WEEK 80 Salama Dahole! - Cyclone - Elder Ellis knowledge

Yes there was a cyclone this week! Crazy amounts of rain and really high winds. Luckily no one was hurt and nothing was broken. So that hindered the work on Tuesday night and Wednesday due to people calling us and telling us not to come haha. The work picked up after that. Here are a couple of highlights from the week!

So from our new knowledge from Elder Ellis we went out on Tuesday to find some new solid investigators. The best time of the day was with this one family we have been talking to for a while. We taught them about the Gospel and talked about faith. Then we stressed the importance of coming to church. They said they would come to church this next week. He went on telling us he wants the best for his kids and his wife. He told us that all of the churches they have been to haven't been too good for them. We told him that he would find the right one next Sunday... then we testified to them of the truthfulness of the message and we ended up reviewing the restoration with them. Awesome time! 

Sadly our star investigators couldn't learn this week due to the rain on Tuesday and there was a little accident at an activity on Saturday and they didn't come to church. We were worried for them but Elder Tshetu said that if they see the church is true then it won't be a problem. So we are praying for them!

Then we set a baptismal date for Kiky, Odette, Clara, and her daughter. They came to church and Clara even brought her husband, who has been having problems lately. We went and taught them and they said ok let's set a date! They almost put it for this Saturday but due to the dads work schedule, they set it for April 15, a week after the transfer ends. Then we proceeded to teach Clara's husband  as he hasn't really been in the picture for a while and it was basically Clara and the family teaching him, it was awesome! 

So that's the update on those guys. This week we went knocking and finding, and we found some awesome new people. We have some great follow up times this week, some splits, and a zone conference to look forward to. We prayed hard this last week to find new families to teach and we found! Elder Ellis said it many times and now we find ourselves saying it a lot, that God is a God of miracles.

 

Have a great week errrbody! 

 

Elder Bowen

 

 

WEEK 79 Loholona Ellis-Transfer staying-We won soccer-7 baptisms!

Another great one this week! So this week was a little hectic due to transfers. This Tuesday and Wednesday Elder Lingani said goodbye to some of our members and investigators. Then on Thursday I went on splits with Elder Shoemaker. We went and worked in his area but it is still in my branch since our branch is split with 4 Elders. On Friday we had a mission conference with Elder Ellis! He came and gave us a great lesson. He talked about how God is a God of miracles. How we need to trust in his power and push the work even harder and find those Golden Families. That night I went to another area and did a Baptismal interview for some other elders.

Saturday came around and it was the first day with my new comp, Elder Tshetu. He is also from South Africa. He is awesome and we have been getting along great. Turns out we were both into a lot of the same things from before the mission and we both have a great desire for the work so needless to say we get along. So Saturday we had an awesome English lesson with our class and then later we attended the baptisms for our branch. 7 baptisms! It was great and everything went smooth. At night we went out to work. We visited Mamy and went over the baptism interview with him but sadly he didn't come to church this Sunday so we will postpone his baptism for the 25th probably where he can get baptized with our other amazing family which we taught that night. We taught them the Law of Chastity and luckily they are already married by the law. But they saw the great importance of the lesson and really enjoyed it. Our awesome member help was hilarious. He went a little too in detail about his temptations before his baptism but it made for a good lesson haha. Then they came on Sunday and they brought all of their kids! Great time! 

Today we went and played soccer and yes the missionaries took it today. We beat the Antananarivo Ward 2-1 today. So there's another one for the Elders.

Sorry but no pics this week. Card got wiped this last week so we will be recovering that this week hopefully.

Everyone have a great week!

                                           Mission Conference with Elder Ellis from the Seventy

WEEK 78-Area 70 visits- Awesome Stake Conference-Church is truly growing here!

Transfers this week! So Elder Lingani and I were pretty sure we were staying together but a surprise call from the APs came and told us that Lingani is getting transferred! He leaves this week and I'll get my new comp this week. This week was an awesome one. This Sunday we had an area 70 come and talk at Stake Conference. So if you saw the picture with all the missionaries it was from the awesome Stake Conference that we had. So many people came that we couldn't fit them all in the stake center. It was a great turnout and we were even able to find our awesome investigators there in the midst of all the people.

Speaking of our awesome investigators, we had something interesting happen this week. We were going to go teach they this last Saturday and we went to our members house to pick him up to help us with the lesson. When we got to his house he said there was a problem and brought us inside. So last time we taught them the landlord was upstairs in her house and she was on the floor listening to what we were saying. I guess she didn't agree with the lessons and she proceeded to tell them, after we left, that she doesn't want us coming to that house anymore. After he told us that, we went up to their house and sent our member help in to get the father. He came out to us and we talked for a minute. He told us that they still want to learn and asked if we could do it at the members house. They said yes and now we have a set program of learning at our awesome members house. And they also told us that they would keep coming to church which they proved true by showing up to Stake Conference the next day. 

This week I had the chance of going on splits with Elder Blatter. He has been here for about 6 months and he is an awesome missionary. We went out and tracted some new houses in my area and we found some solid people. We even met a family that had known missionaries before. After talking to them we found out they had read the Book of Mormon. They couldn't let us in at the moment as they were about to leave but we set up a return time with them. We are very exited to get to go back to them. 

That is about it this week. To top it off, on Sunday I gave 7 baptismal interviews. The work here in Madagascar is booming. We were so happy to see so many people coming to Stake Conference this last Sunday. Even the members were surprised and they came up to us telling us how this church is truly growing. I am so grateful to get to be here in Madagascar to be a part of this. I hope everyone has a great week! 

 

                                                        A GREAT Sunday!