Neighborhood Prayer Vigil and Saturday Fun

        Our apartment complex has had 5 burglaries since January. Unfortunately, one of the church's apartments on our 2nd floor was robbed in April or May. It was vacant waiting for a senior couple to arrive. They robbed the whole solar inverter and battery system, the drapes, the refrigerator compressor, the crockpot, pots and pans, and even the cleaning supplies. We felt bad because we hadn't noticed anything amiss, but we weren't told to go over and check the vacant apartment. We noticed the break in just a week before the Lewis's, our new missionary leadership couple, arrived. Last week, a burglar broke into another apartment in our complex while the couple was sleeping and stole their T.V. All the apartment tenants called a meeting in the parking lot to discuss the security issues and our safety. Most of the tenants feel it's an "inside" job; meaning someone is letting the robbers in and making a deal. We are suspicious of the guards or the ground's keeper.  Home Lux is the majority owner of the complex. They are only paying for one security guard at the remote-controlled entrance.  They had been advised to have four guards at night so they could walk the perimeter of the complex. They also promised to install security cameras, which haven't happened yet. Pres. Judd approved for both of our missionary apartments to have steel bars installed on all the windows and doors; so we do feel safe. We also added 4 more solar panels and doubled the battery storage so we can have constant electricity or power. When there is no "zesa" or electricity our solar wasn't able to recharge and work as a primary source. It's reassuring the church wants the missionaries safe and in comfortable settings; especially the seniors.

        Our neighbor in apartment 20, Tatenda, invited us over on Friday night for a prayer vigil. We thought, "Why not?" There is definitely strength in numbers and prayer; we knew it would be a great missionary and befriending opportunity. We went over with Sister Megan Lewis, from apartment 12, not knowing what to expect. There were 8 neighbors in attendance along with our friend in apartment 17, Leo. Tatenda took the lead and we complimented her on being courageous enough to invite her neighbors of "Christian" like minds to participate. They talked about how we are all one body in Christ and quoted some scriptures from Matthew and Proverbs. We went around the room suggesting what each person wanted to pray for. One person prayed for our complex's safety, and one for a peaceful outcome of the presidential elections (voting was on Wednesday). We prayed for the safety of our families, workers, and territorial property, and to have decreased anxiety and worries. Three of the ladies and the pastor, Isaac, prayed first. They gave beautiful poetic prayers, quoting scripture verses, and saying "Oh Lord, Oh God" in every sentence. Tatenda gave such a beautiful long prayer throwing in some inflection and Shona in every now and then. I thought, OK we could just end here now. I gave a simple prayer asking for protection for our families, but not nearly as eloquent. We also sang a hymn, "How great thou art" with Megan, a gorgeous talented soprano's, lead. We felt the spirit and unity of neighborly love that night. We will probably hold the next one at our apartment, kind of like our own Family Home Evening.

Saturday, we had another fun golf lesson and celebrated two senior sisters' birthdays, Megan Lewis and Lori Salizar. We took Lewis's to the Stable Market for the first time. We had a brie at 34 North along with a pickleball game or two. 

Golf at 07:00 a.m. with the seniors, we met Cornelia Rautenbach, a member from Botswana. She runs a lot of game park safaris in Botswana and sets up camps. We can't wait to go on one with her! 2023.08.26

Fun morning at the Stable's Market with the Lewis's. We always find fun things to eat and buy! I introduced Megan to our friend, Gemma Gibson.

Party at 34 North, Iris and Reeve Nield and Lolly Mauritz are such gracious hosts! 2023.08.26

    Sunday, we attended church in Highlands and gave Sister Lori Salizar a ride. We had her come for lunch afterward. It was actually breakfast for lunch; Bruce made bacon and hashbrowns. We had freshly squeezed orange juice from the market. I made German or Popeye pancakes. Afterwards, we gave Lori her very first driving lesson in Zimbabwe. She was a bit nervous, as I was, driving on the left side of the road. Sister Salizar is our new mission's financial secretary. She's replacing Sister Sandy Whitlock, who finished her mission in June. It's nice to have her here to join us!

Bruce and I found a fun food fair right in our neighborhood every Friday night. We went with the Lewis's and checked out the food, barbecued ribs, curry, Chinese dumplings, sushi, and rolled ice cream. We each ordered something to share. The next weekend, Bruce and I went for a quick Friday night bite of pizza and ran into our Mission Leaders, The Judds. Pres. Judd bought us pizza we all shared. It's a fun ambiance with hanging lights, a live band, and candlelight. It's always fun to explore and try new things.

Good Bye and Hello, Temple presentation and Lessons Shared

Sisters: Judd, Turley, Peterson, Poulter, Lewis, Anderson, & Warne. Sisters in Zion, 2023.08.16

         Another wonderful week of missionary work. I enjoyed MLT "Missionary Leadership Training" with the Sisters, discussing the strength and influence of womanhood. We enjoyed a lovely meal and talked about the impact of faithful women in the scriptures and history. Women who love God have an amazing impact on their children and the world. We are strengthened by their examples. Thursday, Bruce and I presented a temple devotional to all the missionaries in leadership. We hope we helped the young missionaries know of its importance. We talked about the construction of the temple and some errors which have been made due to not following the blueprints. This has caused added time and work in tearing down walls and redoing work. It must be done right and perfect for the Lord's House. As missionaries, we need to follow our "plan" which is in "Preach My Gospel" our "Missionary Handbook" and our scriptures. By following the "plan" we tend to make fewer mistakes and stay on the covenant path that leads us back to our Father in Heaven. Of course, if we do get "off the plan" or make errors, we have the redeeming love of our Savior, Jesus Christ to help us repent and be forgiven.

Elder and Sister Anderson teach about the temple at Thursday night's Missionary Leadership Training devotional. We are trying to increase their understanding of the importance of the temple and the covenants they've made therein. 2023.08.17

Photos from Sister Judd of MLT

        Friday, we taught a new investigator, Richwell, in our new visitor's center on-site. It's so nice to finally have a private place to teach the gospel one on one on the temple site. Persuade lives in the same area, Chitungwiza, as Richwell and has befriended him on the temple site. He's brought him to our Thursday lunch devotionals. We stayed after work on Friday to teach him. Richwell loved learning about the "Plan of Salvation" or Happiness as we like to call it. Persuade Arimoni, our newest convert on the site, also attended and bore his testimony and challenged him to baptism. We informed Persuade he could perform the baptism of his friend since he held the Aaronic Priesthood. He said, "Really?" with his eyes wide and a big Zimbabwean smile. He said he has never been happier now he's a "child of the letterday saints". We love Persuade and the joy and light he brings into our lives. We enjoyed dinner at Persuade's very first restaurant experience. We took Persuade and Richwell to Cafe Nush. He told us it was his very first time and "It was like a dream". It was so fun to see the excitement and happiness in his eyes! Our family may find we've adopted a few more sons. Persuade texted me, "Wow great...Thank you so much, yesterday I enjoy my day and I'm really happy for the first time to "ate" food in the restaurant...Thank you so much!" We were so excited to buy their meal then a nice man came up to us and had heard us talking about God and saw our missionary tags. He said, "I would like to pay for your meal." We were a little confused and asked him why he'd want to do that. He said "I see you are preaching God's word." He handed us a $50.00 bill and Bruce followed him out to the parking lot to give him a Book of Mormon. He found out he was a contractor and had actually built the apartment complex we are living in. Small world! We will pass his contact information on to the proselyting missionaries. We plan on giving Persuade the $50.00 bill to help him when he takes a week off work to attend the Johannesburg temple in September with the YSA. Wow, miracles and blessings abound!

First times: Persuade had his first taste of Pizza last week. This is his first restaurant experience and he was" sooooo happy as in a dream."

This is Kamoni, our cute 10-year-old neighbor boy. He is our new friend and neighbor, Leo's son. He comes over when he's alone to put our temple puzzle together or play "SkyJo" a card game with us. He's so cute; I've adopted him as his "Go-go" (Grandma in Shona).

    We are planning another wedding for our investigators, the Muchenjes. Lolly found Fortunate the perfect dress. I had her try it on last Thursday when she came to clean the Elder's apartment. It fit her perfectly and she twirled like she was "Cinderella". What a beautiful bride and even more beautiful family to enter the waters of baptism. We've helped them to obtain passport photos and work out the logistics of the legal marriage certificate they need to obtain before baptism. Cephas and Fortunate have 3 beautiful children and the oldest two can be baptized along with their parents. The Elders in Eastview continue to teach them the discussions after we taught them the first three lessons. They are an amazing family of faith. Sister Judd even found a donated tux for Cephas. It also fits perfectly. I took their passport photos for their marriage license. We are keeping these photos as a surprise for the bride and groom. Don't they look sharp?

Beautiful Fortuanate Vhopo, calls me "mom". She is so excited to get officially married to Cephas; but even more excited to join the waters of baptism and become a new member of Jesus Christ's church. 2023.08.16

       We had a farewell dinner for Sister LaNae Poulter from Menan, Idaho. She actually knows Tee and Dee Andrews. Tee is my parent's foster daughter; she lived with the Boud family after she joined the church back east. My Uncle Bill and Aunt Dorthy Burton were serving as mission presidents at the time. When Tee and her brother, Lou Downing, joined the church their parents disowned them and kicked them out. As young adults, they came and stayed with our family and Tee helped be a nanny to me and my many siblings for several years. My parents had 13 young children at the time under one roof. Tee died of cancer several years ago but always loved my parents. Lou went on a mission to Mexico and married a faithful LDS girl and settled in Salt Lake. Anyway, LaNae Poulter, served as mission secretary and has remarkable faith and an unwavering testimony. One day she surprised me and took her wig off in the office, showing me a bald head with sparse hair patches. She suffers from alopecia and I never would have guessed! She also shared this with our Relief Society sisters when the lesson was on not judging or being jealous of others. She left a remarkable impression on me to never judge others or have self-pity when comparing myself to others. We will never be able to walk in someone else's shoes. We will miss her! I put together another PowerPoint slide show to the music of many photos collected by Sister Judd, and videos of the team all saying goodbye. We had an Aloha night with Hawaiian haystacks. We also said, "Hello" to our newest senior sister missionary, Lori Salizar, who arrived on Thursday from Sugar House, Utah. She worked in the Family History Library in downtown Salt Lake City with Bruce's cousin, Gerrolyn Anderson. She also is a cousin to Susan Stromberg, a friend I went to High School and danced with. Always a small world with church acquaintances.

Another two beautiful convert baptisms at Highland Ward with Sister Delamark and Nicols, 2023.08.20

Sister Lori Salizar attends her first African Sabbath Day Meeting at Highlands Ward with the Andersons, 2023.08.20

Happy Birthday 36th William, Family Photos

     Andersons celebrate a lot of July and August Birthdays. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to all! We wish all our sons and daughters-in-law, who had birthdays, a wonderful year to come. It feels weird to miss their special day and not smother them with gifts as usual. Giving gifts is definitely my love language and I've had to resist since we can't mail anything with the hopes it would actually arrive in the USA. I am collecting some fun African-made things for Christmas with our plans of returning home in December for our 4 weeks off.

William's family went to a play "Horse Boy" which they enjoyed. Elisa made William this amazing layered cake with crepes.

    William turned 36 on August 16th, along with his wife, Elisa's 35th birthday was August 12th. Ben turned 34 on August 4th. Both Hunter and Rachel share a birthday on July 20th, Hunter is now 29 and Rachel is 31 years old. Katie, Hunter's wife had a birthday on July 28th, and Jenny Jade, Ben's wife on July 30th. It was a whole summer of birthday celebrations without us!

Look who Ben, Jenny, and Annabella ran into in Salt Lake, our friends Margo & Jim Christensen

Ben's very busy working for Angel Studios. They are the company that produced, The Chosen. He is a wonderful dad to Annabella. He takes her to "Kid's Strong" every weekend and allows Jenny to rest after working a night shift. I remember only too well how hard the night shift is!

Aria and Nick and Elise Russo, Aria's she's the cutest little 2-year-old stinker! 2023.08.20 & 27

             Elise sends me videos of Aria singing and dancing. She is only two, but is so smart, just like all of our grandchildren. Elise has Aria very regimented for her Type 1 diabetes and she's been in good control lately. Oh, how we miss them! Nick quit his job working for Shaun McBride and "A for Adley", which he produced and helped them become a 4 million YouTube viewer success. Nick's going to start consulting so he'll have more family time at home. We applaud his big move. He has so much talent, we're sure he'll succeed in what he plans for the future.

         Ian and Rachel are doing well. Ian's got our yard and Airbnb all organized. He even planted a garden and is enjoying his harvest. They bought a lot to the south of us in Mendon from Jay Stegar's family. Jay recently died of cancer and had bought the lot between his home and Sharon James on 200 South in Mendon. Ian and Rachel will build a custom home and be right next to both sets of grandparents. Who could ask for anything more? We are so grateful for their help caring for our home and yard. Otherwise, it would have been very difficult to go on a mission. Rocky and Rigby are growing up fast. We love those little rascals! 

Rocky & Max swing together. Rigby is starting to stand up. Fun brothers, July 2023

        Hunter and Katie seem to be doing well. We've had a hard time getting them on WhatsApp. Hunter stays so busy with construction and his excavation work. We really miss Eliza and little Max. Max is such a cute little talkative toddler. It about broke our hearts when he asked, "Grandpa, when are you coming over to my house?" 

        We are so grateful for this experience and know our family will be blessed in our absence. We have the opportunity to influence and love children, who are orphans or never knew a loving grandpa and grandma. We are affectionately "Go-Go" and "Sagoru" in Shona.

Andersons with Jess Solani, 2023.07

Pumazinda Lodge: Safari, Horseback, and Canoeing

 We had Monday and Tuesday off for Hero's Day in Zimbabwe. When the workers are off at the temple, we get a holiday too. We decided to go spend an overnight at the Pumazinda Safari Lodge. We get recommendations from our Zimbabwean friends on the temple site. I have a whole list of "places to go"; we do like to play and explore all Africa has to offer. We got up close and personal with Bruce's spirit animal, the giraffe. This one particularly, her name is Jasmine. She's pregnant and was raised with horses at the lodge, so is quite friendly with the visitors. She wanders in and out and then back to the game park. We love Africa and all of God's amazing creations. When we were registering at the front desk, we asked if they had any elephants, and the hostess said, "No", I said how about "Giraffes?" she said "No". I said, "That's false advertising!" As I turned Jasmine's head was right in the doorway only feet away from my face. She really pulled a good one on me!

Why "Hello there girl!" up close and personal with Jasmine, the giraffe. Bruce was elated!

We stayed in cute little thatched roof huts with all the modern amenities. The lodge served us lunch, dinner, and breakfast the next morning. We had nice buffets in a beautiful open-air dining room. We paid extra for a 2-hour game drive Friday afternoon and horseback riding to the water hole and back. We saw impalas and wildebeest on our ride. Bruce was back in his cowboy element. After a restful night's sleep and breakfast, we had a relaxing canoe trip down the Serui River. Pamuzinda means "Royal Meeting Place" in Shona. The lodge is situated on the banks of the Serui River and is surrounded by 5,500 acres of untouched and unfenced bush. It ensures the tourists have a tranquil and peaceful visit close to nature with a variety of wildlife to enjoy.

Horseback ride for 45 minutes into the bush. We rode to the waterhole to see impalas, wildebeests, and a few monkeys too. 2023.08.14

We went on a 2-hour game drive after our horseback riding. There were 3 lions in a 3-acre enclosure. Seeing animals in the wild is even more exciting. There were zebra, wildebeest, eland, wart hogs, monkeys, and 3 elegant giraffes.

The highlight of our trip was our peaceful canoe ride down the tranquil river. We were told there were no crocodiles, although one can never be too careful. Especially after reading the welcome sign below:

Our guide was named Sakuryi Tafara and he told us he had visited our church before. During the peaceful canoe ride, Bruce told him the entire first vision and restoration discussion. Sakurayi seemed very interested and he accepted a Book of Mormon. We will be sending his contact to the missionaries in his area. It's a wonderful opportunity to share the gospel with everyone we meet. Who knows why God has put people in our paths. If we don't share what we know, I fear I'll be accountable.

If I was a crocodile, I'd probably want to live here!

After sharing a Book of Mormon with Sakurayi, the receptionist complained she didn't get one too. Bruce went out and grabbed 3 more. We challenged her to read it and share it with two others.

Jasmine came out to our car in the parking lot to say goodbye as we were leaving! 2023.08.15