Sabbath Day Missionary Work: Teaching the Restoration

    Sunday, June 25th, we had a wonderful Sabbath day. The young women sang "Amazing Grace" acapella during the Sacrament meeting. The Spirit was tangible! Bruce was just weeping it was so beautiful. Then Sister Whitlock, Elder & Sister King bore their testimonies and spoke since it was their last Sunday in Zimbabwe. Sandy Whitlock served in the office as the financial secretary. The Kings did "fleets and flats". All three were amazing and added their talents and testimonies to our mission. I've been putting together a slide show with photos and goodbye videos for a farewell dinner party for all the senior missionaries at Judd's mission home this Thursday. They all go home to American Fork on Friday after serving so well in Harare, Zimbabwe. They will be missed!

    We had an amazing opportunity to go teach the first lesson on the Restoration of the gospel to a painter named Cephas, who works on the temple site. He wanted us to come to teach him and his "wife" the gospel. Cephas and Fortunate have 3 children and live in Eastview, about 30 minutes from our apartment. We met Cephas in a hustling and bustling old towne city shopping district. A nice man asked us what we needed when we looked lost. He offered to call Cephas since our network phone didn't go through. We then handed out the rest of our case of Books of Mormon to the crowd while waiting for Cephas to arrive. We felt bad we ran out because many more people came up and wanted one. 

Fortunate Vhopo and Cephas Muchenje with Elder and Sister Anderson taught 2023.06.25 in Eastview.

     

        Cephas arrived and showed us where he lived. We picked up his wife, Fortunate, along the way, who was having the kid's hair braided at a "salon". It was wonderful to meet this earnest couple seeking the gospel of Jesus Christ. They brought us into a very small brick room with a table and 4 chairs. We taught them about prophets, the apostasy, and restoration through Joseph Smith. They even took notes! We showed them a video clip on my laptop of the First Vision. They were so attentive and said they would pray and read the Book of Mormon. We taught them how to pray and ask God to know if what we taught was true. Only God through the Holy Ghost can manifest the truth to them. We had Fortunate read the Book of Mormon promise, Moroni 10:4. They committed to come to church next week, which happens to be Idah's baptism and same ward. We will be so excited to have them come and also introduce them to the Elders in their area. Cephas told us how he felt a special spirit and sacredness on the temple tour we gave the painters a few weeks ago. He came up to Bruce last week and asked for a personal visit. We love being missionaries to such prepared and receptive humble people.

        We had a wonderful Sabbath Day. It was Sister Judd's birthday! She is an amazing mission leader, so full of love for all her missionaries and her firm testimony just shines. We are so grateful to have the Judd's be our leaders! 

Tondi King, Sandy Whitlock, and Julene Judd            Elder Cliff and Sister King with Judds, Mission Pres.

Sister Treese and Otenda, Highland Sister Missionaries. I loved the matching African dresses they had made, which shows unity in their companionship! 2023.06.25

Domboshava Cave and Teaching a Whole Village

        Our strength is increasing here in Africa! Not only physically but spiritually. We find strength in our Savior, Jesus Christ. We can do all things in Him! "...for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." Ether 12:27 

I am seeing this scripture come true in my life. We're doing many things we never thought were possible. The most exciting is to testify and be led by the Spirit in sharing the gospel.

    We went and explored Domboshava Cave and the national monument on Saturday, June 24th. It reminded us of Lake Powell without the surfing. Google Maps sent us on a wide goose chase to find the national monument and had us turn left into some quarry field instead of going right. We asked some woman out in the bush collecting sticks. Luckily, she gave us pretty good directions and could speak English. The Domboshava National Monument is large rock formations and a cave with cave painting art from the ancient Elund civilization. We hiked up to the "top of the world" and received a beautiful view of Domboshava below. We loved holding up the balancing rock above. 

"Look, I found a squatty pottie!"

        The cave art was some of the best I've seen with figures of an elephant, impalas, giraffes, zebra, rhinos, cape buffalo, etc. There was a hole that served as a tunnel and chimney flume up to the "squatty pottie". Maybe the ancients used it as a stove?

                Dombo-shava cave with paintings or petro-glyphs 2023.06.24

Cave art above and a beautiful colored lizard. The lizard took on the colors of the lichen, alga and fungus, growing on the rocks. I've never seen a lizard with so many colors of the rainbow.

        After our hike, we were going to the truck in the parking lot and Bruce saw a cemetery on the hill. He wanted to go check it out. I thought it looked like a private lot but followed him up the hill. Two men from the village below started toward us to question what we were doing on their private property. We apologized and introduced ourselves. They were very friendly, Webster and Weddington, and we told them about our missionary work and meant no disrespect. They had just buried their mother the week before and showed us her grave. Then they took us down to their family to meet their widowed father, Kennedy Maponera. There were 3 generations living there and about 6 families. We gave them all a Book of Mormon. They graciously accepted about 20 books and said they believed in Jesus Christ and would love to read another testament.  We also bore testimony of the resurrection and that they would see their wife/mother again. I told Kennedy to read Alma 40-42 to bring him some comfort. The father said he was on the board and chaired a disability charity and would like some help. We told him we could pass his name along to our friends, who run "Eyes for Zimbabwe" and the Peterson's over humanitarian church services in our mission. The church has built over 500 boreholes for communities in Zimbabwe to have fresh vital water for their villages. We loved meeting them and following up by sending them photos we took.  

Sharing the gospel with a whole village of family members in Domboshava. Moyra, Webster, Weddington, and Kennedy pose for a photo at their kitchen hut. This hut is where they do all their cooking.

Another great golf lesson Saturday morning with the pros. I'm hitting much better with the coaching, maybe 50% improvement on the driving range. We love Reeve and Lolly! 2023.06.24

Machakahiri's, Crafts, and Cornrows

Serious crafting, making scrapbooks, with the Machakahiri daughters. Ellie, Lottie, and Eve are above. I love their school uniforms. These girls are smart and know how to cook, sew, crochet, etc. in their young teens. Eve's given several sacrament meeting talks in church and delivers like an adult. 2023.06.23

    Friday, June 23rd, Mary Machakahiri, a sister in our Highland ward and the stake president's wife, asked me to come to teach "crafts" to their 7 daughters. Yes, they have seven beautiful daughters from ages 14-4, Eve (14), Ellie (13), Lolly (11), Laura (10), Amy (7), Adrianna (6), and Sophia (4). All the girls are remarkably mature for their age, not only physically but spiritually. They speak in church and do musical numbers. I've been impressed with their testimonies at such a young age. They all want to be future missionaries, both their parents served full-time missions. Pres. Sawman Machakahiri, our stake president, works for a Utah/Arizona company, Young Living Products. He does very well and has a beautiful home with a swimming pool and tennis court. There is plenty of room for their large family and three dogs!

    I decided to teach the girls how to scrapbook photo albums. Mary and I went shopping last Tuesday, and she bought all the supplies, paper, and binders they'd need. At first, it was mass chaos! The younger ones were fighting over the scissors and glitter etc. Once we got the order and they started "crafting" as they like to call it, everyone was quiet and busy being creative. Mary wants their daughters to learn life skills and be prepared to serve missions. She also told me her mother lived so far away and the girls didn't have a grandma to influence them. She wanted me to be an adoptive grandma; I was honored. Their mother is very wise and patient; she wants the girls to learn and interact with different cultures and Americans as much as possible. 

    Their mother, Mary, left me to prepare for a large dinner party she was hosting for the HXP (Humanitarian Experience Program). Evidently, the Machakahiri's host a party every 2 weeks for these groups of about 20-25 teenage volunteers. They invited us to stay for dinner and the festivities. They brought in a live African band for a dance. The HXP group is mainly LDS based out of Salt Lake, who come to build a school in Zimbabwe and donate their time. They also get the remarkable experience of serving the people of Africa, seeing the culture, and going on safari. I wish I had been involved in something like this while in my teens. The director told me it costs about $3,800 per person which includes meals, lodging, and airfare.

President Machakahiri with his brie, chicken and pork, for the HXP party.

Elsie from HXP gets corn rolls and braids. It was remarkable to watch how fast these women braided their hair. She let me videotape it while I learned a new skill. It's basically a reverse french braid with very tiny strands.

The Machakahiri family at the Easter program, two daughters are missing in the photo above.

Idah and Putsy Zulu, doing the ironing!  I love my housekeeper, Idah. How I'll miss having to do my own ironing again someday! She comes every Wednesday for $10.00 a day and cleans for me. I pay her $15.00/day about 5 hours to mop my floors, clean the bathrooms, dust, and do the ironing. Most my neighbors only pay $8.00/day for a maid to work 10 hours. The going rate on the temple site is about $50.00/week. The workers work very hard, manual labor from 0700-1600 M-F with 2 half-hour breaks.  Idah takes a combi for $1.00 each way to come from almost 1 hour away to our apartment. I pay her an extra $5.00 because I feel bad she comes from such a distance. She is so grateful to have work! There is a 90% unemployment rate in Zimbabwe. I remember when my nurses refused to come to work extra when we were short-staffed unless we paid them double or triple time with a bonus. They made over $100.00/hour and sometimes received a $1,500.00 bonus for working the weekend at McKay Dee or Primary Children's Hospital. It was very hard to get nurses to work during Covid.

BTW, Idah, Agnes Solani's sister, is now taking missionary lessons. We have seen a remarkable change in her including not being so shy.  She is getting baptized next week! We are so happy for her.

 

Persuade's Baptism: Hallelajah, "I am a child of letter day saints!" and Father's Day

      Saturday, June 17th, Bruce had the honor of baptizing Persuade Arimoni in Chitungwiza. What amazing joy! "And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father." Doctrine & Covenants 18:15  

There were a few glitches; which in Africa you learn to accept. The sisters had filled up the font the night before, only to find all the water had leaked out on the morning of the baptism. Sister Sibanda made some calls and got the font at the other building in Chitungwiza to be filled. While waiting, Bruce and I transferred 5 members over to the other building about 2 miles away in our truck sitting on laps and squished in tight. We made a few trips back and forth. The baptism was delayed by about an hour. When it finally started, it was a beautiful baptism; Persuade shined with joy especially when he came out of the water. Again, Bruce felt the freezing cold water as he stepped into the font; but both he and Persuade felt warm when they got out. Persuade was asked to bare his testimony after Elder Anderson confirmed him. He exclaimed, "Hallelujah!" and then gave his testimony in Shona; which we couldn't interpret but could feel the Spirit and his happiness. Bruce mentioned he felt pure revelation during the prayer he offered while confirming Persuade and as he received the gift of the Holy Ghost. He felt on fire blessing this pure soul!

Rock we pass on the road to Chitungwiza...

We had a wonderful baptism of our friend on-site, Persuade. He is a pure soul! He said "Hallelujah" when he bore his testimony and now he "is a child of letter day saints". Bless him! We've adopted another son!

                                The Elders walk down the streets of Chitungwiza after the baptism.  

After the baptism, we helped Persuade and his brother, Lovemore, collect 11 buckets of water from the borehole. I could barely lift one! Each bucket weighed approximately 50 lbs. when full. Persuade can carry 4 of them about 2 blocks home. Many carry one on their head without hands and without spilling the water! We offered to help take them back in our truck. The people's only water is from the well or borehole. Sometimes they go at 04:00 a.m. to collect because the pump is on then. This is the only water they have to wash their clothes, bathe, and cook with. They are all super strong from hard manual labor. It's the only way of life they know in Chitungwiza.  Persuade paid 50 bond per bucket to the owner of the borehole, so it cost $550.00 bond for the eleven buckets of water or about 10 cents a bucket. Currently, the exchange rate is $9,000 bond to $1.00 USD. Their money continues to depreciate fast! This doesn't sound expensive, but with 90% unemployment and the average wage being $50.00 USD for a long 10-hour/day x week of work, it's all retrospective. We'd call the place the ghetto or slums where Persuade lives; it's high density population. He is so happy and light just radiates from him! Material wealth isn't everything... He rents a room in the back of the house photographed above. There are about 10-15 other people living in this tiny house. Tons of children everywhere in the neighborhood on dirt roads. I handed out lolly pops and they all love me as their new "Go go" (Grandma). They chase our truck as we pull away; which scares us because little toddlers could fall under the tires. We go very slowly!

 Persuade works for Rio Douro and is somewhat of an apprentice in construction and learning a lot of trades. He's a hard worker and he's always smiling! I was studying the Book of Mormon on his baptismal day and this scripture stood out and describes Persuade and the workers on the temple site we are teaching perfectly,   "And the meek also shall increase, and their joy shall be in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel." 2 Nephi 27:30

 Bro. Nelson with Lovemore, Persuade, and Elder Anderson in Chitungwiza on baptism day. 2023.06.17   We met a ward member, Bro. Nelson, who dedicates his service every day to cleaning the church building and being the gardener on the grounds. He said it is his "offering" for all his blessings. He praises the Lord for the miracle of saving his life 8 years earlier. He bore his testimony and told us his story. He had been an alcoholic and smoker for over 30 years. Eight years ago, he was in the back of a truck in a terrible accident, in which 8 people were killed (in Zimbabwe, many people are riding in the back of pickups. I counted 25 getting off a truck after work yesterday.) Bro. Nelson was next to a mother with a baby on her lap. The mother's leg was severely broken and traumatized in the opposite direction of her body, but the baby was unharmed. Bro. Nelson's spine was severed. He was in a wheelchair, then on crutches, and with lots of physical therapy can now walk with a cane. After his life was preserved, he joined the church. He acknowledges God's hand in the miracle of surviving the accident.

Elder Clifford King, Bruce Anderson, Guy Peterson, and Pres. Gary Judd, brisket and chicken!

Senior Missionaries of Harare Zimbabwe Mission with Pres. & Sister Judd, 2023.06.18

    We celebrated Father's Day at church and dinner with Pres. and Sister Judd and the seniors. We had barbecued chicken and brisket with potluck sides. I was able to order a brisket, Bruce's favorite, from our friend, Alistair Gibson, who smokes meat at the market. I also made a yummy South African dessert of Nicoene Fourie, who gave me the ingredients and recipe. Everyone is so thoughtful to share! I am so grateful to Bruce and how he has raised our children with a good work ethic. We love watching what amazing dads our sons have turned into. HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!!

Stake Conference and Seniors

    We had stake conference in Harare last Sunday, June 11th. We drove out to the Mabare Chapel in Waterfalls. It was a nice building with a full chapel and overflow, but we took some dirt rough roads to get to it. It is rare in Africa to have such a nice building to meet in. Our project site manager, Taona Nkala, was sustained as the second counselor in the Stake Presidency. Pres. Nkala has been the branch president in the Harare Town Branch. He is only 36 but has a strong testimony, a mild and meek nature, and is a great leader. He mentioned how the Andersons were giving the workers tours of the temple and explaining the purpose of each room. He said, "It's like throwing them into the deep end." right at the beginning of their introduction of the gospel. He felt that way being called to the stake presidency. The amazing thing is the HZT site workers accept everything we teach and don't have a problem with baptism for the dead, prophets, and the sacredness of the holy temple we are building.

Elder Anderson with our temple project site manager, Taona Nkala, sustained in Stake Presidency.

    Full-time elders and sisters meet at the entrance to greet stake conference members.

Sister Rasolomanana and Rodriguez with Sister Washburn and Kendrick at stake conference. We had the Highland sisters: Sisters Treese, Otienda, Washburn, and Kendrick over for taco salads for lunch at our apartment after the meeting. The missionaries are always grateful to be fed!

        Pres. and Sister Sithole, serve in the mission presidency. They come in a combi van to church; even with his broken leg. He feels blessed he was able to sit in the front seat and not the boot during his journey. The majority of the people here don't own a car or drive. Traveling 1 hour to work or church for a $1.00 fare is normal for them. They also walk everywhere. You seldom see overweight people in Africa.

    Sister Washburn and Kendrick with our ward member, Jennifer and daughters.

Here is a combi van waiting to take the members back to the city. They usually stuff 16+ people in one van, plus the money collector will hang off the back on the bumper calling out for stops. We gave an outside-the-fence "temple site tour" to the HXP "Humanitarian Experience" group from the U.S.A. stationed in Salt Lake City, Utah. There were 23 participants that came to Zimbabwe to volunteer to help build a school. I hope they had an amazing life-changing experience. The temple and meeting house are in the background, 2023.06.15.

    The Senior Missionaries had a birthday breakfast for Elder Cliff King at 34 North, Nield's--Reeve and Lolly's on Thursday, June 15th. We had yummy blueberry pancakes made by Lolly right after our daily pickleball practice. The Kings and Sister Whitlock have completed their missions and are returning home on June 30th. They will be greatly missed. When we got to Harare in March, the Kings had our apartment all set up, including food stocked in the fridge and cupboard. It was such a thoughtful gesture. Toni King set up our internet and phones too. They have been over "fleets and flats" and will be a hard act to follow. Sister Sandy Whitlock has served as the financial secretary in the office. She has such a sweet testimony of faith and endurance. She also plays a "mean" pickleball game Sandy is very athletic at golf too; she played college softball. All three of these new friends have been very patient as my partner in pickleball while I've been learning the game. These three missionaries came from American Fork and were in Pres. and Sister Judd's stake. They have all become dear friends. We thank them for their service and amazing talents.

                             Harare Zimbabwe Senior Missionaries at Judds, our mission leaders.