Hey Mahm,

I'm glad the ward liked the letter I wrote for them. I figured it was the least I could do to show my support for the good ol' home ward. Hey, do you think you could do me a favor? I am just curious as to who else in the ward is out on missions. I can't imagine that my plaque is the only one filling up that Mt. View 1st ward display case, but the only other person I can remember is Brad Holdaway, which I am pretty sure he is either home or really close to getting home. So if you happened to take a glance at that thing in the church, it would be appreciated. Obviously I would be a-o.k. either way, but I've just got a case of that curiousity bug.

But yeah, I am glad they liked the letter. That was my goal in writting it, so it seems a success.

About that snow.. I am just happy you are all getting some nice snow. From what you all said last year, it was a bit of a let down, but I guess that is all getting made up for now? No more of this silly 'drought' business. It's like I just told Brittany, I hope that next year is the snowest yet. I will come right out of winter here, and go into a nice Utahn winter.

As far as the weather goes here, it has just been rainy. Just one big rainy mess. I have been utilizing my half broken umbrella really well though, so don't worry about that. Only sometimes do I have to walk through rivers. The house only leaks someplaces. The mud on my shoes is only bad if you look at it. The whole idea of the rainy season is all about how you look at it really. Once you get used to the idea of being wet, it's just like any other day. Any other season. In all honesty though, I am really stoked on it. You see, Mahajanga is hot. I think I have done a good job explaining that these last five months, but it is hot. Just... hot. Finishing a 1.5L bottle of water in a day's work is too easy, and really, it all comes out via sweat. Ever since the rain has come though, it's been nice. Not necessarily cool 100% of the time, but nice. Even cold sometimes. I would dare say that I have felt cold once since I have been here. Yes, the rain is a bit annoying, but it has it's perks.

In other news, like I just mentioned I have almost been in this area for five months. I will hit that mark this week. It has gone by so unbelievably fast. It feels faster than either of my first two areas, and it's already been longer than both. I feel like I have helped a lot of people here too. Not so much in great numbers of baptisms really, but just helping those recent converts and less actives get strong foundations of faith. That is the huge push in the mission right now. These past few years there have been huge numbers of baptisms, but the problem is there is a huge number of less actives. Just a huge number of people who haven't truly built a solid foundation of faith, and when those waves of tribulation came, they pulled back and hid away. The huge push in the mission right now is to help those people, and make sure that all the people being baptized now truly hold onto the iron rod.
We want a temple here in Madagascar. It is sad to teach people about the temple, and then tell them that the closest one is in South Africa. Many of these people have never left this island, so they don't think they will ever be able to go to South Africa, so the temple becomes a distant dream. Yes, there are those awesome people who just work hard and make that a reality. There will always be awesome people. But a lot of people don't have that great faith and hope, and become discouraged upon learning that there is no temple here. So that's what we are trying to do now. Get the church here on a solid foundation. It's doing pretty good, for we've got two stakes on the island, but we have to do better. We just have to keep going, you know? 

I trust there will be a Temple here someday.

Carpe diem! (that's not malagasy)

Don't forget to send me a picture of that calendar, okay?

Thank y'alls.

Elder "Anderson" Bergera

"Coach's Pick"