Locust Invasion

We had a very weird occurance on August 28,2014.  There were dark clouds in the sky, like smoke from fire.  We were on our way back from the airport and everyone was looking up and pointing, even more when we reached the city!  When we got to the Mission Office, we all went out to see.  We thought maybe birds because it was moving!  The "clouds" moved closer and closer.  Soon we could see that they were locusts!  They migrate every year.  A couple of years ago they ate up the crops and caused the people a very hard time!  You can read about it here:

http://www.dailmail.co.uk/news/article-2736953/Plague-locusts-

swarm-Madagascan-capital-scene-like-Bible-billions-insects-make-

annual-migration.htm#i-7b4d2f9bd15133c4

 

 We ran in as they came so close and began landing in our courtyard.  Pretty weird, creepy, and a little scary!  The dark clouds just kind of rolled in and became a mass of millions of bugs everywhere and now they are gone!

 

 

 

 

Elder Asay and President Adams watching the black "clouds" roll in!



Getting so close, but we still stayed outside to watch!

Too many!!



Time to RUN inside!

CRAZY, right?!!




That was an interesting day and one I'm glad I could document! Next crazy thing? There are pretty big rumors today that there may not be any electricty or water starting on Sunday and lasting for a week or more! Evidently the 6 top officals of Jiarma (the large and only electric/water co.) have been arrested and this may cause a lot of trouble! There is also a good chance that it may get settled by Sunday and all will be well! But on the chance that it is not settled, we are asked to spend tomorrow filling bottles with water and buying groceries that are non parishable and all other things we need to do to be prepared! What an adventure!

Mada Laundry

I'm excited to share a little about laundry in Madagascar...it's EVERYWHERE!!  When we first got here, I thought people were laying out clothes to sell by the side of the road, but I soon learned that this is the preferred/main method of clothes drying :) 

You may have a washing station near where you live (like this one
and the one above).

Or you may be close enough to a water station so you can bring
water to your home.

If neither of those is an option, you will be washing in a
stream, a lake, or a river!  (not the cleanest water)

After washing, begins the drying!  You may have a clothesline.

If not, a fence will work.

Then it is the ground, a roof, your house, a business, the trees,
or wherever there is space available.

Headed to the local washing river.  Doing laundry is a social
event and it is fun to see all the women and girls working
and enjoying one anthers company as they talk and laugh!

I really enjoy learning how things are done is the wonderful country I am now living in!  I am blessed to have a small dryer, but when the weather is warmer, I look forward to hanging some of my clothes on a drying rack on my balcony :)  I will be sure to post a picture!

Headed Home to Tana

We headed home early on the 17th of July.  We wanted to stop at the rainforest on the way home and you shouldnt be on the windy road after dark.  Going home we added a couple of passengers.  Andy and Tyler (two of the speialist trainers) wanted to see the sites on the way back to Tana so they road with us and Bishop Oliver.  Those poor guys in the backseat, CRAZY!  They did great!  Andy and Tyler hadn't even had time to see the ocead yet so we made a quick photo stop for them :)

Olivier's wife was visitng  her family in Toamasina!  She road the Taxi
Bruse home and he road with us :)

We made a stop after several hours to stretch our legs - especially those cramped in the back seat!

This nice family visited with us (because Olivier could speak Malagasy).
They showed us their garden and property and flowers, it was very pretty!
Then came the real treat, they had a pet Lemur in the tree in their front yard!

There he is - a little shy.  He would run up to the top of the tree. Then
one of the boys went across the street and came back with some yummy leaves and
the Lemur came closer! 

He was very cute!

This is their backyard.

We loved how lush and beautiful the scenery is!

It rained again and then we were greeted by this beautiful rainbow!

In the midst of all the rain, we arrived at the rain forest!  It was lush and beautiful!
We did some heavy climbing (in our missionary clothes)!  We saw amazing Palms,
plants, moss, roots curled around trees, lizards, chamelons, but the highlight was
the Indri Lemur.  He is the largest Lemur in the world.  He was beautiful!  The Indri Lemur
does not have a tail (which they use for balance and moving through the trees), but
they were still very fast in the trees!  There were at least 3 or 5 that we saw but
they all zoomed off through the trees except this guy below.  He let us get very close
and when he took the leaf from my hand, his hand was so soft!!  They said not to touch him because
 he will take off if you reach at him!  We loved our visit with the Indri Lemur and the rain forest!



Can you find the tree leaf chamieon in this picture?

Here he is!!

Here is another VERY TINY lizard, very hard to find!

I love how this lizard has his tail wrapped around the tree!

That great visit made some men very hungry and contmeplating what to eat!

Beautiful view!

Last great open spaces!

Back to the city!  Here is meat being sold by a little light!  It was very dark
and by the time we took Olivier home, it was very, very, dark!  We got lost
and were really having a hard time getting to the Mission Office.  We felt like we would get close
 and suddenly be lost and far away again but finally made it!
Our guests had a very nervous ride!  The streets were packed and they weren't used to it!
When we finally got to the mission office we were all relieved!  We offered to take
them to dinner, but they just wanted to get to the airport (they were done with city travel)!
I can't remember if I have mentioned before that even though the airport is only 9 miles away,
it takes 1 1/2 to 2 hours to get there!  We arrived in pretty good shape and because it was
 so late we made it in less than 1 1/2 hours!  They had a long flight ahead of them and were kind
of excited to get on and have a nap!  (They were flying from Tana straight to Paris).  Cal and I were
 also glad to be on our way home!  Well, we were not home free yet!  We accidently made a wrong turn
onto a one way street!  Immediately, we were surrouned by policemen!  The next 15 minutes
were a bit stressful as we tried to explain to 3 different policemen that we were missionaries and we did
 not have a clue of what they we saying to us!  They finally shook their head in digust and
waved us on!  Boy was I glad to get to the safety of our apartment!  It was even worse for
poor Cal because he had been driving since 5:45am and believe me, driving in Madagascar is
STRESSFUL!