Got caught (8/28/2011)

By the way, Ive been trying to write a lot more so yea, so if it is alot :) Aight Gs, it be Elder Shaw again!! Writing my weekly email, saying whats up :) Monday, chilled at the beach as always haha, nothing better than ending the day with tsunset on the beach, that never gets old haha, tryin to upload pictures, Mahajanga is starting to get super hot too, cause we are heading into the summer time, so it is starting to get hot haha. Then one of the days, we was walking around and I looked to my left to look at a rooster and then heard reynolds slip and looked forward and he was just laying on the ground, and I could not help but just laugh for a good 10 minutes, it was the probably funniest thing that happened this week, I just sat down and everytime I replaying it in my head I just laughed all over again, then the next day, since I had the keys I was locking the outer gate and prochnow came outside and starting to throw things at me and kept missing, I lookd down and look back up and he threw a piece of charbon at me and it went in the sun and i couldnt see so I did a spin but the ground was uneven and I ate the ground pretty bad haha, while I was laying on the ground I heard a bebe (grandma) laughing at me from the distance, it was wonderful haha, later that night, it was kind of late and we were just walking around the streets to our next time, a drunk guy came up to me and tried to talk to me in french english malagasy or somlething, I had no idea, this guy is wasted every night too haha, but today he just came and talked to me, all the sudden he ran off and tried to get a dog to drink some of his drink, but the dog did not like that much haha, it was pretty funny :) we went tracking the week which is looking for new people to teach, and no freakin luck, we say forget and start walking away and then 4 people came up to us and was like where you pray at?! and it was cool, but noone came to church, so that was whatever haha, we got some way dope people to teach too, most of them came to church yesterday... lol so, one of the days, can not remmeber when it was but we went home a lil early cause reynolds was not feeling so hot, he threw up and we just chilled in our house for a little bit and played some chess, and I had a question for president, so I gave him a call and he said Elder Shaw!! How are you, Im good president, and you? Im good elder shaw, what are you up to? Just playing some chess president, he kind of laughed and said that is not really missionary work elder, and it just clicked what I said, so I explained myself haha yea, it was pretty bad haha, i got to peel off mino heads for someones dinner, that was pretty nasty to be honest, at one of the dope investigators house, there is like 14 kids there, and they had this HUGE seashell so I told them they could hear the ocean in the seashell so they thought that was the coolest thing! haha this week was interesting too, Prochnow and I stayed up til 12 talking 2 nights in a row, then saturday to sunday night, we all stayed awake til 4 playing a game called settlers, it was awesome, church was really tiring, and I slept once I got home from church at 2 pm, to 6 am this morning :) I also learned how to make coconut rice, it is the BEST rice in the country in my opinion, it is SO bomb!! so I know how to make it so that is my plan once I get more allotment for the month :) We also finished our chess set of bottle caps haha, we had to get some beer caps from the ground as ghetto as that is but we did it :) it is legit lol, that is about my week!! I made sure I wrote everything down!! we have a baptism coming up this week so getting in the ocean :) to finish this email up, I went on splits this week, and wnet out to this place with no lights and looked up and oh my goodness gracious deary me, if only I had words to descride it haha just messing, it was straight awesome!

First Cameleon Sighting (8/21/2011)

Aight, so stories!! I made sure I wrote them all or most of them yesterday so I could write more today haha :P so, this is what has been going down this week, first of all, on monday, that was straight up sick, we went to the biggest baobob in mahajanga, it is the split in the road and right behind it is the ocean, it was gorgeous, then about 5 miunutes off the coast is a island called kasepy I think, we are going there soon too, probably a few weeks from today, we will see, then tuesday and the days after, we have been throwing down spitirual bombs on people, me and my comp are getting along really well and teaching super good, just tonga dia!! it is cool, we have about 10 soft bap dates, which means they have accepted the baptism but dont have an offical date yet, and 6 official bap dates, so it is sickkk!!! we pretty much destroyed this week on missionary work!! then while Ive been hole with the comps, there are 4 of us but only really 3 of us hang out cause the 4th one doesnt really speak english and we are not on good terms at the moment but that will be for another time, but he does not like us either so yea, BUT I told my buddy procknow, not my comp that I could rock him in checkers so he said how and I grabbed some chalk and since we have cement floors I drew a checker board and at first we were using seashells and pieces of paper, but we have upgraded to bottle caps and seashells lol, we are starting to collect bottle caps and stuff to play chess lol you will see the pictures soon hopefully, but my pictures are not uploading so maybe it wont happen, I do not know yet!! Im trying though!! so yea, lots of checkers and Tic tac toe this week, then a few investigator stories, we were walking down a street and a lady was trying to catch up to us and she did and started to try and speak english with us, and said she has been searching for us lol, so we said okay, got her number and went to her house this week, and she is like calling all her friends in, and telling us there are more coming so we are like freak, this lady is awesome, and we have about 10 people in there and she wants us to teach them english, we are said dang it, that sucks lol, but we only taught the gospel and they were shocked, got a few people out of it and we still teach her so it is cool, THEN there is another girl, (woman, I swear :)) she is a sister of a guy who has a bap date coming up soonn, and (by the way, first bap will be in the ocean, whats up :D) SO, sister, and we ask her if she knows this book is true and she says yes, so we are like cool, will you be baptized, and she says no lol, we are like what?? she says this big ol thing about how she knows the church is true and all this stuff, but says she has already been baptized haha, so reynolds got a lil upset and talked for about thirty more mins trying to get her conviced tsy misy fahefana, but yea, we also started a referral game with the ward, and that is making our job go way crazy cause the members are helping like crazy haha, then on saturday we did this service project for the ward and GUESS WHAT I FOUND!! This freaking HUGE camelon, it was sooo cool haha, watching it change colors but I was a lil girl and scared of it cause they were all freaked and were like it BITES HARD, so im sketched haha, but I held it and it was cool, but I made a member WAY mad at me lol, I told her to go away cause she was realy scared of it no idea why, and she walked around the corner and with me no intention of scaring her, I started walkikng that way and she comes back and straight flips out lol, she is trying to run and starts tripping but I apologized and we are good now :) if I remember any more stories Ill hook you up!! but that is most it!! hope you enjoy it :)

Transfers (8/14/2011)

haha everything is moving along now!! I got moved but it is a secret to where :) it is really really hot here, and humid, and I guess Ill tell you!! I got moved to mahajanga!! such a gorgeous place!! really stinking hot though, goodnessg racious, already back to school, that is crazy!! 4 months went by quick haha, almost 5 now!! getting a day closer each day :) well, this week has been interesting!! football was awesome!! then we got transfer news that night!! it was the biggest transfer in the mission ever!! it was sweet!! I got sent to mahajanga and it was a lovely 14 hour bus ride, left at 5 ish and got here around 5 ish again, it was wonderful haha, took some pills and passed out fast after the first 3 hours!! you drive through a rain forest but since it was dark you couldn't see anything anyways!! I got here and the house is pretty freaking ghetto, no light in the bathroom so we take showers by the moonlight, rats all over, so pretty ghetto but our room is huge so it is nice :) going to buy a sweet hammock for like 13 dollars and set it up in the room somehow Im hoping!! that is my plan at least!! then we started to walk around and I found out how humid really goes and it sucks lol, Im sweating bullets all the time, especially when we get home out of the sun!! fans running 24 7 :) but just sleep with a lil sheet on me!! it is legit, but this place is the best doub the heat and what not :D then when I get here we had a soiree or a dinner appointment and we played uno and ate a cow foot, that was interesting, I didnt ask what it was til after I ate it haha, I was kind of scared, nice and chewy but it really was not that bad! so did that, umm.. we were walking back from church yesterday and some drunk guy came and tried to give me a nice big ol kiss, then we have a vazaha family in our ward, the kid looks straight out of cali, the dad is french and the mom malagasy, it is way cool! then last night too, we were teaching a time, and I could hear the ocean off in the distance we were sooo close, it is SO awesome!! cause there only used to be 2 missionaries up here, and they had the whole city, then me and prochnow came" up here and the split the city right in half, my comp and I have the beach and they have the city mostly, so it is cool!! today we are going to play beach volleyball so looking forward to that haha, this place is soo cool, hopefully I can get more pictures up next time, cause the internet is not too fast here so yea!! tried to get some pictures of the actually place, only got pictures of the house and the trip and right before I left anjanahary!! so yea!! love you guys!! thanks for sharing the stories wit me and yea!! hopefully everything is going good still :) see you next week!! sorry didnt get too much pictures!!

Letter from Elder Shaw (8/6/2011)

My poop is starting to get solid!! I bought oatmeal and this really good honey and eat it every morning so I be set now :) nah, I havent gotten daynas letter yet, but still checking the office a bunch and waitingf for it!! Miss my sister much!! and the family course!! Good thing with Kenneth, I talked to him a lil bit, missing him the most haha, but like I say to everyone, I know Im here for two years, it is what it is, I work and on pdays that is my day :) I work hard lol, I almost wished you went on a mission, personally I think you would have loved it, especially hanging out with some sisters hear, I could totally picture you here lol, it is kind of funny :P but it is way cool!! you should keep doing minis with the sisters there haha, unless there are none anymore but dunno why there wouldnt be any!! but shoot mother of mine, it has been an interesting week for sure, thought Id share some stories with you!! like for one, our BEST investigator started crying but trying to hide it ya know?? like pretending to think and what not lol, but we read alma 7 with him!! but then the next day, we all pumped up and what not, we go to a members house who has been way less active, drinking and what not, and we start sharing the spiritual thought you know? all the sudden he gets up and walks out then comes back and started saying he didnt like the church, and didnt like everything, he would rather have some guy point a gun to his head then join the church!! Im like oh freak but keep smiling anyway and he was getting pissed lol, it was awesome!! but that was pretty much my week, we did street boarding again, got a few new investigators from that and what not!! it was straight, but just trucking along, day by day, hoping for the best!! lately Ive been singing a lot lol, like in the buses I start singing aint no mountain high, aint no valley low, everyone gives me the weirdest looks but they smile after awhile, I start asking if they want to join! whatever songs come to my mind I just jam wherever and whenever :) it has kept me happy for sure!! but that has been pretty much my week!! hope you enjoyed haha, sorry it isnt too much but yea!! love you mother :) an thank you for the story(Ensign May 1996, What I Want My Son to Know before He Leaves on His Mission by James E Faust)and scriptures(alma 13:21-23) , I will look them up!!

Q & A (8/1/2011)

Aight so!!
Questions time!! (answering questions from mom)
Q. How is the language coming?
A.The langugae is coming pretyt good!!
Q. Are you still taking your malaria pills
A. No, the malaria pills clogged me up but I better start taking them again just in case!!
Q. Do you teach any of the lessons? sell does most of the teaching, but I jump in on parts I can!!
Q. Any spiritual moments?
A. I share a lot of spiritual thoughts as well!! cause that is pretty short and easy!! just doing spiritual stuff haha
Q. Any baptisms or scheduled baptisms?
A. no baptisms yet, our area is not booming haha, but we are working hard, we have 300 less actives so we decided to focus on that,
Q. Have you met Elder Thomas yet (i meant to say elder Taylor) people said Elder thomas went back in May lol so Im not sure.
Q. Do you print off your emails? nah, I usually dont print off emails but yes, I can,
Q. Are you homesick?
A. Haha of course I am homesick, but Ive learned how to make some bomb cookies, so that helps a lil,
Q. Have you gotten any letters from friends at home?
A.actually not at all haha,umm,
Q. Are you going to visit any tourist places again?
A. not sure about the toirst place soon,
Q. How are your clothes holding up?
A. clothes are doing bomb still!!
Q. Who is the elder dancing in the video?
A. it might be elder Tahita!! he is from tahiti!! he is SUPER cool!!

So, stories this week!! We did street boarding this week, we found a super busy bus stop and had a board with pictures and just putin work on the people!! English was aight this week! I got super sick this week as well no good there!! that is where the other story comes from!! so we went out on tuesday and I had a super bad stomach ache, but I thought it was just gas, so whatever, we went out and it kept getting worse, like so bad I couldnt even move I had such bad pains, then a member came with us, so that helped me out cause I was sweating like carzy cause of the pain, then about 4 hours later the member left and I got a few steps away and all the sudden it kind of hit me, so I said oh no, stopped and just farted a lil, and thought I was good, started to cross the street and it hit me super super hard, and I looked and sell and said find a bathroom right now, and we were in a busy street so no houses nearby, he ran to the store, asked for a bathroom and I got about 10 steps after it hit me and couldnt hold it in, I looked at sell and said too late man, so we are like freak, what do we do, cause we are about 40 minutes away from hompe so that is no good, get a taxi, and while we were driving home, I thought oh well, my stomach hurts pretty bad, so just let the rest go cause I already had a big thing of poop in my pants, and yea, that was that, it was a lot more than I expected, so I just jumped in the shower with all my clothes and took a 1 hour shower to get clean!! it was sure interesting!! that is all that really happened this week!! still a little sick!! but good!! love you guys!!

*note from mom: he fails to mention that he had to walk up 4 flights of stairs to get to his apartment, so his comp ran and got a towel to wrap around him while he walked up the stairs.

Cardon Monoxide (7/24/2011)

Alright so!! story time!! this week was pretty freaking rough!! So, get my ukulele on monday!! that was pretty freaking sweet! but tuesday came and that just destroyed us!! so we leave at 1130 and start walking around, go to our first time, and that went alright, then all of our times cancel us for the rest of the day at that moment after the first time, almost all at once, so we are like frick, what now, then we decide to go tracting to houses, and we get shut down and shut down, nobody let us in after 3 hours of straight tracting, and nothing!! then somebody called us and said come over!! it was a member thank goodness!! so we go and get that day over with, which totally sucked!! pass out at like 1030 and at about 1130 the carbon monoxide alarm goes off so we stay up til about 1 just watching it cause it teterted on the dangerous and not dangerous, and someone touches it and it goes back to 0 at like 1230 so we stay up til 1 just waiting and it didnt move!! so that day straight up sucked!! then wednesday was alright!!! just a normal day but tore apart from yesterday!!then thursday came and we had burgers at our district meeting and an interview with president!! then friday came and we worked our butt offs, and we went to english and fryer and I taught the people how to play head knees shoulders and toes!! and simon says cause we taught the body parts and that was sooo legit!! so much fun!! and the rest of the days were alright!! not too much stuff happened! just day to day!! sunday we got our area book back and there is soo much work to do!! so we got our days planned for us!! love you guys, be good, keep emailing :)

A short video from Dylan (7/18/2011)

Aight so!! We had a ward activity that day, and I got to take a video of the bus!! It doesnt look that bad in the video but it is way crammed in there!! they get two people on a seat, and add a plank in the middle!! so when someone wants to get off everyone has to get off in the middle if it is packed lol

My new mom (7/18/2011)

MOM: Glad you are staying safe. Why would you go beat up somebody in a foreign country(THIS IS IN RESPONSE TO LAST WEEKS CONVERSATION)?So Elder Fryer is with you and Smith? Glad you like your building. Glad you are keeping it clean.

DYLAN: they almost whacked us with a beer bottle mom lol, but it was all good, my new comp is Elder Sell from Highland Utah!! He is pretty cool, he puts in work so it will be a nice change.

MOM: So how many people emailed you this week? Did your dad email you this week? It is amazing how many people who go to Mada are from Utah!

DYLAN: I always email dad! and you!! some family!! haha no I have no idea how many are from utah lol, but I certainly meet a lot, there is a big black dude from england!!

MOM: Hey there ma boy! So how was day 102? So lots of questions for You.

DYLAN: haha day 102 is sick!! broke triple digits baby!! I haven’t moved areas, I actually have been getting more comfy in the area and all the roads are starting to connect in my head so I’ve been exploring a lot more lately, and with Elder Sell we are actually studying the language and stuff!! It has been sick!! and no cold nose, except Im still sick from last week, so bleh!! it is not that cold, but during the night times I do put on a sweater jacket thing right when we get out of times!! cause it is getting pretty windy, but it is nice!! we have super warm blankets so I throw on a fan and am warm throughout the night!! umm, the Ukulele guy was supposed to be done on monday last week if I remember right, but then moved it to thursday so I said fine, and Im going back today, so it better be done or might just say whatever!! but I doubt Ill say anything, whatever lol, too good for me!! I think I got that letter from you, I think it only took 2 weeks but Im not sure, the one with all the lovely different writing styles in it lol? that one? yea, I got that one!! hey, if you send a package, add hot tamales and MMs please!! especially MMs!! craving chocolate lol, it is terrible!! but we make cookies a lot, and stuff like that!! brownies, malagasy brownies lol, in a stove!! hopefully I’ll put those pictures up soon! hopefully!! I got a usb chord from smith but it only reads not high definition stuff!! if you can send a 8 gig usb too!! Im gona buy a 2 gig today!! because it uploads a lot faster from a USB!! holy cow, just read the rest of the email and goodness gracious!! all that stuff is INSANE!! k, Im going to try and upload a video lol, I think the url is
www.photobucket.com/thundertoes18 MAYBE that is it!! gona read some emails and reply again!!

MOM:I love how you are using a fan and it is freezing there.  Are you in the same apartment or did you move?

DYLAN: still chilling in the apartment Im in now!! umm..I forgot to send you the week, here it is!!

haha its all good!! just another day, cleaned the house spotless today, my man fryer lives with me now, he is sick, we kind of have the same ideas so we get along pretty well, I got a new comp, his name is sell, he works hard let me tell ya, we got big plans for our area!!  there is like 109 people that went to church and 300 of them are less active so figured Id get to work lol, so that has been alright!! I had a mini missionary, which is like when I don’t have a comp, because he is on his way kind of deal, I get a kid from the ward and he goes around with me, it was SICK!! learned a good deal of malagasy, I got big plans for the future for sure though, been working hard still, becoming fluent in tentana, which is sign language for malagasy, so that is cool, only a few missionarys know it so I can chat with them lol, not much stories this week, BUT I noticed it the other day, after awhile of knowing the language you just know the words so Ive been speaking a lot more lately and it has been coming easier, which is way sick!! love you guys!!

MOM: Who are the two older men in your pictures?

DYLAN: That is Rasolo lol, he is a malagasy, the old man is a counseler!!

Cya next week mom!!

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Typical Email btwix mom and son (7/11/2011)

DYLAN: Hey.

MOM: Hey.

DYLAN: wassup?

MOM: Just being bored listening to dayna, lilly, Kenneth and Richard going at it. Again. Never any peace here at least when they all get together. Camryon is mad he can't go to allisons house with Kenneth, so he took off  to the school.  How are you doing?

DYLAN:haha something I kind of miss! :P dayna and richard yelling at each other and just keep going haha, jamming out to music with Kenneth and possibly camryon, then just leaving, good stuff :) or talking to you while they yell lol, Im good, sick in the nose, but thats aight, been taking medicine and yea, Got some stories coming your way, some unpleasant, but some good of course :P

MOM:There is always good with the bad. So long as it's not about you getting sent home I am good with it. In fact I was just talking with Kenneth about that and how I want to hear the good and bad stories. That is what makes life interesting. We were talking to Kenneth about turning in his papers.  Said you guys have been talking about that. I told him he needs to stop jerking around and go meet with the bishop. He is just wasting time. Especially if he wants to leave a.s.a.p. Which, speaking of Andrew O'Hara just submitted his mission papers. Can't tell what his emotions are, since he never talks. I have an interesting tidbit. You might not find it interesting but I thought it was funny. Kind of one of those things you have to hear in person. So here goes. So I saw that XXXXX went to the midnight showing of T-3 with your favorite Lady friend. So I was thinking to myself, man how did he get a date with her. Her dad must be out of  town.  Anyways week passed then XXX and I were talking about it.  Don't know why. But XXXX said she heard XXX say "Man, Dylan gets home a whole year before me. That sucks." I thought that was kind of funny.  Anyways. Thought it was a funny tidbit.
Do you need us to send you a cable cord to get those pictures up?  Have you met Elder El-Bakri yet?

DYLAN:oh frick! haha yea, that lady friend has caused my a lot of trouble here, no doubt. but whatever, yea, kenneth and I have been talking!!  Tell him to reply to me!! :D Yea, elder el bakri is in my zone and he is training Elder Maua i, so I see him a good amount!

MOM:So tell me. Who are the missionaries that you have meet. Us moms are so curious to see if our boys have met each other.

DYLAN:haha no, it is the opposite, havent talked to her, and with certain things going on in the mission, makes me think about her, and all the things that happened, everything I realized a few days ago and it is
whatever, and Ive met everybody in Tana (another city in Mada) lol, when we went to ampifi(cool tourist place),  it was a Tana thing and all the people there went to ampifi!! And Elder El-Bakri is way cool, way chill and funny yea, why do you ask?

MOM:I ask about Elder El-bakri, cause I am friends with his mom on Facebook.
DYLAN: ah gotcha!! yea!! Ive seen him a lot everynow and then!! he islegit! I wrote you a super long email!!