December

December 2010 Blog from Madagascar

We have now been in Madagascar for nine months. We are beginning to feel that there is not enough
time to do all we have before us. Our new assignment - the closing of old missionary apartments,
opening of one new apartment and renovating those we are keeping - has become a very big job.
We do have four English speaking returned missionaries who do not have regular jobs and who have
become our work crew. They wash walls, paint, wax floors and anything else that we ask of them. The
first apartment took four days to complete. We have two more lined up for the next two weeks. Seila
started making drapes with the intent to make a sample and give the job to members who know how
to sew and are out of work. However, no one has been found so she completes one drape every other
night when she is working on them.

In addition, Seila spends some time verifying old baptismal records. She would like to complete this
review next year. Detlef is now the Mission Executive Secretary as well as the Finance Secretary and
2nd Counselor in the Sabotsy Namehana Branch. President Donnelly has asked him to help train local
leaders, especially regarding the new Handbook of Instructions. He can also does finance training.
Our first trip is next weekend to Tamatave, a major port city on the north east coast of Madagascar. It is
a six to seven hour drive with one very curvy section of about two hours. Once we pass through that the
drive will be on flat roads. It will also be very hot. Today the temperature got up to 37 C = about 98 F.
It was hot in the sun but we were in the shade of the building for our regular Sunday meetings. As the
afternoon turned into evening the temperature dropped. It is nearly 7:30 PM and the temperature is 25
C or 78 F. So the nights cool off. Tana is in the "mountain" region. Although it looks like hills all around,
the plateau is about 4000 feet above sea level.

It hardly seems like Christmas with temperatures in the 90's. For those of us who grew up with four
definite seasons, snow and/or cold weather means winter. Summer here will last through March next
year. We are just beginning to get into the hot time of year. We haven't had much rain but the local
people assure us that it will come.

We are sending along some photographs of new members that were baptized in the last two months in
our branch. Most of them were converted through the Book of Mormon. It is interesting to see how so
many of the recent converts seem to be particularly touched by the testimony of Christ and the restored
gospel as presented in the Book of Mormon. Abraham's descendents truly have been dispersed to all
corners of the earth and the isles of the sea as Isaiah and the Book of Mormon prophets prophesied.
And now they are being gathered before the Second Coming of Christ with the rest of the House of
Israel.

If anyone wants to shed some pounds here are some suggestions: cut back on the sweets, especially
cakes, cookies and ice cream. Keep away from animal fats - eat meat sparingly, as the Word of Wisdom
advises, but eat beans for protein. Stick with carbohydrates - rice, potatoes, vegetables, fruit and grains.
Carbohydrates give you lots of energy but do not fill up the fat cells in your body. Cut out eggs and
milk products. Follow this diet for about three to four months and watch the pounds disappear. Detlef
has lost and kept of 55 lbs since eating primarily plant-based food since May 2007. He eats some meat

occasionally, and low fat cookies. He is down to 172 lbs from 227 lbs. and feels great. He exercises every
day with the goal in mind of going up Longs Peak (14,400 ft.) in the Rocky Mountain National Park near
Estes Park in July 2012. Would anyone like to come along?

We love you and wish you a wonderful Christmas by remembering the true purpose of celebrating our
Savior's birth.

Seila and Detlef


The Missionaries at Thanksgiving


Thanksgiving


Manivo, Sitraka, Fabien,and Kevin Baptism Dec 2010


Parany and Angeline Baptism


Gaby Family Baptism


Marina Baptism


Marina, Lalina, Michelle, and Zaratiana Baptism


Raphael Family and Danie Baptism


Mamy and Boline Baptism

Mauritius

A few more photos of our trip to Mauritius.

Near where we stayed there were two salt reclaimation areas. Sea water is pumped into walled patio like areas and left to evaporate. As the salt accumulates at the bottom of each area a woman brushes it together. Later salt is loaded into baskets. The baskets are carried on the heads of the workers to the collection points. Then it is taken to be refined.

The island has an African animal reserve. They have many types of animals including zebra, wart hog, flemingo, ostrige, guiney hen, antelope, lepord, monkey, parott, and several other African animals that I do not know the names of.

The sugar exhibit was interesting. Sugar cane takes a lot of water to develop properly. The east side of the island gets pleanty of rain, but the west side must irrigate.

Seila and Detlef

August 10th

We thought it might be interesting to you to see some of the things we see around us. We have selected a number of photographs and will comment about them.
1.

This first picture shows how many Magalacy people live. These are apartment like places that are typically owned by someone other than the people who live there. Often these apartments are single room or two rooms with a W.C. outside and a place where the food is cooked outside as well. The Malagacy diet consists primarily of rice and vegetables to go with the rice. Sometimes they may have a few pieces of meat with the vegetables. The food is cooked on flower pot like baked clay stoves like a camp stove. The fuel is charcoal - green wood that is prepared by burning it in a sealed-off dirt oven. The clothing you see is hand washed in plastic pans and buckets- in cold water of course. The soap is a bar of wash soap that is brushed across the clothes. The clothes are rinsed and then hung up to dry. Fortunately the sun shines enough to dry the cloth. It will be interesting to see what happens in the rainy season.
There are no stoves or heaters inside the apartments, nor is there running water. Most of the time there is no electricity. The Malagacy people get up at dawn and go to bed at night-fall.

2.


The next picture is a public water station. These water station are found in neighborhoods. People bring their water containers - most of the time open buckets and wait their turn in line for water. The buckets are quite heavy when full. Many times you see women carry these containers on their head. One women carried one bucket on her head and carried another one in her hand. Sometimes you see men - usually older men get water for people for a small fee. More women and teenage girls get the water than men do.

3.


One morning about 7:00 a.m. we could smell smoke. We looked out the window and saw that the kids in the neighborhood had started this fire. It produced very black smoke which went right up to our apartment. You can see our windows at the top of the picture. I went downstairs and out through our gate and started taking pictures. There were two or three adult men in the group. When they saw me taking pictures they turned their faces away. There is a woman who started selling food right outside the gate by the side of our driveway. I said loudly "tsy" which in Malagacy means "stop this" and motioned to the fire and the smoke going up to our windows. She said something to the group and one of the older boys got some water and started putting out the fire. Of course, this is winter time and in the mornings and in the evenings you see small fires outside the doors of living places where people warm themselves a little. So the kids just do the same thing.

4.


The fire is now out. You see our apartment house in full splendor. The high wall topped by a fence is intended to keep the people from the neighborhood out. We have 24-hour guards whose only job is to keep the gate closed and to open the gate when we drive in or out and close it after we drive through. We are gone all day long and so the gates are opened in the morning and in the evening when we come home. There are three apartments. The windows of the second floor apartment - where the Assistants to the Mission President live - are just above the wall. We are on the third floor. Above our floor is an open area - partially roofed. This is where the water heaters and the washing machine and the dryer are located. The other senior couple, the husband of which is the Humanitarian Aid director for Malagascar - lives on the ground floor. When they look out their windows they see the wall. The two little dogs you can see are two of a six dog litter a female dog had in some bushes along the eastern side of this open area. The kids play with them and sometimes feed them. Most of the time the dogs have to find their own food. Their mother can often be seen jumping into the nearby garbage bin searching for something to eat.

5.


The garbage bins are the center of much activity. The garbage bins are located on the side of streets. The one pictured is not far from our gate. The kids put the small dogs in the bin. When they sniff something out, the kids quickly take it away from them to see if it is something edible. We have found remnants of our wet garbage strewn all over the open area by our apartment - onion, orange and banana peels, empty cans, egg shells, etc. The children and the dogs are not the only ones looking for food in the garbage bin. You can always see older men and women rummaging through the garbage bins looking for food and other useful things. The garbage bins once upon a time were picked-up by garbage trucks, emptied and put back in place. Now the garbage trucks come every two to three weeks and the garbage collectors go through the garbage again - carefully raking it, looking for valuable things. Finally, they stuff what is left into bags, throw the bags on the truck were the bags are emptied and thrown out to be filled again until most of the garbage from the bin is in the truck. The garbage all around the bin is left on the ground and the truck takes off to the next bin. As you can see, the children play in and around the garbage bins. Not much sense for hygiene.

6.


This is the food stand just outside our gate. This food stand has doubled the garbage on the ground. Near the food stand some women have also started to wash their clothing. They have moved from washing near the garbage bin to a better area - near the wall of an expensive apartment building - ours.

7.


On Sunday afternoons we usually go with the branch president to visit members in Sabotsy Namehana. Seila took this picture near the home of a sister we visited. These fields have new rice seedlings growing in them. Soon the nearby rice fields will be filled with water where the rice seedlings will be re-planted. The new growing season - Spring - begins next month in September.

July 11

11 July 2010
Dear Family,
Life has settled down a bit for us. We are more familiar with the work. I have been able to start working ahead on visa applications for incoming missionaries. Detlef has been able to meet with bank executives regarding changes in procedures and meet with landlords and vendors regarding e-transfer payments instead of checks. His workload continues at the same pace. He has been able to analyze the flow, trends and specific financial needs of the mission and our missionaries. The mission was primarily in Antananarivo but now it is more spread out over the country. As a result, there are some missionary apartments that have been vacant for some time and the mission is looking into closing them. That meant finding the leases (in French) and analyzing termination terms and dates. Decisions will be made soon.
The finance training meetings this Wednesday through Friday should be interesting. There are fifteen couples participating from all over Southeastern Africa. They have asked that the wives sit in on all the training. The hope is that with both listening more will be remembered when we return home.
On Friday we received an alert from the US Embassy to stay away from down town and the stadium area on Saturday. Several churches were attempting a demonstration and shut down of stores. We had planned to go shopping Friday afternoon, but then with the warning I hoped to go at mid-day. Sister Ridges and I were going to go together, but she had a meeting that lasted until 2 P.M. Driving time, shopping and taking supplies hope would take more than two hours so that did not work. A new missionary arrived at 2:10 P.M. After customs and travel back to the office he arrived around 3:30 P.M. for orientation, assignment and to sign visa application papers. So the shopping never happened. Yesterday, Detlef worked at the office while I did laundry and cleaned the apartment. Since there was no word on any disturbance we went shopping after lunch. I drove and took a different road which I thought would be faster. It turned to be the long way around and went right past the stadium (now I know where it is). No activity out of the ordinary, just the street vendors, walkers and drivers. Our shopping trip was uneventful other than a more leisurely drive.
Today, in Relief Society, I organized the lesson to teach the sisters how to prepare and teach a lesson. It went well. The young women are unafraid and anxious to participate. Today they conducted the meeting, lead the music, contributed to the lesson and after the meeting begged to do it again. I assured them there would be another opportunity. Everyone needs to have a turn. I handed out The Latter-day Saint Woman, part A, to each of the sisters and told them to write their name on the book because it was their copy. I asked them to read the lesson for next week so that they can participate. I asked one sister who had been at church for many weeks to teach the lesson for next week but she declined. To my surprise I later learned she was an investigator. I still do not know all the sisters and who is a member and who is investigating. There will be other opportunities for her as she grows in the gospel. A sister in her early 20's asked if she could teach the lesson. Sister Helisoa (RM and my translator) took her aside after the meetings were over and coached her on preparing and giving the lesson. I checked in my English version and identified two paragraphs that were important to be included in the lesson. The guidelines were the same we have given to each sister who has taught in the past. Each Sunday is an opportunity to learn and grow.
At the first of next month we will have our first Relief Society Activity. The sisters want to learn how to bake a cake like we make. We do have an oven at church, still wrapped. I think it is electric and will have to make sure it will work for us. My guess is that no sister has an oven in her home. They cook in the open on charcoal burners. It is like cooking at camp with charcoal briquettes, only all the time. They normally cook rice and have some type of sauce or topping of vegetables and sometimes with meat. SO..... I would like you campers to give me some help! Do you have any recipes for baked items that can be cooked in tin cans or any Dutch-oven recipes? Please share! In addition to the cake I would also like to teach something that they can recreate in their own homes.
Does anyone have my "Norma's Brownie" recipe? It is the one that uses one cup of flour, 4 eggs and I think 1/2 c of canned evaporated milk. I tried to make it from memory. It was good but not quite the same as what I usually make. I would really like to have the recipe. Rana, if my metal recipe box is still in the cupboard, the recipe is in there.
We have heard from a few of you about your summer activities. Amy let us know that James was to be coming home last week. We are very grateful for a safe return. There will be readjustments and then moving again for their family. Over time they will build many friendships in different parts of the world. As we have gotten older we find the world gets smaller. We continually run into people we know or who are related or who were friends from some previous time. Even here in Madagascar, the parents of Elder Rossiter who came to travel for a week and returned with him last Friday, brought greetings from one of the former mission presidents who had worked closely with Detlef when he was stake president. They live in the same ward. I know many of you have had the same experience. We love you all and pray for you individually.
The attached photo is from our 4th of July celebration. Sister Ridges and I made the treats are for the missionaries.
We send our love,
Seila and Detlef


Stone Art, Johannesburg, SA


Stone Art, Johannesburg, SA


Stone Art, Johannesburg, SA


South Africa landscape with lake from the air


Offshore island and break water


Madagascar coastline and offshore island


Madagascar coastline and large river into ocean


Detlef and Seila at Johannesburg Temple


Bird of Paradise, Johannesburg, SA


Bird in Johannesburg, SA