ONE YEAR DOWN

We went and visited a member who was living at this construction site in the dirt (so basically homeless). While we were there they were fixing some dinner- nshima, and cabbage, then they just eat with their hands.

This is how they pour cement, just a pile of rocks, and then mix cement with it and then move it around.  Notice some of the guys in their bare feet.  Not a great finish!

 Steven got baptized a month ago- we were able to teach him with the sisters. Sister Salmon and I bought him a quad.  He was so excited to have his own scriptures.

 I had to show these young bucks how to lift a couch by yourself into the back of a truck.  You can see how impressed they were.

   

We are helping these two sisters to get PEF.  We visited the school that they wanted to attend, and we also visited a Zambia Nurses Association to verify that the course they want to take will lead to a job.  The man on our left is our self-reliance manager from Zimbabwe, Kasnos Paradzai.   He is great guy and really gives us hope that the Zambian and Malawian people can be self reliant someday. 

  

We spend a lot of time with these two great guys.  They are the Self-Reliance Specialists here in Lusaka.  On the left, Jackson Phiri, he has a wife, Catherine,and little boy, Zikholo.  The one on the right is Davis Munkondia- he's not married, but wants to be!  They both just found new flats to move into so Sister Salmon bought them pillows and made them pillow cases.  They loved them.

 This is what we found in the refrigerator of a pair of Elders during our flat inspection this month- chicken feet and whatever.  As you can see sister Salmon was not having it.   We  told them to clean the fridge and stove, and we would be back the next day to check again!!!!     We returned the next day and it looked pretty good. I'm pretty sure they hurried and ate the chicken feet.

 This was a Mission Leadership Council.  We had a BBQ  afterward and Sister Salmon and Groesbeck did a great job.  They made a lot of food.

 This was a Self Reliance meeting we held in the Copperbelt.  This picture doesn't do it justice, but it was dark....   The power went out and we used our phones for the meeting.   The flash on the camera worked too good.

Okay, this is a radio station that one of the members arranged to be a guest on and talk about the Self Reliance program and Especially For Youth principles. They do it twice a week and people call in and ask questions.  Pretty Cool. 

 Just a fun picture of a guy hauling a bunch of pigs and another guy sitting in the back keeping control.

 Sister Salmon and I took some missionaries out for dinner.  They loved it and so did we. Wallet, not so much!

 This is a great story.  In the small village of Luwande, Malawi this small group of members meets together.  They are not a ward or a branch because they don't meet all the requirements yet.  About 50 or so wanted to be baptized but only about 25 could answer all the questions correctly.  Our dear friends, the Hull's, on the far left are like family to us here.  Elder Hull is the1st councilor in the Mission Presidency and he had the challenge of interviewing all of them for baptism.  The  Hull's do a great job here.  They are amazing people!!!

 Part of our assignment is vehicle coordinator.   I swear we are solving issues every week.  This is the Assistant's truck.  A drunk driver was coming at them head on and they had to go off the road to avoid a serious accident and turned the truck over.  They were okay- no injuries.   

 This is car that some sisters side-swiped in the parking lot.  We had to settle it with the owner.  He took 500 kwacha, which is about 50 US dollars.   I gave him the money and ran....

More Mission leadership meetings and food.   Sister Salmon and Sister Groesbeck never stop cooking.

Our lesson in Relief Society today started with this quote from President Howard W Hunter.
"The supreme achievement of life is to find God and to know that He lives."

Sounds pretty simple, doesn't it?  But when we know that, it changes everything.  He goes on to say,

"There comes a time when we understand the principles of our creation and who we are.  Suddenly these things are illuminated to us and the cords of our hearts do vibrate.  This is the time when testimony enters into our very souls and we know beyond a question of a doubt that God is our father--- that he lives, that he is a reality, that we are literally his children."

I love this!