Yesterday some of the Elders and I were talking about one of the cool things about being on a mission is the different way that you have to interact with your family. It's hard to fully communicate via email, but the benefit is that you have the opportunity to convey something more significant beyond just casual conversation. It's certainly not as good as talking, but I think it makes you appreciate conversation more. Speaking to that, thank you Emma for your email. It's really fun that we will all have time to talk in just five days. Wow! Don't think about it too much.

So let me try and explain some fun things coming from this side of the world. One thing that might interest Grandpa Steve, we have the Church historian and his assistant historians coming down to speak with us here in Madagascar. I also believe that Elder Cook is going to be visiting Madagascar. It's always very exciting when people come down, and being in the office I will have the unique opportunity to speak with them. I'm looking forward to it. My question is, does Grandpa Steve know Steven Snow, Reid Nelson, or Richard Turly? They're apparently all historians and I know he hangs out with a lot of Church historians.

Yes, aunt Kathleen's friends are coming to our mission. They're going to La Reunion, which is possibly the most beautiful place on earth. They will essentially be serving as Mission President/ Area Seventy to a nice small little island in the Indian Ocean. It's really hard for President Adams to get out there all the time, although it's a pretty high functioning area. They'll probably just get to live in paradise for six months.Very fun - ha ha. Hopefully they'll stop by Tana on the way over there so I'll get to meet them.

My new companion, Elder Stokes, and I are getting along really well. He goes home in two months which is weird. I may be his last companion. He is from Lehi, apparently just north of Provo. (I never would have guessed that going on a mission would teach me so much about Utah's geography.) He's really nice and we have a good time working together.

So I won't tell you all my good stories now because we'll be talking soon. I hope you are all doing well. We will talk in five days!

Love,
Elder Ahlstrom

(Note from mom: We are planning to Skype with Alex on Saturday at 10am our time. It has been five months since we last heard his voice. We are beyond excited!)