3rd Nephi 5:13 - "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life."
Walker decided to do his Letter in a Voice Recording. So We have attached a two part audio recording of his letter. We will transcribe and send a letter out later....
This has been an exciting week, I spent all day on Tuesday doing visa stuff. We got up early on Tuesday and drove to the ministry and we waited there for a while until the people decided to help us. When I went in I started talking the little Malagasy that I know to the lady working behind the counter who was filling out the paperwork. And she was shocked to see a big white guy speaking Malagasy. So I said what? do you not think white people can learn Malagasy? Then I made a joke and got her laughing, it put her in a good mood and she made it easy for all of us to get through and get our visas with no trouble, we left like 30 minutes later. We then went to this place called the Carnivore which is like a Madagascar Tucanos, They just bring out chunks of meat and delicious fruit. It was so good, I was able to eat crocodile and snake. really good. We drove back to Tanatave on Wednesday and our bus broke for like an hour so we got to wait in the hot sun for an hour. The bus that I was on was a tiny little thing crammed with Malagasy's. There are really no laws here in Madagascar so you can cram as many people as possible on these buses. We all made it home safely and were able to sleep well that night. On Thursday I got really sick. I woke up and just knew it was going to be rough, I didn't eat anything all day and all I did was sleep and throw up. Me and elder Lingani took the day off. On Friday I was feeling good enough to go out and It was a good thing too. We went to one of our new investigators house named Lucio and he said that he had been waiting for us for like an hour. He said that he prayed this last week and god had helped him out. He had no idea that you could talk to god before we taught him. we were able to teach him a great lesson and asked him to pray about our message. He is one of my favorite investigators. He is one guy that just really wants yo know that he is ok in gods eyes. On Saturday we taught a lesson to a kid after English who's name is Juliano. He is 18 years old and is searching for truth. He asked me in English if I believe I will live after I die and then why I believe that I will. He is a great young man. We also prepared Solofo and Tojo for baptism this November. Solofo is someone that I found And he is sweet. Sunday was a fantastic day to end the week. We had 19 investigators at church and they all stayed the whole time, and NONE of them were drunk. Haha it is great to see the lords work unfolding in front of your eyes. I also said goodbye to elder Makahery because he is going home he has finished his mission. He was a great example and he taught me a lot.
Thank you for your prayers, please keep them coming. Love Elder Wolfgramm
October 21st, 2016
That is a chicken head on the left it actually wasn't all that bad ;)
The weeks start and then they are over, I am almost done with my first transfer in Madagascar. This week we finished the transfers. What a week, Tuesday was spent in an area called Depot which is in our area. We spent all day tracking and creating a new program there. Depot is the beach it is really cool to be teaching on the beach. I helped this guy move big bags of concrete mix and all the Malagasy’s were in awe at the strength of the Vasa, ha-ha it was really funny to see their reactions. We are also are preparing maramoza and dauphin for baptism. They are an older couple about 50 and they are going to be baptized on November 5th. On Wednesday I left my area again, I was on a split with Elder Nelson, he is really good at Malagasy. We taught 3 lessons and found a guy who said he is a member and just moved back from Antananarivo and I told him where our church was and what time it was, he was happy to know. He also asked us if we needed help with anything, he seemed really nice. On Thursday me and Elder Stromberg went on a split. This was a real test to see if we could do anything because me and Elder Stromberg were in the MTC together and neither one of us are super mahay at Malagasy. It was a miracle that we were able to teach all day. I had some very cool experiences where I was able to understand questions clearly and be able to answer them. We were both feeling really good about the split and we only had to tell one person that we will have another Elder who is better at Malagasy than us explain the answer to your question. It was a great day and a big confidence boost.
On Friday we were back in the area I was in with Elder Nelson because I wanted to show Elder Lingani where the member lived as we were walking to his house, I saw him walk past us so I said Hello, he responded by saying "Psssssshhhhhht" and throwing his arms at us like he was saying go away. I was in total shock. I said Elder Lingani I swear that was the guy that was so nice a few days ago. We went to his house and Elder lingani said oh I know this guy he has lived here in Tamatave his whole life, and he is a less active. When he saw us at his door he came out and was so embarrassed because he was........ Drunk........... He started crying and saying I am so sorry I was at a wedding and I had a few Drinks. We told him that if it was ok we would like to return and share a spiritual thought with him and invited him to church..... He never came but I will find him this week and hopefully help him come back to church.
Saturday we taught English and some more lessons we are preparing 3 investigators for baptism this month so hopefully they will be ready and willing still. On Sunday I found out that I was heading to Antananarivo for visa papers that night we left at 5 and didn't arrive in Tana until 3 in the morning. It was one of the longest rides of my life we were on a little bus for what felt like forever. When we got into Tana at the bus stop we had Elder Paraga get 2 taxis and told them where to go, me Elder Bennet and Elder Stromberg got into one Elder Paraga and Shoemaker got into the other one and we all headed to the mission office. Our taxi stopped in front of the FJKM church and said here? We said no the mission office he had no idea where it was and we don’t know where the heck we are in tana at 3 in the morning. We had no phone or phone numbers to call and we can’t speak the language. We told the guy to just drive to this restaurant kind of by the mission office and just maybe we will be able to find it. By a tender mercy we saw the mission office as we were driving and we made it safely to the place we were supposed to go. God protects his missionaries.
Love you all very much thank you for the prayers they were needed this week. Elder Wolfgramm
QUESTION: How is Natalie doing? Still getting ready to be baptized?
ANSWER: Natalie is doing great and is still planning in being baptized,
QUESTION: What about Mammi? Were you able to teach him the word of wisdom? It sounds like drinking might be a big challenge to getting people baptized.
ANSWER: Mammi has stopped drinking and is coming to church sober,
QUESTION: How is Angelo doing? Did you find Angelo or was he meeting with the missionaries before you got there?
ANSWER: This week we found out Angelo has to leave and go to Anstirabay because of work so we gave him to the missionaries there and he will be baptized soon, we didn't find Angelo he had been learning from missionaries for a while.
QUESTION: What is a normal day for you now?
ANSWER: The average day is get up at 6:30 work out until 7 at seven eat breakfast which consist of fresh fruit and oatmeal. Study from 8 until 11 go to lunch and then go out and go to work until about 8:30 at night when we come home and cook dinner plan and write in my journal.
QUESTION: What kind of things do you do on P-Day?
ANSWER: On P-Day we meet with the other Elders in our zone and go do something fun.
QUESTION: How do you find investigators? Member referrals or street contacts?
ANSWER: Most of the people we find is through tracking with some through member referrals.
QUESTION: Anyone you have found that you are working with?
ANSWER: There are about 10 progressing investigators that I have found. Four with baptismal dates.
Madagascar is starting to heat up, I am sitting here at 9 in the morning dripping sweat while I am emailing. I come home at night and just want to drink water but I love it. This week we dealt with so many crazy drunk Malagasy’s. If there are 2 things Malagasy’s love its beer and cock fights. We went to our investigator who came to church drunk this week to check up on him and tried to teach him and his family, when we got to his house his whole house was drunk, everyone in it was drunk. I started asking him if he was ok when his son just started saying "you can speak Malagasy?" I said yes and them he asked me again, and again, and again, when it was clear to him that i can speak Malagasy he started talking about god and how god was good and then he would just say "Jesoa Kristy" over and over while we were talking to his mom and dad. We asked them if we could teach them about the word of wisdom they said they want to hear about the word of wisdom, so we began with a prayer. While I was praying the son who is about 26 years old just kept saying Jesoa Kristy over and over. The prayer was finished and the son was staring blankly at the fence saying Jesoa Kristy really quietly now. We gave them a short lesson because they weren’t going to be able retain any of what we told them but at the end of the lesson while we were getting ready to leave the dad said ok I won’t drink on Sunday when I come to church.... we are making improvements with this family. The two kids Estel and Nalina can to church in church clothes this week to watch general conference, after conference we went and visited them at their house and they all had new clothes. They had gotten enough money to go and buy new clothes as well as shoes. I KNOW that god is watching over them and he wants them to enjoy the fruits of the gospel. Thank you so much for your prayers the blessings are raining down here in Madagascar. While we were at their house there dad was interested and was willing to learn and pray about our message. I love to see the light enter people’s lives. They can see the blessings from allowing us into their home. Madagascar is still the coolest place on the planet and the people are the greatest people, I am doing better now than I have ever done. I am loving every minute. Thank you for your prayers please keep them coming. Elder Wolfgramm
What a great week. It rained a lot this week in Madagascar and when it rains it just dumps the rain. There were a couple of rivers made in the streets. we also had a baptism planned for this week but on Saturday while we were prepping the font we got a call that said our investigator Natallie said that she was not ready for baptism, and wanted to wait until next month when her family could be there so we will be waiting on that. Remember the family that was supper receptive their dang pastor got to them and they said that they don’t want us to come back, I was so sad, it was the first time on my mission I had been sad because I thought of the family and how much happiness that they would have if they would listen to us talk. Also I had a cool experience with one of our investigators and the gift of tongues I was able to say what the investigator needed to hear, and it was cool because I was just talking. later that day I tried to use the same gift that I was blessed with earlier and i guess heavenly father wanted the other investigator to know what silence was like because I couldn’t say a thing. I just sat there looking at the guy thinking where are you. Where did you go? I don’t know what the deal was last night but every single guy we talked to was drunk hard. We had one guy who ran full supposed into a fence, fall and just lay on the ground moaning. In his agony he decided to light a cigarette and smoke it while on the ground. He then was so drunk he dropped his cigarette and lost it even though it was like two feet in front of his face. The people here are so funny.
We were able to have 22 investigators at church and it seem like all of them were enjoying church, especially Mammi he came to church drunk. Ha-ha he left midway through church to go to the bathroom and never came back, we will teach him the word of wisdom this week. I love Madagascar and the people here. The kids are always so interested and scared of such a big white guy it is so funny to see how happy they get when I play soccer with them or give them fist bumps I hope they can feel the spirit when I am around them.
