On Monday we had a Family Home evening with all the couples here and with the Elder & Sister Cook. We each shared a spiritual experience from our mission. Elder Cook shared with us the following story. Before they came to Madagascar they were in Cape Town, South Africa. As they were greeting the missionaries there, one missionary told them he was from Antsirabe,Madagascar. Elder Cook told him they were going to Antsirabe on their mission tour and the Elder asked him to give his
love to his family if he saw them. Elder Cook said he would and then didn't think about it again as he got involved with other things. When they got to Antsirabe they had a fireside and at the end of the
meeting he shook hands with the man who had said the closing prayer. They started talking and the man told him he had a son serving in the Cape Town Mission. Elder Cook asked him his name and found out that this man was the father of the missionary he had talked to. He told the man that he had seen his son recently, that he was doing well and that his son had asked him to give his love to his family. The man hugged him and with tears in his eyes thanked him for sharing this with him. Elder Cook then said that the Lord knows and is aware of all of his children and that he opens ways for them. Elder Cook had forgotten his promise to this young elder, but the Lord hadn't and he made it possible for the message to be delivered. Several people mentioned how strong the spirit is when you attend sacrament meeting here. The children are quiet and reverent, the singing is touching and when you enter the meeting it is quiet and reverent. The Bishop is always the first to leave the meeting and then the rest leave. They do this out of respect and love for him. We are all very impressed with these wonderful, humble people. For the rest of our week we worked in the office, and went about doing
the work that we do there. The Adams' and Cook's left Tuesday to visit other villages in Madagascar and to go to Reunion & Mauritius. The Adams' will come back on Monday, and the Cooks return to Africa. We also had a couple from Monticello, Utah here this week. They are the Murdoch's and are Public Relations missionaries. They were here 4 days and are woking on setting up web sites for Madagascar, Reunion & Mauritius. We have had a lot of visitors from Utah in the last few months. One group was doing a documentary which is being produced at Utah Valley University. In that same group there were some students who were doing service projects at a school in Antsirabe for the summer. They all stopped by at the office and we got to meet them. Life is always an adventure here in Madagascar. Elder Cornelius wishes he was there to share the rivalry week with Brothers Grant and
Bulloch. Go Cougars!! We send you our love and prayers. Elder & Sister Cornelius

Dear family & friends,

We have had a wonderful and busy week in Madagascar. We welcomed 4 new missionaries on Wednesday and had a dinner with them. On Thursday we had a Zone Leaders Training with a luncheon. On Friday Elder & Sister Cook arrived from South Africa to start a mission tour. He serves as a counselor to the South Africa area presidency. On Saturday we had a Zone Conference with Elder Cook training the missionaries on the importance of following the white handbook and using Preach My Gospel. We talked about the things in our lives that keep us from receiving spiritual blessings such as lack of obedience to God's commandments, worldly distractions, and lack of faith.  We then talked about what we needed to do to receive spiritual blessings in our lives. He talked about how important it is for us to follow the guidelines found in the white handbook because they are inspired words from our prophet and first presidency. They may seem like little unimportant things, but when we show our faith and obedience to these things we receive blessings, seen and unseen. This applies to all of God's commandments. He shared several stories of missionaries who had made a difference in their missions because of their obedience to the rules and their going the extra mile in sharing the gospel. One missionary who they heard about from many people who knew him, would get out of the car as they were waiting in traffic and start talking to people, who were also waiting, about the gospel. When they were in line at a fast food place he again would get out of the car and go and talk to people. He never missed an opportunity to talk with others that he met. He had great success on his mission as you can well imagine. President Adams also gave some inspiring words to the missionaries on being obedient. You could really feel his spirit in his message.We had a wonderful lunch for 58 people, Sister Cornelius made the dessert and helped out with the meal. At the end of the conference each of us shared one thing that we had learned from the conference and an Elder who is leaving next month shared his testimony. It was a wonderful day. We are also having a Family Home Evening with all the couples and the Cooks Monday night. Sister Cornelius is in charge of the meal for 14 people. We have been doing a lot of cooking and eating this past week. Elder Cornelius helped with the taste testing and adding spices to the Chili and Sloppy Joes.  We love all of you and express our appreciation for you prayers in our behalf. We can feel them. We know that our Savior loves each and every one of us and that he knows of our pains, our sorrows, fears, and temptations. He has suffered in every way that we have and more. He has descended below us all in the ultimate sacrifice of the Atonement. We are sincerely grateful to Him for his willingness to Atone for our weaknesses and sins. 

Love Elder & Sister Cornelius

Last week there wasn't a lot of exciting things going on here in Madagascar, just the normal office things. Sister Cornelius had an intestinal flu bug and was down for a few days. We have had a rash of
hospital visits with our missionaries this past few weeks. One missionary was hospitalized with pneumonia, one with appendix and another went in with possible appendix, but didn't have to stay. They are still trying to figure out what his problem is. The air is so bad here right now that most of us have lung congestion, and coughs. This week will be an exciting and busy week with  4 missionaries coming in on Wednesday, Zone Leaders Council Thursday, and Elder Cook & Sister Cook arriving Friday. He is a Seventy and serves in the South Africa Presidency. He is here for a mission tour and we will have a Zone Conference on Saturday with all the Tana missionaries as well as some from some of the other areas in Madagascar, 56 in all. What this means for Sister Adams and Sister Cornelius is 3 meals to prepare, from scratch, plus shopping for the food.

Yesterday we listened to the 2008 Saturday morning Conference. We really enjoyed a talk by Elder Uctdorf on Hope and I would encourage you to reread it. He talked about how we can overcome our trails, our disappointments, our fears through the hope in Christ's Atonement. He also said that Faith, Hope, & Charity are like a three legged stool, if one leg is removed the stool cannot stand, you have to have all three. We likewise must have all three to support us in difficult times in our lives and to help us stay faithful in the gospel. We hope that you are enjoying your last summer holiday of the year. We don't get Labor Day off here, in fact our only holiday off is Christmas and maybe Thanksgiving. We were thinking that we sure would have enjoyed a good steak, corn on the cob, scone dinner
with all the High Priests last Friday night. We miss all of our good friends in the ward. We hope you are all doing well and we send our love to each of you. Elder & Sister Cornelius