This is Jaxson's Mom who was beyond happy on Mother's Day as we skyped for almost 4 hours of non stop talking with Katelyn/Trevor/Kaden, Linzi/Robert, and the rest of us Jason, Carson, Tyson, and Bryson....and even our two dogs were in the fun! (Jaxson has not personally met our new dog!)
Sharing a few of the treasured comments:
Jaxson and his companion Elder Nolan were on the streets at 3 a.m. to get to the church to begin skyping with his companions' family. On the way, they were stopped by 2 police officers who wished them a good time. Upon arriving at the chapel(which is one of the best in all of Madagascar) the power was out! NO POWER means no Skyping!!! After checking everything they decided to check the generator and discovered there was no oil in it. I would like to think it was all the years of boy scouting that may have taught him a few things or simply his common sense so they could get on with skyping. So glad Elder Nolan was so patient as we skyped!!!!
Jaxson's first story was of a RAT! Yes, a rat who had chewed a hole in the bottom corner of the door so it could enter and exit freely. Yikes! They had already killed one but as it is common knowledge when there is one, there is another. Jaxson went to the fridge and saw a long black thing....it was a rat tail! His companions tried to barricade with a wall but the rat jumped and disappeared. For over 30 minutes every kitchen drawer, every shelf, every inch of the disastrous kitchen was covered searching with no luck to find that rat! Jaxson thought to look under the oven pulling open the under drawer and that rat was simply staring at him! He slammed the drawer and lite a paper on fire and threw it under then turned on oven. Never killed it!!! Then they made another barricade and with knives and other weapons they fought that rat for 2 hours. Later they saw the rat again on the fridge, that long black tail. They built a bigger barricade using a tunnel to trap the rat in and to block the end. Brooms and mop in hand (of course Jaxson was using hand actions-hilarious!) they killed it. The good news is the rat is gone. The bad news is the landlord bought a cat and now it smells of cat pee/poo outside their door!
The best treat was to witness Jaxson receiving his transfer phone call from Elder Lake as we were skyping. This coming Friday he will most likely take a plane down to the very southern end of Madagascar to Fort Dauphin, a beautiful beach area....COWABONGA he yells and kept laughing at this happy news.
He will continue as Zone Leader training another soon to be Zone Leader.
Jaxson has tasted some interesting food but the most memorable is noodles with sardines and mayonnaise served COLD......You can decide if he liked it or NOT but ate it all!!!!
Still having some sick days now and then, but it doesn't stop him for long. He is not a fan of the side poop holes in the ground he gave us a description of and call them toilets but has us laughing so hard as he showed us his missionary planner with missing pages....great toilet paper in any emergency! ( yes he also acted this out in great detail the several bathroom stories...!)
Loves President and Sister Foote and is learning a great deal from them. President Foote knows his scriptures and stores so well that Jaxson desires the same knowledge.
Loves the area he is in and will serve anywhere President Foote sends him. 32 baptisms to date this year in area he is currently serving. Looking to continue doubling the number of members to get a temple on Madagascar!! The average family has 3 children in Madagascar.
When he gets home he can hardly wait to get treats of Tiger Butter, ice cream, and lots of others things he mentioned at Rocky Mountain. He misses his candy store!! ha! Looking forward to BYU Provo.
Gecko's are in his room and they are so loud at night....he made the sound many times which I conclude he hears non stop. The Madagascar kids continue to be afraid of the missionaries as the many parents tell their kids that the missionaries take care of naught kids which scares them. He told of a story a kid that kept yelling foreigner at them which gets very annoying and happens often. So Jaxson told him to be careful as he eats little kids! haha.....he stopped calling him a foreigner!
He gave some advice to Carson who is waiting for his mission call to arrive. He can speak the language so well and all the different dialects. He has learned 5 so far....each is like a new language.
Best Mother's Day wishes and best time Skyping!!! Love my Elder Bowen!
