Taco soup, green salad, and brownies & ice cream, was what was on the menu.
Elders Martin, Parish, Moyo, & Medebe. Elders Parrish & Medebe were the ones being transferred.
We will miss them, but we know they will do great in their new areas.
We finished in time to still make phone calls to wish Jason & Jack a "Happy Birthday". Thank goodness for different time zones. It might be past bed time for us, but it is still early for family at home.
Tuesday when we were out looking for members who have since decided they don't need the Church in their lives, we found a house that matched the address on the membership list. We did discover, from a brother living at the house, that she had accepted a job offer from a company when Nelspruit was hosting the World Cup. Afterward, they sent her to Paris, France, and now she is living and working in Hong Kong. Quite a big jump for a young girl who was raised in KaNyamazane! That just shows what a a good education will do for you! Later that night, Elder Martin stopped by to introduce his new companion, Elder Compton from Cove, up near Smithfield, Utah. He has just graduated, but is a very impressive young man!
The next day, we went with the Elders to visit Larraine, a recent convert. They are giving her the 'New Member Lessons". She lives about 45 minutes away. When we returned, we made a trip to Barberton to do a food order for one of our families. They are doing better, but his work is not complete to the point they can survive on it. They were grateful for the food, and we were glad to be able to help them out.
The Young Men President had planned an activity to hike up to some waterfalls, and had invited the Elders to go with them as well. He had asked me if I could help with some salads. It turned out that I was the only one making some salads. I made a potato salad and baked beans, and brownies. They were to Bar B Q, or Braii after they finished the hike. They had a great time. Some of the young men even got brave enough to jump into the cold river!
Hiking up to the falls.
The falls looks like it was worth the hike up there.
After the hike, everyone's appetites were ready for some lunch. They fired up the grills, or Braiis as they call them, and before long, they were ready to cook the wors or sausages.
As soon as the meat had finished cooking, everyone began filling their plates.
The following Monday, we went with the Elders to Barberton to do a Family Home Evening with a young man that they found when they were knocking on some of the doors of our inactive members. He is actually an Elder. When he came to Barberton 5 years ago for his work as a film producer, he thought he was only going to be here for 3 months, so he didn't bother to find out where the church was. Five years later, he is still here, is inactive and has picked up some bad habits, but says he has thought about becoming active again. He enjoyed our visit and Home Evening, and the treats that we brought.
Another day when we were in the Kamagugu area searching for some of our lost members, we came across a lady by the name of Tenkie Manda, who had been a member for several years. She teaches High School in KaNyamazane. Her husband died a few years ago, and her daughter was never baptized. Her daughter goes to the University and has a 2 year old daughter. She will be leaving for Joburg for this next semester, and her mother will take care of the little girl. That is a common practice in this country. There are probably more children living with a grandparent than with their parents. This is very common not only with the Blacks, but with the White South Africans as well. She was very personable and invited us in, even though she had just gotten home and we didn't have an appointment. We left a spiritual message with her and a prayer on her home and family.
The next day I made a birthday cake for one of our semi active young women. She and her Mom had been members for a little less than a year. Although she wasn't home when we delivered the cake, she later called and thanked us for the cake. We sang to her over the phone.
We left her house and went to a member who had been canceling appointments or ignoring us for the past 10 months. She will never answer my calls or return a message. One of the counselors in the Relief Society happened to catch her home and she invited her in. She found out that this girl's children's father (?) husband (?) or whatever had accidentally shot himself. She was feeling angry about going to church because "the Lord had taken her children's father." I didn't want to call, because she never picks up, so I made some bread and took her a loaf along with a note about my regrets about the challenges that she had been having lately. I told her I would like to help in any way I could, just to let me know. There didn't appear to be any lights on in the house, so Lynn just took the bread and note to leave on the doorstep. Her sister was there with the two children, while Sister Khoza was a work. The next day I received a message thanking me for the "delicious" bread and that we could come see her on Saturday at 4:00. I was totally shocked, but thanked her and told her we'd see her then.
When we arrived on Saturday, she welcomed our visit. We chatted for a few minutes. She told us she was expecting a baby and had a C section scheduled for August 2. I told her to let me know when she was coming home so I could bring dinner to her. She was pleased with the offer. She also said she would like Elder Baxter to give her a blessing before she goes to have the baby. Needless to say, we were thrilled with the visit and her accepting attitude of our help. I guess that just goes to show that we should never underestimate the power of a loaf of bread! :)
This Saturday was also the day we had scheduled to take Senethemba to do her "Marketing" day. She had come to my house a couple of months ago for me to help her make brownies and cinnamon rolls. Because their Market day wasn't going to be for a couple of weeks, I put them in the freezer until them. One of her school classes had planned a "Market Day" at school to sell the things they had made. The Teacher kept postponing it. Finally Senethemba said, "I don't think she's really serious about it. Maybe I should just do it on my own." We told her we would come get her and set up a place where she could sell them. I took the rolls out of the freezer and put them on pans to unthaw and raise and I would put them in the oven the next morning. The next morning, they still looked the same. I tried quick raising them and then baking them. They still didn't raise, so I hurried to stir up another half batch of rolls. Because there wouldn't be as many to sell, I also made another batch of brownies. Each was individually wrapped in a sandwich bag. After getting the table set up and things ready to go in a park area outside the mall, we were informed we had to have a permit to sell, but we couldn't get a permit until Monday because the offices were closed on Saturday. So we loaded things up and went across the street where there were a few other businesses and several little street markets. The brownies were definitely the biggest hit. We even cut some of each for samples. She ended up making 350 rand or about $40. She was thrilled! This is the little girl whose house is on stilts with no running water, or electricity. She is a very ambitious girl and was grateful for the opportunity to market her wares.
Many of the people weren't interested, but when we cut some samples for them to taste, they were smitten. They liked them, but several said they had no money to buy one. One lady gave her two rand- 25 cents - just for letting her taste.
Sunday, one of our investigators had called to see if we could pick her up for church. She had made arrangements with a taxi, but the driver called and said he was out of town and wouldn't be there in the time she needed. Lynn had been at the Church waiting for her so he could open the door to the upper level so she wouldn't have to go up the two flights of stairs. She is a large lady with several health problems, and we knew she would have a difficult time getting up the stairs. We received the call just as we were leaving. We knew we would be late, and that made us nervous because I was one of the speakers, but we told her we would be there. She was very grateful that we could come get her. This was her first time coming to Church. Usually she has to work on Sundays. She is a nurse in the NICU at one of the private hospitals, working the graveyard shift.
She enjoyed church and said she would arrange her schedule so she could be there every Sunday. Just as Relief Society was starting, she asked me where the bathrooms were. I told her they were downstairs, but I would help her there. She thought she could wait, but a few minutes later, she said she did need to go now. I helped her down the two flights of stairs, and waited for her. When she came out, she told me she thought she had better go home, because some of the meds that she takes had given her diahrea. I got the keys from Lynn and drove her home. She promised me she would be there next week also.
My talk went well. Usually, we fret when we are given the famous sheet of paper from our Branch Clerk with the topic and date that we are supposed to speak. This past week as I had been reading some articles on Pioneers from the Ensign, I felt very strongly that I should speak next Sunday about Pioneers, and how each of them who are first generation Latter Day Saints are Pioneers to their own families and are to strengthen those who are to follow and how important it is to be strong and diligent members of the Church and be examples for them. So the following Sunday, I went to the Branch Clerk who assigns the talks and topics and volunteered to speak on "Pioneers" since we would be celebrating Pioneer Days this coming week. He gladly told me I could speak next Sunday. It went well, and I was glad to have the opportunity to talk about some of our ancestors who made sacrifices to be able to have the Gospel in their life, and what a difference it had made to me and my life. That's probably the first time I have ever "asked" if I could speak in Church. :)
Later that day we did a birthday dinner for Ephriam. He has been a member for about a year and a half. He has gone out on splits with the Elders many times, and is thinking about serving a mission. He stays with his sister, but his family lives in another town a ways away. I thought it would help encourage him to be around our "Missionary Family" to rekindle his desire to serve. He enjoyed the meal and the birthday cake and candles. We also gave him a "Preach My Gospel" manual so he could start reading and learning what he will be teaching. We drove Ephriam back to White River afterward.
Ham, garlic cheese mashed potatoes, fresh green beans, squash, fruit salad and rolls.
Elders Compton & Wheatley are first in line. I guess they forgot the rule about the Birthday person goes first. Oh well, they're greenies, so that's to be expected.
The birthday boy, Ephriam is the one in the sweater.
Ephriam's cake was chocolate, black forest cake with cream cheese topping and the black forest topping on top of that. He blew all 20 candles with one blow!
Our Branch Party which was scheduled for Saturday was postponed until September. The venue," The Botanical Gardens" where we had wanted to have it decided that we needed to pay R1500, or $150 to have a "group" gathering there. Plus, everyone had to pay for their entrance as well which would be R22 for adults and R10 for children. That was more than the Branch could afford, so we are checking on another venue.
Mission life in Nelspruit continues to be good. We love being busy. We're grateful for the opportunity to serve. We hope things are well with each of you. You are all in our prayers each day! We love you and miss you, and hope your lives are filled with the joy of the Gospel as well!
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