SETTLING INTO LUSAKA

We have such a beautiful backyard.  No need to worry about cutting the grass or watering anything.  No shoveling snow.  Also, no dryer- I do have a washing machine but no dryer.  I also do not have a dishwasher or a disposal.  It's such a rough life.  The laundry smells wonderful and everything is nice and crisp.  I actually love hanging my clothes outside to dry.

Crocodile burger..... Yum.  Not kidding.  There is a crocodile farm here in Lusaka and they sell crocodile meat.  Why not?

We finally got ourselves a GPS and it has saved out bacon.  Once we find a the place we're looking for, we save and then we can always find it again although sometimes it takes us down some crazy roads.......

like this one.  I think it was just a shortcut but we were hoping our GPS knew what it was doing.  It did.  Going through some of the villages and compounds is just a maze of  dirt roads and it's impossible to tell where you're going.

And this is what we were trying to find.  The Lilanda Ward is renting a home that they use as their church.  This is the chapel.  We came to meet with a return missionary who is trying to get his school on the preferred list for the Perpetual Education Fund.  I just love the return missionaries here who have so many challenges but are doing their best to become self reliant.

We took another trip to Mothers Without Borders to take the kids a little treat for Christmas.  About half of them were not there.  They were sent to spend the holidays with extended family.  Normally there are 32 kids living there.

Rice Krispie Treats, of course.  They had never had them before.

This is my friend, Patricia just stirring up a little nshima for those sixteen kids- everyday.  Isn't she beautiful?

Another bug to add to our collection. This scorpion is just a little bit bigger than the one that Craig stepped on at Lake Powell.

This is Kasnos Paradzai.  He is our self reliance manager- an employee of the church.  He lives in Zimbabwe and covers all of Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Zambia.  He is one hard working guy, always traveling and trying to solve problems.  We would be lost without him.  He was here just last weekend and had a flight to go home early on Sunday morning.  We got a call from him about 7:30 AM and his credit card wouldn't work (which is very common here) as he was trying to check out.  He needed 51 kwacha (about $5) before they would let him go.  Craig ran to the hotel to give him the money and the minute Craig walked back in the door at home, Kasnos was calling again.  He had been pulled over by the police for an improper lane change and they wanted 1500 kwacha ($150) to let him go.  He didn't have it so they took him to the police station and were going to impound his car if he didn't come up with the money.  Elder Salmon to the rescue again.  He talked policeman down to 1000 kwacha and even gave him a Book of Mormon.  They became fast friends.  What a guy!  What a missionary!  Maybe Craigville isn't such a bad place after all.

This lady is crushing rock up gravel.  It is all done by hand and then separated into different sizes.  It's a common sight in one part of Lusaka but it's a hard way to make a living.