Golden Birthday

Helllllooooo familia. 

Great week as usual in the wonderful country of Zambia. I hit my golden birthday this week! 11 months on May 11th! 

LINDA AND MERCY WERE BAPTIZED. and Brother Mpundu (recent convert from February) baptized them and he was so cute. They were there 2 hours early!!!! yo dedicated girls. This was his first attempt at baptizing was a struggle as usual, but no worries we made it work. We had a minor hiccup because as the baptismal service started we only had our branch president there and a 14 year old boy.... so we only had 1 witness for the baptism... But it all ended up working out. Their testimonies were so sweet as usual. Justin, Ruth, and Maureen came to support. The youth of this branch are just so powerful. We even had Justin talk last second with no preparation and he did sooo great. future stake president right there. 

Elisha/Tina: So tina was really really sick at the beginning of this week (malaria)... and so when we went to go see them she was laying on the couch with an IV in her hand and I guess they spent all the money that was supposed to go to their girls school fees on her medical fees... sad. But tina runs a tuck shop where she sells scones, and as we were sitting in the room waiting for Elisha he comes out with 2 bags of scones for the each of us, and he was so proud of himself because he had taken on the duty of making them haha. They were a little burnt but props to him for trying!! his interview will be this week and he'll get baptized on the 28th!! 

Interviews: last interview with President Erickson:( This time we just were able to sit down and talk about how i've grown and changed as a missionary. And it has been really cool to look back to my first interview and see how much I've learned and i'll that i've experienced in the Great Zambia Lusaka mission. 

Samba Family: Brother and Sister Samba came to the baptism!!! We invited them and they were so excited. Sister Samba was taking pictures the whole time... haha I finally had to stop her during the actual baptism, but they were so intrigued. And it was great for them to see the reality of a correct baptism. They weren't able to come to church yesterday but we're really hoping for this sunday. We gave them June 25th to prepare for baptism! But funny story about them... we were teaching them about repentance and Brother Samba was like, "No worries... I repented back in 2003...." i couldn't even hold in my laughter... hahaha then his wife started teaching him how repentance is daily. They'll be a powerful couple one day in the gospel. 

Mr. Chisala: Soooo this story needs a back story. So the first presidency prefers if missionary companionships don't live with another companionship... so we have been trying to find a new flat and we found one that should be finished being built soon. So the zone leaders had to come down to approve that it was safe and all. But in the flat that we wanted we noticed a used book of mormon on the counter covered in dust... and so we asked who was reading it and he was like, "I'm not sure... I don't read that book because i'm a christian." hahah oops said that to the wrong group of people. The Zone leaders start giving fire... classic, but us as sisters make it all better and get his number... and tried to give him a book of mormon but he didn't want it... BUT GUESS WHAT?? he just called us a couple of hours ago and asked if he could meet with us on Wednesday! Tender mercy of the Lord!! 

Funny Story: 

1. We were checking up on Lilly, and we were talking with Bambwea and I saw all these baby chicks following mamma chicken and I really wanted to hold one so I went and started to grab the slowest one.. but too late the mamma chicken was already coming after me. I screamed... and dropped teh chicken and everyone started laughing at me haha. 

We recieved some really solid referrals this past week, and they were truly answers to our prayers since we have been lacking on finding new investigators each week. But I know God is aware of the Ndola East area. 

Grateful for the gospel, and for my Savior Jesus Christ. I finished "Jesus The Christ" and it is so incredible. In the past, I think my testimony of Jesus Christ was sometimes this made up person in my mind who was just a concept... and not a real person. But i've truly gained the testimony that he is a real person. That he truly had to go through unimaginable pains for us, and we can never fully understand it, and I'm grateful for that. I'm grateful that God doesn't allow us to understand everything so that we have to use our faith. 

Love you all!!

Sister Thueson