Dear Family & friends,

Another week has come and gone here in Madagascar. We passed our 10 month mark this week, amazing, where does the time go? We heard the sad news about our good friend and former ward member Kevin Taysom. We visited with him several weeks before we left. We will all miss him. Our week has been filled with preparing to furnish a new apartment for a couple arriving 21 November. It is our responsibility to see that they have all the necessities, furniture, and necessary household items. Elder Cornelius is also working on acquiring other apartments in three other cities and one here for 4 missionaries. We always seem to find plenty of things to occupy our time. We had a sad thing happen today, a lady came into the office needing money to pay for her mother, who died that morning, to be sent to another town for burial. We aren't allowed to give money to people, we can only refer them to their Bishop or Branch President. The problem was that she isn't a member. If we start giving money to all the people who come here needing our help we would go broke, because we have so many needy people here in Tana. It's so hard to turn them away, but we have to do it. If we give money it has to be our own and then word gets out that we gave someone money and then you have their friends and family wanting money also. The poverty level is so high and so many just can't afford to even go to the doctor when they are sick. It breaks your heart.

We have been getting some nice rain this week, but last night the clouds dumped on us for over an hour, with loud thunder like we've never heard before. We are looking forward to the weekend to catch up on some laundry, sleep, and housework. We have our second English class on Saturday. It is fun to get to know some of our students who want to learn English. In closing we leave you with this thought. 

President Joseph F. Smith, sixth President of the Church, said: “The grateful man sees so much in the world to be thankful for, and with him the good outweighs the evil. Love overpowers jealousy, and light drives darkness out of his life.” He continued: “Pride destroys our gratitude and sets up selfishness in its place. How much happier we are in the presence of a grateful and loving soul, and how careful we should be to cultivate, through the medium of a prayerful life, a thankful attitude toward God and man!” 

^{We hope all of you know how grateful we are to have you as our family and friends. God bless all of you.}

^{Elder & Sister Cornelius}