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