Elder Jake Roush's Madagascar Adventures: October 7, 2013

October 7, 2013

Well my friends and family i feel as though after today and this week i have a real love and appreciation for this beautiful country of Madagascar. To start things off there are some problems out here in mada. They are finally having presidential elections and i've seen posters for like 30plus different people. Last time there was an election the country went into civil war... so thats a bit scary. it doesn't help that there has already been riots... pres adams told us all to get our 72 hour kits ready... i'm a bit nervous. theres rumors that if stuff goes down they'll pull us out, which really worries me! People i'll be real with you. Madagscar freaking sucks sometimes. It's dirty, smelly, there's lots of drunks, and many people are super mean and disrespectful but let me tell you guys. i do have a love for this country and i dont want to leave. i know that there are experiences that im gonna have here that i NEED.. Haha peeps i don't wanna leave so please pray that madagascar doesn't go to crap! Anyways this week, and today was pretty cool. Last monday i experienced my first lemur park! It's called tsimbazaza and it's madagascars zoo.. haha not many lemurs but heres the funny story. we heard to play with lemurs all you have to do is walk around the cage and the guards will like tell you to come and you can play with them as long as you'll pay them off. So... we get there and the guards like looks around, tells us to wiat for a bit then like motions us to come into the cage hahah! We felt like such rule breakers! BUt i got to freaking play with lemurs which was soooo sick! Sadly the computer today is slow so i can't atatch pics now but i'll try next time!! Anyways it's been an alright week of work... kind of. We've really been trimming our program becasue we have a lot of investigators that are going absolutely nowhere... so we've really been working with less actives. i taught 4 less actives just yesterday. but on the bright side our church attendence has been going up! 140 people yesterday! the second most since ive been here! We've gotten a copule of the inactives to come back so thats cool. Now cool story. so yesterday we had our program fall through during the day so we visited ltos of inactives and i had a feeling that we should visit a woman named florentina who has recently become active again. I was like oh yeah... we didn't thursday when we should have so of course we should. so we teach her a quick vp about christ and it was nothing special but after she said... i'd like to thank yo uguys so much for being here. My son died earlier this week and i've needed a pick me up. and then you guys show up and bring the spirit... so that was a cool feeling haha. lady even gave us hugs! kinda naughty but it's an old woman who needed some missionary comfort haha. Anyways today was the sickest p day ever hahaha. We climbed tana's equivilent of Ymountain which is in my area and i see it every day. it's a big sign on the mountain that says andoharanofotsy (the place i live) and a big star and astro. it's pretty cool. anywyas so we and another compship climbed up there. there was a pretty sweet view from the sign but we kept climbing to the top of the mountain cause we saw a tower. turns out at the top of the mountain theres like a small space camp! SO sick! and the tower.. .people. I felt like i was on top of madagascar. it was an absolutely gorgeous view! we had a little picnic on the tower and set out to hike the mountain. so we pretty much just climbed the ridge of this mountain and it was soooo cool and had absolutely amazing views of not only tana but also the southern part of mada which we never see! The mada country side is gorgeous! Anywyas there was a forest on the mountain and we were like... lets explore! So pretty much 4 missionaries are just walking through the woods of madagacar in places wehre im sure no missionary has ever trecked! It was soo cool! We were just blazing trails on the side of this mountain in the forest! Anyways we get to the bottom of the mountain and all the sudden there is this palace... which turns out is the freaking president of mada's palace.. granted theres no pres right now but yeah! So we're liek what!? haha and we walk and all the suden the some army dudes see us and are like what the heck! what are you guys doing here! How did you get here! what! They were so flabbergasted! Sadly as you all know this is not my first time with guys with guns haha anyways they were like you cant be here! either you go back up the mountain and find a different route or you stay with us... haha so we blazed yet another trail in this forest and finally found our way back. It was exhausting and i am so sunburnt but i feel like i experienced the madagascar i thought i would experience. forest, nature, beauty and clean air!!! haha anywyas it was super sick and i loved it haha. anyways that was my p day. we'er going to some of my favorite members house now to sing some kareoke and do some spiritual toughts and stuff. until next time. Oh also on a spiritual note. I've bee nreading in alma in my scripture study and people. Alma 20's and 30's are so inspiring. THe men such as alma ammon and such are studs. I think alma the younger is my new favorite book of mormon character. He went from destroying the church to becoming an amazing man and even more amazing missionary. I love it because it truly shows that people can change and become of the most dopeness! Anyways i love yall. Good to hear about grandpa's 80th, good to hear the Y won... i love you guys. all your thoughts and prayers keep me going. Keep on keeping on and keep on trusting the Lord. LOVES LOVES LOVEs :)

Be fitiavana,
Elder Roush

oh by the way NO i didn't watch conference. people theres a 10 hour time difference haha. i get to watch it in 2 weeks but im not sure how much of the english i'll get to hear... so we'll see! anyways.
loves.