Thursday morning we left for Zone Conference in Joburg. Just outside of Joburg is an Organic Market. They have a great variety of items that are all hand made from natural products. Sister Hunt and I had a wonderful time looking for that Perfect find. Elders Hunt and Baxter were patient while we explored all the possibilities of these "must have" treasures. I must say, their organic lunch left a lot to be desired! Oh well, it filled that empty spot for the time being.
We left there and stopped at the Mission Office to pay our monthly expenses. It was fun to visit with the Bishops and the Leavitts who work in the office. The Leavitts will leave at the end of August, after 2 years of service. We will miss them!
As we were coming out of the Mission Office, we realized that we had never taken of the sign in front, so we thought we had better have one, just for the record!
We've been here almost one year, and it still seems like a dream!
Zone Conference started at 9:00 the next morning. Everyone was asked to be in their seats 18 minutes early to prepare spiritually to be taught. We arrived at the appointed time to find the chapel already filled with Elders. Who knew young men could be so punctual? They are great servants of the Lord! President and Sister Omer always have some wonderful spiritual food for us. Sister Omer reminded the Elders about proper manners, cleanliness, taking care of phones, cars and flats, ( apartments), and practicing good budgeting habits, as well as being faithful servants of our Heavenly Father, giving their all to their mission.
President Omer talked about the importance of faith. He showed the DVD of the World Wide Missionary Training. That was the basis for our Conference. What a wealth of information was in that video! He would stop it after each segment and discuss the concepts in that segment. Some of the Zone Leaders had the opportunity to do some impromptu role play concerning these concepts being discussed. We came away with more determination to be better missionaries, to work harder, study harder, and be more in tune with the Spirit in our teaching.
That night, we had the opportunity to attend the David Glenn Hatch South African Tour Concert. We had great seats -- Row 7 - center. He also had several of his student play pieces as well. What accomplished pianists! Three of the performers were under 18 years of age and one was only 14. They all played pieces from classical composers. They finished off the evening with "The Stars and Stripes" played by David Hatch and three others on two pianos. It was amazing!
Excellent work!
These were all of the fabulous and talented performers!
After the concert, we saw Elder Handerade, who served in the KaNyamazane Branch until a couple of months ago. It was so good to see him. Monday morning, we received an email from him saying that his father had passed away Sunday morning. I felt so sad! He said he was very stressed and said how much he missed us and the good food. I wished I could have been closer to his area so I could have brought him a dinner and tried to comfort him a little.
We were able to see some of our other former "missionary family members". It was so good to see them! These Elders become like your own kids as you work with them over a several month period. It's hard to let them go at transfer time.
Saturday, before we headed home, we made a stop at the China Mall for some bargains. We also stopped in Pretoria to go to the Voortrekker Monument and Museum. They were much like our Mormon Pioneers, who fought for their religious freedom.
While walking down the sidewalk to dinner, Sister Hunt noticed a little shop. We stepped inside to see what they had. I found this silk wrap around skirt. Then I needed to find a top to go with it. The China Mall solved that problem. I was able to find the top and scarf to complete the outfit.
This statue reminded me of one of our pioneer women who had just lost her husband and was wondering how she was going to care for her little children alone.
There were several of these large statues around the outside of the museum.
These are some of the carvings that are along the outside fence around the museum.
This is the entrance of this huge structure.
This was one of the replicas of one of their wagons.
This shows the back view of the wagon with a mother and her baby.
This is a type cannon that they used in their battles.
All around the the ground floor of the museum are statues of the
Voortrekkers and the Africans and the conflicts they had.
These are life size statues, and are very real looking!
You could feel the agony and the friction and strife between these two nationalities.
The art work was excellent!
This is part of a tapestry mural depicting the story of the Voortrekkers.
It is done in bright colored yarn in a type of stitching similar to counted cross stitch.
These scenes were all so real. How they were able to get the detail
in there with the stitching is unbelievable!
As you looked at these different scenes a little ways back, the colors and detail were all very vivid!
This a hole in the top of the dome of the monument. Each December 16th the posterity of the Voortrekkers gather here and watch the Sun pass over the dome which shines a the sunlight across the tomb on the floor of the monument. This worship service is to thank God for the blessing that the Voortrekkers received in finally defeating the Zulu Warriors at The Battle of Blood River where
470 Voortrekkers defeated 10 -15,000 Zulu Warriors in 1838.
470 Voortrekkers defeated 10 -15,000 Zulu Warriors in 1838.
This lantern burns continually to forever remind the people of the sacrifices of the Voortrekkers.
This is a huge tomb in the inside main floor of the museum.
It is actually empty, but represents all those who died during the Vooktrekkers battles.
This is the outside view of the Monument / Museum.
As you can see, it is a very huge structure!
It was interesting to learn more about the Voortrekkers. These are the ancestors of many of the White South Africans.
When we arrived home, we walked in and switched on the lights, but were still standing in the dark. I panicked! What now?! We emptied our arms and Lynn felt around the back of the door to the circuit breaker and flipped the switch. Hooray! Light! I guess the storm that came through Friday night and tripped the breaker. I immediately went to the freezer to check our things there. The ice cubes had started to melt a little, but the meat was still frozen. Fortunately we didn't have to throw everything out like we have had to do other times. Later we discovered the carton of ice cream had turned to liquid so we had to throw it out. At least that's better than it has been other times when we've been gone for three days and everything was ruined! This can really cause havoc with your grocery budget!
I was still unpacking when the missionaries came over. They are like kids waiting for their parents to come home. They just had to make sure we got home safe and sound. We visited for a bit, in between trying to still unpack. I had to speak in Church Sunday, so wanted to take a few minutes to go over my talk and solidify my thoughts before I got too tired. Crystal was blessing Madyn the next day, so I wanted to check my email to see that everything was in order for that, even though we couldn't be there. Then about 10:00 I started dinner preparations for Sunday, as we had invited one of our member families over after church. Their car has been in the repair since last November. They had only been to church twice in that time. I had told them when they were able to make it to church, I wanted them to come to dinner before they started on their 2 hour trip back home. They had fixed dinner for us when we had gone to do a Family Home Evening and bring them the Sacrament. Finally with the rolls made out and in the fridge, roast in the crock pot and the veggies cut up and in bags in the fridge except for the potatoes, I hit the sac.
My talk was on "Women of Righteousness" from Elder Ballard's talk given at a BYU Devotional in 2001 in honor of Women's day, a Government holiday. We never knew they celebrated a Women's Day. Two other women spoke and each went over a little so I had to consolidate my talk in some parts, but the meeting still went over a little.
Everything went well for the dinner. They seemed to enjoy themselves. They have two boys age 16 and 18, and a daughter 25. The boys are both over fix feet, so I worried that I would have enough food. In addidtion, we had invited the Elders over. We feel that they are good role models for the young boys, and the boys enjoy visiting with them. As with the loaves and fishes, we had enough for seconds and a bit left over. They enjoyed themselves and were appreciative of the dinner invitation. I always feel bad when many of our members have a 1-2 hour drive home after being in meetings for 3 hours.
I had finished clearing up everything, with a few minutes to spare. Jenn had emailed me the night before and said to call her phone at 5:00 our time, which is 9:00 Crystal's church time, and she would have her phone on silent but would put it on speaker when I called so we could listen to Broc give Madyn her blessing. It was a little difficult to hear, but we were able to make out pretty much what he said. We were thrilled to be able to be there in a small way, though we couldn't be there in person. I am so grateful for technology which allows us to stay connected with family and special times. Later that night, we skyped with them to find out how the brunch went afterward, and see beautiful little Madyn in her blessing dress. She was blessed in Crystal's Blessing dress that Jennifer had made for her 31 years ago. It looked as beautiful on Madyn as it did on Crystal that many years ago. She was also given Crystal's middle name for her middle name - "Caprice"
Lynn snapped a picture of her from off the computer screen.
She is always such a happy little sweetheart!
She is always such a happy little sweetheart!
During the week, we made several visits to some of our "lost" members. We have several who either have moved or decided to quite coming. We are continuing to work on our "Rescue" efforts.
Lynn had to do an audit with the KaNyamazane Branch President. This took a few hours. He is still trying to get them to fill out forms for their expenditures and turn their receipts with the forms. During these frustrating times, we have to keep telling ourselves, "In time, they will learn," That's why we are here!
Wednesday I had the opportunity to celebrate a birthday in South Africa. It started out with a trip to the salon for a much needed hair cut, and then to lunch with Lynn and Elder & Sister Hunt. They took me to lunch at a very nice restaurant, with a beautiful view. We had a very quiet relaxing lunch. We came back to our flat for donuts and presents, and a beautiful bouquet of flowers!
After making a few visits, we came back to skype and phone with some of the family, and friends. It was such a fun day, I didn't even mind getting another year younger!
Saturday, I was hosting the Enrichment Day Activity. The sisters wanted to learn how to do home canning. Since it is still winter, there isn't an abundant supply of fruits that you would put in jars, such as peaches and apricots. So we did freezer jam and dinner rolls. We can't get Pectin here, so we used clear gelatin as a substitute for the jam, and it turned out fine. Everything went well. These sisters aren't used to baking, so any of this kind of information is helpful for them. They were thrilled to know how to make these things and were able to take a small jar of jam home with them.
The next day at Relief Society, one of the counselors said she was so excited to make the things that she stopped at the store on the way home and bought what she needed to make them.
Sunday, there was one more birthday celebration. Sister Hunt made birthday dinner for me. We do birthday dinners for anyone of our missionary family who is having a birthday, and usually have it on Sunday evening. She made Chicken Cordon Blue, Green Beans with Bacon, Rice with Cream sauce, Green Salad and I brought rolls, since I had some left over from Saturday. She also made a Carrot birthday cake. It was all very yummy. I felt guilty for her to go to all that work. Besides all the visits they do in KaNyamazane every day, they also teach two hours of Seminary on Saturday, and are gone most of the day.
We are so blessed to be able to serve in this area, with such great missionary and Branch family and friends. We love the work, even when we receive rejection by some of the members. We are grateful for the blessings from our Heavenly Father as we do His work.
Lynn had to do an audit with the KaNyamazane Branch President. This took a few hours. He is still trying to get them to fill out forms for their expenditures and turn their receipts with the forms. During these frustrating times, we have to keep telling ourselves, "In time, they will learn," That's why we are here!
Wednesday I had the opportunity to celebrate a birthday in South Africa. It started out with a trip to the salon for a much needed hair cut, and then to lunch with Lynn and Elder & Sister Hunt. They took me to lunch at a very nice restaurant, with a beautiful view. We had a very quiet relaxing lunch. We came back to our flat for donuts and presents, and a beautiful bouquet of flowers!
This was the view from the window where we were sitting.
A very lovely place!
This vase of huge yellow lilies was on a table in the foyer of the restaurant.
Some of my hibiscus blooms decided to add to the enjoyment of the day!
Beautiful birthday flowers. I'm not sure what kind the huge different ones are.
The light burgundy lilies were also unique.
A new brown purse with more presents inside!
The necklace is made from ostrich egg shell.
This colorful necklace is actually cultured pearls. They shoot dye into the pearls as
they are forming. I'm not sure what makes them change shape to be something other than round.
Lynn found these at the Organic Market. I think he chose very well!
Elder & Sister Hunt gave me an apron and a pink rubber scrapper for "A new look in the kitchen"!
Make a wish! one - two- three - blow!
After making a few visits, we came back to skype and phone with some of the family, and friends. It was such a fun day, I didn't even mind getting another year younger!
Saturday, I was hosting the Enrichment Day Activity. The sisters wanted to learn how to do home canning. Since it is still winter, there isn't an abundant supply of fruits that you would put in jars, such as peaches and apricots. So we did freezer jam and dinner rolls. We can't get Pectin here, so we used clear gelatin as a substitute for the jam, and it turned out fine. Everything went well. These sisters aren't used to baking, so any of this kind of information is helpful for them. They were thrilled to know how to make these things and were able to take a small jar of jam home with them.
They loved the fruit dip. they said it was "Divine" !
President Sigauke drove his wife down from Lidenburg because her eyes aren't well enough to drive that far. Then he sat at the back of the living room and played toys with their two little girls.
The next day at Relief Society, one of the counselors said she was so excited to make the things that she stopped at the store on the way home and bought what she needed to make them.
Sunday, there was one more birthday celebration. Sister Hunt made birthday dinner for me. We do birthday dinners for anyone of our missionary family who is having a birthday, and usually have it on Sunday evening. She made Chicken Cordon Blue, Green Beans with Bacon, Rice with Cream sauce, Green Salad and I brought rolls, since I had some left over from Saturday. She also made a Carrot birthday cake. It was all very yummy. I felt guilty for her to go to all that work. Besides all the visits they do in KaNyamazane every day, they also teach two hours of Seminary on Saturday, and are gone most of the day.
This is the beautiful carrot cake, complete with decorations.
We are so blessed to be able to serve in this area, with such great missionary and Branch family and friends. We love the work, even when we receive rejection by some of the members. We are grateful for the blessings from our Heavenly Father as we do His work.
