Week 18 in Tamatave...8 month mark

Manahoana Daholo!

Today marks my 8 month mark as being a Missionary! WHAT!? Time is just flying by and it's starting to freak me out a little bit, haha! Anyways, we had a pretty good week this week and I can't wait to tell you all about it!

First off, I went on two different splits this week! The first split I went on was with one of our Zone Leaders, Elder Herin! I LOVE HIM! He's from Cali and played Football and Basketball in high school! He is honestly one of the nicest guys in world and is a friend to everyone! Looking at his profile it's easy to say that he and I get along very well! I thought just living with him was a ton of fun but working with him is even more fun! He's just a hard worker who enjoys his mission and I love him!

The second split I went on was with Elder Conault! He's from France and only has one more transfer left in his mission! He's fluent in French (mazava ho azy), English, and Malagasy! The split sort of started off rocky when Elder Conault was on the toilet all morining....I didn't think he'd make it out the door but he insisted we go work! Well, he got worse and we had to go to the doctor! We didn't work the rest of the day and it turns out he tested positive for worms, haha! I shouldn't laught because I'll probably end up getting them anyway but yeah that was our split, haha!

The rest of the week was just same old same old! I finally finished what I could with MLS and I'm so thankful that it's over! I found a lot of people in our MLS but there are still a lot of people who nobody knows! It's sad to see how many people are less-active here in Mada but in the end it's their choice and I have now control over it!

Anyways, that was my week! Lots and lots of great things happened this last week but I'm sure even more will happen this week! We have conference coming up this Saturday and Sunday and I can't wait! We also have transfer news this week and I really hope I stay in this area! I love this area so much and I really don't want to leave this branch! They mean the world to me! I love you all so much and I hope ya'll have a great week! Tena Tiako Ianareo!

Love

Elder Stringfellow

Week 17 in Tamatave...Helping out the Branch Leadership

Hey everyone!

I can't believe Easter has already come and gone and along with that was conference! We didn't have the opportunity to watch conference this past week but on the 26th and 27th we'll receive it all and I can't wait to watch it! I heard nothing but good things about this conference and I'm really looking forward to it!

Work this week was busy! Right now we are trying to clean up information in our branch's recording system (MLS) and that took up a lot of our time, haha! Oh well, I've actually kind of liked it because I get to work with a lot of our members!

We could see a Baptism coming up! We are teaching this girl named Tanya with some members and she is progressing very well! She's been coming to church with the member family and hopefully we get her baptized soon! Other than that we are still rebuilding our program but the area is doing alive and well! I love our branch and they help me out so much!

We also had a very good Zone Meeting this week! It lasted about 4 hrs and we talked about "How We Can Become Disciples Of Christ." It was probably my favorite Zone Meeting so far and I learned so much! The main messege that I got out of it was that I need to deny myself of everything besides the Lord and put everything else behind me! I've been trying to do that this week and let's just say I got a lot of room for improvement! However, I have already seen some small changes in my work and they way I act and it has been a true blessing in my life!

So sorry for another short letter this week! This week I'm going on two different splits and they should be a ton of fun to talk about!  I'll fill you in with all the details from this week next week and I can't wait to talk to you all again! 

Thank you so much for all the emails and words of encouragement! I love you all so much and I hope ya'll have a great week!

Love

Elder Stringfellow

PHOTOS OF THE WEEK

Week 16 in Tamatave...Easter Monday

Hey Everyone!

I am so sorry to be sending this so late but this week was insane! Little did I know that Easter is pretty much the biggest holiday in Madagascar and everything just shuts down for 2 or 3 days! I have pictures of all of Tamatave just having an insane party on the beach and that's the main reason why no cybers were open on Monday! I honestly haven't seen so many people in my life and I'll make sure I send the pictures home!

Work this week was pretty slow due to it being the Easter Holiday but we still got a lot done! The main focus of our work right now is finding less actives and teaching recent converts! We are working a lot with our branch right now which is awesome and they are helping us find these people! Because of that we don't really have any Bap dates coming up....I could see Oliva getting baptized in a month or two but she still has a long way to go....Oh well! The work still goes on!

This week was a big learning week for me! With everything going on with Easter and all I became a little discouraged....There were a lot of things this week that just fell through and it took it's toll on me! Whether it was appointments falling through, investigators not showing up to church, or not being able to cyber on Monday it stressed me out! However, I took some time the other night to just think! For some reason I thought back to last baseball season and team quotes started flowing back into my head! The one that stood out to me the most was "Control What You Can Control!" I really thought about that quote this week and came to the realization that everything I was stressing over were things that I had no control over!

There are a lot of things in this life that we can't control and a lot of the time they are really hard to deal with! However, all we need to do is focus on the things in our lives that we can control! I know it's not always easy to realize that which we can control but I know that if we focus on those things everything will come around in the end! All in all, find what you can control, work hard, and make it count! That's my little piece of advice for ya'll going into this week!

Again I am so sorry for being so late to send this email! Next week we'll be able to cyber on Monday and I'll be looking forward to that! Thank you so much for all your encouraging emails that you all send me! They really do mean a lot! I love you all so much and I hope everyone has a great week!

Love,

Elder Stringfellow

PHOTOS OF THE WEEK

Elder Stringfellow's Favorite Family so Far

Washing his clothes by hand...He knew he would have to do it sometime

The chairs from the church...cleaned by the missionaries

Elder Herin and Elder Price

Carrying the chairs

Elder Bowler and Elder Stringfellow

Elder Razafimandimby!

Crazy Easter Monday Part 1

Our Branch Mission Leader

Some guy wanted his picture taken

Another Crazy Easter Monday Picture

Still Another Crazy Easter Monday Picture

Week 15 in Tamatave...Hard at Work

Manahoana Daholo!

We had an amazing work week this week! We had 32 lessons! 32! Such an incredible blessing we received from the Lord and we look to keep it rolling! That's really all I got to talk about for our work this week! 
We just go, go, go!

This week I also finished the Book of Mormon again! I love reading it so much and I always find something new every time I read! It's such an incredible book and I high advise everyone to start reading it everyday for at least 10 min! With that being said! I'm now trying to read it in Malagasy! I've already started and let me tell ya it's hard! Haha, oh well! I'll just grind through it! I've also been reading the New Testament and I'm already through Mark! I love the scriptures so much and I can't wait to continue my reading in Malagasy!

On Thursday we had a Zone Meeting and we decided to do the entire thing in Malagasy! I was actually surprised with how much I understood! I can honestly say that I understood almost the entire lesson! My understanding is getting better it's just trying to speak the language! Sometimes it's hard trying to find the right word to say or making a sentence structure that makes sense but I know it will come in time! Anyways, We talked about "Fahamarinanan Toetra" in our Zone Meeting! "Fahamarinana Toetra" means integrity in English and it was an awesome meeting! I really did take a lot from it!

President Adams also came out this week to do interviews! He and I had a great interview and he helped me figure out some questions I had! It was my last interview with him before he goes home and he sure did help me out a lot! I'm sad he's leaving this July but he's done a lot for this mission and his time has been well served!

Well, that's it for the week! Sorry if it seemed boring but that's all that really happened! I love you all so much and I can't wait to write to ya'll again next week! Tiako ianareo!

Love,
Elder Stringfellow

PHOTOS OF THE WEEK

Elder Stringfellow's Companion talking with someone on the street

Elder Stringfellow tried to get this girl to smile

Elder Stringfellow's Companion

So, far, the biggest Banana Spider that Ryan has seen in Mada

Working on his selfie

More Selfie action

Week 14 in Tamatave...New Companion

Manahoana Daholo!

Another crazy week! My new companion came on Wednesday and he's a pretty cool guy! Let's just say he loves to work and we just go, go ,go! We're always doing something and it's awesome to see how quickly the work progresses!

I don't really have any news about any of our "progressing" investigators, other than they're doing great, but I have one crazy story about two of our "new" investigators! About two weeks ago Elder Nohaingoinaina and I tracted into two brothers in an area called Valpinsons! They let us into a pretty nice house and said that we could share our message! They first thing we said was that the message we share with people is about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! They freaked out, in a good way, and said that they have been looking for a restoration of some type of church! For missionaries to hear that is just.....I don't even know how to describe it other than awesome!

 

We were thinking that these two guys were two golden investigators up until this past week....We visited them and they said that they wanted to show us a religious clip! We let them start the clip and it was all about how some weird white dude that started a church in Washington D.C. back in 1946! It was weird! Plus the whole time the two guys are singing this weird song in broken English while the clip was playing! Just flat out weird! Haha, oh well! We'll work with them and see if they want to accept our message!

Nothing else really did happen this week! We worked way hard and didn't stop for anything! Let's just say I'm feeling the affects from it, haha! I did hit my seven month mark of being a missionary this past week though! I just can't believe it! Time needs to slow down!

Tamatave is still Tamatave! It's always hot unless it's raining cats and dogs, haha! I love it! Anyways, I hope everyone has a great week and I can't wait to talk to ya'll again next week!

Love,

Elder Stringfellow

PHOTOS OF THE WEEK

Elder Stringfellow's Area from the Roof Top

Elder Stringfellow and Elder Godfrey saying goodbye

Recent Baptism

Just before the Recent Baptism
(Yes they turned the camera off during the ordinance)

 

 

Week 13 in Tamatave...Transfer Week

Hey Everyone!

It was transfer week! Don't worry I'm staying here in Ankirihiry for another transfer but I'm getting a new companion! I will be working with ELDER RAZAFIMANDIMBY! I've already been on couple splits with him when I was in Tana and it should be quiet the adventure! When I worked with him for those two days before he knew absolutely no English! Haha, we'll see where he is now but I can't wait to speak all the time in Malagasy!

The work this week was awesome! We honestly went non stop everyday! We had our baptism on Wednesday with Sergio and everything went well! Wehad only 7 people there (Sergio, His mom, the two missionaries, the two talks, and the Elder's quorum president) but it was still a great program! Yesterday he became a member of the Church and was given the gift of the Holy Ghost! It was an awesome experience and I have pics don't worry!

On Sunday we had 12 investigators come to church! You could say I was a little beyond excited because we usually only average like 4 or 5! I've already talked about that huge family that Elder Turner and I contacted into and 6 of them came to church yesterday! Dina, one of the moms, is almost finished with 1 Nephi and it's only been a week! Last Saturday when we went to teach them they asked if they could have one more Book of Mormon! They already have 2 but they need a third
because everybody wants to start reading! Ahhhh, you have no idea how I excited I am for them! Hopefully everything works out for them and we can get them baptized!

I also spoke some of my best Malagasy this week especially in this one lesson! We were teaching a guy named Andre and he is very smart with the bible! He was trying to Bible Bash us the whole night but we just get coming back with answers that started to get him thinking! My Malagasy was flowing! It seems that when you're trying to prove someone wrong you always start speaking better, haha! Don't worry I did it in a nice way! He got our point!

That's all for the week folks! I can't wait to talk to you again next week and I'll let you know how everything goes with my new comp! I hope everyone has a great week and remember that Elder Stringfellow Loves You!

Love,
Elder Stringfellow

PHOTOS OF THE WEEK

Sergio and Elder Stringfellow

Elder Stringfellow, Sergio, and his Mom

Rice and Fish

Week 12 in Tamatave...

Manahoana Daholo!

Crazy, crazy week! First off, it has been raining non stop here for like a week and everything is flooded! The other day we were walking in water up past our knees trying to contact! Haha, we got completely soaked (especially our shoes) and I have some way funny pics of it!

WE HAVE A BAPTISM THIS WEEK! Sergio passed his Bap. Interview on Friday and will be getting baptized on Wednesday! He's an 11 yr. old boy whose mom was baptized two years ago but became less active....He's been coming to church by himself for the past two years and someone finally realized that he wasn't baptized! The missionaries found out and we started teaching him and his mom again! We reactivated her and now her son will be getting baptized! Wednesday is going to be an awesome day and Elder Nohaingoinaina and I can't wait!

This week was a really difficult week but I did realize how happy I really am being a missionary! On Saturday we were walking to a time with water clear passed our knees in the middle of rain storm! The water came over the front tire of my bike and my shoes by then were completely filled with water! The water was brown and gross but for some reason I just felt happy! The things I see everyday and the people I talk to just amaze me! There really is no other way to describe it but it's just incredible! Missionary work is hard but at the end of the day it's all worth it! I can honestly say that I love being a servant of God! I love being a Missionary and I wouldn't give it up for anything!

That's about it for the week! I love you all so much and I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Stringfellow

P.S. Elder Nohaingoinaina served in the same Mission as Elder Smith, Dave Smith's son! He showed me pics of Elder Smith and Him so we took pics of us to show to Dave and his Family! Haha, Small World!

PHOTOS OF THE WEEK

Elder Stringfellow and Elder Nohaingoinaina

 

Elder Stringfellow and how he feels about RAIN

Flooded Area

Brown Water

Tough to ride a bike

Elder Nohaingoinaina