Happy Birthday Zambia Lusaka Mission!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZAMBIA LUSAKA MISSION

Happy Birthday To Us !!!

We can't believe that we have been here for one year. The time truly flies by. We have seen miracles in one years time. We have grown and seen the hand of the Lord in this wonderful work. We are still small in numbers, but we sure make alot of noise! Between now and the end of November we will have about 26 missionaries finish their calls here. They will return to various parts of the world and finish their education and start their families. We look forward to the arrival of many new missionaries in the coming months. We received word last week that Russ & Cindy Milhoan have received their call to come and serve with us. They will arrive here mid September. We are counting the days. We also have heard that Ed & Jolene Smith from Saugus 2nd have also sent in their papers. We have asked that they can come and serve with us as well. Wow, three couples from the same stake serving in the same mission. Remember now, they did it and so can you! We need more couples! We will take you all. Believe me, we have the room. We are huge in size, and we need the senior couples to fill in the spots around the mission in order for us to grow. With more couples, we can receive more missionaries.

We have been so busy this past month. We have practialy been living in the car. We have just finished District Conferences around the entire mission. The first one was up in the Kitwe District near the DR Congo border. Elder & Sister Dale G. Renlund of the Seventy presided. It was powerful. We had several hundred come and it was a blessing to all. They went back to Johannesburg and the following week, Elder & Sister Carl B. Cook of the Seventy joined us for conference here in Lusaka. They came up and stayed with us in the mission home. They are great fun. We had over 750 attend conference. It was wonderful. The next week we drove over to Malawi and held conference with Elder & Sister Bricknell. The meetings in Blantyre were great. We held a new member, investigator fireside on one of the eveings. we had over 50 come. It was a very busy time with all of them. The thing that makes it even more fun, was we held zone conferences with the missionaries either before or after the district conferences. And we wonder why we are tired. But it is a great tired. The work never stops. Please come and join us. We need you.

May and June has a ton of birthday in the family. We are so thankful for all of our kids and grandkids, and our extended family. With those birthdays come mile stones. Mathmatically, Maddie turned 20, Samantha turned 40, and Arlene turned 60...... or as Arlene said .....it's just two 30 year olds "glued" together. And the old guy turned 63!  WOW.... that is scary! We have little ones who were baptized, older ones advanced in the priesthood. School is out, vacations have started and the family is growing. We know that all of these blessing have come because we are here serving the Lord. Our family has been so blessed. We are thankful for all of our children. We are so thankful to all of our extended family. We love you for always watching out for us. Your letters and your "skype" calls. Your packages. I never knew how much I missed "Fritos".... Frankie, I owe you big time! That old saying, "you can't eat just one?" So true....I polished off the whole bag in two days! We love all of you so much.

As always we have sent along some new pictures. We hope you like them. Please remember that we love you all. We are happy in the work. We are blessed to call you all family. Please remember us in your prayers and pray for all of these wonderful saints here. Write when you can.

xoxo

M&A

A Teamwork Game called Cat and Mouse

Put the rope on your arm

Hold Hands...and try to move it around the circle.

They come up with all kinds of ways to make it work.

Don't let go...

Whoaaaa...

Lusaka Zone 2012

You can't turn your back for a minute...

Senior couples even dance to move the loop...

Copperbelt zone conference.

SMILE...

Elder Buckholtz... affectionately known as "Fluffy"

I did it...

Lilongwe zone, Malawi 2012

Blantyre Zone, Malawi 2012 Game Park

Sister Missionaries, Lots of smiles!!!

Now THAT'S a cookie!!!!

So the guide said, we will just park and walk...

and see what we can see...

Look it's a big termite hill...

First Elephant of the day...

 Never trust the still water... Crocodiles are everywhere.

Hippo's too...

Monkeys are everywhere.

Nice hat...

Boabab tree, they are really big

 

Blantyre zone conference.

Can't turn your back for a second...

This is Elder Benjiman, he is the first missionary ever called from Liwonde, Malawi

He will serve in Uganda, fine young man.

So we walked and walked...

If we can see them... do you think they can see us?

So it looked like calm water... Right? ...it just takes a minute for them to show up...

They never trouble the hippo's.

So President... Can I climb up and get the... NO!!!

Hippo's and more... Crocs.

Hippo's

Stand right there and I'll throw it to you...

We came into the bush and we met about 10 elephants...

They were crossing the road and wanted us out of the way... 

That's all folks!!!!!!

XOXOXO

M&A

Were back ......

We hope this email finds you all well. We have been out and about for the past month. We were over to Malawi twice. We went up to the Copperbelt for Conference and down to Johannesburg for a seminar. Oh the joys of traveling in Africa. We are getting better with the drive. It is so far between each city. If the roads didn't have so many potholes.....make that craters we would have a chance. Many of the big trucks try and travel at night. They all have really large spot lights on the front of their trucks. They will never turn them off when they approach because they can't see the holes. Many of them hit these holes and flip over. Then when you are on the same road the next day it looks like a war zone. It brings new meaning to "4 Wheelin". Our seminar in Johannesburg was really great. We were able to visit with the other missions from the area and see what they were or were not doing. Everytime we come back with new ideas and jump right in again.

The month of May has been really busy for us. Last weekend we were up in the Copperbelt. We are just on the border with DR Congo. It is really remote. We held conference with the members from Kitwe, Ndola and Luanshya. Elder & Sister Dale G. Renlund of the Seventy came and our conference was wonderful. During one of the days, we were able to take them around and had them look at some of the area. It is always good to have these brethren get the lay of the land. This weekend we will hold conference here in Lusaka.  Elder & Sister Carl B. Cook of the Seventy will preside. We are looking forward to our meetings. Then we will send two of our missionaries home. They have completed their missions and will return home to school. On the 30th of the month Elder & Sister Harvey from Canada will join us here in the mission. We are so excited that they will arrive. Last week before conference Elder & Sister Taggart returned home to Utah. This is our first couple to finish and return home. We miss them so. They were prayed here by us. These are two of the finest people I have ever met. We owe much of our success to them. They were here before we arrived and were the only couple in Zambia. They were the foundation. They were the first ones here. They have set the bar really high. We were excited to here from our children that many of them were able to travel to their home Ward to hear them speak last Sunday. Thank you children. That meant a great deal to your Mother and I.

Like in many families we have been blessed with grandchildren. Lots of birthdays in May. Spencer and Jack Jr. were found worthy and were advanced in the priesthood to the office of Teacher. We are proud of you boys. Truman and Wyatt were both baptized. It is wonderful to see the blessings from our service. We are very blessed to have children that always listened to their Mother. She is such a fine example of what we should all be. I am thankful to have had a small part in the success of this family. I am so thankful for my companion. She is a wonderful lady. It is really easy to follow her. All you need to do is listen. And of course remember to say ..... "Yes Dear."

We hope you like the pictures.  If we start to do reruns please let us know. 

We will leave you with these words from President Thomas S. Monson. "Let us relish life as we live it, find joy in the journey, and share our love with friends and family. Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved. Friends move away, children grow up, loved ones pass on. It is so easy to take others for granted, until that day when they're gone from our lives and we are left with feelings of "what if" and "if only". Said Harriett Beecher Stowe, "The bitterest tears shed over graves are the words left unsaid and deeds left undone."

We love you all. We miss you all.

For all of you that read our blog. If you are thinking of serving a mission as a couple. Now is the time to go. Come serve with us. Remember, we know you, we have seen you at your best and your not so best. The same can be said for us..... and we still love you! We will find you a place to serve.

xoxox

M&A

We found this new flat up in Kitwe. This will be the new flat for Elder & Sister Harvey. We are also sending up our first set of Sister missionaries.

Right next door to one another.

Man ... this place is nice!

No more dirt floors!!! YEA .....

Nice kitchen, this will all be tiled. Floor and walls.

Lets see ... pool and tennis court .....right, President!

And you wonder why you sneeze .... everything is in bloom.

Were almost done ....

We can park inside, and we have room for a big garden.

Plants and a new front lawn.

Hi ... 

Elder Lookhart is always getting the updates.

Welcome home ...10 foot fence and 240 volts. Welcome home.

And you would think that the dump truck would back in .....it is all by hand.

When we were up in Chingola. we followed this "wide load" for several miles.Everyone coming the other way needed to get completely off the road in order for it to pass.

Remember the elephant? Don't try and pass......

 GPS ....we would be lost with out it ... thank you IPhone people ...

Our first meeting held in the new building. The man to my left is a member of the Kitwe District Presidency. President Cerrus Kapato.

When we were down in Johannesburg, we met President & Sister Reber. They are assigned to serve in the Missionary Training Center for the Area. 

This wonderful couple was Mission President for my mother and father. My parents served in Yugoslavia with them. While we were together, I called my mother in Utah and they were able to talk over the good and bad times they had while serving together. This was truly a great blessing for us to hear how valiant our parents were in that assignment.

Can I have a ride?

Hop in ....

This is the mode of transport outside any of the cities in Malawi.

Let's cruise the "In & Out"....

 You just can't make this stuff up ...

xoxo

M&A

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