Tuesday 10/28/08
OK remember the young man we met at church on Sunday and gave a ride home. He showed up at my gate this a.m. saying that his little 2 wk old baby girl died this morning. He wanted me to give him k450, 000 to buy a coffin. I was so upset and I didn’t know what to do. In the church we have a really well regulated system that handles these things. However, when we are so far away from each other in this country, it’s really hard. I got on the phone and called the Branch President. Thank Heaven (and I mean that) he answered his phone. He called the District President who then called me back. He talked to me a little and asked to speak the young man. They spoke and DP said he would call back. The DP called back and told me he could not find his records and wanted to talk with him again. They spoke for awhile and the man gave DP more information about this church service, where he lived and attended and many other things. I fed this guy and sat with him and tried to be comforting. Mike was at work, I had no car, I didn’t have any minutes left on my phone, and Mike was at work. Then a priesthood leader from Lusaka called twice. He had a long talk with me and then Mike came home in the middle of our talk. He told Mike and me that all of the things he had told him on the phone were lies. He was able to research everything he had said about where he lived and attended church, where he was baptized, etc. and none of it was true, so probably his baby had not died either and he was just trying to con us out of money. l was so upset; it was such an emotional strain. The man from Lusaka said that we should follow our heart, but he thought it was a con. We give the man more food but no money and put him in the car and drove him to his neighborhood and told him to get out of the car. I was so emotionally drained I came home and cried. Mike said he know there was something off about him from last Sunday, but wasn’t sure what it was. When I think back about our conversation in the car on the way home from church on Sunday, I realize there were a lot of lies there too. What a sad story to tell. Live and learn I guess, but I still feel sorry for them. I actually wanted to go to the house and see the baby myself and then really yell and tell him off, but Mike said no, we will just drop him off at the beginning of his neighborhood and tell the guards to never let him in again. Sad.