Were back....

We hope this letter finds you all well and happy. We sure are. We have been over in Malawi for the past several days. You know how they say, "you can't get there from here" we finally found a way. We need to travel to Malawi at least once a month and stay for at least a week. There is only one flight a week that goes into Lilongwi on Tuesday. And the fun part is the only flight back to Lusaka is also on Tuesday. So when you go you need to plan on staying the week. If you want to arrive on any other day you need to travel all the way down to Johannesburg's in South Africa, and make your connections via Blantyre in the south of the country. The fun part is when you arrive your at the bottom end of the country and we need to get up to the top to visit all of the missionaries. This past week we went into the area with one of our senior couples who are there. They serve in Malawi and if it wasn't for their hard work we would have been so lost. They are from Canada and they have been out about seven months. We traveled by car up north and spent three days in Lilongwi and in Launshaya. The work of the mission is really going well. We have opened several new areas and we have several missionaries who are teaching English class in the various branches. We went to church on Sunday and visited two small branches. They each had about 60+ in attendance. I spoke and so did Sister Padovich. It was nice to watch the little children sing in primary. They are so cute and the smiles just melt your heart. These people really do love the Lord. They work so hard and they listen to the Spirit. It has changed there lives and has given them hope as they seek a better way of life. We have several of the families in some of the villages walking all the way from their small huts to get water. When we were at the small branch in Kauma the sisters were there getting water. The two of them had walked about five miles each with a baby tied to their backs carrying a large tub for water. They filled the tub. I figured it held about 8-10 gallons. They picked it up and placed it onto their heads, balanced it and walked back home. They never spilled a drop. We hope to send pictures soon. We have been told that our stuff from the United States has finally arrived. We get to go out and get it on Monday. Yea!! We have so much to do each day. I tell people that it feels like were running out of time. We have just finished meeting with all of the missionaries in the mission. Now we are planning our first leadership and Zone and District meetings. We are booked all the way into mid September now and even have some things on the calendar in October and November. The missionaries are the best. They all work hard and are faithful. We are blessed to serve with such fine people. We are getting better at driving on the wrong side of the road. Sister P. is still my best passenger. She said "no way will you get me to drive like that" your doing fine. We love you all. Be good to one another. We are fine. Very happy and blessed. We have witnessed things during the past week that have renewed our faith. Things that have made us stronger. Things that bear witness to the divinity of the Savior. Things that make us want to work harder each day in bringing some peace and comfort to these wonderful people. We need you all to come and be with us. Through your faith and prayers. We need couples to come and serve. We need several couples here in Zambia and several in Malawi. Come join the adventure. You can do this. We know it. Xoxo M & A