Summer time

Dear Family,

What a wonderful week it has been here in Antananarivo Madagascar!  I have been working in heat and rain and enjoying my time here in Ambohimangakely!  I also had some extremely funny moments and will share those with you! I hope that all of you are doing well, smiling oft, and enjoying the blessings of living the gospel of Jesus Christ!
So this week was great!  We had a lot of times drop on us, either because they were not home, there was no man at the house, or they just had stuff to do that couldnt wait... So we found some new people to teach!  One of the new families that we found turned out to be really fun and good to teach.  However, their father... So the father is like 50 years old (about) and he is like way ripped because he does manual labor all day!  He is bald with white hairs spread around his head that he missed from shaving... And the last adjective I will give about him is DRUNK!  So before I go into the story, I need you (Dad) to remember the episode of FRIENDS where I think that its Pheobe who has a boyfriend who doesnt wear any underwear and all the gang gets like a sneak peak at the coffee shop!  Ok, so back to the story, So we walk in and its everyone we teach except the dad... and things are going well, they tell us how happy they are to recieve us and all that and then the dad comes in like singing some random song at the top of his lungs! He then notices that there is a white man in the room and like takes his hat off and shakes my hand and goes off on this big shpeal about how he got in this fight with a white guy once... So his son, who is like 30, sits his father down and tells us to continue. So my companion starts the lesson, and no joke after every sentence my companion would say, the old man would ask for our address... Hahahaha!  Like thats the only thing he asked for... The mans son told us to try and talk over him.  So we tried to do that, but if you have ever tried to talk over a drunk, it doesnt work.  Then, all of a sudden he stood up.  He stumbled, because it was a quick stand, then stated that we all needed to pray... so he prayed.  In that prayer, he noted that he was grateful for his alcohol, for his girlfriend, then he asked Jesus to bless him with more money and said amen!  He was a happy fellow after that!  His son was emberassed, but couldnt do anything about it... So how does this all tie in to the episode of FRIENDS... yep, you guessed it, GPA didnt wear any underwear.  And he sat right in front of me.  I gagged a couple of times... tried to keep my eyes on the scriptures, but it was just like you know its there.  All of the friends in that episode like freak out every time he crosses his legs, so did I!  Hahaha.  Oh Madagascar!  The rest of the week was good.  I had some funny stories where I would ask who God was and get this strange answer like prayer... ok!  Other than that all is well here!  I am finding that the more I recognize the tender mercies of the Lord, the better my day goes.  I would extend a little invitation to you that if you are ever having a bad day, where people are be-littling you, or you just feel like you cant... seek for the tender mercies, his hand is always stretched out, we just have to reach out and grab it.  I am so happy to be serving here and cannot wait to experience more!   I love you all so much, I love being a missionary!

Elder Herrin