Hey everyone!

 Everything is going great here in madagascar! We had our first baptism on Saturday which was so cool! It really helped me to see our purpose as missionaries. The people that got baptized are all super strong members and are going to be a great addition to the branch! My companion elder Garcia baptized all three of them. But it was awesome because it really helped me to see why I'm here. I could picture the people that I've met the last couple of weeks and see them getting baptized and starting on the path to the Celestial kingdom! 

The work is going well here! Our schedule is full everyday so we don't do much tracting which is good! It's kind of hard to find people home though because nobody has phones and they forget your appointment a lot. But we usually have a back up that lives pretty close that we can go visit, so that is nice. We taught a few new investigators this week and they seemed pretty interested, but then none of them came to churchon sunday. I was super disappointed. I thought for sure at least one of them would come! So now we're going to have to go back and see why they didn't come to church and see if they read The Book of Mormon that we gave them.  It's hard sometimes because we'll get people who we'll ask them if they're willing to read The Book of Mormon and pray about it to see if it's true and they're just like, "it's true". Which is great that they believe, but they can't really know for themselves if The Book of Mormon or the Church is true if they don't read and pray themselves. It's not enough to just rely on our words and testimonies. They need to know for themselves.

So we have bikes in our area which is super nice! we can get around a lot faster on our bikes! The only problem is the seats are super hard so the first 4 days we rode them my butt hurt SO bad! But after the 4th day it started to get used to it and now it's fine!

 Everywhere we go everyone yells Bonjour Vaza at us! It just means like a white guy.  I'm pretty sure that is the first thing they teach their kids to say because we'll have kids who can barely walk come over to us and calls us vazas. I think it's super cute when the little kids say it, but it's kind of annoying when adults say it. We know we're vazas... thanks for pointing it out! haha but I guess they don't see too many white people. especially the people that live a little farther away from the main city area. I've only seen about 10 other white people the whole time I've been here. They all speak french so everytime a malagasy talks to us and we don't understand they try to talk in french which doesn't help too much! haha sometimes I can figure out what they're saying but it's malagasy-french so it's different. Or sometimes people will just like throw french words into a sentence to try to relate with us and help us understand but that just makes it even harder! haha

That's about it for this week. I don't think anything else too crazy has happened. I have some pretty cool pictures that I'll attach so you can see them! 

The word of the week is Maztoa (moz-too).  It means "Be diligent". Everytime you leave someone you say maztoa.  Just like telling them to have a good day and to be diligent. But the real reason I chose this word is because this week I have really had to focus on being diligent! When it's starting to get late I'm always so tired and I just want to go home, but I have to remember why I'm here and that I'm doing the Lords work and need to be diligent. Missionary work is NOT an easy thing and if you aren't really diligent it would be easy to slack off and not get very much done. I have been focusing a lot on keeping my mind focused on the work until the very end of the day instead of on how tired I am. It has helped me not be so tired and to be a more effective missionary. I want to be the best missionary that I can be and that means pushing through the las few hours of the day. If I teach just one more person every night, by the end of my mission that is 730 people that heard the message of the restored gospel that otherwise might not have heard it.

Fantatro fa marina ny Fiangonanay. Fantatro fa marina ny Bokin'i Mormon. Ny ten'Adriamanitra izy. Fantatro fa efa nandikinteny ny Bokin'i Mormon amin'ny fanampian'Adriamanitra i Joseph Smith. Fantatro fa misy ny mpaminany velona amin'izao andro izao. Ny anarany Thomas S. Monson. Miresaka amin'Adriamanitra sy matarika ny fiangonana izy. Raha manarika ny ten'ny mpaminany sy miana ny filazantsara isika, dia afaka hiverina an danitra isika sy hiana miaraka ny fianakaviantsika. Amin'ny anaran'i Jesoa Kristy, amena.

I know that the church is true. I know that The Book of Mormon is true. It is the word of God. I know that Joseph Smith translated The Book of Mormon with the help of God. I know that there is a living prophet in this day. His name is Thomas S. Monson. He speaks with God and leads the church. If we follow his words and live the gospel we can return to heaven and live with our families. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.