Happy Halloween

 



Dear everybody,

Happy Halloween!! No, we do not celebrate Halloween here in Madagascar. I feel like most of the people here would just think we were super weird. This week was great! We had a lot of successes and a lot of great things.

So today I would like to tell you about my friend Salim and his family. Elder Bassett and I were tracking a couple of weeks ago when some random dude leaned out his window to talk to us. He said that we could come in! The problem was that the window was on the back of the house and there was no way in unless we went all the way out to the main road and back in a different path, which would involve losing sight of the house. Well this was a big house and it looks very different from the other side. To be honest we still haven't found it yet, but that's ok.
As we were looking we found a house that looked like it might be it so we knocked. And knocked. And knocked. And no one came. I don't know why (well I do now but I didn't then) but we both just really felt like we needed to talk to these people. So what do two young, stupid, rude, and extremely hard headed Mormon missionaries do? Well, we opened the door, walked through the living room and up the stairs! Not something that I would recommend to anyone. At the top of the stairs we found one of the biggest Malagasies that I have ever seen in my life, and in the deepest voice I have ever heard he politely asked what the heck we were doing in his house. We told him we were missionaries and we had a message about Jesus Christ. He responded that he was Muslim. Time to run right? Nope we just told him we also had a message that would help his family. At this point he called his wife over and allowed us to come in. We sat down and Elder Bassett looked at me and asked how we were supposed to do this. I told him I had no idea. Well, 45 minutes later we finished one of the most powerful lessons on the Restoration that I can remember being a part of, and invited them to pray and that we would love to come back Thursday. Salim told us he had to work, so we said we would just come back in a week. Then Wednesday night Elder Bassett answered a call from an unknown number. It was Salim and he wanted us to come back the next day!! We were a little bit shocked to say the least. When we got there, we were even more shocked. Salim runs a trucking company, and he had a truck broken down about halfway to nowhere in the middle of some very dangerous territory, but he had felt that rather than going to save it, he should learn from the white dudes first. In the next lesson they readily accepted a bap date. On Sunday Salim walked in to a Christian church for the first time in his life, and I am just in awe of how much the Lord guided us to this awesome family. I will keep you posted on their progress.

Today in my studies I learned a lot about studying. I don't know if that makes sense or not. I learned how studying actually works. We don't just read the books and learn. No man knoweth save it is revealed to him by the power of the Holy Ghost, and by the power of the Holy Ghost it is all knowledge is given. Sure we read the words, but the Holy Ghost confirms to our hearts the truth of all things. He guides our thoughts and teaches us new things, things that might not even be written. It's a great gift that we all have, that we are able to learn by this power and come to understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Love you all so much,

Elder Jensen

Scripture of the week: Jacob 4:8