Office week

This week we did a lot of office work  and Grandma preparing for a talk

 so not many pictures to show.  Transporting to/from airport,

 Flat checks and supplies, flat leases set up, vehicles serviced and registered.

  But a good week nonetheless.

Visited Chipilepile and saw they had nearly completed the slab
 for the 3 classroom, 1 office building.  Good progress.

Our friend we see near Chipilepile in a nearby wildlife refuge. 

Grandma spoke at the Stake Relief Society conference. 
Numbers were few but the content and spirit was as good as anywhere else in the world.
 Hard for them to afford transport on both a Saturday and Sunday. 

Such beautiful purple flowering trees. 
Spring is beginning here and we marvel that any new growth can emerge
 because we haven't had any rain since April. 

We celebrated our 1 year mark with Steak and Salmon.  Yummy! 

Kaminembe Closing &Sisters Night

The highlight of our week was the Kaminembe handover ceremony. 

 The 3 classroom, 2 office building was completed, 60 new desks provided,

 and a new borehole drilled.  The community worked hard on their part

 and everything was finished on time.  Lots of dancing, singing, and speeches. 

 These are usually all day events for us.  

Finished Classroom Building.  Looks Fantastic!  All built by the Locals.

As we were gathering, they did a little dance about an animal

 being hunted by a hunter and chased by the women. 

 Not sure exactly what it all meant. 

The 7 headmen from the 7 villages that attend this school.

The dignitaries seated under the thatched shelter.
 This is where some of the grades met for school, seated on rocks and bricks.  

The ladies singing a song about everyone pulling the rope

 together to accomplish the work.  

A choir of older school kids leading the singing of the National Anthem.
 Then Prayer was offered.

School children trying to find shade.  It was a pretty warm day
 but they stayed through the 2 hour ceremony.

A band played and sang several songs.  Can you see their instruments? 

 Some were great homemade instruments.

Celebrations going on in the new classrooms. 

Ribbon Cutting ceremony at the new borehole.

Grandpa pumping water for the kids at the new borehole.

Grandma had her own party this week with a meeting of the Sisters only.  

Sisters night at the Mission Home.

Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner.

Helping with the dishes.

Stake Conferemce

This week we spent more time in the office learning 

some of our new duties so weren't out in the field as much. 

 Had a great Stake conference that was filled with

the Spirit and strengthening.  

Visited Mulenje School.  The new desks were delivered. 
The teacher's house is complete and the education district said a teacher couple
will move in next week and open school for Grades 1-4. 
This will bless the lives of many children who either walk very
long distances to school or who because of the distance, haven't gone to school.

Finishing up the chalkboards at Mulenje School.  

We visited a rural school and found they had built the structure for a pre-school
 and just need help with the roofing materials and cement to finish the walls and floors.
 They also really want a health clinic there.  We also took a sample of their water
 because they said it was bad and sure enough it was quite brown.
 We like the initiative they have taken on the pre-school.

With little notice, many of the village headmen and area councilor came to the meeting.  

After Stake Conference, lots of visiting going on outside.
 We are surprised how many we know now.  Such wonderful saints.

This sister was one of the original pioneers in Zambia.
 She spoke in conference and told of how her parents joined the church
 and got permission to hold church in their home.  She would go to her favorite
 other church but her brother would come pull her out saying that church
 at home was starting.  Finally she decided she needed to know for herself
 if the Book of Mormon was true so she read, studied, and prayed
 and received a strong answer of it's truthfulness. 
She has been faithful ever since.

Sister Mwakamuri with Helaman and Stephanie, great members of our ward.
Grandpa is trying to get Stephanie to give him some of her hair to cover his bald head.

The Chansa sisters, the daughters of Pres. and Sister Chansa in our ward.
 He's in the Stake Presidency.

The Musonda family from our ward including little Lehi. 
They have been members a little over a year and are so faithful and stalwart. 

Koch's Mission Tour

Another great week! 

 Highlights were repaired a borehole, attended the

 zone conference held during Elder and Sister Koch's Mission tour,

 and delivered hospital equipment to a clinic. 

Crew removing the pipes in the borehole to repair the pump. 
This hand pump at the school where we just finished
 a teacher's house had stopped working.  

Success!  Good clean water now coming from the hand pump.  

Elder Koch and his wife came for a mission tour.
 He's training the Elders and Sisters on the new handbook and obedience.
 It was good to see him again.  He was in Richland 2+ years ago
 with Elders Anderson and Hallstrom to do some training. 

Pres. and Sister Whiting teaching at our Zone Conference.
 They are doing a great job as new Mission President and Wife.  

Feeding the missionaries at Zone Conference.  

Several of the great Sister missionaries.

The two Lusaka Zones with Elder and Sister Koch.  

This week we delivered more hospital equipment to the Mwachisompola clinic.  

The maternity ward was built by World Vision and the church is providing the equipment. 

Hospital beds provided.  They will be using some of these at their main hospital too. 

An interesting carving we saw in a restaurant we stopped
 at on our way home for late lunch.

Sister Julie Ramos from church headquarters over water and food security
 major initiative projects stopped in Lusaka this week to visit some of the partners.
  We took her to church and had her over for lunch.  We will attend some of the meetings
 with her and then she wants us to follow up and check on
 some of their projects the church is supporting.