Analamahitsy week 3

Well, this week was good. Elder Te'e and I are still struggling to get the area going and are working really hard. We are slowly filling up our program with investigators and less actives, but it is a very slow process. People are pretty busy and it's hard to find a time that works for them, and then frequently we show up to someones house and there is nobody home. It is very frustrating to have a time scheduled with someone and have them not respect that time. But we are slowly showing people that if we say we are coming that we really will come, and I think as people see that they will see the importance of respecting our times. So that is going okay. Little by little we are building a solid program. 

We are really trying to figure out a way to get the ward excited about missionary work because when the members help the missionaries, the work goes a million times better. I have come to the conclusion that the best way to get the ward excited about missionary work is to get the ward mission leader and the bishop excited about it. If we can do that the other members will see the example and want to follow. We are starting a "Preach my Gospel" class in our ward which I think will help, and this week we talked to our ward mission leader about doing an activity/ fireside about missionary work to try to get the members excited about it. So hopefully between those two things and visiting the members trying to create relationships with them we will be able to get some refferals and some member help! 

We have this guy we are teaching right now his name is Do (doh). He is about 28 years old and a great guy! He was a refferal from a member in another ward. His brother just got baptized and told him he should talk to the missionaries. We got his number and gave him a call. He has now been learning for about 2 weeks and seems to really love and understand the teaching! We invited him to church last week and he came this sunday! We were so excited! He is just so accepting of our message and doesn't even question it. That is one thing I love about the malagasy people, they have an incredible ablility to believe and have faith. Everyone here believes in God and Christ and wants to follow Him and recieve salvation. But I am really hopefull for Do. If he continues to progress like he is I think he could be baptized in the next couple of months! We are planning on giving him a baptism date this week, so we'll see what he says. I am pretty confident he will accept and really want to work towards that goal!

The last thing that happened this week was that we went to the zoo on pday (yesterday) It was a holiday that they call Lundi du Paque which is French and means the monday of Easter. Nobody works or has school or anything so the zoo was insanely crowded, but it was really fun. It reminded me of going to the zoo back in America. It was a lot of fun. 

We didn't really do anything for Easter, just missionary work! haha But this whole week every member or less active that we visited we talked about Easter and what it really means. It really helped my testimony grow to get to talk and think about the Savior and His Atonement so much this week. One thing that really stood out to me while teaching is the one thing that separates our church from almost every other Christian churches. You will notice that most Christian churches have a big cross on top of their steeple but we don't. Why is that. Do we not believe in Christ? Do we not believe that He suffered for us on the cross? That's not it at all. We absolutely believe that Christ suffered for us. Because of His love for us he was willing to suffer beyond comprehension in the garden of Gethsemane. He bled from every poor for us and suffered every sin, sorrow, and pain that we may face in live. He suffered for each one of us INDIVIDUALLY and He knows each one of us perfectly. After His suffering in the garden He was betrayed by one of His own, and mocked and spit upon. He was mocked, spit upon, and whipped and ultimately hung on the cross to die for us. Through that suffering our brother and Redeamer experienced and overcame spiritual death. Which death is separation from our Heavenly Father. Without this suffering we would all be lost never to gain salvation. We as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints believe that and are infinitely greatful for that, but that is not all. On the third day Jesus Christ rose from the dead. HE IS RISEN. And that is why we do not celebrate the symbol of the cross. Christ rose from the dead and conquered physical death and completed the Atonement. He is not dead, but lives again. He is at the head of the Church and leads and guides us today through the living prophet Thomas S. Monson. Without that truth, there would be no point to His suffering in the Garden and on the cross. Because He is risen we too will rise from the grave some day and become perfect as He and our Father are perfect. What a beautiful truth. Our brother was willing to come to Earth and live a perfect life without sin, and then willing to take upon Himself our sins so that we could be made clean. "He only could unlock the gate of Heaven and let us in." I Know that my Redeamer lives.

Elder Glazier