Hal and Janis

This is Jennifer. She is 13 and is ALWAYS smiling!! She is so excited to learn how to play the piano! This was the first time she had ever sat at a piano. Since she goes to school we had to make arrangements to do the lessons on Saturday morning. (That's our P-Day but if she will stick with it, it will be well worth the sacrifice)!! This is Starfel. She is 18 and hoping to serve a mission soon. Both girls are very bright and eager to learn! The girls have to walk about one hour to come to the mission office to have their lessons.                                                  Elder Kasozi, an amazing missionary from Uganda, wants to be able to play the piano for his ward when he goes back home. He found a copy of  the "Keyboard Course" that the church puts out, so he knew a few things before I started giving him instructions. He chose to learn "Away In A Ma...

Talk time, air time or top up, airtel money, and data! Disclaimer...this may not be the most fascinating post but in our work we deal with Airtel nearly daily so it is important that we document this part. The following explanation gives an idea of how convoluted this business is. It's almost as if they are trying to see how confusing they can make the phone service!! The service is not too bad but loading it and paying for it is somewhat complicated.  You go into one of the Airtel stores or booths which there are a zillion of them here and you either buy Airtime, Talk time, or Data. If you buy airtime, which they call top up, then you can walk away and later plug in some airtel numbers and decide upon a plan for data or talk time minutes that you would like. Or you can just ask them to put on the talk time and the data for you while you are there.   For the missionaries each month we are able to buy K350 (about $21) for each Missionary phone. They in turn can then enter in ai...

  These women attended the Ceremony and really got into their dancing and singing. I asked them if I could take their picture and they were more than happy to oblige!! This Handover Ceremony was for a medical facility, particularly for women. We were told that women in labor would sometimes have to walk up to two hours to get to the clinic to deliver their babies...if they made it at all. I can't imagine walking for two hours while in labor!!! Not only that but they were delivering babies in tents or buildings like the pictures below: These tents and the building were on the same property and just steps away from the new building. I believe they will continue to use them as needed. While we were there, medical staff all dressed in uniforms, were in the tent surrounding a table that was strewn with papers.                  This is the new facility and h ere some of the people have gathered for the celebration. The man in the middle was th...

  This man is who I fear more than anyone or anything else since coming to Zambia. He is not mentally well. He has this obsession with following me wherever I go when we are at church. When we first got here, Bernard only attended one ward, now he attends both wards, back to back, the same as Hal and I. At first he wanted to sit right next to me but that was put to a halt the first day, thank goodness! I always make sure I sit right next to the wall and Hal sits right next to me when we are in Sunday School or when I go to Relief Society I make sure there are sisters sitting on both sides of me if I can’t sit next to the wall. Also, it is fortunate that I play the piano every Sunday. However, it is nerve racking because he is always staring at me. Sometimes he will move benches so I am in direct line of his vision. One Sunday, he came into Relief Society. I immediately got up and walked out a different door! Hal seems to be the only member of the ward who can get him to do anythin...

These pictures don't really portray how many students were here!!! The chairs eventually all filled up!   Before and after... This was taken on our first trip to the school, before the project was completed and an after the project was completed picture. Everything had been repaired and painted nicely. Whenever a Humanitarian project is completed a "Handover Ceremony" takes place where the church steps out and the community is given charge going forward.                                     I know some of these pictures are repeat pictures but I wanted to be able to see before and after side by side. A few weeks ago we drove around with Elder and Sister Pease and visited a site where the church was helping the community with a school project. This particular project consisted of 5 Classroom blocks and flushing toilets. They also helped to repair a roof that had been damaged by wind earlier...

We live in an "yard" as it is called here, that has 5 apartments and a small house in it. Everyone is very nice and always greets us with smiles and "hello," but we really didn't know anyone. We decided to host a backyard barbeque. As you can see my invitation was VERY creative and professionally made!!!   The grill we used had been built for the Hale's (previous missionaries here). When they left, the grill stayed of course. It was made out of a barrel cut in half, but sure provided a lot of grilling space! It was great!! Mr. Suresh Babu and his wife, Usha Suresh are from India. They have been in Zambia for many years (maybe 15 to 20, I can't remember exactly). At one point in the evening I said, "Someone is missing." I proceeded to explain who I thought it was and Mrs. Suresh said, "Oh that is the maid. Don't you have a maid? You do everything yourself??" Yep, I do everything myself...with the help of Elder Phelps, of course!! T...