Letter to Overton 1st Ward

Dear Overton 1st Ward;

Thank you for all love and support that has been shown to me from the ward. The missionary work is going very well in Madagascar. The church is still very young here because missionaries didn't start arriving until about five years ago. There is only one stake on the island and currently missionaries are proselyting in three of the major cities. I am currently working in the capital city, Antananarivo, where the base of the church is located. The Malagasy people are very warm and hospital to the missionaries. We usually have no problem filling our schedule with people to teach. The problem we find is that the Churches are too far for the people to go. Most Malagasies do not have a car so they walk everywhere, and on some places it can be an hour and a half walk. The missionaries are lucky because we receive enough money to take buses, but most people are not that fortunate. However, there are very diligent members who still come to Church. There was a member in my last ward who was in a wheel chair, and had to have his 12 year old son push him two hours to the Church. Our Bishop was a 31 year old man who had only been baptized 3 years prior, but still fulfills his calling like a lifetime member.

Madagascar is a very poor country with most of the country living in severe poverty. There is no running water into homes except at local pumps along the road where people carry buckets of water back to their houses. The Church has several Humanitarian Aid couples who organize the building of water pumps around the outskirts of town, because for some it is over a mile to fresh water. Power is starting to become available into homes except for most it is too expensive. Malagasy people eat rice three meals a day, and use charcoal to cook every day. There was a celebration just recently because the triple had been translated into Malagasy, their native language. There a very few church items that are in Malagasy, and for the most part we sing and use church manuals in French.

Since arriving to Madagascar I have learned that some of the people we least suspect to be good investigators turn out to be Golden. For example we tracked into a man outside his house who asked us to teach him a lesson. His humble home was too small to seat all three of us so we taught a lesson sitting in outside with him. During the lesson his neighbor saw us and sat in on the lesson. We returned next week and the man didn't want to continue learning, but the neighbor saw us and invited us back. Her and her family will baptize next month. I know that the Church is true because I see that we are so far away from Church Headquarters, but it is still the same. The people love to watch general conference, even though it takes over a month to receive the videos. There has been an excitement because this Sunday Elder Rasband of the Seventy is coming for our Stake Conference. The people love to hear from General Authorities because it is usually once every few years they get the opportunity.

Thank you again for all the thoughts and prayers. I know that there is no greater work on Earth than proclaiming the gospel to all people. Thanks Again and God Bless.

Misaotra Tompko

Elder Jones