CHRISTMAS 2015

This is a Christmas party we had with some of the Elders, Sisters, and couples in in the mission. We had a dinner and exchanged white elephant gifts, and at the end of the night we watched the movie "A Christmas Carol".   It was a lot of fun.  We really enjoyed meeting a lot of the missionaries. Their stories and testimonies of how they came into the church are miracles.  A lot of missionaries are from other countries here in Africa. The Lord's hand in leading these people to the Gospel is undeniable.

A lot of  these missionaries are the only members of their family in the Church.  One sister's father became ill, and when she would call home and they told her everything was fine.  Then one week she called home and her father had died.  She was able to go home to Zimbabwe for the funeral, and she was back in like 4 days.  She  has such a good spirit about her.

   This cute Sister got my shorts as her gift.  They are a little worn out.  She'll have to take them in a bit!

This Elder got some bread in the shape of a crocodile.   He was pretty excited. 

 The next day we went to the Copper Belt area and along the side of the road are these fruit stands,  This picture doesn't do it justice but the color was unreal.   I thought of my dad-  he would be in heaven with all that watermelon.  We bought some melons, and other fruit, it was really good. 

More melons,   

This is Pres. Manasse Tembo, he is the Second Councilor in the Ndola District Presidency  He is also the Self Reliance Specialist for the District. He joined the Church when he was like 15, served a mission and has a strong testimony of the Gospel, This is his little boy Amon, cute little thing. He said he named him after the Book of Matthew, where is says Manasse begat Amon,  We looked it up, and  Chapter 1, verse 5, says Salmon  begat  Booz!  This could be a great name for a future grand kid! hint hint!  His wife just joined not to long ago,  They  hope someday to be married in the temple.   His Mom is not a member but we went and visited her; what a great lady. 

She has a little store in the neighborhood.  It's about 6'x 8', clean and very well organized.   Notice his home- no ceiling, but really clean inside.  We love working with him.  Great man.   We attended his Branch on Sunday before Christmas.  When we got there he asked me to speak,   I thought I would probably only need to fill in for a few minutes.  After all the speakers concluded, they left me 20 minutes.  Nothing prepared, so I just followed the spirit! Before I got up I asked Terry if she would bare her testimony,  GOOD LUCK ON THAT.   Anyway it went ok, I guess. 

4 days before Christmas we went with 2 other couples on a Safari!  This is a picture of the sunset, can you believe it?   Not a lot to do the week of Christmas- not much training we can do, so President approved, even encouraged us all to take a little break.  We had a ball. It was about a 4 hour drive out of Lusaka.  We stayed in these little huts, ate great food, and saw lots of animals. 

 Two brothers hanging out. It was kind of freaking me out.  We were in an open vehicle and all these guys had to do was jump up and grab ya and yank you out, and have some diner. 

End of another great day.  You can't believe these sunsets.  And to think we took these pictures!  

We love the Gospel, we wish all our family and friends Merry Christmas.  This is a special Christmas to us.  We miss everybody, especially the grand kiddos.   Nana asked Pops to do this post, so forgive me for all the mistakes.  MERRY CHRISTMAS.   LOVE NANA AND POPS.