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