Hello everyone!!!! Well it has been quite the adventure already! When I arrived in Zambia late Tuesday night there was no one to pick me up! I guess my flight had gotten in early! I tried to call all the numbers I had and ask around but after 45 min I gave up and decided to get to a hotel. A nice man from the CDC was on my plane and had waited with me to make sure I got to where I was going paid for a taxi to get me to a nice hotel. There I was able to call the travel office and after a couple of hours I got picked up and taken to my flat!! That night was interesting because I guess they have a rodent friend that likes to visit sometimes and he decided to visit that very night I came! Luckily we all are required to sleep in mosquito nets and I love them! like they obviously protect from more than just mosquitos. I would highly recommend haha.
The next morning I was finally able to see what Zambia looked like in the daylight! It was beautiful!!!! There isn’t a lot of green but lots of people to see and so different from anything I have experienced.
A little bit about the flat. I live with my companion and with two other sisters. My companion is from Utah and she is so great! She is showing me all the good places and the great people. The other two sisters are both from South Africa and are hilarious!
I am learning so much about the culture! Like I guess in Africa they have a special hand shake. Its like a regular hand shake with a thumb thing and then a handshake again! Its so cool! They also they told me everyone here would speak English but uh kind of? They actually speak a language called "nyanja" and then English too. Oh so my subject line means, "White person in ZAMBIA" haha. I have also learned how to greet people. You say "muli Bwangi!" then after they respond you say "Bwino" then you peak in English haha. But the people here really respect you if you speak their language first.
The first lesson that I got to teach with my companion was with Nelson. When we were walking to his house the kids were just getting out from school. I got to hand out my first stickers! It was so great! They absolutely LOVED THEM. as we walked to Nelson’s house I was amazed. These people live so much more humbly and in such different circumstances than I have ever experienced. The kids run around in the dirt street without shoes on and they just chill on the side or roll big tires that they find. We taught Nelson inside his home. He had a small chair for him and then a small couch for me and my companion. Two little kids joined us as well! There was a little tiny table too. Everything was packed in there and it was hot and there were flies but there sat Nelson ready to listen to our message. As we taught him about the Book of Mormon he seemed so interested and was so happy when we told him the book was his to keep! He can’t read hardly at all but we taught him some of the words and told him that he could pray to have Heavenly Father help him understand more. It was so humbling for me. This man has nothing but is willing to spend time learning and coming closer to his Savior. The experience really taught me that God loves all of us, He knows each one of us! HE knows NELSON too!!!! I could just feel the love God has for him.
Another great experience form this week was with a girl named Tryness. All of our appointments for the morning had fell through so we decided to knock gates. (lots of people have gates around their houses). When we knocked on this one gate, the gate across the street opened instead! So we went over and the lady didn’t speak English so she went and got Tryness. Tryness is 19, and is going to school so she is staying in this boarding house. We sat down and got to know her! She was so sweet! She said that she had seen our church and had been wondering about it but hadn’t gotten around to asking. We tuaght her a lesson about how Jesus Christ’s church is restored on the earth again and how we have a prophet today and how she could know the truth of it for herself by praying! She asked so many questions and was so amazed by how much our church focuses on love for others. We invited her to be baptized and she said yes! She also said she would come to church. We came out of that lesson so happy! There are definitely people prepared to hear our message. (In this email is a picture of me with her wearing a San Diego shirt! I told her we had to take a picture cause that’s my home!!!!)
I am also learning so much about the people here in Zambia. They are all very religious. Everyone has their own church and they have such strong testimonies that God is there. When we ask how they think God has helped them in their lives they are always so sincere. Some say, "He has given me life," some say, "He has blessed me with family," and others say they are grateful for the chance to be in their circumstance no matter what. They are so grateful for what they do have. It amazes me.
Oh of my favorite things has been giving my stickers out to the kids! They absolutely love them! And the sisters I talked to were right. Once you give one sticker a whole SWARM of kids come haha.
Our mission president has challenged us to read 6-7 pages of the Book of Mormon everyday along with all of our other studying. I have been doing it every day since and I love it! There is so much to learn. The book of Mormon proves everything about our church. It has especially helped me in the past week. The first couple days I was so overwhelmed and feeling scared of all the new things that I wasn’t used too. I was reading in the Book of Mormon and came to Alma 32. He talks about faith and how you have to act on your faith in order for the "seed" or for you faith to grow. It starts small but can grow to something big! I feel small and scared sometimes but I have to act on the faith I have right now, the knowledge I have that this is where I am supposed to be and then as I keep moving forward my faith will grow and I will be able to love it even more than I already do!
Anyways this week has been amazing. The people in Zambia are great and I’m so lucky to be a part of this amazing work!!!! Hope you all have a fantastic week!
with lots of love,
Sister Moulton
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