Last Week Of January 2013

We hope you have had a good week, have survived the cold, been satisified with the Groundhog's predictitons of how much winter we will still be having and that your favorite Super Bowl Team won!

We have had an interesting week, trying to catch up on all the appointments that canceled last week and trying to get all the January work fitted into the last four days before February appeared on the calendar.

Monday I thought I would get caught up on my ironing before I had to start dinner. We were having one of the family's we visit over for dinner and FHE. Before I could get to my ironing, the Elders called and asked if they could come over so I could show to them how to make bread. It actually reminds me of the story, "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie", except my version is, "If You Give An Elder Some Bread". After I had given the Elders some home made bread the other day, Elder Handerade asked me if he could get the recipe for the bread. I made copies and brought to District Meeting the following Friday. He read through it, asked me some questions to be sure he understood all the directions since he's used to seeing measurements in "Milliliiters" instead of "cups". ( He's from Zimbabwe) I told him if he wanted to come over and watch me make it once so he understood the instructions better, he could. He said, "O K, we'll make a plan!" So Monday, which was their P day was the day for the plan.

Just when I was wondering how I was going to work everything out for dinner and FHE, we received a text from Purine saying they wouldn't be able to make it for dinner because her husband couldn't make it, and they couldn't come without him. He isn't a member and has never shown any interest in the Church, but she didn't want to leave him out. We were disappointed, but time wise it probably worked out for the better. The bread turned out fine and the Elders were excited to get to take home a loaf of hot bread.

On Tuesday, I did get my ironing done. With it being the end of the month, and knowing how slim the Elders wallets are by then we decided to have the Elders over for dinner. I made tacos and brownies. Just as I was finishing cutting up the veggies, our Wednesday appointment showed up. One of us had written down the wrong day and we had made arrangements for her to come over to our flat. That's o k, we just invited her to stay for dinner as well. In visiting with her, we discovered that she had been dating a young man for the past 5 years and he had asked her to marry him. They were beginning to make plans. Lynn asked her if her family was making him pay the "lobola". In this culture, it is customary for the groom to pay the bride's family an agreed upon amount of money to marry their daughter. ( Kind of like the "Johnny Lingo" movie from several years back.) However, today it has evolved from 2 cows to thousands of dollars and instead of getting married, many people just live together because the boy can't raise the "lobola" or can't agree on a fair amount. The Church has come out against it. They call it "bride price". They are trying to encourage the families to do away with traditions that go against Church Doctrine, and encourage the young people to prepare to go to the temple and do away with the "lobola". Lynn worried later if he had offended her with some of the things that he had said. He sent her a text apologizing if he had said anything negative against her cultural traditions, but she said everything was fine. Hopefully it is!

Thursday, we sent a message to the Diale family that we were supposed to meet with, saying that we were still planning to see them at 6:30. She texted back that they were expecting us to come on Tuesday. We were starting to feel like we were losing it! Two mix ups in two days?!!! I went right to my planner at church and wrote down Thursday when she changed the appointment. Oh well, better luck next time, right?

We were sad that we weren't able to help Crew celebrate his 6th birthday, but we were able to make connections with him by phone to sing to him. As we were finishing getting ready for District meeting, we got a call from Sister Sigauke saying she had to bring her car down to be serviced and it was going to take longer than she thought and was wondering if she could come over to our flat and hang out for the day. We told her she could and we would be down to get her in a few minutes. We left with uncurled hair and ran to the mall to pick her up. We still had to make a fast breakfast when we returned. We were only 10 minutes late for meeting, but she enjoyed being able to hang out and get caught up on the rest that she didn't get last week with driving back and forth while her husband was in the hospital and her baby was crying during the night because she was sick again.

That night we met our Branch Clerk, James, and his wife, Debra, for dinner. They have been having some problems with their daughter who just graduatd from High School and has become a little rebellious. We found a good article in the Ensign about making choices that we wanted to share with them that might help her. After dinner, we came back to our flat for dessert. While visiting, they started to open up about many things. As we visited, Debra started talking about how corrupt the government was and how she used to work for the government. Her husband,was murdered, (James is the husband's brother and he married her after his brother died - another custom) She was in political exile for 10 years because of her speaking out against the government during the time of the Apartied. Wow! We were totally dumbfounded by all this!! We don't know what there is about our flat that makes people open up to us about things that they never even let on about when we're at their flat, but it seems to happen often. We were glad to be a sounding board for them.

Saturday afternoon after we had finished our cleaning and preparing lessons for Sunday, we went to make a few visits. We stopped at the Elder's Quorem President to check on their little boy who had broken his arm and discuss a few ideas about the Branch. We then went to see Purine since she had to cancel our visit last week. She was very stressed about a new job that she was starting this week. After we had visited with her for a bit, Lynn asked her if she would like a blessing. She said she would. She had been offered a new job making more money and needed to start on Friday. Because they had just called her, she hadn't had a chance to tell her principal that she would be leaving. Lynn asked her if she would like a blessing, and naturally she agreed and was very grateful for it.

After the last two weeks of cancellations and mixed up appointments, we were beginning to feel like were starting in with alzheimers and needed to be shipped home. Sunday in Fast and Testimony meeting we were surprised and delighted that as several people bore their testimony, they expressed thanks for our visits and blessings and said what an uplift it had given them. We were grateful to know that our last two weeks hadn't been a complete failure. One of our members invited us over for dinner after church. He is the Sunday School President but has only been to church once in the last two months and his family hasn't been at all since the primary Program the last part of November. It is Brother and Sisiter McCarthy's son and family. We had a nice dinner as we visited on the patio, Their 3 boys played ball in the yard and discovered a new litter of 7 puppies. The 5 year old was excited to take my hand to bring me over to see them. After the men had secluded themselves to discuss some branch matters, we left a spiritual message and had prayer before we left.

Despite the craziness of the past couple of weeks, we are happy about the outcome of things and pray that they will continue to improve. We think about all of you and wonder how you are doing and what kind of activities the kids are participating in. We hope the major snow storms are about gone and the spring thaw is on its way. I remember one February when our road was almost washed away from rain and thawing of snow coming down the side of the mountain. I had to taxi kids up the hill to Suzette's birthday party. Our weather continue's to be hot with intermittant rain storms. We had thunder and lightning today that sounded like a huge gunshot going off inside the house. The lightning strike tripped the breakers and blacked out things momentarily. It doesn't rain, it POURS! Crystal and Jeanette have experienced how it rains like that in Dominica and Thailand. We were just thankful that we weren't out walking somewhere.

We know several of you have been experiencing sickness. We hope you are feeling better. Please know that you and your families are in our prayers daily. We miss all of you and hope things are going well for you. Write and let us know all the happenings in your life. That's what cures our homesickness!

Love you much!!

Current  Busies - January 2013

Sorry we have gotten behind in our weekly letters. Things have been extremely busy lately. With seven families to visit and several others that would like us to come by, plus lost souls that we have been trying to locate, we haven't had many spare minutes.

We thought we had been doing well to get our apppointments set up in order to get everyone seen before the end of the month. One by one, we had several appointments cancel for one reason or another so we've had to reschedule them, and that isn't easy since most of them have to be done at night because of work schedules. We should be o k in seeing seeing everyone if no one else cancels this week, because we are running out of days.

Last weekend, Elder and Sister Alder came down from Tzaneen to do a training for all those teaching Seminary or Institute. Some of the people hadn't gotten their materials yet, so they had brought the materials for them. It had rained for the past three days, so some of the people who live far away couldn't make it. I made carmelitas for a treat afterward. It was a nice afternoon despite the rain. We went to dinner that evening with the Alders. It was nice too relax and laugh a little with another Senior Couple as we share our stories of woe working with first time members and trying to teach them how to do their jobs in a helpful way without making them feeling like we're trying to take over. We're not trying to take over, it's just that some people perceive that we are and get a ittle huffy. We just smile, side step a little, and reword our suggestions in hope that they will see the light. Such is the life of a missionary!

Last Monday we had the two sets of missionaries over for dinner since one from each set was being transferred, and we wanted to have one last get together. I made a roast beef dinner with rolls and cheese cake for dessert. They enjoyed the food and sharing laughs one last time before they departed to different areas the next day. With the two new elders coming in, we now have 4 different missionaries than were were here when we first arrived. It seems a little strange. One of the new ones is from Zimbabwe, and the other is from Nampa, Idaho. So now we have two from Zimbabwe, one from Idaho and one from Nevada.

Because of several of the members that weren't able to make it to the Seminary Training, we had to deliver the materials to them. Consequently this week we have been on the road a lot because they all live at least an hour away. Tuesday, with the two elders going to Joburg for transfers, the other two didn't have appointments for the day, so we invited them to come along with us to see where these far-out members live. And because of the area that we were going to be in, we decided to drive thru Kruger Park. It is the largest National Wildlife Park in the world, right at our doorstep and we haven't had the time to go there yet. This seemed like the perfect opportunity. I packed a lunch because you oftentimes are in remote areas with not much to choose from by way of eating establishments. We went to Jennifer's - our visit to her is on the blog - so I won't elaborate. We stopped in town for a bathroom break and a cold drink and we were on our way.

Several of the entrances to the Park were closed because the heavy rains had washed out roads and bridges at some of the gates. Coupled with the fact that we missed the turnoff to where we wanted to go, we wasted an hour of driving time. But we did make it there, and it was well worth it!!!! Immediately upon entering, we began seeing animals. You can't get out of your cars because of the danger involved, so you just stay in your cars and enjoy the amazing beauty and snap pictures as fast as you can go. There will be a blog post and pictures of this event, so be sure to check it out. Needless to say, it was totally amazing!! I was wishing we had the whole family there to enjoy the fantastic sights of animals that you only see in the zoo, and there they were, right outside our car!! AMAZING!!!!

By the time we got home to meet the new Elders and get them off to their apartment, I was about beat, as I had a touch of the flu this past weekend and just felt like I was ready for bed. Just after I finished taking off my shoes and badge, we received a text that our Branch President had been admitted to the hospital with meningitis - a complication from the mumps that he has been down with the past 2 weeks. I got redressed and we went over to the hospital to give him a blessing. They had been down since 11:00 that morning from Lidenburg - 1 1/2 hour away, and at 9:30 that night they finally diagnosed the problem and admitted him. This is their family's fourth trip to the hospital in 3 months and she still has an eye surgery to have done. I feel so bad for them. We invited her to come and stay over at our house, but she had not brought her eye perscriptions, so she needed to drive back home.

Wednesday, I made clam chowder and bread to take to a family who we were visiting with. She has been inactive for the past 5-6 years, yet was a R. S. President when they lived in Joburg. We're not sure what caused the problem. Because we feel like we're imposing on them when we come because she has just reeturned from work, I wanted to make dinner so she wouldn't feel like our visit was infringing on her evening. A couple of hours before the appointment, she sent a text that her husband had an unscheduled meeting and they wouldn't be able to meet with us and she would be out of town the next couple of weeks for her work. I told Lynn I was taking the dinner anyway and just saying "Hi" and leaving. We let them know that we were coming. She met us by her gate and stood by the car and visited for about 30 minutes and seemed happy for the visit. She was very grateful for the dinner as well. I got a text later saying that they were enjoyoing the dinner and could she get the recipe for the clam chowder. We felt like our efforts had paid off. With her, that is HUGE progress!!

Thursday, we had scheduled to go to Barberton to take their Seminary supplies as well as assess their food needs and take them grocery shopping. They are the ones who moved up there to start a poultry farm, but they're still waiting for the government funding for the project. When I talked to her the other day and asked about their needs, she said they were struggling. We had talked to the Branch President and asked about the possibility of doing a food order for her and he gave us the go ahead. After visiting with their family and leaving a message and stressing the importance of staying in school and doing well, we made a list and went shopping. She was very careful to buy only staples and the inexpensive brands at that. She wouldn't buy any cereal because it required fresh milk and she only used powdered milk since she has no transportation to go to the store. Driving back to her house, Sister Machile said, "The other day I starting singing the words to 'Count Your Blessings,' and it is really true! And to think, a year ago I hadn't even heard about the Church." She said how much she appreciated what we had done. After we finished hauling the bags on food in, her son thanked Lynn and said this will really help.

Friday, after District meeting, we left for Komatipoort to visit the the Kruger family. They hadn't been to church because their car had been in the repairs and they had no transportation for the 1 hour 45 minute drive, and we still had their Seminary materials to get to them so she could start her lessons. They are struggling right now. They lost their motel busines when the economy slowed down and have now started a wholesale potato business. We met them at their business and visited inbetween customers. They were very grateful for our visit. I think she just needed someone to talk to becaue she went on about each of her kids, the choices some of them were making, the problems she has with blacks, (they are white South Africans) and on and on. They even followed us out to the car while still bending our ear. After almost 2 hours, we finally got on our way. They thanked us for our visit. I was convinced even more of the importance of home and visiting teachers. Because of where they live, she is her daugher's V. T. and her daughter is hers. So how many times is the daughter going to call the R S Pres and let her know about a problem that her mom is having and vise versa? Duh!! We decided that somehow or another, we need to find the time to visit these families who aren't able to make it to church on a regular basis in order to keep their testimonies strong and to let them know that they aren't forgotten.

Saturday, was basically a P day of laundry and cleaning and making cinnamon rolls for President Sigauke. When we stopped in to see him Friday night, he seemed to be getting a little discouraged. Who wouldn't after being in bed sick for three weeks. We asked if we could bring him anything. He said, "No". We said isn't there something that you would like that you haven't had for a while? He thought for a minute and said, "Well, I would like some of those cinnamon rolls that you sent to Presidency meeting that time." I told him he would get rolls. So while Lynn prepared his talk for Sacrament meeting today, I worked on those other things.

Lynn gave a very good talk on "We Are Our Brother's Keeper". It was geared to many of our members who don't worry about anyone else during the week. We had invited one of our investigators, Lorraine, to come for dinner. While we were getting in the car, we noticed one of our Young Women and her little brother walking outside the gate. Lynn called to them and asked them if they were going to ride the bus. (Their mother wasn't there and they live about 45 minutes away) When she said they were, he called the mom and asked her if they could come home and have dinner and then we would bring them home when we brought Lorraine because she lives on the way to their house. She agreed. The teen is 15 and her brother is 5. Everyone enjoyed the dinner of chicken stir fry and watermelon and cinnamon rolls. Lynn showed them a video on the Savior while I cleared up the dishes. We dropped Lorraine off first and then took the kids. The mom, Thundiwe, insisted that we come in for a minute. She was saying she had been hoping that we would come by some time and read scriptures and have a prayer and was very glad they we had stopped by. We have made a couple of appointments with her the last couple of weeks, but her work schedule required her to cancel them. We were glad we were able to meet with her finally. She is also a single Mom. You can't believe the road that we had to drive on to get to her house! But that is the norm in most of the areas that are off the main road. I think our car is going to need new shocks after our week of travels.

I'll close. You're all probably needing a snack and potty break. I know my back says I can't sit any longer. So just in case you wonder why we don't write any more often than we do, now you know. Life is good here. We're loving the work and it is verified to us every day that this is where we're supposed to be. We hope life good for you too. We know that we are missing out on many things, but hope you are taking good videos so we can enjoy them when we get back. We also hope you have given our love and hugs to the families who have lost loved ones recently. Our prayers and thoughts have been with all of them, as they are with each of you. We love you and pray that your testimonies and love for our Savior are growing each day, as ours are.



Adventures in Kruger Park

Last week we had to deliver Seminary materials to some of our members who were unable to attend the Seminary Training Meeting because they live too far away to come on Saturday and then come again on Sunday  for church.  One of the families lived next to Kruger Park,  the largest wild animal preserve in the world.  We decided that as long as we were that close to the park, we would stop and drive through part of it after we got our materials delivered.  We called the two Elders who didn't have to go to Joburg for transfers to see if they wanted to ride with us to know where these members lived.  They agreed to go.  We packed a lunch and snacks and headed out.

As long as we were at the member's house, we left a message and had prayer with them before we left.  They were very grateful for our visit.  After stopping in town for a bathroom break and a cold drink, we checked the map and got on our way.  Somehow, we missed the road to the gate we were planning to go through.   Although there are several entrances to the park, many of the gates were closed because the rains had washed out bridges and roads.  We ended up having to back track to get to the one we wanted.  We wasted an hour, but were still game for a short ride through the park.  Soon after entering, we saw some wart hogs run across the road.  I think these were the first wart hogs I had ever seen.  We weren't expecting to see animals so soon, and consequently didn't have the camera ready.  By the time we rolled the windows down and turned the camera on, we saw  a very huge elephant munching near a tree.

This definitely gave new meaning to the song "Jumbo The Elephant" that I would sing to the kids when they were little!

A little while later, we ran across another wart hog.  This time the camera was ready, but because of the swiftness of the animal, we were only able to catch the back end.  

We were fortunate to have two good camera men ready to capture the sights at hand.  Elder Center ran the video camera and Elder Handerade was snapping with the still camera.  They did an excellent job.  Elder Baxter drove and I kept a lookout for moving creatures.  We were a great team.  What someone missed, another one  saw and alerted the rest of us.

This elephant was definitely in need of an orthodotist!  

We named him "Snaggle Tooth!"

This one was pretending to be "The Leader of the Pack", until it got too close to the mama's baby, and she growled loudly at him, and he hurried on his way!

Nice shot of the rino's behind.

We waited for this small herd of zebra to cross the road.

This small one decided that the journey had made him hungry and he had to 

stop for a snack before he could continue.

This huge rino and her baby had started to cross the road and the mama wasn't letting anything or anybody go across while they were there.  There were several cars backed up waiting to move forward.

We waited 10 to 15 minutes for them to cross the road.

As the baby would move, the mom kept a sharp eye on anything that was threatening to take over the road.  The sound of the motor would cause the mother to tilt her horn and threaten to move the vehicle off the road.  Needless to say, we waited patiently.  When they were far enough to the other side with their rear ends facing the road, we slowly eased our way down past them.  She was not to be fooled and whirled around toward us.  Elder Baxter gunned the motor and we made a safe get away!!

A close up of a rino resting.  It's baby was playing near by, but she was determined to take five while she could.  This is a different one than the one monopolizing the road.

Cameras don't seem to interupt their nap time at all.

That's a honkin' big horn!  I'd hate to have him after me!!

This litle white bird was just going along for the ride.

A water buffalo grazing in knee deep grasses.

For those of you who like steer wrestling, this would be a bit of a challenge for you!!

Ya gotta love those horns!  And that wasn't any small creature!!

Good shot of a kudu.  Check out those horns.  Justin, I thought of you when I saw him!

You would have loved it!

Nibbling some of those yummy leaves.

Don't be so bashful!!  We just want to see your face!

Wild - a - Beasts have nice horns as well.

This little bird decided to hitch a rid on the back of this impaula!

The bird thought he had found an old friend.  Nothing like saving  wing flaps!!

Some nice impalas.

At one of the Park entrances, we saw several impalas and baboons enjoying each others' company.

Can't decide if he's giving her a love pat or picking a bug out of her fur.

So nice of him to share a bit of lunch with his friend.

Looks like a family reunion!

This is what I call "Getting a bird's eye view!"

Any guesses as to how long that rock will stay secured to the other without falling?

This is one of those hidden pictures.  See if you can find two hidden giraffes!

We had a really good camera man.  Not only could Elder Center spot moving animals, but he could spot a spider web with a spider in it.  The web was about 3 or more feet wide.  I had to look carefully, but I could see it when the sun shone on it just right.  It must have moved just a little to cause the blur in the middle. 

This is what you call a determined bug with a lot of faith.  Elder Handerade caught him as he crept across the road with no worries that a large rino would come squish him in an instant!

 Coming home, we passed acre after acre of banana fields.  They put a plastic bag around the bunch of bananas to keep them from ripening too fast, and to keep pests out.  There is only one bunch of bananas to a tree, and the bottoms of the bananas grow pointing up toward the sky.  A beautiful flower grows at the bottom of the bunch. After the bananas are harvested, the tree dies and another one grows in its place.  They cut the old one down to make room for the new one. They grow really fast.

Though our drive through Kruger Park was sort of a last minute thought, we felt it had been a very successful afternoon.  We have talked with several people who say they hardly saw any animals when they drove through.    The day was sunny and clear and a perfect day for enjoying some of Heavenly Father's creations after  delivering materials for the Seminary Program.

We never cease to be amazed at the beauty and wonders of not only South Africa, but also the rest of the world as well.   He has created this beautiful world for us to enjoy while we are  here, and all He asks is that we live worthy to live with him again some day!  How can we doubt His love for us?  We are grateful to be a  part of this wonderful work!