PRESSING FORWARD

There is no stopping someone that loves golf this much.  Somehow he is able to squeeze it in occasionally and there's no problem finding a golfing buddy.

Birthday Cake- Brother Noel

 Birthday Cake- Brother Jackson Phiri

This is a pretty common sight in the villages, not so much in the city though.. This young girl is responsible for her baby sister all day, probably while her  mom is at work.  Pretty incredible. Imagine your 6 or 7 year old in charge of your 6 or 7 month old- all day.

Elder Etiang was born with these beautiful blue eyes- so unusual but so cool! The Zambians are a little freaked out by it but I think it's awesome.

This little guy is less than 24 hours old.  He belongs to one of our guards.  Father and son are both named Daniel.  We gave them a ride home from the hospital, otherwise they would have had to take public transportation.  Baby Daniel is wrapped up in two big blankets and a winter hat.  It was about 80 degrees outside.  Another very common thing to see that I don't understand.

Part of the fish raising business included adding pig manure to the water.  As you can tell, it was not a pleasant experience.  I had to steer clear of this portion of the process.

Bagging it up and getting it ready to add to the tanks.

No one enjoyed it.

Finally it was time to pick up the baby fish.  We brought home around 2000 fingerlings.

I'm not quite sure how they counted them.  How do you count out 500 (in each bag) swimming fish?

Anyway, we finally got them into the tanks and now we hope and pray that they live to adulthood.  It's kind of scary when someones livelihood depends upon it and we don't really know what we're doing.  Elder Salmon will try just about anything.  Nothing scares him!

We spent half a day with these three characters who came to Lusaka from the Copper Belt  to go to immigration.  There are so many rules involved with immigration between Zambia and Malawi I can't keep it straight.  It's so complicated  the church hires a member here to take care of it.  If the missionaries are under 21 they have to go to immigration every six months or something like that.  If they are over 21 the rules are not as strict and if you're really old like we are, they barely notice that we're here.  These elders made a 6-8 hour bus ride (depending on how fast their bus is) to Lusaka the night before and we had to get them to immigration and back on a bus home the very next day.  This picture was taken at the bus station.  But like most bus stations, it's not a great place to hang out.

As we were waiting for the Elders to buy their bus tickets we noticed this big lump wrapped up in a dirty blanket right in front of our car and I said, "Craig, that looks like a body- do you think there's a body in there."  And he said, " It sure looks like it. Why don't you go look and see.  Take a picture."

Needless to say, I didn't but he did. No idea if it was dead or alive.  Only at the bus station................!

Luckily we had time for a trip to KFC before they had to head home.  I was never a big fan of KFC at home but sometimes it sure tastes like home out here. 

Elder Zimene had 4 pieces of chicken and this is all that was left- I'm talking bones and all.

We had a special Zone meeting with one of our area presidency and his wife, Elder and Sister Ellis.  They came to tour the mission with President and Sister Kupu.  This is just the Lusaka Zone.

I finally got a hold of all the right ingredients and made a couple of batches of caramels.  They have been a big hit with nearly everyone.  I don't have a candy thermometer so I had to resort to the ice water test and it works great. There are some Americans here who are members of the church that work at the US Embassy.  They have a commissary where they can get corn syrup.  There is no corn syrup in any of the stores here in Lusaka (among a great many other things).  If I give them caramels they get me Karo Syrup.  Fair trade.

Another p-day activity with the Elders.  Most of the African Elders don't know how to play basketball but they are learning.  There are several courts around town so I think it must be catching on.

Just down the street from where we live there is some kind of construction going on behind these walls and there's always a bunch of men hanging around hoping for work.  I don't really know what kind of building is going up- I've never been able to see behind the barriers.

Elder Ford from the UK has gone home now but the day he left he was waiting around at the mission office and we noticed the bottom of his shoe.  There was a hole worn all the way through to his sock.  Now that's a hard working missionary.

Somehow I got elected to do the missionary immunizations.  I have only

done insulin shots which are much different.  On top of that there was no electricity the night I had to do this one.  I'm pretty good at it now- even in the dark.

Craig has also helped some young return missionaries start their own security business they are calling Ocean Eyes.  Security is big business here in Africa.  Most businesses and many private residences, including ours, have security guards.  The guards don't make a whole lot but if you own the business you can become self-reliant.  And that is the goal.  This is their logo.

They are taking it very serious and are doing a good job.

This was a long one and I hope I haven't bored you but I have to end with my monthly quote.  This is by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland from the Ensign, Jan 2003.

"However dim our days may seem, they have been a lot darker for the Savior of the world.  As a reminder of those days, Jesus has chosen, even in a resurrected. otherwise perfected body, to retain for the benefit of His disciples the wounds in His hands and in His feet and in His side- signs, if you will, that painful things happen even to the pure and the perfect; signs, if you will, that pain in this world is not evidence that God doesn't love you; signs, if you will, that problems pass and happiness can be ours.  Remind others that it is the wounded Christ who is the Captain of our souls, He who yet bears the scars of our forgiveness, the lesions of His love and humility, the torn flesh of obedience and sacrifice.

"These wounds are the principle way we are to recognize Him when He comes.  He may invite us forward, as He has invited others, to see and to feel those marks.  If not before, then surely at that time we will remember with Isaiah that it was for us that a God was 'despised and rejected...; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief,' that 'he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed' (Isa. 53:3,5)".

WE'RE HALF WAY THROUGH

There's a new church going up behind these gates.  Hopefully it will be done before we come home.

This is what it looks like so far.  Everything is made of that cinder block- everything!  I've never seen a stick of wood in any construction here.

Elder Salmon has taken on a new project.  We are getting into the fish business- not salmon, though.  It's  called bream and he is hoping to make a successful business of it.  The little fingerlings will go into these inverted water tanks for several months until they are big enough to eat.  Then they will sell like crazy.  That's the plan- to help some members to become self-reliant.

I'm not sure if they have ever used a power tool before but they had a great time and learned a lot.

This is what bream look like.  At least I think that's bream.  I did taste it and it was good, but after learning how they are raised and what they eat (pig manure) I'm not sure I will be partaking of it again.

These kids were having a ball in this old wheelbarrow.  Don't mind the garbage but it's the only place to play.

The  missionaries threw a ward party in the Matero Ward and they did most of the work- with a little help from the members and senior missionaries.  But they did most of the cooking and decorations and it was great.  That is the biggest pot of rice I have ever seen.  It fed about 100 people.  The theme of the party was temple work and family history,

Ready to serve it up.

Another district activity,  There are only 2 elders in our district and 6 sisters.

Just having a little heart to heart with Sister Awusu-Afriye. 

Just doing some flat inspections in Malawi. I hate being the bad guy but some of those missionary flats are so dirty I could not live in them or near them.  We had to tell them recently that if we had to send someone in to clean, it was coming out of their pockets. Hopefully it doesn't come to that.

We came across these makeshift weights at one of the Elders flat and it turned into a competition.  I have no idea how much it weighed- maybe 100 pounds.  This is Elder Mabe.

  

Elder Tshabalala

Elder Salmon- who started the whole thing.

And the winner, Elder Lewis!

We visited the farm of one of the members who completed the 9 month program at SAFI (the program run by NuSkin).  He is doing great putting into practice what he learned there.

He insisted that we get into the pen with his cow- why, I don't know.  But that cow did not like us in there and she started snorting and throwing her head.  I thought she was going to charge us for sure and I didn't stay in there long enough to find out.

He was pretty proud of his land and his crops.  He has made some big plans and I sure hope he is able to make it all happen.  One big problem is that he lives so far from the church now that he can only make it there if he can afford to pay for transport.  Transport is always a problem here in Malawi and also in Zambia.  If the members don't have money for transport then they have to walk and sometimes that is a great distance.

Zambia had elections this past week and we  noticed all this barbed wire was installed along the main road through Lusaka.  The missionaries have also been told to stay home for a few days until they announce who the winner is and life goes back to normal.  We have been out and around and not had any trouble at all.  Most people here love talking about American politics.  They really want to know if Donald Trump is going to be our next president and then they laugh.




I came across this quote by President Monson that I love.  I have been using it when talking to the members about having a desire to be self- reliant.
"Should there be anyone who feels he is too weak to change the onward and downward course of his life, or should there be those who fail to resolve to do better because of that greatest of fears- the fear of failure- there is no more comforting assurance to be had than these words of the Lord:
"My grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them" (Ether 12:27).
Miracles are everywhere to be found when priesthood callings are magnified, when faith replaces doubt, when selfless service eliminates selfish striving, the power of God brings to pass His purposes" (Ensign November 1999).

WINTER, BUT NO SNOW

It's been too long since  my last blog but time is flying by.  I love to go teaching with the sisters.  They are amazing teachers and I'm learning so much from them.  We've been teaching a young man who just cannot make the decision to be baptized.  I'm still working on that patience thing.

After seeing so many of these carts being pulled by cows, Craig just had to stop and ask if he could give it a try.  It's  like going back in time about 100 years or so.

At first the man so said no but money talks very loudly.  In the end he didn't want the money.  How can you say no to a guy in a white shirt, a tie and a missionary tag who wants to ride in your wagon?  You can't.

This is Elder Tayembi from Congo.  His first language is French and he had to learn English when he came to Zambia.  He goes home next week knowing English very well.  BYU allows the missionaries to take an English proficiency test free of charge and they get a certificate if they pass. Elder Tayembi is pretty proud of that certificate.  He's hoping it will help him get a job when he goes home.

Noel Nkausu is a man in our ward who is blind.  He is quite a character- he loves to talk and says he would love to be a motivational speaker.  We sometimes have to remind him to let other people have a chance to comment in Sunday School and Priesthood meeting.  He always wants me to take notes for him at various meetings.  I'm not quite sure what he does with them.  Once we drove him home from church with him giving us directions.  It was pretty crazy but we finally found our way to his house.

Right across the street from where we live is the Jesus Worship Center.  There is some rockin' music coming from there all day on Sunday.  Just like going to a concert.

We took the Sister Training Leaders to lunch in Lusaka.  Sister Arok (in the middle) is from South Sudan but left there when her mother was pregnant with her.  There was a civil war going on and she ended up in a refugee camp in Kenya where Sister Arok was born.  They were then added to a list of refugees chosen to come to the United States when she was about 8 years old.  They ended up in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Sister Arok joined the church when she was a young woman and her mother joined eventually also.  Her father is still in South Sudan.  She ran track for BYU and then decided to serve a mission.

A common business in Lusaka and all of Zambia- a small fruit stand, usually the only source of income.  There is one on every corner and everywhere in between all selling the same things.

We helped some members move from one tiny house to an even smaller one.  Their rent was raised from $50 to $65 a month which they couldn't afford.

My sister, Maggie and her husband, Larry came to visit us and we took some time to do some fun things with them.  They flew into Lusaka and then we drove to Livingston and stayed for a few days.  We went on a safari across the border in Botswana, saw Victoria Falls, zip- lined across the gorge  and went on an elephant ride.  It was awesome!

We didn't see any zebra on our safari, but low and behold they were just wandering around by our hotel.  Only in Africa.

 

So much fun.

Another Baobab tree.  We were told that this tree is hundreds of years old.

Remember this guy?  Noel, the blind guy.  He really took a liking to Larry, holding his hand and talking his ear off.  So funny but Larry was very patient and kind to him.  I think they got a good idea of what life is like here in Zambia.

Another birthday- Sister Aidoo

We have a new mission president.  President and Sister Kupu are from Tonga and they have also brought their 17 year old son with them.

We went back to the crocodile farm with a couple of the districts for an activity.  We took the tour, played some soccer and had lunch.  I think everyone had a great time.

This is 2 million Malawi kwacha which is about $2800.  Crazy!!!!

I couldn't believe it when I saw this sign of St. Eugene.  Doesn't it usually take a hundred years or so to become a saint?  Looks like Craig's dad did it in only eight years.  Unbelievable.

Doctrine & Covenants 104:15-17

"And it is my purpose to provide for my saints, for all things are mine.
But it must needs be in mine own way; and behold this is the way that I, the Lord, have decreed to provide for my saints, that the poor shall be exalted, in that the rich are made low.
For the earth is full, and there is enough and to spare; yea, I prepared all things, and have given unto the children of men to be agents unto themselves."

This scripture says a whole lot in just a few words.  We use it all the time in teaching the principles of self-reliance.
What does it mean to you when it says : "that the poor shall be exalted, in that the rich are made low"?