I'll start with the thing that you're most interested in - the Christmas Skype. First, the cyber that we usually go to is closed for two weeks. Regrettably, it's pretty much the only cyber that has Skype installed. I'll try to see if this computer does, but it's in French so no promises. Otherwise, the p-day before Christmas I'll do all of the stuff that I was going to do today. That will give just a few days before actual Christmas for us to figure it out. Also, internet is weird here. So, if worst comes to worst I'll give you my cell number. Then I'll email you when I'm available and you can call. The problem with that is it may not work well and it's expensive. It'll be fine though and we'll figure it out. I'll be on about 6pm our time. We'll probably have 45 minutes to talk.

This week has been awesome. My companion baptized his first person on Saturday. He was very excited. The font was full of bright green water, which was a little off putting, but other than that it was all very good. Then a recent convert in our branch baptized his grandson. He was also very excited. It was kind of hard organizing a baptism in a language that is still hard for me to understand, especially because I had to use weird new vocabulary like towels, and where's the ladder so they could get into the font, and no you can't swim there! what's the full name of your biological father, and what county do you live in? We got it all figured out though and it went really well. It was definitely a learning experience. The hard thing is that everyone expects you to know what's going on  - ha ha.

We also had really great work in regard to the people we're teaching. We had 12 people come to church who either weren't members or hadn't been members for more than a few hours. Also, we had the former missionary who we're trying to reactivate come back to church. It was so exciting, but also a little scary because now we need to help all those people continue to progress. It's easy when the ball is not in your court, but they showed faith, came to church, and now we need to help them. I'm nervous but super excited. We have such awesome investigators.

This week has felt a lot like Christmas, even though we're so far away. I hope you liked our house's Christmas card picture. Right now we're in a new cyber that is all decked out with Christmas decorations. The funny thing is that they put up little snow flakes, but the fans are on full blast because it's so hot. They're playing Beyonce's Christmas album, which is a little weird to hear someone rapping Silent Night with a full gospel choir in the background.

Next p-day is the p-day after transfers, so a bunch of people will be leaving the next day. Accordingly, we decided to have our Christmas meal a week early. It should be fun. We're going to try to make a roast, so we may end up eating Ramen, especially if the power doesn't come on. I'll keep you posted -ha ha! Send us good thoughts regarding all of that.

So that's about how things are here. I love Madagascar, the work, the people. I am really enjoying myself. It especially feels nice now that I'm getting somewhat functional with the language. Talk to y'all next week.

Elder Ahlstrom