Sunday

Hi everyone,

Yesterday we went out with ZESA to install the 3 transformers. They showed up finally about 1:00 p.m. (it always takes a while for them to get organized and loaded!! :).) They had 5 men with them plus Mr. Dongo the boss even showed up. He's the one we have been dealing with. It was a good day and they got them installed. One still needs a little bit done and we have to buy a 175 amp MCB for them as they don't have one in stock. We do have enough money in that project that we can do that - it will likely be less than $100.00. We just have to laugh sometimes and wonder how the company manages to run. Maybe they don't really do so well as we do have an awful lot of power cuts!!
They did get the power on to one clinic and of course they were thrilled to have lights - now they can deliver babies with more than just candlelight. It's hard to even imagine that, especially if there was a problem of any sort. While we were there they had a lady get dropped off that was very sick and it turned out, after a blood test they could do, that she has malaria and they gave her the medication.
While we were waiting they brought us a cup of ground nuts (peanuts in the shell) that had been boiled in salt water. They were still wet and warm but they were quite good. I remember Michael talking about people boiling peanuts when he was on his mission in Florida - now I know first hand what that is all about.

We met a really interesting man while we were waiting at the clinic. He was a farmer from the area (about 50Km. away). He seemed like a fairly distinquished individual and quite knowledgeable. He wants us to come and see his place. He has developed some ideas - a borehole run by a windmill etc. He would love to work with us, free of charge, and help develop some projects. We think he might have some good ideas worth sitting down and talking about. We will call him in the middle of April when our schedule lightens up a bit.
There are times when we feel like the Lord puts someone in our path and this just could be one of those times.

Today we went to church in Bindura (about 1 1/4 hrs. north). We took Bigboy, Susan and their 4 children. It was their first time but they seemed to enjoy it. That is one of two branches that had so many baptisms last Sunday and so today there were a number of confirmations which took up most of the sacrament meeting time. However, they had planned on a presentation from the Relief Society since it is close to March 17th (the birthday of Relief Society organization). The ladies did a good job of that but of course we were way overtime for the meeting.

Bigboy did comment afterwards that the teacher in Gospel Essentials was not very well prepared - and he was right. The lesson was on prayer and he thought she could have used some examples/stories instead of just reading the lesson from the book. :) We thought that was pretty good that he had picked up on that. He and Susan will be leaders if/when they get baptized - they have the capabilities. You can just see it. He does teach/train people on how to fit wheelchairs to different disabled people so he has some experience in teaching. We will keep working with them. Just as a reminder to our readers that he is the one who came to us and ask if we could teach him about our church. Nice family!!

Last night I had a dream that we had just recently arrived at home. I woke up and was surprised we were still in Ziimbabwe. The dream seemed very real. Maybe I had the dream because I have been thinking about Curtis going through the temple for his endowments and thinking about our family sitting there together with him. We are so proud of him and the changes he has made in his life over the past year or more. We are proud of all our kids and feel like their lives have been blessed while we have been here serving.

We have a busy week ahead of us again - actually a busy 3 weeks ahead of us.

We came here to the office before heading to the flat. Pres. Bullock is waiting for an email from SA about some tickets to get two new elders to their mission in Ghana. They got held up for a couple of days because their visas were not ready and now are being held up waiting for flight arrangements. Hopefully they can still get to the MTC there in time to get the training they need.
Well we are hungry so will say goodbye and go home and eat our chicken that is in the slow cooker (provided the electricity did not go off today). :)

Love, Elder/Sister Bullock