Kadoma Conference and Elder Silva

   Elder Silva, the Judds, and others, 2023.06.02 in Highlands, Harare

    Elder Denelson Silva came to speak at Kadoma's district conference. He is a general authority for our church and serves in the South Africa Area Presidency. We had the privilege of going out to lunch with Pres. & Sister Judd, Elder Silva, Sister Turley, and the Masonis. We ate lunch at the "3 Monkeys" restaurant. It was a joy to visit with them and share the progress of the temple.

    Saturday morning, we drove to Kadoma to their district conference. We were asked to speak about the temple and continue to help prepare the saints to attend once the temple's completed. Bruce did a video from the outside fence parameter to show the members the progress and get them excited about the temple. About 28 of the members had traveled by bus to Johannesburg to attend the temple for the first time. It is about a 12-hour ride for them; what dedication. They are so excited to have a temple only 2 hours away in Harare. We went to the 12:00 leadership meeting and spoke at the 2:30 afternoon session. It's cool to see everyone walk or ride combis or in the back of trucks to get to church. No seatbelts are ever required here. They stack people in 4 per bench. I spoke about how the temple brings light and knowledge into our lives. Our temple covenants protect us against the adversary. Satan can not live in the light; light dispels darkness. Everything in the temple points to Jesus Christ and we know Christ is the light and life of the world (John 8:12). I know this to be true. We handed out over 250 cards with the temple rendering picture on them and a quote by Pres. Nelson is on the back. So many members came up and asked us for one; we had to keep getting in our truck and pulling out more. Bruce has named Zimbabwe driving "tolerant driving," everyone puts up with the crazy illegal driving.

This African family journeying to church. They are Mazowe; the cool thing during our district conference was hearing the chanting and music coming through the open windows! 2023.06.04

We love seeing the missionaries and members visit for district conferences. Elder Silva and Pres. Judd challenged the members to become a stake by next year. They all need to invite 3 friends to church and be member missionaries. At leadership, there were 69 people x 3=207 new members every month. They need 500 new members to become a stake. They can do it! Bruce has sent 83 referrals to the full-time missionaries in the past 3 months from the temple site already.

    Sister Roz Peterson and I made sack lunches for the leaders for the Saturday sessions. It was a long day for them. I made some ginger cookies and banana bars. Elder Silva, from Brazil, really liked the sweet banana bars. He has a sweet tooth! At lunch, he ordered 2 strawberry ice cream shakes with his pizza. I said he was a man after my own heart; dessert before the main meal! We stayed Saturday night at the Rainbow Hotel again. This time we didn't get flooded as before; we didn't use the tub. It's mediocre but there aren't many choices in Kadoma. We all had dinner together Saturday night at the restaurant. Again mediocre but nourishment. We enjoyed meeting Pres. Sithole, counselor in the mission presidency. He came by combi with a broken leg on crutches. Many Africans don't drive or own a vehicle.

I loved meeting the Kadoma sisters. They were so friendly and I got a lot of big hugs! 2023.06.04

    

We had a powerful leadership training and 2 district conference meetings. Pres. and Sister Judd and Elder Silva spoke on both days. They each gave powerful messages about the temple and the gospel. As usual, Sister Judd has everyone in the palm of her hands. She is an amazing speaker and can speak directly from her heart with the Spirit. She is an excellent storyteller like my mother was. Elder Silva with his Brazilian accent spoke on "Absolute Truths" and Love and Service. He said love and service always go together and cannot be without the other. I loved listening to him speak with the musical chanting of the Mazowe's next door coming through the breeze of the open windows. Only in Africa!

Downtown Harare, CBD, above is an example of how cars make 5 lines out of 2. When in the turn lane, many cars come up to your left and make a second lane so they can butt on in!

    We had a two-hour drive home. It's always entertaining seeing all the things along the road and for sale. We almost hit a monkey, road kill!  Luckily it made it across the street after running right in front of us! Bruce calls driving here, "tolerant driving". It's neither defensive nor offensive; you have to tolerate there are no rules except, "Don't hit anyone and don't get hit!" 

We received the news Doris, Bruce's mom, is going on hospice. She is 87 years old and we knew there was a high probability we might not see her again in this life when we left for Africa. She's been a remarkable mother, in-law, and grandma to our children. Our kids are all so sad to lose her. We talked to William and he advised us to come back for the funeral to "mourn with those that mourn." We feel strongly now to be there with our children. We got to talk to her today on the phone and she sounded coherent but ready to be at peace. She is not eating and drinking very little. We appreciate Thayne and Susan taking over to have her cared for in our absence. She's a remarkable lady. How we will miss her desserts and cooking! No one makes a pie better than Doris.

I asked these two little girls, playing a hand game to teach me how to play. She delightfully showed me how. We love our Sunday afternoon walks in Zimbabwe.