Hello everyone!

Well, his week has been an exciting one! Last Monday, I made chocolate chip cookies again (even better than the first time). On Wednesday, we had my first regular zone conference here in the Copperbelt. The last one was a special one in Lusaka with Elder Golden. The ZC was at the Swan's house in Luanshya. It was really good to see President and Sister Bester again. Pres Bester is such a great man! He is always cracking jokes and everyone just loves being around him. He spoke about the celestial kingdom this time and the attributes of people who will be there etc. It was really good and I learned a lot that I didn't know before. Also, the Africa Southeast Area medical advisor and his wife (Elder and Sister Thomas) came and spoke to us for a bit about health and medical care, which was good.

Wednesday night after we arrived back in Kitwe, we got a phone call from Elder Carruth saying that Elder Minch was being transferred to Blantyre, Malawi to be a district leader! There are only 8 missionaries in Malawi so that's pretty cool. He has been dodging Zimbabwe for his entire mission so far so he thought for sure he would be going somewhere in Zim, but I guess not. Three of the six other Copperbelt missionaries are also leaving. Half the zone is being replaced! So my new companion should be here on Wednesday. His name is Elder Collins and he is a colored (half black, half muzungu) from somewhere in the States. I hear that he is a good elder. It will be strange being with someone besides Elder Minch all of the time, but I'm sure I'll get used to it soon enough. Elder Minch really was a good trainer. He taught me a lot about working smart and hard and having fun at the same time.

Yesterday was really a great day at church. Elder Minch gave a talk in sacrament meeting and a sort of farewell speech. He's been here for 6 months now so it's difficult for him to leave. The whole branch took a picture together afterward. It was really cool! Also, 3 of our 4 investigators with a baptismal date came to church (Justin Kasanda, Loveness, and Donald). We don't have any idea why Alexander missed, but hopefully we'll be able to find him tomorrow and ask him. The three who did come to church are progressing very well. Two additional people that we contacted throughout the week also came to church, which was cool. They were both very interested in everything that was taught. I never really thought that our contacting during the week would ever amount to anything, but they are starting to turn into new investigators after all! It just shows how blessings come after diligence. After church, Elder Minch and I visited the Kabonso family and Phiri family for Minch's last time. He almost cried as we were leaving. Man, I'm glad I'm not leaving now. I've only been here for 3 months; I can imagine how hard it is after a longer time.

Well, as always thank you sooo much for your prayers and love. I know that this is God's work and that the message I am spreading is 100% truth!
LOVE,
Elder Moline

P.S. No, we don't get General Conference here in Zambia, so we have to wait until we get the Liahona/Ensign in a few months, and then the DVDs some months after that. Yep, sad, I know.

P.P.S. No, I haven't received the pictures yet. I'll let you know.

P.P.P.S. I received the attachments of the PoS, but I didn't have time to open them, and I don't have time now either, so I will try next week and tell you. ok?

3-19-07

Dear everyone,

First things first: HAPPY 14TH BIRTHDAY MCKENZIE! I remembered about your birthday last week after we got back home on P-day, so I made you a card and sent it. Unfortunately I really have no idea when it will get to you. As always, the pouch/mail system is really irregular. So expect that in some weeks.

This week was really nice! We taught a lot more lessons than usual. 3 of our 4 investigators with baptismal dates came to church (Loveness Katongo, Alex Said, Donald Manjimela); much better than last week. Also this week we tracted into two new families and now they both have copies of the Book of Mormon. They're both involved in other churches which will be a stumblingblock for them, but they both seem to have interest in the message.

Elder Minch and I are doing really well together now. Week 6 of this transfer starts today and we will find out transfers on Wednesday at zone conference. We both expect that he will be leaving. He is almost 13 months old on mission and this is only his 2nd area! Ishi! Almost 6 months here. If he leaves, it will be a bit scary without him around, but I know that I'll be alright. It's so strange because the two of us are so different from each other, and apart from mission I probably would never have been friends with him, but the past 7 or 8 weeks we've just been having a lot of fun together. Even though we are different we've found out how to make missionary work fun.

Yesterday was a great day. District Pres Kapata spoke in sacrament meeting again. It's so great, Pres Kapata speaks with such power! He reminds me of a general authority speaking, ha ha. Yesterday was my first time playing our new keyboard at church. We just got it this week and it's nice! It can even play 57 different hymns by itself! It actually feels like a piano rather than a cheap electronic keyboard. Starting this Friday, I think I'll be teaching a weekly music/keyboard class at the church for people to learn how to play and lead simple hymns etc. It should be really nice. Any ideas, mom?

After church we took Brother Kabonso (who was baptized in Jan) to two lessons and he bore a great testimony about scripture study to Alex Said who will be baptized in April. He even said that after he received the Book of Mormon from the missionaries that he could hardly spend an hour without opening it up and reading from it. Wow, he is such a great man! He's so committed to his family and to the gospel.

We just got the March Ensign and New Era a few days ago. The New Era is really cool this month! A word of warning though: that "day in the life of a missionary" really wasn't too exciting. That's one thing that I've found out since I've been here in the field. You can't possible describe missionary life in just one day. Being a missionary is completely different from anything else you could ever experience. I had heard about mission life from people ever since I was small, but being a missionary is something you just can't describe even when you are actually in it. It's strange, but true. You give everything you have to the work, and you are constantly focusing your time and efforts on everyone around you. It's really something else.

Well, I love you all. As always, thank you so much for the prayers and support (and mail). I have a strong testimony that I have truly been called to build the kingdom of God here in Kitwe and that with His help I can in some small way prepare the world for when the Savior comes again!

Until next week,
Elder Moline

P.S. Mom, I haven't received the pictures yet, but I'm pretty sure I'll get them before I'm transferred, because I at least have another 6 weeks here in Kitwe.

P.P.S. Did you get that picture I emailed last week of me making dinner? Let me know if that worked or not. Twatotela (thanks).

March 12, 2007

Hello everyone!

This week wasn't all that bad, but it could have been better. We completely lost track of one of our good investigators for the whole week, which was frustrating, but we found him again yesterday so it's all good now. It's quite frustrating when someone we're teaching doesn't have a phone. Sometimes that's a big problem, but probably about half the people I've taught have cell phones so it isn't too bad. Even in the poor poor compound areas, lots of people have nice cell phones. Sort of odd, I think.

This past Wednesday, I did exchanges with Elder Blanco (AZ) here in Kitwe. It was my first time proselyting here without Elder Minch, but I think I did quite alright. It's a confusing area as far as streets and directions, but we were able to get around just fine. It rained really hard in the afternoon, and both of us had forgotten umbrellas that morning when we left the house, so we got soaked, but we saved our scriptures. That's all that matters, right?

Anyway, yesterday (sunday) at church wasn't all that great. We currently have 4 investigators with baptismal dates and ZERO of them showed up to church. They all had lame excuses. People just don't really understand what Sunday services are for. They think they are just an optional bible study class or something. So if anything out of the ordinary happens they won't come to church. This week Elder Minch and I are going to really emphasize how much of a priority going to church should be, especially because of the sacrament etc. Hopefully we will be able to help them to attend more regularly and understand its importance. We probably will have to push back their baptismal date, but we'll see. . .

Last night we tracted for the first time in a few weeks. We got into a house with a husband and wife and we taught a really good lesson to them! And guess what? They even fed us! It was only my 2nd time eating at someone else's house. We had nshima and scrambled eggs & tomatoes. Quite good actually. I am learning to like nshima! I made it a couple of weeks ago by myself at the house. Making it is quite a workout, actually.

Sorry this is so short, but there isn't a lot else to write except that being a missionary is GREAT!

I love you all!

Elder Moline

P.S. Saryn, the cookies that I made didn't end up anything like they do at home, but they were delicious. Here, they don't have any shortening (I had to use butter), or chocolate chips (I had to chop up some candy bars) so the cookies were really poofy. Oh well. I'm in Africa, I should be grateful I have enough money to buy all the stuff to make them. I won't have that privilege if I go to Zimbabwe!

March 5, 2007

Dear everyone,

We had such a good week! I was so sad last week, because after we had finished emailing, I realized I had forgot to tell you about something really cool we got to do that week. One day that week as Elder Minch and I were leaving our house in the morning, a car pulled up and a man got out and introduced himself to us. He said he was from Centre for Christian Missions, which is a Bible college within Kitwe, and he asked us to do a presentation for some students there about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, our history, and some major doctrines. Of course we accepted, but we were a bit wary about the whole thing, because we thought they would have a lot of hard questions ready. We went and gave a 2-hour presentation which was pretty much an extended adaptation of lesson 1: the Restoration and then we spoke about the church and prophet today as well as The Family: A Proclamation to the World. It wasn't really the way we expected, in that there were only 12-15 students there, but they were all very receptive to the message, and had a lot of good questions about temples, eternal families, and the Book of Mormon. In fact, we even donated a Book of Mormon to their library, so they could read it if they like. So that was a really cool experience we had.

This week was also really nice. Yesterday was fast and testimony meeting again. So far, fast sundays have been my favorite on mission. All the testimonies I've heard in church have been so powerful. Virtually everyone is a convert to the gospel, so they all have such love for us missionaries and we are treated so well by the members. Yesterday both Isaac and Jessy Kabonso (who were both baptized 2 weeks ago) bore their testimonies in sacrament meeting. The Spirit was so strong. They are both so converted. My favorite thing is seeing them make friends with other members. Also, we finally have received the DVDs for General Conference Oct 2006! Every fast Sunday, we will watch 1 or 2 hrs of that. Yesterday we heard a few talks including Elder Bednar's "And Nothing Shall Offend Them." Man, that's a powerful talk! I was able to see the conference before I came out on mission, but this was Elder Minch's first time "seeing" it (we've had the Liahona magazine from Oct for 2 or 3 months now). I have a feeling that talk will be one of those that goes down in history like Pres Kimball's "Beware of Pride." Also, yesterday at sacrament meeting, I chose to have The Spirit of God (#2) to be the opening hymn, and one of the longtime members (at least 5 or 6 yrs), Sister Rose, told me that it is a sacred hymn, only to be sung at chapel and temple dedications. . . To make her happy, we sang something else, but Mom or Dad, have you heard anything about that before? I think it may just be a myth that was started by a seventy in South Africa a long time ago. . .

On another note, the next baptism which we had scheduled for next Sunday is going to pushed back a few weeks. Donald Manjimela (50s) who was supposed to be baptized then, has been out of town for the past two weeks and has a funeral that he needs to attend and help with this week, so we won't be able to teach him again for another few days at least. Also the other lady (Loveness Katongo, 40s) who was supposed to be baptized has missed the past couple of weeks at church and is now really sick. We aren't sure when the baptism will happen, but we're trying to figure it out still. They are still both very committed and they have friendships with other members in the branch which is great.

Missionary work really is rewarding! I know probably some of you think I'm faking how happy I am or something, but I'm not. People keep telling me missionary work is so hard and taxing, but I find it so enjoyable that I don't even realize I'm working hard most of the time.

I hope everyone has a fantastic week!

Elder Mckay Moline

P.S. To answer Oma Warr's question: 25 cents here is quite alot. 4200 kwacha is about $1.00 right now, so K1000 can buy you a ride to town on a minibus, or 6 tomatoes at the market. One piece of bubblegum is K100. There used to be coins here, but inflation went crazy some years ago, so coins are all but collector's items now.

P.P.S. I just got a stack of letters! Thanks to everyone!