                        December 22, 2014

Hello everyone. I just finished my first week in Madagascar. The plane ride was pretty miserable towards the end. On the flight from London to Johannesburg they served some pretty funky food for Dinner. When I opened the main course the smell overwhelmed my senses. It was pretty terrible, imagine the smell of burned plastic mixed with some rotten sweet potatoes or something, it was extremely bad. It was so bad, in fact, that for the next three days I would smell that same horrid smell almost everywhere I went. Somehow my nose would know how to locate and target that smell in everything. My blanket had that smell, the planes had the smell, and when I first got to Madagascar I could only smell that smell. I felt like I was going to throw up everywhere I went, just because of the nasty British food they served. I don't think I am ever going to think about, let alone eat, Airplane food again. Anyways enough of that, just a word of advice to you all: never order the rice with Sweet Potato on your flights leaving London, you will regret it the rest of your days.

And know concerning Madagascar. Madagascar is an extremely different place than the United States, but it doesn't bother me much. It is a very poor country, most people live in small one room houses or even smaller shacks. The entirety of the capital has an odd smell (Not the nasty burnt plastic potato smell) that I have gotten used to after a day. If I remember correctly the smell comes from the way that the Malagasy people make bricks, burning dirt or something, I'm not exactly sure but you can look up the exact method if you wish. In my area we don't get to use cars, instead we get to ride Taxis and Taxi be's. A Taxi Be is a Mercedes Benz that is full of seats and extremely cramped. It doesn't help that I am taller than the small Gasy people; taller in the regular sense and taller sideways. I always look forward to the multiple times I get to literally sit on top of Malagasies on the Taxi Be. One time I was sitting in the front seat of a Taxi Be and I heard an opposing Taxi Be driver shout to my driver saying "Manana ny Fahaza ianao" (You have a Fahaza) and he responded with "Fahaza roa" (He had two Fahazas me and my companion) Fahaza is a word that the Malagasy people all use to mean Foreigner or Outsider, it is a fairly strong and harsh word. Whenever I pass children at play they will always say "Bonjour Fahaza" or "Cava Fahaza?" as the majority of the few white people at Madagascar are people from French. After that I will usually respond with "Manahoana Gasy" (How are you Gasy?) and they will usually start laughing because they never have seen a Fahaza speak Malagasy. People here on the streets are always surprises and excited whenever a white guy speaks Malagasy.

I have a few investigators right now, I don't remember all of their names but yeah. Most of them are really poor and don't have much. I can understand a little of what they say. The first day here I couldn't understand anything haha, I wasn't used to their accent. I am serving in the capital of Antananarivo in a place called Amboimanarina or something. Most of the people that we teach live out of the way, we have to cut through a lot of small dirt roads and such. There is a certain road that I have walked many a time that is very small and right next to a sewage-ish river or something. It is a very small path, about a foot wide, and on the other side is a river of crap (in the literal sense of course) so if I fall then I am going to have a bad day. Some parts of the city smell like sewage, mainly because their sewage is either on top of the roads or a foot below the road level. Nothing like the good 'ol smell of Tana in the morning. 

The food isn't bad, not my favorite though as I don't really like rice and that is their main food here. The Senior Couples in the office say not to eat food and drink off of the street vendors, but all of the missionaries do it, so I follow suit. I still haven't gotten diarrhea yet but there is a 99 percent chance I will. I was amazed to discover that all of my roommates had experiences (plural) where they actually crapped themselves, something to look forward to I guess. It is almost a rite of passage to have your first experience where you poop yourself. The missionaries with the funniest stories are considered legends almost. But yea, back to food. There is a nice store like Walmart where the food is all packaged and clean that I can purchase food from. It is fairly close to my house, just a short walk always. My diet consists of Coke, Corn flakes, Ramen noodles, and Rice (in that order). 

I don't really have any funny experiences to share about my mistakes in the language, no one has started to laugh hysterically after I have borne testimony yet so I think I'm doing pretty decent. There is one family that always corrects every word whenever it was pronounced wrong. We mainly just read chapters of the Book of Mormon with them rather than teach specific lessons, so there is a lot of correcting going on. It is pretty humorous. The family consists of an older couple in their 60's, their daughter, and their 2 grandchildren, along with a family friend. The older man in his 60's has the most trouble with reading words in the Book of Mormon, so he is corrected the most. As soon as someone utters a word incorrectly, the rest of the family will all correct in unison. They haven't corrected me yet, I try to be very careful when I read. They are probably just being polite to the new missionary I imagine. 

The weather here is extremely hot and humid. I take a shower in the morning and stay wet the rest of the day. It is something that you have to get used too, it doesn't bother me as much anymore. The difference in color between my arm and the area where my watch is pretty drastic. It goes from American-Boy White to American-Boy Red. A non-subtle change. 

There are a lot of wild dogs that roam the streets, they are all very small and very, very dirty. There are also some areas where people will have chickens and roosters (also very dirty and thin). Whenever i walk by the chickens they all turn their heads and watch me, while clucking harshly, I imagine they are attempting to formulate the phrase everyone is saying (bonjour fahaza). But yeah, the chicken coops do not smell like a chocolate factory, that much I can say.

Well, I should probably wrap up the email now, if there are any questions just email me and I will try to respond to them. But yeah, Madagascar is an interesting and unique place. I have been craving Nachos all week so eat some for me. Haven't seen Nachos here yet haha.

Love,
Elder Benjamin Anderson

(P.S. sorry about any mistakes I made in the email (and in my life), the internet here is French, so spellcheck just marks every English word wrong. The keyboards in this Internet Cafe (Cyber) are also rubbish (the flight was too long from London, "Place your rubbish in this bin please, place your rubbish here!"))

***From Sister Cloward, the mission secretary a day or two after Benjamin arrived.

Good morning,

His luggage all arrived with him.

He will be serving in Ambohimanarina with Elder Schroedter; Elder Gariki and his trainer, Elder Razazakamandimby are living in the same house with them.

He seems to be doing well, and is excited to be here.

Sister Cloward

***Elder Anderson did not have his camera with him so Mom found these pics from other elders of his apartment and area.

The church house where Benjamin went to church Sunday.

First companion and trainer, Elder Schroedter from Texas and Benjamin's living area.

Dining area in first apartment, Thanksgiving dinner and turkey the elders bought live and prepared for dinner.

Benjamin's companion Elder Schroedter far left plucking a chicken for dinner and Benjamin's messy kitchen. :) Benjamin has heard that his apartment is the dirtiest missionary one in Madagascar.

Benjamin's backyard area and a chicken about to become dinner.

Elder Schroedter and Benjamin's apartment.

Elder Schroedter after falling in a rice paddie and 

Benjamin's bed area.

The walls around Benjamin's apartment that fell down during a rain storm.

Benjamin's first area, Ambohimanarina - the northern most mission in Antananarivo. You can see the new stake center that is almost finished to the left of the US embassy.

*Pics from Elder Hein and Elder Schroedter.

Elder Anderson arrived safely!

We received this email 12 a.m. December 18th:

Good morning Brother and Sister Anderson,

We are just getting the new Elders into their Training meetings with their Trainers and then I am planning to send pictures of the new missionaries to their parents.

They all arrived safely yesterday afternoon.  After we took care of their paperwork, we fed them dinner and then they went home with the Assistants for a good nights sleep.

At breakfast this morning they were all doing well and are eager to ‘get started’.  They will spend today ‘in training’ and then travel to their assigned area with their Trainer.

We look forward to having Elder Anderson serving with us here in Madagascar.  He is going to be an amazing missionary.

Sister Cloward

President and Sister Adams with Elder Anderson

Elder Gariki, Elder Anderson and Elder Tangarasi - MTC and travel companions