A few more shots...

Just found a few more......

The big and the small.

We are family.....

I see you....

Another good day.

After Church, the Sisters alway look so nice.

At the mall.

Sisters in Munali Branch

Sisters at the park.

You can feel this right.....

Once your wet, your wet.

Elders in Chainama

After that sandwich I can ride all day...

Here we go....

it's standard dress when the power goes out, which is all the time.....

Just a few Shots .....

We were able to get on line this past week. We were able to even down load a few pictures. We hope you enjoy them. We have been on the road for several weeks. We enjoyed the Christmas Season with our missionaries. We are in the middle of the rainy season here. It rains and rains. I find myself looking out the windows watching for Noah and the animals to come walking down the street. We are well and happy. I love my Arlene. She is the best. I have always found her to be the best thing that has ever happened to me. And the longer we are here, the more I realize that I have been right about that for over 40 years. She is a dream come true. We just finished a mission tour with Elder & Sister Carl B. Cook of the Seventy. They came and stayed in our home for a few days and we all traveled the mission together. It was a most wonderful 10 days. We recieved good counsel and he was happy with all of the things we have been able to accomplish in our first 6 months. We shared with him our thoughts and feelings on how we may progress in the work. We are excited about the things to come. During our first six months we grew very fast. Now we will slim down a little and start to adjust some of our mission complement. It's like a sports team in some ways. We have a strong roster and we have spent the summer in two a days and now we're ready for our first big game. The season has started and we are ready. I have faith in my team and they now trust the coach and the game plan. Here we go. We love you all. We think of you always. We are busy. We thank you for your love and prayers......

Zone Conference in Lusaka, Zambia

Baptism in Lusaka

I told you about the rain right?

After the rain the sun comes out and it's back to work.

We stop and visit with any who will listen.

On and on....

and on....

Just a small snack for the road....

We like our T-Shrits ....

It beats walking...

Zone activity at the Reptile Park

Zambia "Charlie's Angels"

It was on sale...

two for the price of one...

Our Sisters

This was taken out at Mothers Without Borders. It speaks
for itself....

We helped at Mormon Helping Hands Day 

We had a good day.

Then we walked home....

Sometimes we think we can fly.

I think I need to get one of these

Another good day.

Sisters in Blantyre, Malawi

We always have time to eat.

After Church

Woodlands Zone Activity

Elder & Sister Taggart with the Zone

So when you come to the end of a perfect day, why not
stop on the side of the road and pick-up our
personal favorites, "rats on a stick".....

Yummy.........


We love you all. We will write soon.


xoxox
Mike & Arlene

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

In our last exciting episode.......

Let's see where to begin. Last we spoke we were heading over to Malawi for the dedication. It was fabulous. We had been working on the program and the planning of this event for several months. When it finally came down to the last couple of days, we were ready. Sister Bullock and Arlene were at the chapel and Elder Bullock and I went out to the airport to meet Elder Russell M. Nelson and Elder Dale G. Renlund and their wives. It was so great to be with these Brethren. When I greeted Elder Nelson he said, "How are you Mikele?" I said we are doing very well. He asked, "Have you got all of the tree's cut down yet?" I told him no, not yet. We went on to the meeting and enjoyed the Spirit that comes from such a great event. Later in the day as we were on the way back to the airport, Elder Nelson spoke of the "tree" question. He said, "Remember President, your job here is to cut down the tree's. You just get us pointed in the right direction. Someone else will pave the road." I am thankful for those simple words. For me they spoke volumes. Since we came here, we have wanted to do so much. We feel everyday that we are running out of time. We have so many things we want to do. But because of "things" you just can't. My "things" list is a block long. We are so hampered here. We lack the electronics that we need. If the powers not off, the Internet is down, and if the Internet is not down the cell phones won't work. So it goes on and on. I am thankful that the old "Mike" the one who has no patience is not here anymore. The Mission President has taught him that it will all take place in the Lord's own time. I am thankful for those simple words, "Just cut down the tree's Mikele". We hope you were able to see some of the pictures on the Internet and in the Church News. After the dedication, we were able to go out with some of the missionaries to a wild game park. We will put up some of the pictures tonight. If the Internet works, HA! We just got back from a week in Johannesburg. We were invited down to a conference with all of the other Mission Presidents and their wives. We had a wonderful time. We were able to listen to council from our Area Presidency. They are inspired men and we were filled with good council and good food. We were able to do some shopping there. We even went to a Cheetah Park. We were up close and personal with them. Oh my! It was very exciting. The things you get to do on a mission are things you only dream of. To be in the wild with these animals is beyond words.

We have been home now for a few days. We have been working hard. We were blessed this week with a new couple to work in the office here. We are so blessed. They will be such an asset to us. We pray that the rest of you will want to come. We have lots of room and there is plenty of work to do. Next month we will have our own Public Affairs couple come and be here. We have so many things to do. It will be so great to have them help with all of the projects we have planned. We are sorry it has taken us so long to post to the blog. We have been on the run. We are now in the rainy season. Now for us at home, you might get some rain. but here we get RAIN. Oh my were talking major league rain and the lighting! WOW! It just shakes the house. I am so happy to pull the covers over my head. Samantha, you would never survive! Wow! We hope all is well with you all. We miss you. We love you. We think of you always. We are thankful that the Lord took a chance on us. We thank all of you for your kind words, your love and prayers. We hope you like the pictures. We will write again soon.

xoxox M&A

A few weeks ago we were able to take a day when we were in Johannesburg and go out into the bush to another wild animal park.....

I know it looks like Jurassic Park right?

Just on the other side of the gate was this big Lion, the King of the Jungle. This guy wanted to eat the head of this Springbock. He was pacing back and forth trying to figure out how to get the meat.

In just a matter of minutes he dug his way under the fence and was able to get a claw on it. It was so neat. His growl still keeps me up at night!

He got hold of it but he couldn't figure out how to get it under the fence....

If you pull just hard enough....you get the prize!

Just down the road we were followed by a pack of wild dogs. They hunt in packs about twenty at a time will chase their prey down. They hunt at night. They will chase for hours at a time.

This was one of the most amazing things we have ever seen. We entered into another part of the park and were able to get close to the Cheetahs. There were three of them. The guide stopped the truck and said, watch the bushes over there. We waited for just a few minutes and out they came.

The dogs were close by.....

These guys came right up to us. We were about 10ft. from them. When this one walked by, he raised the hair on his back to let us know....don't mess with me!!

This one just watched....

After the guide gave them some horse meat, they just went over next to the tree and sat....probably looking for dessert....

The old bald guy.... I bet he dosen't run very fast.......

Naw......let's see what else we can find.....

It didn't take long to figure out where he was headed....

This one was the guard.....boy can they run fast.....

Look at those eyes.....

It was a neat day. We will post again soon.