Goodbyes and Hellos March 2014

                Elder Odunga...look at those gorgeous teeth! (front tooth root canal and fixed chipped tooth)

Elder Madise..the smiler! Smiling got him through!

   Elder Hansen (was our first experience in the mission with a missionary with Malaria..what a good sport, he was not a complainer!)

                               The irreplaceable Elder Hontyo! President's AP "the Duke"

Goodbye to some pretty awesome elders. They started their missions in Zim...with Pres Dube, then Cook, then Padovich and then US! I wish I'd audiotaped these departing missionaries' testimonies. Wonderful.

     Our new Self Reliance couple. We are so happy they are here and they are going to be terrific!

 Elders Dlamini, Shabalala, Sister Mbele and Elder Namisi. A strong group to fill in the holes left by the 4 departing elders.

Elder Welling from Evanston, Wyoming. Traveled 36 hours alone from the Provo MTC and was cheerful and upbeat and confident! Love him already!

Mother's Without Borders

On Christmas eve morning we went to Mother's Without Borders to take gifts of clothing, toys and treats. It was wonderful to meet the children who live there. The orphanage is owned and run by members of the church and leaders in the Lusaka district. One of their main goals is to keep orphaned siblings together so they grow up together and care for each other.

 This is the kitchen that will feed 130 children a day when school is in session. For the holidays many of the children went to stay with their relatives in the area.

We are accompanied by The Lyles, our Humanitarian Couple, The Skidmores, our office couple, and the Humpherys, our Public Affairs couple(left to right). They are all terrific and we love sharing this mission experience with them.

A visit to Liwonde to see the progress on the new meetinghouse followed by a quick drive through the Park to show our AP's some wildlife. Elder Barnard has good eyes... he spotted the big bull elephant out in the grass. We would have driven closer but the ground was too wet.

                                                           Tobacco leaves drying

                                                                         Tobacco

                                                         My morning walk in Blantyre

   View from our hotel patio...nice place to read my scriptures and write in my journal after a great walk.

Random pictures from last 2 zone conferences in Malawi. How lucky we are to spend our time with these great missionaries.

        Elders Hinckley (Canada) Barnard (ID) Vanarsdale (UT) Nasibu (Uganda) Johnson (UT)

                                Sisters Arlanda (Mauritius) Maznio (AZ) Makunye (SA) Ntuli (SA)

                                             Elders Wandera (Uganda) Moya (Tanzania)

                                                          Hunter (ID)  Ntuli, Nasibu

                                                                   Lilongwe Zone

                                                                      Blantyre Zone

 Elder Hontyo on the right goes home soon to East London, SA. He is one of our AP's and is one FINE young man!

 3 Ugandans! As much pride for homeland as a bunch of Texans! Elders Kibirango, Ayubu, Ojatum

                                         Our mission vehicles in the Blantyre Chapel parking lot.

Sisters Komiha (Zim) Rawlins (UT) Scott (AR) Bulha (Mozambique) Wallin (UT) Getts (MT)

More great new ones: an elder and 3 sisters ....but one of the sisters got her visa to Kenya the day she arrived so the next day she was on a flight to Nairobi.