2/13/2011 From Elder Santana

How are you doing with your family that side of the world?  We are doing
great here on this side of the world.  I just thought of writing to you and find out how you are doing.                 
My companion Elder Jasper and I are having fun together here in
Zambia. I hope that next Sunday we will have our second baptism
together.   We are planning to baptize the wife of our recent
convert.   Here is the photo of the recent convert we baptize last
month, the work is fine and many things I am learning from Elder
Jasper. May the great good Lord continue to bless you.  Enjoy the
rest of your day.

2/13/2012

This week as been great, however, it has not exactly the best week ever.  We ate dinner with Mildred and Daniel (some of the members here) and that was nice.  I am glad that you got the 50 billion dollars that I sent to you.  I thought it was cool. It’s actually Zimbabwean money.  They are taking it out of circulation. They use U.S currency now.  I have a trillion dollar note! It is pretty cool. I guess the money/notes even got up into the quintillions! The inflation in Zimbabwe was crazy. For example, you might get paid on Friday 10 trillion and it may be worth 80 US dollars the next day it would be worth 5 US dollars.  

It’s good to hear from people from home. Rachel wrote to me was telling about her book project.  I enjoy her letters and sounds like she is busy these days. In addition, she sent me a lot of pictures the pictures were fun and I enjoyed them. In addition, I enjoy Kathy’s letters.  She is fun. I know that mom worries about me and about me eating. I’m eating but I’m still losing weight because we work a lot and we only really eat one big meal which is dinner.  We usually just eat a light breakfast and lunch, because it’s all we can really afford. 

Zambia is great.  Zambia just won the Africa soccer cup! Zambia won the Ivory Coast 8-7. They won last night. I got in to the sprit and bought a Zambian soccer jersey last week.  It’s really nice.  I am feeling good about my bartering skills. For example, talked the guy down to 50 pin (about 10 dollars) he tried to cheat me because I’m not a native.  However, I’m really good at talking to people and at speaking Nyanja.  Now, I can talk to anyone at anytime even if it’s a stranger.  Well, today is a crazy day because; everyone is celebrating Zambia’s victory. We are trying to stay off the streets because it’s not safe. Everyone is partying.  There were 46 fatalities last night, so were taking back roads and short cuts today. In addition, we didn’t take transport today because people are just wild and drunk. We decided we better walk to be safe. I am thinking that it’s a good choice.

I sent some letters today.  I sent one to my family, Kathy, Rachel, and Brother Smith, so hopefully they will get there soon.

Till next week love Devin.

Tell everyone to say hi and encourage people to write letters. Make sure to tell everyone that there WILL be GIFTS to everyone who writes :)

2/3/2012

Moni (Hello)

I’m doing well these days.  The weeks seem like they are going by fast and I’m already in week three of my third transfer. It seems like I just got to the MTC yesterday. Yesterday, we had a dinner appointment with some members. It was fun to go to their home and they made us a very nice dinner. Today, we went into town. I had to get my camera fixed.  I am just not having very good luck with cameras.  We are going to shop at the black market.  The black market is very cool and looks like it could be off the scene of a movie.  

There is not too much excitement here this week.  However, they are slashing three zero’s from the notes here.  I am going to save some for souvenirs because they look cool and how often do you get to spend a fifty billion dollar note?

I am getting better a cooking.  The other day I made a casserole with macaroni (no cat included)!  Even though, I did not know what I was doing, I was just grabbing stuff from the fridge, now everyone wants me to make casserole; it’s my most requested dish, although it’s never the same thing twice.

Take care

Love always, Devin

1/30/2012

Moni (Hello)

Missionaries walk a lot! My shoes that the salesman reported would: “these shoes will last your whole mission” need to be repaired.  I had to fix the sole of my shoe the one is getting weathered on the inside and the stitching was coming undone. However, my area has rough terrain and we do walk a lot. I know that you (my parents) have helped me so much and they are supporting me on my mission and I am so grateful for their support of my family.  So, I sent you five billion dollars in a letter (ha ha)! Seriously, I did send you five billion dollars however, the exchange rate to in the US would be about 2 dollars but it still looks cool.  

I do have a funny story about food here, opinions on American food, and dinner for a missionary! Someone here expressed their opinion that America food is tasteless and they did not understand why American’s would ever want to eat turkeys.  Well, a few weeks ago Elder Manguta a native missionary found a cat outside, killed it, and ate it for dinner! All I can say is that I will eat turkey over cat any day of the week!  I know it’s a matter of opinion but tasteless turkey sounds pretty good right now.

 This week we worked the “ap's” on Wednesday. There are a lot of addiction problems in this area. A lot of people drink, drink and drive, drink and walk, etc… The other day I watched a car drive into a six foot drainage ditch. The man was drunk, just turned the corner, and drove into the ditch.  We were out tracking and I had one guy tell me he lived in the stars, that he was God, and that if he stayed with us he would be safe. Well, he followed us the whole day and it was slightly annoying. He followed us until he fell down the hill.  He was just doing flips the whole way down and then he hit a tree.  I felt bad for him. We saw another man who had been drinking, it had just rained, the drainage ditches were almost full, and he walked right into it, and had to swim out! Wow! Some people just make poor choices and the consequences are not so great sometimes. However, it is somewhat entertaining at times.

 On our p-day, we bought some fireworks and had our own stadium a fire.  Today, I’m going to eat lunch with Elder Horne.  Elder Horne is fun to hang out with. He is from Napa California, lives close to Robin Williams; he told me that Robin Williams is a cool guy and a bit crazy at the same time. Elder Horne and his dad have a car restoration business.  They have a website: lowspeedresto.com it’s pretty cool.

Tell everybody I said hello.

I love you all

Devin.

1/23/2012

Muli bwanji? (How are you?)

I’m starting to get letters again and it’s nice to hear from everyone, how they are doing, and what’s going happening. I sent off letters for everyone today!! I am glad that I had some time to write to everyone. I’ve been extremely busy lately; as a result I don’t really have a lot of time to myself or to write letters. However, I do think about home, my family and my friends and hope that they are doing well. 

As far as the mission goes, these past few weeks have been a bit of a rough.  We not are seeing progress in my current area.  However, there is some hope! We have one baptism scheduled for the 11 of February. I am excited about that! The next few weeks are going to be interesting. For example, In March 15 missionaries are going home, the missionaries who are leaving are the leaders; zone leaders, assistances to the president district leaders, and the president district leaders.  In addition, no missionaries are coming to replace the ones leaving, and as a result there is going to be a lot of transfers and some closures in some areas.  

Tsalani bwino (Stay Well) I love all you guys. Love Devin