June 16, 2008

Dear everyone,

Saturday I hit the big 18 month mark. Yikes. Three-quarters of my mission are now gone never to return. It literally almost makes me sick to think about that. In two weeks I will have only 4 transfers left. Crazy. This could possibly be (dare I say it?) my last area. I have a feeling it won't be though. Six months is still a pretty long time. There is still plenty of work for me to do here.

Winter is now here! In the mornings and evening it is FREEZING. I think I have become somewhat of a wuss since being in Zambia. I was shivering with my fleece sweater and a beanie on my head and according to Elder Musgrave's clock it was only 68 degrees, haha. But I've been wearing my sweater proselyting for the past few days now.

Matero is a good place and I feel it is going well. Elder Woldemichael and I are finding people to teach. A member referred us to a mdala (old man) named Jackson Mvula who came to church a few weeks ago. We taught him for the first time a couple of weeks ago. After we arrived home we received a call from him telling us that his wife had died just the same night only a few hours after we left (due to some sort of ulcers apparently). Obviously that was a shock. We had never met her because she stays outside of Lusaka (don't ask, I have no idea why some spouses here live separately) but we were pretty saddened. He didn't really seem all that distraught over the matter but come to find out she was one of two wives. So one of our investigators is a polygamist. Polygamy isn't very prevalent here, at least not in the inner city of Lusaka. I hear that out in the bush/village it's not uncommon though, especially among certain tribes (Tonga and Tumbuka). Anyway, we're going to ask President Bester about it but I'm pretty sure he can't be baptized. Sad.

Wednesday we did an exchange with Elder Zulu (Durban, SA) and Elder Ingutia (Nairobi, Kenya). I was with Elder Ingutia in my area. It was quite fun. To be honest Elder Ingutia is very boring so I was trying to lighten him up the whole day (sometimes I think that's the only reason I do exchanges: to lighten people up). Missionary work is supposed to be enjoyable! If you're not having fun you are doing something wrong. Anyway, we had a good time.

Thursday we finally met a coloured lady who has been investigating the church for a while and even had a baptismal date, but because of work hasn't been able to attend church. Her father is British and her mother is Zambian, though she has lived her whole life in Lusaka. She is very posh, meaning high class. She is quitting her job at a local TV station next week so she can be baptized! We are excited for her.

We tracted into these wonderful ladies named Susan and Bridget on Wednesday. Then we saw them again on Friday. They are both quite posh as well; they both dress nicely and have full-time jobs and cars (not typical investigators, haha). They are about 30, live next door to each other, are both mothers, and very good friends. Neither have been to any church for many years. They were both very touched when we shared with them about the Book of Mormon. They were supposed to attend the service yesterday but weren't able to. We're excited to teach them again and meet their families.

Last night our whole zone (14 elders) had a delicious dinner at the Sanfords. Meatloaf, potatoes, vegetables, and cake and ice cream for dessert. It's nice to have a real home-cooked meal every once in a while, haha.

I think that's all from my side. I love you all very much and I know that the Lord directs his work here.

Love,
Elder Mckay Moline

June 2, 2008

Dear everyone,

So now Elder Woldemichael and I have been in Matero branch for about 10 days now. We're slowly getting the hang of things. We have some wonderful members here. Our branch mission leader is awesome. We currently have only one investigator with a baptismal date, named Harsha Safeli. He is 9 years old and the young brother to a member of the district presidency, Henry Safeli, the coolest member in the branch. Pres Safeli is only about 26 and he has only been a member for less than 3 years now, but he knows more about the Church than almost any other member in Zambia. He and his wife have two young children, the funniest kids ever. Anyway he'll be baptized sometime in July. We have a ton of other investigators who we need to give baptismal dates to. Yesterday we had 8 investigators at church including two first-timers. The Shumba family didn't come unfortunately, but they are doing alright. Sometimes it takes ages for people (especially older people like them) just to understand the concept of one truth and one true church because it goes against everything they've thought their whole lives. Sometimes it takes a few lessons and a lot of prayers until they can grasp the idea and finally believe it themselves. We're going to teach them the plan of salvation this week to give them an idea why it was so necessary for a restoration of truth.

Wednesday I went on exchanges with Elder McMullen in my area. He is from London, the only other Brit in the mission apart from Elder Lawrance. He's the new district leader in Lusaka. We had a good time and did a lot of great work together. He bet Elder Woldemichael and I that we wouldn't be able to get our contacts this week. Pres Bester has said that each companionship needs to get 140 street contacts each week and as you can imagine with a car it's quite difficult. But we took the challenge and last night we had a total of 138 for the week and we were on our way home in the dark when I saw two men walking on the side of the road so I swerved and parked on the side and Elder Woldemichael ran them down and we talked to them about the Book of Mormon and invited them to church. So we made it! Though just barely, haha.

I think that is pretty much everything from this neck of the woods. I know that this truly is the Lord's restored church with his authority and doctrine.

Love you all.
Elder Mckay Moline

May 26, 2008

Dear everyone,

The week was CRAZY!

Monday night Sisters Woolley and Chimfwembe, and Elder Musgrave and I went to Pres. Mulenga's house for dinner. He is the district president of Lusaka and the brother in law to the Lusaka branch president. Sis Mulenga made us nshima, kalembula (cooked sweet potato leaves), squash, and chicken. Everything was good except the nshima. I really didn't know before that it was possible to have gross nshima, but yes, yes it is possible. She said she mixed in some cassava meal. I don't know much about cassava except it's a root and sort of like potato. Anyway with that mixed into the nshima it was very soft and sticky and even gross. All four of us just pretended it was just fine though, ha ha.

Tuesday was zone development meeting. Elder Musgrave spoke about having success in the work and I spoke about teaching recent converts lessons. It was a very nice meeting. That night the Sanfords called us and asked us to come over for dinner because they had some "news" . . . We went over there and they told us that President Bester had changed his mind about transfers and now Lusaka was to be split into two zones! You'd think for something this big we would have to know at least a few days in advance, but nope only two! Elder Musgrave is now companions with Elder Lawrance in Lusaka branch in the first zone (12 missionaries), and I am now companions with Elder Woldemichael in Matero branch in the second zone (we have 14 missionaries). There are several reasons this is so crazy: 1) Elder Lawrance has only been on mission for 7 months, and Elder Woldemichael 9 mo., 2) No city in this mission has ever had this many missionaries or more than one zone before. 3) it may mean that we are not expecting to get any more TEPs for Zimbabwe in the future. So I hardly had a chance to say goodbye to anyone in Lusaka branch. Wednesday was my last day in that area. I will miss this branch dearly. So many great members and investigators.

Thursday Elder Woldemichael arrived from the Ndola and the Stevens (missionary couple) went back to America so we got their old car, the same type of Corolla. E. W-Michael and I will still be living in the same house with Elders Musgrave and Lawrance which I am happy about. Even though we are a bit far from Matero area we have a car so it is ok. So we are whitewashing. Thursday afternoon Elder Cole was able to show us around the area a bit, so we knew some investigators and members. In the evening the APs arrived from Zimbabwe with 9 new elders, 5 for Lusaka, and 4 for Copperbelt. It's great being around new missionaries, so excited and happy! Friday morning we had to drive 4 to the bus station at 5am, ugh.

Elder Woldemichael is a great guy. He is from Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. The only Ethiopian in the mission. I believe there are only 3 or 4 branches in that country. He's 24 and has been member of the Church for two years now, the only one in his family. He was introduced to the Church by an American girl who was living in Addis for a while. Now she's in America but marriage may be in the future for them. . . He replaced me as district leader when I left Ndola in February. I knew him before when I was in Lusaka last year. He's pretty quiet and reserved but also very smart. He drives which is a relief because most African elders don't have licenses. We will have a good time together.

Matero branch seems like a great branch. It is much smaller than Lusaka branch, but the branch mission leader (Owen Kuseni) is awesome as are the branch missionaries. Whitewashing is cake when you have branch missionaries who know investigators' homes. Saturday we had coordination meeting with the BML and branch missionaries. It may have been the most effective coordination I've had on my mission.

We have a sweet investigator named Dr. Peter Shumba. He has gone to many churches throughout his life (he's 55 or so) but about 10 years ago vowed never to go to another church even though he loves and reads the Bible religiously. He just began meeting with the elders a couple of weeks ago and he, yesterday, told us he would without a doubt come to church next Sunday with his wife. A direct quote from him: "I probably will become a Latter-day Saint." Excellent!

Well, I love you all very much! Have a great week and talk to you later!

Elder Mckay Moline

May 19, 2008

Dear everyone,

Hello again! Things are going well! Well this is the first week of the transfer and yes, I am staying here in Lusaka with Elder Musgrave. Elder Mokolobate has somehow gotten a TEP for Zimbabwe and will be going there to train and be a district leader at the same time! I will be a grandfather, haha. We have 6 new missionaries arriving from the MTC on Thursday night so we'll have a fun time shuttling them to their areas then. The new AP in the mission is Elder Bitter, who was my companion in the MTC. I haven't seen him since we parted ways in Harare 17 months ago

Starting this week Sister Woolley and Sister Chimfwembe will be taking a part of our area which we really liked. So we will suffer for a little bit as we look for some new investigators but we really feel good about the decision and we feel the work in the branch will increase as a result.

Remember how I've been telling you about the Chembe family? They were taught by Elder Musgrave and Elder Sisneros before I got here and they were coming to church quite consistently for a while and were preparing for baptism, but then all the sudden they started missing appointments, stopped reading the Book of Mormon, and stopped attending church. All we knew was that Bro Chembe wasn't keeping any commitments so the rest of the family was slacking as well. So we hadn't taught the family with Bro Chembe for a good 3 weeks and we had set an appointment to see them Saturday night, but during the day we got a call from him saying he was out of town and couldn't make it. So we went over just to see the rest of the family, but only Mom was home. We sang a song and had a prayer and then I asked her what we could do for her family. Then she started crying (by the way, the FIRST time I have ever seen an African cry in a lesson). She then told us that her husband had been seeing another woman in Ndola recently and there was no love in their home at all anymore. I guess that explains why he has been so reluctant to meet with us; the Spirit can make the guilty feel awful. Well, Elder Musgrave and I didn't really know exactly what to say so we both just shared our testimonies about the atonement of Christ, and committed her to pray earnestly about it. She asked us to teach about love the next time we come over to see the family. The next day the family came to church (which we were surprised about) minus the father who was out of town. So they are definitely going through some trials now.

Saturday we found a new family named the Shawas by tracting. They're SDAs but were very receptive to the message and committed to read the Book of Mormon and pray about the restoration of the gospel.

We also met a new less-active family, the Makinishis. I guess they used to be quite poor but something happened and now they are rich and although they claim to have testimonies are too busy to attend church, etc. They now have a "mansion" though quite different than what we would call a mansion in America. They welcomed us into their house and we tried to teach them but the father was drunk and the mother was quite rude and busy watching a Nigerian movie (the worst kind of movie on the earth). Can you say pride cycle? We were with a member of the branch presidency at the time and afterward he said, "you would never have guessed that less than a year ago she was in the BP office begging me for money." Sad story.

Thank you everyone for all your love and prayers! I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true!

Love,
Elder Mckay Moline