Hi to our family and friends,

This has been a REALLY busy week so far. Sunday we went to Kadoma. Two of our missionaries that have been serving here finished their missions and returned home to Kadoma this past Wednesday. The 2nd counsellor in the branch presidency was released and one of the newly returned missionaries was put in that position. It was fun for Elder Bullock to be able to call him. The elder certainly wasn't expecting that. He will do a good job. The other elder was put in as Young Men's President. We were really pleased to see that the Branch president is putting them to work right away. These young returned missionaries are such assets here and are the ones who will be the great leaders.

I gave my talk in church and the two elders both talked. That didn't leave time for Elder Bullock to give his talk so he just said a few words and will save his talk for another day. We heard back from the elders here in Harare that Lawrence, our investigator, was at church and they have an appointment with him for tonight to teach. He had no transport money so he walked to church.

Trying on white shirts and ties at Kadoma

Happy recipients of shirts and ties -- it was great to be able to help them out.

He's happy to get a white shirt and tie -- he looks pretty smart!

Monday we had a meeting with the committee at the Kadymadare Mill. We invited the MP to join us as we needed his help to solve a problem there. I think I told you about it before -- how one man, the chairman/also a village head, insisted on only charging $.50 instead of one dollar. At the beginning of the meeting Elder Bullock read 'their' original proposal to us requesting the mill and how they were planning to make the project work for them. He explained that they were not living up to what they had proposed and agreed upon.

The MP then took over and talked for quite a while, some in English and a lot in Shona. He explained to them how a business has to run in order to be successful and make some profit. He also explained very well how the committee should work and the role of the chairman. It was agreed that they would start charging the dollar. We then ask how soon they planned to do that. The Chairman wanted to wait until March 1st and one other agreed with him. I suggested starting in 1 week (this coming Monday) so that they could start making some profit sooner. A member of the committee agreed and we told him he needed to make the proposal and it was seconded. We then suggested that there were two proposals and as a committee they should vote on it. The outcome was 7 to 2 in favor of starting to charge sooner. It was really a good meeting and I think the members felt somewhat empowered when they realized they didn't have to feel intimidated by the chairman/village chief. They realized they all had an equal say
and vote on things. We were pleased how things came out and are grateful to Mr. Zhanda, the MP, for helping us. He is really a good man. One thing I keep meaning to tell you is that whenever we have these kind of meetings they always begin and end with prayer. Quite different than America.

Monday afternoon we went with Bigboy (a wheelchair contact that we have talked to a few times) and met with a lady who is over all of Zimbabwe and represents disabled people and groups. They are the ones who we can partner with and they can bring the chairs into the country duty-free. It was a good meeting and we are hoping to get the wheelchair project underway.

When we got back to the office, Pauline was waiting for us. She is the mom we helped several months ago with the tiny baby, Edson, who almost died. We took formula out for the baby and food for the family so that the mom could eat and be able to nurse the baby. Edson is now about 8 months old but looks like he is only 2 months. He apparently has some symptoms of Downs Syndrome (I could see it in his face) and he also has some heart problems. However, he is one lucky baby as he was leaving the next morning with a Doctor who is taking him to Italy for 3 months where he will get some heart surgery etc. free of charge. Pauline was needing help for her 8 yr. old who she said was very sick, had a rash, and was losing strength. She had him at the hospital the day before and they gave him some tablets and said to bring him back to get his temperature taken. However, the combie (transport) would not take him. We drove her home and put her and the boy in the back of the truck (just in case he had something we don't want to get) and took them to the hospital. The husband, Ed, came too. We had to wait for quite a while as the doctors decided to go for lunch just as we arrived. While we were waiting we gave some balloons to the children in the waiting room and that seemed to cheer them up! Anyway, the boy has measles and a problem in his chest and a high temperature. They gave him a couple of injections and sent him home with instructions to go to a different hospital in the morning that would admit measle patients and also he would get a chest x-ray. We haven't heard any more yet. That all took about 5 hrs. and we got home about 8:30 after returning them to their home.

Pediatrics waiting room at Harare Hospital - we gave out balloons to the kids while we were waiting with Paulene and Ed

At hospital -- we made a few kids happier

Tuesday we spent most of the day helping Reeve, CC and Lolly and a good group of youth, finish sorting the goods in the containers that arrived last Friday. It has been a big job but it is now organized. I went with Reeve to take a truckload of medical supplies to a Dr. who has helped us the other day with the boy that had terrible rashes all over his head. The dr. wasn't there but we left the things - She will be delighted to have them.

Sorting containers that Reeve, CC and Lolly brought to Zimbabwe

We were tired at the end of the day. Reeve, CC and Lolly left this morning for Australia for some golf tournaments etc. They will be back in a month. We will miss them. They are fun to have around. We will continue our squash playing though and we now have President and Sister Dube joining us in the mornings and learning squash. Fun!

President Bullock has gone right now to a meeting with President Dube to meet with some government minister to explain what the church and LDS Charities does.

Today we are hoping to work on our training session that we are to do in Masvingo on Saturday. We have an hour allotted to us to train on lesson preparation as they feel that too many just read the lessons from the books when they teach (& they do that a lot here). We are
feeling a little nervous about this as we don't feel like we have a lot of expertise in the area, however, we do have "Teaching No Greater Call" and I have printed off some talks from church leaders. We will make a plan and pray a lot!! I better get busy working on it.

One more picture:

AIDS sign

We are grateful to you all for your love and support. We have a great family that we are proud of and also wonderful friends! Thank you!!

Love, The Bullocks

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

Friday

Good morning, It is a holiday here today - labor day - so everything is shut down. We got up early and met our 3 golf friends at 6:30 so that they could teach us how to play 'squash'. It was really quite fun and a very good workout. I think I may have some stiff muscles tomorrow. They play every morning at 5:30 and the club is very close to our residence so maybe we will take up squash. We were suppose to go for another golf lesson after but decided we had done enough for one day so we will go for golf on Monday morning! They also brought me another Ziploc bag of the cereal they make up out of a lot of healthy things. It is good.

They leave next Saturday for their European golf tour and are gone until Christmas. We will miss them. They are really fun and wonderful at sharing the gospel with all they come in contact with. They keep a supply of scriptures in their vehicle (Bible and Book of Mormon) in a cloth scripture case and give them out. They gave out 2 this a.m. at squash and gave the two men a quick overview and invited them to church. These ladies have a fair bit of money and they spend it doing a LOT of good things. They have an organization called: Eyes4Zimbabwe and they have helped people get cataract surgeries, etc. They really are a great trio. One is Pres. Nield's daughter, and the other two are converts (because of her). Great ladies!

We went home and bathed (yes we actually had water for a bath). We then went to the Chinese Consulate and met a man named Lee. He was referred to us by another couple that we met at the MTC who are serving as teachers in Beijing and met his wife who teaches at the University there. He works here for 2 years at the consulate. He gave us some tickets for a Chinese show here in Harare this afternoon. It sounds like it should be quite good. There will be Chinese dance, acrobatics, magic and martial arts. He was a very nice man and we shared with him about our mission here. He would like to go to church with us one Sunday! We also suggested we could get together and go out for supper one night and he seemed to like that idea. Perhaps we will be able to teach him of some eternal principles and our MTC friends in Beijing can teach his wife. (they are not allowed to proselyte there). Perhaps they already are teaching her some things because he told us that his mother is Buddhist but that he and his wife are not. They have a 3 year old daughter.

We are also going to start teaching discussions to Phillipa and her two boys (12 yrs. and 17 yrs) so that they can get baptized. They have been coming to church for a long time and want to get baptized. I am not sure why it has taken so long but sometimes there are special requirements here. By the way, I have meant to tell you that in our branch in Marendera there were 13 convert baptisms and 3 child of record ones last Sunday. Unfortunately we could not be there. We really wish we had been. It would have been something to see. There are no missionaries stationed out there so the ward mission leader etc. teach the investigators and then the missionaries go out from here and do the baptism interviews. That branch is growing and are asking us if we can get them more chairs -- however, there is no room for more chairs. I think they are going to knock out a wall and make the room bigger for them. They meet in a house -- maybe one day they will get a church built. (It is on a large lot - they have their garden plots there). Apparently the church is no longer building chapels for just one ward - there must be two. So I guess these people will have to do with what they have for now.

We are now going to give Huseni a ride home so that he can take his maize harvest from his garden plot here. After that we will go to the Chinese production. This evening we are invited out for supper with the stake/district presidents in the mission and Elder Bricknell (the Area Authority
Seventy), the mission president and also the Taylors. Pres. Bester said he wanted some female influence!! Apparently we are going to a really nice place. Tomorrow morning at 7:30 they are having a meeting and we are invited to report on what we have been doing. They are having an open meeting to discuss whatever they feel they need to discuss. We were in on a meeting with some of these brethren when we first arrived here and were really impressed with their leadership.

I must run. Love you, Mom/Nancy/Sis. Bullock