Another Great Week!
So this was the first full work week with Elder Snow and things are going great. So this week we had the mother of one of our members pass away. They were so nice to invite us missionaries to attend the funeral and the burial which we went to and saw the way cool Malagasy way.
So Tuesday we got into this little taxi car that took us out to where the funeral service was. When we got out there, we went into the home and held a little service. We went without member help so Angelo kind of helped us understand what was going on. At the funeral some people talked a lot about her and some of their experiences with her then, a lot of them talked about the life after death and where she was going. As we were sitting there I noticed that the corner was blocked off by a curtain. Guess what was behind it? Yes the body! So I guess it is the Malagasy way to have the body lying in the house for a while and to have people visit it and say their goodbyes. So then after that we left and went back Thursday for the burial. We waited for a bit and then they came out of the house with the body and carried it around the house three times and then we headed for the grave site, which is a huge room that they basically dug a tunnel to. They did a couple more cultural things and then put the body down into the grave. So that was way cool to get to go see and be a part of.
The work went way good this week. We have been getting referrals like crazy this week! That was a lot of what we did this week was contacting referrals. But in those contacts we met a current new investigator named Geraldo. He is here studying law and he kind of speaks English. We contacted him Wednesday and gave him a first pamphlet. Saturday we taught him and he had a bunch of questions about the apostasy. We taught him more and apparently he has been going to church in Tamatave for the past month and now that he is back here he wants to learn and go to church here.
Then we met Christian. He was a little drunk... but he showed us his house and apparently he had learned a little from the missionaries before and said he wants to learn again. So we set up a return date with him and since he was drunk I didn't expect much. Then the next day he showed up at church! sober!!!!!! so we have our time with him this week and we are praying he isn't drunk for it but we will see.
So besides that, not a whole lot new here. Investigators are continuing to progress and we should be having some baptisms in September for Noriana and Anitah. Today Elder Snow and I hiked up to the huge statue of Mary and then went to the cybers to email and all the usuals were closed! So we went out searching and found one! We got lucky! Here are some pics for everyone!
So Tuesday we got into this little taxi car that took us out to where the funeral service was. When we got out there, we went into the home and held a little service. We went without member help so Angelo kind of helped us understand what was going on. At the funeral some people talked a lot about her and some of their experiences with her then, a lot of them talked about the life after death and where she was going. As we were sitting there I noticed that the corner was blocked off by a curtain. Guess what was behind it? Yes the body! So I guess it is the Malagasy way to have the body lying in the house for a while and to have people visit it and say their goodbyes. So then after that we left and went back Thursday for the burial. We waited for a bit and then they came out of the house with the body and carried it around the house three times and then we headed for the grave site, which is a huge room that they basically dug a tunnel to. They did a couple more cultural things and then put the body down into the grave. So that was way cool to get to go see and be a part of.
The work went way good this week. We have been getting referrals like crazy this week! That was a lot of what we did this week was contacting referrals. But in those contacts we met a current new investigator named Geraldo. He is here studying law and he kind of speaks English. We contacted him Wednesday and gave him a first pamphlet. Saturday we taught him and he had a bunch of questions about the apostasy. We taught him more and apparently he has been going to church in Tamatave for the past month and now that he is back here he wants to learn and go to church here.
Then we met Christian. He was a little drunk... but he showed us his house and apparently he had learned a little from the missionaries before and said he wants to learn again. So we set up a return date with him and since he was drunk I didn't expect much. Then the next day he showed up at church! sober!!!!!! so we have our time with him this week and we are praying he isn't drunk for it but we will see.
So besides that, not a whole lot new here. Investigators are continuing to progress and we should be having some baptisms in September for Noriana and Anitah. Today Elder Snow and I hiked up to the huge statue of Mary and then went to the cybers to email and all the usuals were closed! So we went out searching and found one! We got lucky! Here are some pics for everyone!
Elder Bowen
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