Emailing on saturday... Big news‏

So ya I'm not in Zambia anymore. I'm back in Harare. Which kinda sucks but is also really powerful. I got emergency transfered here on thursday. I got a call from Pres. Dube on Tuesday morning right after we woke up and he told me. The reason is because we have a couple here in the office that for medical reasons need to go back to the states. And they are the ones that pretty much run the office.
Because of that I have a new companion now. His name is Elder Baird. He's pretty sweet, he's from Idaho Falls. He's only got 3 months left on mission. But he's going to handle the front office and getting people here in the mission VISA's and TEP's. And as for me I've been called to be the financial secretary for the mission. So basically I've become an accountant. All the money that goes through the mission goes through me and I have to approve everything. Any money used in the mission I give out. And everything is done in cash. Lots of cash! It's crazy! But it's making me kinda nervous but it's also a big compliment because that is a HUGE responsibility. And it really shows the trust they have for me. And I've only been out in the field 4 1/2 weeks. They pulled me out of my first xfer to come do this.
We now stay in the transfer house. The transfer house is powerful, we stay there with the Harare North Zone leaders and the APs. The AP's are excited to finally have someone to share a p day with. Also the xfer house has a WASHING MACHINE!!!!! And hot water! Yay for washing machine and hot showers again!!!!!!! You don't know how powerful it is! But mission is really powerful! Oh Elder Baird also has a waffle maker! I'll take a picture next time and show you. It's amazing how small things like that become a big deal.
So we drive a Toyota Hilux now. It's actually really nice. It's kinda like a Tacoma if it was diesel, 4 door and slightly bigger. Oh and you're not a DB if you drive one. They have alot of them here. Today's my day to drive we just got it yesterday. So we'll see how I do on the wrong side....
So we are going to be dang busy. We're going to be in the office all day and then after 5 we will go out and teach. We'll be in an area called Mbare. We met with the Bishop last night and he is really excited to have us there. They haven't had dedicated missionaries in that area for like 6 years. Even when we went and saw him last night he gave us 6 referals of people who just showed up at church on sunday. So needless to say we are going to have no time. We'll be teaching lessons all night every night. That area is going to be powerful. I'm really excited. These next few months are going to be really hectic and really fun. Because mission is really powerful and is fun. You do alot of cool things.
I'm sad I had to leave Lilanda early. We had some baptisms on the 7th coming up that I'm going to miss but it'll be good. That area will be taken care of.
But ya we'll have to see what happens here in the next week. Oh ya, we think we're going to start a new hit TV series it's going to be called The Mission Office. It'll be just like The Office but like 50 times more spiritual and just as funny. Because we have so many characters here haha XD anyways we thought that was funny here. But that's all I have for now. I emailed on Monday so that's what's happened in 5 days. Talk to you all next week.
~Elder JV

Pictures Finally‏

PYTHON!



Chameleons are cool


That's alot of crocs!


Rawr!

Trampolines at the reptile park?




Lilanda Meeting house

Ward Missionaries




Me, my comp (Elder Chiona), Bro Mwila, Bro Geoffrey, Bro Daniel

Flooded road everywhere





Most snow Zambia will ever see

Floods and other things‏

Just a little note: the audio Jordan is talking about he sent in his previous letter, but since I am not the technical genious he is I cannot figure out how to upload it to this blog. I am still working on it, but if you really want to hear it leave a comment with your e-mail address and I will forward it to you...Camee.

So this week since it's the rainy season it's continued to rain and flood and it halts our work. I have a photo of the flooded road but the computer I'm on isn't recognizing my camera so we'll try later. But it's been fun here. So to start out here random stuff as usual. Scaffolding here is the most sketchy thing I've ever seen. Like the things they use when they are building buildings. It's made out of logs. And not straight ones. I'll try to get a photo. But also I can't use big words here. I'm still searching for my teaching voice where I have to talk real slow and use the most basic english you can think of. So hopefully you liked the audio I sent. You can see how I struggle to understand people. I can get most of what they're saying but alot of the time I can't and they can't understand me. But it's all good it'll come. But the work is getting better here. I'm starting to understand my area and am looking up when riding instead of looking right in front of me on my bike so I don't crash and die from the jacked up roads. But as for our investigators most are doing pretty well. Feb 7th is going to be a powerful day. One of our investigators, Lawrence, had some friends say some bad things about our church to him. And so he didn't come to church yesterday. Ugh that made me so mad. I'm gonna talk to him today and give him some inspiration. And give those friends of his a spiritual roundhouse kick to the face if not a real one for bringing someone down like that. He was doing so well and was super stoked. But I heard that's what happens on mission. So one other thing I want to share is about the Ensign. It's powerful, I've found myself reading those alot. This months is really powerful. Especially the talk by Jeffrey R Holland. If you haven't read it go do so! But I don't know really what else to talk about other than I think I got malaria yesterday I had all the symptoms but when I woke up today I was ok. Not much got done yesterday because of it though. Malaria sucks, and so does doxy. The side effects are terrible. So you have to choose. Malaria or Doxy. I'm not sure which is worse at this point. But for those who didn't know, yes I have a bed. The mattress is pretty much just a foam cube and that's about it. It's not comfortable btw XD But anyways we'll try pictures here in a little on another computer but that's it for now. Talk to you all next week. ~Elder JV

This week in Africa‏

So just a bunch of random stuff I was going to write last week but forgot... So I guess when you are on the other side of the world some things have to be backwards, like light switches. Down is on and up is off. When you sweat here it's gross you get sticky. And you sweat alot. The African's love japri's (jean capris) Sorry Adam... Yay Alex and regan /flex. I don't remember if I talked about bucket showers. But they suck. If we don't have water we have to get cold water we have stored in the bath tub and take a bucket and a your stuff and go do it using that. And it's cold and not very effective. Oh and women have mustaches and beards here. And chest hair. I seriously saw one with it. Oh and the people here like the asians don't pronounce their 'L's and use 'R's instead. Like herro. But there have been alot of things I've gained a testimony of while I've been here. Like dishwashers, running water, hot water (which we got for the first time this week woo! but only worked once so far :( ), and washing machines especially. I hate hand washing clothes. It takes forever and doesn't do nearly as good of a job. But that's what happens. So anyways now that I got that out of the way we'll get to the serious stuff. Prayer, I've learned more about praying and have gained a serious testimony of it and know it works! Before I came out here I sucked at praying. But now I ask for everything in there, because you can. And you should. Pray often, it helps. The next is patriarchal blessings. They are powerful. I've noticed 3 new things in mine this week that I didn't notice before or instead have a new meaning. So if you have yours reread it. If you don't have it, go get it. So I've found that I come to Africa and I still have to do what I did before I came out here. Which is computer repair. I've had several occassions on which I've had to use that. Our senior couple missionaries here needed their comp fixed and fed us for doing it. So it was worth it! :D And then the district comps out here need some fixing so they'll probably have me doing that as well. So this week we had Zone and District Conference and we had a general Authority with us. It was Elder Renlund. He spoke in this last General Conference when he was called to be a member of the 70. It was powerful. We heard alot from him this weekend. He talked alot from Section 84. One part I'll share is in verse 77. Where we are commanded to be a friend with God and Jesus. And If you are a real friend you would do anything for that friend. He did for you. So you should do it! And that's the short version of it. So investigators. We have 6 progressing investigators, and all of them came to conference. We have David Lengwe, he's powerful and does his commitments. We haven't been able to see him much recently because of his work and he's been traveling so we have to push his baptism back. We have Sis. Mercy. Her husband is a member but he's been less active. But we've been reactivating him and they've been at church since then. She finally got the desire to be baptized after we had this powerful lesson with them. But we can't baptize her yet because she's pregnant and is close. So we have to wait. Jacob and Christoph are 2 boys that just moved back. They were in another area and were being taught by the sister missionaries. And they have a friend named Lawrence who came with them and is really interested. And we have a bap date for them on the 7th! Then we have Sis Ennie. She's been coming to church for a while. She's almost 13 and has been coming with her sister, but never was baptized. So we're going to baptize her at the same time. So that's all the ones we have right now that are really progressing. So hopefully we'll have 4 baptisms on the 7th. It will be powerful! Well my camera is being a downy right now and is freaking out the computer. So if I can get it working I will upload pics but we'll see. But that's all for now. Talk to you all later!
~Elder JV

Rain, Hot, Roads and more‏

Ya I know the title is wacky but it's been a crazy week! It's rained probably everyday. And it's been feeling nice. I think it feels fantastic but everyone here thinks it's cold. On Saturday we were at a members house that was the furthest part of our area and we had to ride home close to dark and the roads....well....they're not roads anymore. Them be rivers. So it was an adventure to say the least. The roads here in Zambia are horrible. There are pot holes everywhere and most of them are half dirt or mostly dirt. And they are bumpy really bumpy...my butt has been taking a beating from it. That's one thing I wasn't prepared for. But also don't know if it was a good or bad thing that I wasn't.... ha! That's right I made a gay joke on my mission. I'll repent for that but anyways. You know those commercials you use to see on TV "For just $5 a month you could sponsor a child in Africa" Ya that's my area. That's me. You could support a missionary in Africa and send me some stuff haha! But either way. It's called compound. That's what the neighborhoods are. They're compound. Small little houses squished together. It is green here in some places. But people have small crops they grow. Our church house is a house that is enclosed in a brick wall. Places here that have nice things are enclosed in a brick wall. Our Flat has a brick wall with a big black metal gate. And an electric fence on top. Oh and at night the landlord lets out dogs. So we're pretty safe in our flat. But for those who have questions about it. It's decent. Has lots of bugs. We have a fridge. We mostly cook rice and meat on the stove for dinner. And it's cereal for breakfast. And a peanut butter sandwich for lunch. Our water only works in the morning and trickles out. Unless we turn on the pump. And if we do that we can't touch the shower knobs cuz it will shock us because it's wired weird :S don't ask...
So my Comp is Elder Chiona. He's from Zimbabwe. And he has Narcolepsy (spelt right?) Like not even joking. That's dead serious. If he's not doing something he will fall asleep. On our first comby ride I was scared we were going to miss our stop cuz he kept falling asleep in it. I don't know how it's bouncing every which way.
So last P day we played soccer at this park and it was so hot my feet were being burned through my shoes. Also not a joke...This P day we went to the reptile park for our Zone activity where they have snakes. Chameleons, crocodiles, tortises, and a trampoline. Ya I know it's random but it was awesome. It was a first for a bunch of the Africans. But they had some big Crocs there and we threw a stick and got one to chomp it. It was awesome.
So Zambia is not all fun. Zambia is hard and it sucks. The people here aren't as humble as they are in Zim. The work is much harder here. But yesterday was a powerful day. We taught this one lady a powerful leason where the spirit was so strong. Her husband is a member but was less active. But we'vebeen activating him. She's been struggling with baptism and finally got her to have a desire last night. That and contacting yesterday. I hate contacting. It's where you just stop people and invite them to church and share a short message. It's kinda like tracting. But we ran into these boys playing chess and just watched them for a little bit and contacted the people around them. Then we got them interested and taught them a little and set up an appointment. One of them said he had been searching for a church, and wanted to know if he could be an elder and go on mission and spread the gospel. It was powerful!
So there are 4 smells in Zambia. And none of them are pleasant. They are rotten food (because of trash heaps), poop, Chibuku (Which is nasty chunky alcohol, and they drink it like there is no tomorrow and there is cartons everywhere), and fire smoke. When it rains it enhances the rotten smell because there is trash everywhere. They burn their trash and cook with fire. And burning Trash is horrible. Poop, I don't know why. And Chibuku, it's in 1 liter milk cartons. All their beer is mostly. And it's nasty.
So culture shock. There is nothing that ruins the spirit more in a lesson than when you are teaching a lesson and the baby starts crying and the mom whips it out right there. They don't cover. And they do it in public. It's seriously eyes right on your book of mormon. That's the norm here. I don't agree with it, but that's what they do.
So I had all my things that I was going to talk about in my planner but I forgot that cuz we were rushing out this morning so I probably forgot some things. But I'll send more next week. But this ones getting long now anywaysso I'll send more next week.
Bye for now.
~Elder JV

Zambia‏

I don't think I've posted this yet because I thought he put it in one of his letters, but just in case to make sure you all have it and can write him. His e-mail address is elderjv@myldsmail.net.
and if you send something by mail this is the address, but he said it takes at least 2 weeks to get to him.

Elder Jordan Vanderlinden
Zimbabwe Harare Mission
65 Enterprise Road
Highlands
Harare
Zimbabwe

And finally, here is his letter from last week, (sorry):
Zambia, ish it's crazy. Everyone will tell you, you haven't been to real Africa till you've been to Zambia! There's a shirt here that says: "Zambia, real Africa" I want it. So many people here. So to start out. we have to take comby's to get to the internet cafe in town. A comby is a old school beater bus which are their taxi's out here and they pack people in them and take you to destinations. They have guys in them and they just shout out the windows destinations and people just stop them if that's where they are going. You get in and you have to sit 4x4 or more. You have to sit sideways. And they pack 16 people in these small vans. Oh and there's a sticker inside the bus that says: "The driver is instructed to run away from traffic police" 0.o no joke. Oh and I pretty much get called Muzungu every 2 seconds. It basically means white guy. I'm the only white guy in the whole town! Most people here I don't know if they've ever seen a white guy. All the little kids yell at you Muzungu, and then ask how are you? Every little kid, it's kinda funny. So Zambia is freakin hot. like nobodies business. It's like 100 degrees here and we have to wear suits to church on sunday. Ish I think these Africans are crazy. My best friend is the fan. There is no such thing as AC here. Oh and fast sunday. Was the hottest day ever. So you have to ride your bike in the hot sun with a black suit and sit in hot buildings all day then go teach people and you want a drink so bad! But you can't. Breaking that fast was the best thing ever! The water at our flat doesn't really work. There isn't much pressure. So it kinda trickles out and will go out time to time. So we have water stored up in a bath tub so we can flush the toilet and such when it's out. But the people here are awesome! Teaching people has to be the best part. You find people here that are so strong! When I first got to Zim I met with the President and then the next day I went out on Exchanges with Elder Crossley and Law. It was Elder Law's first time driving there because they usually bike. So it was an adventure. Ish there is just people walking everywhere and just dodge cars. It's chaos. But that's what they do dodge cars all day. I was so shocked. Everyone drives like a maniac. The first lesson we taught we went to this family's house and they told me they were investigators but they were actually their strongest member family and they had them ask me all the hard questions anyone could ever ask. Like polygamy, BoM, Modesty, Sabbath on sunday and so forth and they were just saying you guys never answer our questions we want the new elder to answer and I didn't know what to do. So this went on for like a half hour. Ish they got me so good. But then they finally told me. One of them was an RM. But the lesson after we committed This lady named Agnus to baptism it was so sweet. Her sister is a member and has a powerful story. Remind me to tell you guys. But that day was sweet! But 2010 woohoo I can say I'm coming home next year now. I've been out almost a month now. It's crazy. Monday is my P day out here and we're going to play soccer next. That and I need to get my xing bike fixed. The front brake is the only one that works slighly.... Oh ya so word definition time. You don't say shoot, crap, or man out there you say ish. And if you try to say cool or awesome no one knows what you mean. You say powerful. And xing (said zhing) is used for crappy, fake, or so forth. But the internet here is extremely slow so I don't think I'll send pictures yet because it will take like 20 mins just for 1. So I'll send them when I'm back in Zim. But anyways I think that's it for now. I'll talk to you all later. Love you all! ~Elder JV

Christmas in the MTC‏

Hello to all from the MTC on Christmas! For those who don't know me and my companions have been district leaders starting the beginning of this week going til the end of the MTC time. But ya not quite christmas with no snow or mountains. So in reality it's hard to believe it's christmas. It's kinda missing that Christmas spirit. But oh well I guess that's christmas in Africa for you. It's not as big for them here. Like in Zim they don't even buy trees.....But anyways we played Volleyball on christmas morning. It was a fantastic sunny day with a cool breeze. Our team won, and went undefeated. 6 games in a row! Who knew we were good at volleyball. After that we had a devotional with the area 70 and their wives. It was Elder Koelliker and Watson. It was pretty cool. After that we had Christmas lunch with turkey and mash potatoes and vegitables. The Africans say they usually have a big chicken or a goat. So little heads up for next christmas. Next week it's out in the field and lots of people to teach. I've already told some people this but if you can find it watch pioneers in Africa. It's powerful! The people here in Africa are ready to receive the gospel! The word "Powerful" is used so much here. Like people will say, "oh that man, he's a powerful man", or "That's a powerful tie." The use it on everything. That and they put ketchup on everything. And when I say everything I mean everything. Bread, pankakes, Beef, Mashed Potatoes, Papa, French toast, you name it they put ketchup on it! Only in Africa. This week has flown by! If that's how the rest of my mission will be it will be over before I know it! I bet it will because there is so much work to be done. I've told a few people this but one of our teachers brother Mokolobate, He just got back from his mish in Zim 3 weeks ago. But he baptized 45 people on his mish! That's just rediculous. I'm going to start getting pnemonia (spelt right?) My mish is the highest baptizing mish in the world and Africa is ready to receive the gospel! Well that is it for now. Here are some pics.... One of them is especially for Alex and is just like his last Christmas one XD But just awesomeness going on here. Talk to you guys later today on the phone.