The poems of a so funniness - 12/01/14

Elder Lehr obviously losing the battle

Have i ever told anyone one of the problems of learning malagasy? Well if not i will tell it now. If You ask one person if a word is bad, or not. Depending on if they are way out in the Ambala (Country side) or if they are just a bunch of bandits, they might tell you that a word is ok to use....Even though it is definitely not......

For example: We have our investigator Paela who we went to on friday....And his brother was there from Ambalamarina visiting. This guy is a very very gifted poet....SO! My interest is automaticially shot up because i have always wanted to learn how to do malagasy poetry. So he tells me this-

Tantely sy ranomanitra

No atao tsara bika

Fa Izaho no Vazaha

Misaotra Andriamanitra

Fa tsy miaraka @ Drika

(Honey and sweet water,

is done for a good body

But i am a Vazaha

thank God that i am not with you.) Azafady Elder Rasolofonirina ho any diakan teny tena ratsy be. hehe Mazotoa bro

This is a pretty funny poem to me, kind of mean but still funny and from what my investigator and his brother told me, the word Rika is not a bad word but you can use it for girls who are around the same age or younger then you..... but the thing is that this word is very insulting to betsileo people, and doesnt show respect at all. If you want to show respect then you would you use the word Roky. I dont know if it means anything in other dialects but at least that is how it is in betsileo.

Now this is where my story comes in to play.... After learning this, i decided that it would be way cool to try this new word out on a friend of ours in a hotely. She just looked shocked and was like "WHERE DID YOU LEARN THAT!" So i said from a friend and she then proceeded to tell me of how that is not good. Drat the luck! Well....Thats life in learning malagasy :)

Also a way cool word that i learned this week was "Roso" Its just a way cool word :)

Investigator wise, Wilson is being a stud like usual. Really accepting the teaching and keeping all of his commitments. Our older investigators are kind of struggling going to church. One day Elder Mack asked me "Why is it that the kids that are being taught are keeping all their commitments, and the older people are struggling?" I responded to him, that i think it is because older people are more busy, or at least they can make more excuses for not going, but that also if they were to go to church they would be a wonderful support for the church. They would be leaders for their families and would be able to build the kingdom of god here on earth. And satan definitely doesnt want that. Tsy haiko ny antony marina fa izay ihany!

Everything is going great. I still love fianarantsoa with all my heart, but...I am definitely ready for a new area just so that i can grow and have a clean slate to work with.

Am-Pitiavana

Elder Lehr