Zone Leader & Pigs

Voatonga ny vaovaon'ny transfer ary za vao lasa ny ZONE LEADER!

Hey Everyone!

Well, transfer news came this week and Elder Becker and I are still together for one more transfer! Thank Goodness! I've had a lot of fun with him so far and I can't wait to continue to work with him! Along with that came some other news, I'M A ZONE LEADER! What?! Yep, Elder Obioma and I are now the Zone Leaders in Antsirabe! I'm replacing Elder Herrin who just left for Tana to become the new AP! Not going to lie but I'm way nervous! It took me completely by surprise when President Foote called and asked me to be the new Zone Leader and I hope and pray that I can fulfill this new assignment! Elder Obioma and I aren't in the same companionship but I can't wait to start working with him more and more to try and strengthen this Zone!

Anyways, that's the big news for the week!

Work was awesome this week! Elder Becker and I set some goals and we literally saw miracles from our efforts! We found a really cool family last week and we taught them about the Restoration on Saturday! Holy cow was the spirit felt! I taught about the first vision and then asked them to pray about whether or not Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus! They accepted the challenge and hopefully they did so! Prosper, the father of the home, was really interested in our message and we have a return appointment set up for next Saturday!

All the other investigators are doing well and Voangy said she wants to be baptized on the 19th of September! I know it's the week after our original goal but we believe she's ready whenever it is! We love teaching her and we can't wait to see her baptized! She had a really good time at church yesterday and she's progressing very well! I love her!

Crazy story of the week was the valala storm that happened on Tuesday!

Valala means Locust in Malagasy so you can probably imagine what that was like! There were literally billions and billions of 4 inch long Locust flying around Antsirabe! I got some crazy pics and videos that ya'll have to see! It was insane!

Well, that's my weekly report! A lot has changed in just a few days and hopefully I can fulfill my next assignment! I love you all so much and I hope everyone has a great week!

Love, Elder Stringfellow

P.S. Congrats to the football team for beating the Vikes!

PHOTOS OF THE WEEK

PIGS

Holding a Pig

Locust Fest

More Locust

The Heaven's Opened Up

Malagasy Children

A Cool Tunnel

Heavenly Father is looking down on our Missionaries

A child

Ryan with Church Members

The Book of Mormon

More Kids

Hang Loose

Thumbs Up

Best Weekend Ever...

Manahoana Daholo!

We had another awesome week here down in Andranomanelatra! Work is going great and it looks like our number one investigator right now, Voangy, will be getting baptized on Sept. 12! Keep your fingers crossed! All the other investigators are doing great and we'll continue to keep them progressing!

This weekend was literally the best weekend of my mission so far! It started at 3:00 am on Saturday morning as Elder Becker and I went to pick up the Fianarantsoa Elders at the church! Needless to say I was a little excited to see Elder Godfrey again, haha! The reason why they came down was for the Zone Conference that happened latter that afternoon! Holy cow, best Zone Conference of my mission so far!

The Zone Conference was held with Elder Cook of the first quorum of the Seventy! It was flat out incredible! We talked about testimony and conversion and how they correspond with each other! It really made me think about my own conversion and how I have changed throughout the course of my mission! I have seen a lot of changes in my life personally but I know that there is a lot more room for improvement!  How I conduct myself here on the mission and in my life after plays a huge role in how I will live in the life to come! Let's just say that I want to live a higher/celestial law!

Church this week was amazing! We went to church in our other branch out in Sarodroa with Elder and Sister Cook, President and Sister Foote, Three other mission couples, and the AP's! Yeah, I did a lot of translating along with the AP's, haha! Coolest part of it all was during Sunday School I was asked to translate for Elder and Sister Cook! Yeah, talk about scary! When they asked me to translate I was sort of like, "You mean the General Authority and his wife over there?!" Haha, it wasn't that bad! The lesson was on the Sabbath Day and Elder and Sister Cook were impressed by how well the Branch understands the importance of the Sabbath! All in all, best church meeting I've ever been too! The Spirit was felt so strong and all the members in Sarodroa were so happy that they had the opportunity to be with Elder Cook! It is a memory that I will never forget!

Well, that's my report on the awesome weekend we had! I have never felt the spirit so much and my life and it was truly a blessing to have Elder Cook with us! I learned so much from him and I know that I will imply his teachings into my life! I love you all so much and I hope that everyone has an awesome week!

Am-pitiavana, Elder Stringfellow

Pics: I burned a shirt for my year mark! Pic with some members in Sarodroa! Elder Godfrey and I with Elder and Sister Cook!

PHOTOS OF THE WEEK

Elder Cook, Elder Godfrey, Elder Stringfellow, Sister Cook

Elder Stringfellow and the Shirt Burning

The Shirt is Burning

Elder Stringfellow and Elder Becker and some of the Branch Members

Best Year of My Life...

Manahoana Daholo!

To start off, I hit my year mark this week! WHAT?! It's already been a year? Well, I guess it has because a year ago from this Thursday I entered the MTC to start my mission! Best decision of my life! This past year has honestly been the best year of my life and I can't wait to see what happens in this final year of my mission!

Anyways, besides the big ONE YEAR MARK, work this week was a little rough.....Ya'll already know that Elder Becker got way sick last week and it still showed this week! It was still bad enough on Tuesday that we couldn't go out and work and throughtout the rest of the week we had to take it really slow! The poor guy! It's been a rough way to start off his mission but if there's anyone who can overcome this it's him! We'll just continue to hope and pray that he starts feeling better and that we can get a good work week in!

This weekend was crazy! The Antsirabe District was doing the "Mormon Helping Hands" activity and I had to make sure everything was all set for Andranomanelatra and Sarodroa! It was nuts! For those that don't know what the "Mormon Helping Hands" activity is it's pretty much a service project that each branch decides to do! On Friday Andranomanelatra did theirs and Sarodroa did theirs on Saturday! I had to make sure that each branch had all the yellow vests for activity and that everything was all set to happen! Luckily everything went well and we got the projects done! After the projects I had to get all the yellow vests again and take them back to Anstirabe so the Branches there could do their activities! Let's just say I felt like a delivery boy.....haha!

Well, that's about it for the week! This week President Foote is coming down with the Area Seventy and Elder Becker and I get to go to church with them in Sarodroa! I'm so pumped! It'll be an experience that I'll remember for the rest of my life! To make matters even better the Fianarantsoa Elders will becoming up to do a Zone Conference with us, President Foote, and The Area Seventy! That means I get to see Elder Godfrey, haha! Anyways, that's my report for the week! I love you all so much and I hope that everyone has a great week!

Love, 

Elder Stringfellow

PHOTOS OF THE WEEK

Mormon Helping Hands

Mormon Helping Hands

Mormon Helping Hands

Mormon Helping Hands

Mormon Helping Hands

Mormon Helping Hands

Lake Travitra

Lake Travitra

Bananas....Its All About the Bananas

Nandalo tamin'ny hopitaly tamin'ny alina izahay satria tena marary ny zanako....

 Hey Everyone!

Okay, so we had a pretty normal week up until yesterday! The meaning of what I wrote above is, "We stopped by the hospital last night because my son is very sick..." Yeah, Elder Becker got pretty sick yesterday and after reaching a fever of 105 degrees we thought it would be best if we took him to the hospital, haha! Luckily, he's feeling a lot better and the Malaria test came up negative! Let's just say that we might be taking it a little slow for the next few days until Elder Becker get's back up to strength!

This week work was a little slow....We still worked hard but absolutely nobody was home! Here in Mada right now it's "Famadiana" season or the "Turning of the Bones!" Malagasies take this fomba gasy very seriously and when they're going to do a Famadiana, they're going to do a Famadiana! Don't know if that made sense but let's just say they take it way serious! Well, there was a giant Famadiana in Andranomanelatra this past week and nobody was home....it was rough but we're hoping that next week will be a lot better!

We did give out a baptismal date to one of investigators however! Her name is Saholy and she has already been reading from the Book of Mormon! In our lesson this past week with her she asked a lot about baptism and we took the opportunity to set up a date with her! She accepted her baptismal date for Oct. 17 and she even asked if she had to bring her own baptismal clothes, haha! Hopefully we can get her baptized!

I'm finally feeling better! The past two weeks did it's toll on me but I think I finally found the cure: BANANAS! I'm not even kidding! If your feeling sick, go eat a banana! It's sounds so wierd but I'm thoroughly convinced that is the reason why I'm feeling better! I buy a kilo of bananas everyday for about 800 AR and I just snack on bananas all day! Seriously though, EAT BANANAS!

Well, that was my week! It's was pretty slow up until yesterday when all heck broke loose but everything is all good now! Haha, it's all about the experience right?! Anyways, I love you all so much and I hope that everyone has an awesome week!

Am-pitiavana,
Elder Stringfellow

PHOTOS OF THE WEEK

Cow Tongue Anyone

More Cow Tongue

Funny Faces

Loves the kids

Selfie

Selfie

Church Members

The Kids

The Heavens Opened

Layered Landscape

Fields of Rice Patties

Countryside

Another Sunset

More Sunset

Sunset

SITRAK's CALL...

Hey Everyone!

We had another awesome week here in Andranomanelatra and we got a lot done! We had a a lot of spiritual moments this week and a lot of other moments that were just flat out wierd!

Sitrak and his Mission Call

Anyways, to start off, Sitraka's call came and he's going to Cote d’Ivoire! Man I'm so excited for him! Ya'll already know that Sitraka is the Branch Mission Leader and now the first missionary ever from the Andranomanelatra Branch! I had the awesome opportunity of translating his call letter for him so he could know where he was going and it was one of the coolest experiences of my mission so far! I haven't seen Sitraka this happy and I can't wait till he starts his mission!

This week I also got to go on a split with Elder Herrin! Elder Herrin is the man! We've lived together ever since Tamatave and it's been an awesome experience! It was nice to talk to him for a whole day and get some advice from him! There's a reason he's our Zone Leader right now and I'm just happy that I got to work with him for a day! We taught seven lessons throughout the split and I was introduced to some way cool people! All in all, it was an awesome split and I'm glad to have done it with Elder Herrin!

Sitrak's Mission Call in English

On Friday we headed out to Sarodroa were some members were going to introduce us to their "friends!" Turns out that their friends were already members and their children needed blessings! I don't know why they didn't just tell us from the beginning! Anyways, I gave all three blessings and it was kind of a weird experience not going to lie! All I was told at the beginning of the blessings was that they were only sick and needed a blessing of health! I later found out that all three of them were very mentally ill! After the blessings the weirdest thing happened....All the sudden all the windows in the house slammed shut and one of the sick girls started doing this creepy laugh! Let's just say Sitraka, Elder Becker, and I got out of that house as quickly as we could! The whole situation was real creepy but I'm glad that they got the blessings and we'll hope and pray that something good happens!

We had an awesome fast and testimony meeting yesterday and Voangy came again! She made the long trek gain and her crippled foot and this time she brought a friend! September 12th is looking bright for Voangy and hopefully we'll get her baptized! Our branch is so nice to her especially our Branch President and I think that's the reason she keeps coming every week! Just goes to show that everyone can be a missionary even if you don't have the badge to prove it!

Anyways, that was my week! A lot of real cool experiences happened this week along with some weird ones! All in all this week was a good week and I learned a lot! I love you all so much and I hope that everyone has a great week!

Love, 
Elder Stringfellow

THIS WEEKS PHOTOS

The countryside

A Beautiful Madagascan Sunset

Their Apartment

Their Beds

Their Living Room

Sitrak "Hanging Loose"

Sitrak wearing a wig