This week end we traveled to Antsirabe a large city about 3 hours south of Antananarivo. We got a real taste of cross country road travel which is impossible to describe. The roads are narrow, windy with lots of pedestrians, bikes, cows, oxcarts, nine seat mini vans packed with 15+ people, big trucks and other cars. It was a wild ride to be sure.  Once we left the capital we had rolling hills with terraced rice fields in the valleys. We passed many villages with two story brick homes, most without electricity. In Antsirabe we met many remarkable members. We continue to find the people to be incredibly welcoming and loving. We are literally treated like royalty. In the  branch conference we attended this morning there were  158 in attendance. These people really know how to sing hymns. There are several large strong branches here and their leadership is devoted. We have included some pictures of the trip leaving Antananarivo, the countryside, and the pousse-pousse rickshaws in Antsirabe. They are used there because the city is mostly flat. The street stands are everywhere. These are some of the better ones. We do have regular modern supermarkets but they are too expensive for most of the population.