Oops on Monday, The Christian Rapper, and Oops on Saturday

So last week Monday I was emotionally traumatized. We had a normal and good pday. But come the end of the day when I write in my journal, as is my nightly custom, I find my journal is missing. I remember putting it in my companions back pack with my camera... that has my memory card with ALL of my mission photos... ALL OF THEM! The entire backpack which also has my companions camera is missing! Then in an epiphany I realize the back pack was placed on a chair at Subway... at 3 p.m.. It was now 10:15 pm! So we rush there but it is locked up! And all this time I am just praying like no one's business that it will be found. Because seriously? My memory card and my journal? The two possessions that are irreplaceable? The two things I would maybe possibly die protecting, I left on a chair?????? Really?


So we go there in the morning and the guy goes and gets it from behind the counter. They had seen the backpack and had protected it and waited for us to go back(they know us there). There are some truly great people in the world!


We met this guy Jonathan. He was born in Zambia, raised in Michigan and has come back to Zambia. He is a Christian Rapper and he just got a record deal! hahahaha We gave him a Book of Mormon and he was so excited that right then in the lesson he raps about us and how great God is. He is pretty good I must say. He is a great guy and he is only 19, but I am wondering when he accepts the Gospel will he feel right about his rapping? I don't know but it will be interesting to see!


3 members of the Simwanza family were baptized on Saturday. They are such a miracle. From the very day we met them everything has just been a miracle. They really are just great.


Then on Saturday at a Less active's home they were feeding us dinner and I managed to spill juice all over my suit pants. The mom blamed her daughter for it to. I don't know how her not getting a spoon was the cause of my spilling juice but the mother seemed to make the connection.... But that was really funny. I think I was too calm through the whole thing though. It really got me very wet. But for some reason I didn't even flinch or move. I just kept eating because the damage was done.... I am strange. enough said.


So I don't really know what to say. The new mission is getting on its feet and our area is really picking up and there is a lot happening. I can't wait for all of these great things to start and it seems like I am here at an exciting time.


My companion and I made Shepherds Pie! But we made way too much so we took it to the Elder and Sister Taggart. They are the couples serving in our area. They are just great and they have so much on their plate that we thought they would appreciate not cooking a meal for once. So we had dinner with them except they made salad and a chocolate cake! It totally blew my cake out of the water! It was so good. But to all those who read these emails. If you have even the slightest inclination to serve a mission. I am specifically talking to senior couples, but it applies to everyone. Please start on your papers NOW! There is so much work to be done and we need more willing hands and hearts. Please please please choose to serve a mission. I can't even say how important couple missionaries are to the progress of missionary work. Especially Africa! Please choose to serve. You are sorely needed and your service will be greatly appreciated. Please PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!! It might be scary but everything will work out and you will meet brothers and sisters you never knew you had! We need you!


Love, Elder Steven Gay

Pictures

My companion and I in giant pants

Giant pants found in apartment

activity in the chapel

Chocolate!, Bikes, and Baptisms!

Well this week has been crazy busy. So much has happened. We have had planning meetings for the luncheon in May. We have had meetings and finished the process to split the branch. We finalized the contract on the new mission home for when the mission splits. We bargained for, and purchased 10 bikes for the missionaries. Transporting them in our corolla was quite the feat we recruited another vehicle to help. Not to mention the combined baptism we had. It was crazy! So many things to accomplish and so little time!
So first to chocolate! So we got lunch one day and I purchased a chocolate covered cup of ice cream. Preparing myself for the usual scarcity of chocolate that usually accompanies bargain ice cream. But I think there was more chocolate than ice cream!!!!! It was AWESOME!!!!!! I was thoroughly pleased and look forward to my next visit.
Also I had a random desire to attempt to make a chocolate cake....

from scratch......

with no recipe....

I know, it has failure written all over it, doesn't it? But much to my surprise it succeeded(in the fact that it was enjoyable to eat)! The density thereof was somewhere between cake and brownie. Too dense to be a cake and too light to be a brownie but it was good nonetheless. Yay cake!!!!

Then to the bikes. It took almost 3 days to complete the process with the bikes. Well actually the new bikes has been almost a month and a half project in which we have researched many different bike shops, set up the tentative plans and found what was needed and getting everything approved..... but 3 days from this last week at least. Day 1 we went and bargained and made the deal and set the terms. Day 2 we paid the money and transported the bikes to our house. Day 3 we distributed the bicycles to the missionaries in our corolla! Craziness! Hahaha on the day we were purchasing the new bikes, we get a call that two of the missionaries were mugged and they stole their bikes! hahahaahaha so we didn't give them new ones but we got them some of the old ones. No one was hurt, except maybe their pride. But isn't that ironic that it coincided perfectly with the day we were purchasing brand new ones!? I thought it was funny at least.


Then we had 8 of our investigators interviewed on Tuesday and they were baptized on Saturday! It was great. We combined it with the Sister missionaries and they had 9 being baptized so there were many in white that day! We didn't have room in the baptismal font room so we had the service in the Chapel and just went there when we were witnessing the baptisms. So I have a crazy story. One of them who was baptized his name is Justin. We found him through members and we were teaching him then one day he brought his wife and son, Patson, to church. The sisters asked if their investigator attended our branch(we meet at the same Chapel). They said his name was Patson.... So long story short they were teaching Justin's son and we were teaching Justin but we found them completely independent from each other! They were both baptized this last Saturday! Isn't that just perfect!


We were so excited and at the baptism people were in tears because of how cool it was for so many to be abptized at once. Byy the way,it was the longest baptismal service I have ever attended! But definitely worth it! Plus we have another family who will be baptized this Saturday! Yay Restored Gospel!


So that is what is happening with me. Wait let me check my journal to see if anything funny happened......


So I found this out this morning actually. So Elder Dowse walks up this morning and he is talking to me and I see he has a black eye. I ask and this is what happened....


What happened on my side-


So yesterday I had called them to find out if a family they were teaching came to church. The phone cut suddenly and I thought it was simply network. So I just put the phone down and I get distracted by something else. A bit later he calls back and we talk about what I had wanted to discuss and then we end the phone call.


What happened on his side-


So he is riding his bike when I call. He answers and successfully goes over a speed hump one handed while talking on the phone. he feels like he shouldn't go over the second hump but decides it would be no problem for he had successfully defeated the previous one. He crashes(this is when the phone cut) and he is thrown to the ground and his perhaps too close companion runs over his face with his bicycle. After some minutes to untangle and regain his composure they call me back.


I kind of felt bad for causing such an accident but it was really funny!




Love, Elder Steven Gay

The Poem, The Painting, and the Possible Praying Place

Woot! I thought some alliteration would add something to the title. Don't you agree? So you remember when I told you about that poem I wrote at the airport in like five or ten minutes. Well here it is and I hope you like it! I will write it exactly as it left my pen, no alterations.


Always Smiling


A handshake, a smile,
Boiled water, or a blue pen.
A nap on hard tile.
Always Smiling


Baptism or fun
A letter and peanut butter,
The moon or the Sun
Always Smiling


Musical prowess,
A bird's song or a snakes strike,
Silly impOsSiblNeSS
Always Smiling


To be or to be,
Removing words for a meter.
x.y.p.d.z.
Always Smiling


Ndepi Shamwari
Flu, Boo! Coup, lieu... Hollabaloo!
Crazy fun, crazy crazy?
Always Smiling


pimpstripes and windpipes,
Being apart or together.
A bore or the hypes,
Always Smiling.


The truth always is,
flying, falling, the choice is yours
To react saddish,
or to remain...
Always Smiling




By Elder Steven Gay
18 Feb 2011 5:45 pm


Hahahahahaahha Well I hope it made you smile. It made me smile at least. Oh and "Ndepi Shamwari" means "What's up my friend?" in Shona the major language of Zimbabwe. :D Yay!


So do you know the painting of Christ with the little black child for Mothers Without Borders? Well it looks like this...





Well this painting I saw on my first day in Zimbabwe. And I loved the painting. The organization was created by a Utah mom and helps orphaned children. They have a location in Lusaka, Zambia. Where they house and educate some truly amazing kids. Well the woman who began it asked Liz Lemon Swindle, an artist, to do a painting for them. Well the man who portrayed Jesus Christ in the painting was there when we went to teach the children. Not only that but I met Kennedy, the little boy you see in the painting. I know the people in the painting!!!!!! The background in the painting is at Mothers Without Borders and I have been there! I would highly recommend that everyone buy the picture. It just boggles my mind every time I look at the picture to think that I know those people!


The Possible Praying Place, aka the possible meeting house, is going very well. It should be finished soon and they are landscaping and we have talked to them about a price and everything and it looks like the splitting of the branch will happen very soon. All we need is the approval. Yay progression!


Some other random happenings.


*We have 13 bicycles in our living room, because we are assessing all the missionaries' bikes in Lusaka.


*I made cookies and icing! Yum!


*I made a garlic Alfredo sauce.


*I made some sweet and spicy pork in a crock pot(as you can see I have been trying to branch out with what I cook).


*Bro Simwanza came to church but his wife did not and he told us her reason for not coming was "weak" and we need to address her concerns. He sounded like a member! He even answered a member's question about the purpose of the Elders Quorum President versus the Branch President. I couldn't believe it! He understands so well!


*Bro Simwanza bore his testimony on prayer and how he has been answered. He also said that night that we met him. He had passed right by us and went home! But then he said he felt like he should go out and help us. And now he has tasted the blessings of the Restored Gospel. Amazing! Ah!!!!!


Well I hope that you have a wonderful awesome week and never let anything dampen your countenance!


Love, Elder Steven Gay

Pictures of Steven Mission

Chapel at Kudwanza

Sister Brown

Elder Packer and me at the Leopard Rock Hotel

Golfing in the mountains

The Spirit broke our car, got us covered in fleas, and took us away from civilization. :)

So this week was great. I am still trying to learn this new area. It is quite large but I am kind of figuring it out. I can get some places at least. So on Tuesday we were trying to get to our branch president's house and neither of us had been there before so we got lost.... We kept trying to call him and find out but it wasn't working and we were after the manner of the chicken without its head. Directionless. So we were stopped on this road trying to find out where to go, but then when we wanted to go, the car stalled and then completely shut down. The engine wasn't turning over, the dash had no lights, the horn didn't work. The battery was completely gone. But even though we didn't have really any means of fixing the problem, we had no jumper cables, and we didn't have any one to call, I wasn't worried. I just reclined my seat and closed my eyes. It felt like I was just waiting for something. My companion tried to start the car to no avail. After a few minutes he asked if I would go and look at the engine. So we popped the hood and I stared at the engine as if I knew what I was doing. The battery looked fine and still nothing was happening. So as we were going to try and push start it. A man walks up and asks if we need any help. We gratefully accept and he assesses the problem. Then starts talking and wiggling things in the engine. One of the wiggles works! The car lights back up and we get it started. We thank him and introduce ourselves and ask if we can share a message with him and his family.


He readily agrees and lets us in(We had "broken down" a few meters from his home). We greet his family and let them know who we are and everything. Then we watch the Restoration DVD with them. They definitely felt the Spirit. They all accepted the invitation to be baptized and they asked if we can come again so he can watch it again. Was it an accident that we were "lost" and our car "broke" not even a few meters from his home? I don't think so! He is incredibly prepared, intelligent and full of faith. he came to church yesterday and will be a future leader of the church for sure.


We are looking to split our branch and we had a few minutes and decided to look for a meeting house. We drive around a bit and pull into a place and a guy walking in says, "The house is for rent." My companion and I just look at each other and like, "really?". It just seemed too perfect. So we go in and they take us around the house which is almost perfect for a meeting house. The great room is big enough for Sacrament Meeting, there are a number of rooms and bathrooms and it is on a large plot and it is pretty central to the area and easily accessible! Then when we get back in the car and we see our pants, they are covered in fleas! As we walked through the yard we must have been silently attacked! So we jump out an start swatting and hitting and doing funny jigs to remove them. Luckily we did and I am flea free! So not everything about the house is perfect but the fleas can be removed. Plus it was kind of funny. I have never been attacked by a flea army before. Have you???


Also we have this organization here called Mothers Without Borders. Which is essentially a program that helps orphans get an education and a place to stay and to learn. Our Branch President is a big part of it an he is the legal guardian for the children and we have been given permission to teach and baptize 8 of them. Many people who work there are members of the church. We had started teaching them on Sunday and we wanted to teach them during the week. But this place is far and out of the normal city. So we drive out to this place and we go into the bush and out of the brush emerges these colorful buildings and groups of children. We drive up and they all come over and they talk to us and they are so excited and I am just in awe of how wonderful this place is. They give us a tour and they show us all the cool places and everything that these kids get to do and where they stay and eat and everything. One of the workers is an RM from Congo and he works there with his wife and they are cool awesome people. He is a painter and a very good one at that. I am going to buy some of his paintings. They really are amazing. I will have to take pics of them or send them home so you can see.


But anyway, we gather all of the children and we watch the Restoration DVD with them and after we answered questions about who God is. About prayer, Joseph Smith and about life and blessings. The questions were amazing and I was so happy that I could be there to share with these orphaned children, that they have a Heavenly Father who loves them and they can feel his love as they pray. How they can return to Him someday because the Church was Restored through Joseph Smith. Although we only have permission to baptize 8 of them, I know that the rest will someday join the church and be forever different because of the Message of the Restoration, that we shared with them. It was one of the best experiences to see the faith of children, who have so little, accept the truth and let it light their eyes with the knowledge that they were Children of God. So AWESOME! Things are going great and I am excited to see what difference I can make in this area! Lets do it!