Cases of books, water divining, school children, elephants, giraffes, and the wild life

 We placed our testimonies and contact numbers in 3 cases of Books of Mormon for the temple site workers. Every Tuesday and Thursday at 07:15 a.m. we are able to participate in the different team's "toolbox" meetings. So far we've talked to the Electricians, Plumbers, and Masons. There are about 25-50 workers in each group. Lottie gives a safety tip as a nurse on "good handwashing" and situational awareness for safety. Bruce shares how they are building the "House of the Lord" and how Christ teaches of "other sheep" he will visit. He tells them they are some of His other sheep he speaks of in the New Testament. Bruce also read out of the Book of Mormon in 3 Nephi 11:1-10, when the resurrected Christ visits the people at the temple. He testifies they will feel God's love and his Holy Spirit as the temple is being built. We offer a Book of Mormon and they all come forward to take one. Bruce was handing out books as fast as their hands reached forth for more knowledge of Jesus Christ. They are ready to hear the gospel and promise to read with real intent to learn of its truthfulness. 
It reminded us of Pres. Ezra Taft Benson's quote in 1988, "We must flood the earth with the Book of Mormon." It was like giving out manna!

              Here's a photo of the plumbers listening to the verses read from 3 Nephi (2023.03.21)

I love how Sister Judd commented on our temple construction mission, "They join us in our efforts to not only build the temple but also to build the temple inside the hearts and minds of every saint in Zimbabwe."

Elder Foriji came to visit us and meet at the temple site. He and his wife are service missionaries and are so excited to have a temple in Zimbabwe (2023.03.22)

This week we had the privilege of going with the humanitarian missionaries, Elder and Sister Peterson, to Mabvuku. We passed by very humble lodgings. The church has donated many boreholes and drilled for fresh water for the townspeople. They are very grateful!  Tuesday, March 21st, we got to witness a water diviner, Elaine Leazh, find water for a third source of water for the Tashinga Primary School. She is very experienced and has a 98% accuracy rate; successfully she's found over 500 water sources for the church already. She uses fresh guava sticks soaked in water to find the natural flow and best pressure source with a GPS coordinate. She kneels on the soil to get a direct connection with the earth. She even let Bruce give it a try. I loved meeting the schoolchildren, all neatly dressed in matching uniforms. All the school children wear uniforms here in Zimbabwe. This particular school is quite large with over 1,800 children from kindergarten to 7th grade. The early childhood development center (ECD) has 630 children with 18 teachers. Each class has about 50+ children. I met "Chipo" the head teacher over the ECD, she explained things to me and let me take their photos. They loved having their photos taken and shaking hands with a "white" person. 

Tashinga Primary School in Mabvuku and Elaine, water divining for a borehole (2023.03.21)

Friday, March 24th after a busy week, all the senior missionaries went on an outing to 

"Wild is Life Zen" is a wonderful wildlife park in Harare. We finally saw elephants! It was a beautiful experience to see rescued elephants, lions, hyenas, kudus, impalas, and giraffes in a recovery program. We saw an endangered oldest-living pangolin. The pangolin is close to extinction due to being poached for its scales and eaten as a delicacy. We loved feeding the giraffes and really having up-close and personal contact with the animals. The tea, treats, and atmosphere were extremely pleasing!

Wild is Life with all the senior missionaries, it was quite a wild experience! (2023.03.24)

                                          We love giraffes! Wild is Life Zen, reserve (2023.03.24)

Saturday, we had another golf lesson from the pros, hopefully, our swing is improving! (2023.30.25)

We are so grateful to be on a mission. What a privilege to serve in Zimbabwe. Every day is an adventure! If we knew a mission was so rewarding and fun, we would've gone 5 years earlier.