Steve, looking for bike parts in the "bike parts" section of a large market. Actually found some pretty nice (but old fashioned) bike pumps for the missionary houses!
Some of our darling Institute students...We love them so!!
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| This is called Kuba...we could not figure out what it was when we first saw it on the streets. It is a favorite Malagsy treat. I know it has peanuts in it and is cooked in banana leaves...I kept thinking it was tuna steaks! ha! |
Dear Family and Friends,
It’s the end of P-day and I’m tucked in my bed, heater on, computer on my lap, and catching you all up on the last couple of weeks of our mission. We had an interesting P-day today exploring more of the downtown area of Tana and its associated markets. Analakely is known for it’s crowded streets and endless merchants selling everything from socks to solar panels, with everything you can imagine in between…stationary, videos, computer parts, electrical parts, toys, bike parts, blow dryers, curling irons, shoes galore, make-up, panty hose, clothes of all kinds, jewelry, pots and pans, food…you name it! Today we were on the hunt for a certain type of battery for our key fob (We did find it, by the way), but along the way we ran into all manner of the above mentioned items, and more! We wound our way into a larger food market and we are always amazed at what is sold there…everything from ducks, chickens and geese to papaya, tiny mangoes and a variety of little peppers—some are extremely HOT!! One must watch one’s footing in places like these as there are so many uneven surfaces and treacherous open manholes. We looked down in one and saw all kinds of garbage in it and rats running through…it gave me the willies! The missionaries told us that when it rains those open manholes fill up with water and you don’t even know it doesn’t have a cover on it. One must walk very gingerly to avoid falling in! UGH!! But, we are always enamored of the sites and sounds of these markets—not so much of the smells! We did buy some papaya, and will enjoy them for the next couple of days. We love the fresh fruit and vegetables that are found everywhere in Mada. The vendors always tell you the cost of things in French, so we’re working on at least honing our ability to understand numbers in French. For example, a kilo of bananas are one thousand, two hundred Ariary (the name of Malagasy money) per kilo. But instead of using Malagasy numbers, they use French—“ mille deux cent Ariary”. If the number is too large, we must revert to having them show us on a calculator! As I said, it’s always an adventure!!
One interesting thing we saw today in the market was small solar panels of varying sizes, being sold right next to small batteries which store the electricity generated from the solar panels. Right next to that are radios. Putting two and two together, we realized that people run their radios and other small electrical appliances from a battery charged by solar panels! They are resourceful, for sure!! Thank goodness Madagascar generally has lots of sunshine during the day!
The past couple of weeks have been filled with my daily “sick” missionary calls; everything from “my eyes hurt”, to “I think I passed a worm”, to ingrown toenails and headaches, sore throats, or diarrhea, and more. One elder had to have a minor surgery on his toe to remove the skin around the nail, not the nail, since this was his third very infected ingrown toenail—on the same toe! Ingrown toenails are pretty common due to the amount of walking the missionaries do, compounded by the “hilly” nature of Antananarivo..up and down hills with the toes hitting the end of the shoes. I’m working on getting the missionaries to not wait until the infection is too bad and they have to have their nail removed…that’s miserable!! But in any case, I have been helping this elder soak and dress his toe daily this past week. It’s doing well, but will require some time to be 100% back on his feet—he can’t even get his shoes on quite yet! So, poor guy, has had a pretty boring week having to stay up at the mission office.
Steve has been working with the translation office trying to get the youth curriculum translated and distributed to the various Wards and Branches. Most of the printed materials are sent in French, and while many Malagasies understand French, many do not. So, we have been trying to get more things translated locally to be able to get them into Malagasy. Steve continues to oversee the missionary bike maintenance program as well as putting together another business seminar for the Malagasy returned missionaries. He got sidetracked from the seminar development temporarily while trying to find a source for carbon monoxide/smoke detectors to replace the broken ones we find when we do missionary apartment checks. While the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning is extremely low here considering almost every appliance and heat source is electric (electric oven, washer/dryer and heaters), in order to be compliant with the church recommendations, we want to make sure everyone has them in their apartment and that they are in good working order. Steve also went on a splits this week (with the companion of the Elder who is recovering from the ingrown toenail ) to one of the back neighborhoods of an adjacent area. He had to bear his testimony in Malagasy and say the closing prayer. He said his language was pretty dismal, but he is determined to keep working on it! He studies diligently every day. But he enjoyed a birds-eye view of how the local Malagasies live!
Speaking of that, as a reminder, many, many Malagasies do not have running water into their homes, or electricity. They often live in a one room home and share a common “out house” with the neighbors. They generally cook outside, or in a small lean-to type ‘kitchen’ attached to house, over a charcoal fire.They are a very humble, but generally happy society; although most are really feeling the stress of a poor economy, high unemployment, and the skyrocketing cost of food. The value of the Ariary is dropping and prices on everything, including food, is going up. There are many beggars on the streets and in the tunnels, and that is sad since many of them are children. Since we have been counseled not to give money, Steve and I have taken to stocking the car with little packages of cookies and we give those to the kids. They are appreciative of that and always flash a smile and thank us with a quick, “Merci”—-they think all foreigners are French (and rightly so, since most are!!). A common greeting on the street is, “Bonjour Madame or Monsieur”.
We are still teaching a YSA institute class, and we enjoy doing that (although we always hope that not much is literally “lost in translation”!) While we can say some things in Malagasy, we are definitely far from able to teach solely in Malagasy. We love these sweet and most diligent youth! We enjoy attending church here and hope to have the language come to us in due time.
I put a power-point presentation together for the Zone Meeting this month on taking care of your feet. We had some fun with it and I introduced my new mission nurse “mantra”, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” (Thanks, mom, for raising me with wonderful and wise sayings that I can now share with these young missionaries!). So much of what they suffer with from time to time, can be avoided by being careful and following simple health rules; taking time to sanitize food, washing hands regularly, and not letting small infections become BIG ones! I enjoy my work with the young missionaries, and feel such a protective instinct for them. I remember once, many years ago, when having a particularly hard day with my VERY active and rambunctious boys, raising my hands to the heavens and crying out, “Why…why did You give me three boys in a row?!?” I now see the reason why…just so I can serve this mission and have a better understanding of boys! ha! I love them!! My favorite day of the week has become Monday, for that is the missionary’s P-Day. They come in and we get to see many of them regularly. The sisters come for a hug and the Elders come for the cookies! ha…not exactly, but P-Days are known as Cookie P-Days. I love it when they come in my office and just chat. Often they come looking for me with a health concern or question, too. They are often busy days for me.
We are currently gearing up, as a mission, for a large mission tour with Elder Hamilton who is coming from South Africa, and for the next missionary transfer in about a week and a half which will add 14 new missionaries to our mission. We need them badly as we have had to close areas due to our declining numbers. Six weeks later we will receive another 15 missionaries. We welcome them with open arms. I know some parents are fearful to have their children come so far away to a 3rd world country, but I figure if they send us old folks here, it can’t be all that bad, right?!? ha! We look forward to seeing what wonderful things lie in the future of this mission as the work goes forward. We all do our part, and while we don’t always have a direct responsibility to work with the Malagasy people, we know that supporting the missionaries and helping them to stay healthy is important in furthering the work here.
We are sad to mention that our sweet friend, Brother Lala, (I spoke about him in a previous e-mail), has developed a brain tumor. It came on so suddenly, it’s rather shocking! They noticed it about a month ago, and since that time his ability to speak has all but stopped, he drags his right foot and he in unable to move his right arm. The doctors have removed as much of the tumor that is safe to do, but he is in dire need of radiation therapy. (this does not exist in this country). There is a “go fund me” effort to help him raise the money to get to France for radiation therapy. They decided on France as he has a sister there with whom he can stay during the therapy as it will be over a two month time frame. We definitely have had opportunity to “comfort those who stand in need of comfort” as we try and support Brother Lala and his family, as well as our dear friends, Lalary and Antsa, who lost their 6 week old baby to a respiratory illness last week. We have come to love these wonderful people so much, and our heart breaks for them as they face such tremendous challenges. But, I have been so touched by their firm testimonies about God’s plan for each of us. Both families have shown amazing and unshaken faith in Jesus Christ and are finding strength through His atonement. I am blessed by my association with them.
Some people have asked me about the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and whether that affects us in any way. We have not been affected directly. We have received some educational information from the church, but so far there are no known cases in Madagascar. I keep up on it as much as I can from the internet, but I pray we won’t have to face that particular challenge. What a horrible disease! Our concern is if it spreads to other countries near Sierra Leone, like Ghana, Cote d’Voire, or the Ivory Coast, where we currently have Malagasy missionaries serving. We would have some steps to take upon their return to Madagascar. We certainly pray for rapid containment and eventual eradication of this terrible disease!
We do hope this letter finds you all healthy and well. As always, we send our love to each of you. Thank you for your prayers and support. We are grateful for this opportunity to serve together in this area of God’s vineyard. We are blessed by our experiences and always pray for guidance and inspiration and that we can be profitable servants to our Heavenly Father. I read a quote this week that I really like, “I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.” —Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)
Love to all—Remember…we love hearing from you as well! (OK…a shameless plea for e-mails; but admittedly, I have no pride! haha!)
’Til next time…
Michele and Steve
