It is time to do battle with the wily mosquito.  Note the steely glint in the eye of our hero as he prepares to administer the coup de grace to the stealth version of the mosquito world.  This species is noted for its ability to disappear from open view, even with several sets of eyes watching.  They seem to rotate into the next dimension and vanish.  Not only that, but they don't make any noise on approach. Various attempts to dispatch them with bare hands only lead to frustration.  In an effort to even the odds, he procures a 21st century electronic weapon--the "BUG ZAPPER" capable of discharging 2,750 volts across the grid.  At last, a sure means of eradication is at hand (no pun here, it's all in the wrist).  The best part is the blue flash and sharp report which accompanies success in the hunt, not to mention the applause by his spouse as he dispatches another of his sharp-nosed assailants.

Did you know that anopheles (the species he is hunting) means "good for nothing" in Greek?--an apt name if I every heard one.  The only use we have for them is to feed the swallows, swifts, and martens which patrol the skies by day and by the dozens, searching for the elusive prey.  And by night the bats are about with the same aim. Need I tell you that this is our chief sport and entertainment each evening before retiring?  

Sorry if some of the pictures have disappeared.  We were reminded that we are not allowed to post any pictures of individuals unless we have their express permission to do so.  The privacy laws vary from country to country, so to avoid any problems, we will have to forbear.  "We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, and in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law."

However, we have really good news.  Our local immigration office OK'd our TEP visas for the next two years, so we should be able to stay in Blantyre for the whole time (until March 2015).  Sister Reynolds heaved a sigh of relief.  After a rocky start, it is nice to have a sense of permanence!

Today was quite a day.  We got a call last night from one of our Elders, who apologized for not inviting us sooner.  He and his companion were expecting to have 10 baptisms on Sunday and wanted to know if we wanted to be there.  Of course it meant getting up at 4:00 so we could leave Blantyre at 5:30 and drive two hours, but we were excited to be invited.  Our missionaries are only working in the area for two days each month, so all of these people were taught and fellowshipped by the members.  We would love to have a mission couple work in there, which would give us an opportunity to put four elders in the area full time.  We keep praying for someone to answer the call to Africa.  The area would be a neat assignment if we didn't already have one in Blantyre.

The branch is located in an area where we had visited three weeks previous, so we sort of knew the way, but elected to follow the missionaries, who had another couple with them.  It was a great trip.  It turned out we had nine baptisms, which were performed in a swimming pool.  The owners have been very gracious in allowing us to use their facility in the early morning before the guests will be up and about. 

I will include a couple of photos of the meeting house which is under construction.  It is basically a longhouse with two offices in the back.  They are currently meeting in a large house on the property, which will continue to be used for classrooms.
We had 56 adults in attendance at Sacrament Meeting, with another dozen or so children. It would be like having over 50 people in your living room/dining room of your home.  It is exciting to see the church move forward.  

We had a wonderful time the week of Sept 17-23. Elder and Sister Lyles, Humanitarian Missionaries for the LDS Church had asked if we could help with logistics during the week they were here with a US team. They were conducting training seminars for the Helping Babies Breathe Project. We drove up to Ntcheu to meet them as they were driving down from Lilongwe, thus saving them having to drive all the way to Blantyre and stay over for several days. That was a fun ride, we only got lost once, and almost made it home without getting lost, although we did miss a couple of turnoffs and had to turn around. There are almost no road signs in Malawi, no highway markers, no standard village naming signs, no speed limit signs except in the villages, and no shoulders on most of the roads. We would just ask the soldiers at the checkpoints if we were still on the right road, and where to turn next. They have plenty of those, so you shouldn't be able to get more than 25 kilometers before there is someone to ask. They were very helpful and polite, standing there with their AK-47's. The team took us out to dinner at the 21 Grill, a regionally famous eatery adjacent to the Protea Ryalls Hotel. It's possibly the finest place in town to eat, but dinner cost us all of 9,000MK or about $25US for both of us. The group bribed the band, and when they brought out Sis. Reynolds' dessert (a banana split with a candle in it) they all sang Happy Birthday To You. It was awesome, totally caught her unaware. :-)

After the seminars, we furnished transport back to Liwonde, but elected to stay overnight at Hippo Lodge and go with some of the Mission Couples on a two-hour boat safari on the Shire (say she-ray) River through Liwonde National Park. Most of the pictures are of that trip. Being in the boat, we could really get close to the animals, so we took about 200 pictures or so. Then we drove back to Blantyre while the team continued on to Lilongwe and their flight home.

Two of our Elders have completed their missions, so they went home this week 9/26. Elders Muhlauyo and Machiridza are great young men, and each will be a strong leader in his homeland. This is Africa's time, and being a part of this explosive growth and change is amazing. It is so good to be able to support these young people as they serve. We are truly blessed. Not only that, but we live in a beautiful place--the flowering trees are lovely, not to mention that they smell good and the birds awaken us with lovely song, albeit a little early.

We are pretty well settled in Blantyre by now. We have a nice flat, with two bedrooms and two baths so that we can have other couples stay with us when they are in the area. The Sister Missionaries were staying here, but we got a new flat for them so we have the house to ourselves most of the time. The Sisters were glad to move, since their new flat is very close to the branch chapel where they are assigned in Ndirande, and that is right at the edge of their area. They were taking the public transportation every day to reach their area, about 4 km from the house, so too far to walk. The buses are the combies, basically nine passenger Toyota's, with 18 people riding in them. All the missionaries use them, but we have never been brave enough to try it.

The weekend of Aug 23, 24 Elder Reynolds went camping with the YM of the Blantyre District, their first ever YM camp. It was quite an adventure. We drove for about 3 hours to reach the mountain, and then another 3km up the forest road in Mulanje National Park. There is a turnaround where we dropped off all the boys and gear for another 30 minute hike up the mountain. I drove back down to the ranger station to leave the truck and the bus we had rented. Then two of the young men and I started back up the mountain on foot to join the others. Silly me, I listened to them when they said they knew a short cut. The African version is based on just a shorter distance, not necessarily the easiest way. Instead of walking back up the road, we took a 40% grade trail over the top of two ridges--the old man was huffing like a hippopotamus by the time we got to camp 90 minutes later. Talk about scouting challenge--the last 100 meters is a scramble, and if I hadn't been able to hear the boys ahead laughing in the campsite, I might not have made it! I was awakened by the laughing of the hyenas about 0300, and several minutes later could hear the sound of munching right next to my head. Several of the boys got up and chased them away, after which they secured our food supply for the night. I wasn't sure how big the hyenas were, so I didn't get a picture, however I did photograph the tracks next to our tent the next morning. The following weekend of Aug 30, 31, both Sister Reynolds and I got to go with the YW of the Blantyre District for their camp. It was another adventure, this time because of the roads and the days we were driving. The main road between Blantyre and Nkopola is under construction, so it consists of many detours--took us 5 hours to cover 200km. Also because it goes through many small villages, and the weekend is their market days, it was an obstacle course of pedestrians, bicyclists, and combies about every 5km or so. There was no hike in, however, since the Nkopola Lodge is right on Lake Malawi. Not only that, but the priesthood advisers were put up in "chalets" (pronounced like pallets) with warm showers, bathrooms, air-conditioning, and electric service. Not quite the same as the week before. We had a marvelous camp, Sister Reynolds taught a first-aid class, and we were entertained by the monkeys and baboons which frequent the camp (stealing any left out food--worse than mice). This campsite was gorgeous, palm trees, sandy beach, grass covered camping area, covered cooking facility, very nice, indeed. It cost us 2000MK per girl, but that's less than $6US.

We waited one more day until Elder and Sister Fisk joined us in Lusaka. President Erickson interviewed both couples and then assigned us to work in Malawi, the Fisk's in Lilongwe (north) and ourselves in Blantyre (south). We boarded Kenya Airways at about 0130 and arrived in our new country at 0300 on the morning of 2 Aug 2013, stayed in Lilongwe Fri and Sat night, then drove down to Blantyre on Sunday 4 Aug after church. We were excited but tired, and glad to be in a more permanent situation (I hope!) Elder and Sister Prete, a counselor in the presidency, drove us down and spent the next few days training. Here's a picture of one of the many villages we drove through on the way down.

Monday we joined the Zone for an outing to Majete Game Preserve, and had a marvelous time. I took about 220 pictures, but will only post a few here.

We saw most of the animals in the park, "But No Elephants". The herd numbers in the hundreds, but they were all hiding, along with the leopards, rhinos, lions. Perhaps we will get to go another time in the next 20 months.

Tonight we are in Lusaka, Zambia in the mission home. President and Sister Ericson have graciously invited us to stay with them until we get our assignment. There are numerous places in the mission where we can be useful, and he and the Lord are trying to decide where to send us. We will wait for his directions.

The second picture is of the little bit of paradise we found out back.

Yes, that's a palm tree, and the darker tree on the right is a mango, and if you look closely you can see bunches of bananas hanging on the tree behind it. The lemon tree is on the far right. This is the back yard of the mission home, and it was 75* when we took the pictures. This is wintertime, equivalent to the end of January at home. It certainly is pleasant now, but may be much warmer come summer.