Read or listen to Oral History #004. Original interview in Malagasy. An English translation is also available.
If someone affirms that I’m a member of an “American Religion,” I would say,“NO” because this is Madagascar but not the United States of America. I’m a member of a Malagasy church but not an American church. It’s a Malagasy LDS church.
My opinion about the fact that most of the church’s main leaders, from the prophet to the general authorities to the mission president, tend to be white Americans is as follows: for now, God has decided to call those white Americans to serve the LDS church. Maybe after twenty-five years, a Malagasy prophet will be chosen. Who knows?
Members should already have the attitude to look at the similitude of these two cultures [Latter-day Saint culture and Malagasy culture]. However, there are many differences and contradictions between Mormon culture and Malagasy culture for non-members. For example, the Famadihana [a funerary tradition in Madagascar that involves exhuming dead relatives, rewrapping them, and dancing with their corpses]. Even though Malagasy people are poor in general, they don’t hesitate to spend their money for the Famadihana because it’s an important tradition for them. For church members here in Madagascar, they don’t give importance to the Famadihana and avoid getting involved so much in it. They just attend because they don’t want to see their family yelling at them.