June 27 Goodbye President and Sister Erickson

Hello again! It was once again a great week for us. We had 2 more baptisms! Hope and Sembe. They were baptized along with a family of 3 that the other elders taught, the Mwale family. Brother Mwale has two prosthetic legs starting above the knee from a car accident and to witness him get baptized was such a miracle. He wasn’t too sure how it would work out but he was determined to get baptized. Fortunately it worked out just fine. His legs were  a bit buoyant the first time so they had him kneel and it worked fine.

Sembe Bupe with his family -- the Sikaonga family.

Hope Musanga with her uncle, Brother Musanga and sister, Gracious Mutale.

This was President Erickson’s last week in the mission, so on Saturday he held a farewell devotional for Lusaka stake. Matero ward organized a bus and all the members pitched in some money to cover the cost which made it over half the price it would usually cost to go to Lusaka chapel and back. President Erickson is loved very much by all the members and especially the leaders. Much was said about how he helped in Lusaka becoming a stake in March 2015. I got to see all my friends and converts from Libala ward at the devotional as well!

The missionaries were responsible for handing out refreshments at the devotional.

The refreshments consisted of 'biscuits' (aka cookies) and a carbonated apple juice drink.

Tomorrow we will go to the airport at 9pm to pick up President Kupu, his wife, and their 17yr old son. President Erickson will take them to their new home and then he will pick them up again in the morning and bring them to the mission office where we will be there and the Mission presidents will meet briefly and then the Erickson’s will go to the airport. I am sad to see President Erickson leave, but we are very excited to meet President Kupu and assist him in adjusting to the mission. The next few weeks may involve some travel with him and I’m sure it will include lots of meetings with him!

Love you all

Elder Grant Hiltbrand

President Erickson had the beloved Assistants and Zone Leaders over for dinner last Monday.