New Struggles

Dear Family,
So this week was kind of a whirlwind of things to do and happenings.  As you already know, my first trainer and companion passed away this week.  He was in a coma and never came out of it.  He went brain dead and that all happened on Thursday morning. 

This whole week we have been without power... so I do everything by candle light.  My new companion is great!  He is a Malagasy so we have been eating a lot of rice and making laoka.  We buy an entire chicken and it just hangs in our house and we cook it each night with our rice... gotta love the Malagasy way!  He is a very happy, smiley guy and we have a lot of fun.  On Monday we kind of just walked around and got some things for the house, food, we got gas too!! This week was the first week that we could actually cook food at the house because we recieved gas!  Tuesday was a good day of work, though its harder to work with elder rasoanaivo because he is just good at talking so I find myself wanting to just give him the floor to do all of the talking!  But, he is a very good trainer and makes me do my best to struggle through the plan of salvation or whatever it may be.  Wednesday happened to be the Independence Day for all Malagasies, BIG DAY!  There was lots of lights and fireworks and music and dancing and we really couldnt teach.  The next day was just about the same, parades and lots of drinking and hootin and holerin!  However, since we were still out of power we had the phone charging at our land lords house and when we went to get it in the morning they were gone so we had to wait till like 3 in the afternoon for them to return.  When we got the phone we had 6 missed calls, 3 texts, and a couple voicemails, all about the news with elder palmer.  We only got one time on that day also.  We worked on Friday and Saturday, and as the people in my town started to find out about elder palmer it got really hard for them!  People cried and one mom in our branch gave me a hug because she was so sad.  I kind of freaked out when she did that, I did the ole greenie missionary, throw your hands in the air and wait for her to let go!  Hahahah.  I dont really have a lot of time to email today, I can talk more next week!  Have a great week with the family in Utah!  I miss and love them all so send my love to them!  The work of the Lord will continue no matter what happens, so like Coach Johnson always says, "Attitude and Effort" and things will be great! I love you so much

All my Love

Elder Herrin