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