May 28, 2007

Dear everybody,

Happy birthday dad! 47 years old? Ish, that's ancient! The other day I met a woman who was 98 years old! You're lucky you're not there yet.

Well, this week was quite good. We have really cleansed our teaching pool recently. This week we found 13 new investigators, most of them near our home and the meetinghouse in Riverside. We spent a lot of time tracting and contacting people and we got into quite a good number of homes. Church attendance yesterday was a bit discouraging, but I really feel like Elder Weeks and I are doing what the Lord wants us to. While we were tracting this past Saturday, we taught some INDIANS! I've seen some of them around occasionally, but I never thought I would get the chance to teach any. There were 3 men named Rakesh, Ejey, and Ghensiam, and they were Hindu. I had never taught a non-christian before and I felt so awkward there. The house had a very dark, lonesome feeling about it, so we taught a 15 minute lesson about God and Jesus Christ as our Saviour and then left. I don't know how well they knew English but they didn't talk very much, so we left them a couple of pamphlets about the Plan of Salvation and the Restoration. Maybe we'll stop by later to see if they read through them. Also, later that same day, we met a white woman from Belarus (Eastern Europe). We didn't teach her, but we spoke with her for a few minutes about the Church and some other things. Who would've guessed Zambia is such a diverse place? I love it here!

Oh, I guess I should say that yes, I got the package from my family this last week and the oreos and candy are already gone. They were delicious! And the pedometer has been working nicely. On days that we leave Riverside, we usually hit between 8-12 miles a day! More than I thought. When we stay in Riverside, it's more around 5 or 7. And to answer my mom, no, I haven't received any other package yet. I'll be on the lookout though.

My favorite lesson of this week was to a great man named Brother Muloboko. We met he and his wife last week and we gave them the Book of Mormon to read. When we saw him on Friday, he was alone, but he hadn't read anything in the Book of Mormon yet, so we read through 3 Nephi 11 with him which is where Christ first appears to the Nephites. I've read that chapter at least a dozen times with investigators before, but I've never felt the Spirit in it so strong as I did that night. I can testify from that experience and others like it that the Book of Mormon truly is the word of God that He has sent to us as an additional witness of the Saviour Jesus Christ. I think I'm beginning to understand exactly how the Spirit works, especially in myself as a missionary. Brother Muloboko was really touched and I could tell that he then had the desire to read the book even though before that it really wasn't a priority for him. After we left the lesson, Elder Weeks and I were almost walking on air, haha. I loved it! When we got home, Elder Weeks' told me his conversion story. I guess he had been inactive from age 16 up until he was 22, until one night before he went to bed he picked up the Book of Mormon in Alma 5 and read for a few minutes. The next night he did the same and he said the Spirit spoke to him so strongly that he just knelt down and prayed. That next Sunday he cut his long hair, put on a shirt and tie and went to church. A few weeks later he started attending institute and then he started submitting his mission papers. Now almost two years later here he is, teaching people about the book that changed his life! It's so cool to hear the experiences behind testimonies.

As always, I love all of you, and thank you for your prayers and the strength that you give me! I couldn't do this without it!

Love,
Elder Mckay Moline