Well I won't lie it has been a tough week.  Because we have had to spend so much time weeding out the jokers we weren't able to get many lessons plus right now our teaching pool has dropped considerably in size.  We have been brainstorming and really thinking of new ideas to find new people to teach.  The difficult thing about it is that most of the people just don't care.  And even those who might be interested often don't speak English very well.  Then the ones that do speak well just want to BS.  All of the places tht we have been working in are basically bush villages.  Most of the people that live in town are pretty well off and we can't gt into their gates.  But we have a few ideas that we are going to try.  We are planning to print out fliers and put them around the city and see if anyone wants to learn.  We even might write an article to put in the newspaper.  Another thing we might try is to get on a radio station but only if we can get permission from President Dube.  So we will see what happens.  Our baptisms were pushed to this weekend because of some different things that were going on at the church.  We have one other girl named Ruth who is the sister of one of the recent converts who is ready but the problem is that she is afraid to talk to her parents about it because they gave her brother fire because he was getting baptized.  But he is a lot more headstrong than she is.  Philbet is now back on track to be baptized but we are going to wait until the 14th of May for that baptism.  There is also a guy named Wisborne, (yes Wisborne, for two weeks I thought that it was Osborne) at first we weren't sure about him, but he has been at church the last 2 weeks even though he stays faaaaaar from the church.  Well those are about the only real powerful investigators right now besides Godknows and Fortune (you see those kind of names in Zim a lot more though).  We have Zone Conference in Blantyre this week.  Elder Kevin W. Pearson of the Seventy and from the Missionary Department is going to be present.  It will be held on Thursday.  So we have to leave on Wednesday and we will come back on Friday.  I haven't received any news about Mother's Day so I don't know what is happening.  I hope that they will give us info this week.  There is a rumor that we are going to be getting some couple missionaries here in Lilongwe, I sure hope so, it would take a lot of stress off of us.

Because we have no DA's we mostly just cook rice or noodles with some beef and a soup(sauce).  The vegetables here are kind of gross looking and not just because they are vegetables.  They just look like they would make you sick.  The inflation is bad but nothing like it was is Zimbabwe before they switched to the USD.  My stalker is just a crazy guy that sticks to me like glue.  I think that it is because I am white.  He doesn't ever speak, he just walks next to me right on my arm and has a big smile on his face as he laughs.  Elder Shabangu gives him fire everytime he sees him.  But I'm not sure if the guy really understands either English or Chichewa.

I'm kind of jealous that you guys went to a baseball game without me but I guess I can't deprive you of things like that since I am on the other side of the world.  Well Sacrament meetings are interesting to say the least.  The Branch President gave a talk yesterday and read the entire final chapter in Mathew.  Yeah I don't think that he reads the Book of Mormon much.  It is obvious that even the ones who are not recent converts sometimes seem like they know less than the recent converts.  President Nthalowa has been a member for over 6 years now.  In PEC the 2nd Counselor in the Branch Presidency basically said that the members are not supposed to help the missionaries and that we have to everything.  We then talked about how every member is a missionary, and he tried to say that Malawians are an exception because they have to earn money.  After that we just decided not to reply.  I know this may sound somewhat negative but really I am in good spirits.  I enjoy working anyway.

Love,

Elder Cecil

Well first off the work is not as good as in Zimbabwe.  It is
extremely easy to get lessons because the people here just say yes to
everything.  The challenge is to turn those lessons into baptisms.
They say yes I will be at church but then Sunday rolls around and
guess what?  They aren't there.  We even had one that called us four
times on Saturday to tell us that he would be at church tomorrow, but
the next day he was no where to be found.  We couldn't even find him
at his house later in the day.  But we do have two baptisms planned
for Saturday with the children of some recent converts who are
probably already the most powerful people in the Branch.  So those
kids are the golden situation.  There names are Godknows and Fortune
Mitambo.  We were planning on having three others but they didn't show
up to church this week so they will have to wait.

The Branch is pretty small, we only have about 40 people at church
each week.  And yes, the Branch President does act like that all the
time.  We meet in a house that the Church owns.  Funny Story Time:
Last week during sacrament meeting one of the speakers gets to the
podium and says, "Good morning."  The congregation then proceeds to
answer by saying in unison, "Good morning."  Now I kind of got a
little bit of a chuckle at that, since the branch is really new and
things.  But then this week we watched conference on DVD.  So during
the Sunday morning session when Bishop Burton gave his talk on the
welfare program he said, "Good morning Brothers and Sisters."  And
they proceeded to answer, "Good morning."  Elder Shabangu and I were
laughing pretty hard when they answered the TV for a conference that
occurred two weeks ago.  There is an American family in the Branch,
and the father Brother Collins is in the Branch Presidency but he
works for USAID so he really doesn't have a ton of time to do
everything.  He does all that he can but we have to pick up the rest.
I don't know what is going to happen when he leaves in September
though.  The world we live in is extremely small.  Yesterday a man
from none other than Beaver, Utah came and watched conference with us.
 I can't remember his name though but his son is married to Stephanie
Barton.  There was also a couple from Alberta Canada who have a son
serving in the Salt Lake City South mission.

They only have electricity if they pay for it.  But most of them can't
afford it so they don't.  The food is basically the same except we
don't ever have any Dinner Appointments.  The members don't know
anything about that kind of stuff and most people go to bed at like
eight so generally we are done working by about 7:30.  Well in the
rainy season it rains a lot more but the people are saying that it is
now the dry season.  This week it never even looked like it would
rain.  It was just really hot.  But they say that it will cool down in
May.  It is funny when people speak because they mix their R's and L's
very badly.  For example "Blass Prates". It is quite funny but also
makes them difficult to understand when they try to tell us where
somebody stays because we don't know if it is spelled with an R or an
L.  Oh and the money we use is called Malawian Kwacha.  The "Malawian"
part is important because they use a different kwacha in Zambia.  The
largest bill is a 500 MK.  Equivilent to about $3.30 USD.

The other Elders are Elder Maxfield from Magna, UT (it is somewhere
between Tooele and West Valley) and Elder Mahachi from Kadoma,
Zimbabwe.  Elder Maxfield is in his second transfer and Elder Mahachi
is in his fifth.  To put that into perspective, I am in my fourth.  My
companion and Elder Maxfield know a little bit of Chichewa but not
enough to really help me with it.  I just have to ask some of the
recent converts.  Yes I do mean that I have to keep him working if he
starts to die but so far it has been ok.  No I haven't seen anymore
crazy dancers on the street and I don't think that he was drunk, I
think that he was just crazy.  But I do have a stalker (or maybe he's
a magnet, I can't tell).  If he sees me on the street he follows me
everywhere, almost hanging on my arm.

I also got to watch the Priesthood session on Saturday night with just
the other Elders.  That was really powerful, I loved that.  I can't
wait to get the Liahona to read those talks again.  On P-days we clean
the house, email, eat, then go watch disney/pixar type movies.  There
is nothing else to do here.  We can't play soccer because there isn't
enough of us and there are really no attractions to go see so that is
what we do.  And no, I don't think that anything was taken from my
suitcase, at least I haven't missed anything yet.  The Zone Leaders
came yesterday so I received the package from you that had my camera
card in it as well as a package from Chris.  Thank you it really is a
nice thing to get.  Also you can find candy, it just isn't as nice or
it is expensive.  I also have a letter but the ZLs left it in Blantyre
but it is okay I can get it next Thursday at Zone Conference.  Oh and
you don't need to send the Dear Elder's while I'm here because I won't
get them.

But besides harder times, I have had a good week.  So I guess I will
talk to you next week.

Love,

Elder Cecil

Mom, that's great that you finally get to move back to Parowan.  I'm sure that will help you in your new calling.  Speaking of new callings, I just got a new one.  I am now the Branch President of the Lilongwe Branch.  Or at least I might as well be.  I have been there for one Sunday and I already ran PEC and made decisions on what we were going to do in the upcoming week.  The Branch President here doesn't do anything and it's not because he doesn't know what he's doing (which I guess he really doesn't) but he has been in that calling for almost two years now.  In PEC he basically sat and read the New Testament manuel as we discussed things in the Branch which technically we aren't supposed to be present for.  We are only to be present to make reports at the beginning and then be excused.  But besides that things here in Malawi are going good.  I like Elder Shabangu, he is funny.  But I do have to make sure that he doesn't die prematurely, but so far things have gone well.  We had to take away a few BoM's this week because we found out that the people were jokers and only wanted to BS (bible study).  They had no intention of actually praying to find out if it is true.  We will probably have to do it a few more times this week as well.  We don't have an unlimited supply of books so we have to utilize the BoM Loan program.  If they read and come to church or in other words they progress, they can keep it but if not then we take it back because they are too valuable to have sitting on a shelf and collect dust.  The truck is pretty nice especially for this area.  It rains like crazy, it is very "mountainous" or in other words, hilly, and we go far every other day.  We only have it every other day though because we share it with the other Elders.  One day they have it, so they drop us off and pick us up.  Then the next day we have it.  I am the one driving because Elder Shabangu only has an expired learner's permit.  The hardest thing to get used to was shifting with my left hand because I am already used to the left side of the road.  Also the roads in Lilongwe are generally pretty nice.  But the roads in the areas that we teach are not so powerful.  They are just dirt "roads" meaning we sometimes are kind of off-roading.  The other Elders that we live with are pretty cool.  We all get along quite well.  The house is pretty nice and the best part is, we always have power.  We have a shower but we haven't had hot water for the whole week since I've been here.  But they said that they usually have it though.  The people seem to be even more poo than in Zim.  Most of them live in these mud brick homes with generally a tin roof.  But occasionally you will see a grass roof.  The houses are actually impossible to find if you don't have someone who knows where they are going, they don't have house numbers at all, anywhere.  Unless you are in town, then you can find things.  Malawi is beautiful though.  With all of the hills and the rain it is very green.  We took a plane to come to Malawi.  So it didn't take too long, but they did lose our bags though.  So for half of the week I had to prosylite in my suit pants and the same shirt.  They speak Chichewa here.  It is a lot more difficult for me than Shona was.  I still am having a hard time greeting people.  Also most of the women don't speak English so we basically can't teach them at all.

I had two funny things happen this week though.  The first was only funny because the guy didn't get hurt.  Otherwise it wouldn't have been powerful.  1. I was contacting these two guys and while I was talking to them I saw this guy run up to some other random guy, jump up and kick the guy in the chest.  He then ran away.  The guy who got kicked was drunk and he went flying into a big puddle of mud.  I quickly finished my contact and went to help the guy but he didn't seem to notice that I was there.  He just looked around with a confused look on his face.  My companion saw me standing over this guy and quickly came over to make sure that I hadn't done anything.  As I was explaining what happened, he got up and walked away.  Looking back at it, it was really funny to watch.  2. Yesterday we saw this old man dancing in the middle of this road in our area.  He proceeded to take off his jacket and throw it away.  You can imagine what went through my mind at this point.  Most people were just kind of walking by like this was a regular occurrance but we stood and watched him do this ridiculous dance that lasted about two minutes.  It was hilarious.  Luckily nothing else came off though.

That's good to hear that Karl got his call.  Tell him congratulations for me if you ever see him.  I'm glad that Jaxon is still excited to go on mission even though it will be to somewhere else.  As I read about Karl, the Platts, Dillon, and the Seagulls my jaw progressively dropped lower and lower with each one that I read.  Everything at home that seemed to be going fairly normal has now been hit by a tornado.  That is a lot of change to hear about all at once.  The package you sent to me is at the mission office right now as well as another one that I am not sure who sent it.  Elder Law called and told me so I will get them in a few weeks either at Zone Conference at the end of the month or President might come to Malawi before that.  But he wasn't sure which time.  But they are safe so don't worry.

That's good to hear that you are close to being ready for inspection in Milford.  That means that you are getting closer to opening.  That is too bad about Butler playing xing in the final.  But oh well, you can't have everything in life.  I am glad to hear that the Braves have started well.  I always have the urge to make a comment about the yankees when I see someone wearing their hat but then I remember that they have no idea who the yankees really are, so I resist.  Well I guess I will talk to you next week.

One love,

Elder Cecil

Well I know that you are all waiting to hear about transfers so, here goes.  Dad your April Fool's joke was half true.  I am going to Lilongwe, Malawi and part of my area is in the bush.  But the email thing was false.  My companion is named Elder Shabongu, he is from South Africa and he is the District Leader.  I will be killing him.  I will also be driving a Toyota Hilux (This is the nicest truck that you will find here.  I will also be in the nicest one in the mission.)  There will be four of us living in our house, but then the nearest missionary after that is 4 hours away in Blantyre.  Elder Sefatsa is staying in Glenview again.  It will be six months there for him by the end of the transfer.  I am sad that I'm leaving Zimbabwe but I am really excited to go to Malawi.  We did get to see conference at President's house.  Except not the Priesthood Session.  I loved it.  One of my favorite moments was in the first session.  I can't remember who it was that spoke I would have to look at my notes but he was the one who spoke right before the Choir and congregation sang "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" I really liked the talk and then while we were singing there was around 40 of us singing from our souls.  It was so powerful.  I loved that.  I also really liked President Eyring's talk.  Another moment I really enjoyed was President Monson spoke about the Temple.  It was funny when he talked about the Rome Temple and he said that he saw a temple in a great city, that has 2500 years of history.  Elder Harper and I looked at each other and said, "Jerusalem" but then he said which one it was and we realized that Jerusalem was a lot older than that.  But then Elder Bucholtz said, "Man I was scared, I was thinking 'Yo I need to repent' !"  Man it was funny.  But that talk made me really want to go to the temple.  I enjoyed his talk a lot and then after the Choir sang "The Spirit of God" we were all blown away.  We also laughed at C. Scott Grow.  I really really enjoyed conference, I can't wait to watch it again in a few weeks in Malawi.  We had our baptisms, but they were on Sunday not Saturday so they haven't been confirmed.  We got fed like crazy this week though because I was leaving.  We had lunch and two dinners almost everyday.  Sister Mhlanga, that less-active that we reactivated gave me a really nice story written by some missionary who served in Houston.

Mom why would you put yourself through that kind of torture?  5 HOURS A DAY IS WAY TOO MUCH MATH!  Even 1 hour is way too much.  Nicole's April Fool's joke sounded so powerful, I laughed for quite awhile.  I even shared it with some of the other guys and they thought that it was really powerful too.  I wish that I could see the video.  I received packages from the Doubeks and Grandma.  Thank you so much, the candy is always appreciated.  I am really grateful that they came when they did otherwise it might be quite a while before I get any mail.  So Butler and Uconn are in the championship that is powerful.  I assume that the championship is tonight.  Well I hope that all is well.

With love,

Elder Cecil