(Note from mom: Frustration on the picture front! Alex is having difficulty uploading pictures to Dropbox. It is unclear if there is an issue with his Dropbox account or if this is a result of antiquated Mada computers. Hopefully there will be many pictures to post next week!)

I think I am FINALLY not sick! I haven't been sick all week. I'm trying really hard to take care of myself because missions are hard when you feel like death! I would like more NyQuil if you could send some. I've been out since just after I arrived in Mada because I've been sick so much.

Answers to the Potter family's questions:
First, please send my love! In my branch there are between 60-80 members. Yeah, it fluctuates a lot. In all of Tomatov there are about 700 members. The church is, needless to say, very young here. Our mission President focuses on what he call centers of strength. We focus on helping districts become stakes and helping build the Priesthood. Before President Adams there were more baptisms, but not the infrastructure necessary to support them. We're working very hard to put forth the necessary effort to hopefully get a temple in Madagascar one day. I can say that working here has taught me the power of the Priesthood, families, and the temple. The blessings received from each not only build the church but ultimately (and most importantly) build the people of Madagascar. That is the real goal.

I have seen some African animals. First off, there are geckos everywhere! They're really great though because they kill the flies and cockroaches, which are also everywhere. I have seen some lemurs. They are pretty rare in the city. I actually saw one as a pet. They're really smart and friendly, although I didn't touch that one because I wasn't sure if it was safe. In Tana you can go to lemur parks and they'll eat honey out of your hand. They're very friendly! I have also seen huge bugs! The rhinoceros beetle, which is huge, and some giant moths (although not the foot long moths - yes, they exist here.) Again, those are pretty rare in the city. Madagascar doesn't quite have "African animals" like lions and elephants because it's an island, but it does have amazing plant life. I essentially live in an African jungle. The humidity is always 100%, and I sweat. A lot - ha ha. But it's super fun and I love Madagascar.

As far as the people go, they are SUPER short! The average height is about 5 feet. I have a picture of me with a bunch of members, but I'm having trouble sending it. Hopefully you will be able to see it next week. I tower over everyone. It's kind of funny. My height combined with being white means that pretty much everywhere I go people stare at me. Most people really haven't seen that many white people and certainly not ones that speak Malagasy. When I start speaking peoples mouths drop. Also, they usually try to speak to me in broken, very broken, French.

So as I said, this week was good. Finally we were able to get back to work. One of the positive and unexpected side effects of being sick was that my Malagasy feels like it has magically gotten better. It's really just that for the first time in weeks my body is functional. The work is going well. We have transfers next week. The coolest thing that happened this week, although not mission related, is that we went to Fulpointe as a zone today. It's a really nice beach just north of Tomatov. The other Elders go a lot, but it was my first time. It was a very relaxing way to spend preparation day. We had lobster and shrimp caught just feet away. I have lots of cool pictures from it that I'll send when I can get the card reader to work. Also, the water is really shallow. I can walk into it really far without the water being above my knees, which is the deepest we are allowed to go in the water. It's really refreshing to feel the water, although if I had to work on the beach everyday it would be a lot of temptation - ha ha.. I still like being so close to the water. It's so relaxing to sit on a lounge chair and write letters! Speaking of that, I have a letter for everyone. I'm sending it today. So yeah, things have been good lately.

Oh, one thing that dad can feel common missionary sympathy for... a "miracle healer" from the U.S. is coming to Tomatov. Her front team has been everywhere putting up posters all over the place, including (and this will tell you a lot about Mada), over the speed limit signs in the middle of town. She's throwing a faith and miracle party where she will "heal" people. Really it's probably just going to start a bunch of riots. As you can see, I'm not very happy about it. Frankly, she's really coming to take people's money. I kept one of her posters as a souvenir because it captures a lot of the religious chaos present in Mada. There are lots of healings, magic, miracles, witchcraft, etc here. We don't really associate with it (obviously), but we see a lot of it. I've been proselyted by a lot of churches.

Okay, well now I'm really done. Can't wait to hear from you soon. People will be coming down from Tana so I should receive any packages or letters that have made it here. I'll let you know.

Elder Ahlstrom