Merry Christmas......

Let's see. Last we spoke we were on our way back fro Malawi. This blog finds us in the same place. We travel so much. last week we went over the the US Embassy and had them add 40 more pages into our passports. 40 pages. we have only been here for 6 months! they like to stamp the book. We think there must be a competition as to who has the better country stamp. here a stamp there a stamp. This last trip we drove over to Malawi. You talk about an adventure. when you drive from Santa Clarita to Las Vegas or even up yo Salt Lake, you just hope in the car and go. The hard part to to decide where your going to stop for lunch. When you take off here you better be ready for anything. As we drove out of town the whole area became green and plush. As we drove we went through several tropical forests and several mountain canyons. Not much out there, except baboons who just love to run into the street, just to see if you will lock up the brakes and skip to a stop. Padovich 2, baboons 0, chickens 0. We drove over to a border town called Chipata, we spent the night in a pretty nice hotel considering where we were. We got up early and headed for the border. It proved to be pretty easy to crossover. Lot's of paperwork and fee's, they have fixed a price to everything. From the border it was only about 140 kilometers. I spent the week in interviews. There were many who wanted to visit about various things. Both Spirirual and temporal. We have concerns about the rain this year. it seems that it is either to much or not enough. The cost of everything in Malawi has really gone up. Many of the members are concerened they will be able to sustain themselves. We have needed to increase the alotment for the missionaries for the month because it just won't strech anymore. The vendors now write their prices and quotations in "chalk" it is really funny when you are in the checkout line and they erase the price and need to recharge for an item that is already in your cart. Like we say, "someday it will be better, just not today" While we were on Lilongwe our new Senior Couple arrived. Elder and Sister Prete. They are wonderful. They just jumped right in and have made things so much calmer. With them in Lilongwe and Elder & Sister Bullock in Blantye we will see great growth in both area's. It makes is so much easier on the Bullock's. No more long drives in the middle of the night. We are thankful for this blessing. Speaking of blessings. If you are ready to come and serve with us, let me know. We need you so much. There are many of you that think or say, "Oh, I just don't know if we can do it" Sure you can, with the new rules for travel you can come for six months, and go home. Or if you like it you can extend. And if you decide to stay longer than six months you can come and go if you need to. You have all been talking about this, just like we did. Just do it. Just tell the Bishop we are ready to go. You will never, never have more fun. Sure it is hard, but isn't just about everything we do hard? We waited for six months just to get a telephone line in the house. Now that we have one we can "SKYPE" the kids, and the rest of you. If you think I am applying pressure, your right. You have nothing else to do. Anyone can go to Nauvoo or Hawaii, come to the mission field. Come out where it's hot, dusty, and see the animals and the stars at night and keep score of the wildlife you run over in the car!. We have been working really hard. we have several missionaries that will be returning home soom. It is hard to say goodbye. They are fine men and women. They have really touched our hearts. Arlene crys everytime  they arrive and every time they leave. Here in Lusaka the Louthans just arrived. They will be in charge of Public Affairs for the Church here and in Malawi and Angola. They will be busy. A lot of travel and tons of meetings. We look forwar to the new year. Time goes so fast. We have so mush to do. We leave for Malawi again on the 4th of January. We will hold Zone and Branch conferences up and down the country. Then down to Johannesburg for two days then home. Then we start all over again. It looks like the next three months will involve alots of travel. We have found that we can drive over and back to Malawi. It will save money and time. We looked into renting a car in Malawi at the airport last time we were in country. The cost to rent a small toyoya for one week was over 2,000 US. If you wanted a small Ford Ranger, 3650 US for the week, without the fuel charge. Thank you, we will drive. We want you all to know how much we love you. You are the reason we are here. We have made a list of all of the things we needed to know since we arrived, then we put your names next to the things we were taught by each of you. You have molded us into being able to serve, you are the ones we thank. We are greatful to Heavenly Father. For the trust he has in us. I am thankful that he would allow us to represend the Church in this part of the world. We love the Lord, He is our strenght. We hope you will all remeber us in your prayers. We think of you always. We laugh, we cry, and when the power goes out, which is often. I will hear Arlene yell, the powers out again, let's go eat oreo cookies. We then spend the next hour sitting in the dark, telling stories about all of you. We are thankful for our children and all of the grandchildren. We love them so. We thank all of our family, and all of our extended family, for your support and your love. We are well, we are happy. Have a wonderful Christmas. Write of Skype us. xoxox M&A