September 26, 2011

September 19, 2011

 So this week for me though. This week was different than normal. Most of our lessons were just making sure that everyone was ready for their baptism interviews this saturday. Which went well. But there were a few different problems. We had one who her parents are polygamist and that's a new rule here now that they have to do additional paperwork now for because that's a pretty big problem here. We had one girls mom, say that she couldn't be baptized because she's been baptized before, and people have a belief here(because this is what they're preachers tell them all of their lives) that if you're baptized twice than you're damned. But that just means that we have to explain the restoration to the mom again and than she can be baptized too(twice haha). But the only problem with that, would be that she's a polygamist too. Oh and the girl that had the blind and half deaf dad and the mom who wouldn't let her get baptized...well we finally got her to allow her to be baptized, and now her sister and the only living brother that escaped an attack that happened on him and his brothers are taking the lessons and want to be baptized. We've had lots of cool experiences with people this week praying to know if the things that we've taught them were true and they received their answers that they were. It's awesome seeing people's lives change for the better. The work is hard, but as we continue to work hard and with the Lord's help, we see the results:
    This week we had 43 investigators at church. We had extra chairs put up all the way to the stairs entrance and the bathroom. There were 195 at church! I don't know how many baptisms we'll have this Saturday, but all 40 baptism dates are getting spread out between this saturday, october 1st, and october, 15th because of different problems that each of them have, like marriage, and just preparing them more. 

September 12, 2011

 The guys did come to church that we taught the day that we fasted. And we taught them last night about the Book of Mormon and invited them to be baptized on October 1st when they receive their answer to the prayer about if the things that we taught them are true or not(but I already know they're true so that'll be no problem haha). I've had 6 baptisms so far, but we have a lot more coming up soon. Right now we have 41 investigators with a baptism date either for September 24th or October 1st. It's pretty exciting! But there are some problems that we'll have to see if they can be resolved or not before their dates like vita soratra(getting married before baptism because they live together like husband and wife just not with it official), Word of Wisdom, and just seeing overall if they're commited enough to becoming members of the church. The work is great here though. We just have different problems than other missions with our investigators. They probably won't be building a building for our branch yet because we don't have enough men with the Melchezideck Priesthood yet, because the church just started in Fianarantsoa a 2-3 years ago, but that's why our new emphasis as a mission is on Father led Families so we can get the priesthood in the church. I am getting more used to the food though. It's getting better and a lot better ha! They have most of the same fruits, but in America we receive lots of fruits that aren't actually grown there, but here, we only have the fruits grown here but they're usually freshly picked the morning that you buy them so the really good and fresh! Their's one fruit here that we don't in america that I like a lot. I don't really know the name though. I've only called it a ju fruit since I've been here for some reason haha. And I haven't seen any lemurs or crocs yet, but in a couple weeks my companion and I and another companionship plan on going to a lemur reserve within our district, which is huge. I want to send pics each week, but I just haven't been having lots of time, sorry. My physical health is good, I think my leg muscles are gonna be twice as big by the time I get back though because of how big the hills are here and how far we have to ride our bikes.
Funny story from the week: We were supposed to move today to our new apartment, but we received a call from our financial/housing director for the mission yesterday, who's american and like a really really high up lawyer from New York City, but he's super frugal, telling us that we couldn't move in anymore because he received draft plans from us the day before and he said the house was way to big for missionary standards and that he thought we'd destroy it. And he said that we'd have to go tell the landlord that we weren't going to move in anymore tomorrow because it was way to big for church standards. And the thing was was that the landlord had already signed the contract, gave us all of his bank account information, rushed to finish his house so that he could move out before we had to move in there(because he was living where we were supposed to be moving into before), had set up for a truck and men to be ready to move all of our stuff the next day, and at the beginning of us even negotiating to move in there, the landlords thought mormons were crazy, and that we prayed naked, so we had to explain to them that we were actually normal haha. Sooo, my companion, who's malagasy, and doesn't understand computers, contracts, and what the reason for us not moving was, and I, who doesn't really know how to speak malagasy talk, that's not gospel language, very well, were going to have to explain to this guy who had gone through all the trouble of getting this whole move set up and ready for us, why we wouldn't be moving anymore. So last night we called the landlord and told him that we weren't going to be able to move today, but that we'd come and talk to him today some time, because we didn't want to just tell him over the phone. So today, we woke up and went and got some food and then went back to the house and did some intense cleaning on our house for 7 hours. And then after we were finished and I had taken a shower and my companion and I were talking about why we weren't moving and how we were going to explain it to the landlord, we figured out that the draft plans that the mission financial advisor had received were actually of the house that were in right now that we are moving out of because it's too big. And we had sent him those on Saturday because the landlord of the house that we're staying in right now made a list of all the stuff that was damaged in the house and sent it to us with the draft plans to forward to the financial advisor elder, and so we did that. And the financial advisor elder thought it was the draft plans for our next house. So now, we've called him and explained the situation to him, and so for now, the whole moving situations on hold and we get to stay in beautifully clean house for now because we spent 7 house cleaning it today haha!
That's my story and I hope you  enjoyed it as much as we did!
But I need to go. I love you lots dadio.
Love for eternity,
Elder Waters( Ranoralava)
God be with you till we meet again

September 5, 2011

Hey madre and padre and fianakaviako,

it's good to hear from you as always! So I don't have much time, but I'll try to get as much in as I can.

This week was great! It was hard, but good. Here's some random facts from this week:

We had 33 investigators at church this week, 36 investigators with baptism dates for the 24 of September, 17 new investigators from this week, and 48 progressing investigators, so we are full of work. Also my goal that I made for this week was writing in my journal at 9:45 every night. Two pairs of pants have ripped and torn from my bike,  most of my shirts already have stains, and my shoes are permantely dirty but now I just blend in a little bit more with the style for here haha! I love it though! I had a banana split today, and that was definitely the best thing that my mouth has tasted since the mtc!! We move next monday, I'm not too excited for that because there's a lot to move without vehicles or other things help, but I guess I've been pretty well prepared in my life for moving after all the times we've moved before. We had 180 people at church yesterday, and we only had 136 the week before so that was a big jump. Our church isn't a ward building, so it's nothing like back home, but it's 1 floor out of huge building. It has 4 average size classrooms and that's including the branch presidents office, and it has a chapel that's just a little bit bigger than our foyer at our winter haven church. And we usually have about 20 that have to sit out in the hallway each week cause the chapels so full. But I think they're supposed to split the branch pretty soon! I don't know if that will be hard or good or both, but I'm pretty excited to see! Yesterday, I fasted, and that was one of the hardest fasts of my life because we rode our bikes to a few of farthest areas that have lots of hills and its summer time here and I had my suit on and many times I felt like I couldn't make it up the hill without a drink of water, but each time I just set my mind to it and looked to the top of the hill and kept pedalling and I made it each time somehow. Even though, at the time it was so hard to continue my fast, by the end of the day me and my  companion saw the fruits of the fast. We met a family last week of an old father and four of his boys, each in their 20s and older, playing dominos and we taught them all the first lesson last sunday, which went pretty well and they seemed pretty interested, but they didn't come to church. But when we went this time, we reviewed the first lesson again and some of the guys families were there and they asked probably 20 super difficult(especially when you can barely understand the questions and respond with what you actually want to say in their language) questions, but I feel like becuase we had pushed through our fast that day, we were able to answer every question clearly and convince them to really want to know the truth. And becuase of that even at the end when I committed them to come to church next week they kind of huddled together and said, "do we want to do this?" And the, kind of leader of the boys, piped up and said, "If we want to know the truth then we have to." And then they all turned to their dad and asked, "Do you want to go?" And about a second after they asked, he said, "yup, let's go." It was a pretty amazing experience because if these people actually do their part and ask God if this is true and go to church, which they're going to do now, then they're gonna be some amazing members of the church because their faith will be firm because they literally asked every little and big question they could think of to try to prove the first lesson wrong and right just to see if it was true, and we proved every one of their questions with the scriptures and with common sense and analogies, because, we had the spirit with us so strongly, which I believe was because of pushing through the fast.

So everythings great! I don't have any time left, so I'll try to email pictures next week!

Love for eternity,

Elder Waters

God be with you till we meet again

August 28, 2011

Hey madre,

This week was great! Thanks for setting up the blog for me. And thanks for being awesome. Oh and for being a genius. ;) You know how every boy tries to find a girl like his mom. Well I don't know how I'm going to be able to find one that measures up to you. Dad got lucky! And don't worry, I'm not actually thinking about finding that  girl that's like you right now, I am focusing on my mission haha.

   So this week, we met lots of new investigators and I met lots of new little buddies called fleas, lots of fun. And no I haven't seen any hissing cock roaches yet, but I have seen lots of fleas ha. We had 38 investigators at church yesterday and we have 26 baptisms set up up for September 24. Very exciting! And yes, I can actually fit in my apartment at least. My appartments huge. The newspaper article was very cool. Thanks for sending it.

   It sounds like you had lots of fun this last week. Tell everyone hey. And let em know I love them.

What's ____s email address? And could you send me that birthday list when you get a chance haha. Oh and how close has Brock gotten to my mathblaster score so far?

Anyways, I love you lots and it was great hearing from you. Sorry that this letters so short. I don't have much time. But I love you!
Love for eternity, Elder Waters

God be with you till we meet again

 

Oh and my goal from this week, came from a poem on faith, but I don't have it with me. But my goal from it is: singing when something hard comes up or when I feel down, and I sing because I have faith that the Savior can lift me through any trial I receive. I'll send you the poem next week.

Love, Elder Waters

August 28, 2011 Newspaper article

 

http://www.newschief.com/article/20110828/NEWS/108285028?template=printpicart

Far from his family's palatial home on Lake Eloise, 19-year-old Beau Waters is experiencing life in a country where poverty and disease are rampant, people speak a complicated language, and basic necessities like toilet paper are considered luxuries.

But there is no place he'd rather be than pedaling a bicycle -- while sporting dress clothes -- along the primitive streets of Madagascar and ministering to the 21 million people who live on the world's fourth largest island.

Waters, a 2010 graduate of Polk State College Collegiate High School, arrived in Madagascar earlier this month as one of 60 young missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints serving on the 226,444 square mile island located off the southeast coast of Africa.

More than 50,000 missionaries from the church are serving in this capacity worldwide.

"Although it may seem to (people) that this is a big sacrifice to give up two years of my normal life to do something that will be hard, stressful, and a total culture shock, to me it's an honor and a privilege to serve the people of Madagascar as Christ would if he were here as a representative of Him," Waters said in a message to the News Chief forwarded by e-mail from his mother, Lori Waters.

An amazing place

E-mails received by the Waters family reflect his awe and respect for the people of Madagascar as well as his dedication to serve them.

Arriving, after a what he describes as "the longest flight ever", at the mission home in Madagascar Aug. 10 without his luggage was not enough to daunt his enthusiasm.

"I'm here safely and the country looks amazing. I can't wait to get to work," he wrote.

Five days later, his weekly e-mail describes improvements in his understanding of the Malagasy language, the friendly nature of the people he's met, and his rather humorous introduction to the local food options.

"The people are the nicest people ever. You can say, "Hi!' to every person you go by (and that's a lot) and they'll start a conversation with you," he wrote.

While his e-mail indicated a fledgling ability to think in Malagasy, his first speaking presentation in the language was a challenging learning experience.

"On Sunday, they had me and one other new elder come up and bear testimony (and the other elder was Malagasy too so it was easy for him), I didn't even know how to say, 'and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.' Ha. But I had the other elder of the companion of the other new native also write it down for me on paper. It went pretty well, though, I think."

Adapting to the country's diet seems to be a little more difficult.

"It's gonna take a little bit to get used to the food though. The other night after a lesson ... they (locals) fed us rice and loaka, the topping that they put on the rice, its usually like some kind of meat and some vegetables. And that's what we have every meal of the day besides breakfast because we make that ourselves," he said. "But for that meal, the loaka was pieces of fish, shrimp, and the fish head with the eyeballs and all. I was able to eat the fish and the shrimp, but there was no way I was gonna eat that fish's eyeball and head."

His dad finds this amusing.

"He's finding out what kind of different things he will be eating; it is amazing. For a boy who loves eating pizza seven days a week, it's going to be an interesting experience," Glen Waters said.

An e-mail sent on Aug. 21 recounts heartbreaking stories of families racked with disease from drinking water, accidents, brittle bones, and inoperable tumors -- and the missionaries quest to baptize them.

He also offered several insights into his life on the island.

"So just some random stuff about the mission stuff so far: We teach about six to eight scheduled lessons a day and then on top of that, random people invite us in, so we stay busy. We had 6 baptisms on Saturday," Beau Waters wrote. "The language still isn't perfect, but it's coming. It's beautiful here. There (are) lots of hills and mountains, and pretty sunsets. We live on $5 a day and that gets us a lot here."

At 6 feet 5 inches tall, he's had an interesting time fitting into buildings made for much shorter people.

"I've fit into maximum, maybe 4 houses so far. I mean standing up straight. Houses have really short ceilings and are just really small here. The average Malagasy guy is like 5-6 maybe, really short."

He signed off with, "I love you lots, I pray for you each day as well. Love for eternity, Elder Waters.

His Malagasy name is Eldera Ranoralava, meaning "Tall Waters."

A blessed life

Beau Waters is the youngest of four adult children of Lori and Glen Waters, owners of Built By Waters, a builder of high end homes.

Lori Waters describes her youngest child as a guy with a "great big heart with a great big smile."

"He loves people and others feel that love," she said.

One of the last people Beau Waters made it a priority to see before he left Winter Haven was an elderly woman friend in a nursing home.

"The night before he left he hurried to her room and she said, 'You brighten my day.' Beau said he felt the say way about her and proceeded to give her a great big hug. That is Beau. He sees young children, kids his age and older adults as well, in the same way," Lori Waters said. "They are people that he loves and he has no problem letting others know of his love for them."

This, Glen Waters said, will make his son an effective missionary.

"Beau's such an awesome kid. He's just liked by everyone and he likes everyone. He likes to serve and do good things, always," he said. "I just think he's going to be an incredible person to show a lot of love to people over there."

A sports enthusiast, Beau Waters participated in basketball and swimming in high school. He also enjoyed competitive ballroom dancing. While in college at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, he participated in intramural water polo, basketball and volleyball -- both men's teams and coed teams.

The Waters family is a close-knit clan actively involved in the church and community. But Lori and Glen Waters know what it is like to be separated from their children by long distances. Beau's two older brothers, Brenton, 25, and Brock, 22, took mission trips to Argentina and California, respectively.

Lori Waters said she finds great comfort in knowing her son is well prepared -- missionaries go through intensive training before serving on a mission.

His faith and excitement to serve also give her peace.

"He's loving the people. He's happy," she said. "I get his letters and I cry with happiness."

Although they won't see their youngest son until he completes his mission trip two years from now, Lori and Glen Waters are thankful missionaries write to their families every Monday if they have access to e-mail.

"You know they are watched over by the people there and watched over by the Lord," Glen Waters said.

Like his parents, Beau Waters finds strength in his faith, his family's love and dedication to his purpose: To share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

"Although we may be far away physically, we will be close in spirit," he said.

He is prepared for the sacrifices he will make during the next two years.

"When we go on a mission we make sacrifices -- being away from our families physically, cell phones, TV, and for me, not being able to watch ESPN everyday," he said. "The way that I cope with this is by realizing that the Savior has gone through all of our pains and sufferings, large and small, and because of that he will always be there for me in my times of need and he will watch out for my family and bless them."

"I know this to be true because I've seen it happening already," Beau Waters said.

Glen Waters knows first hand the blessings his son will experience because of his mission service. Having grown up in Haines City, he served his two-year mission in Indianapolis, Indiana 33 years ago.

"It was tough to leave home. But I can tell you it was the best thing I've ever done in my life. Because of those two years of service, the blessings have never stopped coming," he said.

Donna Kelly can be reached at 863-401-6969 or donna.kelly@newschief.com.

This story appeared in print on page B5

Copyright © 2011 NewsChief.com — All rights reserved. Restricted use only.

August 21, 2011

Hey fianakaviako,

I'm glad you liked my last letter. I liked yours too. But yeah, it's pretty awesome how ready a lot of the people are. Their main problems are living together and living life like they're married, but they aren't legally married cause it cost money to do that, so we have to help them get their papers together and get them vita soratra(the term for the marriage contract here). Their other problem is also understanding me haha  But their other problems are alcohol, and getting permission from their parents to be baptized. 

    We have one girl who's 20 and wants to get baptized but her parents say no, and they're families really close because her mom and dad had 8 kids at one point, and within just a few months, 5 of them were killed off so after that the parents are super protective of them. And also, because of that, the parents drink a lot now because of they're sadness and stuff. And on top of that, the dad's had an accident with something a little while back, and now he's blind and half deaf. Yeah, I know, how are you supposed to teach that. But we decided that we'd only teach them when they're sober, Before I was here, when they'd try to teach him, they'd have to have one of the kids repeat what we said in his ear because he couldn't hear us. But when I went this last time, I was able to just speak loud and in a deep voice and he could here me. Now, the father wants all three of his kids to be baptized, but the mom's a little crazy and she still says no. But we'll keep trying to help her understand the importance of their baptism,

    There's also another girl who's 17, who lives away from home and is friends with a member family, And she wants to be baptized, but her parents said no, so she has to wait till march unless they change their minds, 

     And then there's Miandry. She had a tumor or something on her neck and because the doctors aren't that good here, when they did the surgery to remove it, they messed it up and the poison spread to the rest of the body. So when she tried to walk to church one Sunday, she broke leg because her bones aren't strong enough, And then when she felt like she could come again, she fell again and broke her other leg, So now she stuck in bed. She's been in bed for a month or so now, When that happened at first, she said she saw no point in life and that she just might as well go ahead and die. But then, we taught her the plan of salvation and she finally had comfort. We've almost taught her all the lessons since and we can see how much her attitude towards everything has changed for the better. It's amazing! She actually got the news from the doctor this last week that she's going to die because the cancer has spread so much, and that she shouldn't waste her money on the medicine anymore. And when she told us this, she wasn't even scared anymore about death. She was actually happy. It was amazing to see her faith in the gospel. She's awesome! I think we're gonna figure out some way to bring the baptismal pool type thing to her house so that she can be baptized. And if that doesn't work, then I'll just have to do the temple work for her myself when I get home or send it to you.

     So yeah, the people are amazing here! Fianarantsoa is 9 hours south and just a little west of Antananarivo. There are lots and lots of hills here, which is lots of fun to ride our bikes up and walk up. My companion is from around Antananarivo area. The apartment we're in right now is huge, but really old and the power shuts off if you try to run too many things at once. And the problem is, to many things at once could include just the oven, the fridge plugged in, and the shower going and it'll shut off. I had to restart my laundry 5 times before it was finally finished because the elecitricity kept going out haha. But we're actually moving to another apartment in september. It's wayyyyy nice! It's brand new, not as big, but it looks like a beachhouse haha. Oh yeah, and this last week me and my companions have killed like 3 mice in our kitchen. Fun stuff! but gross ha! 

   So just some random stuff about the mission stuff so far: we teach about 6-8 scheduled lessons a day and then on top of that, random people invite us in so we stay busy. We had 6 baptisms on Saturday. The language still isn't perfect, but it's coming. It's beautiful here. There lots of hills and mountains, and pretty sunsets. We live on 5 dollars a day and that gets us a lottt here. I've fit into max, maybe 4 houses so far. I mean standing up straight. Houses have really short ceilings and are just really really small here. The average malagasy guy is like 5'6" maybe, really short. The mission president came down here this last weekend and he got us pizza. It was pretty good, but not the same as american pizza. I found this little inspiration book at the house. And I've decided to read one passage a day, and make a tiny goal from it each day. I've only had time to do one so far and the passage was, "It's not your aptitude, but it's your attitude, that measures the altitude you'll reach." Something like that, that was off memory. My goal from that one, was to wake up at 6:30 each day with a smile to start off the day with a good attitude from the start. It's been pretty funny so far, making myself wake up with a smile each day.

    So those are my random mission facts so far.  And they also told us a couple weeks ago when we met the mission president, that a smart thing to do for Christmas is to send the presents to the mission home early and they'll hold them for us there until Christmas. Because the mail people know that when Christmas time comes around, there's good stuff to take usually haha. So the way to trick em, is just to send it early! Just a trick that I thought you'd like to hear, and I like too cause it deals with Christmas haha! :) 

A good scripture for you all: Mosiah 2:41: when you keep the commandments of God, you'll be blessed both spiritually and physically. Marina izany (True that)!

    

I love you all lots, I pray for you each day as well.

Love for eternity, Elder Waters(Ranoralava)

God be with you till we meet again