Dec 12 - Akory ty vazaha toy (like that white guy) Malagasy

Well this week was a good week for the books. I was able to spend really the whole week in my new area, it is a really cool area. I love it here in St. Denis, the ward is great and I am making some great relationships with the members. I was able to bear my testimony in church on Sunday, it was great. I was able to be really sincere, as well as make everyone laugh. We had some investigators at church. We had this kid named Aaron who is about 18 years old born in Paris France, I met him my first night here in Reunion, he is a cool kid who is taking the lessons really well so it was cool to see him again.  We got to talk a little bit of what is new how I am still not super good at French but getting better.  As we were talking more I learned that Aaron was the wrestling champion in France for his weight. He wrestled freestyle in France before he moved to Reunion, and was the national champion for the 102 kilo weight class (224 lbs). I told him I wrestled before my mission but I hadn't done it in 2 years so I am pretty out of shape. Then he said that he wanted to wrestle me. I told him I would love to wrestle with him but I probably couldn't put up a good fight because he lifts every day and is still in good shape but I would love to do it. His mom told him "No you cant wrestle with the missionary you will hurt him, if you do it you have to go easy on him so he can still teach the gospel." So on Monday morning we got up at 5 and went to the beach and there did a little wrestling match. I am happy to say I still have it. I took him down and pinned him pretty quick. Then he said okay, keep going. So I did it over and over. He was so surprised. It was pretty fun, I taught him a few things and then just practiced with him. He gained a lot of respect for the missionaries that day(and the United States). I feel like he might be getting baptized pretty soon. He still has not accepted a date but he is making great progress. Please pray for him, he is a great kid.

Well that's all the story I have this week, I hope I can continue to bless the people here and help them in all ways I can.

Love Elder Wolfgramm

Nov 29 - St Denis

I have been transferred to St Denis to be with Elder Ricks. I think it will be a great change, I am going to be leaving Joele and a few other great investigators, that I love but I am excited for the challenge. I have come to love La Reunion almost as much as Madagascar in the time I have been here. Joele is doing great and is progressing great towards baptisms, I wish I had some great story this week but it was really just an average week, I am having tons of fun and loving life...

Elder Wolfgramm

Dec 4 - je suis tré heureux ( I am very happy)

Well this week was fantastic, I am now in my new area with my new companion and we are having tons of fun. This area is pretty cool. It has a tons of hills, and a lot of people who are waiting for the great gospel and the wonderful message we have for them. I had a great last Sunday in Le Port, we were able to have some of our investigators come as well as for the first time in 1 year we had this lady come with her family to church with a promise that she will continue to come long after I am gone. It was sad to leave Le Port but I am excited about the time that I have here.

I love this gospel and this wonderful work.

Elder Wolfgramm

Nov 21- il y a beau coup de miracles pour nous aujourd'hui (there are many miracles for us today)

There are many things I can talk about this week, we saw many great things this week. I will start with Joele. She came to church on Sunday and had a great time.  There was a inter-regional conference with South Africa, we watched a video with a few of the 70 and Elder Anderson of the 12. It was wonderful we received great counsel about missionary work.  Also Joele loved it. We made a time to come and teach her yesterday, and we showed up and she had made us these french cake things that were absolutely great, she said that she was in a great mood, and I said yeah I can see that whats up? She said let me tell you. I have had this question about my life and the life of my mother for 41 years, and 41 years I have searched for the answer to my question and I have never found it and no one has ever been able to answer it. But last night when I was reading your pamphlet I found the answer to my question here in the Plan of Salvation pamphlet. All my searching for these past 41 years are over..... then she told us about how she has been listening to conference talks. I said "what?" and she said "yeah here I downloaded your churches app called Gospel Library and I started listening to the talks.... I was so shocked. I asked here if she could show me and she did. I asked her if she had any questions about the talks she read or the Plan of Salvation, she then said no and gave me a detailed lesson of the Plan of Salvation including why it is important for her.... I really didn't know what to say. So I told her that was great and that next time we where going to talk more about the Plan of Salvation but today I would like to watch the film about Joseph Smith and the restoration. We watched it and it was wonderful, after the film I bore my testimony about the truthfulness of it because I know without a doubt that that was something that actually happened. After I finished she said "Can I bear my testimony to you?"  I said of course you can. She then said that she is feeling joy in her life that she has never felt she also has received answers to all of her questions and that she has never had these questions answered. She also said that she knows that the Church of Jesus Christ is true, that when she reads the Book of Mormon it makes sense to her. And she fells very good about it, she also said that she feels the spirit when we teach her about what we do. She said that's what I know, so thank you guys for everything. We told her that we are going to be preparing for the 30 of December for her baptism so she needs to keep doing what she is doing.

I know that this church is true I know that we have a real relationship with God and there are no coincidences. I love this gospel with all my heart.

Be safe and do what is right.

Elder Wolfgramm

Nov 14 -Bonjour ca va, je suis tre contant ici

Well it has been an amazing week, I apologize for the past few weeks emails I know they were really small and not very good. But today I am going to take some time and give you guys details on what has been going on here in La Reunion. It has been a pretty hard adjustment to be honest, with culture shock; going back to a first world country and with the language, and the French people (they are not as nice as you would think). But I am really learning a lot and having a ton of fun as I do it. I am enjoying every moment I can. I am still not very good at the whole French language but getting better every day. I have found some cool investigators, although tracking is really hard to do here because the people are way busy. We have had some success though, we found this lady named Joele, who is about 45 years old not married and not very religious, she used to be catholic and I guess still is but has not been to church in a few years. It really is quite a miracle we found her in the first place. I can testify that the spirit is the real teacher because Mendoza and I  do not speak French hardly at all. So this is how we found her, we were tracking and we found this lady named
Joele and at the time we didn't know her name so we named her bird lady, she has lots of animals birds mostly. But we talked to her and in French we tried to set up another time to meet. But when we asked we said "can we set up another time to meet you" and she looked at us with this blank stare and she nodding yes and we were like Yes!! great!! but we weren't even sure what she said. Then we came back and taught her and we tried our best again. and asked her if she would come to church and guess what she did!!! it's was a miracle that we did that! and she wanted a Book of Mormon and wants to learn more. I'm really excited to see how she will progress. She said that she had a good time at church and it will be interesting to see how things are on Thursday when we teach her.

That is basically the life here, a lot of rejection but the Lords hand is still in his work.

Elder Wolfgramm

Nov 7 - Ca Bon

This week was pretty fun we did a lot more tracting.  Found some cool Malagasy families and had some great lessons teaching in the French to members. I am trying my best to learn French and teach the people here. I have been studying a lot about faith and trusting in God, and I can say life is so much easier when we just put our trust in God, I wish I would have trusted God a lot more before my mission life.  High school probably would have been funner and easier. 

The members here in La Reunion are great, they are way nice and are so willing to correct my French every time I open my mouth. It is great..... haha, really though I am enjoying my time here in Le Port.  I hope that I can find some really cool people.  Sorry my emails are really short I just don't have too much to say. I am happy healthy and having tons of fun. Please pray that Madagascar will be opened back up again soon. And the plague will go away so we can get back in there, blessing their lives.

Elder Wolfgramm

Oct 31 - Great Week

This week was good.  French is hard and the work is slow but I am still trying. I love it here and I couldn't be happier. I have started finding some new people and we will see if any of them come to church this week or not. Me and Elder Mendoza are getting along great I am loving being with him, we are getting work done.

Sorry way short, but no time this week next week it will be a lot better.

Elder Wolfgramm

Oct 24 - je ne parle pas le français (I do not speak French)

Well I got evacuated and now I am on La Reunion so "bon jour" no more "salama tompoko". I have started learning French and I can say it is way easier then Malagasy, I should be fluent tomorrow. just joking it is actually a very hard language, but I know I will get good at it if I get the same help from the Lord I got with Malagasy. Well this is the story of how it went down..... it was on Tuesday of last week we got a call from President that said we are on lock down we are not allowed to leave the house for 2 days, so we sat at the house for two days and then on Wednesday I got another call from President who said tell everyone to start packing up because we are all leaving Madagascar. And that was all he said, he said he was going to call back in two hours with more details. I was totally broken when I heard that, I will be honest. Then 2 hours later we got a call saying that we need to be at the airport in 3 hours because we are flying out of Toliara, then we got another call and said sorry but no flights are leaving Toliara until the 25 of October due to problems. So we had to wait down in Toliara until Saturday when finally the driver made the 2 day drive all the way to Toliara. Finally the driver came,  we then hopped in the car and made the long drive to Tana, we arrived on Sunday afternoon, by the time we got to Tana the whole island (of missionaries) had been evacuated except us 6 and then it was me, Shoemaker,Knudsen and Smith left with President.  Late Sunday night we left for la Reunion.  But when I first arrived in Tana I went to Presidents office and he told us about how we got our calls, I got my call to la Reunion, I am so happy to be here in la Reunion I still don't know whats going on.  I have started to learn French and to be honest it is a lot easier than Malagasy. I know that I can learn this language especially with the help of the Holy Ghost. I have total faith and trust, but deep down I am destroyed because we couldn't say anything to anyone about the evacuation. So all the investigators I had and members and friends I just left behind with out goodbyes or photos.  That's what happened<

I am happy and healthy, more info is coming.

Elder Wolfgramm

Oct 16th - Short

This week will be the shortest of them all. We have lost connection here in Madagascar, we are still doing great and having tons of fun! We are finding tons of cool people and balling out. We are still healthy and no one has the plague; so we are still winning. Love it here and having fun.

Elder Wolfgramm

Oct 9 - I am in Toliara, akory kahey

Well this week some very interesting things happened, I got emergency transferred to Toliara.   Here is the story: it started on P-day ok, so this is what happened on Monday; we were driving to this place called the Croc farm to go see some crocodiles and to show our kids the cool parts of Madagascar on P day. We had bought 2 chickens which we were going to feed to the crocodiles, perfect P-day! I was really excited to do it. It was me, Elder Snow and his kid, Elder Hunter and his kid and my kid too, as we are on a bus heading there and I got a call from the AP's and they said to hurry home because we are getting pulled out of the area. I asked them why and then they told me that 20 people have died from the plague the past 2 days in my area, so I am not working there any more, then we got out of the bus and grabbed a taxi but we didn't have any money so we had to argue(barter) for a reasonable price with the chickens we had, and then got the guy to take Elder Snow to his house and then us to ours. We went home and packed up.  

While we were at home I talked to the landlord and she said that 5 people died in the hospital by our house that morning. I then called this member who works for the government here and she told me it was true.  The AP's picked us up and then took us the office. We waited there until like 8 o'clock and then they told us that we were all leaving Tana.  Some were going to Antsirabe and some to Fianarantsoa and the lucky ones to Toliara. And then we got fed dinner that night and slept at the AP's house and in the morning left for Toliara. We drove through Antsirabe and dropped missionaries off, and spent the night in Fianarantsoa, where we dropped off more missionaries, and then the next day drove and at like 7 pm finally arrived in Toliara, then had dinner and went to bed. I am actually way sad I left my area.  We were supposed to have 6 baptisms the next 3 weeks and now I have missed all those baptisms, hopefully I can see them some other time before I go home.

 Toliara is great! though it is really hot, is the only problem. Also the dialect down here is Antandroy and Veso which are the hardest dialects in Madagascar. So Elder Oberhansley is having a hard time. Hopefully, we will get through it and all will turn out great. We have already found some great investigators down here. I am way excited to see how the work goes down here. That's the update on Madagascar. It is going great though;

Elder Wolfgramm

Oct.2 Ny zanako malalako

This week I got my kid, AKA I am training a trainee, his name is Elder Oberhansley.  He is so cool. I really got the best of all of the trainees! He is from Mapleton and went to Maple Mountain high school, he was a beast in high school and played football, he has a strong testimony and is willing to work hard for the Lord. We are working really hard right now to get these people closer to God and to get baptized please keep us in your prayers and especially white people here in Madagascar. All of our investigators are going great, Josephs family should be getting baptized in this next week. Also we are finding a bunch of really cool new people. The only thing that is hard right now is that we have given some of our dope investigators to the other elders that are working here with us in Ampefiloha until they go back to Tamatave. Please pray for the people here and all that they are doing.

Thanks for all the support and letters...

Elder Wolfgramm

Sep 25- Week of Miracles

Well this week was definitely a week of miracles. To start off we had a great lesson with Gerald. It started off with Gerald talking about his Book of Mormon reading, we gave him chapter 1 in 1 Nephi and he had read all the way to 7th chapter in 1 Nephi. He said, " First off I was going to ask you guys questions but as I kept reading in the Book of Mormon I found the answers too all my questions." It was amazing to see he has been able to find the answers to all his questions.... then after talking to him about the Plan of Salvation and explaining the Book of Mormon better to him. He told us again that his pastor has been visiting him telling him that we are evil white people from the devil. Gerald told him we are just good kids telling people what they believe.... we then asked him what he had felt as he studied out the Book of Mormon........ he said "I felt good....... happy........ and at peace." I then asked him "Have you sincerely prayed about the truthfulness of the book and our message?" he said yes, then said " I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that your message is true." The spirit filled the room as we sat there with Gerald we all felt peace and happiness that you can not deny. He then said the only problem is my wife I don't want to ruin my relationship with her, we have been married for 46 years, and she has got a ton of callings our church, she is in charge of the scouts, the young girls, she preaches on Sunday, she has gone to pastor school, she teaches the bible class, it is my big problem. We are going to go again to teach him on Tuesday please keep him in your prayers. 

Also on Sunday we learned a very famous Malagasy singer named "Stephanie" lives in our area, so we had time to tract and we set out to find her. And at the end of the night I am happy to say that we found her, talked to her for a little bit and told her we will come back another time. another little miracle.

Life is great here in Madagascar, I love it here, it is way fun to do the work of the Lord.

Keep up the good work, we are all enduring to the end.

Elder Wolfgramm

Sep 18 - The Plague

Well this week was way crazy I got Elder Hunter on an early transfer, I will have him just for the end of the week. What happened was my old area Morarano Tamatave, had a plague outbreak, literally the BLACK PLAGUE or BUBONIC PLAGUE is still alive here in Madagascar. and the hot spot was Tamatave my old area, so the Elders got taken out for a little bit. They will be put back in Tamatave probably in the next few weeks.

Well besides the plague killing some people this week we had a great time saving people. We had a great lesson with Gerald, to remind you guys Gerald is an older gentlemen that was tracked into strictly by the power of the spirit. We taught him from the Book of Mormon last Saturday. He said he will read and pray about the truthfulness of the book, he told us the problem is his wife, his wife told his pastor that he was learning from us.  So his pastor called him. Then his wife told his family, and his brother and sisters called him, and chewed him out for learning from the "servants of the devil". He told them he was just looking for the truth, and there is nothing wrong with the men that come to my house and teach me about the gospel, I get closer to God through them, and they are very nice. we are going to keep teaching him as long as he lets us in. Please pray for him to except the lords true and everlasting gospel.

I love it here don't worry about the plague I am too strong, I can't get caught by it...............

Please just talk to our Father in heaven for all of your problems.

Elder Wolfgramm

Sept 11 - Splits for Days

Well this week my companion left for the Africa's MTC so I have been left to work with the missionaries in the area called 67 ha. And believe it or not but me and Elder Snow (played football and a great friend with Walker at PGHS) are companions right now. It will only be until this Thursday though.  On Thursday I will get a new companion again.

This week I went on splits literally all week, I was with new people almost everyday trying to get my area in good shape and my investigators still progressing. We still were able to get most of our investigators to church and we had a baptism on Saturday as well. All of investigators are still progressing really well. I am looking forward to having a companion again and working full time in my area but until then it is fun with Elder Snow. Joseph and their family are coming along extremely well we taught them about baptism again on Saturday and they are so stoked for their baptism. I am way excited for them! Thats all the news I got from this past week.

Have a great week stay mazoto aza kamo. (translates to be sluggard)???
Be safe too

Elder Wolfgramm

Sept 4- Manja be (Pretty much)

What a wonderful week this past week. it started off on Monday we had a little bit of time to tract and find some new people, we started to tract and did not find many people, we then said a prayer to find more people and then we found 14 people that day. It was wonderful, and then we had one of them show up to church on Sunday. We also had a great lesson with a family this past week where we were able to find out what we could to to help them with their problems. We got all the problems figured out through teaching them of an eternal perspective, with the Plan of Salvation. Then they showed up to church on Sunday. It was way cool.

I am so sorry but that is really all the time I have today. I love it here!  I am still healthy and strong. Please pray.

Elder Wolfgramm

Aug 28th - This week was great

Well to start off this week was way cool, the highlight of this week was defiantly us finding this guy named Gerald he is a stud. We were tracting this apartment and we got to lucky apartment number 7 and got right in, the guy said come in right away! We then had a great lesson with him on Friday. Then on Saturday we went back and explained our message even more and gave him the Book of Mormon as well as answered questions about the Plan of Salvation. We have another time with him on Tuesday so it will be really exciting to see how much he has read.  About the Book of Mormon he promised that he would read and pray. The other thing that is cool about this guy is he studied in France, is good at english and french and is one of the smartest Malagasies I have met. He will be a great help to the church here if he progresses. He is also way into 80's rock! CCR is his favorite.(Credence Clearwater Revival) Gerald is about 70 years old and lives with his wife and kids.  No one else wants to learn but he is interested. Please pray that his wife wont be a problem!

Also Joseph and his wife and all his kids came to church this week. It was way crazy, but so cool. I sat in the middle of all of them and explained the "weird" stuff that happens. They said they will come every week, the kids made friends and they all said it was wonderful!!!!!

Have a great week everyone, be safe and always pray.

Elder Wolfgramm

Aug - 21 -Ampehfilo

Well I am in my new area and it is pretty cool. I am really liking my new companions, Elder Chunlamany and Elder Randriantompoiana, they are both way cool guys and hard workers. It has been fun to learn from both of them, I can tell that my skills with Malagasy has increased a lot just being with Elder Randri. Ampehfilo is a way interesting area "Super Clean". (Not) I am loving it here really it is a way cool area and ward. I am still kind of lost of where I am most of the time. We have been doing tracting since I got here and we have found some pretty cool people. We also had a pretty funny experience with a drunk (nothing new). 

We had a guy named Joana show up to church on Sunday which I guess is a pretty new thing. He had a great time and felt the spirit so hopefully he can convince his wife. We also have an investigator who has been investigating the church for a long time, feels that it is true, but still wants to study it out and think more about it. Please pray for him his name is Tojo. Well that's all I can say about my new area so far. I am learning a lot and having a ton of fun. I really love this mission and all the people that are in it.

Be safe and always make wise choices.

Elder Wolfgramm

Aug 14th - Transfers

Well this week was transfer week and I can say I am going to miss this area of Analamahitsy. I have learned so much and taught so many in this beautiful area. I really have made friends for the eternity's here in this area, I will hopefully be able to visit this area at another time on my mission. I am moving to Ampefiloha which is going to be a much different area than Analamahisty. I am very excited for the change, in area and companions. I am going to be in a trio, which I am not so excited for but it will be fun and hopefully I can learn a lot from the two companions. My companions are Elder Chounlamany sy Elder Randriantompoina. One is from Thailand and the other is a Malagasy(who is just waiting for his Visa to come through so he can go to his mission in Tahiti). So that means I am going from the biggest companion (E Kruger) to the smallest one (Chounlamany). haha. I had a great time saying goodbye to all the people I have met and grown with. It was way sad honestly to say goodbye to some of my investigators. I know that God lives and that Jesus is my savior. I am so happy right now in my life. I love it here.

Elder Wolfgramm

Aug 7 - One year

Well I have just made it one year on mission and man it was a real crazy ride. I can't believe how fast time has gone by, and to think that time is going to as fast as it did the first year is just crazy. Thank you all for the emails and messages that you sent me for my birthday I loved it, easily the best birthday I have had my whole life.

Well this week we had another baptism Ilay Zakatina got dunked and man it was such a great experiences and the best birthday gift ever, he got the Holy Ghost on the Sunday following the 6th of August it is, and again a great experience. As I sat taking the sacrament I realized that I was renewing a covenant that I had made 12 years ago to the day with God. It was a very special, spiritual and sacred experience, one that I will never forget. It is really mind blowing to see how far I have come on my mission so far and still how much more I have to do.

On Sunday we had a guy named Bruel show up to church which totally surprised me and Elder Kruger we were not expecting to see him come to church we also taught him after and it was a great experience, I can't wait to see how he progresses in the gospel, I love it here and all the people I am meeting and the great experiences I am having.  Be safe and have fun!!

Elder Wolfgramm

July 30 - Mifoka Miafina

Ok where to start?

This week was really good, we had a baptism last Saturday and it went great. We also had Wilder the kid from english come back to church which surprised me a ton. After church we taught him the restoration, teaching him the importance of prophets and how Gods church that was established during the time of Jesus Christ was still on the earth today. He told us a story about his family and how his grandfather does not believe in God, he lives in the countryside and does not let anyone in his family pray to God and does not let any churches come into the village that he is the chief of.  Wilder also told us that he has decided to come back to God and he wants to take this church, the true church to his family. He felt the spirit as we described the story of Joseph Smith and said this is what I have been searching for. He told us he wants to come to church every week and he gave us a list of questions that he has been writing, about his life, about God and life, prophets and spiritual things. He really has been waiting for the gospel his whole life, it was way cool to be able to answer every one of his questions and give him hope and joy in this life. That was definitely the highlight from the week.

I also took some time to reflect this past week on everything I have learned this past year. It is really crazy to think that in one year time my mission will be done. At this point I really don't think I would be comfortable back at home. I miss you all very much but I love this place a ton too. I am so grateful for all that I have learned this past year. easily the most growth I have had my whole life. I can't wait for another year to be just like it. I love my mission.

Elder Wolfgramm

Jul 24th - Vao Vao (That is just)

Well this week was quite a good week.

Elder Kruger and I had a lot of time to focus on some of our investigators really getting them prepared for baptism, we are hoping to have 5 of our in investigators catch their baptismal date on the 5th of August, we will see what will happen. We are also starting to work with some of our less actives. We have been getting dogged by one of our less actives but we final caught her, and this week we are going to be able to teach her again and get her to commit to coming back to church this next Sunday.  I have got a lot of faith that she will be coming back, I know that she has felt the spirit last time we where with her. We also found another less active/part member family this week that me and Kruger are excited for. We went to a return appointment and the guy that we were going to teach just so happened to not be there, but his neighbor came out and told us to come into his house and sit down. So we did, and we learned he is a less active of 2 years, he never gave us a good reason for being less active.  We got him to commit to come to church on Sunday but he never came, we think there is a little bit more to the reason he has decided to not come to church any more, it will be exciting to work with him and see what comes from it. All in all life is going great here on the big island. Loving the work and the people.

Be safe and have fun. Trust in God and look for all the blessings there are in your life.

ILAY (THE) Elder Wolfgramm

FYI Its Walker's birthday on August 5th.

Jul 17th - Fatokiana (Confidence)

Well this week was way great, but yes very hard. We defiantly had to trust in God a lot this week. Yeah well I am not going to tell you about all the hard things that happened this week because I don't want to get to into it. But know that most trials and problems have been solved and taken care of. 

The highlights of the week are we had 2 brand new investigators come to church this week. We are really starting to build a pretty good investigator pool. They are all becoming diligent and are willing to learn. Their names are Welder and Luke. These two guys we found at English a few weeks ago and had invited them to come to church, we had taught them a small lesson about the restoration but they didn't have any time really to learn. Last Saturday they came again to English and again taught them and they told us that they would love to come see the church. And they came believe it or not! I had to give a talk so I couldn't sit with them but Elder Kruger did and they had a ton of questions. I tried to explain everything while I was giving my talk, I changed it up while I was on the stand so I could kind of answer all their questions. After sacrament we went to class and they had more great questions. 

Then we went to priesthood... and this country is still really new with the church, so they do some really weird things. In priesthood they where doing a lesson on ordinances, and they just so happened to be doing "blessing and anointing of the sick and the afflicted", and it was way bad. They just sat arguing about how it is supposed to be done, then they called this guy out and had him go up in front while about 4 different people showed 4 different ways to anoint and seal. It was actually pretty funny but we were worried that our investigators who don't really know much would get confused, so Elder Kruger and I cleared it all up.  And now we all know how to do the blessing of the sick and afflicted. Luke had a ton of questions about that. It will be funny to see what our next lesson is like. They are very interested.

I hope everyone is doing well, be safe and make wise choices!

Elder Wolfgramm

Jul 10 th - New Investigators

Well this week Elder Kruger and I had a lot of time to tract and find new investigators, it is always sad when you have to drop some people that are not quite ready to follow Christ, but it gives you a great opportunity to find those people who are going to come unto Christ. And that's exactly what happened. We went tracting on Tuesday and found a great family that came to church last Sunday, it was great, we are also progressing with a couple other families that were found this past week. Nivo is still doing great, she is loving what the gospel is giving her. And she loves what she is learning through the reading of the Book of Mormon. LAZA is still being a bum and won't come to church every week. But we still have hope with him, he will definitely progress I know it.

That's pretty much what is happening here in the best place in izao tontolo izao. (the world) Please keep reading the BOOK OF MORMON and if you are not reading it you should; you will come to know Christ more than you could ever imagine. Love this work and this place!

Elder Wolfgramm

Jul 3rd - New Transfer News

This week was a great week filled with new transfers, Zone Conference, and crazy bandys who get crossed up in basketball.
Well first off we got new transfer news it turns out that Elder Kruger will be staying with me for another transfer. I know that the ariari (Malagasy money) doesn't have as much worth as the dollar but with enough of them, you can get what you want. :-) We were both way happy to be staying together for another 6 weeks and are excited to see what we can do with this area.

We had Zone Conference this week and it was wonderful, always after Zone Conference you leave feeling like you are going to baptize the whole country and me and Elder Kruger are really going to try this transfer to get that done. I love listening to President Foote.  He is such a spiritual giant, he really has so much wisdom and when he speaks you can't deny that he is running the mission exactly how God wants him to. In Zone Conference we learned about how to have better retention and what we can do personally to accomplish goals that the mission has.

Ok about the bandy's. Bandy is the word in Malagasy to say gangster or a punk. But we teach a bandy named Laza who comes to church. If he stays active in attending church he will get baptized. He is way funny and super cool. We have been teaching him and his family, they all are progressing. They are now at the point where they can chose to accept the gospel and let it change their lives forever or reject it and let there lives continue the way it is going.

This gospel is good and God is in charge.  Be safe this week, and have tons of fun.

Elder Wolfgramm

Jun 27th - Transfers

Transfers
Well we got the transfer news and it turns out that I am staying another transfer, but I won't be with Kruger. I am going to be with Elder Rafalimanatsoa my new native companion, he is the last native companion in the mission so I am so pumped. I cant wait to really start to get good at Malagasy, Elder Rafaly is not good at English at all, so the next 6 weeks will be straight Malagasy, no English. I am so stoked I cant wait!

In all honesty I am very sad that me and Elder Kruger are getting separated, he is one of the greatest people I know and will probably the best missionary to serve in this country. He is wonderful! I learned so much from him. It sucks but I have new adventures to gain with my new companion.

The area is going great, we are just going to have to wait a couple more weeks until our next baptism when Zackatina comes back to Tana and gets way diligent again. When that happens, he will get baptized. We are also making a lot of progress with Fiddison and he will be getting baptized probably with in the next few months, hopefully. Yeah that is basically all that is new.

Love this area and this mission!

Be of good cheer, life is too good. Try to find the good. Trust in God and all will be good.

Elder Wolfgramm

Jun 19 - Nivo got Dunked

Well this week was fantastic, we were able to bring Nivo to the waters of baptism and it was wonderful. So Nivo was an investigator that me and Elder Blatter found. She is way awesome and I have seen real growth in her, she knows a "whole butt load of crap about the gospel", really thought, she is way smart and actually studies everything that we give her. I can say with full confidence that she understands the gospel much better than I did when I got baptized.

After the baptism we showed up to church and of course I got put on the spot and she said that she wanted me to give her the Holy Ghost, and I thought about doing what I did last time and just push it off on a member so I didn't have to do it, but luckily I had done my language study so I said heck yes, "riaso ny fanahy masina". (Receive the Holy Ghost) I killed it! It was actually way cool. After she came up to me and said that she was pretty nervous but when I said receive the Holy Ghost she felt peace and knew all was good. I was probably 10 times more nervous than she was, I think she was trying to make me feel not so bad because a blind man could see how nervous I was. It was a way cool experience. I can't wait to see all the growth that she makes now as a recent convert. That was pretty much the highlight of the week.

I am way sorry that my weekly emails are starting to "stink" but I am just too "focused on the work" I guess, or just getting kind of lazy of throwing in a bunch of details and cool stories. but the last thing I will say is this mission is by far the best thing I have ever done, I have never had so much satisfaction in my life.  It is hard to explain but I love it.
ok peace out,
Elder Wolfgramm

Jun 12th - Fiovam-po

Great week,

The highlight from the week has got to be Remi, just to recap a little bit, Remi was a drunk man that was found by Elder Nortje and I. He came up and grabbed me on the path completely hammered drunk. He said " I need help, I really want to pray and come to know God." As a missionary here in Madagascar you actually hear that a lot, and usually nothing ever comes from it.  The people never catch times and never keep commitments. But I felt something different with Remi. He took us to his house and then we had to leave because we had another time to catch.

The week after that, Elder Sweeten and I were put together and started to teach him the lessons. At first we both thought we should drop him because he was having a hard time understanding, because his brain had been so fried from drugs and he was probably high at the time we were teaching him but he came to church and so we continued to bring the gospel to him.  He started reading the Book of Mormon little by little and participating in lessons at church, and doing homework. We taught him the Word of Wisdom and learned his problem with drugs and alcohol was pretty bad. He was drinking every day as well as smoking an assortment of drugs about 20 times a day. He had along way to go. Now I am happy to say he hasn't had a drink or smoked anything for the past 3 weeks. And he is LITERALLY a different person, his whole everything has changed. He is about 100 times smarter and can understand almost everything in the Book of Mormon and will be getting baptized in a few weeks. He has been one of the biggest changes I have ever seen next to Isabelle from Tamatve. Remi is proof that this is, the ONE gospel here on earth, and no matter how far you may think you are from God, you can always come back to his loving arms. I know that this gospel is true. I love my Savior. and the wonderful land of Madagascar.

Elder Wolfgramm

Jun 6th - Ambany Voatra

Well this week was way cool, the highlight of the week was on Sunday when Hector a new investigator came to church. Elder Kruger and I had tracked into Hector almost by "accident".  Elder Kruger and I had about 30 minuets in our program and we didn't have anyone to go to. I remembered that there was a family that lived kind of by where we were. so we went looking for the house. We came to the place that I remembered the house being and there was a guy about 26 years old sitting outside with a girl, and I started to talk to them and kind of messing around with him. He said laughing "I am very surprised that you are good at Malagasy," and then said "Why do you know this language?" he was totally stumped on why two "Vahaza"(White guys) know Malagasy. We talked to him for a little bit and then told him we actually have something very important for him that was going to change his life. He let us teach him there in front of the house. his girl friend had gotten up and left mid way through the lesson but Hector had stayed focused. At the end we invited him to church and he said yeah he would come. When Sunday came around he wasn't there. Right before the sacrament he walked in wearing a nice blue shirt and came and sat in between me and Kruger. then after we went to the investigator class. And then to priesthood it was great, he had learned a lot, answered questions from the teacher and paid attention. At the end of church he said I have loved church and had a great time but I have one question, what the heck is "F sy F". that is the Doctrine and Covenants in Malagasy. I gave a brief explanation and said not to worry too much about stuff like that because all will become clear with time and he has a lot more teaching coming to him and a ton to learn. He got really excited. It was way cool.


The work is hot but the weather is cold. I love this place and the people!  Have a great week, and read the Book of Mormon.


Elder Wolfgramm

May 29th - No Title

Um this week was a fantastic week for our investigators. I have never been more impressed with an investigator quite like I have been with Zackatina. I don't know if I have talked about Zackatina before but he is an investigator that me and Elder Blattter found. He has been coming to church consistently for the past 4 weeks and has never missed an appointment with us, he is 19 years old and could "according to every other 19 year old " be doing better things with his time. We have actually brought him to other investigators by his house and he has born incredible testimony to them about the Book of Mormon and our teaching. He is one of the few elect. He lives about 9 hours north from Antananarivo but has been living with his brother here in Tana. He has to return to Tamatave for 3 weeks but will be moving down here permanently for work and school. When he returns he should get baptized. 

This week he caught me off guard when I asked him "how do you think we can, in our lives, make God our strength and salvation?" he paused then looked at the ground for a moment and then said, "I try to trust and not be afraid, when we read in verse 4 of 2 Nephi we see it says praise God. I think that might be the way. Elder Wolfgramm is that the way I can have God be my strength?" I was completely caught off guard and touched by the spirit. I felt the Lords love for this 19 year old who is trying to do what is right, who is trying to be happy and gain salvation. Moments like that are what make the mission the greatest thing in the world and when you read this I promise you can't understand the feelings or moment. I love the mission and moments like that just Feel so good. Really you can't stop smiling after moments like that, never felt so much joy and it is just moments like that over and over and over and over again. When I say I am happier now than I ever have been I mean it.


Please enjoy your week. Look for God in them and be of good cheer. I know I will.




Elder Wolfgramm

May 22nd - The Weekly Email

Well again it seems like another week went by without noticing it. This week was filled with ups and downs, to start off, if you remember Jerry and Fitiavina the great family that me and Elder Blatter tracked into, they dropped us. It was sad to see a family with so much potential to turn away from the gospel. They told us that they had heard enough of our message and they have the Book of Mormon so we don't need to come back and teach them. We couldn't get them to let us to come back but I think in a few months we will go back and check on them. That's the bad news for the week.


The great news from the week is that we got Roberson to come to church this week, he is now getting serious for his baptism that is coming up in July. We had Marshell, one of our recent converts, go and pick him up yesterday and bring him to church. He said he had a great time and stayed the whole time. We will also be taking Marshell with us when we go teach him on Wednesday I think they are going to be great friends. Also I got a new companion his name is Elder Kruger, he is awesome and a way hard worker. Before when he lived in South Africa he was a professional rugby player, he is 22 years old and huge. (6' 5" 240 lbs) Really he is way bigger than me. if I am wolf-gramm he is wolf-ton he makes me feel small. haha It is funny to try and tract I am pretty sure the people aren't letting us in because they are absolutely scared. They really have never seen people this big, it is way fun. I am looking forward to this transfer with Elder Kruger it will be great.


Please keep the people here of Madagascar in your prayers and please keep Elder Kruger in your prayers, thanks for all the love.

Elder Wolfgramm

walker.wolfgramm@myldsmail.net 

May 8th - The week

This week was great, it went way fast.
Story about a family:
When we tracked in to them, we taught them the Plan of Salvation. There was no reason behind it, we even had first pamphlets with us, but we taught them the Plan of Salvation.  After we started to teach them the Plan of Salvation, I thought it was kind of weird but we taught them the whole Plan of Salvation.  On the last lesson after we had finished the Plan, the father Arivo told us he was going to Tamatave for a week.  He would be back on the first of May and told us to give him a call on the first. We didn't call him but visited him on the 3rd, and found out when we walked into his house he was dead laying on the table they were having a viewing for him. He had come home and then had a heart attack and died suddenly. We talked to the wife and she was so confused but said that she couldn't talk to us right then but wanted us to come back next Tuesday because she has something she wanted to say. It was pretty cool to be directed by the spirit like that and we are just looking forward to this Tuesday to talk to the family.

It was sad, but way cool too, he was taught about the world he was going into, right before he died.

I know that there are no coincidences in this world. Everything happens for a reason. I know that God is in charge of all things and He is all loving.

Be safe this week and pray.
Elder Wolfgramm

May 1st - Mangatsika (cold)

This week was a great week, but it actually got cold. it has been super weird to see that the weather here actually gets cold.  I have actually need to wear a sweater at night. I didn't remember what it was like to be cold and I love it.

Although the weather is cold the missionary work is getting hotter. This week we went on another split with the AP's so me and Elder Lehnart just tracked all day. we found some really cool people that should be able to progress really well. We found a family that had been taught by missionaries in the past but the missionaries got pulled out of the area and so they stopped going to church and stopped learning, so when the missionaries got put back in the area the family was lost.  It was pretty cool to be able to find them again, they remembered Joseph Smith and told us that it all makes sense.  They are Catholics right now but they said there is so much in their church that just doesn't make any sense, and they are not convinced that the Catholic church can bring them salvation.

We also taught Tolitra the guy with the chalkboard who is really interested, we taught him the Plan of Salvation and how we all have the opportunity to return to God, it was a great lesson full of hope. They all have had problems in the past and through the Plan of Salvation they now have a reassured hope that they can truly repent and live with God forever, it is one of the coolest things, to see their face light up with faith and hope knowing that they can make it back to God. Way Cool.

I love this work, here in the best mission in the world, in the best country in the world. Even though it feels like groundhog day and I do the same thing everyday there is nothing I would rather do

Elder Wolfgramm

Apr 24th - The bigger they are the harder they fall

Well this week was one of the fastest weeks on mission, it really feels like I teach a few lessons and then I am here writing the email. Time goes by so fast on mission.

This week was really cool, we are teaching this kid who is about 26 years old who really wants to know the truth. He has a chalk board in his house that he has written reasons why the Book of Mormon testify of Christ, and the things that it specifically testifies. He also shared his experience before he moved to Tana when he literally got chased out of his town because he was a thief and a liar, they told him not to come back. He feels like he can't feel Gods love, but when he reads the Book of Mormon he feels something special that he has never felt, I shared my testimony with him about how there is a time in everyone's life where they struggle to feel Gods love or if there is even a God, and what I did to get through it. It was great to help build his testimony.

Also this week we found the COOLEST family of my mission so far and had the best first lesson of my mission so far. Next week I will take time to give you all the update on them they are Fitiavina and Jerry, please pray for them, Time is short today like always have a great week and keep your faith in God, Jesus, the Book of Mormon, the living prophet, or even the words of you friends or family. Don't lose faith. Help will come, it always does.


Have a great week.


Elder Wolfgramm

Apr 18th - Great Week

This was a really good week, me and elder Blatter are working really well together as well. The new area is way cool with lots of cool investigators, also it is an actual ward, which is way cool because the investigators have a way strong foundation,
missionary work is going to go great in this area. I am really excited to see what kind of things I can do in this area. This week we had a great lesson with a guy who has made a lot of bad choices throughout his life and he is at a really hard point in life. He is about 60 years old, he has 2 wives countless children all over Madagascar, he is now reaping what he has sowed. Almost all of his children hate him, he betrayed his wives and children with a life of lies, and it has all recently come up to everyone's knowledge. The wife he is currently with is trying to forgive him but is really struggling, he is really trying to repent and receive the blessings from Christ, and His atonement. He has been coming to church, and says he has been praying to God for forgiveness, it is really hard because he wants to be happy but all of his bad choices have caught up to him and justice is now claiming what is owed.  While we were in a lesson with him, we were able to help him realize that it is going to be really hard, and that forgiveness is not easy nor quick, and that it will probably take a while to repent but it is totally possible because the atonement has no boundaries. He has realized that the choices he made previously in his life were absolutely terrible, but he has also taken a step closer to Christ, which is amazing. He is not ready to make a covenant with God at this point in his life but is making steps little by little towards Christ. I look forward again next week to help him come a little bit closer again to Christ.


I know that we can never be too far away from God. I see it everyday. I know that Christs love and atonement is infinite. I love this work and I love my Savior.


Elder Wolfgramm

Apr 10th - Nosy Malalako

Well this week was transfers and I am being transferred, which is way sad because I will miss a lot of the people I have taught baptisms, but I am close so hopefully we can fit it in the program to stop by and watch them go into the waters of baptism. I am being transferred over to Analamihitsy which I am way excited for because I will be working with Elder Blatter who is one of my best friends in this mission. I will not be leaving houses but just moving rooms. I am really excited for the new area even though way sad to leave the area I love. It should be quite the adventure with Elder Blatter.
This week was bitter sweet because I had to say goodbye to all the wonderful people of Sabotsy, but it was beautiful to see the reaction of them because I could see that I actually touched the hearts of so many wonderful people. We also this week taught Remi the Word of Wisdom. He was torn apart that he could not smoke any more but more than ready for the challenge. We also have two people named Eliza and Hennitsoa who are preparing for their baptisms this Saturday. I am really excited to see it because like Nicole I have seen a dramatic change in their hearts from the first time that we taught them. I remember the first time me and Nokia(Nortje) taught Hennitsoa how reluctant he was, and now how ready he is for baptism. My favorite part of my mission so far has not been the beach, or the cool animals, or the funny drunks, definitely not the rain, or the sickness, but it has been the change I have seen in people. When you tract into someone with so many questions and only you have the answers, and to see their progression towards baptism, that has definitely been my favorite part.


I love this work and I love this place.


love Elder Wolfgramm

Apr 3rd - Tsara Be Fa Misoatra

Great week here in Madagascar.

First off today on p-day we played the national basketball team and beat them. Who would have thought a bunch of white kids could smoke the best Malagasy's in Madagascar at basketball and yes they where actually taller than us, really it was way fun, they invited us to play with them on Friday and Wednesday. Haha I thought it would be good to let you know I still am balling out.

Other than smoking Malagasy's at basketball we where also having a great week bringing people to the church. We had a lot of time to tract this week and we found a bunch of really cool Malagasys we will see how they progress, one of the families we taught were from Mahajunga which is a much different dialect so it was way fun talking to them and learning new words from a new dialect. We also got one investigator named Eliza who we taught on Wednesday and bore a powerful testimony at church about the truthfulness of our message.  It was beautiful to hear how much it has touched her heart, I think it also touched the hearts of all our other investigators that were there. We had another investigator named Remi who continues to bring joy to my heart. This week I was a little sick, while we were teaching him, he could see that I was sick, and so mid way through the lesson he offered me his weed. Yes his marajuana...and he said it will make me healthy again. I know you think that might be bad but it really touched my heart and made me laugh really hard. Remi lives in a little house by himself all he has is a bed frame not even a mattresses and he offered me what he loves most to help me..... this week we will teach him the word of wisdom and hopefully we can break that habit. That is the little update.

Love it hear and all the people and still happier than ever.

Elder Wolfgramm

Mar 30th 

Mar 31st 

April 2nd 

April 2nd 

April 2nd

Mar 27th - Great Week

I know that my letters have been getting shorter and shorter but I am just busy and busy.

This week was great we were able to baptize Nicole this week, and I noticed a huge change in her from the time we found her and when she got baptized. She bore a powerful testimony about the things that we had taught her and of how grateful she was that Elder Nokia and I had found her. It was one of the coolest points so far on the mission to see the change from the time we found her to now.   I know that this work is true, I love it.  I know it is with every part of my being.  Know that I love my mission and there is no where I would rather be than here with these people.

My letters will be longer from here on out. 

azafady indrindry
Elder Wolfgramm

March 22nd  

March 22nd  

March 22nd  

March 22nd 

March 22nd 

March 23rd 

March 24th

March 24th 

Mar 20th - Zavatra Tsara

Another great week. I wish I had more time to write all the things that happened this week, next week I really will set time aside to write a better letter.

This week I went on a few splits with two missionaries a lot younger than me. One is on his second transfer and it made me remember how much you really don't know when in training, It was way fun to see all the progress that I have made with the language and missionary work. This week we got Nicole to pass her baptismal interview so she will be getting baptized this next week. We had been also preparing a Family named Haja and his wife for baptism with Nicole. They had learned everything and could pass the baptismal interview but Elder Sweeten and I both felt like they weren't quite ready for baptism. So we didn't give them a real interview which was a good thing because when we did the baptismal interview he still had a little problem with smoking. It was really cool to see how Heavenly Father let us know who was ready and who was not. We will be now preparing them for April 11. hopefully they can catch that baptismal date. Please pray for them and for all the people here in Madagascar they need it.

Still love it here, it really is the coolest mission in the world. I know it

Elder wolfgramm

Mar 13th - Cyclone Crazy (Category 4 with winds of 140+ mph)

What a crazy week.  First don't worry there was a "cyclone" because it wasn't as bad where we were.  There was just a ton of raining and flooding and wind was all.  Nothing to crazy. All is well here in Madagascar, the people are safe and happy again.

We had a baptism again this week here in Madagascar.  We baptized Eric.  He is now a member of the church with his wife Miora who was baptized a few weeks ago. We had to wait on him because he still had a bit of a drinking problem. But he is the newest member here in Sabotsy, and a great addition to the branch.

We are also preparing a few families for baptism coming up on the 25 of March.  Hopefully they will be able to catch their dates. Last Wednesday was the Cyclone (Category 4 equivalent) and we ended up working the whole day.  It was actually way fun to be in that much rain  and flooding,  Elder Sweeten and I went tracking in this giant rice field, got to the first house and the man came out and then said he does not except the missionaries and left.  The next house we went to we said please will you let us in we are soaking wet because of the rain and we walked all across he rice field.  They let us in and we started to teach them but there was something wrong the spirit just wasn't there, and we weren't feeling very good.  Mid way thru the lesson the man who lived under the house came up to the floor we were on and started freaking out yelling at us saying that "he is the landlord and he will not have missionaries here on his land and told us we have to leave right now." We told him we just wanted to teach these people and that it is raining way hard because there is a cyclone.  He said I don't care get out. We ended up thanking them for the time and went back out into the rain and wind and floods.  Haha little did the land Lord know that we love the rain. We just stood out side his house while he yelled at us to get lost. We just laughed and headed back across the rice field to more houses.

Thats the story I got this week. There are so many more... 

Thank you all for your prayers...
Elder Wolfgramm

March 13th 

March 13th
 

March 14th 

March 15th 

March 17th 

March 17th 

March 17th

Mar 5th - Meetings this week

Well this week was kind of a slower week for the missionary work because we had a bunch of meetings this week.

On Thursday we had district meeting which went a little bit over because of some changes to our district.  Then on Friday we had zone meeting with Elder Ellis of the 70.  It was a great meeting I learned a lot about trusting in the Lord, and how I can improve my work as a missionary and that meeting was like all day.  So the work that day was not really much work.  We spent the rest of the week trying to catch up on the investigators that we missed those days.  It was overall not a bad week.  We had one of our investigators pass his baptism interview, named Erik.  He will be getting baptized on the 11 which is really exciting because they will grow into a super strong family.

We are still working on getting a lot of our investigators prepared for there baptisms coming up.  I also ate something bad a few days ago because I have kind of been a little sick since, please pray for the work here in Madagascar.  

Thank you all thats all I got for this week,
Elder Wolfgramm

March 7th 

March 7th 

March 9th 

March 9th 

March 9th 

March 10th 

March 10th 

March 10th 

March 10th 

March 10th 

March 11th 

March 10th

Feb 27th - Transfers

Yes the week is over, and transfers have finished as well.  I am staying in Sabotsy Namehana but Elder Nokia has left, and I got Elder Sweeten, I am very happy with the way transfers ended up. I am excited to get a little change to the area, hopefully it will boost it and bring it to a whole new level. Elder sweeten seems really excited to build this area to the best area in Madagascar.

Well this week we had our stake conference and we had the opportunity to hear from Elder Palmer from the the seventy.  It was a great conference. We had Erik one of our investigators show up which was a surprise because it was really far away from where they live. Most of our members didn't show up. But it was great to have him show up. After the conference we visited him and his wife and they were talking about how they were going to start saving money to try to go to the temple in South Africa.  He is not even baptized yet but he has tremendous faith.  I am really excited to see him get baptized on the 11 of March.

We had another family Tino, who me and Nokia tracked into that have been progressing really well.  I am really excited to see if they except baptismal dates this week, they have been coming to church, but have some questions about baptism and still have not accepted the dates for their baptisms.

That is really all the Voavoa that I have for you guys this week.  Not a ton of time.  I feel like the time is getting shorter and shorter,  especially when the power is out most of the time.

Love you all, please keep the people of Madagascar in your prayers...they really need it.

Elder Wolfgramm

Feb 20th, 2017

Feb 21st, 2017 

Feb 21st, 2017

Feb 23rd, 2017

Feb 23rd, 2017