9-29-14

So yeah crazy week, Found this place to make a custom made suit and the colors for it are going to be the best! I cant wait to wear it when I get home. Tried making chocolate pancakes but they didn't really work out. I went on a split with the area in Fianaratsoa South, and it was weird. We had to ride bikes and the bikes there are not the best. The chain fell off of my bike like 6 times and it had like 2 gears but would not change like at all. The biggest piece of junk that I've ever ridden, Zone leaders came again for splits and brought some things I asked for from Antsriabe since they have a Shoprite. I got 10 jutops guovay and some oats and brown sugar. Hiked the whole mountain to find out the investigators there weren't home. So that was like a 2 hour hike for nothing.... Had a party dinner with our DMB Friday night at Sophias. Then we had our baptism Saturday morning. We had some from both branches. 3 investigators from ours and a 8 year old girl. So yeah I baptized two of them and his dad baptized him and the 8 year girl, hes also the 2nd counselor in our branch presidency. Prepared my talk for Sunday morning. Then at church Sunday we had the confirmations and everything. Then the couple missionaries were handing out award things for like 20 something minutes and they do the whole french custom kiss the cheeks which made it even longer. So there ended up not being enough time for me to give my talk, but next week I guess. So got transfer news. I'm getting a new companion and hes french. But since the other two in my area are training and going down to Tana to get the companions I had to come down to Antsirabe with them to stay with some missionaries. So fun like a 7-71/2 hour drive on a cramped bus for pretty much nothing. Yippee. He apparently is at least somewhat decent at English. That's good.
Elder Miller

Pictures 9-22-14

9-22-14

So this week was cool. Last Monday was a bit of an adventure. o we met this investigator who said she could make suits for us for 20000 AR (like 8 dollars) so we went to meet her at the church to get our measurements. Then she was like oh I didn't bring anything to measure with. So she said she had to walk to her house and all. And she said it was like 2 km. So we start walking. And walking. And walking. Down these train tracks to like the other side of the city. We walked for like a whole hour! It was soo long. Then we got there and she took our measurements with a string. And just wrote down 1 2 3 4 on this piece of paper. So we were like what the is she doing. Then she starts telling us the suits are already done so she would have them the next morning at 10 in the morning. So we are thinking hmmm. This could turn out terrible. And Elder Garcia and I both got them, my housemate, and she had us pay up front. So we go to the church the next morning at 10 and sit there. And sit. Then we were like wow she prly scammed us. But finally at like 10:45 she came and said sorry, I was late a little. Then she gave us the two suits. Elder Garcias was sooo small and tight. Then I tried my coat on and it fit ok. So I took it home and all. Then I tried the pants on. And they fit length wise. But fit someone like 400 lbs!!! Its ridiculous. So I need to find a belt that works with those loops or something. Kinda crazy. Then found a store that has some NBA stuff... haha... Sweet Wednesday night after teaching a time, this drunk guy followed us out saying he wanted to confess to us then told us not to come back and he might have to use force to make us leave. But he was an old man too haha and drunk. It was kinda awkward though. Our next time there was a drunk guy too so we couldn't go in. Thursday at 3 in the morning I was puking for like an hour. So didn't go out that day, but we did splits so Elder Lehr went out with a branch miss and our DMB sat in our house. Have baptisms this week! Also giving a talk in sacrament next week! This week should be really good!

Elder Miller

Note: I asked Elder Miller what DMB means and he said the DMB is the Ward Mission Leader but those are the initials for it in French.

Pictures 9-15-14

Obama Underwear

lizard thing 

The amazing fruit salad 

with the branch missionaries 

9-15-14

So I got my voice back Tuesday morning. So we taught this lesson and this relative guy walked in and I think he was kinda drunk. And during the closing prayer he just kept saying amen and hallelujah throughout the whole thing. It was needless to say weird. We had splits on Tuesday and Wednesday. Wednesdays we hike the mountain and so from that time we went to another appointment a little the other way from where we live. It took us literally an hour to hike back up, down and get all the way to their house. Sooo long. My legs were way tired. I made some brownies for some investigators/members and they liked them, of course. They said they were really sweet. Malagasys aren't quite all used to as much sugary stuff as we are. Our store finally got some ice cream again so milkshakes are coming up today. We have a baptism planned for the 27 of Sept. Still not quite sure how many we will have but it should be great. On Saturday while teaching English I explained the American money to one of them and was explaining all these business terms to him. In Madagascar to graduate high school you have to pass this big like 5 day test called the BAQ. And two guys in our branch, our DMB and one of the branch presidents counselors, The scores got posted Saturday night and they both found out they passed! So now they are both getting ready for their missions which is sweet. It was Elder R's birthday on Saturday so they had us over for dinner. And it was way good. The fruit salad thing was the bomb. Then this week has been a lot warmer. Looking into getting some suits made. They will be sick.
Elder Miller

Pictures 9-8-14

our DMB in Elder Morelys sweater

my noodles

9-8-14

So we got some rain here so our power has been stable which is cool. Heard some weird Malagasy riddles from our branch missionaries, most of them are weird and don't make sense. We had ordered jutop drink but it didn't come still which is dumb. I bought some little drink mix things so I don't have to drink just water as much. Made more ohenries but I tried putting pudding on top from this pudding packet thing. Hopefully it tastes great and everything, Oh bought some noodles to have for dinner and just to have food at the house for back up.... Just a few....Our church on Sunday started like 45 min late because we sat there waiting for the counselor in the mission presidency to arrive. It was weird. So we basically only had 2 hours of meetings. Lost my voice on Friday and still don't have it which sucks. Not much else happened but a cold front came through and some rain. And so it got pretty cold. I had to wear a jacket again but its funny. Our DMB wore like 5 sweaters and under armor type stuff under his pants and our Elders Quorum Pres had a ton of jackets and Ski Pants on. Haha. Pretty funny. Making brownies again today. Getting a haircut too. Oooh and I saw someone wearing a Rajon Rondo jersey yesterday so there is still hope that I will find one. But not a ton happened partially because it feels like I couldn't do much most of the week with no voice.
Elder Miller

Pictures 9-1-14

new watch

new outfit 

kinda can see the view haha

the branch missionaries "studying" way hard! haha actually just marking scripts

making ice cream

9-1-14

So this week had a few crazy things. Our water finally came back on Tuesday around 10ish and has been on since. So that's good. We finally got to shower and wash all of our dishes. But then that night all the power in the north side of the city went out from like 5ish and came on around 8:30ish. This person in our ward had some questions that I was answering, gospel related of course, but I wrote the answers out so that was fun. Getting to practice writing and "translating" into Malagasy is fun. So we went to teach this English class for this new investigator we met. Last time we went there were like 10 people. So we go there Wednesday about 11. We talk with him for a few seconds then go inside the room. AND IT IS PACKED, There were like at least 100 people in there. All part of this English club. So what we did was introduce ourselves, answered some questions about English and then taught the first lesson in English to them. But they gave opening and closing speech things and we were their very distinguished guests. Part way through a guy came in with one of those big video cameras like TV people use. We didn't know before or at the time, but since then some members in our ward said they saw us on TV and that this thing was on Madagascar National News on TV. Haha crazy! So my companion got sick with some stomach thing or something so when we hiked the mountain that day he was suffering some what. Then we ended up going home early Wednesday since he was sick and didn't go out Thursday. So I watched some general conference. Made some OHenries and they turned out nice. Didn't have white karo syrup but kinda just made my own and it seems to have worked out because they are wayyy good. Oh our power was out Thursday night again about 5 to 8ish again. Some kind of pattern perhaps? Then Friday we got a call saying that President (of Madagascar) Hery got mad at something about his water or power and so threw 6 utility people into jail. So the utility people said they were going to turn off all the power and water in Madagascar on Sunday. So we had to get all this extra food, gas, fill all these containers with water and everything. And who knows maybe the Pres would have the military step in to stop their strike. So it was some crazy news, Then Saturday night our power went off at 5 and came on at 8ish again. We were at a members house and he told us that its because their hasn't been enough rain to keep the generators going all the time. So they take turns turning off the power to different parts of the city for a few hours. Anyways also ordered this really good juice and got some make your own icecream things. Then Sunday came and went and the day of reckoning did not happen. So not sure what ended up happening with that but we still have power and water. But yeah just the average week in Madagascar. Our investigators for the most part are all progressing well and I have taken over leading all the lessons we teach to investigators now. So that's good.
Elder Miller