Beautiful Blantyre

We are ON our mission! 

  

We arrived in Lusaka Sunday, September 23rd and were met by President and Sister Kupu and warmly welcomed by the other senior couples. . . . Elder and Sister Fakalata, Elder and Sister Lewis, and Elder and Sister Jones.  During our stay we occupied a flat that had been prepared for a new senior couple, the Pulsiphers, who were to arrive just after we left.  

Monday was P Day and we traveled with Elder and Sister Lewis to the confluence of the Zambezi and Kafue Rivers where some members run a lodge.   Tom and Joanna were the perfect hosts!  They live so far from away they can only drive into Lusaka once a month to attend church.  They are already practicing the "home centered church" teaching their four boys the gospel and daily seminary to the older ones.

Tom and a guide took us on the river for about 3 hours where we spotted hundreds of "hungry hungry hippos". . . . as well as elephants, crocodiles, various deer and  28 new birds species!

What a wonderful introduction to Zambia!    We had a 3 hour drive to reach our destination and passed through the countryside where we saw how the people live.   Their "homes" are very basic. . . made from materials available to them.  Some with roofs, some not.  We saw small groups of goats, chickens, and cows grazing wherever they could find something to eat.   There were lots of banana, mango and papaya trees.   Along the roads were little stands set up selling vegetables they had grown, brooms, tires, charcoal.. . . .anything that they could made themselves.  Our guide met us at a local market where she shopped. 

 The food they grow is impressive:  cabbages the size of basketballs, bananas, papaya, onions, tomatoes, greens, dried fish, dried beans. . . . and live chickens (see photo on the right). 

Life in Zambia

We spent two weeks in Lusaka receiving some wonderful training from President and Sister Kupu.  The VISION for the Africa Southeast Area is to "Establish the gospel in the hearts of the members and establish the Church on a sure foundation."  This will be accomplished through "Increasing faith in Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ and His Atonement, Loving and serving one another, and Becoming Self-Reliant to better serve others."  It is nice for us to have this clear goal as we begin our service.   We also spent time with the coordinator for Seminaries and Institutes for our mission, the Self Reliance specialist and the Perpetual Education Fund specialist.  

During our time in Lusaka we picked up on several "new" things about life in Zambia:  

 One of the first things we noticed was how many people walked----everywhere!   For example, the first Sunday we attended church ours was one of 4 cars in the parking lot.   Yet when we entered the chapel it was filled with people who had walked to church (in some cases for over an hour).  The streets were constantly lined,  2-3 people deep walking in both directions.   And in addition there were little stalls-- or even wares spread out on the ground--- selling everything: furniture, plants, sticks to make roofs, hot food, used clothing, electronics, large bags of homemade charcoal.

The hospitals also operate on a different system.  There is a building where you can go and they have beds for the patients.   Each day doctors will come and check the patients, order tests if needed and help in that way.  But that is all they offer.   Each patient must have someone stay with them to take care of their needs.   They have to bring their own food.   Sophie's little 18 month old son was very sick and had been in the hospital several days when we met her.   Sophie was raised as a muslim in Uganda but heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, joined His Church, and ultimately left family behind to come to Zambia and be married (kind of reminds me of Ruth).  Sophie walks everywhere with her little boy (who as you can see recovered) wrapped to her back.  She is faithful and trusts God and His love for her.


For those of you who are tech-savvy this may appear to be a simple "post".   For us it has been a 12 hour labor of love,  filled with many mistakes and start overs and a FaceTime tutorial from Lynda!  We are looking forward to sharing our mission with you!
Next post we'll introduce you to Malawi.