We continue to fill our days and the "time is not with us" as Zambians say.
I am embarrassed that it has been so long since I posted, so I will throw in a few random photos.
This pretty lady works at raising chickens but stopped to go home to make some lunch of nshima. There was something about the simplicity of the scene and lighting and that blue chitenge that made me post this.
The District had a one day Youth Conference. This was the talent portion where our branch sang and tried to emulate the full time missionaries. We see these kids every week. They are just like the teenagers at home.
This fellow was selling something I hadn't seen before so I had to ask what it was. Perhaps I needed one and didn't know it. It is a tin can with a wire coming out of it. He said it was a TV antennae and they worked really well. We already get one and a half channels without the can. If that was doubled I am afraid I would probably lose my mind due to more local news coverage, so I didn't buy one.
Here are two Elders I used to see a lot around the Mission Home. On the left is Elder Packer from Uganda and on the right Elder Barnard from Idaho. They were the assistants to the President for a while but have gone back in the field so others could have the same experience and share their insights.
I miss them but their successors are just as capable and enjoyable to be around.
Below is something that sort of freaked us out but only because Sister Orien (in Kitwe) spit it out of her mouth after drinking some water from her little water bottle.
It is about an inch long and that is its shape. No one knows how it got in her bottle but Robbie, the cleaner at the mission home, says they are around in wet weather and that is why they wash the cabbage real well. I think I will now be the cabbage washer.
This sight below also sort of disturbed me, though in a different way and I am just guessing at the circumstances. It is usually the wives who haul heavy loads on their heads. Below five women were hauling bags of charcoal to Grace Village, a few blocks behind me off the paved road. Perhaps everyone was in business together but to see the two men with them just following and not carrying anything just seemed a little too much of a flashback in time. (?)
Every once in a while the Mission President is out of town and we can have missionaries assigned to our mission unexpectedly. On this day I got to pick up three new missionaries at the airport and introduce them to Zambia. That is Elders Sagers, Cunningham and Owor who had just arrived in Lusaka for two years. It would be fun to take their photo two years from now to see how they have matured.
Being around young missionaries is by far the best part of being a senior missionary. We just have to remind ourselves to not get too close or have favorites or act like their grandparents, but honestly, their parents should be proud of raising children who can leave home, work hard, and put others ahead of themselves. They truly are amazing.
So we are always busy. I will post some photos of the school in Grace next.
