OHH MYYY GOOSSHHH!!
Let me start from the beginning... So the MTC was so great! To end my last day, the BYU Mens chorus came and sang. So spiritual and what a way to end the MTC. I so loved it there and the people! It was hard to say goodbye, but all of the elders and the Greek sisters got up at like 5 in the morning to wish us well on Monday morning. So then the plane rides started. Everyone in Salt Lake was excited to see like 50 missionaries in the airport. It was wierd...not gonna lie. The plane ride to Chicago was nice, like 3 to 4 hours. But then we had six hours to kill so we sat around and did nothing...it snowed though! The plane ride to London was soo dope. They had like tvs for each seat and you could "text" other people on the plane and play video games and watch movies...but not me. So I basically slept a lot. Umm quick thing, there was an area of the 70 who just got released in General Conference and he is from South Africa. You can tell that people like that just have the Lord on their side. So the nine hours in London was even worse...just sitting. Elder Davis had me try a bunch of wierd drinks and chocolate. The flight to South Africa was a boeing 747...HUGE...double decker plane. The airport in South Africa was scary... I have never felt like Luke so much in my life because people just stared at me. Im sorry Luke. So anyway, I am now in Tana. The AP's pick us up and drive us to the office. CRAZYYYYYYY drive. There are absolutely NOO traffic laws in Madagascar. The people walk in the street and cars literally scream by them not more than 8 inches from the little kids with no shoes on. Even the AP who was driving was just honking at the people as he flew by them. Mothers with huge pails of stuff on their head walked the dirty streets. So we got there, had dinner, interview, blah blah blah and then we went out and taught with the AP's. I led one discussion and Elder Davis taught the other. Doggie says rough! But it was the experience that counts. These people have two rooms with nothing in them. The next day we had breakfast with the President and found out who our trainers were. My new companion is named Elder Palmer. He is from Utah...go figure. He has served from almost nine months. We are the only two missionaries serving in Ambositra. Its south of Tana in the valley. Wonderful (dirty) little place. Here is where the fun begins. So we go to leave Tana and we take what is called a taxi be. Which is a big (small) bus filled with 30 malagasys for a seven hour trip. It gets dark by like six so we couldnt see a thing. We also had to stop no joke like 12 times because the "army" had to check our bus which really means that the bus driver gives them money to let us through. Ohh there is so much to tell but its 8 o'clock at night here and we are in someones home (another story) So anyways, we get to the house. We usually have electricity my comp said, but it wasnt working... and there was no hot water. We got there at 2 in the morning, sorry minor detail. The next morning we got electricity for like two hours and I got hot water. The house is very dirty and filled with bugs and oh its so fun. We went out and taught like five lessons on friday. One was by candle light because no one has electricity. One lesson, the mom dropped her dress to let her child breast feed in the middle of the lesson as my comp was teaching her about the law of chastity. Another was like 5 miles away...I have never experienced anything even close to this. I love it so much! We get up every morning and go to a "hotely" which is just a little place where the people sell things and we get two bannanas and a piece of bread for breakfast. We dont have store in our town to buy goods, the only place in Mada that doesnt have a store. I got to bear my testimony in church on Sunday... again doggie says rough. The people have accepted me so much. Today all of the people celebrated Easter by having a big meal, kareoke, and dancing. I played with the kids, sang the only American song they had which was Akon-Dont Matter and ate a huge plate of rice with lots of Loch. We had FHE with a member family and tonight it finally rained really hard. IT is SOOO hot here. I will always have crazy stories to tell, I gotta go though. I know I missed a lot in these stories but Ill talk more next week hopefully. I love you all so much. Quick thought: The Lord asks us to sacrifice small things, two of the most important being a broken heart and a contrite spirit. These people have nothing, but they give what they can. I love being a missionary.
All my love,
Elder Herrin
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