Elder Jake Roush's Madagascar Adventures: May 2014

Monday, May 19, 2014

May 19, 2014

Yoooooooooooooo ry olom-belona,

It's hard to think that I've hit the 1 year mark... Granted I sit here writing this to people that are already at chick-mishes, finished missions and efa manan-janaka.... FA! I think it's a pretty big deal to make it this far. But it got me thinking alot of what I want to do with this next year. I want to be an "unprofitable servant," as it tells us in Luke 17:10... This year I want to try harder to be that missionary that isn't in it for PWP (pretty wife points,) or some other blessings down the road... But I want to be the guy that's doing it because of his love for the Lord, knowing it's his DUTY to serve. I like the scripture in 1 nep 3:5... before nephi goes off and is a boss Lehi says something pretty cool to him.. Telling him that he didn't "require" their service... But it was a commandment from the Lord. And well we all know that if something is a commandment, pretty much like... 100 % of the time the Lord is going to provide... Right now I want to grow enough faith to really trust in that. Last night we were teaching a guy named Melvin.. His wife and some of his kids are members... but he's still not vita batisa... So last night I kinda got all Elder Holland with him and asked him what the deal was... Surprisingly he opened up for the first time and told us how he worries so much about work and money and providing for the family that he feels like the church stuff needs to come second. So we tried teaching about that faith thing... and it went really well. He ended up accepting a bap date... in august hahah but nevertheless it's progress. As I was teaching I kinda kept feeling like... man i need to try out my faith a little more too and just trust the will of God! Favorite scripture. Ether 12:6... all the goodies come after the trial.. I think it's about time i really put that scripture to use!! So that's my goal... Also Elder Babb and I are starting 1 year to sexy this week... Granted he's doing it so he can go back home and play division 1 college football for the U or the good ol cougars... but i'm just doing it so I can pick up some nice looking lady in England or something.... *hint. hahha. Anyways. Good week. We worked hard I'd say. We had a couple cool experiences. First was with my boy Fredo... We asked why he didn't come to churhc and he totally opened up and told us how he had a problem with smoking and drinking. He said when he met us he felt like he needed to stop and hasn't even had 1 drink since we started with him.... how SICK is that??? Fa.. the dang sigara!! We explained to him that even though he has those struggles he still CAN go to church, and yes.. through the atonement he CAN get over his addictions... The gospel is neat. Also this week, i got to go on a split with my main stain Elder Payne (hahahah) super fun! We're from the same groupd and so on our year mark... we split it up and had a great time! He's a super good missionary and I learned some stuff to help with my area... We also ate african burritos... burritos... in AFRICA! So yeah there's that haha. And lastly..... We had a fireside on the beach with our branch on friday! It was super cool cause we literally had a fire, on the beach, and the gospel was taught... We invited the whole branch... But when everybody showded up it pretty much just felt like a relief society and primary party with like 2 investigators there... Not the turnout we wantedd... But we're hoping it was a good start to getting more support from the branch. We'll see. We had some other cool lessons this week and we're really hoping that our trust in the Lord will pay off with some answers to ours, and investigators prayers. Praying though... right? Super fun! haha. Anyways... I think that's all folks... I love you all. Keep on that grind and don't forget to be happy and stuff. oh... also. We watched the sunrise across the Indian Ocean this morning... So yeah. Have a good week emailers.

Loves, hugs, but no drugs,

Elder Roush

Back with my boy Elder Payne

Big ship and sunrise

Cool fishing dude

I feel like the waves crashing into the background was a nice touch

My hand is the sun

Normal p-day get up

Pretty and stuff

The spirit of God like a fire is burning (literally)...on the beach

This kid is our future

Monday, May 12, 2014

May 12, 2014

Hey yall,

so I'm not really sending much of an email this week... talking to the family kind of took up the cyber time!! But it was sooo nice! Not much to report this week either. Though we did see a chicken get stuck in a tree. only in madagascar! Also a members little girl that is deathly afraid of me gave me a dona (knuckles) after 10 weeks of being being scared. best friends now... In other news.. We found 3 sweet new investigators and they're all college students haha. They're not FLF's but they're all cool and really interested. I LOVE YOU ALL... sorry for the lame email but i;ll reseum the storytelling next week :) Have a good week/late mothers day emailers. YOU ARE LOOOOOOOOVED.

Elder Roush

10 weeks later & I get a dona... best feeling ever, except Skyping

Ahhhhhhhhh Yes!

Elder Davis, eating his first Ravitoto

He won't stop with the selfies

P-day in Tamatave

Poor kid gives it everything

This is where we go to the bathroom

You're welcome for making your week with this cutie

Monday, May 5, 2014

May 5, 2014

Dia ohoana ry namana!

So every week I try to come up with a good subject... I think this week takes the butter filled gâteau! So imma just jump into it! We're teaching one of my favorite investigators, Olivette, about the law of chastity. Because she's such a ballin investigator she had already read out of the gospel principles book about what the law of chastity was! So we focused more on the why of it and how it helps us! It was going good and we talked about the importance of eternal marriage and all theat other fun law of chastity stuff and all that jazz. AND THEN she told us how she used to have a boyfriend and they were gonna get married... but she went and worked outside of mada for a bit and they planned to put a ring on it when she got back.... Well she comes back and that rotten man put the ring on some other lady! And so poor Olivette vowed to herself that she would never be married! Well... We start talking about that and she's like "you wouldn't understand.." and well... All my knowledge from watching friends and chick flicks paid off! I was like, "of course i understand! You're hurt! You feel like you can't trust guys anymore, and you're afraid to open up to anyone again!!" And she's like "that's exactly how i feel!!!" Hahaha Love Dr. Elder Roush to the rescue! Haha i gave her some more advice about marriage and stuff like that (from my vast bank of knowledge) and then testified of the importance of eternal marriage and how God has a plan for us! Those lessons are so fun with her! We even started talking about patriarichal blessings and how she could get guidance from that after her baptism (which she moved back...) haha. It felt weird talking bout that stuff but i kinda liked it and she said she really appreciated it hahah. I knew my odd love for chick-flicks would help me some day! I just thought it would be more on helping me with the whole... marriage thing rather than missionary work hahaha. In other news i conducted my first bap interview this week for a lady... It was a weird but cool experience hahah and i almost messed up pretty badly with on of the questions... and it was almost really bad... but it all turned out! Yay for other areas baptisms! :) BUT! We should have one coming up the 21st.. fingers crossed! Speaking of that... We had a cool experience with an investigator named Richard.. We wanted to bring up baptism with him and set a bap date so we emphasized the gospel and baptism while teaching our purpose here on earth. His wife is super catholic and he's not super churchy so we were worried how he'd take it... At the end he askes us "so... if i've like already been baptized catholic and done al lthat jazz with them... could i still be baptized in your church??" Granted that's not really translated correctly but we were still stoked and set a date with him! It's cool to see how the Lord prepares people!! My last story is a doozy!! Sooo.. Our whole program fell through, because it was a downpour of rain...so what do we do? we tract! Cause in our area that's all we do hahah. After an hour of like no success we decide to hit one more house before we go try to visit a guy in a different area... we knock, dude straightway lets us in, we talk with him for a bit, share the message, and boom.... Cash money in the bank. Pop. Pop. Haven't felt the spirit that strongly in quite some time, you could tell this guy (copertino) was feeling something, super cool feeling. Dope dude! Med student! Super smart and said he loved our message. Gotta love tracting in the rain! So when the going gets tough, when you're wet, tired and frustrated, thinking to give up.. Knock one more door and maybe you might get what you want. I know Heavenly Father loves us all and he guides us the perfect way.. Even though sometimes it's kinda poopy and not in the way we'd really like. He's the perfect driver in this crazy bus ride of life. Be happy people! I love you. Tratra ny cinco de mayo and guess what.... MOTHERS DAY NEXT WEEK!!! IM COMING MAMA!!!! have a good week emailers.

LOVE,

Elder Roush MDoL

(medical doctor of love)

A heard of cows on the sidewalk

Elder Davis - selfie Tuesday

His first rainstorm

It looked a lot cooler in person

It was the size of my finger

He really likes taking selfies

Soiree at my favorite families house

This one is for Elli

We love tracting in the pouring rain

April 21, 2014

April 21, 2014

Well my dearest friends and family and stuff,

it is the day after easter here in mada, so what does that mean? A lot of hungover people, even more drunks, no cyber cafe's open and a bazillion and a half family parties going on! I was riding my bike around and I thought... it honestly feels kinda like the fourth of july... just mada style. It's funny cause easter is like the second biggest holiday here in mada other than independance day... and so when there's an activity... it's just another reason for people to get wasted out of their minds.. .there's not much to do here and well beer is cheap hahah. BAD MADAGSCAR! Anyways.. TRAINING!!! it's so hard... who woulda thought? Oh the joys and pains of childbirth... Mom. I can finally find something to relate to you with :) hahahaha! But! It is fun! And the coolest part is... My trainee is... Elder Davis from Glasgow... SCOTLAND!!! Yes. My child is a scotty hahaha. When he read his little letter in the meeting he had, saying he was coming to ankirihiry first thing i did was muster up my best scottish accent and say "ayyy.. we're gonna have a GREEEAAAT time!" hahah that even made president adams laugh! Haha woop! Anyways we have like no time to email today just cause the cyber is closing down... nice eh? But it's been a crazy week! It started with going around to members/investigators so rigby could say bye to people, taking the 7 hour bus ride to tana to pick up the trainee and all that other good stuff. It was sweet being back in tana... super weird too! I drove in and my heart just felt like a part that had been missing had been filled! Who woulda thought that nasty, smelly, dirty tana would have come so close to my heart!! I even got to see my boy Andry in Betongolo! He saw me again and said "AH! elder roush! I'm baptized!!!" Super cool to see :) Other than that... we had to get back on a bus the next day... problem was... we missed our first bus cause of traffic and then had to get on a really poopy, small bus at 7 at night... well 10 hours later and arthritis in my knees.... we rolled into tamatave at 5 in the morning.... gotta love madagascar. other than that the work is going... slow but good. anyways... taht's all i have time for today! i love you guys! we listened to hollands talk "none were with him" yesterday... christ lives and he has a personal knowledge of each one of us, our trials, our difficulties and everything! I challenge you all to try to forge a better relationship with our loving big brother! I love you all. Have a good week emailers!

Elder Roush

Bus ride back to Tana

I miss this view

My trainee, Elder Davis

Our ward mission leader

Saying bye to Elder Rigby

The start of a 10 hr. bus ride

April 28, 2014

Dia akory daholo e!

Well time is just chugging along out here in ol'madagascar and to be honest it was a pretty boring week ahha. But at the end we did get to watch general conference... which was in my words... ballin. But i'll talk about that later! On monday we got to go to a branch party at the beach for easters and well... i have never seen so many people at the beach, around the beach, in madagascar partying ever.... So many people!! It was crazy how amped people get about easters!!! But it was a good time hanging out with the branch! We're still working on having them like us enough to give us people to save and stuff haha. This week we once again did a lot of finding, hoping and praying to find people... and we were blessed with 2 new families, which i was stoked about... Hopefully they work out!! It was a nicely needed booster cause a family we had found last week ended up moving... Super frustrating cause we taught a freaking sweet lesson to them, committed them to baptism, and then they said... oh by the way we move on monday... WHAT? Dangit trials! I don't want to grow and be stronger from them! It's hard hahahah. But fun. Training is still going well.. Elder Davis is a very proud scottie, which is fun and annoying, but i love the little red head!! Honestly missionary work wise I don't have much to say just cause conference was so awesome and I want to share my favorite parts with you guys! haha man i don't know where to start! I felt like after almost every talk i'd sit for 2 seconds, think and say "ballin...." hahah gotta love the church and getting pumped off of scholarly old men and women dazzling us with their spririt bombs!!! Though it took a while to figure out how to watch it... We got CD's sent to us to watch it.. So we had to 1. find a place to watch. 2. find a screen. 3. find a player... Well after 1 1/2 hours saturday morning we figured it all out in the churches supply closet! SICK! Now i'm not going to lie to you all (elder davis' favorite phrase) but i'm not sure if I could pick a favorite talk hahah ,which is weird! But i'm gonna share my favorite quotes!! The first two talks were so sick, Holland telling us to defend our faith compassionately and with courtesy and then Elder Rasband talking about service. It made me think "how am I walking through madagascar?" Am I walking as though the savior would? I mean, I am His servant! TOO SICK. I loved Elder Zwicks talk about perspective and giving soft answers... I thought it tied in perfectly with my boy President monson's talk about love!! I feel like I could be soooo much better about showing more love to those i teach, come in contact with, and those silly little punks an-dalana! My favorite sessions was priesthood sesh for sure! I loved how Elder Eyring talked about having heroes and how we are lighted handles being molded by our actions!!! SO DEEP, and cool :) And i loved how President Monson told us to be courageous... Like all the awesome examples in the scriptures! OF COURSE Elder Uchtdorf's talk was heaven sent because I know I can definitely be more grateful in my circumstances and I loved the talk that was about how we have 4 minutes... how am i spending those 4 minutes? Better yet, how am i spending my 2 years? DEEP. Lastly I think Elder Perry said it the best when he said that the Driver knows best... No matter our "load"(bednar) or our circumstance.. The Lord knows best and that is the path we should follow!! That is the path that will lead to happiness. I think something i noticed and something i loved was how everyone who gave a talk testified of Christ.... Amid everything in the gospel, all the principles, ordinances, all that jaz... This is Christ's church and Christ's gospel... And we owe it all to Him. After conference we had a soiree with members and in the lesson I invited all of them to be DOERS of the word and not hearers only. I know I can work on that. There's a lot of advice I got and now I need to follow through with it, and I invite all of you to do the same... even though conference happened like 3 weeks ago for you guys ahhah. Anyways. I love you, the church is true and stuff... Ballin. Have a good week emailers.

XOXOXOXOXOXXO (in a missionary appropriate way)

Elder Roush