Elections week. Love and prayers from sunny Zambia.

Hi everyone,

I have next to no time this week to add to the blog and last week the power went out at the email shop so I was not able to write.

This week I don't have much time so I will just update you on a few things:

Because of elections we couldn't work on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Sunday so we have been significantly disrupted this week- but Thulani got baptised yesterday which was great! That brings my mission total to 8, 4 in Libala and 4 in Lilanda. Not that it's about numbers...

We played basketball with Thulani last P-day, after a lot of shame I was able to score one 'shot'? and we are going to play later today which should be fun. His friends are really interested in the gospel so we're going to use this opportunity to teach them as well! The Lord's hand is in everything.

Saturday was exchanges, Elder Nakale (Our District Leader and my Companion) went with Elder Shai and I brought Elder Collins to my area. It was a really powerful day, although the racism was pretty strong, I guess it's not surprising as two white men were walking down the street together. Elder Collins is a great teacher. Even though he is only 6 weeks older than me on mission, he seems to be leaps and bounds ahead, but I was able to learn a lot from him, which made the exchange that bit more important. We Braai'd (Basically a BBQ) to celebrate the end of the day together which was great, except none of us really know how to get a fire going, even more shame from this week, this is making me look bad...

Other than that, Zambia are about to be knocked out of the AFCON so we could be in for some interesting few days- pray for us, football is almost as important here as it is in the Ford household.

Lots of love and prayers from sunny Zambia,

EF 

"a true hero..."

Elder Ngendabanka was transferred this week to Malawi, so we have a new Elder in the infamous Matero Flat- Elder Collins. Born and bred Utah boy, we celebrated his arrival the only way we could, a small bonfire and 'testimony meeting'. He is super sweet and I already love him.

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We had the baptism of Brother Robbie Chikumbi, a man I love very, very much. He isn't all with it in the mind because of some adolescent decisions he made- as we all do- which effected him long term. He had been attending church for five years as an investigator, neglected by the branch and the missionaries because of his condition, until the new Branch President Mambwe came in a few months ago (A true hero in my eyes). He asked us to teach him and baptise him. And so we did.

Elder Ford - Robbie Chikumbi - Elder Nakale

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What a true Saint he is. Only someone who had such a strong testimony would continue coming to church for five years, not knowing that he would ever be baptised, but knowing the truthfulness of the gospel so sticking it out anyway. Such a testimony builder for me. I am honoured to have been part of his baptism. 

Not much else happened this week, the work is tough but so worth it. Lilanda is a challenging area, but we are doing our best to make this area the way the Lord wants it. 

Me and Nakale (Elder Ford's companion) decided to give you a January treat to combat the new years blues, have a great week! EF x

"Missionary or model?"

Elder Ford captioned this photograph, "missionary or model?"

"Santos and I"

Christmas in Zambia

Greetings from Zambia!

One of my New Years resolutions for 2015 has been to begin writing this blog again after a long time, and so here is the first of many more posts in the future! Apologies for how long it has taken me to write to all many of you, but we have just been so busy the past few months, but I will try and summarise some key points from the past few months, and then promise to be diligent in writing a post every single week from now on.

The Work- The work is going brilliantly at the moment, I am now four months on mission and am finally getting used to the routine, the work, and Zambia itself- it is a wonderful country with many diverse people and places, so I am always being challenged. I am now serving in Lilanda, another township of Lusaka, after I was transferred from Libala. I have a new companion, Elder Nakale, who is 25 and from Namibia, so I am learning as lot of new things from someone with vast experience. He has also served mission for 17 months, 12 months in Liberia and 3 months in Malawi, so he has a lot of knowledge that I am benefiting greatly from. We live with two other Elders in Matero, called Elder Ngendabanka (26, Burundi) and Elder Shai (20, South Africa) so our house is quite congested, but very fun and lively. The Branch we attend is in Lilanda and meets in a meetinghouse, which is very strange congregating for church in someones house, but the spirit can be felt very strongly there.

Christmas- Christmas in Zambia was a very surreal experience, but was brilliant nonetheless. I was able to speak to my family for the first time in a while, and it was great to see that they're doing well and are being blessed by the Lord. We also came together with all of the missionaries who are serving in Zambia (excluding Malawi) for a meal and to watch 'A Christmas Carol.' It was fantastic to see some of my friends who had been transferred and to spend some time winding down from the past few months of proselyting. We also met some members who are doing well and fed us some traditional food which was very different from the usual Turkey dinner... We were then blessed to hear from our Mission President Erickson and his wife on the 27th for a devotional. I really felt the spirit and was able to re-evaluate some things in preparation for the new year.

New Years- Nothing very special happened on New Years. Some members fed us and we visited some investigators before heading home early. Zambia on New Years gets extremely wild, so President Erickson advised us to be in early to make sure nothing unfortunate happened, Zambia is one of the highest countries in the world for Alcohol consumption, and it really shows, especially on public holidays.

I am so grateful to be on mission at this time, and to be able to serve my Lord and honour his name in the Great Zambia, Lusaka Mission. I am grateful for all of your letters and emails of encouragement, and hope to be able to reply to a lot of them very soon.

I love the gospel and I love the Saviour, He is the reason why I am able to do this work. Keep following Him and we cannot fail.

Have a great week,

EF

Picture- Elder Nakale and our investigator Mishak in the torrential rain we had this week