As our mission has ended, this will be our last blog. We have loved sharing our experiences and pictures with our family and friends. We hope we were able to express our love for the people we met, the places we visited and the wonderful time we had for 22 months.
This is the little Primary in the Chegutu Branch, There were 45 children in that small room. The branch was formed about 2 years ago and so everyone there is trying to learn their responsibilities. Susan had the pleasure of working with the Primary leaders. She loved those little children and will miss their big, bright eyes and their happy faces. She is so grateful she had the chance to get to know them.
Some members of the branch and the missionaries that were serving there.
These are two of the Primary leaders with some of the children. The kids always love to have their picture taken.
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| Elder Sikala, Elder Williams, Elder Yohanne, Elder Mhlungu |
The last two weeks we were there we visited (think inspections) some of the missionary apartments. We had never had time for that until the Selcho's came (our replacements) and it was so interesting to see the different areas the missionaries were serving in.
From left to right: Elder Luvuno, Elder Ogunda, Elder Ray and Elder Parco. These Elders discovered the village of Sandeton. There was a lot of excitement about this 'new' church. The first Sunday 21 investigators walked 2 hours to attend church. Every week they brought more investigators with them. When Elder Ray was transferred from this area, he had baptized 45 people.
This is Elder Wilcken from Seattle, Washington. He was Susan's trainer when we arrived in Zimbabwe. After leaving the office and going out into the field, he returned to the office every Monday to see if there were any brownies.
Karen Selcho, along with her husband Steve, came from Salt Lake to take over the responsibilities in the office. She will do a wonderful job and the missionaries love her.
Joel was a special, dear friend who came to the office everyday to run errands and buy supplies for the mission office. He has been helping for the past 8 years.
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| Zone Conference in September |
From left: Sister Ziqubu, Sister Beckstead, Sister Dyantysi, Sister Smith, Sister Arbon and Sister Mkhabela (wife of President Mkhabela). The Sisters bought some fabric and had their matching dresses made for $5.00 each.
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| Sister Anyango and Sister Kapinga |
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| Enjoying lunch after the meetings |
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| The second day of the Zone Conferences with different missionaries |
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| Beautiful Sister missionaries |
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| Posing for my camera |
What a pretty picture! From left: Sister Park, Sister Richards, Sister Erickson, Sister Jili and Sister Ndhlovu
Because Steve and Karen Selcho were doing so well in the office, we decided to take a little trip back to Victoria Falls. We stayed at the Safari Lodge, a magnificent resort overlooking a watering hole. Everyday at 1 o'clock one of the employees goes out in the back of the resort to feed the vultures. He explained to us that they are becoming an endangered species and this was their way of preserving the ones in the area. He throws out pieces of raw meat that comes from the Boma Restaurant, next door. We saw vultures sitting in a tree by the watering hole and then all of a sudden they started to come. The sky was full of vultures circling the area. Some came down on to the ground and some waited in the trees. The moment he stepped away from the meat, the vultures swarmed in to eat. We estimated about 1 hundred vultures were there. There were also 4 or 5 storks that joined and tried to get some lunch.
We walked along the path at Victoria Falls and it was a much different experience this time than when JR and Tonya and their family came. The water was much lower this time but it was still a beautiful sight. It was very hot and there were lots of mosquitoes but we're glad we were able to visit there again.
In the distance is a bridge that goes over the gorge to Zambia. You can walk across it without getting a visa for Zambia. When JR and his family came, Savannah did a bunji jump off the bridge. There are two ways to do it - sitting down (like Savannah did) or diving head first. Walt regretted that he hadn't done it then. But he decided he wanted to do it this day and to dive head first. While Walt was getting all harnessed, Susan reminded the fellow there that Walt was old. He told us that an 82 year old women had dived head first and lived to tell about it. Walt's ankles were strapped about 6 inches apart and as they gently pushed him out on to the edge of the jump, someone yelled, "don't look down!" He did look down and at that moment decided that it was a l-o-n-g way down to the river. But he held out his arms and dove to the bottom. (we have a video but it is too long to add). He said it was fun and was glad he did it.
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| My bunji hero after his jump |
Some of the sister missionaries we saw every Monday
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| Sister Arbon |
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| Sister Wells |
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| Sister Smith |
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| Sister Anyango |
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| Sister Ngwenya always had a smile and the biggest hugs |
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| Elder Mtetwa |
Elder Mtetwa was one of the AP's in the office. He was in charge of the cars that the missionaries drove. There were 35 cars in the mission and so he had many responsibilities. He had to deal with accidents, repair shops, etc and he did a wonderful job. His mission ended just before we left and he is now engaged to be married to his sweetheart, Gina (who also served a mission there at the same time).
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| Elder Mtetwa's special friend - Gina |
Elder Ngobi always had a big smile and couldn't get enough of the brownies and cookies in the office.
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| 13 of the group of 21 new missionaries |
The last transfer before we left we received 21 new missionaries. They came from all over the world.
It was a busy time for the office but everyone arrived safely.
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| Companions: Elder Koch, (6' 8" tall) from Denmark and Elder Manyonga |
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| Out to dinner with some special friends |
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| A farewell dinner at one of the nice restaurants |
President and Sister Mkhabela. They are from South Africa and have been serving 1 1/2 years. We are so grateful for the time we spent in the office with them. It was the most wonderful experience we have had. It was an honor to work there with them. They were always thinking about the 115 missionaries that were out serving. They cried for them and prayed for them. We will miss them.
Our farewell dinner with the President and other senior missionaries. From left to right: Steve and Karen Selcho, Gigi and Tom Davis and Debbie and Todd Neilsen.
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| The missionary board in the office |
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| Our friend Phillip Moatlhodi came to visit us |
As we were getting ready to leave the mission office to drive to the airport, our friends from the other offices came out to say good-bye. All of a sudden they started to sing "God Be With You Till We Meet Again" in their native language, Shona. Susan was so touched she could hardly control herself.
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| Our friends from the other offices |
From left to right: Margaret from the Distribution Center, Samantha from Physical Facilities, Rebecca from PEF and Dennie from Physical Facilities.
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| Everyone from the office |
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| Our friends running after us as we are going to the airport |
When we were first asked to go to Zimbabwe, we were sad to think that we would leave all of our friends at the Area Office. We loved what we were doing there. We were able to travel to 11 different countries, see a lot of things and meet some wonderful people. We didn't know what to expect working in the mission office, but we knew a senior couple was needed.
For the 7 months we worked there, we loved our jobs. We loved working with President and Sister Mkhabela. They are wonderful people and they love the young missionaries so much. We loved being with the missionaries. We saw them everyday and they brightened up our days. We loved being with the other senior couples. We went out to dinner, enjoyed movies, went on day trips, had FHE every week and laughed a lot. We miss them but we know we'll see them when their missions end.
We loved the members in the Chegutu Branch. We were able to help them as they learned their many responsibilities. The children in Primary will always hold a special place in Susan's heart. We will always remember their beautiful smiling faces and big bright eyes.
We are so grateful for the opportunity to work in the Zimbabwe Harare Mission. We will never be the same. The people in Zimbabwe are the happiest and friendliest people we have ever met. They have many, many trials there and yet they have a smile on their face and are the first ones to extend their hands to others.
We loved both parts of our mission. We learned a lot and are grateful we had the chance to serve.
