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