Friday evening, Sept 23rd

Guess what????!!!!!  A couple has been called to our mission and will serve here in Malawi with us.  They are from Moab, Utah and will come sometime in December.  That is all we know so far.  That is good news!!

We lost 4 missionaries this week (1 went home, 3 transferred to Zambia) and picked up 12 more from the airport Wednesday afternoon.  There was a threat of demonstrations that day and the city was pretty much shut down except for a lot of policeman patrolling but everyone seemed to just stay home and there was no problems at all.  We brought all the missionaries to our place and had them sign the Immigration paperwork and we fed them some pasta casserole and cooked carrots.   The missionaries were all kept in that day due to the threat of demonstrations so I ask the 2 Sister missionaries if they would come and help me at the house.  I was very grateful for their help -- I couldn't have done it without them!  They cleaned and cooked and washed all the dishes. 

Some of our new Elders looked a little nervous but they will be okay.    We got the ones in Blantyre to their flats Wed. evening and then we had the seven that were going to Lilongwe sleep at our place.  We were up early and put 5 of them on a bus at 6:30 and then two rode with us in the truck.   We got to Lilongwe ahead of the bus, picked up the Elder's truck here (now that we had a missionary who can drive) and went to the bus depot and picked up the five.   We bought some hot dogs/buns/chips and fed them lunch and then took them to their flats.  The electricity at the Kauma flat had a problem!!  We called Bro. Collins who works at the US embassy and he made a call and got one of their electricians to come by and look at it.  He found a wire that was not quite right and fixed it for us.  In the meantime we took the Elders to the grocery store so they can eat!!

Today we had a meeting with them and figured out their exact areas etc. and gave out phone time and transport money.  We decided we need to buy 6 bicycles.  We went to the "Game" store (closest thing to a Walmart, that we have here) and bought the bikes plus a few other things we needed.  A little while later some Elders called to tell us that when they opened one of the bike boxes (the cardboard was a bit torn up) they found 6 "nice" Sony cameras, a camcorder, memory sticks and a couple of other things inside the box with the bike.   They brought them to us and we took them back to the store.  We got there just as they were closing.  We ask to talk to the manager and we showed him what we had.  We got ushered in and he called the head manager.  Needless to say they were extremely grateful for our honesty.   They had suspended an employee last week for trying to steal a couple of computers by hiding them so it sounds like it could be the same person.    Anyway -- we are definitely in their good books now!!  He said when we shop there we should come by his desk and get a discount!  Hmmm-- he doesn't realize that we need to buy a fridge and stove in a couple of weeks. 

Last night Bro. & Sis. Collins invited us to dinner at their house and made some Mexican food.  We had a nice evening with them.  We sure appreciate them and all they do here.  They have 2 little girls and a baby boy who just started walking. 

Time for bed!  We are tired and must be up early to finish a few things here and then will head back to Blantrye about noon.   I am behind AGAIN on posting to my financial ledgers so need to get that done and also have lots of paperwork to fill out for the Immigration to make these new Elders legal in the country.  It never ends but it is good to be busy.  September has just flown by.  We wonder where it went!

Love to all.