9-15-08

Dear everyone,

On Saturday I received my birthday package. Thanks very much! A
wonderful package indeed. It's funny you don't realize just how faded
your white shirts really are until you see a brand new one side by
side with them, haha. I shared the Red Vines and Hersheys with a bunch
of members and they loved them. Nothing like those in Zambia, only
imported Cadbury chocolate from South Africa. Wonderful ties! And
wonderful CDs as well. Thanks for burning the EFY one for me. I gave
two of the pictures of Christ to our two newly baptized members,
Esnart and Pinky. I gave one oil vial to my companion and one to
another member who I gave the Melchizedek priesthood just a few weeks
ago.

Thanks for the pictures of Tanner's birthday party. You're right, I
don't recognize a lot of the people there. I like that kid who is
wearing my Zambia hat though, haha. Looks like everyone had a good
time there.

So on Saturday both Esnart and Pinky were baptized, Pinky by the
branch mission leader Owen, and Esnart by Albert Banda. It was a
combined baptism with Lusaka branch and Chainama branch, but Lusaka
branch's candidate never showed up! So we waited for her for nearly an
hour before we decided to go ahead and hold the baptism without her.
She was Elder Lawrance and Elder McMullen's candidate; they were so
sad about it. She had a fight with her husband and just didn't come.
We held the baptism at the main chapel and the attendance was very
poor. Luckily they have just installed an above-ground font at our
meetinghouse in Matero so the next baptism will be held there and
hopefully we'll have many more members attend. They were both
confirmed in sacrament meeting and then bore their testimonies.

This whole week Elder Woldemichael has been suffering from intense
headaches. Monday night we couldn't go to the family home evening we
had planned because he was in too much pain. Elder Lawrance, Elder
McMullen and I gave him a priesthood blessing and things have been
improving since.

We have 3 candidates who should be interviewed on Friday: Ben Mulenga
(55, has been investigating for almost 10 months now), Charles
Chibamba (50, friend of Bro Mulenga), and Jackson Mvula (73). All
"old" men. All three of them have wives who they want to learn the
gospel but they have English difficulties. . .sad.

Susan Kampengele is improving and progressing very well. She came to
church yesterday and then last night we took another sister in the
branch to visit her with us. We had a powerful lesson about following
the living prophet. She will be baptized on 11 October if all goes as
planned. We also have a family, the Tembos, with a baptism date for 25
Oct.

I think that is about everything that is happening here. Today is the
beginning of week 6 and we still know nothing of transfers. Pres
Bester and the APs have been out on zone conference tour and will
arrive back at home tomorrow so hopefully they'll send them tomorrow
night. I imagine Elder Woldemichael and I will be split up by next
monday but we have no idea who'll leave and who'll stay. I have a
feeling I'll stay though. My new companion could be Elder Vilakazi or
Elder Burgoyne. . .not sure. I'll let you know next week.

I love the gospel so much and it means everything to me.

love,
Elder Mckay Moline

9-8-08

Dear everyone,

Now it's getting HOT!

This week was very different from a normal week, but it was great. Our schedule was very different than the ordinary because we had zone conference on Saturday and the burial of the president of Zambia on Wednesday. Wednesday we just had to stay inside all day to show respect for the burial of the president. We played a game of Risk in which I destroyed everyone and then we just moped around and were lazy the rest of the day.

Monday we tracted into a coloured family (the Doogans) and taught them the Restoration.They loved us and it was a good lesson. We met them again on Friday and only a few of them were there and they seemed scared of us and just spooked out in general. Then the mother told us that her friends and neighbors had come around and told her a lot of strange things about us and the Book of Mormon. UGH. It's like the story of our lives. We explained as well as we could and bore our testimonies but I'm not sure if they were receptive to the Spirit or not.

On the other hand we met a very good family. A father, mother, and two young daughters came to church last Sunday, the Tembos. We taught them twice in the week; they came to institute on Saturday; the mother came with the daughters to church again yesterday (dad was sick); we taught them again after church and extended a baptismal date of 25 October to them and they accepted! Now we need to find some powerful fellowshippers for them! The father works at Atlantic Bakery during nights. He literally gets paid K8,000 for a 12 hour shift. That is about $2.20 or so. Awful! I guess that's what some people have to do to make things work.

On Friday Pinky Kabinga and Esnart Phiri were both interviewed for baptism by Elder Spelman. They both did well though they both needed an additional interview from Pres. Sanford, Esnart for a past abortion, and Pinky because her father was a polygamist (zambians from the southern province usually are). They have to be given a "rubber stamp" of a approval by the area presidency through an email which hasn't happened yet but surely will come in the next couple of days. So the both will be baptized on Saturday. Pinky especially is very very happy! We've been teaching her since I first came to Matero branch in May. Her family is still totally against the Church but hopefully they will soften their hearts and attend the baptism. . . that would be wonderful.

Saturday was zone conference with special guest, Elder Colin H. Bricknell, an area authority seventy from South Africa. He and his wife were both excellent. He was a mission president in Pocatello, Idaho just a couple of years ago. He's a pretty much go-by-the-spirit kind of guy and in the conference we talked about all sorts of things from how to sit while teaching someone to why we do missionary work in general. The basic idea of everything was "be your very best." At the end we had a testimony meeting and the Holy Ghost was powerful during that. After everything was over we had a "zone leader council meeting" with he and his wife, the Besters, the Sanfords, and the assistants. We just discussed as a group the strengths of the mission, the challenges we face, and what we need. Short but good meeting.

Yesterday we had lunch with the Besters and the Bricknells at their hotel (a rare treat) and then took them to the airport.

All in all a good week. I think that's everything.

love you all very much,
Elder Mckay Moline

9-1-08

Dear everyone,
Hello yet again from Zambia. This week was pretty interesting. We extended two more baptismal dates this week: one to a man named Charles Chibamba and another to a lady named Mary Banda. Charles has come to church 5 times now. He is about 50 and loves the church. He was first introduced to us by another investigator who has a baptismal date, Ben Mulenga. Both of them should be baptized on 27 September along with Jackson Mvula.

This Friday Esnart Phiri (23) will be interviewed for baptism. She is very ready and very excited for it. We just need her to become better friends with some of the branch members so she can be "bound to the church."
Saturday Elder Woldemichael and myself went to the body viewing of President Levy P. Mwanawasa, the late president of Zambia. The government says he died about two weeks ago, but most people believe he died a few weeks before that when the country had that scare. They probably kept it under wraps so there wouldn't be riots or a military uprising or something. Anyway they have had a huge public viewing so we decided to go on Saturday. We had to wait in line for a couple of hours but it was good anyway. There were soldiers all around telling us to hurry up. We only could see the body for a few moments because they were rushing us. The woman standing in front of me began wailing and crying the moment she saw the body. Then she fell onto the ground writhing. A bunch of Red Cross people ran over, tossed her onto a stretcher and took her away. There were television cameras recording that and it was on the national news live, so Elder Woldemichael and I were on national television on Saturday!
Yesterday we had a young family of 4 show up to church who we had contacted on the street the week before. After church we went to their one-room house and taught them the Restoration. It was a wonderful lesson and they were touched by the spirit. We should see them again on Thursday.
Saturday is zone conference. We will be having an area seventy visiting named Elder Colin H. Bricknell from South Africa. I met him on my last day in the Johannesburg MTC. He used to be mission president in Pocatello, Idaho. We are all very excited to meet him.
That is all for this week. Love you all very much!
Elder Mckay Moline

a note from elder lawrance:
Elder Moline is enjoying our tickle sessions, and his taste in ties is improving. Love Elder Lawrance

8-25-08

Dear everyone,

I just wrote a massive email and then the computer deleted the whole thing. Ugh. I'll summarize most of it for you.

Tuesday the President of Zambia, Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, died in a hospital in Paris France. The whole country is mourning now. The government has declared that all entertainment activities (including the YSA dance originally scheduled for this weekend) be postponed for 21 days for the mourning.

Wednesday we did an exchange with Elder Kalume. He is a short, fat, and jolly Congolese man. He didn't speak any English until he came to Zambia.

Thursday one of our investigators, Pinky Kabinga, taught the devotional, ha ha. Our branch mission leader asked her if she would like to teach and she said yes and taught a wonderful lesson on setting and achieving goals.

Friday we did an exchange with Elder Spelman, our new district leader in Lilanda. I was in his area with his companion and he was with Elder Spelman in our area. Good day though I'm used to having a car so I had to tough out all the walking there.

Saturday I interviewed one of Elder Kalume's candidates in Woodlands branch. He passed. Then there was a baptism. Eight souls added themselves to the church of God. 4 from Lilanda, 3 from Lusaka, and 1 from Chainama. The one from Chainama was Mubita Mboma the young brother of Sandra Mboma the lady that I contacted on a bus in October last year. Now 3 people in her family are members! After the baptism there was a district fireside. The four of us zone leaders all spoke about a different subject having to do with missionary work. It was excellent.

Yesterday there was a scary incident that occurred. Pinky came with her 2 1/2 year old son to church and after church no one could find him. She was freaking out and the father came and yelled at us for a good half an hour telling us to bring out his son from wherever we were hiding him (he thinks we are satanists who sacrifice children or something stupid like that). We searched for him for a long time. It was very scary and he even threatened to hurt us and throw us in jail several times. We just remained silent and told him it was a mistake that had nothing to do with us. He was a jerk and would not calm down at all, even after a member of the district presidency came to sort it out. After 4 1/2 hours the boy was found. He had just wandered off and someone found him and brought him to the nearest police post. Because the whole thing was so traumatic I really wonder if we'll ever see Pinky again. Her mom and the father to her son both still think we are evil somehow. Ugh. We're praying that something good will come out of this whole thing.

On a better note, we are glad he was found. That's the crazy story of the week.

I think that is all. I love you all very much and I know this is truly God's divine eternal work.

Love,
Elder Mckay Moline

8-18-08

Dear everyone,

The week of transfers is finally over. The whole week we've have to do a lot of "moving up and down" as Zambians would say. There are three new elders in Zambia, Elder Blackhurst (UT) who is in my old area Chainama, Elder Mabogoane (Jo'burg) who is in Woodlands, and Elder Pierson (BC, Canada) who is in Ndola. We picked them up from the airport on Thursday morning. Elder Pierson hung out with us for the rest of the day Thursday because the bus to Copperbelt didn't leave til Friday morning. I love being around new missionaries because they just make me reminisce about when I was in their shoes such a short time ago.

Tuesday was zone development meeting.Elder Woldemichael spoke about the process of conversion, I spoke about bringing the Church out of obscurity. It was a good meeting and we're excited for the new transfer.

Saturday we conducted 3 baptismal interviews for Lilanda branch; I did two and Elder Woldemichael did one. All of them passed. Doing baptismal interviews is a very cool and unique experience, just a one-on-one conversation with someone who has been working towards the ordinance of baptism. I interviewed two women, Alice and Marriet, both of whom were very prepared and ready. Marriet is a school teacher who has nearly completed reading the Book of Mormon. Alice is a bit younger but just very happy and talkative.

We still have 4 investigators with baptismal dates: Bro Mulenga, Esnart Phiri, Jackson Mvula, and Sister Daka. Sister Daka is the newest one with a date. She is kind of crazy. She has attended church once in the past but not recently. She loves having us at her house and she loves the gospel but the "one true church" thing is kind of hard for her to grasp. She is 42, a mother of 7, and her husband works for Zamtel, a telephone company. He has no interest in the Church, but he loves to go drinking with his friends. So she'll take a lot of work but we hope for the best for her.

Yesterday was a good day. We slacked on getting our 20 contacts a day during the week so we had to get 84 yesterday! We had 8 investigators at church, including one of my favorites, Susan Kampengele. I'm sure I've mentioned her before. She came to church once two weeks ago but only could stay for an hour. This time she stayed for the whole 3 hours although she arrived a bit late. She came with her 2 sons who are going to a boarding school in southern province but are currently on holiday now. She said she loved it! She seems like the kind of lady who lived a riotous life in her youth but after we knocked on her door she has sort of come to the conclusion that she needs God in her life more. She is great. We taught her and her boyfriend the word of wisdom and the law of chastity last week and they both loved it and committed to keep them though I think some repenting will be in order, haha. That's what the gospel is all about: change!

I know the doctrines in the restored gospel are true and perfect. I love being a missionary for the Church and representing the Lord each day.

Love,
Elder Mckay Moline