April 4, 2016

First, it's very exciting to see my flight plans. I hope you are all doing well and had a good conference weekend. We will be watching conference this upcoming weekend so I will tell you what I think then. I've been hearing a lot about this "I was a stranger" thing. It sounds really good. So I'm working in Ambohimanarana. It's a wonderful branch. We actually go to church right next door to the American Embassy in a beautiful brand new church building. It's very strange to be working in such an organized area  again after having worked so far away for so long in little tiny branches. Even if they ran well, they were just starting. Most of the members there were 2 or 3 years in the church at most. Here many of the members have been in the church for 15 or 20 years. It's fun to be able to work with new people and have the new experiences of an area. I'm still unpacking. I haven't been to the office yet. Today I will finally be able to get there and get a bunch of my stuff. I only have warm weather clothes but Tana gets really cold at night so that's the first step is getting my blankets and sweaters from the office. Work is going well so far, just trying to get used to everything. This week has been a rush. After I finished cybering you on Monday, I hopped on an airplane to Tana. That was exciting because it also happened to be the dedication of a new plane, the first jet engine plane in Madgascar Air Mada fleet. There were a bunch of politicians and journalists on board. They had two fire trucks spray arcs over the plane to dedicate it's maiden voyage. It was all very exciting, I guess you'd say haha. I sat next to a really nice guy who helped foreign companies and scientists get visas to come to Madagascar and work. It was really cool to hear about his work. It was also strange because the whole converstation was in English. He was very good. He also spoke German and French, so go figure.

This week has just been trying to get used to everything again. But life is good and I'm very happy here. My new companion's name is Elder Yeagley. I actually lived in the same house as him at the very beginning of my mission. He arrived one transfer before me and we both started in Toamasina.

I'm trying to think of other things to say, but as I said, in general just kind of a normal week. I'm excited because i get to do some fun things preparing to go home like getting some souvenirs and getting a suit made to get off the plane in. Yeah so that's kind of life here. I hope you are all doing well

Elder Ahlstrom