First Week in the Office!
This week was crazy. Actually, it was pretty much the hardest week I've had on my mission so far. Why? It wasn't a bad week. I am using hard in the sense that it took a lot of time and effort. It's been hard to change my life around. On Monday I packed up my home of 6 months, climbed onto a bus, showed up at a new house, and tried to start over again. It's very weird. I definitely think that the life of the rolling stone is not for me!
The office is hard. It just sucks time. We have a normal area, just like any other missionary, with the office as an extra job. It takes a lot of work and self control because, as you might assume, you can get sucked into wasting time for hours!
Love you all. Please pass on my love to the family. I got grandpa Steve's package and it was super exciting. I love all of you so much and appreciate all of you so much. I'm working on sending more letters, but they take a long time to get there. (note from mom: Alex sent a letter to us approximately 4 months ago, and we still haven't received it.) In the meantime, please give my deepest love and appreciation to all. Also, I got your Valentine's Day card and package. (One of the perks of the office - ha ha)
Love you all,
Elder Ahlstrom
(note from mom: Alex asked if we could try to email chat next week. It requires me to get up in the middle of the night, but it's worth it. Hopefully, I will have news to report about Alex's new companion, life in Tana, and more. Please leave a note on this blog or send me a message if there is anything that you would like me to ask Alex or tell him.)
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Dear Family and Friends,
Let me start with the news that you're probably all waiting for. I'm going to Betongolo (many onions in Malagasy). I will be serving as Office Elder. I'll be working in the office for a little bit each day and then I'll be working just up the hill from the office. Very exciting! I'm nervous because it's a new area. But it is super fun that I will finally get to work in Antananarivo. (note from mom: Betongolo is not clearly marked on all maps. It appears to be just north of Tana. I wonder if it is the equivalent of a suburb?)
Mom, you need to stop posting about Mada's political unrest. You are scaring all the other moms, and the other Elders said their moms were worried! Also, say hi to everyone, especially Brother Volney. I haven't responded to his emails because of my limited time, but I really appreciate hearing from him and everyone. They're so nice and their prayers are so important.
I'm busy packing and getting all the last things ready so that I can leave tomorrow. Also, I'm really upset with you (mom) and dad for not teaching me how to drive a stick, and now I have to learn. The Office Elders drive in Tana, which makes San Fran hills look cute and Los Angeles traffic look like child's play. So I need extra prayers that I don't die learning how to drive again! (note from mom: in our defense, we truly tried to teach Alex to drive a manual transmission!)
Lots of love to all!
Elder Ahlstrom
Let me start with the news that you're probably all waiting for. I'm going to Betongolo (many onions in Malagasy). I will be serving as Office Elder. I'll be working in the office for a little bit each day and then I'll be working just up the hill from the office. Very exciting! I'm nervous because it's a new area. But it is super fun that I will finally get to work in Antananarivo. (note from mom: Betongolo is not clearly marked on all maps. It appears to be just north of Tana. I wonder if it is the equivalent of a suburb?)
Mom, you need to stop posting about Mada's political unrest. You are scaring all the other moms, and the other Elders said their moms were worried! Also, say hi to everyone, especially Brother Volney. I haven't responded to his emails because of my limited time, but I really appreciate hearing from him and everyone. They're so nice and their prayers are so important.
I'm busy packing and getting all the last things ready so that I can leave tomorrow. Also, I'm really upset with you (mom) and dad for not teaching me how to drive a stick, and now I have to learn. The Office Elders drive in Tana, which makes San Fran hills look cute and Los Angeles traffic look like child's play. So I need extra prayers that I don't die learning how to drive again! (note from mom: in our defense, we truly tried to teach Alex to drive a manual transmission!)
Lots of love to all!
Elder Ahlstrom
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
I'm going to keep this short because I don't have a whole bunch to report this week. First off, the thing I've been talking about for weeks is about to happen. Next p-day I'll know my new area! Stay tuned for that. This week has been pretty chill. We almost got hit by a cyclone here, but thankfully it went off in another direction. There have been really bad rain storms in Tana the last two weeks that have caused massive flooding. You don't know this, but Tana is a city built on mud hills. That means that when it rains things collapse and wash down into the middle of the city. In other words, the flooding has been pretty bad. Here we've had a lot of rain, but everything is sand so it filters through pretty quickly. It just rains and rains and rains, pretty much non stop.
This week I saw another lemur. He was a little funny lookin' thing with huge eyes. Super cute though. I've said this before, but lemurs are just as awesome as you'd expect them to be.
This week is going to be a little difficult because I expect to be saying goodbye to my home for the last 6 months. Okay, I don't officially know I'm leaving, but it seem that it's definitely, very, likely. In political terms it's a 100 percent maybe, just so that I don't get caught off guard next week.
Thank you for all of your letters. I love hearing from all of you. Talk to you next week.
Elder Ahlstrom
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| Pumping water for laundry |
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| At the market - yes, those are flies |
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| Alex's companion |
Monday, January 19, 2015
Note from Mom: I didn't update Alex's blog last week because the only communication that I received from him was a very short email that said he was "writing just to let us know the he wasn't dead, but he was really, really sick and couldn't write more".
January 19, 2015
Dear Family and Friends,
First off, I'm really sorry about last week. What happened is kind of a very funny and awful story. Every Sunday we eat at the District President's house. Last week the power was off (as usual), but it had been off for a very extended period of time - like 16 hours. One of the best things about eating at the Branch President's house is that he always has awesome juice. So, of course, the first thing I went for last week was the jus natural. Well, you may know something happens to unprocessed natural juice if it's not pasteurized or refrigerated. If you don't, refer to the Word of Wisdom. Yes, the juice was alcohol. Now something that must be understood is that if you don't finish all of the food you are given it's pretty much the rudest thing you can do. Faced with that problem I swallowed the juice as fast as possible. Thankfully it wasn't very much because the glasses here are small. But the next day I realized that I had terrible, TERRIBLE food poisoning! It was awful. I'm used to throwing up now, but this was something particularly special. Anyway, to make a long story short, that's why I couldn't write last week. Obviously I feel much better now.
I'm approaching the end of my stay in Toamasina. It's very sad. I love it so much here. I've come to feel that this place is home. I'm especially going to miss my companion. We've become really good friends these last weeks. He's super cool and really funny. Most importantly, he's a really good person. He's also the only member in his family
I have a little bit of political news for all of you. I'll keep this short because we're really not supposed to talk about national politics, but this is pertinent. Plus, I can't help getting a LITTLE interested in what's happening around me. As my Malagasy has gotten better one of my greatest temptations is to read the newspaper - ha ha! But the news is that the riots we had in Tomatov were only capping off a string of issues that the government has been having. The power especially is a nation wide issue and it's getting worse. So, in response, the prime minister and the entire cabinet ministry resigned. Now there's no ministry of health, ministry of power, etc. It's all been dissolved (at least the leadership). The President selected a former military crony, which incidentally was unconstitutional, so he had a sort of impeachment trial. During all of this the old President who was exiled returned to Madagascar in the north, which is an area that tried to separate from the rest of Madagascar a few years ago. After all of this the religious leaders in Tana demanded that the former presidents get together and agree to respect the current government and not try to destabilize it. However, after signing an agreement, two of the former Presidents held a press conference where they withdrew their support. So now things are really shaky here politically. People are up in arms and protesting in Tana. Also, to cap it off there was a cyclone that came through and hit Tana really hard. The roads fell apart and much of the city is completely flooded. Several people died, so it's just not good right now. Thankfully the mission has been working really hard to get everyone to build a 72 hour kit. This started a few weeks before everything turned bad. Clearly they were inspired to set in place such actions. I'm very thankful I have my 72 hour kit because things can get pretty sketchy pretty quickly here. Also, thankfully, I live in Tomatov. However, I'll likely end up in Tana in two weeks. So we'll have to see what ends up happening. I'll keep you posted.
I also have a spiritual thought this week. It's about the great and spacious building in Lehi and Nephi's dream. Often we think of the great and spacious building as one that is highly ornamented, beautiful, and as respecting the world as perfect. We don't often (I believe) think of it in the context of God's glory. Often the representations we see of it make it almost a desirable alternative to the tree of life. Obviously we understand what's better. However, we see the two as almost comparable, or at least as a formidable temptation. The building represents the world, but I think the true significance of the building is the pride of man. My spiritual thought is about how silly the pride of man is. In our area there is a large and very poorly constructed house. For the record, it is large. It's three stories, which is not often seen here. However, it's unpainted and the yard is full of waste from the construction. The actual building is little more than a shell. People had their clothes drying on clothes lines. We were working across the street when someone spoke to us in no uncertain terms. From the building there were several men laughing at us. I couldn't help but think how silly they looked. We've seen REAL wealth, and the fact that they could think they were standing from their "high tower" and laughing at us below. They haven't known anything else. They believed they had made it. They believed they had true wealth - something worth having. Yet, I looked at it and saw what it really was. Just a feigned attempt at happiness, completely devoid of perspective (even the perspective of western wealth). Then I asked myself, how often are we not like those men, standing from what we believe to be our high tower of judgment. It really is silly when you think about it. The people in Lehi's dream were laughing. The glory of the fruit so outweighed that of the high tower. The tower looks like little more than an unfinished three story cement house in the middle of piles of garbage with three shirtless men smoking cigarettes and laughing at two missionaries. I think we could all use a little perspective on everything. Not just in our pride, but also in how often we think our situation is the worst ever, It's really not. And most importantly, the Savior descended below all. I think we could all use a little temperance and a little bit more reflection before responding. Even death, when looked at in an eternal perspective, is just a comma in the long story of our existence. I encourage all of you not to look up at high towers with loathing greed or to look down on others with prideful superiority. I imagine that when the Lord sees such silly things it's all he can do not to laugh a little bit because we place so much significance on things that matter soooo little.
Hope you're all doing well.
Elder Ahlstrom
January 19, 2015
Dear Family and Friends,
First off, I'm really sorry about last week. What happened is kind of a very funny and awful story. Every Sunday we eat at the District President's house. Last week the power was off (as usual), but it had been off for a very extended period of time - like 16 hours. One of the best things about eating at the Branch President's house is that he always has awesome juice. So, of course, the first thing I went for last week was the jus natural. Well, you may know something happens to unprocessed natural juice if it's not pasteurized or refrigerated. If you don't, refer to the Word of Wisdom. Yes, the juice was alcohol. Now something that must be understood is that if you don't finish all of the food you are given it's pretty much the rudest thing you can do. Faced with that problem I swallowed the juice as fast as possible. Thankfully it wasn't very much because the glasses here are small. But the next day I realized that I had terrible, TERRIBLE food poisoning! It was awful. I'm used to throwing up now, but this was something particularly special. Anyway, to make a long story short, that's why I couldn't write last week. Obviously I feel much better now.
I'm approaching the end of my stay in Toamasina. It's very sad. I love it so much here. I've come to feel that this place is home. I'm especially going to miss my companion. We've become really good friends these last weeks. He's super cool and really funny. Most importantly, he's a really good person. He's also the only member in his family
I have a little bit of political news for all of you. I'll keep this short because we're really not supposed to talk about national politics, but this is pertinent. Plus, I can't help getting a LITTLE interested in what's happening around me. As my Malagasy has gotten better one of my greatest temptations is to read the newspaper - ha ha! But the news is that the riots we had in Tomatov were only capping off a string of issues that the government has been having. The power especially is a nation wide issue and it's getting worse. So, in response, the prime minister and the entire cabinet ministry resigned. Now there's no ministry of health, ministry of power, etc. It's all been dissolved (at least the leadership). The President selected a former military crony, which incidentally was unconstitutional, so he had a sort of impeachment trial. During all of this the old President who was exiled returned to Madagascar in the north, which is an area that tried to separate from the rest of Madagascar a few years ago. After all of this the religious leaders in Tana demanded that the former presidents get together and agree to respect the current government and not try to destabilize it. However, after signing an agreement, two of the former Presidents held a press conference where they withdrew their support. So now things are really shaky here politically. People are up in arms and protesting in Tana. Also, to cap it off there was a cyclone that came through and hit Tana really hard. The roads fell apart and much of the city is completely flooded. Several people died, so it's just not good right now. Thankfully the mission has been working really hard to get everyone to build a 72 hour kit. This started a few weeks before everything turned bad. Clearly they were inspired to set in place such actions. I'm very thankful I have my 72 hour kit because things can get pretty sketchy pretty quickly here. Also, thankfully, I live in Tomatov. However, I'll likely end up in Tana in two weeks. So we'll have to see what ends up happening. I'll keep you posted.
I also have a spiritual thought this week. It's about the great and spacious building in Lehi and Nephi's dream. Often we think of the great and spacious building as one that is highly ornamented, beautiful, and as respecting the world as perfect. We don't often (I believe) think of it in the context of God's glory. Often the representations we see of it make it almost a desirable alternative to the tree of life. Obviously we understand what's better. However, we see the two as almost comparable, or at least as a formidable temptation. The building represents the world, but I think the true significance of the building is the pride of man. My spiritual thought is about how silly the pride of man is. In our area there is a large and very poorly constructed house. For the record, it is large. It's three stories, which is not often seen here. However, it's unpainted and the yard is full of waste from the construction. The actual building is little more than a shell. People had their clothes drying on clothes lines. We were working across the street when someone spoke to us in no uncertain terms. From the building there were several men laughing at us. I couldn't help but think how silly they looked. We've seen REAL wealth, and the fact that they could think they were standing from their "high tower" and laughing at us below. They haven't known anything else. They believed they had made it. They believed they had true wealth - something worth having. Yet, I looked at it and saw what it really was. Just a feigned attempt at happiness, completely devoid of perspective (even the perspective of western wealth). Then I asked myself, how often are we not like those men, standing from what we believe to be our high tower of judgment. It really is silly when you think about it. The people in Lehi's dream were laughing. The glory of the fruit so outweighed that of the high tower. The tower looks like little more than an unfinished three story cement house in the middle of piles of garbage with three shirtless men smoking cigarettes and laughing at two missionaries. I think we could all use a little perspective on everything. Not just in our pride, but also in how often we think our situation is the worst ever, It's really not. And most importantly, the Savior descended below all. I think we could all use a little temperance and a little bit more reflection before responding. Even death, when looked at in an eternal perspective, is just a comma in the long story of our existence. I encourage all of you not to look up at high towers with loathing greed or to look down on others with prideful superiority. I imagine that when the Lord sees such silly things it's all he can do not to laugh a little bit because we place so much significance on things that matter soooo little.
Hope you're all doing well.
Elder Ahlstrom
Monday, January 5, 2015
Arobina Chacha ny Toamboavoa (congratulations for catching the new year). Okay, that spelling is not exactly correct, but I don't know how to spell anything!
Let me start off by wishing you all a very Happy New Year! This week was just a whirlwind. First, I have to start with New Years. The whole country was partying! It was very exciting, although not very fun, because for the most part people were just raving drunk. Actually, a note on that, if I had to summarize the overall vibe of the day it would be Christmas is a day to party (ergo get drunk), and New Years is just a day to get ridiculously drunk. People were freaking out, I think some people got pre drunk the night before just so that they could build on that for the big day. And then they drank themselves back to sobriety.
Holidays are challenging because lots of people are visiting family and so we didn't have a whole lot of time to teach lessons. For the most part we tracted. That was hard because we set the goal this week as a companionship to work for 28 hours (that means in lessons or tracting). We were working ALL day every day. It was good, but it was hard, especially because half the people we ran into tried to yell at us about New Years in a hybrid French/ English/ Malagasy.
We also had a birth this week. One of our investigators gave birth to a healthy baby boy - 3 kilos. It was a little scary because there were a few complications that required a cesarean section. The hospitals here are really below American standards, but thankfully mother and child are doing very well. We went and ministered to the new mother and her husband at the hospital. It was a very weird experience. I did not see a single doctor the whole time I was there. It was just nurses and family caring for the sick. People don't go to the hospital unless they have to. At the hospital the only thing provided is medical care. Food, bedding, anything else needed must be provided by the family. If no one feeds the patient then the patient doesn't eat. Thankfully our investigator has a really great family that was there supporting her. It was also weird because there were US Aid, UN, and other relief institution posters everywhere. They told how to administer life saving procedures. Also there was no clean running water in the hospital. Most of the hospital was outside. The operating room and housing arrangements were indoors but not separate from the outside. Very few of the rooms had power or lighting and none of them had climate control of any kind.
Other than that we did achieve our goal of 28 active hours of missionary work. Things are starting to turn back to normal after all the business of the holiday season. It's weird that I will be leaving Tomatov soon. I am looking forward to not sweating all the time. I still have a little time here. I'm really going to miss a lot of the people I've met here. We have possibly my final baptism here coming up on the 24th of January. This upcoming week we have interviews with President Adams. Other than that things are about the same as always. I hope you're all doing well.
Elder Ahlstrom
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Monday, December 29, 2014
Note from Mom: We were able to Skype with Alex from midnight to 3am (our time) on December 23rd. It was wonderful to see his face and hear his voice. Thanks to Alex's dad, the entire call was recorded. It is available under a passcode on You Tube. Please post a note on this blog or send me a Facebook message if you would like access to see the call. I will happily send you the passcode.
Dear Friends and Family,
It was awesome to talk to all of you on Christmas. As far as my Christmas, what can I say, it was a Madagascar Christmas. In this context that means that we reenacted the Christmas story a little bit. Since non of us wanted to cook we went out to eat at the one restaurant that was open on Christmas. It's a little Muslim place down the street. It was funny because they were playing Christmas music - ha ha. After that we went around and shared Christmas spiritual thoughts with people on the road. Everyone here gets dressed up and goes to church on Christmas. The dress actually resembles our Easter.
It was a little weird to work on Christmas, but it was also really fun and rewarding. We tried to visit our older investigators and those without family nearby. We sang hymns with them and tried to make things feel Christmasy and fun. Mostly we just worked really hard. Also, thankfully my companion got to talk to his family. It's expensive to place phone calls. His family doesn't have access to a computer, so he couldn't Skype them. Thankfully they were able to save up some funds to call him. Overall, it was a great way to spend the day, and it was neat to bring glad tidings in a very literal way.
I went on a split this week with two Elders in my District. Unfortunately I got way stinking sick! It was my fault. I drank sketchy water. I had been riding my bike all day and I was really thirsty. That's what I get for doing things that I know are dumb - ha ha!
Have a Happy New Year,
Elder Ahlstrom
Dear Friends and Family,
It was awesome to talk to all of you on Christmas. As far as my Christmas, what can I say, it was a Madagascar Christmas. In this context that means that we reenacted the Christmas story a little bit. Since non of us wanted to cook we went out to eat at the one restaurant that was open on Christmas. It's a little Muslim place down the street. It was funny because they were playing Christmas music - ha ha. After that we went around and shared Christmas spiritual thoughts with people on the road. Everyone here gets dressed up and goes to church on Christmas. The dress actually resembles our Easter.
It was a little weird to work on Christmas, but it was also really fun and rewarding. We tried to visit our older investigators and those without family nearby. We sang hymns with them and tried to make things feel Christmasy and fun. Mostly we just worked really hard. Also, thankfully my companion got to talk to his family. It's expensive to place phone calls. His family doesn't have access to a computer, so he couldn't Skype them. Thankfully they were able to save up some funds to call him. Overall, it was a great way to spend the day, and it was neat to bring glad tidings in a very literal way.
I went on a split this week with two Elders in my District. Unfortunately I got way stinking sick! It was my fault. I drank sketchy water. I had been riding my bike all day and I was really thirsty. That's what I get for doing things that I know are dumb - ha ha!
Have a Happy New Year,
Elder Ahlstrom
Monday, December 22, 2014
Hmmm... What to say, what to say. Well, first off, it's super exciting how close things are to Christmas. I'm anxiously awaiting our talk on Christmas!
As far as how things are going in Madagascar, we're doing great as always. Things are going really well with the work here, and it's super exciting to be a part of it. We have been having a lot of success getting people to church. This Sunday we had 12, which was a pretty good amount.
I'm glad to hear you are all doing well. It was funny to see pictures of you guys wearing long sleeves. I can't even imagine that because it is always so hot here. This week was particularly bad because the power was out almost constantly. That meant washing clothes by hand and taking cold showers to stave off overheating. Summer is in full swing here and Toamasina is one of the hotter places. It's also one of the most humid places because the eastern half of Mada is more humid then the western half. The humidity has just been kind of sitting. It doesn't rain that often it just is hot and sticky. I think I'm getting used to it though. At first I couldn't sleep at all if the power was out. Now I just don't like it. Before when the power came on I would sprint to shut the doors and turn on the AC. Now I don't really care... as much... hahaha!
This p-day did have a sad tinge to it. Almost all the Elders that I've been with since I got here moved to a new area. Our house went from a six man to a four man house. I actually prefer that because it's much calmer. Last p-day, our house had a Christmas meal, which was pretty fun. I made a roast. I decided that it was my Christmas present to myself.
Elder Razandetsetra and I are also doing well. My Malagasy has become much more communicative, which makes it easier to talk to him. It's also fun because in companion study I get to teach him a lot about the gospel. He's only been a member for three years, and there are some holes in his knowledge. We have a good time. He's helping me with my pronunciation, which is the thing that I think I struggle with most right now. He says our investigators have to get used to how I talk before they can understand me. But the goal is to get over that so that I can just talk. Also, I'm still working on comprehension, but as you know with languages, you learn little by little.
Elder Gaul got home this week and killed me with stories of his adventures - mostly centered on food! Thankfully, I got to call him right before he left. That was really awesome. I already miss him a lot. He was a super studly missionary!
Elder Ahlstrom
As far as how things are going in Madagascar, we're doing great as always. Things are going really well with the work here, and it's super exciting to be a part of it. We have been having a lot of success getting people to church. This Sunday we had 12, which was a pretty good amount.
I'm glad to hear you are all doing well. It was funny to see pictures of you guys wearing long sleeves. I can't even imagine that because it is always so hot here. This week was particularly bad because the power was out almost constantly. That meant washing clothes by hand and taking cold showers to stave off overheating. Summer is in full swing here and Toamasina is one of the hotter places. It's also one of the most humid places because the eastern half of Mada is more humid then the western half. The humidity has just been kind of sitting. It doesn't rain that often it just is hot and sticky. I think I'm getting used to it though. At first I couldn't sleep at all if the power was out. Now I just don't like it. Before when the power came on I would sprint to shut the doors and turn on the AC. Now I don't really care... as much... hahaha!
This p-day did have a sad tinge to it. Almost all the Elders that I've been with since I got here moved to a new area. Our house went from a six man to a four man house. I actually prefer that because it's much calmer. Last p-day, our house had a Christmas meal, which was pretty fun. I made a roast. I decided that it was my Christmas present to myself.
Elder Razandetsetra and I are also doing well. My Malagasy has become much more communicative, which makes it easier to talk to him. It's also fun because in companion study I get to teach him a lot about the gospel. He's only been a member for three years, and there are some holes in his knowledge. We have a good time. He's helping me with my pronunciation, which is the thing that I think I struggle with most right now. He says our investigators have to get used to how I talk before they can understand me. But the goal is to get over that so that I can just talk. Also, I'm still working on comprehension, but as you know with languages, you learn little by little.
Elder Gaul got home this week and killed me with stories of his adventures - mostly centered on food! Thankfully, I got to call him right before he left. That was really awesome. I already miss him a lot. He was a super studly missionary!
Elder Ahlstrom
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