February 5, 2012

Hey Family!

Another week down. This is crazy to realize how fast my mission's going, that I'm serving my mission in madagascar, and even bigger- that I'm even on my mission. I love all those facts except for the 1st one, that one's kind of a yo-yo, that means so-so in malagasy ha! But in reality, I'm so thankful to be where I am right now, serving a mission. I'm learning so much and feeling myself grow more and more in all ways(except for my stomach I think) always! 

So, another cyclone came through here this last week and brought lots and lots of rain, and in my area where there is already always water and mud, it became water up to our knees, and mud up to our calves. So we went barefoot(carrying our shoes in our hands) and with rolled up pant legs for most of the week. And I found out later that there are little worm parasites that like to be in that water when its dirty, so we'll see in the future if I got em. :) The symptoms are really, really, really itchy feet, so hopefully I don't get that ha! Oh well if I do.

Well, in response to your questions: I have still been enjoying the fact that they have two great pizza places here in mahajanga, each of the workers there know who we are, and when we call in and order, and they ask us who the order is for and where we live, all we have to say is, "It's the missionaries" haha. I have also still been playing lots of basketball and having lots of fun with that each monday.  I don't think I've gained any weight since I've been here and I don't think I've lost any either. But I do think how hot it is here, has a big effect on the weight and condition of the people here in mahajanga. It's very rare, when we're walking around the streets on a hot day and everyone else has their shirts off, to see a guy that doesn't have an 8-pack haha. But for me, I still haven't gotten the 8-pack, or the blackness, but I still think I look pretty good ha. ;) Also, my companion is really short. I'll send you a picture next week to show you the difference in our heights. It's pretty hilarious! And he does like to sing like his dad. And his english is progressing. He's a really hard worker and a good example for me. And we do still teach his brother every few days. 

Well, I'll close with this statement in order to show how much I agree with what you said mom... I know that God knows all things, and that even when we think we need or would like one thing, God knows what we really need to bring us happiness, peace, and put us in the place we need to be in life, and I know that if we just follow the Gospel and trust in his knowledge, by enduring through our trials and not just giving up when it gets hard, that he will bless us with those things that he knows that we need in order to grow closer to him, and become a better person, and more like Christ. I know that to be true, and even though it is hard to endure at times, I know that it's worth it and that we will be so much happier and more blessed for our efforts to do so.

Also, this week we're going to Tana to go to a meeting with a member of a quorum of the 70 that's coming to speak to the mission. I'm pretty excited for the meeting but not too much for the bus trip haha. But it'll be worth it! :)

Well that's all for the this week! Have a great week getting ready to go to Utah. And question: is there going to be a life-size poster board of me at the wedding? I'm not neccessarily requesting one haha, I just want to know if there is going to be one! :) 

Well, I love you all for eternity!

Elder Waters

God be with you till we meet again

February 27, 2012

Hey family,
I don't have very much time today, but I still have enough time to
tell you that I love you and that things are going great here. My
companion's amazing and the work is hard and good! We had 20
investigators from my area at church yesterday and 27 from the other
area here in mahajanga(before Elder ---- and I got my kids, both of
the areas were combined), so this branch's sacrament hall is now
overflowing with people. And there were also 2 baptisms of people that
---- and I taught when we were together this last saturday.
It's great to hear that things are going great for you all as well.
And it's also great to hear that ---- is still looking good and
healthy, that the freezer is still stocked up with pizza, that ----
is waiting for his mission call, and that ----- is getting the
Melchizedek Priesthood. I'm also glad to hear about all of the
blessings you all have received throughout this last week.  But that's 

about all I have for this week. Oh, and very
nice newspaper article. In fact, how is the presidential election
going?
Anyways, I love you all for eternity,
Elder Waters
God be with you till we meet again

February 20, 2012

Hey Family!!!
It's great to hear all of this great news about you guys! Things are
going good here in mahajanga, madagascar as well! The cyclone didn't
really hit us at all. We got a little bit of rain and wind but that is
all. There is still a nice breeze, which is a very nice thing to have
here in hot mahajanga! My companion and I are still getting along
great and the area is improving very nicely. And I don't know if I
told you this last week or not, but my companion's father is a famous
singer here in madagascar, so a lot of the time when he introduces
himself, people ask him if he's the son of the singer and he's kind of
shy about it, but he says yes. His father left his family when he was
a little little kid though, but he still stayed in contact with him
throughout his life. He's also a twin, but his twin died when he was 4
from food poisoning. He's a really short guy with a sweet spirit, a
strong testimony, and he has the
funniest laugh.
Answers to your questions:
The typhoid girl is completely healed now, and desiring to learn more
about the gospel. We had 15 investigators at church this week from my
area, which was double from last weeks 7. The dumbo boy is just like
me when I was a kid because he has big ears, and yes because he loves
to make everyone laugh and he's crazy. He comes from a really great
family. His sisters played and sang a primary song in our last soiree
because when there mother was alive she always loved hearing them sing
the primary songs, and it reminded me of you, mom, and how much you
and love primary songs. And I'm glad you were able to look at some of
the mormon ads the other night, those are great. The charge that was
on the visa card was from me. And from my research that I've done, I
do need a visa debit card not mastercard. And what are shoe
driers(like how do they work, I know their purpose obviously haha)?
And I don't know the exact date of when ---- brothers mission ends
but I do know that it's some time during this month. Very exciting for
them! I'm sure they're very happy, so I'm happy for them as well! :)
And I'm very very very happy and excited for ---- and -----!
Wohoooooo!!!!!!!!! I'm gonna be an uncle!!!! Congrats on becoming a
grandma and grandpa as well mom and dad! And congrats ---- and -----
on becoming parents!
Well that's really all I have for this week. I'm loving my mission and
am happy for all the great things that are going on in your lives as
well!
Love for eternity,
Elder Waters
God be with you till we meet again

February 13, 2012

Well......................WOW!!!

This week has been a week of miracles, and it sounds like that for both of us! First off, Happy Birthday Big Papa, throw your hands in the air and wave them everywhere, and second Happy Valentines Day, and third, I have a new companion, I'm training! And not just the normal kind of training, teaching a english speaking elder from america on the language, about the country, about how to teach lessons, but I'm training a malagasy. That means I don't have to train him at the language, well at least the language we'll be teaching in. He knows close to no english, which is just find with me because that means I get to practice my malagasy nonstop all day, and get headaches sometimes. 

Elder ----- is still working here as well. But he has a kid as well now who is from fiji, he speaks pretty good english and is hilarious. He's 24 and recent convert of 2 years. My companion is also 24 but has been a member for 8 years. He's great, and I've already seen the reason that he was sent here to mahabibo(that means almond), mahajanga to work with me. We've already had lots of cool exeriences together. He's about half my height haha. But he's a really good guy and ready to work hard and be a really good missionary. I have also been happily surprised that my malagasy has magically picked up since the time I got him as my companion. I can now explain basically anything I want, in a roundabout way at times, in malagasy. I know that that is a blessing from God. 

The area that I'm working in, is kind of far away from our house, it's about a 30 minute walk. And it's kind of like I'm whitewashing it. Whitewashing is when a companionship goes into an area that neither of them were trained on. I'm only kind of whitewashing it though because ---- did show me a little bit of the area and the investigators while we together, but most of the time was spent in his area on his investigators. The reason it wasn't his area before was because the elder that I replaced, worked it with a mini for two months, but when I came, he wasn't able to train me on it, but ----- and I worked there a few times while we together. He has a great area with a lot of great investigators, but so do I, I just get to do lots of tracting for the first time during my mission haha. Its not too bad at all though. Works picking up quickly. We only had 7 investigators from my area at church yesterday, but we look forward to seeing that number grow each week. The branch is also growing a lot. I believe when I first came here, attendance was 114, but the count for this week was 132. This branch is awesome, and its nice to actually be able to talk to people now and understand them haha.

In response to your questions, I'm feeling better now, my stomachs calmed down a little bit ha. Also, about the debit card, I don't know if a mastercard will work here, but I'll check it out throughout the week and email you about it next week. I ending up doing just fine last month on money, and I actually leftover, and this month I'm doing just fine as well, but the extra money would be good if I want to get souvenirs while I'm here. We haven't moved into a new apartment yet because we haven't found one, but we are still looking. And in response to the young women's question about the fish eyes staring at me as I ate the head, the eyes were plucked out before I ate the head. And by the way, I'm sorry that you two feel like you've eaten one too many fish heads. I can feel your pain there! ;) 

I also, like the idea about the white speedo dad. I think that would be no problem(or maybe just a lot ha). I'm glad that dad's talk went well though. I can definitely see myself 27 years down the road too, giving a talk about the restoration and remembering the times during my mission when I would teach about it. That's great that you guy's had such a great, and busy weekend. And that so many great things are happening for you guys. Keep working hard like I know you're doing, and I know that God will keep blessing you. And thanks for that story mom, I got goosebumps when I heard it as well. Nice Christlike work! :)

So like I said, I've seen lots of miracles this week, and a lot of them came after hard work, perseverence, and prayer. One experience, was on the bus ride to tana over wednesday night. I was able to give the Book of Mormon to one man, a pamphlet to another, and share a scripture from the Book of Mormon with everyone on the bus. And then on the way back on friday morning, our bus looked nice on the outside but was ratsy be(very bad) on the inside, motor area. The bus broke down constantly throughout the ride, which gave us plenty of time to share the gospel with others on the bus we waited for it to be fixed while we were in the middle of nowhere, and also throughout the 16 hour bus ride(from 8 in the morning- to 12 at night). And the next experience was saturday afternoon, when my companion and I went to teach our very lesson together and his very first lesson of his mission. We were sitting in the house of family of half members and and half nonmembers and when my companion introduced himself, they said, there's another "ramafadrahona" who lives right next door, let me go get him. Well, come to find out, it was his brother who he had met before in his life and didn't even know of. And his brother's about 40, he has a family, and one of his daughters is already a member, and now he wants to learn about the church as well. That is a miracle right there! That one experience shows the reason he was called to serve, first, here in madagascar, and second in mahabibo, mahajanga. Amazingly crazingly amazing. And then to cap that saturday off, we went to a soiree of one members family. And in that family, the oldest girl is very active, and the seminary teacher, and in the leadership for the young womens, the other girl is very active in the church and very knowledgeble at the gospel, a younger boy who reminds me of me at his age, and he has big ears, so I called him dumbo and explained to him that that was my nickname when I was a kid, there's another boy, a cousin of the family that lives with them, 16 or so, who was baptized about 2 months ago, a little girl, and the father, who was a very active member at one point in his life and very intelligent, he works for the red cross, but at that point, he had not attended church for a very long time. Well we taught them a lesson on commandments, the reason they exist, and why we should keep them. Well, the next day was church, and guess what, he came!!! It was very nice to see and his family was very happy to have him there with them. The next miracle, happened(I'm running out of time by the way haha, theres just so many miracles that have happened in just the last 4 days) was we able to first, catch, and second, teach a father of a recent convert who the missionary's couldn't really ever catch and when they did he didn't really care about the message. But my companion and I sat with him out on his porch and just talked to him and had a heart to heart, and he accepted to come to church this next sunday and to read the pamphlet we gave him and to apply it's teaching in the back about praying about the message in that pamphlet. It was really good, because after we left him, we went across the grass to his fathers house who's already a member to teach him, and as we were teaching him, I could see out the door, the man that we had taught before, cracked open the pamphlet and started reading it and read it throughout the time that we were at his fathers house. The next experience, was our next time we went to. We went to the house of an eternigator, someone who learns for forever but takes for forever to get baptized. She hadn't been baptized yet because she wasn't married legally to her husband, and her husband was never home, meaning 3 months out of the year. But he's here this month and we were able to get them committed to married and getting all of their papers prepared for their wedding. The woman was able to call her family that still lives in her hometown during that time on my phone, and get them to get her copia(remember my story of traveling far in the mountains back in fianarantsoa to get a copia) and send it to her over bus. This was important because there are no missionaries that work up there that could get the copia, which you have to have to get married, for her. But the family said they will take care of it this tuesday and send it to her. And when she's married, she can finally get baptized. And now, the final story, We also gave a blessing to a daughter of a less-active member's daughter yesterday. The daughter had had typhoid fever for the past month and had been very sick and not able to walk around because she would get dizzy when she stood up. The mother had not attended church for the last month until yesterday morning in order to ask us to give her daughter a blessing. The daughter had learned from the missionaries before but was never baptized. As we walked in the daughter was laying on the bed. And as we sat down and spoke with the mom and the daughter before the blessing, we explained a little bit about the Priesthood, and about how we felt as though there was a purpose for her daughter's sickness, and that if they showed their faith the girl would be healed. We also shared with the daughter and mother that through these hard times they can have peace through the Gospel. After we finished giving her the blessing, set up a return appointment, and the daughter said the closing prayer, we got up to walk out, and the daughter was actually able to walk us out of the house and down to the end of the street, which her mother was saying before the lesson, that that was very difficult for her to do. I felt like there was a purpose to her sickness, it helped her mother return to church and the daughter begin to want to learn from the missionaries. And I saw the miracle of the blessing and of my obedience over the past few weeks.

Those our all of my stories from my past wonderful week. I'm loving my mission and loving hearing that things are going well for you all as well. Happy Birthday again dad! Love you lots!

I love you all for eternity,

Elder Waters, Mahabibo, Mahajanga

God be with you till we meet again

February 6, 2012

Hey family,

another week down and the mission keeps getting better and better. This last saturday after being sick for 3 days, I got to do my first baptism for someone in the ocean(and it was nice this time because it wasn't raining) with a beautiful sunset and sailboats in the background. It was beautiful! I'm excited to continue to be able to baptisms in the ocean(and swim around afterwards jk) because its so pretty. You asked how many investigators we had at church and if it was raining...well it wasn't raining and there were 26 investigators at church this sunday and 122 people in attendance. The work is going good here even when were sick and can't work a full schedule. I really give a lot of the credit for the success of this branch to the members. I got to attend a branch council meeting with yesterday and I saw that each section of the branch is working hard at their calling and trying hard to help this branch grow. This branch is greatttt(tony the tiger)! 

That's all my news from this last week. But in response to the things you talked about in your email: I'm glad to hear that you had an entertaining karaokiast sitting at your table during the cruise! Was he singing at the table, or at the shows ha? How was your foot during the cruise? Were you able to dance the night away each night? ;) That's good to hear that -- and --- are getting along well ha! ;) Thanks for all of the other good news as well. Please tell me how this Sunday goes, and how clean the floors are after the sock hop dance. Thanks for working on the debit card, that'll be great to have because I'm seeing a lot of great souvenirs here.:) I'll brainstorm this week and get back to you next week about the things I want in the package. One thing that I can think of right now that I need though is the face medicine. A couple packs of the face medicine would nice to have, not to look good for the girls, but just so that people will be willing to let me in the doors a little bit easier haha! ;)

Oh and also, there's this little thing on this computer that keeps shocking me, it's not really powerful but it's pretty shocking each time it shocks me haha! I just thought I'd share that little tidbit of info with you all because it reminded me that I'm in MADAGASCAR and I thought I'd remind you of that as well haha! I love it, it's so crazy each time I realize it!

Well, I hope you all have a great week! And I look forward to hearing from you next week. :)

Love for eternity,

Elder Waters

God be with you till we meet again 

January 30, 2012

Hey Fianakaviako!!

It's great to hear from you and great to be able to share how great my week in Mahajanga, Madagascar was as well! After finishing emailing last week, and when Elder -- and I were walking back home, we began talking, and we began talking seriously about our goals for our companionship and our goals for the mahajanga branch, and we decided that we were going to take this branch and our work and rule keeping to a whole new level and to go the extra mile in our work here. And one of the specific goals is to split the branch before --- goes home in may through our hard work. And so far, we have definitely followed through with our commitments and we have worked and worked and worked and gone the extra mile, and have kept the rules. In 4 days full work and and 3 quarter days, we taught about 48 times, which is about twice the normal amount of lessons I taught in a full week in fianarantsoa. Half the reason we taught so many more times in those 4 days was because we went out at 8 and didn't come back at 12 to do our studies, but we came back at like 2, 2:30 and would have to leave by 3:30 to go back out to work till 9 at night, so we were working 12 hour days and only getting an hour for lunch and studies and other things of that sort. But we did realize that we need to at least have 2 full hours set apart to get our studying in and a good lunch for now on. But that has been the attitude of Elder ----'s and my work this last week, working hard hard hard.

So, answers to your questions: we did not find a new house yet, but I have gotten naturally used to ducking underneath every door I go under even if it is tall enough. And about fish taste, my second fish dinner was much better. I don't know how they cooked it, but it tasted way good, so good that I even ate the fish head(just so I can say that I did of course, but I really did). I took a big bite right out of its head and just chewed down on the bones in my mouth and almost threw up when I realized what I was doing but the only thing that stopped me was saying allowed to everything, "mmmmm, this taste really good" because it actually did, I just couldn't believe that I was eating fish head ha! Also, while on the note of eating new things, when president came in to town this weekend, he took us out to eat and I got duck with mango's on top and a really sweet honey sauce with potato saute, and I'd have to say, that was one of the best meals I have ever had in this country. It was sooo scrumptious and expensive, but it's ok because my mission president said anything on the menu was fine for us to get and he would pay for it. :) Also, my credit card does work, you just can't use credit cards at many places and I didn't want to take money off of it at the bank. But the reason I was out of money so early this last month was because I still had some of my money in my backpack and when I finally unpacked after emailing you guys on monday I found it, my money. So I ended up doing just fine with money this last week. But I don't want to have to worry about money when I finally find a souvenier that I want to get and then not have enough money for the rest of the month. It's not an emergency for money with me. I will be ok. I would just feel a lot more comfortable throughout the month with a little bit more spending money. The best debit card to get would probably be Visa though. Thanks for working on that though. And about other questions: My head is still attached, like I said before, my body is naturally getting adjusted to ducking when I go under a door. New missionaries should be coming in 2 weeks. And I think I will be training one of them. The area is great though, there are lots of investigators and we had 19 investigators at church yesterday which is a lot more than normal, and that was even with it being a rainy day, so I'm excited to see how many investigators come this next sunday. The branch had about 113 people in attendence this yesterday. Like I mentioned earlier, the President and his wife, and the AP's came this last weekend, but it was great. We had a lot of good times together and a lot of good food. I sure do have an amazing mission president! You guys should order his book, it was a best-seller in Africa. And dad, we walk everywhere, no bikes anymore. 

I actually have to get going though. But here's a cool experience that happened this last weekend that I emailed to --- earlier so I'll just copy and paste it to you guys.:

"But according to your other question about cool stories, there are lots, and almost too many to want to share them all, but I'll just share some cool recent ones.

So the mission is amazing just to start off. I should take a journal of all the things, I just hate writing so it's hard ha. But maybe I can make that one of my goals, writing in my journal each day. I need to do that because it seems like miracles and amazing stories happen each day. One cool experience that happened recently would have to be, this last Saturday. This last saturday we had a baptism, and baptisms in my new area, mahajanga, are always done in the ocean, but this saturday it decided to rain(not unusual for this time of the year in madagascar). Are mission president had actually flown up that morning to take care of some things up here in mahajanga, and to have a conference with my companion and I. So we had our opening meeting at the church with the talks and songs, and prayers, and then we left for the 10 minute walk to the beach. And on the way to the beach, my companion and I saw some people who we really really needed to see, the parents of one of our investigators who wants to be baptised, but her parents won't let her, because according to their words, "we're catholic, are parents were catholic, and we'll always be catholic." But we had been trying for a while to be able to sit down with them and talk to them about the baptism of their daughter, who is already 18, legal age to be baptised on her own choice, but we were never able to find them before or get ahold of them. But as we walked and talked with them, we were able to set up an appointment with the parents and talk to them a little bit about here desire to be baptised. That was a miracle in itself, just being able to see the parents and set a time up with them, but then the story continues. We continued on down to the beach and as we were getting close, the rain started to pour down. But there was a member who lived on the beach who we were able to hide underneath the shelter for for a little bit until the rain stopped out of the middle of nowhere, we walked down there, and as we walked down on this beautiful beach, there was a beautiful ray of sunshine just shooting through the clouds. And it reminded me of the baptism of Jesus when the dove descended from above and God was smiling down from above. It was really cool. We got her baptised, went back up to the beachhouse and as we did, it started rain again. That was a way cool experience to me because I felt like the rain was stopped and ray of sunshine shined through just for that baptism, and then as soon as the baptism was done, the rain started pouring down again. 

That was just a little miracle to me that I probably would not have thought about or cared about before my mission, but I feel like I'm starting to recognize the small blessings and gifts from God in my life a little bit better. Maybe that's my little advice for you in this email, is: look for the little blessings in your life and the little increases in your testimony and then you'll be able to feel God's love for you a lot more and recognize that he's there for you and wants you to be happy."

Well I love you all!

Love for eternity,

Elder Waters

God be with you till we meet again

January 22, 2012

Wowwwwwwwwww!!! Mahajanga is amazing! Yes, I am on the coast now, and I actually played basketball on a court by the ocean this morning! Pretty cool experience because I actually felt like I was playing basketball on that famous basketball court on long beach just because I could see the beach as I was playin ball haha! And there's more than that that makes mahajanga awesome...the branch is awesome, anddd they have the "best pizza place in madagascar", and you better believe that the first night I was here I got a pizza from there. It was delicious. But the only problem is the chef of that restaurant is going out of town on vacation at the end of this month and not coming back till march, BUT I think that I will also be staying here for a while because right now there are only 2 missionaries here, but president said that he is going to be sending 4 missionaries up here very soon, so then I'll have to train them on the area and who knows maybe stay here for at least 5 months. Which means...lots more of the most amazing pizza in madagascar!!! And the downside...lots of seafood. My very first meal in Mahajanga was fish and leaves on top of rice at a member's house. It wasn't too bad though, but they said that that wasn't that good of a representation for the seafood here so they invited us over for another soiree(dinner/lesson with the misssionaries) tonight, so they can cook some more seafood for me haha! I'm half excited and the other part nervous. 
So answers to your questions: Yes, it was a very long trip from fianarantsoa to here. It was a 10 hour bus trip to tana, and then a 12 hour bus trip to here. I stayed in Tana overnight though and got to go to a zone conference the next morning and then I left at 5:30. So I got to go on an overnight 12 hour bus trip. And during that bus trip, it was raining, pitch black, and foggy, and there are not really lines on the road to help keep you going on the road, so I was pretty nervous for a little bit, but it seems that those driver's experience after driving that road everday for the last 10 years payed off and maybe some help from God as well ha because we were flying down that road and had no problems. I ended up arriving in Mahajanga at 5:30 Saturday morning. Found a taxi and finally made it to my house at like 6:15. I got to the house and I soon found out the reason that the Mahajanga missionary house is known to be the worst one in the mission. As soon as I walked in the gate and then the front door I was ducking under doors, under walkways, tripping as I walked up the stairs, taking 10 minutes to fry up eggs and still undercooking them, and not getting any water pressure from the shower haha. But other than that it's basically what I was expecting the housing situation to be like when I got my call to come to madagascar, but just a little bit better than that. You just see palm trees all over the place and the beach and really darkskinned black people, because thats what happen when they get sunburned I guess, who speak in a weird really cool accent, and really fast. So that's my description of my new area, the people, and the house, and the trip up here. But other than that, the only other thing that is an important point to share with you all in order to describe mahajanga completely, which I've already briefly mentioned, is that.... it's burning hot here always!!! I'm actually sweating right now as I write this. Things actually usually shut down here from 12-4 so that everyone can get out of the heat. So because of that, we actually don't do our studies in the morning here; we work from 8-12 and then come in from 12-4 and then go back out and work from 4-9. So that's all the really good and just the little bit of bad(I've only hit my head 6 times so far in the house, and bit my tongue once during those head bumpings ha) about mahajanga, my new area. My companion Elder -------- is great! He only has 4 months left on his mission, but I plan on working him hard to the end and he said he's devoted to do the same. He is the one from the picture at the restaurant in Fianarantsoa. He's from utah and nevada. He and I were friends from the day I got to madagascar so our companionship should be pretty great! Elder Lunt did stay in Fianarantsoa. And I actually replaced his cousin here, who is also called Elder Lunt. Pretty funny to me, and I met a new investigator yesterday who's name is lunt. 
       Other news and stuff about my mish, is I forgot to tell you in the last email but I actually got into some poison ivy/oak/I don't know but it was poisonous, when I was back in fianarantsoa and I had to deal with that throughout the day until I got home that night. Also, my mission president is amazing! He's actually coming up here this saturday, hopefully to pick out a new house haha! That's actually what he's supposed to be doing when he comes up here, so we will see if we can find a better one than the one we are in right now. I guess I'll get to move into a new house again, just like we did in the last area. But other than that, the last thing is that I need a debit card for personal fund if I ever want to get souveniers while I'm here because the food is actually more expensive here and it would be nice to be able to keep some meat on my bones while I'm here haha! I don't need a lot of money each month, but I do need some for souveneirs and food. So if you guys could send a debit card soon, that would be great, because it is much needed. Oh and I did get my package when I went through tana on the trip up here! It was amazing!!! I love it all, and my companion and the AP's in Tana have enjoyed some of the candy. Were planning on making the cooking probably today or tomorrow. It was all great. And I'm actually using that book for language study now as well, by reading the scriptures that it brings up in my malagasy Book of Mormon first and comparing my understanding to the english version. 
But that's about all that is going on here in Madagascar in the mission of Elder Waters. It was good to hear from you guys, and I hope you keep staying healthy and have a great week! 
I love you all for eternity,
Elder Waters, Mahajanga
God be with you till we meet again