The Good News - 4/7/14

Wow, I really can't wait for General Conference to come out. It really seems as if the spirit was able to really touch people through the messages of the speakers. Yes mom, you were right. I have been thinking of Brian Plummer a lot. I had a dream where I was in the Conference Center and I was listening to the prelude and it was Brian playing his arrangement of "I Know That My Redeemer Lives." It was so swag! Then in the dream I was in the choir and the conductor had us stand to sing. BUT THEN she had us sit back down and stand back up about 10 times. I was like "You can't do this!! It's Conference!" That's when Elder Bednar came up on the stand and told the conductor, "You are not allowed do be the conductor anymore...Get out." I was like WHAAAOOP! Then I woke up.

REALLY!!!!????? Betty and Ashley are getting engaged!!!!!??? O my giddy aunt! That is so crazy!! I am SO SO Happy for them. If I could I would give them both the biggest hug.....but now as I think about it.....Since I have been on a mission... I would probably go up to them and start to give a hug to them but then I would be like "Whoa! Hugging girls is not ok!" Then it would turn into a really awkward moment......Would it still be worth it? YES!

Anywhos, so we have transfers this Sunday and I heard from the Zone Leaders that Elder Rasolofonirina will be transferred to a different area. That will be really crazy. So next week I WILL BE GETTING A NEW COMPY! That will be a really fun experience. I am definitely going to miss my "Dadako Malalako." He has been such a wonderful trainer. And I will ever be grateful for his help and his encouragement with me learning Malagasy.

Now onto the subject of Malagasy. I have been told by the members and also by others that I have really improved in my Malagasy. When I meet people for the first time and strike up a conversation, it's really fun to see their faces as they tell me, "Have you been to Madagascar many times? Your accent is so good!" Then I tell them that I arrived here in January of this year. Then they are like "WHOA!!!!! EFA MAHAY!" Then they turn to their friends and are like "WHOA! This Vaza is SO MAHAY!" It's really funny to see their faces :)

So a random surprise. I was looking at the songs on my ipod, and found 2 things that made me laugh really hard. When I thought I had cleaned my ipod of all worldy songs, I found the Album of "Frozen" on my ipod, and I was like "NO! THE TEMPTATION IS TOO GREAT!" So I listened for like 5 seconds, smiled, and then turned it off. The second surprise I found was the song by Train called "Marry Me" As I looked at this song I automatically was like "If I ever want to feel trunky or make my companions feel trunky and think of girls...I definitely know which song to play." I laughed so hard when I saw those songs..............I don't know if I mentioned that before in any of my previous emails...maybe I have.....Well who cares :)

So this week we had some of the most incredible food EVER! On Thursday we had a Soire with Gino. He made some of the greatest fried chicken I have ever tasted in my life. I can say with certainty that it was even better then KFC. So we had that with some fried rice, and then this amazing salad with ham, avocado, lettuce, and then a citrus vinegrette. I almost died and went to heaven. Then for dessert we had an AMAZING fruit salad of bananas, apples, and avocado.

Can I just say that if dad were to come here to Madagascar, then he would be in apple heaven and NEVER go back to the apples in America. One of my favorite apples here is a green apple that is like unto the green apple back home, but with almost 50% more sugar. They are SO SWAG GOOD! Yum yum yum in my tum tum tum.

OK, so quick update on the naminy fiangonana (Friends of the church or investigators) So Tahin and Dina are doing better....though they still aren't coming to church....We will work on that. William ( The man from La reunion) is way way busy and so we haven't been able to teach him...or understand him :) Jean Claude and his wife, Maria are so swag! We had a lesson on Saturday about baptism. Maria was confused by all the different types of baptisms that the other churches have. Like sprinkling and half baptisms, and whatnot. Then we went to Romans chapter 6 versus 3 and 4 . This scripture talks about baptism for the dead, and then they asked us about baptisms for the dead. This led to us talking about the temple, and how the gospel of Jesus Christ leads us to the temple. The change that happened in that room was amazing. As they realized that the Temple was the house of God, and how in the temples we can be sealed as families....They desired that for themselves. As we then returned to baptism, their understanding was opened and they began to understand the need for baptism. They now want to be baptized and do all the things necessary to get to the temple. As they understood the Doctrine of the temple. Then everything else became clear. As Elder Bednar has said before "The answer is ALWAYS THE DOCTRINE."

This Church is true. I know that with all my heart. The fullness of the gospel has been restored, and I am so grateful for that. The Lord continues to speak to his chosen servants the prophets. They receive revelation. I know that as we harken to their counsels then we will be able to "Come closer to the Savior."

Thanks for all of your prayers and heartfelt desires. I am so grateful for all the support I have. The mission really does go by fast. I cant believe I have already been on a mission for 4 months. Next transfer will be 4 and a half months in the country and 6 months on the mission. Things are going by so fast.

I will talk to you all next week.

Am-pitiavana

Elder Lehr

Focusing my thoughts on the Lord - 3/31/14

Ok, so first things first. There is an area in our zone that has a super incredible name. It is a place where there are just a whole bunch of souvenir shops and what not and is a place you can hang out......The name of this place is.....THE DIG!!!! Thus when missionaries are going to "the dig" they say "Hey bro, Do you want to go to the dig?" Which I respond "You mean...Do you want to DIG!" It made me think of the bros and trying to "dig". :)

This week a lot of our Father Led Families didn't follow up with their appointments which was really sad.Bbut we are still striving to teach them and help them come unto Christ.

After church on Sunday there was a return missionary that wanted to make me trunky so he told me to come over and showed me a you tube video of "Home" by Michael Buble. I laughed and just shook my head. We ended up just talking about Weird Al for some reason and started to sing White and Nerdy to some little kids. It was pretty fun.

One thing that I learned this week is how great an influence your thoughts can affect things. Before my mission I could spend hours just letting my thoughts go every which way.  But as I have been on the mission, it's been a really cool experience to realize that small parts of myself are slowly being brought to light. And then through the transforming power of the atonement I can have those weaknesses become strengths. It's amazing what the Lord does for you as your thoughts are focused on Him......And then incredibly scary how if you let your thoughts fly without restraint then you become more and more complacent. Thus I am striving to keep my thoughts and desires focused on the Lord in order to more fully feel his spirit and not let the sacred experiences that can be enjoyed be brushed to the wayside.

Haha working out at the Malagasy gym is SO MUCH FUN! I love being able to say "Yes, I did 50 squats with a train axle" or "I lift 4 train gears for my bicep curls." Hmm. SO MUCH FUN!

One last thing. This week we ate some fish. And in Madagascar they eat the WHOLE THING. So I had my first experience with fish head. It's pretty good. And I am getting better and better at pulling out all of the bones. Tasty :) Though I think next week we are planning to celebrate by going to a place where we can eat elephant, giraffe, crocodile, and turtle meat. SO EXCITED!

Anyway love you all

Elder Lehr

The Lord Wants to Forgive and Heal Us - 3/24/14

WOW! SO many things seem to have happened to you all. Don't worry, mom has been in my prayers every single day :)

GUESS WHAT!? Today is Elder Mitchell's birthday! What better way to wake up in the morning on your birthday, and start an epic tickle war with the other elders! Right? Right? Yep it was SO MUCH FUN! For his birthday we made a chocolate cake that tastes AMAZING! The reason is probably because we haven't eaten anything from America in a very long time, BUT IT STILL TASTED GOOD!

So, this week was a little interesting as I got some really really bad cramping in my bowels and was later informed that there was an existence of some very soft and acid stools coming my way. On Saturday the cramping was so bad that I couldn't do any missionary work, but just had to rest. It kind of sucked. BUT that is ok because we have plans and are going to do our best to have the Lord help us reach our goals :)

OH! I finally got the letters from Noelle! SO HILARIOUS! I do have to point out that in her letter she drew a turkey and had it say "dinner".....I don't know how she got the gift of prophecy but it leads into what I want to talk about. So yesterday we were going to a family home evening, but for some reason they couldn't do it. Now they told us that they want to give me the honor of killing the turkey. Hopefully they give me a very sharp blade because if they don't...then we will be having one very horrible sounding turkey as it gets its neck....progressively taken off.... :)

OK time for some...more spiritual stuff...So yesterday was really cool, as we went to Nichola and talked to him about the Book of Mormon. The spirit was so strong as we testified to him about how he can know that this Church is true and about how he can more fully know that Jesus is the Christ. I love being able to feel the spirit like that and KNOW that he understands what we are saying. And that now he can excercise his agency to the fullest. After that lesson we went to a person who is SUPER Mangatsika (cold or inactive) all because another sister's child stole a cookie from her child.

But as we talked to her she told us about how she doesn't feel God's love anymore. We opened up the scriptures to Alma 5 and talked to her about how she felt that before. And then it says "but can you feel so now?" I then had a thought to open to 3 Nephi 9:13 which says "Will you not now return unto me and repent THAT I MAY HEAL YOU" (emphasis is added). We then testified that the Lord WANTS TO FORGIVE and HEAL. He doesn't want us to feel sorrow and pain. The spirit was so strong, and the feeling of peace and love was almost palpable for this sweet woman. She wants to come back to church. And it's another testimony to me that Jesus died for each one of us, and loves each of us so much.

Madagascar is great and I still love it here. Have a wonderful week!

Am-pitiavana

Elder Lehr

PS.

Akory/ Talilio rkia Claudia! Besoa avao rkia! Izay fotsany :)

I accomplished my goal! - 3/17/14

Ok,

So first things first. I ACCOMPLISHED MY GOAL!! Wahoo!

On Christmas Day, Elder Bednar challenged us to read the Book of Mormon and find all the scriptures that say specifically " One by One" There are 6 instances in the Book of Mormon where it says this. Yesterday I found the last one and then I have been studying it. HOLY COW! So amazing! I encourage all of you to do the same. You will be blessed more than you can ever imagine. DO NOT JUST DO A SEARCH FOR IT ON YOUR ELECTRONIC DEVICE! As you read from the beginning to the end I promise you that Heavenly Father will pour blessings on your head that you can't even begin to receive all of it.

Ok. So on Tuesday I called an amazing Elder that President Adams told me to call about homesickness. It was one of the turning points of my mission. As we talked, it felt that because someone that I looked up to as a leader felt the exact same as me and knew exactly what I was feeling...I felt my burden become light. And I figured out how I need to look at my mission and truly every day. As I take the mission literally "one day at a time" I know that I won’t become depressed. I just need to focus on that day. Then I can enjoy the things that happen and the exciting lessons that await me. It was one of the greatest turning points for me on my mission. I am so grateful that the Lord has us go through hard things so that we can help others in need.

Also we got 9 new investigators this week. That was really exciting. It's really amazing how the Lord works to help us fill up our time and prepares us in the day to be able to answer their questions and needs.

Yesterday we ran into a guy that was drunk, and he was like "I was taking the lessons in soixcent sept (or 67) and I live here. I want to learn again." Usually we are like, "ugh another drunk." But then a strange feeling came over me. And I remembered a story of a dear friend of mine, when he was on his mission, about a similar experience. And the spirit telling him that maybe the reason why he drinks is because that's the only solace that he can find right now. Thus with that realization and remembrance, we set an appointment, and I know that the Lord has been preparing him. I am excited to teach him. His name is "Arivo" I think...I will check later on that...;

Anyway the work is going swag here in Madagascar. I also fell into a rice paddy...That was fun :) OH YA! So about 14 people died in a taxibe accident recently. A couple of our investigators were affected, but I know that at the same time it has been an opportunity for the ward to reach out in love. And it is helping some of our investigators progress toward baptism. It's pretty cool.

Anyway I love you all. Thanks for everything.

Love Elder Lehr

Note from Mom: Elder Lehr shared another piece of news with me this morning as I happened to be on the computer at midnight waiting for Noelle to get home from California.  He said, “OH also on Saturday, a new investigator came to us and wants to be taught the lessons. He speaks NO MALAGASY and only speaks French and Creole. YEP!!! HE'S FROM LA REUNION! And he wants US TO teach him. My mission is following me haha. Only problem is that I CANT SPEAK FRENCH!!!” (not that French, anyway) I asked him what he was going to do about it, pull out the French that he did know?  His response: “Speak to him in Malagasy and have a member translate for me :)”

Remember that he initially was assigned to the La Reunion Region of this mission speaking French. But 2 months before he was supposed to leave, the Stake President called to tell him that there was a change in his assignment – Madagascar and Malagasy. At least he gets a touch of La Reunion and French anyway.  Little tender mercies.

Beauty of Madagascar and some other pics

Elder Lehr wasn't kidding when he said it was hot!

Lots of rice paddies in Elder Lehr's area

Elder Lehr crushing Ravatoto. It is used in the pork and rice dishes.