Sunday, January 31, 2010

Our day is winding down and it has been a good one! We attended meetings at the Highlands ward and Elder Bullock confirmed Dzikamai. Merci gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting and did a wonderful job. You would never know she was a recent convert. Malaika (her 5 yr. old daughter) sat with us and so did Seka and of course, Dzikamai. As I sat there I thought, "Here we are sitting together with our Africa family" because they feel like our family. These are the ones we will miss the most when we leave here.

Dzikamai was looking really happy and feeling great. His countenance has really changed since the first day we met him. He wants to prepare himself to serve a mission in a year. When he was in Boston he met a black girl there from Tucson, AZ and she took him to church a few times and she is now serving a mission in Washington DC. She will be excited to hear that he was baptized.

We left there early and drove to the Kwadzana Branch at the West end of Harare. We were to meet Answer and Mary and their two little boys there. Answer didn't come as he had to go visit his ill sister in Norton, but Mary came with the boys. We attended all the meetings there with her and Honest, the 6 yr. old liked primary and Trust the 2 yr. old slept most of the time. It was good. We went on Saturday with Elders Law and Crosley while they taught them and will go again next Saturday. Mary met a lady at church today who lives close to them so we are hoping they can become friends.

Anyway -- it was a great day!! Makes being here in Zimbabwe all worth it!!!! :)

I'm sure there is more to write but my mind is blank at the moment so --

Here are some pictures from the last little while.

26 Jan 2010 - Marondera group that gave us a tour of possible borehole sites and then took us to lunch (chicken and chips)

26 Jan 2010 - Books LDSC donated to this library a few years ago in Marondera

26 Jan 2010 - Elder Bullock and librarian in Marondera

26 Jan 2010 - 012 Giving newborn kit to brand new mother and baby

26 Jan 2010 - I liked the opening and closing times on this sign - funny

27 Jan 2010 - Gave quilts to these two ladies - They gave me us a tea set

27 Jan 2010 - Merci

28 Jan 2010 - Beauty (our housekeeper & she does our laundry). She came in a new outfit today (cute!)

30 Jan 2010 - Bullocks with Dzikamai

30 Jan 2010 - Elder Bullock & Dzikamai

30 Jan 2010 - Dzikamai & Seka

Love to our family and friends, Elder and Sister Bullock

November 8, 2009

I will send this letter when I can – as we have had no internet for the past week (maybe a few minutes a couple of times). It still wasn’t working today so hopefully someone will get it fixed soon. It does make us feel out of touch with the rest of the world and hope all is well at home.
On Tuesday morning (Nov. 3rd) Pastor Wonder came in to see us. He works out in the Goromonzi area (about an hour from Harare). He wanted Elder Bullock to explain to him about the Book of Mormon. We had talked a bit once before when we had him in the truck. As Elder Bullock explained about the book I could see the understanding come into Pastor Wonder’s face. He said that he wants us to come and teach his people (which we can’t do, again they are out of the center of strength). He said he felt that this was true and he wants his people to have the truth. I explained that what he was feeling was the ‘spirit’ testifying to him. He said I can feel it in my mind and heart and nerves! Then he wanted to apologize because he said that he had a Book of Mormon before and that he had destroyed it. He was feeling really bad! He said that when he was studying religion they had taught about our church but they taught that we are a cult and to keep away from us – so when he was given a B of M he destroyed it. He said that he knows that they didn’t know what they were talking about and he is grateful to know the truth now. We offered him another Book of Mormon and he was happy to take it and said he wanted to read it. We told him he could come back anytime and we can talk some more. We could feel the spirit in the room.

I’m beginning to wonder if part of our reason for coming here is to teach these pastors that LDS Charities has been working with for several years. Other couples have given Book of Mormons but never stopped to explain so that they can understand. Elder Bullock is very good at explaining it to them. If there is anyone at home that would like it explained to them when we return just let us know!!!

Pastor Seka (now just Seka, after leaving his posting and congregation) had his baptismal interview today and passed with flying colors. We were out of town and called him to see how it went. He said, “I really enjoyed it. I was really prepared, I tell you.” He will be baptized on Sat. Nov. 14th and confirmed on Sunday. We suggested to him that a fellow he works with could baptize him and he has asked him to do that. It is strongly suggested that if possible, a member of the ward or a friend should do the baptism so that there is a fellowship established. Missionaries come and go and they need to be bonded with the ward members. Seka has invited several people to his baptism (members and non-members). His friend, Pastor Mhike is coming. He is the other pastor who is working towards moving his family to an area where the church is functioning. Saturday will be a great day!! Merci is still in Uganda but she should be home any day. I know she doesn’t want to miss Seka’s baptism.

On Thursday we went back to visit the boreholes near Chegutu that were done in 2007 by LDSC. We had ask the people to get a water committee together so we could meet with them. It is a 2 hr. drive so we can’t keep running back and forth every week. We were happy to have 9 men there (some from the original committee) and they are prepared to help get these wells working again. The meeting was at the Damangwe Primary school. That is the school that is so poor – there is not a single desk or chair for the children. In fact, we found out that the school ‘head’ doesn’t even have a desk or chair. Some of the children did not even have exercise books (scribblers) or pencils. We surprised them with 18 cases of school kits and they were SO pleased and grateful. (perhaps we should have even taken more but....) When the school ‘head’ saw the boxes in the truck he asked, “How many schools are you going to today?” We said, “Just yours!”. We also gave them 5 balls and some skipping ropes. It is really only a drop in the bucket but it will help them. There are 401 students there. That is where the borehole was still working (needs a bit of maintenance). They have a good sized garden that looks good considering the dry conditions right now. The kids are hauling water in 2 & 4 litre containers to water it. The borehole isn’t really close to the garden either. It makes me want to cry to watch them with their small containers making so many trips back and forth. I suggested to Elder Bullock that we should write up in our proposal for the area to give them an electric submersible pump and a tank and run water lines to the garden, school and also where the village people could fill their containers easier. We don’t know if this will get approved, but we hope so. We will try. Another thought that I had is that we should try and get them a grinding mill. The closest one to the area is 10 Km. away. They could generate some income for the school and buy some of the things they need (books, benches, tables, etc.). A grinding mill would help them be more self-sufficient. We could do an initiative to give them some of these things but perhaps it would be better to give them a way to generate their own income. If they can have the water and grinding mill they could also have a chicken project to help them. All sorts of possibilities. I just really felt a lot of compassion for this area and would love to help them. I hope that is Heavenly Father putting these thoughts in my head and that this is a good project to work on and that our people in South Africa will feel it too (through us) and approve it. We will pursue it and see what happens.

We had the first little rain fall in Harare on Thursday – it didn’t last long but it is a start. On Saturday when we drove to Gweru we hit a storm between KweKwe and Gweru and it was coming down so hard and fast that we had to pull off to the side of the road twice. There were 2 other vehicles nearby and we all pulled off together both times. We made it to Gweru though in time for their district training meeting and had a good a meeting and some good training. There was a turnout of over 100. We talked again about home teaching, visiting teaching and working with councils. I never cease to be amazed at the spirituality of the people here and their willingness to work and serve. They have some powerful leaders and some of them are so young. The strength of the church here is in the young people and the ones that serve missions come back prepared to be leaders.

The hotel we stayed at in KweKwe last night left something to be desired. We will try and avoid staying there again, however, I shouldn’t complain as the sheets were clean and there were no bugs. We drove to Kadoma today for church. We had promised that we would go this week for their primary presentation and they did do a great job. When we had promised to be in Kadoma we didn’t know we were suppose to go to Gweru for the training but it worked out okay. They are all on the same road.

On Friday we went to a meeting at the Henry John Reimer Clinic where we hope to replace their transformers and fix their borehole. There was a decent turnout. This area is farmland. There are about 30 farmers (black) who employ a lot of people. This clinic is for them – about 6000 people. The clinic had ask the farmers to come to the meeting to discuss how they can help sustain the borehole and transformers (protect them from theft) once they are put in. We had two influential people come. One is the MP for the Goromonzi North area – his name is P. Zhanda. He and his son are two of the farm owners. He got the farmers to commit to donating $20/month to pay for security guards and also to have a fund to repair things if there are problems down the road. He got up and handed the treasurer $120 for he and his sons first 3 months worth of contributions. At least he is leading out and doing – Do as I do, not as I say. We had met Mr. Zhanda once before at a “thank you” ceremony and were impressed with him. The people seem to like him. He thanked us for trying to do more charity work in his area. We didn’t realize that were in his area with these two clinic projects we are working on. Afterwards he ask what we are doing for Christmas and we told him that we will be spending it with some of the missionaries (Gweru is our assigned area for Christmas). He said he is going to give us a ‘pig’. He will have it butchered however we want it! I did tell him I was relieved because I was afraid he might be giving us a live one!! I guess we will wait and see how that comes out. Perhaps we can cook it up for the elders. He might forget about giving it to us and that might be alright too.

The other influential person there was a lady and she is currently the executive director of an organization called “Zimbabwe Women Against HIV/AIDS, Poverty and Violence”. She goes to NYC for 3 weeks each year to a big world-wide conference on women’s rights etc. Anyway – it was a great meeting and we were impressed with all that was accomplished. It was one of the best meetings we’ve had so far while trying to get committees to function properly.

The head nurse was not at the meeting because her husband had been in a “combie” accident and she had gone to find him. A combie is a minivan that is used as a bus here – and there are a LOT of them and they drive like maniacs and stuff way too many people inside. Her husband is a school teacher and had taken a combie to Marondera to turn in the grade 7 exam papers. (The gr. 7 kids have all been writing this provincial or national exam this week.) We found out later that the husband was killed in the accident. I don’t know how many others were killed or hurt but when they have an accident it usually is not good news. They could really use some better ‘safe’ driving practises here. We cringe sometimes when we see how people ride. It would be SO against the law in America.

This week Elder Bullock is going to a Zone Leaders conference for a couple of nights (I’m not invited). The other counsellor in the mission presidency, Elder Patterson is coming down from Zambia and will go too. Sister Patterson will be here and I guess I will be spending time with her. Pres. Dube said that we, along with Sis. Dube, should come out to where they are one day for lunch and that we women should go visit the “Lion and Cheetah” park that is in the area. We went there with Taylors once and it was a good place to visit. That is where I was when I held the lion cub.

I’ve gone on long enough – hopefully not so long that you quit reading before now!
Love to all, Elder and Sister Bullock

Monday, November 2, 2009

There have been more clouds in the sky lately but still no rain, until this evening when we got a little. The “early” rains (rain showers) are late starting this year and things are very dry. Hopefully they will start soon and then the people will plant their maize. They plant when the rains start. The real rains should start mid-late November. Those rains are heavy with huge drops of water. They usually last from about 20 minutes to an hour (from what we are told).

We spent the weekend in Mutare and I talked about Visiting Teaching and Jim talked about Home Teaching at the district training. We divided into men and women and then got back together for about an hour where President Chadembuka talked and we each talked briefly about our earlier sessions. I think it was okay. We attended one of the branches on Sunday and thoroughly enjoyed that. We did note that English is spoken well in the branch (no Shona was slipped in, as it usually does in the other branches we look after near Harare). The meetings are suppose to be done in English.

In Sunday School class they were discussing what they could do to help prepare to have a temple here one day. The ladies suggested that they need more Priesthood holders and that the men should get busy and work on that. Then one of the men said, “I think the young women should go out and ‘woo’ some priesthood holders”. Everyone had a good laugh. Relief Society turned into a really good discussion too about visiting teaching and reactivation. I was really impressed with their lessons. They do really well in Mutare. They have a wonderful District President leading them. He is a really good man.

Today the electricity was off at the office so they had the generator running things. The phones and internet were not working most of the day either so it was a bit frustrating as we were trying to get some things done. Finally we, and Mayfields decided that it was a good afternoon to get away from the office and so we went shopping. We went downtown to the fabric stores. Downtown is an ‘experience’ here! We each bought some fabric – it was $2.00 & $2.50/mtr. When we go to Masvingo we will take the fabric to Elizabeth and she will make us a wrap around skirt. She’s a good seamstress. She uses the money to pay her daughter’s school fees. It will cost $5 or 6 to have her make a skirt (I think). She made an apron or two for me already. Sis. Taylor had her make some things for her before she left.

We also went to the flea market today. I didn’t buy anything but Sis. Mayfield bought some African necklaces. I don’t want to buy anything else until after we go to Victoria Falls in April (for our couples conference). They are suppose to have some nice things there for cheap. If I can’t find what I want there then I will get something here – I do kinda know what I am looking for. We have to be careful because we can only bring so much weight home!

We got a phone call late today from the district president in Gweru confirming that we were going there this Saturday for their District training. We didn’t know about that but said we could come. This will be the 4th weekend away. Gweru is 3 hrs. away. We will drive there Sat. morning do the training and then we will drive back about ½ hr. to Kwekwe and stay in a hotel there. Kwekwe is about 30 minutes from Kadoma and we have committed to being in Kadoma on Sunday. (We don’t want to stay at the hotel in Kadoma again!). Our Kadoma branch is having the primary presentation on Sunday and planned it on a Sunday that we could attend so we cannot cancel on them. The next Sunday, the 15th, will be Seka’s confirmation day (baptism on 14th, so we will be here in Harare for that.

We are relaxing at home as I write this. We are just going to watch the DVD of the Priesthood session of General Conference. We hear it was a ‘good’ one.

Love, The Bullock's

Ox-cart Ride Pictures (Part II) and more

Heading home

Stopping to let donkeys have a drink

Pulling hard up the hill

Landscape

Sister Bullock in cart

We were on our way back to Harare in the truck and saw these kids sitting on their step and gave them a toy. We had taken some toys with us but never took them out on the ox-cart as there were too many kids there to have enough for everyone. They were pretty happy.

Meeting with community at clinic near Juru (transformer stolen) to talk about how they would take care/security if we replace the transformer for them at the clinic and repair their borehole. We were impressed because they had gotten together and collected some money to have a fellow come and 'hand-dig' a well for them. He hadn't reached water yet and he was getting down pretty deep.

Digging of a well

Fills up the bucket and sends it up

Climbing out of well (hole).

He's out!

This is how they weight the babies at the clinic

Main street of Juru

In town of Juru

More of Juru. As you look down the dusty main street of this town it looks like it could be right out of an old western movie.

Hi, Just a quick note. We are on our way to Masvingo this morning and will do visits to inactives with the branch president. We will stay overnight and go to church there tomorrow. We like the Inn we stay in there so it is an okay get-away.

I just sent Kimberley a bunch of pictures for the blog so check them out. I haven't been able to send pictures very easily lately but have discovered that if I do it early in the mornings before the internet gets busy they will go through better.

We spent last evening with Seka and showed him the first Work and Glory movie. He liked that. We will teach him another discussion when we get back on Sunday. He's doing well and trying to convert everyone he works with. He's already invited a bunch of people to his baptism on Nov. 14th.

Must run. Love you all. Love, E/S Bullock

Sunday, August 30th

Hello family,

We have had a very eventful month. We finished teaching Masalina Mugadza the discussions, and held her baptism and confirmation. She is a lovely lady, and we have come to love her tremendously. They ask the new converts to share their testimonies follow baptism. She did a
wonderful job.

We continue to work on some clean water projects around Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. The municiple water is mostly shut off. The estimate that 50-60 percent of the water runs down the streets from broken water mains. That means there is not enough pressure to have the water reach the outlying areas. We have not had water for the most part of the last two months. We heat up borehole water on the stove, pour it into the bathroom sink, and clean up with a wash cloth.

Last week we had the opportunity to travel to Bulawayo for a service project. All of the Church units are asked to perform acts of service on the 22nd of August. This stake chose to work at two hospitals, cleaning the inside, and outside, of the buildings and grounds. We brought some new-born baby kits to give to all the new mothers in the maternity wards of the two hospitals. Unfortunately, one mother lost her child. We did not want her to feel left out, we we gave her a
hygiene kit. It did not ese the pain of losing her baby, but I think appreciated Sister Bullock's gesture.

One of our friends in Airdrie sponsors a child in a village about 80 kilometers North and 50 kilometers East of Bulawayo. We spent an extra day down there and drove out to her village. We took blankets, toys for the kids, hygiene kits, and quilts. We started out with the little girls family, and ended up with lots more. That's the way it is. When someone gets something, they all think they need it, too. Luckily we had enough for everyone to get something.

This weekend, we had Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, for the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, in Harare. He conducted a special devotional Friday night in Harare. We had about 2,500 people at the devotional. Before that, he spoke to all the full-time missionaries for about an hour.
Following the devotional, the senior couples and been asked to prepare a meal for him, Elder Kollicker (Area President and his wife). We all got to sit down with him, and enjoy the evening. The next morning, we all drove to Mutare, for their district conference. We were there while they instructed the Priesthood, then the adults for two sessions Saturday. We all had dinner with them at the Holiday Inn. While we were waiting for dinner, Elder Holland invited Sister Bullock and I, and a couple of others to sit in his room and just chat. He is a very kind man.

Sunday morning, as we were eating breakfast, he came to our table and chatted for a minute. Following breakfast, we all drove to the chapel where the Sunday General Session was to be held. The building was full, the choir rivaled anything we had seen, and the messages were
wonderful. Elder Holland said that the scripture the first shall be last and the last shall be first had particular meaning for Africa, as they are some of the last to have the gospel preached to them, but they will be among the first in the munbr of baptisms that will be the result of the Gospel coming to them. They are a very receptive people, a god loving people. It is not every day you can sit with and eat eith an Apostle for three days.

We have driven many miles in the last few weeks, and we are happy to be able to be at home, if only for the week. We love the people of Africa! We encourage all who are at that point in their lives where they can go serve to go and do it!

Love to all.
Elder Bullock

Hello family and friends,

Merci was baptized today and it all went great. She bore a great testimony at the end. The water was rather cool but she was brave! Tomorrow Elder Bullock will confirm her at the Highlands Ward here by the mission office. It was a good day. She is a fantastic lady!

Merci's baptism

Our other family has some issues and so their baptism needs to be postponed. Sis. Kureva was rather disappointed but it is for the best right now. The missionaries talked to them this morning and we will go out and talk in the next day or two.

Tomorrow afternoon we have to a meeting at the Celebration Centre to make some final plans for the meeting there with Elder Holland. After that there is choir practice - and I need all the practice I can get for that on the keyboard. That will about take care of our day.

Our golf/squash friends are back in town for 10 days or so and so we (myself and E/S Deppe) met them this morning and played squash. I told Sis. Deppe she needed to learn how so that we can play together. This morning they had me playing against a guy that they train with - he is #1 in Zimbabwe at playing squash. He was nice to me and let me get a few points but I did get a good workout. Reeve and Lolly have these guys play with them so that they get a really good workout - and then they helped teach the Deppes. I thought I did pretty good, considering I haven't played for a few months. It was fun and really good exercise -- I will likely have some stiff muscles tomorrow.

Hope everyone is doing okay.
Love, E/S Bullock

Saturday

Hi,

We went to the rurals this a.m. and distributed some clothes and blankets to some elderly people. It went really well as the Pastor had things well organized. We helped about 100 people. As each group came in and received their clothes they sang a thank you song to us before they left. It is kind of fun. They were very grateful.

Last night we went to Merci's restaurant for supper and she had some special African musicians there. The food was really good and so was the entertainment. Merci is working hard to get her business going. I think she is well on her way. Taylors, Deppes and ourselves went as well as the 2 security men that were here from SLC to check things out before Elder Holland's visit. They all enjoyed the evening.

Elder & Sister Deppe - the new office couple

African music band at Merci's Restaurant

At Merci's Restaurant

She has a great singing voice

African instrument - sorry, can't remember the name. This girl could play it really well.

Merci had her baptismal interview today and she did great. The Zone leaders told us afterwards that she was the most prepared person he has interviewed for baptism and that we had done a great job teaching her. That made us feel good but it wasn't us - Merci just learned things so easily and well. Her grandfather was in a polygamy situation so she has to be interviewed by the mission president and get approved still but it won't be a problem.

Carol and Ellson - friends we meet on our morning walks

I guess we need to head home so I will cut this off.

Love, E/S Bullock

Hello everyone, I want to take some time to tell you how we met Mercy. It is a good thing that happened to us.

We had taken a lady to her home, who had been helping us distribute some things to some people. We thought there must be a quicker way home, so she gave us directions to go to the stop sign, turn left, and more directions. We promptly got lost. However, when we made the left turn, at the stop sign, we passed a home that was turned into a restaurant/art gallery. We thought we should check it out, someday.

A couple of Fridays ago, we were looking for a place to go for dinner, and thought about that restaurant. We drove over, but she was just closing, because her chef had gone back to his rural home the weekend before, and had not returned. She apologized, offered us some sandwiches, but we declined. She showed us through the gallery and restaurant, very homey. Then her daughter, Malaika come out. She is about 3-4 years old, very cute. We always carry some sweets to hand out to the kids we pass on the roads. I went out to get her a couple, and as I was getting them, I felt impressed, by the Spirit, to give her a study guide on the Plan of Salvation.

When I got back to the restaurant, I asked her what the most important thing in her life was. I was a little surprised by her response; she said it was her relationship with Jesus Christ! I complimented her for that, and asked her what the next important thing was. She hesitated, so I pointed at Malaika. She said of course, but everyone would say their children. I asked her why people would say their children were so important. Again, she paused, and said it was because they are a part of us, they are from us. I then asked her what she would do if her daughter was taken away from her. She got very quiet, and said she didn’t know, but she would probably cry a lot. Then I asked her what would happen when she died, what would happen to her family. She said they would be hers, but not really. I felt I should put my arm around her shoulder, and I told her, “I testify, in the name of Jesus Christ, that the authority to have your daughter sealed to you for this life, and through all eternity is on the earth today.” I tingled all over as I bore testimony to her that what I told her was true. She was really taken by that thought. We talked for a long time about the Church (she knew where the chapel was). I gave her the study guide as we were leaving. She said she loves to read things like that, and she would devour it that night.

We didn’t get back to see her until Tuesday afternoon. She was so excited to see us. She had read, and re-read, underlined, and made comments in the study guide, and on pieces of paper. We talked, again, for sometime. She said she believed everything that was in the guide. We arranged for her to come to the mission office, and taught her the 1^st discussion. That went very well. She said she was reading the Plan of Salvation study guide, and it made reference to the Book of Mormon. She told us she wished she had the book so she could read it, and here we were giving her a copy. She is such a special lady. We love her, and her daughter.

Sister Bullock has told you in her letter today that she wants to continue studying so she can be baptized. What a wonderful experience that will be. We have been very blessed as we have talked to people we have met, about the Gospel, in our travels. Right now there are several who are studying with the missionaries, and we are teaching Mercy and Malaika. The Lord is pouring His Spirit on the people of Africa, and they are accepting the Gospel everywhere. It is wonderful to be able to tell them that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth through Joseph Smith, that there has been a continual line of Prophets and Apostles on the earth since his day, and that we are guided under the direction of President Thomas S. Monson today.

We love you all.
Elder and Sister Bullock

More Good News

Hi everyone,

We stopped to see Mercy on our way home from Kadoma. She didn't make it to church today as her car is not working and by the time she got public transport she was going to be too late so she went back home. Anyway - the first thing she said to us was, "I decided that the next time I see Elder and Sister Bullock that I am going to tell them that I want to keep learning and work towards getting baptized". Of course, we loved hearing that!!!!

We ask if she would mind if we had the sister missionaries come by and teach her this week while we are gone and she is just fine with that.

Must run. Jim is writing more for the blog.

Love, Nancy

Monday

This is the man that was excommunicated about 4 years ago that Jim got to baptize.

Brother Abel Mhandu & Elder Bullock

President Tizipai, Sister & Brother Mhandu, Elder Bullock, President Zaronga - Kadoma Branch

First thing this morning we gave out a wheelchair to a lady with cerebal palsy. She hasn't had a chair since November. She called here and Elder Bullock told her that if she could come right now we had a chair for her. She wept when she saw the chair and was so grateful to get it. What a rewarding experience it was to be able to give that to her.

Well our container has arrived on site and the contents have been transferred to our storage container. We sent some things to the Newland's Clinic down the street and we are still full. The transfer went well and we are tired!! It is good to have that done -- now for the distribution! President Neild helped us all morning and hopefully we have the contents stored in the container in a way that we can get at what we need, when we need it.

Container on truck

Unloading bundles of clothes

Transferring goods to our container

Loading one of the trucks to send to Newland's Clinic

I just wanted to explain who Newland's clinic is. They are currently treating about 2500 HIV/AIDS patients right now and have a waiting list of over 3000. They help with clothes and other things as well. We gave them: 10 boxes of newborn kits, 1/2 pallet of school kits, 36 boxes of hygiene kits, 4 boxes of single size quilts and 3 bales of youth clothing. We know that they will distribute them properly and that they will go where they are needed.

It is getting full

Done!!

ZIMRA (tax people)

While unloading the container these people showed up. They said they were driving by and made a U-turn to come back and check to make sure we had our paperwork stamped, etc., which we did. Pres. Neild showed them around and explained what goods we had and what they were for. They seemed happy enough with things!!

Notice the restraints

We just liked this sign!

Starting to burn the countryside

Better look both ways!! We have seen several of these signs.

Love, Elder & Sister Bullock

Tuesday, May 26th

I can't believe it is the end of May already.

Yesterday we went out to Epworth because I wanted to take a picture of a little 3 yr. old boy we saw there recently who has two club feet. Pres. Nield has a dr. friend that he says may be able to help him. The process takes about a year with several operations. We will show the pictures to Pres. Nield and see what he thinks.

3 year old boy with club feet

3 year old's feet -- he walks like this

more of his feet

We saw our baby Edson today. Pauline, his mother, says he now weighs 2.5 kg and that when he was born he was 1 kg. He does look small still, but better, and seems to be filling out a bit.

Baby Edson - looking better

We had a busy morning with people coming into the office to ask for assistance. Still not container though so....

A lady came in this morning asking if we could help her get plane fare to Johannesburg so she can take her 6 yr. old son to the hospital there. He has had cancer and received chemotherapy and then went to J-berg where they removed one of his eyes. He spent 2 months there. Now the other eye seems to have the same problem and they did tell her to bring him back if there were further problems. We again called Pres. Nield who is involved with his daughter in an organization called "eyes for Zimbabwe". He will contact a doctor to see if he will look at the boy here. I will try and scan a picture of him (from a couple of years ago) - WARNING it is hard to look at!

(Picture still to come)

Elder Bullock's back has been sore so we broke down and went to a chiropractor this afternoon - cost: $40 and $30 for each visit from now on. I wonder if Blue Cross will reimburse us??? We go again tomorrow. Hopefully it won't take much more than that. This all goes back to his football playing when he was in grade nine.

Anyway - that is about it. The work carries on. Thanks for the emails we have been receiving - we enjoy hearing from everyone. We know we are in the right place and hope we can do what the Lord wants us to do. We have a poster on our office wall that says: " It is the Lord's work, and when we are on the Lord's errand, we are entitled to the Lord's help." We are counting on that as sometimes we feel like we are in way over our heads - but we are learning. We know we are needed here and wouldn't be here doing this if it wasn't for the fact that we know The Church is true and want to carry on His work.

Elder Bullock will be baptizing a man possibly this week if we can get through to the branch president on the cell phone. This man was excommunicated about 4 years ago and is more than ready to come back. He has worked hard for that privilege. He has had his interview and it is just a matter of working out a time to do it. He is a very happy man.

We meet with the Highlands stake president today at 5:30 to talk to him about the member garden plots here by the mission home.

Elder Bullock showing the kids how to juggle

more kids goofing around for a picture

She looked way too young to have a baby, but it's hers

African Trees
This kind of tree is all over, here and there. These particular
ones are by the road on our way to the flat.

That's it for today.
Love, Elder & Sister Bullock