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