David and Judy in Madagascar

Madagascar a life time, well it seems like we have been here a life time! We love our mission, but have been so sick with chest colds, and weak bodies that have lasted the last 2 weeks. It’s ironic that we are eating healthier than any time in our lives, yet we have never been sicker.
The office work is going well, but is very tedious and demanding. Our day starts at 8:30am to open the office, take a lunch break, and lock up and leave by 5:30 which is long enough for me to handle the money and financial transactions. The complexity of the financial end is really way above my brain capacity and a constant challenge keeping everything in balance. We just received an infusion from church headquarters in South Africa for 243,000,000 ariarys which we will disperse over the next 60 days much of it in cash payouts.

The President had invited us to go to Tomatov this weekend for the split of the only branch there which presently has about 380 in attendance. This branch is on the coast and about a 7hr drive, but because of our poor health we were not able to attend. The Pres. and APs drove 3 hrs and stayed overnight in a dumpy motel where they all had to share a room. In the morning they were awakened by a scratching on their door and lo and behold LEMURS! They were very excited to see these funny monkeys.

Friday we had the experience of visiting two humanitarian projects which was very exciting. In the morning I traveled with Gaby about 60 miles out of Tana to ck on the progress of a clean water and restroom project. The Mayor of this little hamlet was very gracious and proud of the work being done and anxious to receive the remainder of the funds to finish. Actually the clean water portion was completed some months ago and now none of the town people are plagued with diarrhea. The church budged $500,000 for projects for this country and you can imagine the impact it has on the village people. Unfortunately, many of these projects are in outlying areas where there are no missionaries, but the good will these projects generate is beyond calculation.

I will let Judy describe going to the hospital and seeing the wheel chairs given to the poorest of the poor. Friday was a very special day. The hospital had called a few days before and said they wanted to do this ceremony and present the wheelchairs and could we be there. Pres. Gaya was up in Thomasine, so Sister Gaya and David and I went. I can’t describe how old this hospital was and so many sick people waiting to get in. They had us go in a room where all the recipients were sitting. The head of the hospital came in and told all the people where the chairs came from and that they were very lucky to get one and for them not to sell them as they would be checking up on them to make sure they still had them. After that we just talked to the people. It was really hard to see how desperate they were for the chairs. One woman was carried in on the back of her son, I think. It was heartbreaking. It is wonderful to see the Humanitarian Aid being used so well. I left the hospital sobbing for these people. Sister Gaya said we need to go to some place happy. So we went to the flower mart and what a beautiful place. Sorry the pictures are not in the right order on the blog. We are still learning.

Happy, Happy day today. We went to the Branch that we have been assigned to, Ampitatafika Branch. It is out in the country and Sister Gaya took us there. We got lost, but finally found it. It is a sweet branch and we are so looking forward to being a part of their branch. The missionaries had 19 investigators there. They have a lot of inactives and we hope we can help with them. I wish I could tell you how happy these people are and so excited to meet us. EVERYONE wants to shake your hand and welcome you! Then we went to lunch at a member’s house, who works for the US Embassy. Very nice family and treated us to a wonderful Sunday dinner. As you can see we had no General Conference. We tried to get some last night, but the audio kept cutting out about every 4th word. We will just have to wait for the DVD.

We are getting better, very slowly, but we will live. Everywhere you go people are complaining about this chest cold. Many missionaries are sick.

We love and miss you all. Thank you for all your prayers and your confidence in us!

Mom, Grandma, Judy and Dad