This has been quite a week. First off, I really love my new area. In case you didn't know, this is where my first trainee was from. It's really cool to work in his hometown. It's also a little weird because people already know me. There is a picture of us in his house and all of his family already knew who I was. That was cool. People are really poor here. This place is outside of the western sphere. Some parts are a little scary, but we won't talk about that. For the most part it just feels like you're so far away from everything. I'm serving in the branch presidency, which is really strange. I had to count tithing on Sunday and we had a presidency meeting. It's all very new to me. I have had to do a lot of things that I hadn't really expected as a missionary. The reason I'm here is that there have recently been a lot of excommunications and disfellowshipping for a host of reasons. It's sad, but we're working on it. Both branches here are really struggling and we're trying to fix them and get everything running again. The branch president is a senior missionary. It is definitely a learning experience to read handbook one and administer leadership. It was really strange to sit in the counselor chair in sacrament meeting. Right now I'm just trying to learn why the Lord sent me here and what I need to do here. One of the biggest things is that the membership records here are in shambles. I need to go through and fix all of the MLS for both branches because it is something I know how to do. So, a new adventure trying to combat apostasy and such.

As far as the city is concerned, the missionaries are good. The people are really nice and very very simple. The place is really poor. I love it though. It is much cleaner than Tana. It has a very different vibe. It is very Catholic here. Our house looks over the cathedral and a giant statue of Mary on the hill.

Responses to questions:
How is your weight?
My weight is fine. You worry too much. It's just hard keep weight on here, especially now that we're on bikes riding up and down hills every day. I can't gain weight in this country, but I'm not dying. Here in Fianarantsoa it's hard because we don't have a supermarket or anything. We have to find everything on the street. It isn't like Tana.

Who is your new companion?
My new companion is Elder Hardy from Utah somewhere north of Logan. He has been serving for a year and a half.

Anyway, I'm doing well. I love the new challenges, but they are uniquely hard. I'm learning. Right now I'm just trying to keep quiet and watch. Next week I think I'm leading sacrament meeting so that's weird - ha ha. I'll 'talk' to you next week.

Elder Ahlstrom