Blessings of the Sabbath

     I always look forward to Sunday, but since we've been here, you never know quite what to expect.  Our Branch was  planning to watch the Saturday sessions of Conference today, since the power outage didn't allow us to do that last Sunday. So Lynn spent most of Saturday at the church trying to get the technical things set up to view Conference.   Late Saturday, we received word that we would be able to view Elder Holland's address to the people in Pretoria, prior to his coming to Johannesburg to conduct a Missionary Conference this coming Thursday.  We were excited about that, because we thought we wouldn't have the opportunity to hear his address.

      In my personal prayer and in our couple prayer, we prayed that the technical aspects would allow us to have the proceedings go as planned.  We arranged to be at the church at 8:00 to set up for the webcast instead of the Conference video.  On our drive to the Church, we encountered several intersections where the robots weren't working.  We were a little afraid that when we got to the Church we might find that, once again, we had no power.  (If there is a power problem somewhere, they work on the lines on Sunday)  As we entered the church, our worst fears were true--there was, in fact, no power!  We could hardly believe it!  This was a replay of last Sunday!  I started rehearsing in my mind how we would do what, without any power or anyone prepared to speak or teach since we were supposed to be watching conference.  I immediately said another prayer.  I must admit that a surge of disappointment went through me as I was so looking forward to hearing Elder Holland.

     About 30 minutes later, the power flickered on!  Hooray!  As I walked to the car to get some of the equipment out, my eyes swelled with tears to know that Heavenly Father had heard and answered our prayers.  After several minutes of several men working with cords, plugs, computers, projectors, etc., we began to see a bit of the prelude songs being sung at the conference.  That was only for a brief moment before everything stopped.  Try as they might, they could not get the sound to come up, it just kept buffering.  The internet was too slow to stream both the audio and the sound at the same time.  A message came up to the effect that the internet was too busy to pick it up.  Members were starting to saunter in.  ( Being on time isn't common in this area)  We waited a while longer, still nothing!  I said another silent prayer that we would at least be able to get conference, if not Elder Elder Holland's address, because we had some inactive members there, and I didn't want them to be discouraged and not come again.

     Once again, I realized my prayers had been heard as I heard the Tabernacle Choir sing and the organ begin to play.  I don't know how many dozen times throughout my life I have heard that same sound, but it never sounded as sweet as it did today.  As President Eyring got up to open the Conference, my eyes filled with tears once again just to be able to be a part of this Conference, and to know that our equipment was finally working so that we could be able to see the conference recordings.  We take so much for granted in the States each time we flip on a switch and we have power, or turn on the T V or radio and we're able to see and hear conference.  I felt guilty thinking of all the times I had turned on the radio or TV to listen to conference as I went about my household duties, with no regard as what others have to go through to make it possible for us.  I have just always taken for granted that conference would always be there at my command.

     Even though we only had time to listen to one session today because of a Baptism scheduled after our Church time, I was grateful to hear the talks that were given.  They seemed to be so fitting for some of our inactive members who decided to come today.  I hope they felt as inspired as I did, and will have the desire to "feast upon the word" again next Sunday.  We are so blessed to be members of this great Church and to be able to hear our General Authorities speak to us on the things that our Heavenly Father wants us to know.  I feel so blessed to be able to be a part of this great work in helping to strengthen the members in this part of our Savior's vineyard.

The Rescue

     For the past few weeks, we have noticed that one of our members family hadn't been to church.  We seemed surprised because he is the second counselor in the Branch Presidency, and she is the second counselor in the Primary Presidency.  The Primary President had asked me about 3 weeks ago if I could help out in the Primary because neither of her counselors were there and some of her teachers were gone.  I told her I would be glad to help out.  Being only the third week we had been to church, we still didn't know who was who and what positions they held.

     We had tried to call this family to see if we could come visit them, but hadn't been able to make connections with them.  As we visited with the Relief Society President on Tuesday, we mentioned that we were concerned about this family, and that we hadn't been able to make connections with them.  She told us she had her cell number and would I like it.  We were glad for that bit of information and took the number.

     Because it was late when we finished making our visits, we waited until the next morning to call her.  What a surprise I got when she told me that she had  had an angina attack three weeks ago, and had pretty much been down.  I apologized for not knowing anything about it.  I asked if I could come help her do some things.  She said her grandchildren had been there last weekend and had helped with some cleaning.  I asked about doing some laundry or ironing and she assured me that she had done a little at a time and was o k.

      Feeling very useless, I then asked if I could bring some dinner to them tonight.  She was elated.  "That would be wonderful!" she exclaimed.  I do a little and then rest for a bit and try to do some more, but by night I'm too tired to fix much for dinner, so my husband will try to fix a little something.

     She was thrilled to think that I would offer to bring her dinner.

     That evening as we visited for a minute, she was surprised that we hadn't known about her illness.  She had told the Primary President, and the first counselor, whose husband is the Branch President.  he had even given her a blessing.  But the Relief Society President had no idea until I contacted her today and alerted her of this sister's condition.  I was amazed that the Branch President hadn't said anything about it to her either.

     In our home ward, the whole neighborhood would have known within the hour and phone calls would have been made to bring in dinner for the next several nights, and additional visits made to check on her.  This branch struggles to be knitted together, and feel a sense of responsibility for one another.  We've been told that the Branch president hasn't held a Branch Council since May.  We're still trying to meet with him to see what he would like us to help do.  In the meantime, we have made our own plan of things we can be doing to build and strengthen this branch and help them become more unified in working toward the same goals in order to keep newly baptized members coming and active.

     We are thankful for the experiences we have had  on our home wards to help us know how to come to the rescue of others.   There is a lot of work to be done, not only here in Nelspruit, but in similar places throughout the world.  Those of  you who are retired and available might want to consider praying about the opportunity to help rescue others just like this dear sister, and these struggling branch members also.  We are grateful for this opportunity to serve.

A Week of Challenges

     We thought when we left Morgan, that would be the end of the Adversary's fiery darts, however, we are finding  that that is not necessarily so.  We seem to find challenges in everything we do.  We have made about seven trips to the Mall to deal with the challenges of trying to get our  internet in and set up.  Hopefully, it is up and will continue to work for a while.

     Last Sunday, we had a very inspirational fast and testimony meeting.  Even though I was sad that we weren't able to view conference, the testimonies were so outstanding that it made up for not being on my couch in front of the T V munching Conference rolls.  These members have such strong testimonies!  They are so grateful for what the church has added to their lives.  We did try to tune in to some of conference that evening.  8:00 and 10:00 p.m. were the times we could see it live via the internet.  The computer was too slow to watch the video, but we were able to get the audio.  We missed the last half of the afternoon's session because the Elders and one of the prospective missionaries of our Branch stopped in to visit and have dessert.  By the time they left, it was over.

     Monday morning as we were starting our day, we got a call from the Elders saying they had just received word that our Church had been broken into during the night.  They had removed three luvored window slats and climbed in through there.  They are high windows.  They took a computer, a DVD player, and a projector.  We found out later in the week that in fact, the projector was locked in a file cabinet and was safe.

     Though we had two different appointments cancel on us this week, we had two very nice visits with some other members.  One is an inactive returned missionary who is married with twin 4 year old daughters.  As we visited with them, I told them about the Primary Program coming up and the little girls might like to come to Primary to participate in it.  The Mom asked about getting a CD with the songs on so they could learn them.  I told her I would get one from the Presidency and we could get it burned for them.  They offered to do them for the other Primary families, so that actually proved to be helpful.  She ended up coming to Church today and brought the C D's and the twins.  Her husband didn't come, but it's a start.

     We had a Helping Hands project scheduled for Saturday morning that was spearheaded by the young Elders.  We were to go in and clean the yard of a school for handicapped children and plant grass so they could have a green area to play on.  It has rained almost every day this week.  The past few days, we got some extremely heavy showers.  Because of the wetness, the principal decided to postpone the project for another day.  As it happened, it was the nicest day we've had this week.  Oh, well, we're looking to the first part of November to do the project.

     Saturday, the person over physical facilities out of the Area Offfice made a trip from Johannesburg to bring up a DVD player and a computer for our Branch since we had planned to see the Saturday sessions of Conference  on Sunday.  Elder Baxter was over at the Church the better part of the day receiving the supplies and getting things ready for the broadcast on Sunday.  Because the company still hasn't come to install the burglar bars, he had to bring the equipment home so it would be safe.  We were up early because we had to be at the Church by 8:00 to finish getting the equipment set up.  Wouldn't you know it!!  About 6:15, the power went off.  So much for my dinner preparations.  We had invited the Elders Quorem President and his family over for dinner after church, so everything just sat in the pans as is.  Also  no way to curl my hair (good thing I hadn't just washed it that morning.  It would have been rather scary)

     We got on our way, without stoplights, or robots as they call them.  We saw one light a few blocks from the church, so we thought all was well.  Except by the time we got to the next light, we discovered it was out too.  We got to the church and discovered that the power was out there too.  We said another prayer, for we knew that no one would be prepared for Church as usual. About 8:40, the Branch President and his son hurried to get the sacrament set up.  We had no choice other than to go ahead and have church.  He called on a few people to bear their testimonies, including Lynn.  Each sensed an urgency to share a lesson along with their testimonies.  The meeting was very inspirational.  Even with Sunday School, Relief Society and Priesthood, people stepped up and gave lessons which they hadn't really prepared.  They actually all did a wonderful job!  The lessons were all very well done.

     After the block of meetings was over, the branch gathered for a Linger Longer with trays of quarter sized sandwiches and juice that the Branch President had brought.  I think he was planning on this being the snack in between Conference sessions.  Even after we finished cleaning up, the power still wasn't on.  We told the Ngami family that we would call them when the power was on and hopefully still be able to have dinner. 

About 2:24 pm, the kitchen light flipped on.  I reset the stove dials to finish cooking the veggies, and gave a call to the family and told them we'd eat at 4:00.  Everything was ready, but they didn't arrive until 5:00.  No problem, we still were able to enjoy a typical American Sunday dinner of Roast beef, potatoes,  gravy, brown sugar and buttered carrots, biscuits, (sorry no Rhodes rolls here) apple slices, and banana oatmeal cake.  They said they enjoyed it, however, they didn't seem too big on the potatoes and gravy.  They are used to eating pap which is a ground white corn meal cooked in boiling water.  It looks like mashed potatoes, but is heavier and drier.  She had brought a "lemon condensed tart"  with caramel drizzled on top,which tasted a lot like the cheese cake that I make except the crust was thicker and harder.  She told me she didn't bake, she just bought something at the bakery for the weekend.  I put ice cream on the top.  Since we hadn't eaten the banana bars, I cut a plate of them and sent home with her.  I had also made rice krispie squares in case their kids were alergic to nuts.  I sent some home with her as well.  She asked what they were and how I made them.  When I told her how simple they were to make, she wanted the recipie and said she thought she could do that.  (Amazing what miracle recipies we have in the states!!! :)  

     Despite all the challenges of the day and week, there were still some very positive things that had happened along with it.  It was a great reminder that we always have to put our trust in the Savior and move forward with whatever obstacles come our way.  Satan will always try to thwart the work of the Lord.  It is up to us to not be discouraged by his fiery darts  but to move forward to Plan B and with  our faith and the Savior will take care of the rest.

     I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is true, and that we are here in South Africa to help the work move forward in this area.  We are grateful for the opportunity to serve!



     

Africa In Pictures

These are a variety of pictures from some of the places we have been as we have visited some of our Branch members, or have gone with Brother and Sister Moss to their areas.  We have been in country one month today and finally have internet up and running on both computers.  What a trial of patience this has been!!  

This is the little town of KaNyamazane where Elder and Sister Moss help with their Branch.  This town is more primitive than Nelspruit where we serve, but there is a lot of building going on and the Church seems to be coming along and growing.

An interesting landmark in KaNyanmazane.

In one of thevery modern Malls in Nelspruit, an artist had his creations on display.  He created these things out of old driftwood that he found.  They were amazing!  He is very talented!

This friend looked very real, even his eyes.  Thought maybe he'd like to be photographed with me.  :)

These flowers are on the porch of the entry to Elder and Sister Moss's house.

Another one in pink.  They were simply gorgeous!!

These Birds of Paradise grow in front of our flat along the driveway.

Part of the largest man-made forest in the world.  It is on the way to Sabie, an area in our Branch.  Notice how evenly planted the rows of trees are.  There are millions of acres of these pine trees.  They are very well manicured, with no deadfall.

This is where it is clear cut, ready for replanting.

At a rest area on the way to Sabie.

A little "Lean to" where they sell their home grown fruits, nuts and vegetables.

This is the bridge overlooking the falls of the Sabie River.

This is a beautiful blooming azaela bush.

More of the Falls on the Sabie River.

Flowering thorn bushes.  Glad I don't have to trim them and haul the branches away!!!

Sabie River with bridge in the background..  Watch out for the crocs!!

Lays Potato Chips, even in South Africa!!  :)

Shacks in a poor section  on the road to Sabie.  People actually live here.  :(  So sad.

Three quarter moon in South Africa.  Looks a little different than at home.

A witch doctor's home in KaNyamazane.  They fly a white flag outside their home.

This is the school that they rent to hold meetings for the KaNyamazane Branch.  They were holding a Priesthood social one Saturday afternoon.   They love to play soccer, even without grass.

The inside of one of the rented rooms.  This is a third grade room.  It has double tables, two to a table.  It had 46 places for children.  So sad.  I wanted to cry to think of trying to learn under these circumstances.  And even worse to think of holding church here.  The principal won't let them put any pictures up in the rooms or even a sign outside indicating that this a Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints.  We have so much to be thankful for!

The few teaching supplies that they have.  As far as the Church goes, there is hope.  The Church has purchased land for a building when the tithing percent goes up.  But these are very poor people.

The wives of some of the Priesthood holders prepared the food for the social.  This is a typical African meal:  chicken legs, livers etc., beans, pap (pop) which is ground white corn cooked in boiling water.  It looks like mashed potatoes, but is much thicker and dryer, hot dog bun. They eat it with their hands.

An African sling.  They use a large towel or blanket, put the baby in it and wrap it around them and fold over to hold it tight.  They carry them like this until they are three or four years old.

I made a batch of  chocolate chip cookies to take up.  They disappeared like magic!

Rocks make a real good chair.  :)

This beautiful young has a mission call to Ghauna.  She is the first missionary in the KaNayamazane Branch.  Elder and Sister Nichols, whom we replaced, helped to buy her clothes for her mission.  She is the only one in her family who is a member.

Our Nelspruit Branch the last Sunday that Elder and Sister Nichols Nichols were here.  She is the one is the center with the pink flower on a beige dress and her husband is the fellow with gray hair a few people to the left of her.

These are avacado trees.  Notice the rows of electrical wire above the fence.  Some of the avacados weigh up to a pound or more.

We were invited to a Brei (Brii - Barbeque) at the home of  one of our members as a going away dinner for the Nichols'  They had pens with different kinds of birds.  This is one of them.

A flowering bush in their yard.  The blooms are white when they first open, then turn a vibrant purple.  The fragrance is unbelievable!  

These are macadamia nut trees.  Lynn is in the height of his glory.  We buy them at little roadside places for 20 rand - which is about $2.25 for a small bag.

Some more shacks coming home from Sabie.

This makes us be really grateful for our wonderful living conditions.

An old fashioned steam engine along the countryside on display.

With it being springtime, the trees are alive with beautiful flowering blooms.

Many of these trees adorn the countryside where ever  you drive.

 These flowering trees are called Jackaranda trees.  They are rich in color right now.  After they finish blooming, they will have long hanging needle like leaves on the branches.

An African sunset.

A hazy day overlooking the town of Barberton.  It has a very high elevation and the drive there is very steep and winding.

This area of Barberton has white limestone.

In Barberton, they have large colorfully painted rocks to welcome you there.

They love bright color!

Thatched rooftops on these huts outside of Baberton.  Notice the high coiled barbed wire above the fence.  That is very common here.

This lady is carrying a load of sticks on her head.  It is a very common way to carry loads of anything, baskets of laundry, heavy buckets, packages,whatever.  And it's always the ladies carrying them.

  

Our New Apartment

     After staying with Elder and Sister Moss for 8 days, we finally began the process of moving.  Elder and Sister Oborn came up from Johannsesburg on Sunday night to bring our new furniture and things for our apartment.  They are the couple responsible for the apartments for the missionaries.  They pulled a trailer with our couch and chair and bedding, along with his tools to fix whatever needed fixing.  They stayed with Elder and Sister Nichols on Sunday night.  Monday morning, the Nichols' loaded their car and headed to Johannesburg on route to Kenya to visit some former members where they served a few years ago.  (I'm always amazed at how many couples have served 2 or 3 missions previously).  Sister Oborn brought a lot of bedding down to the Moss's apartment to run through her washer as the electricity was about to run out in our apartment and it was a holiday today and the office where you buy more electricity was closed until Tuesday or Wednesday and we she didn't want to use all our electricity running the washer and dryer.  She informed me that I might want to go in and clean a little before we moved our things in.  Having been to the apartment a couple of times earlier, I already knew I would need to do that.  (Some people just don't seem to be as particular as I am)

     I started on the kitchen first since that seemed to be the biggest or worst area.  It was worse than I thought!  I took everything out of each cupboard and scrubbed out the cupboards and then washed everything that was in them and rearranged things to my liking.  I wiped of bottles and containers before putting them back in the cupboard or fridge. We worked until about 7:30 that night, and had the kitchen and fridge done.  It was dark and seemed too dingy to tell if I was getting it clean or not, so we decided to call it a day.

    Sisters Moss and Oborn made a trip to the stores earlier to get bedding, throw rugs, and toss pillows to give the apartment some personality.  I was amazed how well Sister Oborn did with choosing out colors that were something that I could live with.  The couch was a light beige suede with a matching ottoman, and a medium blue chair.  We chose to keep the winged back blue chair that was already here.  It was a little worn, but looked great with the other blue chair, though a different style.  It seemed to give balance to the living room.  Elder Oborn hung a new mirror in the main bathroom, and put a new light cover over the light in the second bathroom.  They were supposed to leave to go back to Joburg by about 3:30, but didn't even leave to go have a bite of dinner at the Moss's until 6:30.  We encouraged them to stay overnight, but she had a doctor appointment the next morning, and they were bringing the Nichols' luggage since they couldn't fit it in their car.  So they had no choice but to leave and drive during the night.  It was a four and half hour drive.  We felt badly for them to drive so late, because we knew they were tired, but we really did appreciate all their help in getting  things done in our apartment.

     We also appreciated Sister Moss's help in preparing lunch and dinner for all of us while we worked that day.  We had asked her if we could stay another day so we could finish getting things cleaned before we started unpacking them.  They told  us of course we  could.  It seemed nice to go to a clean apartment and be able to shower and sleep after being in the dissaray of our apartment.  The Moss's have also been expremely helpful while we have been there by taking us to different areas or shopping places for groceries etc, to help acquaint us with the area.  We would have ben totally lost without a clue as to where to go or what was available.   They have been terrific mentors and great friends.  We have had a lot of fun times while at their flat.  Sometimes we hae laughed until we had tears running down our faces.

     The next day, we got ready and headed to the apartment for some more of the same. I finished hanging some drapes in the bedroom, cleaned the bathrooms, wiped out shelves in the bedroom and bathroom so we dared put our things away.  About 8:00 that night, we went back to the Moss's to pack up our things and transfer them to our new apartment.  After unpacking our clothes and some of our bathroom things, we got the bed made up and hit the showers, ready for a good night's sleep in our new flat.  You'd think that after all the hours that we'd put in, I'd be asleep before my head hit the pillow; however, that wasn't the case.  I lay there for several hours.  It was nearly 4:30 before I could finally go to sleep.  The next morning, a litle after 6:00, the sun was shining brightly in our window, despite the drapes being closed, so that was the end of my sleep.

     This day wasn't so productive!  I had been cleaning out the hall closet and washing towels and sheets that were in them, and my washer stopped in the middle of the cycle, and the door was locked so I couldn't do anything to get it unlocked.  A little later, the water went off.  We didn't know why, so without any water to clean or wash, we decided to go do errands and get some groceries.   When we came back later that day, we had water, so we were able to get the floors mopped, (actually Lynn did all the mopping, and with all tile floors, that was no simple task!) and get the rugs down and now the apartment was beginning to look like a real place to live.  It was worth all the effort! 

     Voila!! The finished product!

Hanging the drapes in the extra bedroom.

The finished room, just waiting for guests.  Any takers???

Nice to have a maid to help with the difficult chores!! :)

So much fun shaking those comforters into the duvae covers!

Our finished room.  I like the bright green.

Our patio looking from the outside in.  Notice the barred doors.  This is typical everywhere.

The view from the patio looking out.  That's the row of flats on the row just below us.  We're on the bottom level.  (They think we're too decrepid to do stairs.)

Our front entry.  Notice the African Wall hanging.  The African that I bought it from told me it was a window shade to keep the flies out.  Our African guest tonight told he had never heard of such a thing. Oh well, it does make a nice wall hanging.  (Tha carved wood hanger was already there.  There's a mirror on the other side of the room to match.

The right side of our kitchen.  As you can see, we're fairly modern.  At least we don't have to scrub our clothes outside in three buckets.

Our kitchen, with a small utility room at the end.  Do you like the hand made mahogony bowl that I bought from a young man from Zimbabwe on our way to Nelspruit?

  

 The bath off the main bedroom.

The extra bath.  You'll have your own bath when you come to visit.  :)

This beautiful antherium just started to bloom.  It is on our porch just before you come in the front door.

Our living room.  It is very peaceful and relaxing.  The opens to our patio.

My new automatic dishwasher!