Zambia

Assignments this week took us to Ndola and then Lusaka Zambia to provide three different annual audit and financial training meetings with District presidencies and audit committees.
For the most part we were pleased with the turn out and the participation.

Ndola building - In the guards station.

Lusaka building

Zambia is a lovely country.  They were having a Jubilee, celebrating 50 years and they were also mourning the death of their president, President Sata.  An early president declared Zambia a Christian nation and all of the people we met seemed very proud of that & certain that they had enjoyed peace all these years because of God's blessing them for being Christians.  People would see our name badges and say "Jesus Christ, oh I LOVE Jesus Christ!"  I ended up giving away four Book of Mormons and about a dozen pass along pages I made earlier and keep in my handbag.

On Sunday a brother spoke about how there had been war on all their borders but they were a sanctuary of peace because they were not secular, they were Christian.  He said they had been saved from catastrophes because "we claim the blood of Christ. Although we sin and have imperfections and unworthiness before His thrown, this is a holy land.  May God bless us, may God bless Zambia and may God bless His church."     

This brother also spoke of that wondrous day that changed the world when the prophet Joseph Smith saw God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ in the sacred grove.  He said: "That day changed the whole world and that day changed me.  That is why I stand here today."

I enjoyed that we sang "Joy to the World" for our closing hymn.

Here are a few scenes we saw along the way:

The road between Ndola and Lusaka is about a four to five hour strenuous drive!  A multitude of hotfooted Tanzanian truck drivers stampede down the road and Chris, the driver, was fine but I, the passenger, was frazzled by the time we made it.  Eish!

It is kind of cool that this truck company is named
Hakuna Matata! :)

You should click this to enlarge and see the services this place offers!

Goards for sale

Beautiful Flamboyant Trees were ablaze everywhere!!

100's of people lined up for the viewing of President Sata.

Livingstone, Zimbabwe 

We had a few days between meetings and it was too expensive to fly back to Joburg and then return so with permission we saw a little more of Zambia.  Chris even got to check something off of his bucket list!!  (Victoria Falls!)  It is the end of the dry season so the waterfalls were at their lowest volume, yet still magnificient.  During the high volume you get drenched looking at the falls and you can't see the bottom due to the mist.  That would be fun to see as well.

Baboon and monkeys on the grounds.

A very big head!  I've forgotten what it is.

The Zambezi Sun was a nice place to stay.  It was beautiful and had many Zebras wandering the grounds.  Chris was getting a little sun on a lounge chair when a zebra came over and nudged his toe with its nose!! ha ha ha!  Man I wish I could have gotten a photo of that!

Strangler Fig Tree

In Chris's letter to the kids he wrote about this Strangler Fig: 

"The Strangler Fig Tree gets it start; usually from a bird or animal who has eaten the fruit of the strangler fig.  The seed is left in the fork of a tree.  The seed begins to grow and then sends roots down to the ground and branches into the air.  The tree grows very rapidly until it has overtaken the host tree.  Elder Klebengat in our last conference taught us “become really, really good at repenting thoroughly and quickly.”  This is equivalent to getting the seed out of the fork in our tree before it can take root."

Dr Livingstone I presume: 

It's hard to see but he is carrying
a broom he made out of twigs.

Bush camp on the lower Zambezi River

Next we decided to do something very African and stay in a bush camp along the Zambezi River.  We stayed in a nice tent with a stone floor.  It had a double bed in it and an enclosed outdoor toilet & shower.  The interesting thing about this is that it is a bush camp...in the wilds of the African bush...This was not Disney!  This was for real...unprotected...not fenced in...and we saw it and heard it all about us!  Five wart hogs came over to spend the night and a hippo came up from the river and joined the wart hogs in grazing.  His name is Frank. We could hear Frankie the hippo and the wart hogs munching the grass all night!  Crunch, crunch, crunch.  Quite cool!  We also could hear lions roar, thankfully from the other side of the river and a raucous territorial dispute by baboons!   

 I love the idea of boating on the Zambezi with it's elephants (ellies, they call them) along the shore, the crocodiles sunning themselves and then slithering into the water as we pass and all the hipos!!

After a couple hours on the river I start thinking too much.  I see the multitude of huge giant hipo heads all looking at us with their monster eyes like they're ready to defend their territory and run you out!  

Their heads submerge under the water as we come nearer - we could be moving over a whole pod at this minute!  What did we read?  We read that Hippos are actually the most dangerous animal in Africa and in this river there are approximately 50 hippos per kilometer! Might they rise up as we pass over, spill us out and feed us to the crocodiles? 

My cursed imagination made me feel a bit scared and since it was just Chris & I, I asked the boat driver if we could return a little early.  I do know that fear is opposite of faith but sometimes fear is wisdom speaking to keep you safe don't you think?  Also, I believe that he who has no fear has NO imagination!

Another scary thing

Chris & I also did a game drive (safari) but while Chris went on an extra drive, I decided to stay behind at camp to relax with a good book.  As I was reading ...all alone...I suddenly heard a deep growl!  Trees began snapping and breaking.  I knew the sound of trees snapping meant elephants so I took my book and went inside the tent just as five elephants sauntered over!  One was a huge mama with a little baby and a toddler.  This was very cool I know but African elephants are not as easy going as Asian elephants especially mama's with a baby!  The big mama stopped at the step of our tent, turned her head and looked at me inside.  We both stared at each other!  I was trembling as I slowly stepped to the right, trying to hide behind the door frame so that she wouldn't see me looking at her and get defensive.  I felt divinely blessed as she moved on and didn't try to eliminate me!

These 3 photos below were taken through the tent screen after they "moved on"...see how huge compared to the tent!  Hhhhhh...heart was beating fast with this!  

He's nearly as tall as the ceiling!

Oh, also just before the elephants came, I had a meter long snake slither by as I sat in the chair on the porch reading!  But I didn't see any spiders!  Because of no rains for so long- there were no bugs! Well, I did see two flies and one got gobbled up by a gecko on the screen window.  A poor dried up frog lay as a dry leaf on the path.  Very soon the rains will begin at which time everything will burst into life!  The foliage that has saved up moisture in its roots for survival during these long dry months will release it and soak up freshness and bloom lushly almost before your very eyes. Insects all in a day will become like a foreign invader, dive bombing you like a war has begun.

Here are a few other photos from the game drive:

Termite mound

This is a buffalo.
In the USA we have bison which are very different.

This poor buffalo stuck in the mud was just heart breaking to me.  I'm sure he was just trying to cross & as he did so he sunk in deeper than he was able to manage.  He had been stuck there for about 3 days and the lions hadn't yet found him.  He looked at us with sad eyes and I was feeling so so sad and heartless to move on without helping him.  The driver told us that they believe in letting nature take it's course and not to intervene so the poor guy was left there so helpless.  Hhhhhh.

This amazing marvelous world is also a very mean cruel world.  Every animal lives daily in fear and must be constantly & vigilantly on the look out for danger.  They wander about in a peaceful landscape which at any moment could be disrupted by a predator ready to kill and eat them.  I can't wait till the millennium is here!

Chris also commented about the buffalo in his letter to the kids:
"This buffalo decided to dip his toes “just a little” in sin.  Nothing bad happened to him so he waded in a little deeper to seeking a little more pleasure.  Now he is mired in sin and this will likely prove fatal.  His “friends” have all left him.  We are free to make choices, but we cannot choose the consequences of our actions. 2 Ne 28:21 “And others he will pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea Zion prospereth, and all is well – and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell.”