Official missionary of Zambia

Brethren and Sisters,

Not too much time this week but have to keep up the blog as I promised.

Transfers is the big story, and soberly I have to report that Elder Nakale and I will no longer be companions. After three months of being together he is finally moving just down the road to Munali, with me staying in Lilanda. He will be a Zone Leader, with me replacing him as the District Leader here, which will be a nice challenge. My new companion's name, as far as i'm aware, is Elder Malinga, from South Africa, and he will be coming in on Wednesday, so i'll be with Elder Walusimbi for two days as he waits for his new son to come from the MTC. Crazy stuff.

I'm pretty sad to be leaving Elder Nakale, he is a top missionary and we had gotten to be good friends, so it'll be tough to leave him, but that's how mission works I guess, we just keep going. He's my Zone Leader too so i'll be seeing him around a lot, especially when I have Baptismal interviews, which should be every week if we can help it!

Other than that, the only other piece of news is that I received a phone call from President Erickson this week letting me know that the Brethren have officially reassigned me to this mission. No more visa worries, Durban is officially a thing of the past. I'm really happy and excited to see how I can help the Lord's work move forward in this part of His vineyard, especially as Lusaka is becoming a Stake in March.

Two baptisms scheduled for next Sunday which i'm really excited about, a brother named Amadi, and a sister named Angel, both have really powerful testimonies and strong desires to follow Jesus Christ. The Lord is really preparing the people of Lilanda, I feel like I am just a conduit of the Lord, we haven't really had to do much, just be there to guide them to the truth. 

That's pretty much it for this week, I hope you all have great weeks, it could be a long one for me, a lot of new things to get used too! Take care and I love you all,

Elder Ford- Official Zambian Missionary

"Now the work really begins"

This week has seen the return of the humid, sticky heat, something that I really haven't missed, but hasn't stopped the successes. I can safely say that I have learnt the real meaning of tiredness, Sunday night we returned and were completely finished. Every muscle ached and my brain was fried, but my spirit has been strengthened like never before. This week has been the most spiritual, the most powerful, and the most successful of my mission so far. The experiences I've had and the spirit I've felt has been such a blessing, and it's all been down to hard work. I have a testimony that when we try our hardest and do all we can, until we feel that we can't go on- that's when we see the Lord bless us, that's when the windows of Heaven are opened unto us and are taken to greater heights, heights that we didn't know we could reach. 

Thursday was interviews with our Mission President, straight after the mission tour so a nice time to see him. Every time we meet, the spirit testifies to me of his authority, and he speaks with the power of God, it's kind of a surreal experience, but always uplifting and a testimony builder, particularly when we speak one-to-one. We spoke about mission so far, our goals as the Zambia, Lusaka Mission, and for me as an individual- what the future holds and stuff like that. Very personal, very powerful, bit daunting as well... 

I haven't been reassigned yet, but President explained that a 'parting of the red sea' experience would have to happen for me to not be serving in Zambia for the rest of my mission, and I am actually really chuffed about it. This mission is home now, and I feel like i'm meant to be here after all, so whatever comes, I'll be extremely happy. 

More from this week- the rain came with a vengeance on Saturday night, flash floods and strong winds caused chaos for us, I had to walk home bare foot to save my shoes from complete destruction, it's much easier to clean my feet than my shoes! When I was crossing the 'road river' a bloke asked me how much money I had so he could carry me across, shows how much Zambian's will do for a bit of money. I was already drenched so I just waded through it, receiving some 'banter' from the guy and other locals...

The work in Lilanda is progressing so well, the fruits of our labours are finally being manifest in some powerful investigators who have true testimonies of our Saviour and His Church. The tail end of February and March are going to be very wet, we have baptisms in the double figures planned, and we received the news this week that Lusaka is becoming a Stake in March, with Lilanda becoming a Ward. Now the work really begins, and we are primed for a huge start. 

This week will be the last before the February transfer, which is set to see the mission turn upside down with 13 missionaries leaving and 10 new coming in, 6 being sisters. President has reshuffled a lot of areas, positions and personnel, so the chances are I won't be with Elder Nakale by next week, but we will see, the Lord works in mysterious ways...

A lot to talk about this week, hopefully the successes will continue. The Lord has blessed us so much this week, our hard work is finally paying off...

EF- 5 months in the field 

Week 21/22....

I hope everyone has had a brilliant week, because I have!

I don't have too much time this week so I just wanted to share about the real highlight of the week, which was the Mission Tour, held at the Zambia Lusaka Mission Home on Thursday. 

We had the pleasure of spending the day with Elder Carl B. Cook, the Area Authority for Africa, South East, and his lovely wife Sister Cook, along with the ever present and powerful President and Sister Erickson. All four of them taught us as a combined Lusaka District (The West and East Lusaka Zones comprising of just 20 missionaries) so it was a very intimate and spiritual experience. I have probably never felt the spirit in such a consistent and personal way, I was able to have confirmed to me the truthfulness of the things that they were saying, and also have answers to some of the questions I have had on my mind by the Spirit. It was a one-of-a-kind experience that will never be forgotten. 

The way that both President Erickson and Elder Cook present, teach and testify, is a testimony builder to me. When they speak, you can tell that it is guided and directed by the spirit of the Lord, and the authority that their words bring feels like the Saviour himself is saying them. I know that these men are called of God and are set apart to do their work by the authority of the Holy Priesthood, what a blessing it is to have that power on the Earth at this time. 

After the meeting President and I had the chance to talk a little bit about my visa situation and so there is some news- The area office in Durban told President that I can get a visa for South, only if I travel back to the UK to get it. So the chances are that the Brethren will reassign me to Zambia, but we are having interviews with President this week sometime so hopefully I can get more information about the situation and then see what the options are. One option is that I hold my mission, come home, get a visa, and then fly back out and continue, but I imagine that would be far down the pecking order, so i'll wait and see and then speak to President this week.

That's pretty much it this week, it's been a spiritually powerful, physically exhausting, but truly excellent week. Thanks for your prayers and your support, I couldn't do it without you.

EF.

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