November 24, 12008

Dear everyone,

Hello again. Another week gone. I swear I was here at this same computer yesterday.

Zambia is great. This week Elder Woldemichael and I taught a lot of lessons. We tracted a lot and found good people.

The highlight of the week was the baptism on Saturday of George Shanzi. I've told you about him before I believe. He is a 28yr old father of 3. His father is a member and he saw how the gospel changed his father so he began coming to church and told us he wanted to be taught and baptized. He is a very humble man. He asked Owen Kuseni to baptize him and yesterday Elder Woldemichael confirmed him. The baptismal service was pretty short and simple. His wife came, but unfortunately she was late and missed the actual baptism. One of our recent converts, Esnart Phiri, gave a talk on baptism. That was pretty cool to see. Sunday George bore a simple but very good testimony about the gospel and how it has changed him. Hopefully we can begin teaching the other people who he stays with.

Yesterday we taught a Zambian lady and her Indian husband. It was our second time to teach them. Cool family.

Sorry, I'm out of time. I love the true gospel of Christ and his Church today.

Love,
Elder Mckay Moline

November 17, 2008

Dear everyone,

This week was great. We found 11 new investigators to teach which is
pretty good for us. We spent a lot of time tracting again because of
the area split that happened last week. Our goal is to find people who
will be leaders in the church, i.e. fathers (potential priesthood
holders) with wives (R.S.) and children (YM/YW, Primary). The Church
in Zambia is still very small and needs people who will help branches
grow and progress, rather than be a burden. So we've spent time
tracting in "low-density" areas, which would mean working class
families who are a little more well to do.

We also spent some time looking for new housing for the elders in
Lilanda branch. Right now they are staying 6 in the house and it's
just too much so we've been looking for a new place. We found 3
perfect places for them, but all 3 times as soon as the landlord found
out which church we were from they told us to find another place and
they didn't want our people staying there. Ugh. Such is Lusaka. The
search goes on.

Friday I went on exchanges with Elder Hill (Provo, UT) in his area,
Libala 2. Remember after I was transferred from Kitwe I was Elder
Sisneros' companion in Libala 2 for about 3 days? Then I got emergency
transferred to Chainama with Elder Rasmussen. So this was my first
time back in that area since then. Nearly 18 months, wow. Anyway, we
had a great day. It was my first time riding a bike on my whole
mission. I now know why we don't use bikes normally. The only bikes
available for a reasonable price in Zambia are xing xong Chinese ones
that have no gears and parts fall off every other appointment you go
to. What a pain. The bikes we used are commonly called "charcoal
chariots" or "black horses" by missionaries because they are normally
used to by Zambians who sell charcoal on the streets. Libala is a
struggling area but we had 3 different members work with us during the
day and we taught 7 member present lessons, which is quite good.

Saturday one of our baptismal candidates was interviewed and passed.
His name is George Shanzi (28) and he will be baptized this Saturday
at 12:30. His father is a member though currently out of the country.
George has a wife and children but they all go to another church (UCZ,
United Church of Zambia).

We have two other candidates who should be baptized the day before I
leave, 13 Dec. They are Ernest Banda (32) and Gift Mumba (17).

The church is true!

love,
Elder Mckay Moline

Dear everyone,

This week was pretty busy but very good. This was the first week of my
last transfer period. Elder Mugwandia rightly named it "the transfer
of the fulness of times," haha. Quite scary to think that this is all
almost over. On Tuesday Elder Hill, our new district leader, gave a
great DDM lesson about having a personal vision for ourselves and our
missions, i.e. what attributes we want to have developed during our
two years in the mission field, who we want to become. I spent some
time this week pondering about that. I only have a few weeks left to
do it!

We picked up 6 new missionaries from the airport on Thursday. Two are
in our zone (Lusaka 2), two are in Lusaka 1, and two are now in the
Copperbelt (oh how I miss that place!). The two who went to CB didn't
leave until Fri morning so they spent the rest of Thurs afternoon
doing missionary work with us. Elder Robinson (Henderson, Nevada) and
I tracted for a while and taught the Restoration to one man. I love
being with new missionaries straight from the MTC. It's a lot of fun
because everything is still so different and new to them.

Our area has now been split. Elder Sisneros (from Syracuse, UT, going
home with me in Dec) and Elder Sweeten (Lindon, UT, just came from
MTC) are now in Matero 2. We gave them half of our area so now there
are 4 elders in Matero branch. They are whitewashing so they really
don't know their way around very well yet. We've helped them a little
bit. Because we have a car we took the further away areas and left the
near ones for them to work in. It has gone well though it has resulted
in a lot of tracting for the both of us. We found a few good people
who will remain in our teaching pool.

Yesterday (Sunday) was a unique day. Instead of having our regular
Sunday meetings we watched a recording of an Africa-wide stake
conference recorded in SLC with Pres Uchtdorf, Elder Jeffrey R.
Holland, Elder Glenn Pace, and Bro Merrill (General sunday school
pres). It was recorded just a couple of weeks ago, recorded to DVD,
and then sent to all the stakes and districts throughout Africa (48
stakes and 42 districts). It was specifically for the saints in Africa
so that made it very cool. They all talked about their experiences
with the Church in Africa and the people here. The church here has
grown by 240% in the past 10 years. Quite remarkable. All the speakers
were great. All 7 branches of Lusaka watched it together at the main
chapel so I got to see all the members and recent converts from the 3
other branches I served in before. It was so good to see all of them
again. I love having big gatherings of members. Sometimes our branch
attendance is pretty small so it's good to see that there is strength
in Lusaka.

The gospel is true and President Monson is truly a prophet called of
God! I love teaching people about the truth.

Love,
Elder Mckay Moline

November 3, 2008

Dear everyone,

This week has been slightly crazy. Thursday was election day here. I never =
realized how involved and excited people can get about politics! All the =
buses had posters on them. Wednesday was a pretty crazy day. Lots of truc=
ks were driving around with posters all over, honking and shouting, doing=
anything to get attention. A lot of them were drunk as well. People were=
running in crowds on the streets shouting "Pabwato!!" for one party and=
"MMD!!" for the other. Thursday we had our district meeting and then sta=
yed inside the rest of the day to avoid and problems with riots and such.=
=20

We also found out transfers. I have come to find out that if you think some=
thing will happen at transfers, it almost never happens. So guess who my =
new companion is? Elder Woldemichael again! By the end of this 6 week per=
iod we will have been together just about 7 months. That's more than twic=
e as long as I have been with anyone else before. I have never heard of a=
companionship in this mission staying together for that long! So it is. =
Elder Woldemichael will be the one to "kill" me. We are very good friends=
and enjoy each other's company so it's not a big deal. If I had to choos=
e one companion to be with for this long, it would be him.=20

So Thursday afternoon we were told that a new elder would be arriving at th=
e airport at midnight that night coming all the way from England. All we =
knew was his name, Elder Kyambadde, and that he had been serving for 21 m=
onths in England and because his visa ran out there he would be finishing=
his mission here in Lusaka. That's something that doesn't happen everyda=
y. So Elder Woldemichael and I had to drive to the airport at midnight to=
get him. He is from Kampala, Uganda and he seems like a great elder. Tal=
k about a change though! Manchester to Lusaka.=20

Friday we stayed in all day because of the possibility of riots from the pr=
evious day's elections. After the results were counted, the army was post=
ed at different places in Lusaka to stop rioting so actually there was re=
latively little violence. We spent the day doing absolutely nothing at ho=
me; it wasn't very pleasant.

Well that's most everything. This week we'll be busy doing transfers so we =
gotta go now.

Love,
Elder Mckay Moline

10-27-08

Dear everyone,

Things in Zambia are great. The work is moving along well. This week
will be a bit strange because the Zambian presidential elections are
on Thursday. Because of the possible riots and such all the
missionaries will stay in on Friday and possibly on Saturday depending
on how things go.

Last Friday I did an exchange with Elder Shirley. He is from
Vancouver, WA and just came about a month ago. He said he met Brother
Hein in the Chicago airport on the way to South Africa, and then
talked to you, dad, on the phone for a minute or two. He's a great
elder, very prepared for mission and very enthusiastic about the work.
We tracted for about 4 hours of the day, something I haven't done for
the past 6 months or more. We're so busy with people to teach that we
don't normally tract for more than an hour or two at a time, but last
week we dropped several investigators who weren't really serious about
investigating. We taught 4 lessons tracting and found 5 new
investigators. Good day altogether.

Yesterday church was good. One funny thing that happened was a
non-member almost passed the sacrament! The young 13 yr old brother of
a member was mistakenly given an assignment to pass the sacrament and
almost did not knowing he wasn't supposed to. Haha. Luckily some
whispering to the presiding officer did the trick and it was stopped.

My time is getting shorter and shorter so there is a little more
urgency in my work now, which is a good thing. I know the Lord is
preparing people to listen to the gospel here; we just have to search
for them!
Love you all very much!
Elder Mckay Moline

10-21-08

Dear everyone,

Well, my companion came back from South Africa quite a bit earlier
than we thought he would. He arrived back in Lusaka last Tuesday
afternoon, so he was really only gone for 5 days or so. The doctor
gave him a bunch of drugs to take so he has been fine since he came
back. Hopefully it will stay that way. I'm way jealous of him because
he got to see a bunch of returned Zimbabwe Harare missionaries there
and he got to go to the temple. I'm most jealous because he got to see
and shake hands with Elder Jeffrey R. Holland! Elder Holland happened
to be there and speak at a multi stake fireside which Elder W/michael
was able to attend. I should get some headaches.

Saturday we had the baptism of one of our long-time investigators,
Jackson Mvula. I've talked a lot about him before but he is 73 years
old but very healthy and strong. He walks over an hour each way to get
to the church each Sunday. His wife doesn't speak much English but
loves having us over at the house. Brother Mvula was baptized by a
member named Francis Chilufya and then Sunday Brother Albert Banda
confirmed him. Br Mvula was so happy and excited for the baptism and
he said he felt "wonderful inside."

Yesterday was zone conference yet again. We were supposed to have it
next week but the presidential elections are then so it was moved to
avoid any conflict. As always zone conference was wonderful and
spiritually uplifting. Our zone song was #240 Know This, That Every
Soul is Free. One of the assistants Elder Patterson is going home in
a couple weeks so they brought along his replacement, the new AP,
Elder Baird from Idaho Falls. This was a surprise to the whole mission
because Elder Baird has only been on mission for just under 6 months
now and has only been a district leaders for about 4 weeks and has
never even been a zone leader before! So that is pretty crazy, but it
shows that the spirit of revelation is used in giving leadership
assignments.

For the first time in 22 months the threesome from the MTC was
reunited! Elder Bitter, Elder Vilakazi, and myself. It was funny being
together again. We're all different but really the same as well.

This is the Lord's church and gospel and I know it.

Love you,
Elder Mckay Moline

October 13, 2008

Dear everyone,

Good week. Thursday my companion Elder Woldemichael flew to Johannesburg, South Africa to see a doctor about his headaches that he has been having for the past few months. Hopefully he'll be back in the course of this week. But it's been known to take longer when missionaries go to South so we will see. My temporary companion is Bowers Kanyembo, a branch missionary. He is 24 and a great person to be around.

We currently have 6 investigators with baptismal dates.

Jackson Mvula(73) -- This week he has recovered completely from his illness (thank heavens) so he will be baptized this Saturday!

Charles Chibamba (50) -- He is still sorting out his former marriage complications; after that he'll be baptized.

Kenneth and Charity Tembo (35)-- We just found out that the husband drank alcohol over the weekend so their date has been pushed to 22 November. We're working closely to help him overcome that and keep the word of wisdom.

George Shanzi (28) -- His father is a member but is out of the country working. He has great desire to learn the gospel.

Gift Mumba (17) -- She has been coming to church for several months and her father gave us permission to baptize her and she is doing very well.

Susan Kampengele doesn't currently have a baptism date because she has missed the past few appointments as well as church the past two weeks. After two weeks of not seeing her we finally met her on Thursday. She told us she has been experiencing a lot of persecution and discouragement from her older sister who took her Book of Mormon to the pastor of her pentecostal church. She told us her sister and others have tried to stop her from coming to church and in general being very negative to her. Luckily Susan has a healthy stubborness to her and she bore her testimony to us and said that she knows that this is God's church and she must be baptized. She kept talking about all the feelings the Spirit brings when she reads the Book of Mormon and when she attends church. Cool!

Well, we've gotta go now. We're having a zone activity today. Playing football and having lunch together.

Love you all,
Elder Mckay Moline

9-22-08

Dear everyone,

Well transfers didn't work out the way I expected (do they ever?). I'm still with Elder Woldemichael for the next 6 weeks. At the end of that, we'll have been together for just under 6 months. The longest I've ever been with a companion before is 3 months. That's alright though; we are doing well together and he is a great companion. Elder Kalenga (from DR Congo) will be a district leader in our zone. Elder Spelman is going to Malawi to be a zone leader with Elder Musgrave. He has only been out for 5 months now! Crazy. Elder McMullen is going to Copperbelt and Elder Vilakazi is coming here to be with Elder Lawrance.

This week was alright. We've had a few strange things happen. On Wednesday, Elder Woldemichael's headache attacked him around lunch time and we had to go home for the rest of the day. That was the last straw and Sister Sanford says she is going to send him to South Africa to get him "fixed up." That will probably happen next week after she can get him a South African visa.

Saturday we had a Mormon Helping Hands service project. I think it was done in all the Church in Africa, maybe even in the world. Our branch combined with Lilanda branch and did some service at a local clinic. We "hoed" the ground in this enormous garden. It was very hard work because the ground was so hard but we finished well and were very very tired. My arms are still aching a bit.

Three baptismal candidates were meant to be interviewed on Saturday. Unfortunately as we reviewed the baptismal interview questions with them, we found out that one of them (Charles) had been previously involved in polygamy. So Pres Sanford said to postpone the interview until he can ask president bester about it. So Bro Ben Mulenga was interviewed by Elder Spelman and passed. His baptism will be on Saturday at our meetinghouse. He is sooooo happy about the whole thing. The wife doesn't speak very good English but wants to come to church now as well. The interview for Jackson (the 73 yr old) will happen tomorrow or Wednesday. He should also be baptized on Saturday. Charles we'll have to wait and see what Pres Bester says. . .

This week is transfer week so we'll be very busy shuttling elders all over the place.

Alright, we've gotta go now. Have a wonderful week. This is the only and true gospel of Jesus Christ.

love,
Elder Mckay Moline

P.S. The weather is becoming hotter and hotter nowadays. . .

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

Dear everyone,

The week was excellent. It was the last week of the transfer; we had a meeting with the district presidency on Tuesday night, zone conference on Thursday, and district conference on Sunday.

I asked President Bester and he told us we could give Jackson Mvula a baptismal date and that he would have to be interviewed by someone in the mission presidency and then approved by the area presidency before he could be baptized. So we gave him a date for 27 September. We found out yesterday that he actually isn't as young as we thought; he is 72 years old! And he walks every Sunday for two hours to get to church. He is a good, humble man.

Zone conference was wonderful as always. Sister Bester spoke about the temptations of Christ in Matthew 4, and Pres Bester spoke about the eternal plan of God as it pertains to the celestial family. Good stuff.

District conference was on Sunday from 10 to 12. It was at the main chapel which has just gone through an enormous addition and now can accommodate a lot more people than before. A bus picked up all the members from Matero branch and took them there. Unfortunately two of our baptismal candidates, Esnart and Bro Mulenga, arrived late to find the bus had already gone. Oh well. The Phiri family didn't make it either because of a funeral (there are an awful lot of those around here). Pinky Kabinga made it to the conference and loved it, though still she hasn't accepted a date for baptism.

Because of transfer stuff, I can't spend much more time. I love you all very much and I love this work. God lives and his plan for us is so much more than we sometimes understand.

Love,
Elder Mckay Moline

August 4, 2008

Dear everyone,

Another week gone yet again! A lot of great things happened this week. Yesterday we had 13 investigators attend church! That's the most I've had my whole mission I believe. Actually now that I think about it Elder Musgrave and I tied that in Lusaka branch a few months ago. Anyway it is still great. The reason it was so high? We had a whole family come. They are the Phiri family from #6 Emmasdale Police Camp. I think I wrote about the family a couple of weeks ago. We actually met Bro Phiri on 11 July. A few weeks prior to that we had tracted into and met the firstborn son, Jimmy, and his friend so we taught them the Restoration, came a few days later and loaned them a copy of the Book of Mormon. We didn't find them at the next appointment so we sort of forgot about them for a week or two; then one night we just decided to go and check up on Jimmy and that is when we met his parents, Bro and Sis Phiri, and taught them. We taught them 3 or 4 times in that first week. They have 6 children. The parents and 5 children came to church on Sunday (everyone except the oldest one Jimmy). Two of the children are below the age of 8. The first two or three sundays they missed because of Bro Phiri's work. He is a detective for the Zambia Police and there were a couple of murder cases in Woodlands that were taking a lot of time to solve. Anyway the fast and testimony meeting yesterday was great and they said they very much enjoyed all the meetings. The branch was very good fellowshipping them as well. We have great hope for them. Bro Phiri hasn't been to any church in years, though the mother and children occasionally attended one of the thousands of pentecostal churches around. We hope to give them a baptismal date sometime this week.

Suy Jado, the man from Angola, has been missing for a couple of weeks now so his baptismal date has been cancelled for now.

Ben Mulenga still has his date for 23 August and is progressing towards it. His issue is just understanding completely and remembering the things we tell him. Sometimes he just forgets stuff, haha.

We extended the date of 13 September to Esnart Phiri, who came to church for the 3rd time yesterday. She is doing very well.

One of our investigators, Pinky Kabinga, bore her testimony of the Book of Mormon in sacrament meeting yesterday! She used to be very critical of the Church and its teachings but she's been humbled by the Spirit and now the YSAs in the branch are fellowshipping her like crazy. For some reason she hasn't accepted a baptismal date yet though. . .

Today is the beginning of week 6 and we just found out transfers! I'm staying with Elder Woldemichael and Elder Lawrance is staying with Elder McMullen. They are opening a new area for missionary work in Malawi! A city called Lilongwe. If I'm not mistaken it is a 2-4 hour drive north of Blantyre, which was the only city with missionaries before. Many years ago there was a branch in Lilongwe but it was closed for some reason. Last September the branch reopened without missionaries. Today we found out that Elder Tshani (DRC) and Elder Mrwetyana (SA) are going there, alone! How interesting that would be. Elder Sithole is going to Zim, so we have two new district leaders in Lusaka 2, Elder Spelman (SA) and Elder Kalume (DRC). Elder Spelman is training someone named Elder Brown who we can only assume is American so likely I won't be the only white guy anymore, haha.

Zone conference is on Thursday; exciting! Lusaka district conference will be this weekend (9-10 August) and Elder Young of the area presidency will be here for that. I'm excited to meet him.

This is the work of God; I know it and I love it.

Elder Mckay Moline

July 28, 2008

Hello everyone,

A great week. Wednesday I did an exchange on Wednesday with Elder Tshani (DR Congo) who is the district leader in Woodlands. I was with him in Copperbelt over a year ago and he is still awesome. He was in Malawi for a long time. We were in my area and had a good day together.

Tuesday one of our investigators, Jackson Mvula, called us and wanted to meet with us. He's the one who used to have two wives. Anyway we met with him and he told us he wanted to "register for baptism." Awesome! We didn't give him a date yet because we wanted to find out from Pres Bester what the Church's policy about former polygamists is. . . so we'll find out first and then go from there.

Saturday was the baptism of Harsha Safeli and Eric Bwalya. There was also a baptism for a sister in Lusaka branch who the sisters have been teaching and another in Libala branch as well. Four baptisms for the zone! The service went well.

After the baptism we visited a less-active family, the Simuzoshas. He was the first branch president of Matero branch when it was formed in 2003. He still comes to church, though not enough to hold a calling. His wife and children have never come since I've been here even though their daughter is serving a mission in Botswana right now. I think it's just laziness combined with murmuring about leadership that keeps them away. Sad story.

Yesterday at church we had 6 investigators. One of them was a first-timer, Susan Kampengele. She has promised to come for several weeks now but finally fulfilled today. She is a single mother with a 4 year old daughter. She came with her daughter and a cousin who is visiting from the Copperbelt. Unfortunately she came late and left early but hopefully next time we can get her to stay for the whole 3 hours.

Well, we gotta go. In a few minutes we'll be leaving to go to the same reptile farm I went to last year with Elder Ulloa and Elder Musgrave. It should be fun.

Thanks everyone for your love and support!

Elder Moline

July 21, 2008

Dear everyone,

We've had a wonderful week. A lot of good things happened. We met a wonderful family called the Phiris.They live in Emmasdale and have 6 children. The father is the one leading everyone, and he just loved when we taught them about the plan of salvation, especially the part about the purpose of life and the Atonement of Christ. They all go to the catholic church except the husband who has never wanted to be a part of a church before. They were supposed to attend church yesterday but weren't able to. We have great hope for them.

We also began teaching the sister to the branch's YW president. The sister is Bwalya Mpange and was excited to read the Book of Mormon.

Friday we did an exchange with Elder Sithole (Swaziland) in Lilanda branch. I was with Elder Sithole in his area and Elder Woldemichael was with Elder Bisaso (Kampala, Uganda). Now I can say that I have done missionary work in every branch's area in Lusaka! Chainama, Munali, Lusaka, Matero, Woodlands, Libala, and now Lilanda as well! All seven. I'm not sure if that has ever been done in recorded history. I've been in Lusaka for a total of 10 months or so now. Crazy. Elder Sithole is awesome. A great district leader and just a good friend and missionary. I enjoyed being with him, though the number of lessons really wasn't all that great for the day. We did some service and cleaned up the outside of the Lilanda branch meetinghouse. It's right on a main road where lots of buses pass as well as drunkards. I think I heard the word "muzungu" yelled at me more in those 2 or 3 hours than ever before, haha.

Saturday Elder Sithole interviewed both Harsha Safeli and Eric Bwalya for baptism. They are both 9 year old boys and will be baptized this Saturday. Excellent!

Sunday we had 11 investigators at church, which was awesome! One of them was a sister we met in Chazanga named Esnart Phiri (23yrs). We were walking on the road in Chazanga on Saturday and this man stopped us and said he was a member in Chainama branch (I had never met him while I was there because he was out of the country or something) and he said he wanted us to meet his girlfriend and that she wanted to become a member of the Church. So he took us to her place and we taught her the Restoration and she came to church the following day! We have good sisters in the branch who have already started fellowshipping her and everything. We watched both Sunday sessions of the April General Conference yesterday at church. Reading from the Ensign is nice but watching them speak is different and quite nice. I loved Elder Christofferson's talk and Elder Holland's as well.

I love you all very much. Thanks for everything you do!

Elder Mckay Moline

(This is an old email not put on the blog until now.)
June 9, 2008

Dear everyone,

So Elder Woldemichael and I are now pretty settled in our new area/branch. We have some great members here, especially the branch missionaries. We have one named Mark Mbazima (18yrs) and he is the only member in his family. You wouldn't believe the kind of persecution he and other members go through here. He told us that soon after he was baptized last year his sister snuck into his room, stole his new scriptures and other church materials and burned them! A few weeks later she called her pastor at Bread of Life church to come and cast the demons out of him, which he attempted. Yikes! And believe me those aren't even the beginning of some of the crazy stories I've heard before. We have another member named Norbert Kalimbayi who just moved to Lusaka from DR Congo. He is experiencing similar problems with the people he stays with as well as neighbors. Luckily he stands up for what he knows to be true; in fact yesterday he told us that he had confounded them all with the Bible telling them to judge not unrighteously and to love thy neighbor as thyself, haha. It's so interesting to me that someone can preach that anyone who believes in Jesus Christ can be saved and yet turn against the ones who believe in Christ the most! Anyway, as I have said before, persecution and rumours are probably the biggest deterrant to the work here in Lusaka.

One of the members from Kitwe, Benson Kanyembo, came down to Lusaka this week to visit his brother, the only other Church member in their family. He came to church yesterday; it was great to see him again, though I learned a sad thing from him; he told me that he had made some mistakes in the past few months and would no longer be able to serve a mission. . . So sad. I know he would have been a great missionary.

Yesterday we had 7 investigators at sacrament meeting, which is good. One of them was a man who had recently moved to Lusaka from Angola, named Suy Jado. He speaks fluent Portugese and is learning a bit of Nyanja here. He has been to church 3 times now and has asked us if he can be baptized. Golden!

Saturday I conducted a baptismal interview in Lilanda branch for a man who used to be a Muslim (not something very common around here). In fact before I could interview him it had to be approved by the Africa Southeast Area Presidency because he used to be a part of some underground Muslim extremist group here in Lusaka (I had no idea there would be such a thing here) though he never actually did any terrorism of any kind. He was great and definitely ready for baptism. Later on Saturday we attended a training meeting for all the branch mission leaders in the district. We've noticed that most BMLs really don't know what their calling is and what it means. Typically branch presidents give the calling to young single adults so it doesn't really seem like a real 'leadership' position which it should be. Anyway I conducted most of the meeting with the help of the district presidency. It was very effective, I think.

That's all for the week I think. I know that this is the work of the Lord and however inadequate I am I hope I can help the work move forward here in Zambia in some small way.

love,
Elder Mckay Moline

July 14, 2008

Dear everyone,

Another seven days flown by. The past week has been good though. Yesterday at church we watched the two Saturday sessions of the April general conference. Well, the power went out after the first session and then the people who were faithful enough to hang around afterward until the power came back again watched the second session. We had some appointments to go to so we missed the second session. I know we're 3 months late, but it was cool being a part of the solemn assembly that took place with all the different groups sustaining at different times. Thomas Monson is truly the Lord's prophet today.

One exciting thing that happened this week was that the APs came up to Zambia to do exchanges with us. Unfortunately we were only able to do a half day exchange, but it was still cool. I was with Elder Bitter (Idaho) and Elder Woldemichael was with Elder Patterson (also Idaho). It was my first time teaching with Elder Bitter since the MTC over 18 months ago. We had a good half day together. While they were with us, President Bester went up to the Copperbelt and released and called a new branch president in Ndola. The new BP there is Brother Chishimba who has only been a member for 10 months now! Imagine, a recent convert as branch president. He'll be great.

Saturday Elder Woldemichael and I attended a baptism in my old area in Munali branch. Elder Ulloa is still there and he baptized a lady that we tracted into while I was his companion, Catherine Ngoma. I may have written about her while I was there. She's about 45 or 50 and a professor of nursing at the University of Zambia. When Elder Ulloa told me she was getting baptized last week I was sooo happy. She's a great lady but to be honest while I was teaching her, I thought she would get discouraged like most other people and give up. Just the opposite happened. She read the WHOLE Book of Mormon and came to church nearly every week and now she wants her 3 daughters and son to be baptized as well. It just goes to show how much first impressions can be false! We can't just give up on someone because we think they will fall away. Miracles happen!

Well I think that's all this week.
Families are forever!

love,
Elder Mckay Moline

July 7, 2008

Dear everyone,

The week has been wonderful. We had some good experiences with some of our investigators. One investigator named Barbara Kulima, I think I've told you about before. She is coloured and a single mother of two sons (16 and 12 years old). She stays very near the meetinghouse in an area called Emmasdale. She has been taught by the missionaries for a long time, at least 5 months, but she has only attended church once or maybe twice because of her work. She works for a TV station as a camera technician and because she refuses to go to her boss' church he makes her work on Sundays. So she has wanted to resign so she can be baptized, but her boss is being very difficult. The TV station is a religious one and her boss is a pastor for some pentecostal church and she says he is just an "evil" man. So she gave him her letter of resignation and he decided to extend the amount of time before she can stop working up to 4 months (for most people it is 2). Also, just to spite her he went out of the country and intentionally "forgot" to pay her her salary for June. So because she had no money to pay her sons' school fees they have had to stop going to school for the past two weeks. All this not to mention her uncle who she stays with will not let us near his house so she is trying to find somewhere else to stay. So she has been having a lot of problems and trials recently. We met with her on Thursday and she was acting a little bit strange, very stressed out. We talked to her about adversity and the Atonement of Christ, and as we were teaching she just cried and cried. This is my second time seeing a Zambian cry in a lesson. She really felt the Spirit and she felt much better afterwards. Yesterday she came to church although she was feeling quite sick. We fasted for her yesterday as well.

Another investigator is facing some other trials. Pinky Kabinga is her name. Twenty year old single mother of one boy. We used to teach her at her house but her mother who she stays with said she doesn't want us there anymore, so now we're meeting with her at the church. Before she used to argue with us about doctrines, etc, and we nearly dropped her, but now she has told us she received an answer to her prayers and she knows the Book of Mormon is true! The tricky part is now getting her to church and baptized. . . she wants to but her mom is not supportive at all.

Well, time is up already. Sorry. Lots to do today. Love you all very much!

Elder Mckay Moline

June 30, 2008

Dear everyone,

Today marks the start of a new transfer! My old companion, Elder Musgrave, flew to Malawi yesterday. Elder Woldemichael and I took Elder Zulu to the airport to go to Zimbabwe yesterday as well. The only airline flying into Harare anymore is Air Zimbabwe. Zambia, Malawi, and South Africa don't fly there anymore, haha.

The week was good for us. We taught a good amount of lessons despite having zone conference. One investigator that we are very excited about is Suy Jado (pronounced "sigh"), the one from Angola. He is wonderful and very committed. His wife doesn't speak any English unfortunately. He works everyday except Saturdays and Sundays. On Saturday we taught him the second half of the gospel, baptism and confirmation and enduring to the end. He loved it and told us that the desire of his heart was to receive the Holy Ghost someday. Cool!

The work is moving forward. Our hope is to have 4 baptisms on 26 July. Things are looking good for that now.

I have been studying Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage recently, and wow what a great book. I started from the beginning a few months ago and now I'm on chapter 35 or so, just at the Atonement. I really have to be "in the zone" to study it or else I don't get very much, but I have learned a lot from it about the life of Christ, His parables, etc. I recommend it to all.

Sorry but time is out so I gotta go.

The things I am teaching are true!

Love,
Elder Mckay Moline

my address is still:

P/bag 325x
Ridgeway
Lusaka
ZAMBIA

June 24, 2008

Dear everyone,

Hello again. I'm a day late emailing because we had zone conference yesterday. Zone conference is always wonderful.

This last week was great. We were quite successful in terms of numbers or key indicators. We taught 23 lessons with members present, 6 lessons to recent converts, and found 12 new investigators. That's pretty good, though as always there is much room for improvement.

Wednesday we started to teach a 9 year old boy named Eric Bwalya. His father is the elders quorum president and a strong member who has been to the temple several times. The funny thing is that he has always stayed with his parents but they just happened to "forget" his age and what age he could be baptized so now we are teaching him a year late as a convert baptism. People really don't bother to keep many records here. I guess that's why no one thought to baptize him. So now we're teaching him. Sort of a freebie investigator, I guess.

We met the same coloured lady again, Barbara. She should be resigning from her job soon so she can be baptized.

So now we have 5 investigators with baptismal dates. Two of them are 9 year old children (Eric and Harsha), One is a shikulu (old man) Ben Mulenga, one is a 23 year old girl named Betty Musonda, and the last is the Angolan man names Suy Jado. The date for all of them is 26 July, though we're not sure how many are going to make their date. On Sunday we had 11 investigators at church, but only 3 of those with a date. So the work is moving here for sure. There is a lot of harvesting and teaching to be done. The field is white.

Zone conference was great yesterday. Pres Bester talked about the Holy Ghost and the gifts of the Spirit. I learned a lot of good things. Sister Bester talked about having a positive attitude all the time. That was also good. We also watched this video clip of Henry B. Eyring at an MTC devotional and speaking briefly about how mission calls are assigned. Wow, he was very emotional as he talked about it and it just made me feel like a billion kwacha. I really was "handpicked" by the Lord to come to this very mission and this very area at this time. It feels wonderful to know that, though it is a bit daunting as well. There is a lot expected of me now. The conference was great. My interview with President Bester was great as well. Such a great man and he always says something that is exactly what I need to hear to call me to repentance, haha.

I finally finished the conference Ensign from April. There's no doubt in my mind that the men who lead this Church are led by directly by the Lord Himself.

We also found out transfers. Elder Woldemichael and I are staying here. Elder Musgrave is going to Malawi to be ZLs with Elder Mugwandia. Elder McMullen will now be Elder Lawrance's companion in Lusaka One zone. In our zone, Lusaka Two, we will have all the Congolese elders in the mission: Elders, Kabeya, Kalenga, Tshani, and Kalume. All of them are great. Elder Sithole from Swaziland will be the new district leader. I will be the only muzungu (white guy) in my whole zone, haha. My first time ever. 4 Congolese, 1 Ethiopian, 1 Swazi, 1 Ugandan, 1 Tanzanian, 2 Kenyans, 1 Ghanean, 1 South African. Quite diverse.

Alright, well thanks so much for all your love and support. This is God's work.

love,
Elder Mckay Moline

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

May 12, 2008

Dear everyone!

Happy Mother's Day! It's a good thing I have a "mother who knows!"

Today starts week 6 of the transfer. Missionaries will have to start moving around this Friday and we have no idea who is going where or when. President Bester has been in South Africa for some time and so transfers haven't been finished yet, which is crazy. Normally we, the ZLs would know a week or two ago and we would announce them tomorrow, but we have no idea when we will get them.

The week was great though!

Monday we had our zone activity; we played football/soccer at this "indoor" place. It really wasn't indoors but it was a small pitch with a high chainlink fench around it. We all had a lot of fun and enjoyed ourselves. Tuesday the APs drove up from Zim to get food (yep, Zim still has no food, quite literally). They were supposed to bring my 17 month old suitcase from Harare, but for some reason they couldn't find it so I think they'll bring it up next time they come to Lusaka. Wednesday we did an exchange with Elder Zulu, one of the 3 district leaders here. I was with him in his area in Woodlands. He is from Durban, South Africa and is a great missionary. We had a great day together.

We're making a big change in our area next week. The sisters who are also in our branch have been struggling to find, teach, and get people to church, so we've decided to give them a part of our area and take a part of theirs so that they can teach more. We're giving them sort of a "compound" called Luangwa where quite a few solid members stay. So we hope they can do some more member work and help our investigators out. So because we have many investigators in that area and we want to prepare for the change, we've been searching for new people to teach outside of it. This week we found 18 new investigators! I feel that that is the Lord saying that what we're doing is right and it will be good for the area. It will be a big change for us but it will be worth it. So Thursday we took the sisters around and showed them some members and investigators' houses.

Church yesterday was good. We had 3 investigators there and the classes were nice. We are still teaching Brother Patrick Zulu and he is soaking everything up like a sponge! He especially loved the first part of the plan of salvation. In fact, I think my favorite lesson to teach people (members and investigators) is the first part of the plan of salvation, especially our life on earth. Every doctrine and scripture is so perfect! Anyway, we're struggling with getting his wife and two children involved. We might just have to give him a baptismal date and focus on the family later. He loves reading the Book of Mormon as well.

The Chembe family are falling further and further away. . . we fasted for them last week on fast Sunday but they don't seem to even want to progress. Sad.

BUT, the work will go on as it always does! The gospel will be a stumblingblock to all who interfere. The gospel is true. God is in complete control, and as we trust in Him He will guide us.

Nalikutemwa bonse ("love you all" in Bemba),

Elder Mckay Moline

April 5, 2008

Hello everyone,

I apologize in advance for a super short email this week. There have been all sorts of problems with the computers here and so I don't have much time.

The week was good. We ate dinner at our branch president's house this past Monday. It was delicious, and I met a girl who used to live in Plano, Texas! She was in Plano 3rd ward and though I didn't get her first name I know her last name, Hurlin. Her mom was in the Plano stake R.S. presidency and I knew her brother, Clark, at one point. Crazy connections! She is now here in Lusaka as a volunteer for a non-profit organization called Mothers Without Borders. Our branch president Patrick Chikusu is hosting the volunteers for two weeks at his HUGE house just nearby the church.

Tuesday we had an excellent DDM about finding and teaching families. We had a family from Munali branch, the Ngunis, come and talk to us about how the missionaries found and taught their family and about what they could have done better. Anyway it was great and I think everyone there felt the Spirit.

Thursday we made American pizza at a member's house. The gogo (grandma) told us she would never eat nshima again, hahahah!

Yesterday fast and testimony meeting was excellent! Lots of powerful testimonies and the Spirit was definitely present.

LOVE YOU ALL!
Elder Mckay Moline

April 28, 2008

Dear everyone,

Hello again. Zambia is great. The week was chawama maningi (very nice). We had three people baptized and confirmed: Frida Banda (20), Michael Banda (16), and Sarah Chifunda (45). The baptism on Saturday was ok. There was a district young mens service project at the same time, as well as a wedding being planned for the afternoon so both of those took a toll on the attendance. There were also three people being baptized from two other branches. It was supposed to start at 11hrs, but no one from any of the three branch presidencies showed up until 11:30 and that guy asked us to go pick him up at his working place. The branch mission leader didn't come and neither anyone from Relief Society. So basically we had to do everything: find keys to the clerk's office, get and distribute baptismal clothing, set up chairs, etc. Quite a pain to do, but alas we did it. We had branch council meeting yesterday and we brought it up as an issue. We suggested to Pres Chikusu that he call and assistant branch mission leader because though our current one is cool, he always gets called into work at the last minute before important things.

Wednesday I went on exchanges with Elder Cole who is from Spokane, Washington. He is in Matero, currently one of the most fruitful areas in all of Lusaka. We had a pretty nice day. He's a good elder.

The Chembe family (another investigator family we have been teaching) has been having some issues. We're struggling to get them to read the Book of Mormon. The whole family has missed church the past two weeks. They did have baptismal dates but they just haven't been keeping commitments so . . . we're doing the best we can with them. Because they are a family referral from a member, we won't be giving up easily.

Saturday there was another wedding that I somehow got sucked into playing the keyboard for, haha. The strange thing about it was that the district president was returning from the South Africa temple trip and he got stopped at the Zimbabwe/Zambia border and so he couldn't make it on time for the wedding. Unfortunately he is the only one in the Lusaka district registered to perform civil marriages so there was literally no one to perform the ceremony. Our branch president presided at the wedding and everything happened like normal except that there was NO VOWS. So we went to a wedding where there was NO WEDDING, haha. That was pretty strange. The vows were done after church the following day (they didn't even attend the service). The groom is a completely less-active member, and the bride isn't even a member at all.

This week we had an experience that really strengthened my testimony. Last Sunday (8 days ago) a random guy came to church named Patrick Zulu. We had never met him before but apparently he had met a member of Matero branch in a shop somewhere and had a great discussion with him about the Book of Mormon and some other things. The member got his info to give to the missionaries and invited him to church. He attended Matero branch, got a Book of Mormon, and was told that he lived in the Lusaka branch boundaries. Anyway, he came to church in Lusaka branch and just soaked it in like a sponge. He told us he has been searching and searching for religious truth for years. He has many different versions of the Bible and studies them like crazy but never has found anything satisfactory to explain what they mean. . . until now! So we set an appointment with him and his family and visited them on Friday. As we taught the Restoration his eyes were just glued on us. Yesterday he came to church with his 11 year old son Manasseh and we taught them again after church last night. He, his wife Beatrice, his son and his daughter asked great questions and committed to read 3 Nephi 11. I don't think I have ever met someone so perfectly prepared for the gospel. He was just saying, "This is so right. It is exactly what I've been looking for." Both times we left their house Elder Musgrave and I couldn't wipe the smiles off of our faces for hours. The Zulu family will definitely be baptized! We are very excited about them.

Alright, I love you all dearly! Thank you so much for your prayers and everything else you do.

I know that the atonement of Jesus Christ did occur and it was the most important event ever to happen on the earth. As one of the hymns says: How great, how glorious, how complete redemption's grand design; where justice, love, and mercy meet in harmony divine. That is the message of the gospel! The restoration of the church is merely incidental.

Elder Mckay Moline

April 21, 2008

Dear everyone,

Well hello again! Another week flown by. It was a good one as well. Frida Banda (20), Michael Banda (16), and Sarah Chifunda (45) all passed their interviews. The only one we weren't sure about was Sis Chifunda. She has been learning English recently and sometimes she freezes up and forgets words, but she pulled through and will be baptized on Saturday along with Frida and Michael. Sister Chifunda's husband is the district executive secretary and a wonderful member of the branch. Next we will work on baptizing their 11 year old son Davis.

Saturday Elder Musgrave and I interviewed a husband and wife for baptism in Matero branch. I interviewed the husband. He was about 50 years old and the father to the branch clerk in Chainama branch, Field Banda, who has just submitted his mission papers. It was a great interview. He said he never though much of the Church until 5 of his 8 children had joined and then his son Field told him he wanted to leave his home for two years to teach people about the gospel. That was when he realized there was something unique and important about this Church and decided to investigate. Bro ans Sis Banda will also be baptized this Saturday.

Saturday also was the wedding of a member of Chainama branch. Saturday he was married to a returned sister missionary. They had the ceremony at the chapel at which they asked me to play the organ. It was cool to be a part of it. All in all it was quite "western," with a white wedding dress, her father walking her down the aisle, etc etc. The only thing that was a bit different was the bride arrived in a train of cars all with bows and ribbons on the hoods and all honking like crazy. And then when she got out of the car, all the old women (they call them gogos) make a weird sound sort of yelling and moving their tongues around in their mouths. Strange. Just an African tradition I guess. They said it means they wish her success and happiness or something.

The past few weeks we have been teaching a guy named Stephen Kabo. He was a referral from a recent convert and he had come to church 3 times and told us he knew the Book of Mormon was the word of God. So we were pretty excited about him, ready to give him a baptismal date. Then yesterday we were teaching his recent convert friend when he told us that Stephen's family are fiercely opposed to us being in their house and they would kick him out if we came over again. I can't even tell you how many times this has happened to investigators of ours. So sad. And honestly it is for no good reason. Rumours fly everywhere about us. That is the biggest hinderance to the work here. People are told by their friends that we are "satanists" and that we do all sorts of crazy things in church. There are even people that won't greet us on the streets sometimes because they are so afraid. Nevertheless, the work of God will move forward! No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing! So Andrew (the recent convert) said he and his wife would go visit Stephen's family and talk about the Church with them because they are too scared to talk to us muzungus about it.

A lady came to church yesterday named Beatrice, probably about 55. She stays in Eastern Province where the Church hasn't gone yet. Apparently she came to Lusaka once and somehow got a copy of the Book of Mormon several months ago and now she and her husband have stopped going to their church are just waiting for the Church to go to her home and establish a branch there. Reminds me of what Elder Packer said once: "The Book of Mormon has somewhat of a self-converting power." Wherever the Book of Mormon goes, people are converted.

I know this is the Lord's Church. No doubt about it.

Love you all,
Elder Mckay Moline

P.S. Again, send all photos, cash, taco seasoning, letters, packages, Butterfingers, nice ties, music CDs, and any other items to:

Elder Mckay Moline
P/bag 325x
Ridgeway
Lusaka
ZAMBIA

April 14, 2008

Dear everyone,

Weird, because I did send an email last week and yet I can't find it in my sent box. Oh well. I'll write everything I remember from last week as well.

My last week in Munali branch was alright. Elder Ulloa and I had some really cool lessons and met some good people to teach. Maron Njelele was baptized on 5 April which was great. She was really ready and excited to be baptized. That same Saturday morning I was transferred to be with Elder Musgrave in Lusaka branch. At the same time Maron was baptized, a family that Elders Musgrave and Sisneros had been teaching was baptized as well. They're called the Banda family and they stay in Northmead. A mother and three of her daughters. The husband/father committed suicide in December and the missionaries first met them about a week after the incident. So now they are recent converts in the Lusaka branch; a really great family.

Now I've been in Lusaka branch for about 9 days including two sundays. All I can say is WOW. This is definitely the best branch I have seen in my whole mission. Sacrament meeting attendance was 141 last week and a bit less than that this week. The branch president is Pres. Chikusu who is a doctor with a PhD and his two counselors are returned missionaries, quite young but they definitely know what they're doing. The Relief Society president is a wonderful cheerful plump lady, Sister Nkowane. There is actually a young mens organization. PEC is short and effective. WOW. Of course every branch has its weaknesses and developmental areas, but I am quite impressed with what I've see so far here. Our branch mission leader is Blessings Musandu (a Zimbabwean) who is quite dedicated as well. We even have two and a half American families in the branch who work for the American embassy, and also a family from Paraguay who hardly can speak English correctly. I try to practice my Spanish talking to them, but everything I ever learned about Spanish has escaped me. All I can speak is Bemba, Nyanja, and Lozi, haha.

We should be having three baptismal candidates interviewed this Saturday, two other children from the aforementioned Banda family (Frida, 21 yr old girl, and Michael, 17 yr old boy), and Sarah Chifunda who is the wife of a very active member Davis Chifunda, the district executive secretary. Two weeks later we should have a family of SIX interviewed. They're called the Chembe family. The father works for the Examinations Council of Zambia is very intelligent. They've been coming to church for a while but have struggled with reading the Book of Mormon so their date was pushed back once.

So yes, now I'm in a car. It's quite different and quite strange. We have a pretty nice Toyota Corolla, manual transmission. Elder Musgrave sort of taught me how to drive a stickshift and now I mostly have the hang of it. Still sometimes when getting in the car I'll accidentally walk to the wrong side thinking that is where the steering wheel is, haha. Once on my first day I even drove on the right side of the road for a moment. Now I feel quite good about it though. Driving here is crazy because the roads are AWFUL. Potholes and ditches galore. Roads are not maintained well at all.

This week we did a lot of driving. On Thursday the new missionaries arrived from Harare by car, so we had to shuttle them around Lusaka to their various areas .This transfer we had 4 different Lusaka missionaries get Zim TEPs, so we had to pick them up Thursday night as well so they could drive back to Harare the following morning. Thurs night we didn't get home until nearly 11:00 (23hrs). Most nights this week we got home past 9 because of the same sorts of things. Being a zone leader is cool but we have to run errands and deal with all sorts of problems that take away from proselyting time. Oh well. Someone has to do it!

Being a missionary is awesome. I love the gospel and the Church and I know that the things I am teaching are true because I have seen them change people for good.

love you all,
Elder Mckay Moline

P.S. Crazy story of the week: Tuesday afternoon one of our neighbors (we live in a flat) had some clothes stolen from off of their clothesline and he were furious about it. Wednesday morning around 7 these three guys knock on our gate with a bunch of wet clothes asking if they belong to us. Two of them had seen the third one wandering around in the morning with the clothes and so he pretended that he had found them in the bushes and was bringing them back to the rightful owner. Then the man whose clothes were stolen the previous day came out from his door and started yelling at the third guy for taking his clothes. Elder Musgrave and I quietly went back inside our house, and then a few minutes later we hear the thief confessing and begging for mercy. Our neighbor called the landlord and he came over and they all participated as one of them held the thief, another one grabbed a huge stick (more like a baseball bat) and beat the thief on the legs, ankles, and ribs nonstop for probably 15 minutes. All this was going on right outside of our window as Elder Musgrave and I were trying to eat breakfast. Then they took him to the police post nearby. Moral of the story: Do not steal in Zambia. Thieves are BEATEN.

Dear everyone,

Lusaka is great. Elder Ulloa and I had a pretty good week. Better than the last two for sure.

We still have only one baptismal candidate: Maron. She's doing well and should be baptised on 12 April if all goes as planned.

Yesterday was district conference for all of Lusaka. In the morning before we left, a man knocked on our gate and told us that his uncle who was a member of the Munali branch (Joseph Mutale, probably 50 years old) had passed away the night before. He had been sick for several weeks but it came as a surprise to us. As soon as the conf. was over we went to the family's house in an area called Kalingalinga and visited the two daughters, Natasha and Lorraine. The wife/mother is staying in Zimbabwe but I'm sure she's coming here for the funeral. They were setting up for a traditional funeral and waiting for all of their relatives to come, so we were sitting and waiting under this makeshift tent on the side of the house. While we were sitting, a huge wooden board, probably 10 feet long, fell from the roof perfectly between where I was sitting and where Elder Weight was sitting. It very nearly hit Elder Weight's nose. Pretty scary. The Lord protects His servants!

District Conf. was held at the Libala chapel. The members in Munali branch were supposed to have a bus pick us up in the morning at 9hrs in Mutendere, but it didn't arrive until 9:45 (the conf started at 10) so we barely barely made it on time. Also, a bunch of unaccounted-for members of Chainama branch came to board the same bus so we ended up having 65 or 70 people on one small bus, haha. Good thing there are no seatbelt laws in Zambia! We were crammed like sardines. Anyway we made it just on time. It was a great conference. President Bester spoke on food storage and financial preparedness, which is a very needed topic.

This morning we got up early and the Besters took the four Munali elders (Weight & Olanya, Ulloa & me) to breakfast at a very nice restaurant called the Taj Pamodzi. All-you-can-eat breakfast buffet. The best breakfast I've had on my mission for sure. Yum. Afterward we had our President interviews with him. As always, it was great. He always has great insights on things that help me out later.

Sorry, no more time. Have a great week everyone. I know this is the Lord's church!

Elder Mckay Moline

Dear everyone,

This is a bit later than usual because the power was out in ALL of Lusaka this morning.

My first week in Munali. It was a really weird week. So there are 4 elders who stay in our house. Elder Ulloa & I, and Elders Weight & Olanya (Kampala Uganda). Elder Olanya is straight from the MTC and he didn't arrive until Thursday so Ulloa, Weight, and I were in a threesome until then. Except for on Wednesday I went on exchanges with Elder Lawrance (the same one who was with me in Ndola) in his area which he is whitewashing which also happens to be my old area in Chainama branch. So he knew next to nothing about his area (not even how to get there) so I went on exchanges to show him around Chelston and Avondale to the members' places, etc. So he is still pretty clueless about the area but I'm sure he'll be fine. Hopefully he can do some things there that I couldn't. It was a bit strange being back again. We saw the Mwakamui family and the Kazelas (with the one-eyed kid).

Thursday we had to stay in for the first half of the day because there was a plumber in our house fixing our toilet. We had a devotional in the evening Thursday. We talked about the ten commandments. It was good.

The house we stay in is nice, though really old and really dusty. The walls and floors are falling apart in some corners. We've been doing some heavy-duty cleaning though. The area we stay in is called Helen Kaunda (named after the wife of the first president of independent Zambia, Kenneth Kaunda), just at the edge of another big 'compound' called Mutendere. Elder Ulloa and I work in half of Mutendere, UNZA (University of Zambia), Kalundu (very nice houses), and Ngombe which is a high-density area far from the church. We have a pretty big area. A lot of walking.

Yesterday was my first Sunday on mission having sacrament meeting in a real chapel! It was pretty exciting, but at the same time I guess it really doesn't even matter. The attendance at church was meager unfortunately.

I've really got to go now.

Love you all!
Elder Mckay Moline

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