Update

Everyone,

It's about time I got the blog running again, now i'm settled in and used with Luanshya, I have found enough time to get some of my thoughts and experiences down on paper, for you all to enjoy hopefully! This week then, wow it's been unbelievable, but through it all i've seen the tender mercies of the Lord, and specifically, how He hears our prayers and truly answers them.

This week we received a call from Sister Groesbeck, our office secretary, regarding our timely trip to immigration... in Lusaka. Copperbelt to Lusaka is around 350 kilometers, and takes roughly 5 hours due to the state of the roads in some areas. My compaion and I were required to be there at 11am on Friday, along with a couple of other Elders, Elder Abisai in Kitwe, and Elder's Majekodunmi and Madilu from Ndola, meaning that we had to pick all of them up on Thursday evening to travel down that night. The round trip was 800kms in just over 24 hours, and was the most tiring drive of my life, but it was pretty successful and accomplished a lot- including going back to Munali for the evening as we were staying with the Zone Leaders overnight! I was able to see the Zulus and the Chipashas from my old ward which made me really happy, making the trip worthwhile. We slept at the Zone Leaders flat which meant I got to see Elder Barrett again, we ate and had a nice night. 

Whilst we were down there, we received a call from Brother Daka, a member of the church from our area in Lunashya who's wife and sister we'd been teaching. He said that his wife had died just 20 minutes before of Malaria, she'd been sick for a few days, but that morning they had driven her to the clinic, but she died before they could treat her. We'd been teaching Lucy for a while, she knew all of the lessons, had a testimony, and was preparing to be baptised, she just struggled for transport money due to her living in Mpatamatu, nearly an hour from the church. It was a complete blow and surprise, my heart sunk, that day was really tricky, being in Lusaka and not knowing what to do or what to think.

We attended the burial this morning, it was a sad moment, this one was much more personal than the Tembos funeral a couple of weeks ago, we knew Lucy very well.

Two funerals in three weeks- not a good run for us.. and it very nearly was three.

Okay, that sounds more dramatic than it is, but it was a possibility for us. The day after we arrived back from Lusaka we were driving to a members home for Family Home Evening when we were broadsided by a drunk driver. I am certain that if we weren't driving the Isuzu tank we could be dead, he hit us going about 70kmh. He was overtaking us on a single carriageway in the half-light and claimed he saw a person walking in the middle of the street, so he quickly dodged it and smashed straight into the front right fender of our truck, pushing us a couple of feet away from a huge ditch. No injuries for anyone, only the whole side of the truck was damaged- he drove away trying to run, but we caught him and got his details before he sped away again as we planned to go to the Police Station. Fun times, but the Lord protected us- sometimes i'm glad people pay their tithing :)

So, could've been 'Three Funerals' in Zambia this month, but luckily on the Lord's errand, God protects His own. I am certain that when the ordinances are done for Sister Daka, she will accept the gospel and be with Brother Daka in the Celestial Kingdom, and Elder Mohlakoana and I live to fight another day.

Hope you have a wonderful week. We are going back down to Lusaka tomorrow for exchanges with the Assistants, so pray that we get there and back in one piece...

EF