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
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