Dear Family & Friends,

We had a great week welcoming four new missionaries to Madagascar. This is always a busy and fun time. On the day they arrive the air was polluted and you couldn't see more than 30 ft. It wasn't a great day for breathing. We did get a short down pour in the evening, which was a welcome relief. We are so impressed with these valiant young men that serve here. They are strong and have great testimonies of their Savior Jesus Christ. Sister Adams and Sister Cornelius fed the new Elders, couples, and A.P's a meal Wed. evening and Thursday at lunch we fed the missionaries, trainers, and A.P's. For both meals there was no water to do the dishes or to wash our hands. The water came on later so the dishes had to be done by Sister Adams because we had all left to go home. Being a mission President's wife is very busy with shopping, cooking, and traveling. This weekend they are traveling to Fort Dauphin to open a new branch down there and meet with the missionaries. The missionaries here are having problems with fleas and mosquitoes. When you say don't let the bed bugs bite here, you are serious, not just being polite. Mosquito nets are a must this time of year. One Elder who arrived two months ago has bites all over his body, poor guy. Sister Cornelius has only a few, for now. Elder Cornelius is lucky they don't like his blood. Sister Cornelius has been asked to speak at a Young Women's Conference Nov. 3 and we will be starting an English class that day as well in the afternoon. We have a lot of young people here that want to learn English from Americans. We have many non members who are in the currant classes on Friday that the missionaries teach and they have gotten referrals from that class taught here at the Church. Teaching English is what the missionaries do for service 1-2 hours a week throughout Tana. We would like to encourage all of you to reread Elder Holland's talk for Conference. It was such a powerful message we all can read and reread. Our mission President encouraged all of us to do this as well. 

Attached is some pictures of the Jacarando Tree that is in bloom all over Tana It has purple blossoms that look like bells. In the October Liahona there is an article about two girls from Madagascar, Sophie and Elodie. Their father is a counselor to President Adams in the Mission Presidency. We wondered if the article was in the Children's Friend as well. There is a picture of the purple blossoms in that article. In closing we leave you with this thought from 2 Nephi 4:35 "Yea, Lord I know that God will give liberally to him that asketh. Yea, my God will give me, if I ask not amiss; therefore, I will lift up my voice unto thee; yea, I will cry unto thee, my God, the rock of my righteousness. Behold, my voice shall forever ascend up unto thee, my rock and mine everlasting God. We send our love and prayers. Elder & Sister Cornelius

Dear family & friends,

We had a wonderful weekend listening to conference with the missionaries. On Saturday we listened to both sessions with all the Tana Missionaries in English. On Sunday we listened to the morning session in the President's home and had lunch there. Then in the afternoon we went downstairs to be with the missionaries again.It was a wonderful experiences listening to the words of our prophet and apostles. We are excited about the announcement that the age of missionaries is being lowered. That will help to strengthen our forces throughout the world. When the missionaries stood and sang with the congregation, it brought chills and tears to our bodies as they sang loudly with strength and vigor. It is such a spiritual high to be in the presence of the missionaries at a special time such as conference. They have such positive attitudes and strong spirits.We are amazed at how few of them complain even though the circumstance they face each day aren't easy with poverty, sickness, and filth around them. We have some of the most valiant, courageous missionaries here and we have grown to love all of them as if they were our grandsons. We know that these young men and women are some of God's chosen sons and daughters. We are excited to welcome four new missionaries this week and will be sad to send one home who has served valiantly.

One lesson that we have learned here is that you need to be patient in all things. On Friday Sister Cornelius and Sister Adams went to pick up our conference DVD's at DHL. They were being held up on clearance delay and we hoped to get them out. Well four hours later and after they had passed through several government offices to be cleared, we got them. We left the office at 1:00 and returned home at 7:00. The rest of the time was spent in traffic and a 30 minute stop at a grocery store. Another adventure in Madagascar that we hope never to repeat again.

 In closing we want to let you all know that we are glad that we choose to serve a mission . We have had experience here that have strengthened our testimonies and have brought us closer to each other and to the Lord. We have made friends that we will always cherish and love. we have had the wonderful opportunity to serve others and be with the missionaries who build us and strengthen us. This has been a once in a life time experience that we are glad that we have had the opportunity to do. We send our love and prayers to all of you. Elder & Sister Cornelius

Picture 0895 is of the bad air we had here last week. 

Picture 0889 is three elders who had their appendix  out within two months of each other, Elders Cusick, Allred & Abney.

Picture 0380 is missionaries in the President's home before departing to go home.

Dear family & friends,
This week there hasn't been too much going on here in Madagascar. There was a truckers strike for one day, we saw trucks full of police returning to the police station as we were going home. We have been getting new phones in the mission office and have had people rewiring and connecting for several days. Elder Cornelius celebrated his birthday on Thursday. We had cake and went to an Italian restaurant for dinner with the A.P. 's and President & Sister Adams. The Adams told us they met a man in Tulear who was from Switzerland. Sister Adams was raised there. This man had traveled to 30 countries and he told them his favorite place to visit was Southern Utah. We do have some beautiful scenery there don't we? On Monday we had a couple's Family Home Evening together at the Grays' apartment. They are the Humanitarian couple from England. It was an enjoyable evening, with a spiritual thought, a treasure hunt, refreshments, and visiting with each other. On Saturday we had a nice dinner at Sister Scoville and Sister Florine's apartment. They are the P.E.F. sisters. We had Malagasy cooking, rice, chicken curry soup, papaya, avocado salad, a beef, tomato sauce, and fruit. We sang songs and visited. Both of these opportunities helped us to get to know each other better. We are excited to listen to conference in two weeks and hope to be able to read some of the talks before then. We did see the new announcement on the requirement age for missionaries being lowered. That is exciting news because more missionaries are definitely needed throughout the world.
When we consider all that we have been given by our loving Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ, we should be willing to do all that he asks us to do for him. We should be willing to follow his commandments, give of our time and talents in building up his kingdom on this earth. We should be willing to share the gospel with our neighbors and friends without being afraid or feeling embarrassed.  The reason we  allow doubt and fear to enter our hearts is because Satan is always there to make us feel unworthy. He wants us to not share what we know with others and will do anything he can to stop us. We need to be stronger than him and let the Spirit guide us in what we should do and say.
We send our love to each of you. May you be blessed in all you do. Elder & Sister Cornelius

Dear Family & friends,
We were saddened to hear of Danny Websters passing, he was a wonderful man and father. He will be missed in our community. This week has been enjoyable in Madagascar. On Wednesday we had seven Malagasy missionaries come into the office to be set apart for their missions in Ivory Coast, & Benin, South Africa. Four were sisters, and one of the Sister we knew from our trip to Fort Dauphin. We met her there and visited with her and her mother. She had also come into the office to fill out her visa paper work. She speaks English very well and so it was easy for us to communicate with her. She gave Sister Cornelius a pretty pin that she admired on her. We took a picture of six of the missionaries. Ten missionaries left on Thursday to serve in Africa, three were from the Stake, so we didn't meet them. Our Humanitarian Couple, the Grays just had 10 new water projects approved by the Church, 30,000 people will benefit from this wonderful project and will have running water in their village for the first time. They are also busy with a Food Initiative program that teaches people how to garden, rotate plants and fertilize. They will be very busy for the next few months before they leave to go home. We also are seeing great success with the P.E.F. program that our new Sisters, who started in July, have started. They now have over 40 people starting the program to further their education. President Adams said this will be such a great benefit for this country to have educated L.D.S. leaders who want to learn and will help this country grow in the future. There was only 5 people using the P.E.F. program when the Sister started their mission in July. Sister Scoville is also having great success in teaching English on Wednesdays and Fridays. Both of those classes are growing and she has got a list of referrals for the missionaries to contact.
Next week Elder Cornelius has two Church auditors visiting from South Africa. He will have a busy week with training and going over the financial auditing. Sister Cornelius has been busy with receiving orders, entering baptismal records, helping missionaries, etc.
We send our love and prayers to all of you and hope you are doing well. We'll end with this thought; If we honor the Sabbath Day, we receive great spiritual and temporal blessings. The Lord has said that if we keep the Sabbath day with thanksgiving and cheerful hearts, we will be full of joy."
Love, elder & Sister Cornelius

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