Antananarivo final week/ Transfed to Tamatave

Hello everyone!!

 Well this week there is quite a bit of vaovao(news) here on the south side of the world. We have been working really hard the last two weeks to find some new investigators and then this week our main goal was to try to help some of them start progressing. So we have been working hard to help them be mazoto(diligent). We are pretty hopeful with a few of the families we have found. 

But that is not the vaovao be of the week. The real big news is going to have to wait for the end. But today we had a really cool experience. We had a combined zone meeting with both zones here in Tana. It was really cool because we had Elder Cook of the 70 there. He is over the church in south east Africa so he is our Lehibe (big man). We had a leadership meeting before the meeting for all of the district and zone leaders so I got to go to that. It was really intimidating, there were about 8 or 9 elders in a room with the mission president, Elder Cook, and their wives. Elder Cook gave us a really good lesson about representing the president well and not questioning what he does, and also about standing up boldly for the standards we are expected to live as missionaries. He said the way the leaders live is going to rub off on the other missionaries so we have to be on our best behavior. Then we joined all of the other missionaries and he gave a fenomenal lesson on testimony verses conversion and how we need to give up our will and desires for the Lords. It was so good! At the end the senior couples had made pulled pork sandwiches for us which took me 10,000 miles away back to America!!! I thought I was going to die. But then they took me 100 yards to the toilet because my stomach can no longer handle America... 

But now for the really big news.

 On saturday night we are in a lesson and our phone starts ringing. Elder Monsen hands it to me and whispers, "Hey! It's President!" It's not everyday that President Foote calls and I couldn't just hang up on him, so I stepped out of the house to take the call. "Hello President. How are you?"

"I'm doing fine Elder Glazier, how are you?"

"Just great president. What can I do for you?"

"Well I just have some transfer news for you Elder Glazier. But first I want to ask you, are you sitting down?"

"No president, but let me grab a seat... Okay, go for it."

 "Well Elder Glazier, I saw you play soccer a couple weeks ago, and I was pretty impressed that you scored five goals. You're pretty good. But you know what... I think you're a better missionary than a soccer player."

"Wow, thanks president. That's a great compliment."

"So I have an assignment for you. I'm going to ask you to move to Tamatave, and while you're up there I'd like you to train a new missionary. Oh, and one more thing... I'd also like you to be a zone leader."

"Oh wow president..."

"Would you be willing to accept that assignment Elder Glazier?"

"Well president, that sounds like a lot of resposibility, but I'll accept it if you ask me to do it."

"Perfect. Thanks Elder Glazier, I have a lot of trust in you. Have a great night."

So... yeah. Elder Glazier is getting transferred to Tamatave which is about 9 hours north-east of Tana (where I am now). It is what we call a beach province and is supposedly REALLY hot and REALLY humid. I'm way excited. It's going to be a lot of work, but I'm really excited and I know that God will provide a way for me to accomplish what He expects of me. 1Nephi 3:7.

That's all of the vaovao this week. But have a great week everyone! I'll try to take some pictures of me and Elder Monsen and of me with my new trainee. Have a great week everyone! Love you all!

Love, Elder Glazier

aug 22 2015

Well this week was great!!! We had a really good monday and tuesday, and then on wednesday the Assistants (AP's) came on a split with us which was really good. Elder Morely was with us. He trained my trainer so that was kind of cool. We like to joke that it's a family so we had my "son", me, and my "grandpa". Then on Thursday I have some bitter-sweet news. I have officially been a missionary for one year. I can't believe it has been that long! I feel like I just barely started. I still feel like such a brand new missionary, but now I'm half way done. It has been the best and hardest year of my life. I have learned so much. I have learned about God and who he is, about the gospel, about how to live with a companion, about myself and who I want to be, and a million other things. There is nothing in the world that compares to being a missionary, and there is no way to completely explain what it's like. But coming on a mission is the greatest decision I have ever made and I am sad I'm already done with a whole year, but I'm happy I still have another one to go. I want to give the Lord all I have for this second year and share the joy the gospel brings with as many people as I can. I know that this gospel is true and that there is nothing that can bring us the kind of joy that the gospel can.

On thursday we had zone meeting (not with the president but just run by the zone leaders). They talked a lot about our stats and how as a zone we are not teaching nearly enough people. If you aren't teaching people and inviting them to come unto Christ then you aren't fulfilling you purpose as a missionary. We set some new goals as a zone and me and Elder Monsen decided we want to hit all of the goals before I get transfered. That meeting was exactlty what I needed. It lit the fire inside of me. Sadly the last couple of weeks that fire has been dim, but it's back! I am so ready to go and to work hard and to bring as many people as I can to Christ!

So thursday-Sunday me and Elder Monsen decided we were going to kill it! We worked so hard and just tried so hard to talk to every single person that walked by us. And we also didn't have a very full schedule so we did TONS of tracting! It was really good! We ended up finding a ton of people that wanted to learn, and most of them were families which is a huge push in our mission! We were really happy! It took me back to my days in Fianarantsoa where people are all so nice and willing to here your message so you are just teaching and talking to people all of the time! I  don't know why I let my drive die the last few weeks while our area was struggling, but I know it's back, and it's not going away this time!

The gospel is true! God loves each and every one of us and wants us to be happy. THat is why He has given us families and the gospel. Don't take this life and the things God has given you for granted. They will be gone before you know it. This is our time to prepare to meet God. Do all you can to be ready to stand at the judgement bar. You never know when your time will be. Live with no regrets! I love you all!

Love, Elder Glazier

Baptisms in Analamahitsy!!!! week 23

Hey everyone!!!

 So this week has been a lot better than last week! Our work is starting to pick up a little bit. But there was a downside too. Elder Glazier has been sick for the last 5 days. I got sick on Thursday night. I had a little bit of a runny nose and I was just like, "it's just chilly outside, not a big deal." I was wrong. I woke up the next morning and could barely speak and then for the next two days it only got worse. I am finally starting to get better though. It wasn't bad enough that we couldn't work or anything, I just couldn't really speak so it was a great excuse to make Elder Monsen do all of the talking. So that kind of stunk to be sick all week, but not the worst thing that could have happened.

So this week we had two really really cool things happen. They were both on saturday. We'll start with saturday morning. So our stake has been doing this soccer tournament and has been trying to invite the missionaries to participate and make a team but the mission president wouldn't let us. However, as many of you know we recently got a new mission president. So on saturday we got to go and play soccer against one of the wards in our stake. Now this wasn't just a normal thing, this was on an insanely nice TURF field!!! I almost died!!! I had to buy some cheap (china made) cleats. I literally was in heaven for 90 minutes!!! It was so so so so much fun! And of course the missionaries won 5 to 2. (we won't say who scored 5 goals for us...)

 So that was in the morning, and then to top off an already incredible day we had three investigators get baptized!!! It had to of been one of the best days of my mission! All three of them are way awesome and were super ready to get baptized! They are going to be great members. And then, on sunday one of them asked me if I would confirm them. I was kind of scared because I had never confirmed anyone and now I was going to do it in front of the whole ward in sacrament meeting in malagasy... and don't forget I have no voice. So I'm just sitting there praying that everything will go well. Then right before they called him up I just felt super calm and I knew that the Holy Ghost would tell me what to say and there was no reason to worry. I don't even really remember what I said, all I know is I wasn't nervous and it wasn't me talking to him. And my voice was clear and didn't have any problems. That was my cool little miracle of the week. I love the priesthood! It is such a blessing to know that God trusts me and loves me enough to allow me to work for Him and be an instrument for Him here on Earth. I know that the priesthood really is God's power and that He will guide us in how to use it. I know that this church is true and that Christ has restored His church here on Earth again through the prophet Joseph Smith. If you aren't sure about those things... read the Title page of The Book of Mormon (and more) and pray about it. God WILL answer you.

I love you all! Have a great week!

Love, Elder Glazier

P.S. Sorry there are no pictures the last couple weeks. My camera is having some difficulties and I'm working on fixing it. Hopefully some pics to come in the near future.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Analamahitsy week 17 Namehena week 11

So as you can tell by the title this week, we had a baptism!!!! It was so good! We finally had our investigators get baptized! There were three of them in all, and four if you count the eight year old girl that got baptized too. We had Lanto and Seheno get baptized (mpivady pee-vah-dee means spouses) and we also had Do. I was so excited for all of them. They have all worked so hard to be ready for baptism and are all so diligent. It was such a great experience to see them get baptized. I had the opportunity to baptized Seheno and also Do. They were all so happy when the baptism was done. And then the next day (sunday) they received the Holy Ghost (fanahy Masina) in sacrament. The bishop blessed them all that they would be able to take their families to the temple and be sealed. It was really cool when he blessed Lanto. He talked about the hard fight they had put in to be able to get baptized and how they will be able to go to the temple and become an eternal family. All of their kids except one are members so hopefully they will be able to take their family in a year. The spirit was there so strong. And it was great because that is the whole purpose. If they are baptized and then don't endure and don't go to the temple there is no point. I know that the blessing he gave them was inspired by God. And then today (pday) we got to go to this way cool lemur park where you can feed the lemurs and poke a crocodile with a stick and hold a boa constrictor! It was SO COOL! But that's about it from Elder Glazier this week. Sorry it's so short. We don't have much time thanks to the lemur park. Have a great week everyone!

Love, Elder Glazier

Our baptisms and some members that

Birds

A Lady feeding birds

Hard at work planning and studying and praying

We went to the city to get suits made

Analamahitsy week 21 Sabotsy week 15

Ry Fianakaviako sy namako malala (My Dear beloved Family and Friends),

This week has been a little bit of a learning/growing experience I guess. We had a lot of difficulties with our work this week. Nothing too huge. Just everone blowing us off and not showing up for our appointments. And then our back-up appointments not being there either. It was really frustrating. We ended up just doing lots of walking trying to find someone that was home. We have decided that all of the new people we found the last couple weeks aren't ready to change or to act on the message we have to share so we are planning on having lots of contacting this week. We tried really really hard to get some referrals at church, but sadly were unsuccessful. We announced it in elders' quorum, ward council, and the preach my gospel class. We might try to visit some members this week and share a little vatsim-panahy (spiritual thought) with them and ask for referrals.

On monday we went to this AMAZING restaurant called Carnivore. It is basically Rodizio Grill. It was so good! It was all you can eat meat. THey had ribs, chicken, heart, snake, and a bunch of other way good meats! They are suppost to have crocodile, but they didn't have any when we went. I was so sad. But overall it was still incredible! I definitely want to go back!

The other little parcel of joy this week was we had 5 investigators get interviewed for baptism and they all are ready! We are really excited. There is 3 in Analamahitsy and 2 in Sabotsy Namehena. In Analamahitsy we have Haingo (hine-goo), Leon (lay-ohn), and Fitiavana (fee-tee-ah-vuh-nuh). Haingo is 24 and lives with our old bishop. She is his niece. She has been coming forever and is super diligent. Leon is a 17 year old kid that lives in the middle of nowhere. It takes him about 2 hours to walk to church every week. He was a referral from our sunday school president who lives close to him (about an hour and a half from the church). And Fitiavana is a 9 year old girl whose mom was less active for a few years but has just returned to church in the last couple months. She is super smart and easy to teach which makes it really nice. Then in Sabotsy Namehena we have two sisters named Fitiavana and Aina (eye-nuh). They come from a part member family with about 9 girls. Most of the girls are members, but their parents aren't. The mom comes to church every week with all of the daughters but can't get baptized because she can't decide if she wants to marry her husband. It's a really hard situation, but she can't get baptized until she decides to legally marry him or separate. We will be baptizing the three in Analamahitsy this saturday and the two sisters in Sabotsy Namehena next saturday so that will be a nice boost to our work. 

That's about all this week. Have a great week all and keep reading those scriptures! They have so much power and knowledge

. Love you all!

Love, Elder Glazier

Analamahitsy week 20 Sabotsy Week 14

Well... This week was full of firsts. I had my first birthday in country, ate my first chicken foot, led my first district meeting, and did my first baptismal interview. 

My birthday was on thursday and it was a pretty good day. We didn't do anything too special. I was on a split the night before so I was in the other elders house that morning. We had district meeting that morning which was fine, and then we went out and had a normal day. I was a little bit sad all day just thinking about how the last birthday I had I was at home with my family and stuff, but it wasn't too bad because birthdays have never been a huge deal to me. Your just a day older. And then that night Elder Monsen made me a cake and we ate it! It was super yummy. Not quite american, but still really good! And gratefully I was somehow able to avoid getting flour and eggs all over my head so that was good!

The next first I had was district meeting. I led my first district meeting on my birthday. It went pretty well. I gave a lesson about what manner of teachers we ought to be. I focused a lot on commitments and how we HAVE TO extend commitments as missionaries or there is no point to any of the teaching we do. This gospel is not just about knowing things, it's about doing things! I think it went pretty well.

The next first was I got to do my first baptismal interview. I have done 5 since then, but it is super scary! I hate the idea that it is up to me to ask the right questions and to listen to the spirit to know if somebody is prepared to be baptized or not. But that is exactly it. I just have to be in tune to the spirit and listen to what he has to say and then I won't have to wonder, but he will tell me. That is the great thing about this gospel! God never expects us to do something on our own. He always provides help.

The last first of the week was I ate a chicken foot. It was gross. It is literally just skin. There is no meet at all on it. And it's not like thin good skin that you get on the fried/grilled chicken from kfc. Nope. It is nice and thick and gross. And too make it worse it wasn't even warm anymore. We were almost done with dinner and they told me that I had to eat the foot and then put it on my plate. I was so excited. I did not want to eat it, but it was too late. 

I also got a package from my parents this week which was amazing! My favorite thing in it was by far the watches! I got two watches because mine broke! Candy and food is awesome and I love every bite, but then it's gone and I'm sad. But my watch will be with me for the next two years and is going to do a lot of good for me! Anyway, that's about all that happened this week. Pretty good week. Hope you all have a great week! Don't forget to read your scriptures DAILY!!! Even if it's just one verse! 

Love, Elder Glazier

P.S. Shout-out!!!!! My good ole poppy has now hit a ripe old age of 57! Congrats gramps!!!!

 Love you tons dad! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Birthday Dinner
 This is a cool family in our ward that we had dinner with this week. 
They are the ones that made me eat the chicken foot.

Chicken foot only for the Birthday boy!

Yum does this look like the delicacy!

My 19th birthday!! Chocolate cake.  mmmmm
Happy Birthday to me!

Can you hold this rock for a while?
You can call me Atlas.

Can you carry this many handmade bricks on your head?
 Cool brick makers. We struggle to walk through the rice paddies, and then they run through them with huge stacks of bricks on their heads. I'm impressed.

 Paddie Walking and Omby!!! (Cow)