Fianarantsoa week 12

Well, not a whole ton happened this week. There was one exciting thing that happened, it was TRANSFER WEEK!!! I stayed in Fianarantsoa and Elder Garcia left to Tana wednesday morning!   Then my new companion Elder Covey got here

 wednesday night! He is way cool! He has been here 6 weeks longer than me so we are both not very good at the language, but that's okay, we can get by. And he is a way hard worker and really excited about the work so that is good! I am super excited for this transfer! 

our  place all decorated for Christmas

Other than that absolutely nothing cool happened this week. We are just getting ready for Christmas! I hope you all have a great Christmas and remember the true reason we celebrate it! 

I am so grateful for my savior Jesus Christ and for the special opportunity we have to celebrate and remember His birth this week! Without Him we would all be lost and there would be no purpose in life! I know that that is true and that if we give up our lives in His service we can return to live with Him and our Father in Heaven again! 

I love you all! Have a great week!

Merry Christmas/Joyeux Noel!!!

 The head! And yes... they did put it into the pot with the rest of the meat! 

 This is our branch presidents family. They invited us over for dinner last monday. They are way cool!

 Elder Garcia and I baptized this girl this week

: Elder Garcia with the chicken we just bought!

 The lady that just had a baby with the chicken and the baby

 Sharpening the knife in preparation to kill the chicken

 The finished product! A small plate of rice with some chicken! It tasted great!

: Oh! I forgot to say that it HAILED this week! It was insane!!!! The hail was the size of a cherry! It was so loud! We just ducked for cover in a store and waited about 45 minutes for it to stop hailing!

This is the dinner president got us! It was delicious!!!

The rainstorm that we had on Sunday! And that is the puddle that we got to walk through! It was wonderful!!!

I had to pour the water out of my shoes.

Well this week had a few exciting things happen!

 First off, on wednesday we had a baptism! The girl that didn't get baptized on saturday got baptized. Elder Garcia baptized her. It was a really good baptism! The spirit was there really strongly testifying that she was doing the right thing! She was so happy afterwards and just glowing with the spirit! I'm super happy for her! And the service was just outstanding! There was one talk given on baptism by water and the speaker was just incredible! He is this young missionary from American Fork, Utah named Elder Glazier. haha Yes, I got to give my first talk on wednesday.  It went pretty well. It was on baptim by water so not too hard, especially since we teach about baptism all the time! It was pretty short, but I felt pretty good about it when I sat down. I was a little bit scared but not terrified. It would have been a lot worse if it had been in sacrament with the whole branch there!

Then after the baptism we went and visited one of our investigators who just had a baby. Elder Garcia told her he would bring her a chicken when she had her baby if he was still here so we went and bought a chicken and took it to her. We then killed the chicken (elder Garcia got to do it) and made it into some sauce for our rice. It was way cool to get to watch the whole process from beginning to end of how they prepare the meat. They are really good at it! They were so fast at taking the feathers off and getting the meat ready to eat! I have some good pictures at the bottom.

The next thing that happened was on saturday we had zone conference! It was my first zone conference and I wasn't really sure what to expect, but it was a really great experience! We talked a lot about true conversion and giving up everything to the Lord! That is what we covenant at baptism and if we don't try our hardest and repent and try to become like Christ we will wish we had at judgement day. President showed us some very descriptive sciptures about how we will feel at judgement depending on how we lived. It really made me want to try to do just a little bit better and to give just a little more time and a little more effort everyday.

Then after zone conference we went to this insanely nice restaurant and had a way good meal that president bought for us! Then when we got home the AP's had a few packages and letters for us so that was great to get some mail from people back home!!!

Then on sunday we had another INSANE rainstorm! It rained so hard and we had to walk through all of these huge puddles! One of them that we walked through was half way to my knee! It was really gross because they have open sewers and it was right by this huge pile of trash (they just make big piles around the city and then burn them) so you just try not to think about what you are walking through. I literrally dumped water out of my shoes and rang it out of my socks! It was ridiculous!!! It's kind of fun too though. It makes me feel like I'm really in Madagascar!

The last exciting thing that happened this week was WE GOT TRANSFER NEWS!!!!!!!!!!! Transfers are this wednesday and I was pretty excited to find out what would happen to me. I am staying here in Fianarantsoa and Elder Garcia is leaving and going up to Tana. My new comp is named Elder Covey and has only been out for one transfer more than me so it's going to be an interresting transfer or two. I am going to have to do a lot of leading the area and I hope I am ready for that! I don't know much about Elder Covey. I told the other elders I didn't want to know what they thought about him because I wanted to be able to form my own opinions about him rather than already thinking he is lazy or cocky or whatever else. I will let you know next week how he is.

That was my week! Lots of exciting things happened! I have been so grateful for my time with Elder Garcia! He has taught me so much and I know that God chose him as my trainer for a reason. I will never forget the time I had with him and the things he taught me. It wasn't always easy, but I don't think it ever will be. Life isn't easy. But I know for a fact that my mission call came from God and that where I am working and who my companion is comes from God. It doesn't matter what I think about it, it's from God which means it's right so I need to make the most of every minute and try my very hardest to learn everything I can from my situation. I think that can be applied to everyone. Sometimes things don't go our way and sometimes things go perfect, but if we will just go into every situation with a good attitude we can learn and grow a lot more than if we have a negative attitude.
That's my little discourse on attitude. haha

 And now I want to give a shoutout to my sister-in-law Kristal! She has a birthday on the 20th and is still aging very well! haha We have loved having her in our family! Happy Birthday Kristal!

That's all of my news this week! Have a great week and I love you all tons!

Love, Elder Glazier

 Everything is great here in Fianarantsoa! I'm loving the work and trying my hardest to just wear myself out in the service of the Lord!   Church is long for me here. It is very hard to sit in meetings for 3 hours when everything is in Malagasy and you only understand maybe 1/3 or 1/2 of what is going on. And then after that you have branch council for 1 1/2 hours. But I really like going to church because it's fun to see how much more I understand each week! I'm sure that some day I will understand everything that is going on, but I'm still waiting for that day! haha

This week was pretty quiet. Nothing too exciting happened until Saturday! 

 On Saturday we had a baptism! We were supposed to have 2 couples that are both boyfriend and girlfriend. They all know the gospel is true and have such strong testimonies! The one couples names are Rija and Larissa and they are the ones that were supposed to get baptized a few weeks ago on November 22 but didn't show up, and the other couple's names are Nikita and Rado. Nikita and Rado are probably my favorite investigators that we've taught. They are both way way cool and they know the gospel so well and are so ready to accept it! So Saturday morning rolls around and we get to the church for the baptism. Nikita and Rado show up and Nikita tells us that she can't get baptized that day. We were shocked and kept asking why. She really didn't want to tell us, but finally she shyly told us and we'll just say she didn't want to get in the water... so we weren't really sure what to do about that, but Rado was there and ready to go! So we waited for about 45 minutes and still no Rija and Larissa. We tried calling a million times but it was just going straight to voicemail so Elder Garcia and I got a taxi and went to their house and it was locked and nobody was home. So we went back to the church and did Rado's baptism! Oh, and did I already mention that he asked ME to baptize him???!!!!!! Ya, it was so cool!!! I got to do my first baptism!!!! The spirit was so strong and he was so so so happy when he came out of the water! It felt so good to know that I helped somebody make a covenant with our Father in Heaven and be baptized!!! And then Nikita is getting baptized on Wednesday. We are going to have a small little service for her and baptize her. She is going to Tana for a few weeks so we wanted to baptize her before she goes. I'm really excited that they will both be members and have the Holy Ghost with them as their constant companion! Rado was talking to me after and said that he thinks he might want to go on a mission in a year! I really hope he does! He would be a way awesome missionary! 

So now to the question that I know you are all asking... "Why didn't Rija and Larissa show up to the baptism??" Well... I wish I could tell you. We have gone to their house and tried calling them several times and can't get a hold of them. We were hoping they would come to church on Sunday and we could talk to them but they weren't there. So we have no idea what is going on that would cause them to not show up to their own baptism two times in a row. We think they must not have told us the truth when we asked if they were ready, and they must not have told the truth when they got interviewed for baptism, but we aren't really sure.

But that is the only exciting thing that happened this week! Other than that it was a very ordinary week with not too many things that are worth talking about.

But I know that our Heavenly Father knows each one of us individually and knows our needs and He wants us to return to Him. I know that when we make covenants with Him that if we will keep those covenants He will pour out blessings upon us and that our lives will be better because of it. We will still have hard things, life isn't easy, but with God we can overcome anything. I know that is true,.

 I love the atonement. If I had to whittle my testimony down to one truth that is the one that would come out on top. I know with every part of my soul that the atonement is real and that if we will use it in our lives and let Christ heal us we can be clean from our sins and shortcomings and faults, and that He will help us become better. We are never alone. Because Christ suffered everything, and He did it alone, we will never have to. He is always there reaching His hands out towards us. All we have to do is grab His hand. It doesn't matter what is going on in our lives, we can always turn to Christ and He can make it better. I know that is true and nothing will ever change that. Christ is our Savior.

 in the name of Jesus Christ,   amen.

9364: Elder Garcia went across the street to buy an umbrella when it started raining and when he finished the road looked like this so he got stuck on the other side of the road for a little bit! 

9372: This is a little girl in our branch. Her parents just got baptized not that long ago. She is 7 years old and one of the cutest little girls I've ever seen (other than my nieces of course)! She is so funny and always runs up to us and does the secret handshake we made up!

9378: This was my thanksgiving dinner. It's steak with noodles and vegetables! It was super good and super expensive!

9379: This is me at thanksgiving getting ready to eat! I was so excited! I have my knife and fork in hand! 

Well not too much new or exciting happened this week here in Madagascar. We did a lot of tracting and looking for new investigators this week so we taught a lot of first lessons. By the end of my mission I think I will be giving firsts in my sleep! haha we give at least one or 2 everyday! I need to start finding a way to change things up so I don't get caught in the flow of things and just teach a memorized lesson but really care about the person I'm teaching and really trying to help them understand and feel the spirit.

Other than that we had a GIANT rainstorm this week! It was by far the craziest rainstorm I have ever seen in my entire life! The road that we were walking down turned into a river in a matter of about 10 minutes! It was so cool! Everyone said that that is a pretty normal rainstorm but that it lasted a little longer than normal. It pored so hard for about 45 minutes. they said usually it's closer to 15 or 20 minutes. It was so cool though and I'm getting ready for cyclone season! 

We have a baptism planned for this saturday and we are hoping our peope that didn't show up for their baptism on the 22 of November will show this time. We did their baptismal interviews again and they passed so they should be there! And then we have another investigator named Suborque (weird name, I know). He is 24 and seems to have some kind of mental problem. Apparently he smoked a lot of weed when he was a teenager so his brain is a little bit fried. He comes to church every week and has heard all of the lessons twice and a couple of them 3 times. We had him meet with the branch president and he said that he thinks he is ready for baptism. He has a real desire to follow Christ and he knows and believes what we are teaching him. So he will have a baptismal interview this week with Elder Rigby, our zone leader, and if he passes we will baptize him this saturday as well! The work here is still going well! 

For thanksgiving this week we went to this super nice vazzah (a white person/tourist) hotel that has a restaurant inside. It was super expensive like 12-15 dollars which is insanely expensive here! But the food was way good and all of the elders in Fianarantsoa went. we all said what we are grateful for and then ate our feast. That was all we did to celebrate thanksgiving. And then we showed our thanks to God by going out and working hard to bring His children to the knowledge of the restored gospel! It was a good day, but a lot different from thanksgiving in America.

The last thing is I want to give a shout out to my brother-in-law Micah! Happy Birthday Micah! He's going to be really old this friday! He has been a great addition to our family and we are really glad to have him be part of the Glazier Clan! 

The malagasy word of the week is Renirano (ren-ee-ron-ooh). It means river. The reason I chose this as my word of the week is because when it rained here the road turned into a river and we couldn't walk out in the rain without getting soaked so we just ducked under a little tarp that somebody was selling stuff under! It was insane! 

Well that's all for now.

 The church is true and the Book of Mormon is the word of God. This is God's true church here on the Earth and he is leading the work. I know that if we will read the scriptures everyday and keep the commandments of God He will bless us more than we can imagine! He is our Father in Heaven and He loves each one of us beyond comprehension and wants to bless us and help us in our lives. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love, Elder Glazier