Happy Easter! I know my Redeemer Lives!

 Happy Easter!  What a wonderful time to be a disciple of Christ and testify that He lives! 

    "I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me, Confused at the grace that so fully he proffers me.

    I tremble to know that for me he was crucified, That for me, a sinner, he suffered, he bled and died.

    Oh, it is wonderful that he should care for me, Enough to die for me!

     Oh, it is wonderful, wonderful to me!"  Hymn 193, Charles H. Gabriel, 1856-1932.

The Zimbabwe, Harare Senior Missionaries April 2023: Elder & Sister Peterson, Anderson, King, Sisters Warne, Turley, Poulter, Whitlock, Sister and Pres. Judd.

Agnes, David, and the kids came to church again for the fifth time. They've received 3 missionary lessons. They are working on their official marriage license so they can be baptized. In Africa, many couples get married per their tribal custom but it's not recognized by the country. The husband pays a "lobola" to the bride's family. Lobola demonstrates that the man getting married is capable of taking care of a family and also serves as a token of gratitude to the bride's family for raising a wonderful woman. Kind of like an "eight cow" woman! It is practiced among the Zulu, Xhosa, Swazi, Silozi, Shona, N & S Ndebele, and Mamalo tribes (Wikipedia). David already paid his lobola but they need the actual license. They are very excited to continue to hear the word of God. We love this family!  We witnessed another exciting baptism after church and the Easter program. Since December our ward in the Highland area has had over 50+ baptisms! The church is growing rapidly in Africa (2023.04.09).

David and Agnes also took us to their building site in Epworth, we followed them down a dirt garbage littered road to the rural area where David grew up. He is building a rental unit, brick by homemade brick. It's very interesting and humbling to see how the majority of Zimbabwe's families live. On the way back a minivan, "convey" side-swiped their car and just kept going! It was just like bumper cars at Lagoon. They kept driving as though nothing happened. We were warned to watch out for these crazy and unsafe drivers that "own" the road and make their own rules and lanes.

Easter weekend was a wonderful celebration of Jesus Christ and His resurrection. We had a nice choir Easter program at a rented school hall. There were several musical numbers. Agnes, David, the children, and her sister, Idah came. We have hired Idah to be our maid and clean our apartment once a week. She needed the work and it frees up some time for us. The regular wage for a housekeeper is $10.00 per day. We pay her $12.00 for about 3 hours including bus fare; somewhat embarrassing but our neighbor only pays $8.00/day. She travels about 30 minutes to come. Most people don't own cars and walk everywhere or grab a minivan/bus ride.

It's a small world! We met Chris Keeley and their family from Hyrum, Utah. He's here working at the USA embassy. Chris's dad was Bruce's seminary teacher. Another interesting fact is Chris's great-grandpa, A.C. Keeley started "Keeley's" Icecream Company in Salt Lake City in the early 1900s. My great-grandpa, Joseph B. Robbins, bought the store in 1906. My mother always told us about the candy/ice cream stores her father, C.B. Robbins, owned while growing up. She had fond memories of the soda fountain. Now another piece of the puzzle is told.

Easter choir program, Saturday afternoon. Many members traveled to join us. My favorite was when an African choir came and sang, "I know my Redeemer Lives" in Shona and acapella.

Easter Program, Sister Nancy Turley helped organize and lead the choir. We were invited to Sister Turley and Sister Warne's apartment for taco soup afterward. We were privileged to hear this returned missionary and 17-year-old friend's conversion stories and testimonies. (2023.04.07)

Easter Sunday piano lessons, Sister Poulter was surrounded, teaching a simple, "I am a Child of God."

Sister Judd asked me, "What can't you live without?" before we came to Zimbabwe. I said, "Ice cream"!

Luckily, we get to order quarts of gelato as seniors for our freezer every month. This is our Easter gelato at Pres. and Sister Judd's home after watching the "Lamb of God" video. (2023.04.09)

We are missing these cute grandkids of ours! William and Elisa's kids in Virginia got to visit the Richmond Temple open house. They celebrated Easter with their families without us... 

          

             

       Aria and Elise Russo dyed Easter eggs     

         Rocky and Rigby Anderson

We had our first Zimbabwe "braii" at the Nields on Monday. It was a national holiday and all workers had Friday and Monday off for Easter. Bruce grilled up some chicken and we all brought a dish to share. We enjoyed a lot of pickleball, ping pong, and swimming. I love that as senior missionaries, we can go swimming! It was a beautiful sunny day! As a side note, I also got a marvelous deep tissue massage for 1 hour, which cost $20.00 in the morning and she comes to our apartment! Yes, we are on vacation! (2023.04.10)

Reeve and Lolly, part of our wonderful "3 Nephites" gang, hosted a fun holiday party at their home. All the senior missionaries came. I really do think they are the 3 Nephites; their hearts are all service and missionary work. Thank you for spoiling us with your amazing yard! (2023.04.10)