Hello and good morning!

We had a good week. On Friday Elder Minch and I went to one of our investigator's (Donald Manjimela) and helped him in his garden. He was growing okra, maize, and paprika. We helped him spread fertilizer and do some other things. He was really glad we helped him out, even though he probably could have done the work that we did in half the time. What can I say, I really haven't had a whole lot of experience in gardening. He really is a good man. He and another sister we are teaching should be baptized on March 11.

This past week there hasn't been a lot of rain. Just a lot of sunshine. Rainy season won't be over for about another month or so, but it's starting to slow down so it's been hot hot hot recently. At DDM last tuesday, the zone leaders really emphasized contacting people. Elder Minch and I haven't been too good about that in the past. Most of the time we are in a rush to get to our next appt so we don't have a whole lot of time to stop and talk to people about the gospel. So we resolved to make our appts further apart and really try to open our mouths more. We were told to try to get 20 contacts per day (by the way, dad, I think that's another reason we don't have bikes: you can't contact), even though in this past transfer the most we ever got in a whole week was 40. So between tues and sunday we ended up getting 101 contacts! It really isn't that hard, but we just hadn't even made an effort before. We will continue to do that in the future as well because the message we have really is important! And people do need to hear it so we should make use of every opportunity to share it. Unfortunately, even though probably 85 of the contacts said they would meet us at church on Sunday, none of them showed up. That part is a bit frustrating. You can't really trust anyone, because everyone is too nice to tell you if they aren't going to come. But, we've been told that if we have the courage to open our mouths, we will be blessed; not necessarily that the people we contact will progress but the rest of the work will have more success. So that is what we will do.

Yesterday (Sunday) was my second baptism on mission so far. Sister Jessy Kabonso and Brother Isaac Mulinga were baptized in our above ground pool at the church. The water was greenish in color, but hey--this is Africa! The tap water isn't very clean. Bro Kabonso was able to baptize his wife (cool!) and Branch Pres Kapata baptized Isaac. Sis K was so excited afterward. District Pres Kapata invited them over for family home evening tonight and she was really excited about that as well. The Kabonso's oldest child will be 8 in December and they were telling us how they are going to help him to learn english faster so he can be baptized then! It's so cool to see people embrace the gospel like that. Being a missionary is really great. I love it so much. Zambia is excellent! The Copperbelt is fantastic! The gospel is even better! See you next week!

love from,
Elder Mckay Joseph Moline

P.S. My Bemba is steadily getting better panono panono ("little by litte").

P.P.S. I'm two months old now! Yikes!

P.P.P.S. Thanks so much for the package! By the way, Zambia is a lot nicer than Zimbabwe, in that we have access to toothpaste, stick deodorant, and all manner of luxury items including cheese and pickles. If/when I go to Zim, I might need that kind of stuff, but for now don't worry about it, haha. I have enough toothpaste and deodorant to last me for quite a while.