February 25, 2008

Dear everyone,

Well, I have been thrust from the Copperbelt yet again. And yet again I have been sent to Lusaka! We found out transfers last Monday night when we had a surprise birthday party for Elder Sopp at the Stevens' home in Luanshya. So I will be in the Munali branch and my companion will be none other than the one and only Elder ULLOA. Haha, I lived with him for a full 6 months when we were in the Chainama branch together. And now we are together again but this time as companions. He's a good missionary, though a bit more laid back than what I'm used to. I'll be living in the same house with him and Elder Weight who will be training a new missionary (for his third time). I'll be district leader of the Munali district which includes Chainama, so I'm sure I'll go on exchanges to my old area at least a couple of times. Elder Lawrance (UK) who was in Ndola with me is also coming to Lusaka to be in my old area in Chainama.

So the past week was very good. On Wednesday I went on my last exchange to Kitwe, which was great. I conducted a baptismal interview for the elders there and the candidate passed. I got a few last pictures of the Kabonso family and the DP Kapata family. During the rest of the week Elder Mokolobate and I found some decent new investigators to teach as well. One was a principal of a very nice school in town. On Thursday for the branch devotional we watched the DVD Pioneers of Africa, which I've seen a million times but it is still EXCELLENT. Friday we had my last lesson with Brother Jackson. We taught him about temples, eternal marriage, and family history; I gave him the temple calendar that I had just received in the mail the day before (compliments of my family-- thanks!) and he was so excited as always. I kept the other small calendar for myself. Saturday we extended a baptismal date to a lady that has been investigating for a while but hasn't been 100% serious until just recently. She has come to church 4 times in a row and she is loving the Book of Mormon lots now. Her name is Grace Chiwele and she is supposed to be baptized on 12 April. Yesterday the church service was wonderful. We had many people there, including 6 investigators. The gospel principles class had 17 people who were not members! I gave a short talk in sacrament meeting on gaining knowledge and Elder Lawrance gave another talk on preventing inactivity. All the meetings were powerful. After church we went to Twapia for my last time. I will miss going there. We have some great members there.

Well, yes it was difficult leaving Ndola. I really wish I could have stayed there for longer than 3 months, but oh well! The Lord calls me where he needs me. I loved that branch so much. Now, I have moved on and I am going into "LUSAKA: ROUND 2"! Lusaka needs lots of work and who better to help than me?

Love you all!

Elder Mckay Moline

P.S. SEND ALL MAIL, PACKAGES TO:

Elder Moline
P/Bag 325x
Ridgeway
Lusaka
ZAMBIA

Dear everyone,

This week was very nice.

Saturday was the baptism of Brother Jackson Mumba Chansongo. He has been waiting for a long time and was soooo excited when the day finally came. For some reason he refused to let anyone baptize him but me, which I found a bit surprising. So Saturday I performed my first ever baptism. It went smoothly. I've seen it done so many times that I think I have the technique down. Afterward he bore his testimony and talked about how jealous he has been of all the members since he first started attending church. He said that we (the missionaries) still have a lot of work to do in his family. His wife is still learning English and hopefully will be baptized in the not too distant future. It was a very spiritual baptism and he was so happy. Sunday he was confirmed in sacrament meeting as well.

Elder Mokolobate is doing fine. He's a great companion, learning a lot, and teaching me as well. Probably later today or tomorrow we will find out transfers. I imagine one of us will be leaving Ndola, but I have no idea who . . .

One wonderful thing that happened this week was that I was sent some of my things from my suitcase in Harare. I received 4 brand new white shirts that have been hidden there for over a year now. So I have 4 sparkling white new shirts now. It feels great. I never thought having new shite shirts would make such a difference, but it does! I also finally got my stick deodorant and my Jesus the Christ book, which I have begun to study.

Yesterday, Sunday, we had quite an eventful day. We met a man who just randomly showed up to the church service whose name is Amos Sakala. He is a father of 4, and apparently he used to be taught my missionaries over a year ago and he was even about to be baptized, but there were some issues and whatever happened he was lost track of and he stopped coming to church. So we went to his place and had a decent lesson with him. He says that he wants to be committed again, and we challenged him to even pray about baptism again. Can't wait to see what happens with him.

Well, I know this work is truly the Lord's own and He directs it.

Love you all very much,
Elder Mckay Moline


P.S. Happy belated valentine's day!

February 12, 2008

Dear everyone,

Ah, how I love being a missionary. Another week gone.
Tuesday I went on exchanges to Kitwe with Elder Sekimuli, who is from the same branch in Uganda as Elder Tibagalika. They are good friends and quite similar in their attitudes, which is not always a good thing. But all the same the exchange was good. It was first time doing missionary work back in Kitwe for a long time and it was quite enjoyable. We visited District President Kapata's home which was nice and he informed us that the First Presidency had been reorganized earlier that day. Monson, Eyring, and Uchtdorf: what a trio!

Friday we met a new less-active member named Matthew Katongo in an area called Hillcrest. He uses two crutches all the time because he is crippled. Man, you wouldn't believe how many physically impaired people we have in this branch. The oldest member, President Kapato (1st counselor in DP) is in a wheelchair and there are probably 12 or 15 others who either are in wheelchairs or use crutches. I guess it's because the church used to meet in the Ndola Rehab center, where Pres Kapato works and he probably has done more missionary work than anyone in the branch.
Saturday and Sunday was the Copperbelt district conference. The Besters, the Sanfords, and a new couple called the Stones' came up here for it. The Stones just barely came to Zambia and are currently staying in Lusaka, but will replace the Stevens here in CB when they leave in May. They are a proselyting couple from Vernal, Utah and they have served one other mission in Wellington, New Zealand. They are both very friendly and funny. District conference was quite cool. I was able to see nearly all the members of the Kitwe branch who I haven't seen in nearly 8 months now. There were so many people I wanted to talk to but not enough time. Brother Jackson Mumba was interviewed after the meeting and passed, and thus will be baptized this Saturday. He is so excited and even his wife who is still having English trouble is excited for him. She will follow soon, I know it.

Yesterday was zone conference yet again. This time, luckily, the Besters and the APs actually made it to the Copperbelt. It was great to see Sister Bester again; it has been a while. President Bester mostly focused his presentation on the sacrament and its importance. He made an interesting comment that I had never thought about before. He said that the sacrament should be just as important to us as were the animal sacrifices were to the saints in olden times. It made me think quite a bit about how sacred an ordinance it is, though we tend to forget it. It was the last thing Christ instituted just before his atonement. People who visit the Church should see the sacrament as the central focus of the meetings each Sunday. It was a great conference.

After ZC we played Uno and I kept dumping cards on Sister Bester and she was so upset with me, haha. By the way she said that she can't wait for the Taylors to arrive. I'm quite excited myself!

Hope everything is going well for everyone else. The Book of Mormon is the word of God, for sure.

Love you all,
Elder Mckay Moline

P.S. Sister Sanford told me that Sandra Mboma (the lady I contacted on the bus in Lusaka back in October) was baptized just a few weeks ago and that now her 17 year old daughter is investigating. . . how exciting!