Hello all:
I thought I had better write!. Time seems to get away from me and I just get a little lazy. Mom and Dad, thanks for the letter. Just to let every know, we are still here and doing well. The mission is doing well. I've been busy with baptismal records and submitting the medical to the insurance company. The office elders are gone a lot lately, so it's really quite and slow in the office. Not much has happened in the last little while. The Humanitarian couple just invited us to watch a bore hole drilling this coming Thursday. That should be exciting , if they drill into a water pocket. We just want to watch it once while we are here. Last week we met the Breckstrands from Bountiful. They are on there 3rd mission. Now they are here in Johannesburg at the area office training stakes all over the Africa Southeast Area, on how to audit there stakes. That sounds rather boring thing to do. Tonight we meet another couples from the area office and they are called as Historians and training other members on how to do "History and writing it down". They are from Sandy Utah. I've seen this pattern of senior couples that have been called to Africa once, get called back again for another mission. They seem to be better at what they do than we are, no worry here!!!!!
Our mission president asked Elder A the other day if we would consider extending our mission. Elder A had no problem with that question , but he did say that Sister H might be the hard one to sell that idea to. So of course, our mission president has not asked me about that question at all. He did want to know if we had any friends that might consider coming to serve here on a mission> So what do you all think, any takers?????
I hope you are all doing well. Just to let you all know, Rob and Whitney are moving this coming Wednesday to Lake Charles, Louisiana. He is being transferred with in his company. If any one wants to see what Louisiana looks like, Rob will be driving from CA. to Lake Charles on Wednesday. Whitney is flying to Denver for a few days and then to their new home. We will miss them and will have to Skype much more to watch Hailey and the new baby. Russ and Christine hopefully will be done with school in December. What a happy day for them. Then we wait to see what the next step is for them. Lou and Curtis planning to attend BYU-I next year. Dang all you guys are moving away. WE need to plan a family gathering for next summer, so come up with some great ideas.
A lady that is the house cleaner for the transfer house, told me about her nephews wedding last weekend. She said that they had a tribal wedding and then they had a church wedding. But what happens after the wedding is rather unusual. She said that the bride and 5 other ladies her size all dress I white material , with veils over there heads. They are taken to the grooms parents house and they all stand outside of the gate. Now the groom has to guess which one is his bride. With each guess he pays the brides family money. If he is wrong he has to pay more money!!! For a country with no jobs and money, they can be poor and broke before their life even starts. This lady said that it took her nephew several tries to get his bride, and a lot of money given to her family. What a tradition.
We hope that you're all doing well. Sounds like Utah has been blessed with more rain! That is a good sign for good crops. This lion killing here in Zimbabwe isn't as big a thing as it is in the States. I just read that Magabee just killed a baby elephant, antelopes and other animals for his million dollar birthday party. Then a landowner killed a lion and crocodile and stuffed them to give as a gift. I guess that these killings take place all the time here. He does need to confess to his crime. the dentist from the states.
We are planning a trip to Hwange National park and then to Victoria Falls in September. It should be quite different, since it will be the dry season and not much water. I just want to see some lions in the wild and not up close so they attack us!
Let me know if there are any takers on subbing for us in the office, so we can go home in January. wE are grateful to be here and see the growth of the church and see how the missionaries struggle and improve in their lives. I sure will miss the office elders come October, who will invite us to play paint ball games with????
Next week we are going to Masvingo, Zimbabwe to speak in church. But we are leaving the day before and go see some ruins at the Great Zimbabwe! It has ruins dating back to the life of Christ. This should be fun, to get a way for 2 days. Just hope we don't get lost and end up in South Africa or Mozambique. Now I have to decide what to speak about, I need to be inspired with the topic.
There have been some changes to the mission, with the new mission president. They will be good ones. HIs wife is a very nice person, and we seem to help each other in our callings.
Before your dad tells you his side of the story, I did fall again on a walk! It's the shoes and the potholes in the road. More road rash on the leg and hands. I'm on a big push to take as many interesting pictures that I can. Today we saw a first!!!! A lady had a new tire on her head. I really wanted that picture , but Elder A wouldn't pull over so I could get the shot...I have never seen that before. Well, I'm rambling.
Take care and know that we love you always and forever.
Love Alan and Joy
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