May 25, 2018

I'll start by answering your questions, mom. I'm doing well. My camera is working great. I'm just really bad about uploading my pictures. My weight is fine.

I am doing well. As I try to recall all that went on this week, I'm drawn to one memory in particular that I wanted to share with all of you. I'll try to keep it short. It's about a wonderful new investigator we have been teaching. His name is Ilyass and he is from Comoros. He is Muslim. I've actually taught quite a few Muslims on my mission, which is pretty unique. He barely speaks Malagasy. Initially that made trying to teach him pointless. The first time we taught him a friend translated, sort of. It wasn't a very good set up, so after that we didn't go back to see him. We kept running into him on the path and every time we saw him he'd ask when we were coming back. Since it was difficult for us to speak with him, we didn't know what to tell him. Eventually we said we'd stop by. Well, it kept happening so finally he asked if we had anything he could read. We brought him a Book of Mormon in French and thought that would be the end of it. We didn't see him for several months, but yesterday we saw him again. This time we decided to visit him. He said he had read the whole Book of Mormon and had questions about it. It was still difficult to communicate with him, but he said that he would come to church on Sunday. I can understand French, but it is still hard for me to speak it, and there would be people at church who are fluent. He said that he really wants to learn. It was amazing. First, because it fulfills prophecy from the introduction of the Book of Mormon that it convinces those who don't believe in the Bible of Christ. Also, it's amazing that the Lord kept allowing us to run into each other. Lastly, for the gift of tongues. I was able to speak enough French to him. (Although I understand French, when I try to speak it comes out as Malagasy.) And that he was able to understand us. He has lived in Madagascar for three years. but between the first and most recent time we saw him his Malagasy had improved a lot. He's an awesome man. I'll let you know how it goes.

Elder Ahlstrom