Madagascar....

Mike's Aunt Bonnie is on a Mission in Madagascar. Her family has a web site that the family can get on and send messages back and forth. I love her tellings of Madagascar. She is amazing at what she is doing by herself. Her husband passed away a while ago and this is her second mission since. She is so brave. I have to pass on 2 of her letters. They inspire me so much.

January 17,
Yesterday we visited seven families that were three busses and 1 1/2 hours away from the office. Not your regular visiting teacher beat I can assure you. Found a beautiful young mother of three alone and very ill with Malaria. Her husband was at work and she had no help. When the little one wanted to nurse she tried but you could tell she was dry. WE talked to her about medicine and the doctor had given her a shot. When we asked what we could do to help she said we could get her phone minutes recharged so she could call if she had an emergency. Her sister lived down below and refused to turn down her stereo so she could get some rest. Apparently they had a fight and now the siter is punishing her. What a circus. We got her some phone minutes. gave instructions to the oldest child about how to help out more and called her branch president to get her a priesthood blessing. The next house the young couple had no food because he had lost his job. The whole family looked hungry. They had a little 18mos old who was really skinny. We called the Elder who had been teaching them as investigators and the Elders brought them some rice and beans and soap and candles etc. We are helping them to get the husbands birth certificate so they can be married so then they can be baptized. Many people here live together all their life without being married; They just don't bother because it costs money to get the license. Very often a baptism is preceeded by a wedding. Yesterday while we were out I saw a women hoist two car battiers on top of her head and away she went. I was afraid they would leak acid on her but to her it was no trouble. As we were walking down by the rice paddies a man walked along that had a huge bundle of green grass on his head. His entire head was covered up, I don't see how he knew where he was going. The parcel of grass was as big as the body of a volkswagon. These people are little but they are strong. AT Christmas time my comp picked up a hundred pound sack of rice like it was nothing and left the Elders feeling ashamed of themselves. Yesterday I also saw an awful sight. We always see beggars but this womens face was partially covered by a head cloth until it fell open and revealed her face which looked to me like she had Leprosey. Her mouth was almost completely gone. I gave her all I had in my pocket. Sometimes these sights can weight you down. Tomorrow I will be leaving for Tomatave early in the morning. It is a seven hour trip by car and the road is winding. The smart thing to do is not to eat anything. I look forward to this transfer and know that I will learn a lot and hopefully give a lot. I have just returned from playing the organ for a funeral. The french man who is married to a Malagasy women died on Sunday. My companion had been sitting with his wife in the hospital and with the man alone when the wife had to leave for a week. The man was a returned missionary and only 35. The funeral was sad but his family is LDS and they were comforted. What I have heard about the medical care makes me so glad I live in America. The doctors did not have any idea what was wrong with him. One day they said he had Meningitis and then the doctor said he had a mushroom in his brain. Who know what he really died of. The wife was working with the embasy to get him to Reunion where he could get better medical care but he died first. Very sad. When everything on the program was over, including the closing prayer. I started playing the postlude and here comes another speaker, and then the people stayed right where they were for another 30 min. after she finshed. Actually I think it is a nice tradition to stay and meditate until you feel ready to leave instead of the organ telling you you have to leave. I got into the swing of it after a minute. I am truly having adventures and am healthy and happy. I love you all and thank you for your support. I will be trying to get a telephone down there and get my internet set up. It may be a little while before you can reach me. I will be in touch through internet cafe's as soon as I can. Love you all mom'

January 21,
Dear family, i just typed a note to Cara on a french keyboard and decided that I had better make a change. They went in the backroom of this internet cafe and found this Swiss keyboard that more closely resembles American. I hae felt very much like a pioneer this last three days since arriving here in Tomatave nothing has really gone right except church and the spirit that was there. We found the apartment not ready for us to move in. No water, no hot water heater, no toilets that would flush and both toilets covered with ka ka, yes the s word. The floors were covered with three years accumulation of black dirt. No screen on the windows and the mosquitoes running in and out along with the flys. After driving for seven hours to get here we swept and cleaned for another four just to find a place to put our suitcases down. At night they brought us a fan to blow the mosquitoes away and I took my doxycyline and fell into bed. Did I forget to mention that I took a quick bath in a mixing bowl with water from the apartment below us. All I can say is that its a good thing that the gospel is true because \I would not have gone thru this for anyone but the Lod. He really knows how to comfort me. It was funny he sent me every plague I hated most to see if I would jump on the bus and go home. My companion decided to buy fish for dinner on Sat, ater they got us a stove. She gutted it out on the deck and left the kitchen door open and when i came in to fix my dinner there were about a thousand flyies all over everything. and three hissing coakcroaches trying to get me. I lost my apetite in a big way and just had a package of cookies for dinner. That night I talked to the Lord big tme and told him I was staying so bring on his best plagues because it would take more than flys and Ka Ka to chase me out. I love you all and know that I can make a big difference here in peoples lives if I can just foget mayself and go to work. That is what I am doing. Today we may get mosquitoe netting for our beds. The thing is that the churches Malaria policy states clearly that all missionaries in this country and South Africa are to be housed only in apartments with screens on the windows. I don't want to die out here. eight hours away from the closest hospital I just saw a young member of the church die of highly curable meningitis because of poor medical care. If I am demanding it will only be in behalf of my health. i want to live long enough to see you all again. I love you all. Be good to each other. I am fine, don't worry about me. I will never get so humble that I don't complain a little bit.

These letters always make my life so much easier. I am glad to live where I do and have a clean working home.