Elder and Sister Anderson, Zimbabwe Mission flag
We've been missionaries in Zimbabwe for a whole week and we absolutely love it! All our fears before coming have vanished. However, driving is a bit sketchy! Bruce has mastered the left side of the road. We've found most of the traffic lights or "robots" don't function and even if they do, they are not obeyed. It's offensive driving all the way. The rule is the "nose goes" and if you can do the dance, you may not get hit. Poor Sister Turley and Warne got t-boned and totaled their truck yesterday. Luckily, they escaped with some bruises but nothing serious. Even if we are not at fault, the church gets cited and blamed, due to deeper pockets. I haven't dared brave the streets yet. It's mass chaos! Yesterday there was a semi-truck in the middle of the turn and cars created 3-4 other lanes to go around him along with traffic coming from all sides; I'm amazed we didn't get hit! The other concern is hitting a pedestrian. People just walk out in front of the street crossing anywhere. It's extremely nerve-racking at night because a dark black African in dark clothes is very difficult to see until you're right next to them. Don't get me started about the potholes! They are the size of a rhinoceros, although we haven't seen a real one yet. I don't think they've repaved a street for 20 years.
We do love it here! The people are so friendly! We go on a morning run and everyone says, "Good morning!" or "Ma moo ka sei" in Shona. We are trying to pick up some words and phrases. I have lots of good helpers on site that are trying to help our pronunciation. Shona's vowels are pronounced, "ahh, aye, ee, ooh, uoo". Thank you is "ta tend a". "Mas wera sei" is how was your day, but then you say back, "taa moo kaat". They say it so fast it's hard to get the pronunciation. Names are especially difficult because you've never heard of them before. I'm grateful when it's something familiar.
Pres. Taona, Pearl, and F. Nkala at Town Branch 2023.03.05
Sunday, March 5th, Pres. and Sister Judd picked us up and took us to the Harare Town Branch for our first church meeting in Africa. Pres. Taona Nkala, our temple site manager, requested to have us there so we could meet him. We met in a small one-room conference room at a lodge the church rents. It was a fast and testimony meeting. The Spirit was so strong as our African brothers and sisters bore a strong testimony of their knowledge and love of Jesus Christ and His restored gospel. They were all so amazing! Bruce bore a beautiful heartfelt testimony about the temple, so I was off the hook, or so I thought. At the end of the meeting, Pres. Nkala asked me to come up and the Judds to bare our testimonies. It's more difficult on the spot without notice but as a missionary, it's easy to talk about the things you know are true. I also bore testimony of temple blessings and our Saviour, Jesus Christ's saving grace and Atonement. Many people believe in Christ, but don't really "believe" Christ. In that, I mean, believe Christ can save us from our sins and perfect us through His Atonement if we are willing to repent. No one can be perfected without Him! I am so grateful to be one of his disciples as a missionary. We loved meeting the members and seeing lessons outside. 
Andersons and the sister missionaries at the Town Branch
Monday, March 6th was our first day on the temple site. We were excited to actually be there and tour the buildings. We are on site every M-F for about 8 hours. The 6 acres include 8 different buildings the church is constructing: the temple, patron & missionary housing, meeting house, grounds/mission office, substation, refuse, and a guard's building. I take photographs of the progress, including all the project teams. Bruce already has helped solved problems, consults, and does quality and safety checks. As missionaries on the site, we have already handed out about 7-8 Books of Mormon. The people are ready, they love Jesus Christ and are excited to read anything that will increase their faith in Him. There are about 200 workers on the site. Right now, there are large groups of masons (bricklaying), hod-tenders, electricians, plumbers, security, contractors, plasterers/skeeters/skimmers, landscapers, excavators, HVAC techs, etc. We now have a hard hat, reflector vest, and steel cap shoes for our uniform on site. We had a safety orientation, then toured the buildings. There is a special spirit already felt in the temple compared to the rest of the buildings. The workers can feel it also and have mentioned the peace they feel there.
Bruce & Taona Nkala, site manager Up on scaffolding!
We gave out 250+ hard hat stickers of the temple rendering during the workers' lunch break. We thanked them for building the temple; they loved them!
Taona Nkala, our site manager, had already given out the contractor's housekeeper, Agness, a Book of Mormon. On the first day on-site, I helped her load the LDS gospel library on her phone and showed her how to use it. She has been reading daily. The second day on-site, she came and asked me, "How does someone get baptized into your church?" Well, I put my arm around her and told her we'd have the missionaries come to give her family some lessons and she could come to church with us on Sunday. We were so pleased when she came with her husband, David, and two children, Jess and Joanna. The sister missionaries arranged to give her the discussions at their home. They enjoyed the meeting and promised to come again next week. Such a "golden" opportunity! I also gave out my first Book of Mormon with my written testimony to Feki, one of the other few females on site that works in the electronic storeroom.
No comments:
Post a Comment