"Magicianary" - A missionary who does magic to bring joy and happiness as well as share the gospel with the people of Madagascar (According to Brad)

Monday, October 15, 2012

A Hard Week - Oct. 15, 2012

Well I myself am kind of bummed about the ward change. I guess I'm just gonna have to visit all of the people that are in different wards now. 

Well I have to be honest, this week was not the best. But it was still good because ya know, I'm in Madagascar serving the Lord. 

So on Monday, we did this Family Home Evening with this less-active family. It was a hit! We had the one of the members with us share a little spiritual thought and then after Elder Austin and I shared the lesson. Honestly I can't remember what we shared but I know it was good. Really good. :) Then we it was time for the game. This time I decided that it was time to pull out the magic tricks! I did about three different magic tricks and it amazed every single one of them. It was hilarious to see their faces haha! They were amazed/angry that they couldn't figure it out. After that, they fed us this delicious rice and beans. I know that's what I've been eating for the past year and a half but it's really good! The only thing that was kind of a bummer was the rice water was cold. NOTE: For those of you who don't know, they have this rice water here. After serving the rice, they throw in more water and burn the rice that's still in the pot. And then they serve it hot. And it is delicious! But it's kind of weird if it's cold. 

Wednesday we had interviews with Pres. Adams. [He's the new mission president since July.] And it was probably one of the most special times on my mission. I just felt like he really cared about me. It was really like the first time that we talked. Everything went well and I feel like my mission is gonna go better now. 

Friday we were teaching the Ten Commandments to this mom and daughter. We got through all of them, the hand signals and everything. We taught a little why we needed to keep them and then we asked them if they knew all of the ten commandments. So we would hold up our hand and they would tell us which one it was. So I held up 1 and the daughter said "don't use the Lord's name in vain", the mom said "don't kill people." Both wrong. We move on to the second one. Same answer from both. Both wrong. We move on to the third one, (this is "don't use the Lords name in vain") So this time the mom answers first "don't kill people". Nope wrong. the says "don't commit adultery". Wrong again. So this goes to the fourth and fifth commandment. The daughter has taken the jump around tactic bound to get some right. And the more experienced mom is sticking with her "don't kill" answer, determined to get one right. So now me and Elder Austin were a little disappointed but so excited that we were on six now (don't kill). So we hold up number six and Elder Austin gives a good excited gesture to let her know that she will get it right and she says "don't covet". How could she change her groove?! After that the daughter just cheated and looked at the bible, and the mom stuck with don't covet until the end. So eventually she did get one right. You just gotta love missionary work. 

Saturday was a little different. Three of the times we taught the people were drunk. And they always talk about how it is so hard to live because they never have enough money. Well maybe it's because they are drunk at three o'clock in the afternoon. Its really hard to watch sometimes. Hopefully they remember something of what we taught that day. But I think the hardest part to watch was when we got out of our last time and everyone was looking at something. Everyone on this little street was looking at a member of our church, drunk. He was walking furiously up and down the street and yelling like crazy at people and how they are liars. And he was hitting people with a stick. It was probably the hardest thing I have ever seen in my life. So I immediately walked up to him and took the stick from him. Luckily he was nice to us, the missionaries. So I took him inside his house and talked to him for a little bit. Then I told him that he couldn't leave his house and that he had to go to sleep. From what I heard from his wife the next day he didn't do anything else. It's so tough sometimes because they have been having a hard time with money I believe. We visited them earlier that morning and they gave us some juice and bread. And he was perfectly fine. Life can be hard but I know if we trust in God and try OUR best to live his principles, our life will get better. 

Also on Saturday there were a lot of people bugging us and teasing us and just being rude to us, so we decided to get some ice cream at the end of the day. So we paid them and got our change and walked away. About the time we were home it finally clicked in my head that they didn't give us the right change. They stole a little from us! It was just a rough day in general. 

I love teaching the gospel. There is no way that any other church is true. I know that Heavenly Father loves us very much. I love the Malagasy people. I hope all of you have a great week! 

Love,
Elder Walker

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