January 28, 2008

Dear everyone,

Well, this morning early we got a phone call that President Hinckley had passed away just a few hours before. Death isn't really such a scary thing. As President Monson said a few conferences ago, death is just like moving into another room. The beauty of the restored church is that no death of any person can destroy the work that is going forth. A new president will be chosen, and a new apostle selected, and so the work continues! For Pres Hinckley it is on the other side of the veil though.

The work this side is great. Monday we visited a less-active member named Brother Salimu. He was the branch president before but because of a whole lot of things (all social), decided to resign and become inactive. So he hasn't been to church in nearly a year now. Sad that people become offended over things and let that take them away from the gospel of Jesus Christ. Whether it was him who was at fault or other members is irrelevant. The work and church are still true. He is such a good man and you can tell that he has some type of testimony, but he has just forgotten bit by bit over time as he has let these other issues get in the way. Satan can't destroy our testimonies, but he certainly can distract us so we lose our focus. It made me think of Elder Bednar's talk, "And Nothing Shall Offend Them."

Thursday we watched the Special Witnesses of Christ DVD at the meetinghouse for a branch devotional. The members hadn't seen it before and loved it quite a lot. Friday I conducted my first companionship exchange with Elder Lawrance. We did a heck of a lot of walking in this compound called Nkwazi. Elder Lawrance is a really cool missionary. One of only two Brits in the mission. He is quite new on mission (3 months or so) but a great teacher and very excited.

Attendance at church was quite poor yesterday because of the rains.

In two weeks we have district conference! The Besters and the Sanfords will come up the Copperbelt for that.

Well, I love you all, and I especially love this work. I know that it is of God and I see the evidence each day as I teach people. The Holy Ghost is real and he can guide and direct us if we qualify ourselves for his help.

Love,
Elder Mckay Moline

P.S. The power in the country has been off and on all week. There are a lot of rumors flying about why. Supposedly the Kariba dam (which powers all Zambia and Zimbabwe I believe) burst and they are repairing it, but no one really knows if that's the truth or not. Luckily it's on today so I can email.