Monday, April 20, 2015

First off, I'm glad that you got your letters! I wasn't sure that they would be thin enough for the postage. It was exciting to see the photos of them. There was a little lady selling them on the side of the road in the market section of the city. I knew that you guys would like them. The cool little things that people make here are amazing. One of my favorites is little airplanes and cars that are made out of old soda cans. They are very impressive. Lots of people here just make some little random handmade craft to supplement their income. In regards to purchasing things, one thing many missionaries get here are handmade suits.They cost fabric plus about $30 US dollars. Last week my companion talked me into getting one. I really wanted to get a white one for the temple. I hope it looks good. I get to pick it up today so expect pictures next week. Last week we got it fitted. Before that I got the fabric. Also, because of that we'll be up in the really old part of the city. I think we are going to go sight seeing a little bit while we are up there. 

This week was calmer than last . We didn't have any fun road trips or anything like that to report. One thing that did happen, however, is that we saw a little soccer riot in our area. As I'm sure you can imagine, soccer is a very big deal here. We have a rather large patch of dirt in our area which is often used for playing big games. When there is a game everyone comes out to watch. Yesterday we were visiting an investigator who actually lives on the soccer field.When we got there, there was a huge game going on. Over the course of our conversation with the investigator something happened. I don't know what. That led to someone getting a red card. As I'm sure you can imagine that just set everyone off. Everyone stormed across the chalk line onto the field. And well, I don't really know what happened after that. One other cool thing is that one of the teams was Comorian. Comoros is a little island chain north of Madagascar. The people there are Muslim and speak a wild language that is a combination between Arabic, Malagasy, and French. They almost always are able to speak French. We have a lot of them in our area. That is why I've been trying to work on my French. Anyway, they were at the soccer game yesterday. As we walked by them it felt for a moment like we were in Somalia or something. It felt way weird and way cool. Comorians are really, really dark and really, really tall. Fun fact, they have amazing teeth. Anyway, Betongolo is such a cool area. You get to see things that you wouldn't get to see in very many other places. It was very fun. 

One last thing. I teach English every Tuesday and sometimes on Wednesday. Usually I teach the beginners, but this week I wanted to mix things up so I taught the more advanced class. We spent our two hour class working on translating the Book of Mormon from English to Malagasy. It was really fun. We were able to talk a lot about how to translate and how to maintain the integrity of the translation. And how you can't just translate the words, you have to translate the meaning. It was also really unique because we were able to talk about how when you translate you have to think about what the original author meant, not what you think he should have meant. For example, in Malagasy there are essentially two ways to translate 'in front of' or 'before' as it is said in English. The difference is that one means physically in the presence of, the other is less literal. That can be an interesting idea when looking at a Trinitarian versus God with a physical body point of view. It also becomes clear how things can really easily get lost in translation. I will never be a translator. It is way too hard. But it was fun nonetheless. In one and a half hours we translated three verses. After we were done everyone was very tired, but they said they really enjoyed it.

That's what's happening here. I can't wait to hear from all of you again soon. Again, I'm glad you liked your cards. Have a great week. Let me know if you have any questions or want to know anything else. 

Elder Ahlstrom

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