Merry Christmas

Baptism of Hope Mushala.  Pres. Mushala is in our Stake Presidency.  The youngest one cried because she couldn't get baptized too.

Painting a board to make a chalkboard for one of the schools to see if it would really work.  The school will paint the rest of them and frame them.  

Had a fun Christmas!  But the best part was watching all the Grand-kid's excitement on Christmas morning as they discovered what Santa brought and opened presents.

The excitement of Christmas morning in the mission field. 

Our Christmas decorations and presents.  

Had a great Mission Christmas Social with the 2 Lusaka Zones.  Ate first then played a lot of games.  A fun game was dividing into 6 groups then as Sister Kupu pointed to each group, they had to start singing a Christmas song without repeating any that had been sung.  Groups were eliminated if they couldn't start singing one quickly.  It was hilarious to watch.  

The Elders really piled it high and most went back for seconds.  Had ham, chicken, rice, potato salad, taro, green salad, coleslaw, rolls.  Yummy!  

For one of the games, they were divided into 6 groups and each group had to pick a Christmas related name for their group.  They they were told they had to create a mascot using anything they could find in the room.  The group on the right were the Noels and you can probably guess the group on the left's name.  Very fun activity.

Christmas Time

We Wish all a Merry Christmas!

We visited our apt. building caretaker's family this week and shared a little Christmas with them. 

Sister Pulsipher found out his wife is also named Janet so had to get a picture together. 

We had our Ward Christmas Party this week.  So much fun.  

A game of football keep away from the person in the middle.  Just passing time while waiting for the food.

The children were served food first.  They put so much food on their plates that we thought it was wasteful because there was no way they could eat that much (we couldn't even eat that much).  We were mistaken.  They all slicked up their plates and some wanted seconds.  Served BBQ chicken, rice, potatoes, and coleslaw.  Very good.

Cuties!

Santa came for a visit.  Can you tell who this Santa helper is?  As you can see it got a bit crowded.

The kids were so excited for a visit from Father Christmas.  The treat was a bag of Corn Puffs.

Even the Elders were excited to see Santa.

Elder Pulsipher showing some his magic trick.  All our grandkids know this trick too.

We have the nicest neighbors here.  An Indian family brings us food because I just rave over how good it is. She is spoiling us.  And it is really, really good but a bit too spicy hot for Sister Pulsipher

A part of one project was to repair desks.  The boys were putting on the new desktops and seats.  They will varnish them too.  

Sister Pulsipher and Sister Lewis leading the kids in a song.  We decided for a Christmas gift to this neighborhood, we took pictures of each child, printed them, and gave it to them (along with a lollipop).  They were so excited to see a picture of themselves.  It was pretty chaotic with about 100 kids but it was so fun!

Everyone was excited to watch their picture come up on the computer then out the printer

Projects and Fun

Made 3 trips to the airport this week picking up and dropping off missionaries for transfers.  

Lighting the World at the Shopping Center.  Usually the members work these but we wanted a chance.  We whities are less successful than the members.  

Elder Wester's last baptism before going home. The Elders are the young men on the left and the two being baptized are on the right.  Notice our Chinese friend.  The Chinese have a great influence here in the economy.  He is a great young man who will someday return to China to be a Church leader there.  

Check out this huge avacado!  Fresh vegies from the farmers market.  

At Lupani School where our church project will build a new classroom building.  These are some of the teachers, the school district leaders, and our contractor.

While we were waiting for the meeting at Lupani school, parents were coming by to see if their child was accepted into first grade.  Their new school year starts in January.  They don't have enough teachers or classrooms to accept everyone.  Most of those accepted were 8 and 9 year olds but they had some 10, 11, and 7 year olds.  But about 20 seven year olds weren't accepted.  Felt sorry for the kids and parents who weren't accepted.  Even then, they accepted 105 kids that will be split into two first grade classes.  

Stopped on the way home from Chibombo at the Reptile Park.  Wild place.

Mid size crocs

Several varieties of Turtles

Scary Snake.  Can't remember what kind but think this is the one that spits poison in your eye.  

There were about 400 crocs here.  Many huge guys like this one.  It thinks it is guarding it's eggs but the park owners took them a while back.  They raise some of them for the meat and skin.  

The feared black mamba.  Most poison snake in Africa (or world?).  Some of the snakes were biters and others were constrictors. 

 

I had to try the African Cuisine of Caterpillars for the Grandkids.

The drill rig at the Mikango School.  See our Facebook page for a video of the drilling process.

Found Water!  Installation of the pump and drainage.  The truck couldn't get down to the original planned location so they tried here closer to the school and were successful.  A blessing in disguise.  

Safari Couples Conference

This has been a great week.  We traveled to a Senior Couples Conference in Malawi and then went on a Safari back in Zambia. Saw elephants, hippos, crocs, impala, zebra, giraffe, warthogs and more.

On our way in the airport

All the senior couples at our training.  From left, Fakalata, us, Lewis, Jones, Rowan, and our mission President and wife.

Yes we were really that close!   

Having a mud bath.  

Impalas.  They are plentiful. That's because they are the dinner for many animals.

Our last lunch in Malawi together before heading back home.

My friend at the border crossing.  I gave him a cookie so he brought me this casaba root.  

Border Crossing between Malawi and Zambia; Took 5 hours to get through.

 

Elephant brigade.  

One of the small giraffes

Easy Rider

Warthog with the two babies.  So ugly!

Our bungalow was on the right.  In the middle of the night we got up to take pills for a headache and looked out that window and there was a momma and baby hippo munching on the grass.  They had told us previously not to leave the room at night.  Now we know why...