Kasungu

We were in Kasungu, Malawi the past 10 days organizing 

a large group of people who want to join the church.  

There are about 150 people, all non-members, who have been

 meeting together for several years and have been converted

 to the restored gospel through online teaching and their own

 study of the the Book of Mormon and other available

 church materials.  We have been assigned to hold 

Sacrament meeting and Sunday school there and evaluate 

whether missionaries should be sent there to

 teach and baptize them and form a branch.  

We rented a school building and worked to

 find housing for us and some Elders this week.

  Quite an experience!

Kasungu Mountain next to the town of Kasungu. 
The white spot near the bottom is a large mansion which was the home
 of the first president of Malawi.  We'll have to tour it sometime.  

Some of the vegetation around the area.  With the rainy season upon us,
 people are planting maize and some of it is up about 4 inches.
 It rained for about an hour or two every day there and when it rains it really pours!  

We had to stay in a hotel (the only one in town).  It was nice enough.
 This is the view from our room.  Kasungu mountain in background.  

In Kasungu, many people ride bikes.  Here's a shot of many bike taxis.
 Kasungu has about 88,000 people but is quite a small town with a main road
 about 2 kms long where all the businesses are.  

Grandpa couldn't resist trying to help the groundskeepers with
 starting the lawnmower.  Couldn't get it going without tools.  
Told them to replace the gas but they didn't take me up on that.

Our two waitresses at the hotel.  We teased them about their boyfriends
 and really enjoyed them.  Often we were the only ones in the restaurant.
 This was just about the only restaurant in town to eat in.  

We found a large hall at a Secondary school that they were willing
 to rent to us for church.  A cleaning crew of about 30 people showed
 up to help clean it up and prepare it for Sunday meetings.  

Our first Sacrament meeting and Sunday School in Kasungu.
 There were 138 people attending, only 3 of us are baptized members.
We had to teach them that we sit together as families because they
 were used to having all the men sit together, women sitting together, and children.
  We asked two people to give talks and they did a great job. 
 Grandma also gave a good talk on the correct name of the church. 
 Translation was needed for about 70% of the people.  Grandpa taught Sunday school
on the Doctrine of Christ and Grandma taught Primary (48 children)

  We found a nice new house that would be good for us.
 We are negotiating with the owner to rent.  Not many options here. 

  This little guy, Wisdom, stuck very close to Grandma as we toured the house.
  He never uttered a word but he sure stayed with us. 

When we returned to Lusaka, 6 young missionaries flew with us
 for transfers and going home.  The President only had the van so 9 of us
 with all our luggage were stuffed in.  Everyone was holding suitcases on our laps.
  Pretty funny.

Forgot to add that while in Lilongwe, about 2 hours from Kasungu,

 we stayed one night with the Fakalatas, another missionary couple.

 They are so fun to be with.  A family from our ward in Lusaka also 

were there visiting so Elder Fakalata got us all singing.