December 16, 2013

             
 

Hey Guys!

It is good to hear from all of you! I just got some of your letters and packages this week. Thank you guys so much for the Christmas tree and the Cd's. They are great, except the arrows are weird haha and not okay for mission and the lower lights cd doesn't work unfortunately (maybe send me another one?). Madi thanks so much for all of your letters I save all of them, and thanks for the play mobiles they are on my desk too. Hopefully you guys will get your package before Christmas, I am not sure though. You can just open it when it gets there haha. I love you guys, tell mom that the South African Postal Service is just interesting (corrupt/sketchy) and is incredibly slow haha they also charge sometimes, I am not entirely sure why but it is always very cheap so no worries. I love the pictures of the girl"s and the dance looked fun, great job Madi and Abby! And Pim too!

So my week was interesting this week. It was my first transfer, and two of my favorite elders are now in different areas. I can't remember if i told you about that last week or not, but Elder Hansen and Elder Neunschwander are gone. I am here in Rynfield until at least February, but most likely even longer after that. It is a great area, a little slow, but a great area. The ward here has been incredibly kind to us and so many of the members have already given us Christmas presents filled with food. I thought i would lose weight in South Africa, but not in Rynfield. We have been teaching a fair amount of lessons, December is a slow time for us though. Everyone is on Holiday, but those that are still here are a little more receptive to hearing a message centered around our Savior this time of year. We usually teach at least one or two investigator lessons per day, as well as a recent convert or less active member lesson. To finish each day we usually have dinner appointment at a member's home, and after that we head back to the flat to plan and go to bed. So generally we teach about 4-5 lessons a day, which is good-ish but it some areas they will almost double that. Things have been going well, we are working with quite a few investigators and some are progressing very well. We have two baptisms scheduled for next month, but we are still working with them (Simon and Telmor). I really love the people here and Simon and Telmor are both great guys. I honestly really hope that we can continue to help them move forward towards the covenants of baptism and the blessings that come along with it. We are also teaching the grandchildren of my favorite Recent Convert, I am amazed by how much they know and I always look forward to getting to visit Duma and Dumelo.

I have a few funny stories from this week. We were stuck without the bikes for part of the week, the Benoni Elder's that we share the bikes with (Elder Stephens and Elder Mcallister) accidentally popped the tire on one of them and we had no way of fixing it. So we walked our area for a good part of the week. We have a fairly large area and sometimes our appointments are spread out. This week while we were walking we had a lot of our scheduled appointments cancel, which means a lot more walking and a lot more tracking. Tracting is always interesting because you never know who you will meet and we get to have some crazy conversations haha. This week when our appointments cancelled we had to walk back all the way across our area, We thought we knew a shortcut though and we followed htis trail through a field. We ended up walking through mud up to my knees in some spots...The pictures I am sending are only of my shoes. We are also teaching this woman named Mamike, she is a very sweet lady but her kids are insane. They just climb all over us throughout the whole time that we are there. There are like six of them, so picture Elder Wheatley and I trying to teach about the restoration while we have these kids on our backs and taking my tie off and stealing my name tag and bag haha it is actually pretty fun.

This week was a little rough on the mission as a whole, we have had a few car accidents in the mission. I knew three of the elders involved in a fairly serious rollover accident, and one is actually a very good friend of mine. We held a mission wide fast for their healing, so if you could remember the Kempton Park Elders and their families in your prayers it would be nice. Kempton park borders my area so I know them fairly well. The other elders in our flat actually got into a car accident yesterday, but it was only a fender bender nothing serious.

It was great to hear from you guys, I can't wait to be able to Skype you guys. I will be able to email you the day before (23rd) to finalize everything. I love you all and miss you so much.

Elder Malloy

Mom-I love you mom, thanks for the packages and the notes! :)

Dad-I will buy stuff then haha

Logan-Miss you brother, hope everything is going good for you

Taylor-What are you holding in that picture? I miss you too

Abby-I am sad to hear that you aren't learning about gibuses anymore, here is my fact for you, did you know it snowed in Egypt for the first time in over 100 years?

Madi-Hey Moose! I sent you a letter today so you will have to tell me when it gets to you!

Lindsey-Only 10 more days until you can have my skateboard, love you pim!

Sydney- You look so much bigger! I love you squib.

Dec 9, 2013

Hey Guys!

 

I love the Pictures of the snow you guys all look like you are having fun haha I especially like the redneck kayaking pictures. It is crazy that is snowed like that and especially the fact that they cancelled church haha that does have to be a first. Sidney is awesome, I love that she barks at the nativity. It is weird that Christmas is coming up, it is so hot here. It is the wet season here too, so it honestly rains every day. It will be hot until about 4 or 5 o'clock and then it will storm. Yesterday Elder Wheatley and I got caught out in a rainstorm while we were on our bikes, I will attach some pictures but they don't come close to showing how muddy and drenched we were. Madi thank you for all of your letters, I got three of them this week! It is honestly really nice to get letters, I love them haha I have all of them in a crate under my desk.

 

 

This week was actually a pretty slow week. On Tuesday I had to go to a New Missionary Orientation Meeting, it was actually nice because they give you a little bit of time out in the field to see how things are and then they call you back in and tell you how they should be. The meeting was nice, I actually learned a lot about South Africa and a lot about the kind of work we need to focus and how to carry myself as a Missionary. Following the meeting though my companion and I were stranded at the mission office for about 2 and half hours. We need to bring in one of the mission cars to be taken for a tune up and to have the battery checked (it had trouble starting) and they took it to the shop while we were in the meeting. After we finished they told us it would be a while before they got the car back to the office so we could drive home, we ended up just doing odd jobs for the senior couples until the car came back. Then we got lost driving around Johannesburg for a while trying to find our way home haha. It was an interesting day and it kind of sums up how the whole week went. I did get to spend some more time out of my area this week though. I was in a Township called Etwatwa, it is where I had my first Kota, but I can't remember if I had told you all about it. I love the area, I told you guys about the kids there and how funny they are. It is always a humbling experience to get to go into some of the homes in the area. We honestly are so blessed to have all the thing we do. I am touched by the kindness and generosity of the people towards us when they have so little. The best thing about Etwatwa is that you just always get to see something weird. To be honest there are a ton of drunks in the Area and they always love to come and talk to the missionaries. I had this one guy who was probably about 90 years old kiss my hand about ten times while I was shaking his, I have had kids try to steal my shoes haha, I have seen rats bigger than squeaker (Love you Grandma), and I have met some of the most genuinely friendly and happy people in the world. I am blessed to be in South Africa and I am here for a reason.

 

So there are a few more things that I forgot to mention about South Africa in my previous emails. They Love KFC here haha, like seriously there are more KFC's in South Africa than I have ever seen. It is dang good though haha, and really cheap here. Also not very many people have washers and dryers (in certain areas), but we at least have a washer but we hang dry all of our clothes. I think you guys would like the keys here, I will send pictures, they are really old fashioned (South Africa has an interesting mix of old and new). I am still adjusting to everything but I really do love the people here, I wish that you all could see the things I get to see on a daily basis. The few pictures that I send just don't do it justice, I love you all and can't wait to hear from you again.

 

Elder Malloy

 

Dad-So I am sending home Christmas Presents today, sorry it is probably going to be expensive don't hate me. I got to see part of the Houston Texans vs Jaguars game this week haha, it was on at a members house that we has to swing buy to pick up something.

 

Mom-I love you, thank you for the gratitude journal and the scripture marker...You're the best

 

Logan- Nice picture of you in the Kayak...Love you brother

 

Taylor-Also nice picture of you in the Kayak, and thanks so much for your email, Africa has been pretty good to me so far. How are you and the rest of the family?

 

Abby-I love you Abby! Write me a letter!

 

Madi-I hung your picture of the family up on my wall by my desk. I love you moose!

 

Pim-You are still awesome, I bet you had so much fun in the snow. I hung up one of your letters on my wall too. I love you.

 

Sidney-I love you Squib, I wish I could see you barking at the Nativity.

 

Tara- Thank you so much for the email, I love hearing from the family! Letters are great and so are emails. I love letters because I can keep them, but email is faster and easier on your end. I am glad that you guys enjoy the blog, sorry this week is a little lame haha

 

Mom+Dad- I forgot to mention this is my last letter, if you get the chance can you please send me my brown glasses, my nike sunglasses and my nike pro-combat sleeves? I know those sound like weird requests and no rush on them. Thank you guys, I love you. 

 

 

Dec 2, 2013

It is good to here from you guys! I am glad you all had a good Thanksgiving, funny story none of us knew it was Thanksgiving...we all thought it was last week. Thank you for the email to Sister Hugo, it was actually a really nice Thanksgiving dinner. We did have pumpkin pie, Elder Wheatley and I made it before dinner at the Hugo's. We ended up having Chicken instead of Turkey because it is expensive down here. You can literally buy like 5 chickens for the price of one turkey. Like I said it was a really nice dinner, the Elders from Benoni joined us for the dinner as well which was nice because they are my favourite elders in the area (Elders Mcallister and Neunschwander). I am glad that the snowman thing is still going on haha. Fast Sunday was a little funny actually. We ended up having to just walk our area because we didn't have the car and the other elders brought the bikes back with a flat tire that we couldn't fix without buying a new tube. It is crazy hot down here, but then at night it will turn into a thunderstorm (not like St. George Thunderstorms, like crazy, almost scary thunderstorms). As we were walking our area we ended up helping this guy push his car a couple of blocks to a petrol station (if you say gas station no one knows what you are talking about) and we got a potential investigator out of it so it was worth it haha.

 It was actually a pretty relaxed week, time is weird on missions though. It goes by really slow in the moment, but when you look back it seems fast I guess. I don't know I am still adjusting to everything here so it is interesting. There is a little bit of culture shock, like I said I see some weird stuff haha. I will send you guys some pictures of some of the areas we go to soon, and the reason I haven't taken a picture of squatter camps is because I am too afraid to take my camera out, just kidding it is totally safe we just don't spend much time in them. The mission and really the church here is at an interesting point, we are still building it. We are "strongly encouraged" to find Father-led-Families and individuals who are in a position to not only receive the gospel, but also help to build the church here.

I got to spend some time in Etwatwa this week, it is a fairly large township. The people there were great, they were very humble and for the most part friendly. I said this last email I think but I love the kids, they are just fun and do funny stuff. I goof around with them and so lots of times they will follow me and my companion. It is funny to see us, the only two white guys leading around this group of kids as we go from house to house. It is pretty awkward though when we knock on a door with maybe 20 kids behind us and ask if we can share a message with them haha. Etwatwa was really interesting though, it is probably the biggest township I have been in thus far and we taught quite a few lessons that day. I should mention that I was on an exchange with Elder Hansen, not Elder Wheatley. We had this one guy that was really adamant that if we would buy him a beer he would understand our message and let us come back haha we saw him a couple of times throughout the day which was interesting. I also got to have my first Kota this week (Dad that is the weird bread, French fry and meat thing...I will attach a picture). They are actually super good, but have to be so unhealthy especially if you could see the shops that sell them haha. I really like being in townships though, it just feels more productive than the town in my area of Rynfield.

We also got to go to the Temple this week as a Zone which was powerful. We missed our session though because of traffic so we just had to go to a later one. It had stormed the night before and part of the highway was flooded (like it turned into a river, you wouldn't have been able to tell it was a road if not for the tips of the signs and robots-what they call Stoplights) so the traffic which is already insane was almost at a stand still. I loved them temple though, I am developing more of an appreciation for it. The temple also gave me a chance to drop buy the Distribution Center and pick up some Christmas presents so I will be sending those out this week.

Real quick I will give you a little bit of an update on my companion. He is a super good guy and we get along okay haha. We are just very different but we make it work so no real worries there. I will only share two weird things about him haha he never wears his shoes and he talks in his sleep...like a lot. He will honestly just be mumbling and or yelling throughout the night about the phone or other stuff haha at first it weirded me out but now it is kind of just whatever haha.

I love and miss all of you guys. It was great to hear from you all. Be good and be safe. Merry Christmas Everybody.

Elder Malloy

Dad-Money is good, sorry I feel like I spent a lot this week...I bought a soccer jersey of one of the teams down here and I bought presents.

Mom- I love you mommy :)

Logan- You would die here brother, they don't have capri suns. Actually though you might love it because they drink so much juice.

Taylor- Be good and make sure Logan gets to school.

Abby- Thank you for the email, you're the best

Madi- I am glad you still like to be the fixer-upper, I got you and Lindsey some special presents.

Pim- Way to go on your First cheer performance! You look cute, and I am proud of you!

Squib- You look so big in that picture! What words can you say?

RYNFIELD WEEK 2

Thank you guys so much for all of the letters and emails, it is really nice to be able to hear from everyone. I got my birthday package on Friday, thanks so much everybody! I also got the letters from most of you guys at home. So the way mail works for us is a little weird, basically I won't get your letters and things when they arrive in South Africa. The way that is works is that it all gets sent to the mission office and then once a week the Area Presidents deliver the mail to the ZL's (Zone leaders) and then they give it out to the missionaries in their zones on Fridays. Also sometimes when you send packages the postage doesn't always cover the full amount so i have to pay the difference. Like the package i just got cost me 33 rand...which is like $3 USD so it isn't a big deal. But seriously thank you guys so much, I love the letters, I save all of them in my desk drawer, and I will work on getting some out to you guys at home. This Friday i will be picking up all of your Christmas presents and I will ship some letters home with them.

Last week I forgot to tell you guys that our neighbors have a pet pig, it is this little black thing that is just always running around in there back yard. I also forgot to tell you guys about some of the other Elders in our district that we hang out with. Elder Mcallister and Elder Neuenschwander are some of my favorite missionaries here. We share the care with them so we see them all the time. Mcallister is really goofy and fun, and me and Elder Neunschwander are basically the exact same person so we get along really well (He is from Provo, not germany but I think he did live there for a while).

This week I got to go on exchanges with the Zone Leaders so I spent the night in Springs with Elder Tag (He is from Zimbabwe and i can't really say his name well so i just call him Elder Tag). Springs was really cool actually, but it is CRAZY. It basically has town, township and city all in the same area. We got to teach in township which was a nice experience, they are such humble and accepting people. We went tracting in Town and got chased by dogs and yelled at by angry Afrikaners (whites). And then in the city we got to teach these awesome guys names Mike, Freddy, Zabron and Lovejoy. Basically I was the only white guy in the whole apartment complex haha, the place was huge too. I haven't been in too many apartment complexes but the few i have been in remind me of what you would expect to see in New York i guess you could say. They are basically just huge mazes with tons of stairs and tons of people living there. They aren't all that clean either and that is all I will say for mom's sake haha. I also got to drive around the city and that was a weird experience too. The traffic is really heavy and there are just tons of people walking around. We ended up driving right through the middle of a taxi hub (i don't really know what to call it, it is just where all the taxis-15 passenger vans-are parked and leave from. Here I am driving on the left side of the road through heavy traffic, with taxis darting in and out everywhere (they drive however they want here haha) and then there are seriously probably hundreds of people just walking through traffic and everywhere else. It was fun though and i really like getting to see new areas.

I love you guys and miss you guys so much, hopefully everyone gets better. Last couple of things, basically everything mom read about people going to the bathroom everywhere is true it is really weird haha. Also i think it is possible for places to be uphill both ways in South Africa because we are honestly always riding our bikes uphill and sometimes through crazy traffic too haha. Overall though South Africa is awesome, honestly sometimes I forget that I am here but we will just be walking through a huge field or see crazy animals and it will hit me that I am not in the US anymore. The best part about South Africa so far has just been that on a daily basis I see something that leaves me thinking where the heck am I, like yesterday i saw this guy pushing another guy through the McDonalds drive-thru in a shopping cart with three wheels. Africa is crazy...love you guys.

Dad- We might actually get to go golfing soon, hopefully in Pretoria, it is way cheap there (like 200 rand for four people with carts). We actually have a golf course in our area and i wish you could see the animals that live on it, there are these crazy birds and almost like a mix of a deer and a gazelle (Springboks).

Mom-Love you mom :)

Logan- Congrats on the job and good job on the ACT man. Thanks for the birthday letter. Miss you bro.

Taylor- I kinda of already answered this, but they do have McDonald's here haha and i found out that Romans pizza (I think i told you about it last email) is actually Little Caesars. 

Abby-I hope everything is going good for you, I love your emails. You are my favorite dork haha miss you abby.

Madi- Thank you so much for your card and letter, I am keeping it forever. I love that you wrote the address yourself.

Lindsey- You are awesome! I can't believe that you can read in chinese!

Squib- Still the cutest, and I love that you bark at the Lizard haha  

FIRST WEEK IN RYNFIELD

 Hey Everybody.

Sorry to write all of you on Monday now, my p-day has changed so it will be on Mondays from here on out. I love you all and miss everyone, thanks for the pictures i hope everyone is doing well. Right now I am sitting in a email shop in Bononi (right next to our area). It cost 16 rand for an Hour and a half, which is only about $1.60 USD.

So i am finally out of the MTC, I left this past Tuesday so i have been in the field for about a week. My first area is a place called Rynfield. It is actually a very nice area. It is rough though. The work is incredibly slow , we can't really even tract because everyone has these fences that go all the way around their house. Some of them are even electric and EVERYONE has huge dogs. We do the best we can though and the ward is really receptive to us. We have a dinner appointment just about every night, so much for losing weight. My very first night here I had McDonald's for lunch (it is a little different but pretty similar) and the member we had a dinner appointment with fed us pizza (it was from this pizza place here called Roman's, again similar but different like the toppings were bacon and avocado...i just don't chew here and don't question what I am eating anymore). Like I said the area is actually really nice, but it is still incredibly humbling to be here. By St. George standards all of South Africa can't compare, but our area is safe and relatively clean (mom can stop worrying now). Part of our area does extend into a township. So basically there are three types of areas: Town, Township, and squatter camps. Rynfield is a town, which like the majority of towns is mostly white, with nice homes and fences. However, they are not very receptive to the gospel and the work is very tedious and really just comes down to happening upon potential investigators. Now townships i only have a little bit of experience with, but like i said we do have a part of one in our area. They are made up of very small homes, much humbler people, dirt roads, and mostly black residents. They don't have much but are much more receptive to our gospel message, and the people there are some of my favorite people i have ever met. They are just really happy and funny, most of the time with them I am just laughing because i have no idea what is going on. There are 11 different languages and not everyone speaks great English so I am still figuring everything out. So far I haven't had too much trouble, and i haven't had to eat anything too weird. I have had to wash my hands in a bowl and eat with my hands quite a bit though. At first it was weird but you just kind of get used to it. Here they eat this stuff called "Pap" (pronounced pop but i am not sure how to spell it). Picture really thick cream of wheat that you eat with yourt hands, it almost has no taste so i can handle it. They also feed us a lot of rice, which is a little different than the rice back home. Plus there is always some kind of meat, I think it is usually chicken or some kind of beef but i can't really tell so i just eat it and be happy. My favorite thing here so far though is the juice...seriously so good. They sell most things here (juices and soda's) in concentrate form, so you have to dilute everything.Squatter camps are basically huts made out of anything they can find. Definitely the saddest areas in South Africa, but I have only driven by them, never been inside one yet.

I got to drive on the left side of the road for the first time this week. It was an interesting experience haha, it wasn't too bad though because the steering wheel is on the left side too, so as long as you think about it you drive fine. Everything here is in kilometers which I still haven't figured out. Also gas is called petrol here and is measured in liters which is new. I Actually really like driving, because for the other half of the week we are on bikes. Biking is fun for the exercise but it is so hot and our area is so big we seriously bike forever between appointments. Plus everyone drives crazy so most of the time I feel like we are about to get ran over haha. It is fun though, and seriously everyone we meet asks us for our bikes which is funny too. I love the little kids here, they are awesome. I will play soccer with them and race them on my bike and they love it. They are pretty funny too, they make fun of my accent. While I am talking about them i should mention Joyce. She is an African woman who lives in the township in our area. Basically she is grandma Taylor, but black haha. She is super funny and her grand kids live with her. She is a recent convert and we have been over to see her a few times.

My companion/Trainer is named Elder Wheatley. He is actually a good guy. I get along pretty well with him, we are a little different though and we are still getting used to each other. He is from Brigham City Utah so we relate pretty well. He will be my companion for the next two transfers (6 weeks each) but we get along well so no worries there. He is basically as new as me though, he has been out for like 4 months but to be honest i feel like we are just kind of making it up as we go haha but we will get on top of things and get the work rolling in rynfield soon. I live in a four man flat, and we are all American. Actually our whole district is, to be totally honest i think it is because our area is kinda racist. A member actually told me that Malloy is a Zulu surname (spelt Maloi i think) and he was worried i would be black, but he can see the lord has been good to us. I didn't really know what to say so it was a little awkward haha. The member is a good guy though. I miss everyone back home and i am sorry my email is a little bit all over the place, but i have a lot to say and not a lot of time.

Mom-Love you, thanks for the pictures...please send me some mission approved music, i am sick of mo-tab. Our President is pretty lax on the music, basically as long as it is conducive to the spirit it is okay. I am trying to find some here but it is hard. Check out the bands, The Arrows and The Lower Lights for me please, thanks a ton.

Dad- Things are good here...They love soccer (blacks) and Rugby (whites) so that is about it as far as sports go. We are playing rugby with the ward tonight for p day sports so it should be fun.

Logan- Did you get a car yet? Way to not work on Sundays, thanks for being a great little brother. Miss you man, you would love it here. Don't flunk out of High School for me.

Taylor- Giraffe it is, I will be back at the temple next week so i will pick it up from the distribution center. Love you and miss you.

Abby- You should see the moon here, the sky is so big. Plus the weather is crazy. It rains so much this time of the year, and the day before i came it hailed really hard and the pieces were literally the size of baseballs.

Madi- I miss you Madi moo, how is school? I hope you are doing good...will you draw me a picture of the family and send it to me in the mail?

Lindsey- How is my room? I hope you like it, i miss you pim. Be good for mom and dad. Draw me a picture of jello and send it with Madi's.

Sidney- keep that picture of me, i hope you will still remember me when i get home. Love you squib.

                  

MTC Depature - Mission Home Arrival

We received this bitter sweet note from Sister Reber at the MTC today:

"The Elders all left today for the Mission Field. The MTC is empty. There is no laughter in the halls.
I miss them already!  I wish I could go into the field with them and document their missions.
Last night we had a very tender, tearful Testimony meeting.  They have really bonded as brothers and
it has been a joy to watch this happen."

So...Our Elder is off to serve the people of South Africa! 

 President Omer, Elder Connor Malloy, Sister Omer

 Elder Malloy and his new companion

We received this letter below from the Mission President. It contains information on where to send letters to Connor: 

15 November 2013

Dear Brother and Sister Malloy,

I am pleased to inform you that your son, Elder Connor Lawrence Malloy, has arrived in the South Africa Johannesburg Mission and he is doing wonderfully.  We are delighted to have him serving with us in the Mission.  Elder Malloy will serve initially in the Rynfield Area of the Benoni Zone. His companion and trainer is Elder -----, from Brigham City, Utah. 

Uplifting and supportive letters from home are important to missionaries.  We encourage you to write or e-mail your son weekly.  His mailing address throughout his mission will be -                           connor.malloy@myldsmail.net. In fact email communications are preferred.

For Letters Sent Through Pouch:  Letters using the Church’s pouch system are limited to a single sheet of paper, folded into thirds and taped on the top edge only.  No envelopes, no pictures, no cards, etc are allowed. Pouch mail uses US postage.

                  Elder Connor Malloy                                                South Africa Johannesburg Mission

                   P. O. Box 30150

                   Salt Lake City, UT  84130-0150

                                                                         For Packages and Letters sent through Postal Service

             Elder Connor Malloy

             South Africa Johannesburg Mission

             Private Bag X4

             Ansfrere 1711, South Africa

Packages should be labeled “Missionary Supplies” and valued less than $40.00 to avoid high custom charges.  For secure items please use FedEx and the physical address:  3 Phillips Avenue, Discovery 1709, South Africa.

We appreciate your support of your missionary and thank you for sharing him with the South Africa Johannesburg Mission.  I have included a picture of your missionary with Sister Omer and myself.

Sincerely,

S. Craig Omer, President

South Africa Johannesburg Mission

November 9th - Happy 19th Birthday Elder Malloy

Happy Birthday Elder Malloy. We kept with tradition (as hard as that was) and took the family to Red Robin for your "Birthday Dinner".

Ding Dong!
Sunday night we hear the door bell ring and realize that we have a visitor at our door.The South Africa MTC Presidents' daughter actually turns out to be a neighbor! She lives a couple of blocks from us and stopped by to show us this picture of Connor that her Mom (Sister Reber) sent to her. What are the odds? Amazing family! We are so grateful for them.  

Today the MTC Choir performed at three local wards....during their Sacrament Meetings.
The MTC Choir sang "Hope of Israel" with Elder Holloway conducting and Elder Labrum at the piano.
The soloists were:  Elder Lawson, Kibirango, Packard and Cahill.
It was wonderful, impressive and really brought the Spirit.  Just seeing the 23 Elders walk into the meeting
was powerful.  The Elders are so good and trying so hard to do everything right!  The chapel is hallowed by their
very presense.  EVERY Elder sang....and sang well.

Happy Birthday...

 Saturday night we had a birthday party for Elder Malloy.  We had a group of Elders play "happy birthday" on the chimes.
Then we had Elder Rizk sing to him in German, Elder Kibirango and Elder Nasibu sing to him in Luganda, and Elder Bomba sing to him in Shona.  We all sang to Elder Malloy in English.  We had cake and ice cream to celebrate Elder Malloy's 19th birthday.  The photos will
give you a feel for the fun time it was.  It was certainly unlike any party he has ever had before.

We are filled with gratitude for being blessed with an awesome birthday boy! we love you son:-)