Hal and Janis

    The front and the back of one of the missionary flats. There washing machine is to the left of the door. We had an unusual circumstance this past week with a set of Sister Missionaries. They are two white sister missionaries. They had just come out of their gate when a car with two men pulled up and started talking to them. This, in itself, is not unusual. Missionaries always stop and talk to as many as they can. However, the men soon began saying some crude and threatening comments and made the sisters extremely uncomfortable. They quickly walked away with the comment, "I'll be back for you!" ringing in their ears. Three problems:      *The men knew where the sister's lived.      *The electric wiring running along the top of the fence was broken.      *The sisters do not have any neighbors. They live alone in this big two story house.     The Sister's reported the incident to their Zone Leaders. He in turn called us (...

  What a relief!!! Some of these missionaries have been waiting for up to 8 months to get their "Temporary Permit" cards.  If they had been pulled over by a policeman they could have ended up in jail!!! This has been a huge challenge for the mission! Obtaining these permit cards which also includes a stamp in their passports, is a very long, drawn out, complicated process which involves a whole lot of waiting on the government!  Hmmmm... We have certain vendors who work with us but they take as long to do something as the government itself! * Court Report Orders - have to be extended every month if the Approval Letter has not been given. This requires a visit to the Immigration office. * eReceipts - these show if a payment for a permit has been paid but it can still take months for the approval letter. * Approval Letters - These grant permission to go to the Immigration office to obtain the permit * Immigration office - the missionaries arrive at 6:00 AM to stand in a...

  When the missionaries met Brian he was “golden” from the start!! He eagerly read every pamphlet but when they gave him a Book of Mormon that was when his learning truly began!! Including English! He has not missed coming to church for the past three months. He is eager to learn! The native languages are  Nyanja and Bemba,  even though English is consider the primary language in Zambia. When an individual seriously begins reading the Book of Mormon the mastery of English jumps exponentially! I have heard this from so many missionaries and Brian is no exception! One of the pamphlets the missionaries, Elder Taylor and Elder Fronk, gave Brian was “My Family.” Within one week Brian had completely filled it out including stories! This is quite incredible because records are not kept well in Africa, as a whole. So most family history has to be passed from one generation to another by word of mouth. This week the missionaries invited Elder Phelps and I to attend a discussion wi...

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...