Happy Mother's Day

We want to wish all of you mothers a Happy Mother's Day. The weather is starting to get cooler in the days 70's and evenings 50's. We haven't had any rain for a while and the air is getting bad again. We have both had colds and coughs this week. On Saturday Sister Cornelius taught English for the last time here. This has been a good experience to get to know the people better and to see their desire to learn another language. They hope to come to America thinking that they will have a better life, but they can't afford to do that. One of the students Nadia is very bright, she is working on getting her Masters and she speaks English very well. She asks a lot of questions about words and what they mean. I am turning the class over to the missionaries because I need some time to get things organized before we head home in six + weeks. We will be in Cedar on June 27 and we get to come to Utah with 8 younger missionaries who will also be heading home.

Picture 4515 is a poinsetta tree that is full of color this time of year. It is above our parking lot.

Picture 4542 is a group of Malagasy elders plus two others that are not Malagasy, Elder Ewell and Sister Da Costa. This was taken Conference weekend.

In closing we just want to say that our thoughts and prayers are with all of you and we hope you have a great week. Love Elder & Sister Cornelius

May 6, 2013

Last week there wasn't much out of the ordinary routine other than we got our tickets to come home. We will arrive in Cedar on June 27. We are happy and sad at the same time. We will be happy to see all of you and to be home in clean air. We will be happy to be able to wash and dry clothes at the same time while being able to cook in the oven. There's not enough power here to do that. We will be sad to leave all of our new friends and the missionaries that we have came to know so well. One of the Elders that went home in April said, "I hope you're enjoying Madagascar while you can because you will miss it so much. When I got home I felt like I had left my home and gone to a foreign country. "

We know it will be different from what we have become used too, but we also know that our time here is coming to an end. Our mission has changed us for the better and we are grateful for the experiences we have had. Yesterday in our fast & testimony meeting we heard many wonderful testimonies of how the gospel of Jesus Christ had changed peoples lives for the better and how happy they were to be members of the church. One sister bore her testimony of the importance of baptism, her son had been baptized the day before. We have found that the Malagasy people are very humble and excepting of the Gospel truths. They have wonderful testimonies.

 We will end with the following scripture describing Moroni Alma 48:13, "Yea, and he was a man who was firm in the faith of Christ, and he had sworn with an oath to defend his people, his rights, and his country, and his religion,even to the loss of his blood." In verse 15 it adds, "and this was their faith that by so doing God would prosper them in the land, or in other words, if they were faithful in keeping the commandments of god that he would prosper them in the land, yea warn them to flee, or to prepare for war, according to their danger." If more of us were like Moroni what a difference it would make in this world and in the world to come.

When you think your life is hard just be glad that you have a nice home that isn't flooded out like the one attached.

Love, Elder & Sister Cornelius

This week was a transfer week on Thursday. We had two missionaries leave here on Monday to leave from Reunion where they started their mission. Transfers are always busy with the missionaries coming and going from the office. We enjoy seeing the missionaries that have been serving in other towns that we haven't seen in a while. On Saturday Sister Cornelius taught the Relief Sociey about personal hygiene and how to make Chicken Noodle Soup. The sisters enjoyed the warm soup. Then on Sunday Sister Cornelius was asked to teach the Relief Society lesson when the teacher didn't show up. It was a good thing that the spirit had prompted her to read the lesson that morning. The lesson had to be inperupted so there wasn't much time to cover all of it. The lesson was from the November Conference talks on Faith so that is an easy topic to cover at a moments notice. I would have never imagined teaching over here because of the language barrier. We read Ether 12 about having faith. verse 4 is one of my favorites.

The picture below is what happens when people go through the trash and they don't pick it up every week. We see this everywhere. The next is the missionaries waiting for conference to start. We hope all of you have a great week and we send you our love.

Elder & Sister Cornelius

April 13, 2013

This week has flown by with lots of things to keep us busy. The President has been interviewing missionaries and when they come to the office they need supplies, money, candy, and to talk. It's always nice to talk to them and to feel of their spirits. Elder Cornelius is finishing up his office manuel that he is putting together for future Finance Secretaries to have. He doesn't want others to be in the same situation he was in, not knowing exactly what they were supposed to be doing without someone to train you. I was lucky to have a manuel and used it often to learn my job. But there are always changes and new things to learn so I have also updated my manuel as well. We are very excited that Cedar is getting a Temple, that will be a blessing for our community, but will also require a sacrifice of time to staff it and clean it.We know that the good people of Cedar City will all do their part and we hope it is finished soon so we can all participate in the blessings of having a Temple near our homes.
Sister Cornelius has been reading a book called Divine Signatures by Gerald Lund and I would like to share a few thoughts from the book. In this book he talks about how all of us have trials throughout our lives and that no one in ammune to trials. The way we deal with these trials, whether we are strengthened by them and our testimonies grow, depends on our knowledge of Jesus Christ and how much he loves us. If we allow these trials to overcome us and we fall away from God also depands on how strong our testimonies are. Elder Lund said that when we feel that our burdens are too heavy and our trials too difficult we just need to think of what our Savior had to go through, he was mocked, spit upon, whipped, scorged, and hang on the cross. He did all this for us and he knows what it is like to feel pain and sorrow. We need to call upon him for strength to overcome our trials to to continue on. He does know how we feel and he does understand what we are going through. If you haven't read this book, I would strongly recommend you read it. He tells some wonderful stories of how other people have had tender mercies and divine signitures in their lives. I was strengthened as I read each story.

I am including a few pictures; 

The first one is three men moving their household furnishings in a cart. Aren't we glad to have moving vans? 

The second picture is of a hand pulled cart full of water containers. They fill these full of water at a water station and carry them on their heads to their homes. They don't have running water in their homes. Aren't you glad to have running water in your kitchen and bathroom? I am.

The last picture is a man selling peanuts on the side of the road.

We send our love to all of you,

Elder & Sister Cornelius

April 6, 2013

Dear Family & Friends,
 While all of you are enjoying Conference in your homes we have to wait for two weeks to watch it. Thank goodness for computers. We should be able to read and listen to some of the talks this next week. We are looking forward to hearing from our Prophet and the apostles. Conference is always a great time to be reminded of those things the Lord would have us do to improve our lives.
On Monday night we had a family home evening with all the couples and the lesson was on The Tender Mercies of the Lord a talk given by David A. Bednar in the Feb. 2012 Ensign. We talked about all the tender mercies we have felt on our mission and how the tender mercies of the Lord are real and that they do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence. If you stop and think about all of the events that happen in your life on a daily basis and looked at all that you were blessed with those are gifts from God. Elder Bednar said, "The Lord's tender mercies are the very personal and individual blessings, strength, protection, assurances, guidance, loving-kindness, consolation, support, and spiritual gifts which we receive from and because of and through the Lord Jesus Christ." When you stop and think about each of these things you realize that you have been blessed in so many ways. Each day we feel that our life is being touched and directed by the Lord. We couldn't accomplish all that is required of us without his help. You will be trying to solve a problem and not sure how to do it when an idea pops into your head and you are then able to solve the problem. An example of this occurred yesterday. I was prompted to call and check on a flight that was to leave today. When the call was made the flight had been cancelled and no one had notified us. I had to rebook the flight. If I hadn't followed the prompting President and Sister Adams would have gone to the airport and not had a flight. The drive to the airport takes about an hour. Everyday we are blessed with help to accomplish our mission here and we are very grateful for that help.
We had a sister missionary come into the mission this week, she is from Madagascar and will be a great addition to our mission. This week and next the President is doing interviews so we have had the missionaries in the office which is always nice. We went to inspect apartments on Thursday and 4 out of 5 passed which is much better than our last visit. Word got out we were coming.
In closing we send our love to all of you and hope you are all doing well. We hope you will feel the Lord's tender mercies  in your lives and that you feel his love for you.
Elder & Sister Cornelius

March 22, 2013

We have had auditors here for a few weeks and one of the ladies that was here told Elder Cornelius that she liked being here because it felt good here. She isn't a member and had many questions about our church. She couldn't understand that we were paying to serve a mission and that the other couple were doing the same. She asked how we did that and Elder Cornelius told her we had saved money for several years so we could serve a mission. That is a very hard concept for a Malagasy. They don't have extra money to save because they aren't paid a lot,  She also had a hard time with believing that people would donate money to the church for Humanitarian and missionary work. These concept are very unfamiliar to them.
We also had President Donnelly here for a few days having Public Affairs meetings. He had two men from Salt Lake City who work for the church directing the Public Affairs all over the world. They ate dinner with us last night along with the Murdock's who are from Montecello, Utah. They live on the border of Blanding and Montecello. They are a Public Affairs couple who had visited here before.
The couples we work with here are wonderful people, we have a lot of fun having Family Home Evening together and playing games. someone made the comment that will stay in contact with the couple more that the missionaries when we leave because of the bond we make here. We will see if that happens. Our Humanitarian couple shared their experiences in Tulear helping the victims from the cyclone with us. One lady who isn't a member commented that our church was the first one to give out aide to the needy and how grateful they were for the help. I have included a picture sister Richards shared with us.

This is a group of people that were helped. They are going back to some remote village on Friday to give out food and other supplies.
We will end with this thought. Be grateful for what you have because you never know what tomorrow will bring. Tell those that you love just how much you love them and appreciate all they do for you. Moroni 7:47.
Have a great week. Love, Elder & Sister Cornelius

March 17, 2013

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all of you. This week has been rather uneventful with not a lot of things going on, just the normal routine. The weather has been warm and pleasant, with a few evening rain showers.We had  a Zone conference for the other half of our Tana missionaries on Tuesday. There was a recent convert couple who shared with us their conversion story and told us what convinced them to join the church. They said it was the Book of Mormon and the way they felt when the missionaries were teaching them.The missionaries who were converted to the church shared their conversion stories and then they did a role play where they practiced contacting someone on the street. They then evaluated how they did and gave positive suggestion on ways to improve. It is always enjoyable to be with the missionaries and feel of their great spirits. We have been trying to create and update manuals for our replacement couple. The Finance office didn't have one so Elder Cornelius is working on creating one so that future Finance secretaries will have something to refer to when they have questions. Elder Cornelius didn't have that privileged when he got here, so he had to learn the hard way by trial and errors. Sister Cornelius had a manual is is just updating it. We hope to have these done before we leave. We'd like to end with a story we heard in Zone Conference about the importance of following the spirit. A missionary shared this story with us. He and his companion were walking down the street and they had three houses in front of them. They were going to go to the one on the left first, but the spirit told them to go to the one in the middle. There was a man standing by his house and when he saw the missionaries he greeted them warmly and told them that he had been taught by other missionaries years before but hadn't joined their church. He looked at the bigger missionary and said, "You remind me of the missionary who taught me. Please come in, I want to hear more about your church." Sometimes people aren't ready to hear the truths of the gospel until something changes in their lives, this opens their hearts and minds so that they are ready to learn more. They become teachable. We should never give up on our family, friends and neighbors but keep loving them and setting an example for them.
We are looking forward to a visit from our former mission president next week. He is here for meetings and is coming for dinner Wednesday night. We send our love to all of you. Continue to pray for the missionaries, they need your prayers.
Elder & Sister Cornelius

March 10

We have had a wonderful week. Elder & Sister Carl B. Cook who serves in the area Presidency spoke at our Stake Conference Saturday and Sunday. The theme Saturday night was on unity in the home, ward, and stake. When we are divided we don't accomplish many good things, but when we are united we can accomplish a lot of wonderful things. Sister Cook talked about being united in our marriage. She said that our marriage should be like a triangle, with the husband and wife at the bottom looking up to Christ on the top. If we always look to him for guidance and answers our marriage will be stronger. If we remember and keep those covenants that we have made at baptism and in the Temple we will also have stronger marriages. Elder Cook talked about the three T's that his wife had taught him. The three T's are Time, Talk, and Together. He said if we take the Time to Talk to one another we will be Together eternally. We need to communicate and have Companionship Inventories weekly just like the missionaries. In Preach My Gospel page 150 it tells us how to do this. A few ideas from this is share and make goals, discuss the strengths of your companion, (spouse). Discuss challenges that keeps you from having unity in your marriage. Start and conclude with prayer.
On Sunday they had recent converts come up and bear their testimonies about how the gospel had changed their lives. They also had a sister bear her testimony about her recent marriage in the Temple. The Malagasy Relief Society choir sang beautifully the song As Sisters in Zion. Elder Cook read the words to that song as part of his talk stressing the part that we all work together to build up the Kingdom. On Sunday evening all the couples had dinner with the Cooks at President & Sister Adams home. We had a delightful meal and shared some thoughts about serving missions and why we chose to serve. With over 50 new missions opening up all over the world the need for couples is greater than ever. We encourage those of you that can serve to consider putting in your papers. It has been a wonderful blessing in our lives and in the lives of our children. As we reflect on the things that we have learned on our mission we wouldn't trade this experience for anything in the world.
We send all of you our love and hope that you know how much we appreciate the prayers that have been offered in behalf of the missionaries. We can feel them daily. 
love Elder & Sister Cornelius

This past week has flown by because of a lot of activities in our mission. On Tuesday we had a going away dinner for four missionaries going home. This is always a choice evening as the missionaries bear testimony of the work that they have preformed. One missionary who served in a Branch Presidency had 100 baptisms on his mission. He bore a spiritual testimony of the love God has for all his children and how much he will miss the people he has served. Another missionary told of the trials he had, his parents told him they were getting a divorce in the M.T.C, he just about went home after that. then when he got here he found out that his mom had cancer and later that his brother was having some difficulties. He really was tested and had a difficult time, but he said that he finally realized that he needed to be here doing what he was doing and that everything would work out. He couldn't change what  his parents had chosen to do and he could best help his mother by serving the Lord and praying for her. He has had great success on his mission and his family is doing better, his mom is doing well. President Adams bore testimony that each of these missionaries were going to be great assets to their wards and families. That they aren't the same now as they were when they entered the mission field. They need to stay strong and use the things they have learned here to strengthen their future wives and family. One of the apostles said that the most important convert that you will make on your mission is yourself.
On Wednesday we welcomed 6 new missionaries to our mission, we had a dinner that night and two stayed at our apartment. Thursday morning we fed all of them breakfast, We went through 34 eggs in two days, those growing missionaries can eat. Sister Cornelius made rolls for the luncheon we had after their training and finding out who their companion would be. It is fun to be apart of the excitement as they open their letter to tell them where they will serve and with whom. Sister Cornelius then sent an email to the parents to let them know of their sons arrival and assignment. We also had transfers on Thursday and there were missionaries coming and going all day, 805 of our missionaries were transferred, so it was very hectic. One missionary who has been serving in Tulear came in before we left our office and told us about the devastation from the Cyclone that hit there a week ago last Monday. A whole village was destroyed and thousands of people are either homeless or out of work because the boats are damaged. This is a seaport town that is just above sea level. Our church Humanitarian is working with the Catholic Relief Agency and the government to help in that area. 
In closing I would like to share one scripture found in 2 Nephi 2:8 "Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy and grace of the Holy Messiah, who layeth down his life according to the flesh and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, being first that should rise."
We hope each of you have a great week and we appreciate you support and love.
Love, Elder & Sister Cornelius

This is Elder Horman by a large tree that fell during the cyclone in Tulear.

 

 The next picture is of Tulear where the cyclone hit two weeks ago. A missionary who was serving there gave me some pictures. The pictures shows the flood water and broken trees.

February 17, 2013

We have had a wonderful week in Madagascar with rain every day and lots of things to keep us busy. We love it when the missionaries come into the office to visit and get supplies. They lift our spirits and we enjoy the time we can spend with them. Yesterday the A.P.'s were trying to connect one of the Zones for a Zone leaders Conference through Web X. They had on their head sets and were talking like they were airplane pilots. We had a good laugh. We love our wonderful A.P.'s, they are lots of fun.
 Everyday is a different adventure here. On Thursday, Valentine's Day we went with another couple to a restaurant called Carnivore. They had a huge flower heart in the entrance and the whole place was decorated with red, pink, and white, picture attached. We had a variety of meat, lamb, beef, chicken, pork, crocodile, and crab & shrimp appetizers. The dessert was a three chocolate mousse and caramelized pineapple with ice cream. It was a new experience, One we didn't think we would have here.

When it rains the ladies wear shower caps to keep their hair dry and they carry umbrellas with them to keep the sun off of them in the heat of the day. They are always prepared this time of year for what ever the weather might be.
In Sunday School today we talked about the Atonement and it's importance. This one point stood out to us. "How Jesus loves us to suffer such spiritual and physical agony for our sake! How great the love of Heavenly Father that He would send His Only Begotten Son to suffer and die for the rest of His children. "For God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." When we truly think of what Christ had to suffer for us on the cross and in Gethsemane it should make us all try even harder to not sin and cause him even more suffering in our behave.
We send our love and gratitude to each of you for your support and look forward to being with each of you again soon. 

Love Elder & Sister Cornelius

Picture 1193 is the Senior Primary of our ward. They are cute children of God, with wonderful spirits.

February 9, 2013

Another week has passed and we are happy for the weekend to get caught up on shopping, laundry, and house cleaning. That's always something to look forward to right? We had another busy week at the office. There is always things to do to fill the day. After entering the 2012 baptism records we ended up with 1,019 baptisms for the year. We think that puts us over 10,000 members. One problem we have here is retention, many of the members don't accept new converts and aren't very friendly with them. We have an investigator in our ward that was offended by some sisters in Relief Society, so she won't attend. She leaves after Sunday School. It just reminds us that we need to be careful of what we say and try hard to fellowship investigators and make them feel welcome. In another Branch the Branch President's wife told a lady that she wasn't welcome in their church and not to come back. Needless to say her husband was released. Because most of these people are new in the gospel they have many things to learn. Elder Cornelius answers a lot of questions in Elders Quorum meetings each Sunday that the members have. He is teaching a lot of gospel principles that they don't quite understand.
We heard that you had 8 small earthquakes on Thursday. We hope there was no damage there.
We are having a lot of rain here in the evenings and the mornings are very pleasant. The clouds build up in the afternoon and dump on us in the evenings. We have had a lot of rain this month,over 7 inches so far.
In a talk given by Jeffrey R. Holland to the missionaries in the M.T.C. in January 2013 he gave this formula by which we can know if we are measuring up to the Lord's expectations: "Seek to be personally converted, obey the rules of the mission (or commandments), strive to have the Spirit of the Lord in your life, and work hard. These are things every (member) & missionary can do." I have added the words in parenthesis  to make it apply to us. "If you do those things, I promise you in the name of the Lord and with the authority of my office, you are a success in His eyes."
We send our love and testimony to each of you that the gospel of Jesus Christ will continue to go forth throughout the world, and that as more people embrace his gospel lives will be changed for the better and it will be a better world to live in. We do love and appreciate all of you for your support and prayers for us. May each of you feel of his love for you. Elder & Sister Cornelius

Picture 1137 is of our neighbors below the office drying their laundry on the lawn, they don't have electric dryers so they dry the laundry on rocks, lawns, or wherever they can. 

Picture 1170 is a unique contrast in worlds with oxen, or Zebu here, pulling a cart and a modern sign selling toothpaste. 

Picture 1175 is an open market meat stand. You can buy fresh meat here and enjoy it along with the flies and dirt. We don't buy it here, but the Malagasy people do. 

The last picture 1190 is of a turtle that our neighbors have in their yard. We see it when we walk around our apartment complex.

Dear Family & Friends,
This week just flew by and it's February already! We have been very busy this week with a variety of things. We welcomed the Todd's from Provo this week to our mission. They are serving as a Member Leadership Support couple in Antsirabe. He was a professor at BYU, (GO Cougars) and taught Mechanical Engineering. He and his wife have traveled with BYU students to many places in Europe and Singapore to learn about International Trade. He has served as a Stake President in Provo. They will be a great addition to our mission. Sister Cornelius has been entering baptism records, answering many emails, and getting supplies for missionaries, ordering supplies, and answering questions. Elder Cornelius fills his day with financial matters, apartments, and vehicles. Never a boring moment in a Mission Office.
This week we had a cyclone off the south east coast of Madagascar. We have been tracking it as it moved toward us. Luckily it stayed in the ocean and didn't do a lot of damage inland. We got some heavy rains and winds yesterday. Reunion had roads closed and heavy rains there. They have a highway that runs along the ocean and the waves were coming onto the highway so they closed it down for several days. This is the time of year for cyclones to happen so we keep track of them in the office. We had missionaries in one town on the southeast in lock down for one day until the cyclone passed and kept close contact with them. They are all fine and said that it wasn't that bad.
Last Saturday we went shopping and took some interesting pictures along the way. T

This is a man selling hats, there had to be at least 50 to 100 hats on his head.

We will send more pictures later. Hope all of you have a great week, love Elder & Sister Cornelius

A local market

A hand cart

Hubcap store

January 28, 2013

Dear Family & Friends,
This past week we were busy with welcoming in a new couple the Richards from West Jordan. They are the Humanitarian couple and Elder Richards worked for the U.S. government and they have traveled all over the world to places like the Congo, England, Europe, and many other places. They have a son currently serving his mission in Leeds, England. We have our last couple coming on Monday, the Todds. They are a Member Leadership support couple and will be serving in Antsirabe two and a half hours from Tana. We have been getting wind and rain this week and it is nice because it cools things down.
I want to share a story from one of our missionaries that he shared with me. He and his companion were invited to go to an orphanage to teach English. When they got there it was a compound that used to be a milk farm for cows. There were 610 kids at the school for orphans. When the missionaries went to teach the orphans they had about 400 kids, all standing, fixed into ranks by age like little soldiers. All 400 of the children sang to the missionaries and he said they were the cutest kids he's ever seen. When the missionaries started to talk to them in English the students smiled and giggled. They want to learn English because they are told it will help them and they love America. The missionary taught them Simon Says and Head, Shoulders, Knees, & Toes.The kids loved it and had a lot of fun. The missionaries loved this experiences and will be going back every Friday to the orphanage to teach them. I will ask the elder if he can give me a picture of the kids, he said he took some pictures.
We had Zone Leaders Counsel on Thursday with 7 elders. The mission is working on in-actives, family baptisms, father led families, and centers of strength. Centers of strength is building the kingdom around churches so that the recent converts can attend church near their homes and not have to travel great distances. We loose too many converts if they aren't close to a church, because they have to walk too far or ride buses to get to church.
We have had a great week and we will close with this scripture from D & C 72: 3-4, "And verily in this thing ye have done wisely, for it is required of the Lord, at the hand of every steward, to render an account of his stewardship, both in time and in eternity. For he who is faithful and wise in time is accounted worthy to inherit the mansions prepared for him of my Father." We hope that as we a winding down our mission here in Madagascar that we have been wise servants and that when we render an account of our stewardship that the Lord will be pleased with our service. For it is our desire to inherit one of those mansions prepared by our Father for us and our family.
Love, Elder & Sister Cornelius

Picture 1043 is Sister Florine and Sister Scoville our P.E.F. sisters. 

Picture 1065 is Elder Barclay & Steele our A.P.'s that we work with a lot. They are Great missionaries.

Dancers

January 19th

Dear Family & friends,
It's a beautiful summer morning, with a slight breeze blowing and we got a nice rain last night. It's supposed to be in the 80's today. We just thought we would make you envious of us here. We welcomed the Caron couple from Canada this week. They live in Montreal and she was an Art History lecturer and he was a professor in electromechanics. They will be serving in a coastal town called Tomatave as Member Leadership Support. We had a welcome dinner for them on Thursday and they left Friday morning. Today we have a couple coming from West Jordan, the Richards. They will serve here as the Humanitarian couple.
We have a brown Gecko that is living in our bedroom. It startled both of us as it ran across the floor. We like them because they eat the bugs. We have several living around our house that are green and brown. The tomato plants that we planted in our yard had to be pulled up because they were all rotting. So that was a disappointment. We do have corn and cucumbers growing however. The pineapples are in season and are so sweet and delicious that you can't get enough.
President Adams shared a talk with us on Wednesday morning called "True Believers in Christ" by Elder Neal A. Maxwell. This is just a few of the points that he shared with us. :Two virtues of the meek are that they are not easily offended and they do not resist counsel. Nor are these lowly in heart inclined to see themselves as being "above" all the seemingly routine duties of discipleship. duties are not to be rejected on the basis of "I've done all that before," as if God were required to supply us with new thrills. Mortality has been described by the Lord as being like working in a vineyard--never as an afternoon at a carnival. Besides, how could we pretend to be true believers in Christ, if we shunned the chores of the kingdom!" "Furthermore, we will find that when we have personal spiritual experiences, which keep us close to the Lord, these will almost always occur in the course of carrying out the specific duties named earlier, since it is not enought for us to have once been close to the Savior. Alma said, if we have once "felt to sing the song of redeeming love," can we "feel so now?"
We send our love to all of you and hope you are having a great week. Love Elder & Sister Cornelius

The road we drive every day.

On New Years Day we ate lunch at the Adams' house. I made Chicken Pot Pie but forgot to put the chicken in. I must be getting old. After lunch we drove up to the Queen's castle and took a tour with two tour guides who spoke English, sort of. We learned a lot about the history of the place and took lots of pictures.                                     Us in front of the queens castle.

 The first king Andrainamananina had twelve wives. He built this castle for his first wife and build smaller Castles on eleven other hills around Antananarivo and had royal trees planted on each hill. Our hill in Andrainarivo has one of those trees and that is where Richard G. Scott dedicated this land for proclaiming the gospel. His first wife had thousands of Malagasy people killed who became Christians when English missionaries came into Madagascar. She is called the wicked queen. She killed the Christians because they put Jesus Christ above her in their worshiping.

                                                A view of Antananarivo from where we were.

There were Malagasy people everywhere staring at the Fahsas, or white people. They go there because they think the ground in sacred. There is a Protestant church still used there for worshiping. The little kids followed us and listened to the English. We took a few pictures of them. There were globe spiders in most of the trees and all over the old buildings.  There are no poisonous spiders or snakes in Madagascar the guide told us and the children play with and eat the spiders. They use their silken webs for many things because they are so strong.

We had a wonderful time and afterward went back to the President's home and played Chicken Foot   and talked until 8:00. It was a fun day.

We are still teaching our English class on Saturdays and enjoy working with students who want to learn and improve themselves. Today I taught them "The best gift that you can give yourself is self improvement." I really believe that to be true and I told them that what they are doing in trying to learn English is going to benefit them in the long run. We are enjoying our association with the Malagasy people. They are very good people and are very polite and respectful.
Today at our church they are having a baptism for the daughter of a doctor. They have a large spread of food in the culture hall and they had the choir that we heard singing on Christmas Eve preforming. There is a lot of people that attended the baptism. We are missing our grandson Landon's baptism this weekend and wish we could be there for him.
We hope all of you have a wonderful year and are blessed with good health.
Love, Elder & Sister Cornelius

In addition,  This a baby cameleon that was in our kitchen. We had them born in our garden.

This is a picture of the hotel which is close to the mission office, it's called the Panarama, we will be staying there the last week of our mission. 

This is inside the origional kings home, this is where they prepared food and ate on the rock.

This is a statue of one of the queens that was near a bathing/swimming pool. This little girl was hugging her.