December 28, 2012

Dear Family & Friends,
This week has been busy and a great week. On Saturday we attended an open house at our church building. They use these open houses to invite people into the church and learn about what we do. They had displays for each organization. Attached is a picture of the Relief Society display. On Monday we went to a Christmas concert on Christmas Eve. The concert was given by a group called Antso which is made up of young people from both Stakes here in Tana. They sang songs in English, French, and Malagasy. They sang several songs from the Messiah. It really helped to invite the Christmas spirit. On Christmas day we Skyped with our family, had dinner with the couples at the President's home and watched the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional. It was difficult to be away from our family, but we had a good day.

 On Wednesday we had a departing dinner for three missionaries going home. We ended the evening by sharing our testimonies and that is always a special time. The Elders shared some of their experiences and how they had grown to love the people here and how hard it was for them to leave them. One of these Elders had served as a Branch President and he had a lot of spiritual experiences in that position. He had so many gifts given to him by the members that he had to take an extra bag home.  President Adams bore testimony that the most important conversion that a missionary gets on his or her mission is their own. On Thursday we had missionaries coming in to get their luggage for transfers, and on Friday we had transfers. . We are enjoying our mission and hope that all of you have a wonderful week. Happy New Year's to all of you. We hope 2013 brings you many blessings in your home and lives. Love, Elder & Sister Cornelius

 

At the open house that was held at our church last Saturday. The Relief Society Display. 

These cute girls were wanting their picture taken in fron of the Temple that is in the entry way of our church. 

Us with the children at the open house. 

Our Christmas dinner with the couples at the President's home.

This week on Monday Elders Allred, Ewell and Smith put up the office Christmas tree. They had a fun time doing this and there was only three legs for the tree, so we had to do some inventive work to get it to stand straight, then we found another leg but it was shorter than the rest, interesting, but it is Madagascar. The next picture is of Sister Cornelius by the finished tree. We haven't had a lot of rain this week, we think Madagascar is in a drought like Southern Utah. We have been praying for rain for here and there. It has been hot here all week. We planted a small garden of tomatoes and corn, the tomato plants are huge, but no tomatoes on them yet. The corn stalks aren't very tall but we have a lot of corn coming on. It will be interesting to see how well it does. The next picture is of a Muslim Mosque across from a lake that used to be covered with green plants. The people get into the lake, cut the plants ou,t and feed them to their cows. We drive by this place about every week when we go shopping and have watched them cutting the plants and hauling them off in hand pulled carts. We need to get a picture of that. It seems like we never have our camera with us when we need it. Next week will be very busy for us with auditors, meals, Zone Conference, and saying goodbye to the Grays our Humanitarian couple. We are having our office Christmas party on Monday, Zone Conference on Tuesday, a farewell dinner on Wednesday, and the Grays depart Thursday.

We send our love to all of you and hope you have a wonderful week.

Elder & Sister Cornelius

This past week we said goodbye to one of our missionaries and hello to a new arrival. One of the traditions here is to have the departing missionary share something from his mission that made an impact on him. He said that the people here have made the most impact on him because of their friendliness and humility. He told of one convert on his mission that  was a wonderful young man who accepted the gospel without reservation. He is currently serving as a ward clerk and preparing to serve a mission. This was a highlight on his mission. We had a wonderful meal prepared by the Mission President's wife. We are working on getting new apartments for incoming missionary couples and moving missionaries into new apartments. There are always things to keep us busy here in the office. This morning we heard a sad story from Frede who is the secretary assistant here in our office. His cousin had been saving for a long time to build a new home. He took the money out of the bank and was going to pay for the materials he needed to build his home. They don't use checks or credit cards here much, mostly a cash society. At 1:30 this morning some robbers came into his home, shot him in the stomach and cut his thigh with a knife, and stole all of his money. When he went to the Military hospital to be fixed they stitched him up without using anything to deaden the wound. He said it was very painful. We wouldn't want to be in his shoes.
We are in the planning stages for an office Christmas party and a farewell dinner for the Humanitarian couple who will go back to England Dec. 13. They will be missed here because they are such wonderful people, always doing something for someone. They have helped to bring water to many villages in the 18 months they have been here. They have helped to put needy people into wheelchairs, and have started a food initiative program to teach people how to have better yields from their crops. They also do dental hygiene. All of these wonderful projects were funded through Humanitarian donations from our Church.
We would like to close with this thought by President Monson about teachers, "The teacher not only shapes the expectations and ambitions of pupils; the teacher also influences their attitudes toward their future and themselves. If the teacher loves the students and has high expectations of them, their self-confidence will grow, their capabilities will develop, and their future will be assured. A citation to such a teacher could well read: “She created in her room an atmosphere where warmth and acceptance weave their magic spell; where growth and learning, the soaring of the imagination, and the spirit of the young are assured.”
We send our love to each of you. Elder & Sister Cornelius

                     Frede, who helps us with everything here. We couldn't do our jobs without him.

                  The lake with a moument of a former king or President. We pass by this often.