Just Your Very, Very, Very Best

Thurs. August 15

It is morning and our power is “finished” AGAIN. I am homebound today, not only because a sick Elder is recovering in the next bedroom, but because I need to do office work which requires power for the internet. Frustrating! Usually, I write our blog late at night because of the daytime-voice in my head which constantly reminds me of all that needs to be done. If I can quiet that voice down, I will write until this laptop battery is also “finished.” I am typing on a laptop loaned to us by a Sister who has been in Zambia with Mothers w/o Borders. She hand-carried our dead laptop back to Sandy Utah, where Ryan will collect it and reload it for us, and hopefully find another angel who will deliver it back to Zambia.

I must mention a little something about the Stones. Elder and Sister Stones and their son, Elder Nathan, were a delightful threesome who served in the Copperbelt-corner of Zambia. They returned home to Vernal Utah in June. Nathan is the Stones’ 37 year old son who has Down’s syndrome. The missionaries and the members just loved him. Elder Nathan was always very aware of how he could be of help, and he was so proud of his name tag and his missionary mantle. His shared his testimony and his remarkable knowledge of the gospel in a spirit that went beyond his struggle for words. Elder Bricknell, our visiting member of the Quorum of the Seventy, gave a wonderful talk in District Conference. He said, no matter what your situation, just do your “very,very, very best.” That is all that will be expected of you—not to do your best as measured against anyone else, but to do your own, personal“very, very, very best.” Elder Nathan Stones, and his hard-working missionary parents, did their “very, very, very best,” and we, along with so many others, have been sweetly blessed by them.
Rand and I now ask ourselves: "Are we just doing our very, very very best?"

Elder and Sister Esplin, from Laverkin Ut., are the Stones’ replacement. Over a month after the Stone’s departure,on the last Sunday in July, the Esplins arrived. It was a crazier-than-usual time for us. On Monday, the Area Physical Facilities Manager was in Zambia to investigate some serious problems. Rand had to be available most of the day for that, so I drove the Esplins around for the immigration details, etc., etc., etc., It was a 2-for-1 day; 48 hours packed into 24. Amazing how the Lord’s time warps itself. The Esplins were spinning, jet-lag and all. Early Tuesday morning, after packing lunches and luggage, we lead the way to the Copperbelt and Esplins followed—a fast initiation to the left side of the road! For two more days we enjoyed getting acquainted with the Esplins while orienting them to their assignment and surroundings. Early Thursday morning, Rand and I left them on their own with a prayer in our hearts, knowing the adjustments they were in for. We needed to rush back to Lusaka to collect Elder Bricknell and Pres. and Sis. Dube from the airport. They were arriving for District Conference.

While still in the Copperbelt, we received a phone call from Mary, the landlord for the Matero Elders’ boarding. The connection was bad. I thought she was saying that she needed a few extra months’ rent so she could pay her children’s school fees. I said we’d stop by on our way back into Lusaka and work it out. A little later we received a text message from her which read:
“I write you in the good name of our Lord to thank you for helping us out in our extreme time of need.”
We were a little puzzled, but when we arrived at Mary's home, we soon understood. Mary’s husband said she had gone to the bank to deposit our check.
“What check?” we asked”
“The one that two of your young men gave to us,” he replied.
We had given the Zone Leaders a check to pay for one year’s rent on the Matero Meetinghouse—a lot of money! They misunderstood and delivered it to the Matero boarding! The timing was perfect—right after Mary had called us, the money from heaven was delivered to her door by two ministering angels! It seemed not to matter that it was addressed to Agnes Mutopo instead of Mary Chibbamalillo—it was an obvious answer to prayer and it would pay her children’s school fees for a very long time. When we realized this scenario, we called Mary in a frantic effort to stop the deposit. It was too late! It had been deposited into her account even with an incorrect name! Oh Africa! Now, we would certainly be late for the airport-pickup-of-important-people, but with millions of kwacha at stake, Rand drove like a true Zambian through the congested streets of Lusaka to intercept Mary at her bank. We rushed into the bank with her, explaining the series of improbable events. Gratefully, she was willing to retrieve the check, but it had already been sent on, and the bank was closing. We would have to wait until morning for Mary to withdraw the stacks of cash and give it all back to us so that we could deposit it back into the church account and rewrite the check. We knew Mary to be a good soul, but we’ve seen money do crazy things to many people in Africa. Would she skip town? Alas, she did withdraw all the money first thing the next morning. After we had the cash in hand, the three of us could hardly quit laughing about the mistaken-money-from-heaven escapade. We gladly paid Mary a few extra months’ rent so she could pay the immediate school fees.
The low-battery light is flashing now, so goodbye until the next power surge.