Hal and Janis

    It is amazing how some people can claim a piece of your heart in a very short period of time!! We said farewell to a much loved mission President and his wife today, President and Sister Whiting! They are spiritual giants and the most fun loving, down to earth people I think I have ever met. They have been great mentors since we have been here. We will miss them immensely!! They will bless the lives of everyone wherever they are! It’s been kind of a rough day.

   We had the opportunity to go see one of the Seven Wonders of the World: Victoria Falls. Don't let this sign deceive you, however. The top arrow is really not one of the Seven Wonders but the name of the person who founded the town of Livingstone, Zambia, where Victoria Falls is located.   Words cannot really express the power and majesty of this amazing piece of God's creations.  The falls drop 350 feet (that is twice the fall of Niagara Falls). The splash from the falls is so significant that it rains constantly near the falls, making in a true rain forest. The falls stretch for about one mile across the top.    You can’t actually see the bottom of the falls because of the thick mist and rain. We walked down a path made made of flat rock. There were a few places that allowed for viewing the falls more clearly.  At one point a bridge spanned the gorge below.. It was a very sturdy bridge (no sway) with side rails (more like a fence) to hang onto. And the only way to cross is

    Elder Phelps needed to have the name changed on the account for the phone company, Airtel. It had been in Elder Hales name but since he left it needed to be changed to Elder Phelps. The people at Airtel said that it required an affidavit from the police station along with his passport. So Elder Phelps had quite the adventure going to the police station. It was a 15 minute drive: He went through some trees. Soon the broken up road started to get more narrow. There were big chucks of asphalt missing and large holes.  He thought, "No way is there a police station here!" Soon there were no houses...just trees. He kept creeping along since the road was so bad and eventually the road ended!! That is when he saw the sign that said, "POLICE" with an arrow pointing the direction!  Elder Phelps went through a grassy area where he passed an old broken down van with missing tires. Then he came to a shack, thinking that maybe someone lived there. He was a little nervous abou

    While at Victoria Falls this past week, we went down a very steep path to the river below the falls. It actually was a very long set of steps made from flat rock. The sign at the top said the average person could go down in about 15 minutes and coming up would take about 30 minutes. There were literally hundreds of baboons running all around!!! At one point a baboon was sitting directly in the path. He seemed not to be paying any attention to the people. When Sister Pease tried to slip passed it, he suddenly reached out and tried to grab the bag she was carrying. The bag held their passports, money and other valuable documents needed for traveling. Fortunately, it was securely around her neck so he couldn't get it. Baboons can be very fast. The Pease had been told previously that if they held up a sling shot the baboons would just run away. They were prepared with their "weapon." Sure enough, as soon as Sister Pease pulled out the sling shot the baboons scattered like

Today we were asked by Elder and Sister Pease, the Humanitarian couple serving in our mission to attend a Handover Ceremony. They told us that we wouldn't have to do anything. We were just representatives for the Church. What they didn't tell us is that we would be sitting up front with all the government dignitaries and President Lumbama, the stake president. This particular project was to assist the Lusaka Youth Resource Center, a technical school. The church provided funding for a bakery. The building (about 25 x 30 feet) and equipment for teaching and training students in culinary skills. Equipment included a 3 deck oven, 20 liter dough mixer, 7 shelf bread trolley, double door fridge, steel table, 2 pie warmers, wrapping machine, 3 plate cooker, and all the materials so students at the school could install the electrical and plumbing components.  The center also teaches electrical, welding, computer, and sewing skills.                                                      T

This is Charity Mwango. In Relief Society Charity bore her testimony of paying tithing and temple attendance. With her permission I would like to share her story here. Charity was quite young when her husband passed away.  When she learned of eternal families from the missionaries later in her life, her interest spiked and she soon joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  When she learned about tithing she knew it was something she should do so she began paying her tithing. Charity really wanted to go to the temple and be sealed to her late husband but the temple was so far away and she didn't have money to spare.  The closest temple was in Johannesburg, South Africa, some 800 miles away! Even though she had a pretty good job working for the government, it was mostly hand to mouth, day to day...meaning what she barely made enough to meet her expenses each day. After some time, Charity felt impressed to take a 60 day leave of absence from her job. This meant no money

  Today a gentleman from the postal service tried to deliver this pile of letters. One problem...many of the missionaries had already returned home!!! One letter had a postmark of April 2021 !! We only accepted the ones that we had missionaries currently serving. Most, if not all, were Christmas cards. We directed him to return the other letters to sender. I said to the man, "You were supposed to call us when you had items to deliver. Why didn't you do that?"  I realized this was a different postman than I had talked to previously. And then I learned that there are 10 post offices in the area! And definitely not a method of delivery! Delivery service is quite random!! Not an everyday service like we are used to. We also had to pay additional money. So when a family is directed that mailing packages to missionaries is not really wise, there is probably good reason for that! We always have to pay additional money on this end. It's the thought that counts, right?

This is a Malawian Newspaper dated just a few days ago. I wish the article could be read. So far we have been fortunate not to lose power much. The first time the power went off was while I was blow drying my hair. Consequently, I went over a month with trying to get my hair dried and fixed before we flew out the door to go to the office. Not easy! The missionaries in Malawi have not been so fortunate!! Because of extensive damage to power stations due to a severe storm last year, the citizens there have to tolerate “load sharing.” Power is on only certain times during the day. It is off more than it is on. At least one set of missionaries have told us that they only have power about 9 hours during the day and not all at the same time! They have power from 10 at night to 2 in the morning and then from 2 in the afternoon to about 4 or 5 in the evening. Kind of a challenge to be a missionary with those hours to work with!! Elder Phelps has been working with the other Senior couple in Mal

 We've noticed a wide variety of merchandise that includes "ZAM..." We wondered if they are simply extremely proud of their country or they don't have a lot of imagination. I would like to think they are proud of their country. Here are a few:    Naturally being in a warm climate, we have to keep the flour in the refrigerator. I'm not sure how the people would keep good and clean food storage. All juice is actually a juice blend and not very tasty.    Notice the "Full Cream." There is no such thing as 2% milk or 1% but you can purchase "fermented milk." The bread here is delicious and very affordable. A loaf of bread costs less than $1. But don't buy anything from the deli! Hal finally succumbed to the fact that he will not buy any more from the deli. He tried a Red Velvet Cake that tasted like cardboard. Actually, I don't think they use much sugar in their cooking...which is not all bad. We tried a couple of salads and they were simply