Hal and Janis

  Certainly can't leave without a few more challenges. A couple of days ago I noticed a little water on the bathroom floor...nothing big...but I did mention it to Hal. Well, within a couple of days the water was becoming a little more serious so Hal put some buckets to catch the drips from the geezer outside, thinking it was the geezer that was  leaking too much. When we woke up to water ALL over we decided it was more than just the geezer. Used towels to mop up the excess water but it was coming in almost as fast as I could keep wringing out towels. Oreen had asked if she could do some work for us so today was the day we had arranged for her to come and help me with some deep cleaning that I haven't been able to get to. I did not go to the office. She was a life saver! She helped with the water issues besides getting into corners and got the house clean so we will feel better about leaving. I didn't like asking her to clean because she already works too hard I believe. I i...

What a week! We said farewell to some amazing, wonderful missionaries this week: Elder LeBaron (Utah), Elder Kent (Utah), Elder Juhasz (Washington), Elder Vilane (Eswatini), Elder Djanie (Ghana), Sister Johnson (Nampa, Idaho), Sister Wilkinson, (Utah), Sister Graff (Arizona), Sister Hatch (Idaho Falls, Idaho), and Sister Mangena (Zimbabwe). What memories we have made with all of them! They will be a light wherever they go...    Sister Johnson can sing!!! Wow!! She is always so happy and bubbly! And Sister Mangena has an amazing testimony. The only member of the church from her family and pretty much disowned is now seeing receptiveness and welcoming arms home. So grateful for all we have learned from her!! Another bubbly bubble!! Sister Wilkinson always can see the good in all situations and has a knack for pulling out gospel lessons from things she sees on a daily basis! Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures of all of the out going missionaries. It was only a little bit busy h...

  Not sure how we got so lucky to have to deal with TWO audits in one year, but we did! The first audit was with these two lovely ladies, Sister Faith and Sister Mapanene, from South Africa. This audit was mostly for expenses with the previous Financial Secretary. It is always a little cloak and dagger, seek and find adventure! It was not nearly as painful as the one we had last week! This one was very time consuming, hunting in folders and online for the correct documents and receipts. Hal was given two very lengthy documents online to fill in. There are five apple size boxes full of folders containing envelops full of receipts, etc. and two file cabinet drawers. Doesn’t seem like much as I write this but it took forever going through them to find what we needed!! A week ago I invited the maids here at our apartment complex to have lunch with me. There are three of them. Of course they could only come during their lunch break and that didn’t happen all at the same time. Carol was ...

 This is an incredible lady!! Her name is Soka Banda.  I have seen this lady a lot over the past few weeks. A couple of weeks ago in Relief Society she was making wonderful comments and her contributions were so beautiful. The discussion that day was about the Book of Mormon and how we can share it with friends and neighbors. She was quoting scripture from both the Bible and the Book of Mormon.  After the meeting I learned that she was NOT a member of the church! I was so surprised!!  Today she, along with her two daughters, Grace and Precious, were baptized! After her baptism when she had changed back into her church clothes she walked out into the hallway. I walked over to her and she had tears in her eyes but had the biggest smile on her face!! She said, “This feels SOOO good!”                                         She lives very far from the church. It is a ...

Quentin L. Cook came to Lusaka on 22 February 2023 where he held a member devotional and a missionary conference. The missionaries have been busy contacting people and distributing 10,000 of these little cards inviting as many people as they could. Emmanuel was at least one of the ones that walked for 1 1/2 hours to come to this meeting!!                                       It was a full house but not as many as was hoped. Some one told us there was about 500 in attendance but it was hoped there would have been 1000 or more. This picture was taken after the devotional. One thing I really enjoy about these people is how they love being together...all smiles and hugs! They tend to linger longer even when there is no Linger Longer! Besides, the Spirit was so strong I simply think no one wanted it to end!! Less than five minutes before the meeting was suppose to begin, President Lumbama came fro...

Emmanuel Banda has been investigating the church for over a year. He has gone through quite a few sets of missionaries. There have been challenges teaching him because he does not speak English very well, but his testimony is genuine.   Sister Johnson and Sister Manning would meet Emmanuel at the mission office and invite me to sit in on the lessons. That has been a real treat!  Later, Sister Soko and Sister Johnson continued to teach him. I always was impressed when a scripture was brought up that Emmanuel was impressed with. He would hurry and put a piece of paper in the Book of Mormon, marking the place. One in particular was when he met with the missionaries shortly after his father passed away. The scripture that brought him a lot of comfort was Alma 40:11 “…  as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life.” He really liked that verse and was anxious to share...

Our family continues to grow! We are now up to 114 missionaries. We started out at about 80. We have met young men and young women from 19 countries and 10 states. This group arrived on 1 February 2023. It is always a delight to meet them and to see their enthusiasm to begin their labors. Once in awhile we see a deer in the headlight look on their faces, but mostly it is simply excitement for this new adventure! Let me introduce you to these new missionaries:                       Sister Kamanura from Zimbabwe.           Elder Larkin from Meridian, Idaho but                                                                                                    ...