Early July Happenings

We had been helping teach an investigator friend of one of our members, Candace Smith, whose dad was the Branch President before President Sigauke.  They live in  Lydenburg, about 2 hours away.  In order to save the K's on the Elders car, they asked us to go with them to teach.  After Magnus had had about four lessons, his employer transferred him to Whitbank, a town two hours away in another direction, and in another district.  His girlfriend, Candace was also transferred.   Fortunately, the elder who was teaching him is now the Zone Leader in the new area where Magnus lives.  He had the missionaries in that area  continue to  teach him.  Long story short, Magnus ended up getting baptized.  He asked Elder Center, his first missionary teacher to baptize him and he asked if Lynn and I would give the prayers at his baptism.  We were very honored to do that.  He said we were the ones who really made him feel welcome the first time he came to church at our branch.  We had an enjoyable time meeting Candace's family.  They enjoyed being able to get caught up on all the news about the Nelspruit Branch since they had left.    Afterward, as we were enjoying some refreshments, Candace's mother pulled us aside and told us that Magnus was going to purpose to Candace later that day, but he wanted to wait until he was a member before he purposed.  She was so excited and just wanted to share that with us before we left.  It was fun to be keepers of a secret!

Magnus and Elder Center

Magnus, Candace, and all her family.

Elder Center and Elder Mower.  Elder Mower was a brand new Elder who arrived just a few weeks before we did.  He served in KaNyamazane, but was part of our missionary family until March.

I had brought cookies for all the Elders, so when we were driving out to meet Elder Mower, this is what we saw all along the roads of the township.  This is very typical over here,

but seemed to be more so in this area.

This is the little church that serves the area in this township.

The next couple of days, in my spare minutes, I made up some baby blankets for one of Crystal's friends who made a trip from Chicago to Michigan to help decorate Crystal's nursery.  Kristen is expecting her first baby in a couple of weeks.  She and Paul were Broc and Crystal's good friends in Dominica.   I was so appreciative of her coming to help Crystal and cheer her up in those few weeks before Madyn was born when she was going thru so much turmoil about what the ultrasounds were showing.  I got them finished and in the mail to them.

Two of our members had a birthday on the 31st of July.  Louise was recently divorced, has so children, and no immediate family in the area.  We surprised her with a lunch date for her birthday.  She was very appreciative of it.  I made a cheesecake to take to James.  He is our Branch Clerk, and does such a fantastic job and is always on top of everything.

The next day, we had an appointment to visit the Kruger family in Komatipoort.  Their car has been in the repair for the past  6 months and they haven't been able to came to church.  They invited us and the Elders come to dinner and have a Family Home Evening and bring them the sacrament.  On our way, we stopped in Kamagugu to give a blessing to one of our members who was going in to have a C Section the next morning.  She is the one whose "father of her children" was accidentally shot about a month ago.  She was very appreciative of the blessing.

On the way to Komatipoort, we stopped at the bridge to one of the entrances of Kruger Park to see what wildlife we might be able to see.  It was very quiet except for a croc on a sand dune, and a large bird near a little alcove.   With the binoculars, we could see a few hippos out farther, but they were mostly under the water.  One wandered down near the bird and was out of the water for a new minutes.

This croc was so enjoying a nap in the sun, that he

didn't even try  to move while we were there.

This picture doesn't do justice to the huge bird that was along the side of that alcove.

There were several large white birds sitting on this old bridge.

We had a lasagne dinner and salad.  I had brought rolls and carrot cake.  I gave a lesson on "Living for the Eternities" from Elder Hilbig of the Seventy that was in the July Liahona.  Their 16 and 18 year old boys always enjoy visiting with the Elders.  And the Elders are good role models for the boys.

We have been going through our Branch list of inactive members.  As we sent out to do searching one day, armed with plates of cookies, we found the address of one of them.  The only problem is, that after you find the address, which isn't always easy, because many of the streets don't have street signs and the houses are all behind steel gates with no address numbers on them.  Even though the GPS says, "We have arrived" we're still not sure  if we're really there.  We waited a few minutes at the curb to see how we were going to find their door.  As we started dialing their number on the phone, we saw an older lady, a younger lady and a teenage boy come thru the gate and cross the street.  We wondered if that could be them, as they matched the description of the family we were looking for.  We rolled down our window and asked if they were the Fearn - Grobler family.  Sure enough it was them!  We got out of the car and introduced ourselves and asked if we could visit with them for just a few minutes.  They were very kind, but told us that they hadn't been to our church for several years, and had started going back to the Baptist church.  They didn't say why they quit coming to our church, but they were happy where they were attending.  We thanked them for visiting with us, and left them some cookies and told them to have a good day.  They were surprised but grateful for the cookies.  I guess this is what happens when members aren't diligent enough to do their Home & Visiting Teaching and let each member know that they matter to the Lord and to the Branch.

We stopped at the hospital to see Sister Khoza and her new baby boy.  She was very grateful for our visit.  She was doing quite well considering she had just had a C section the day before.

Sister Khoza was coming down the hall after taking her baby to show her sisters.  They are not allowed in, so she brought him to the nursery window so they could to see him.  

They only allow husbands, grandparents and church people.  I feel honored that we qualified!   :)

Over here, the hospital gives you a list of the things that you need to bring for your baby.

They only provide the diapers and formula.  

That is why you see the colorful blanket and clothes on the baby.

He was a cute little fat baby.  I think he weighed 8lbs 3oz.

She was grateful for the little blanket and burps that I made for her.

Sunday was Elder Hunts birthday.  Our Missionary family was meeting for dinner at 5:00 at their flat. I was bringing the rolls and baked beans.   Sister Khoza had called and said she was being released the next morning, and since we had planned to take the Elders to Kruger for their "P" day on Monday, I had to make dinner to take to her family on Sunday night so it would be there for her whenever she arrived home from the hospital.  I had gotten my Italian Chicken made the night before, but still needed to cook the rice, make a fruit salad, and brownies, and veggies.  After dinner at the Hunts, we loaded up her dinner and stopped at the hospital to see her.  Afterward, we drove to her house and left the dinner.  She had a "sister" or good friend who was staying at the house to help her.  She was all smiles when we delivered the dinner.

Monday morning we left at 7:00 with our Elders and the Hunts and their Elders for a day at Kruger Park.  We thought since it was winter and the leaves had mostly fallen from the trees, that the animals would be easier to see.  We were wrong!  All the grasses were brown which contributed to creating a camoflauge for the animals.  We didn't see a many animals for the first couple of hours we were there, but later in the afternoon, we came upon great number of the animals.  We still haven't seen any from the cat family.

This group of monkeys were trotting up the road.  

The little one decided to hitch a ride on the mom's back.

This herd of elephants were crossing the street.  There must have been at least 20. 

That's the most we have seen at one time.  Notice the ring leader who is stopping traffic while the rest of the groups crosses.  He kept his front foot up the whole time he was standing there. 

He stayed there until they had all crossed.

We also lucked out with this group of giraffes.  

We saw more giraffes that we have seen in other times.

Zebras were also quite plentiful.

When we stopped at one of the rest areas to eat our lunch, there were beautiful blue birds that 

decided to join us.  as soon as we would drop a crumb, 

they were right there to grab it.

This water buck was really checking us out!

We had quite a find near this river.  Several elephants had come down to drink.  To the left were

two crocodiles lying on the sand near where a group of monkeys were playing.

Despite the antics of the monkeys, the crocs didn't budge a inch!

We also came across a herd of Will de Beasts as we were turning onto another road.

There were several more over to the right side.

We saw tons of impalas every time we turned around!

We returned home about 8:00 p.m.  The Elders were very happy with their find., and were excited to email their families with their pictures.