On Saturday, we drove to Komatipoort to the Championship game of one of our members, Human Kruger. He is one of the star players of their High School Rugby team. The team was unbeaten for the season. We were glad too see a rugby game, as well as watch Human play. Those players really take a beating, since they wear no padding of any kind. Unfortunately, the team lost 22-24, which was unfortunate for them. They played a hard fought game with several ties throughout the game.
The players are in "scrum" position at the first of the play.
Human is trying to bring the ball down or tip it to his team as they pass it from out of bounds.
On Sunday, we had our Primary Program. Though we only have less than 20 children who come regularly, they did an outstanding job with their talks and songs. What a wonderful way to teach the gospel! These Primary children and teachers really brought the Spirit to our meeting! The Primary President had asked me if I would make little bags of cookies as a thank you for each of the the teachers. I gladly accepted. She was grateful that she had one less thing to worry about, especially since all of the teachers were sick. They ended up coming anyway.
Cookies all ready for Primary Thank You's
Our Branch President's wife, Sister Sigauke's baby was admitted to the hospital with bronchitis on Saturday. One of our member's, Thandiwe, left her home at 6:00 in the morning to catch a transport into Nelspruit so she could stay with the baby so Sister Sigauke could direct the music for the program. Elder Baxter was the chauffeur to pick her up from the transport and take her to the hospital, bring Sister Sigauke from the hospital to the Church and then he returned home to finish getting ready for church.
Monday, for "P" Day, The Hunt's and us planned to take the Elders to the Panorama and surrounding area to see the sights. There are some beautiful falls and mountainous areas that are just breath taking! We looked for one of our inactive members while we were in Graskop, but were unable to find her home, even with the GPS.
This is Bridal Veil Falls.
This is another of the beautiful falls we saw. It is Lone Creek Falls and is 76 meters high,
which is a little over 250 feet high.
We stopped at a near by park for lunch.
This little monkey was checking out the garbage can for something good to eat.
As we opened our coolers and set out our lunch,
he came over to the tree near by to check things out.
Not wanting to be stingy, we tossed bits of bread and chips to him. He quickly snatched it up!
Then he hopped up in the tree to get a better view of the contents on the table.
We could tell he was getting pretty aggressive and ready to make a leap for the table. We quickly stuffed things back in the coolers, and moved over to another table.
I, for one, didn't want a monkey on my shoulder to share my lunch.
After lunch, we walked down the trail to see Bourke's Luck Pot Holes.
They are a magnificent rock creation formed by water and weathering.
It's not only amazing what Mother Nature has created, but also how they have been able to install bridges and guard rails for the protection of the spectators.
Yoo Hoo Elders, we see you!!!
The three rounded mountains are called "The Three Rondawels" because they look like the kind of homes that one of the tribes builds, which are called Rondawels.
From left to right are Elders Martin, Hunt, Wheatley, Sis. Baxter, Elders Baxter, Moyo, & Compton.
On the way home, we stopped for a quick visit to the Silk Factory in Graskop.
The Elders enjoyed watching this woman weave some of the silk thread into fabric.
Tuesday, we had invited a family to dinner. They are in the process of adding on to their
house, and because of things being packed away and dust all over, we thought it would help them out to come for a meal. She had told me that 7:00 p.m. would be a good time. She called me about 4:30 and said they wouldn't be able to come because her 6 year old had been admitted to the hospital because he had been throwing up all day. I suggested that her husband bring the other 3 children to dinner and I would fix a plate and send over to her. I told her that I had everything ready except to make the gravy and bake the rolls. She said she would check with her husband and let us know. We checked back with them and he said he had a meeting at 7:00 and couldn't come. After talking with him for a minute, the husband said, "We'll be right over." I scrambled to get the rolls baked, gravy made, veggies cooked. 10 minutes later, here they were, but with no children! I had the table set for 8 people. When we inquired about what the children were going to eat for dinner, they didn't know. After Lynn spoke with them for a few minutes, the husband left to get the children. I put everything on hold. He came about 15 minutes later with the children. We had an enjoyable dinner. The husband went 20 minutes late for his meeting, we had dessert and then took the children home, just as the husband was returning from his meeting. We took Nomvula to the hospital, and stopped to check on Sister Sigauke and her baby. We returned home to start on the dishes, while wondering why husbands and wives can't communicate with one another !
Wednesday, we took the Elders to visit Lorraine, a new member, and Thandiwe. They live about 40 minutes away. We had a nice visit with Lorraine, then proceeded to look for two of our members who haven't been to Church since we arrived. Neither of them were home. We wrote our information on a pass along card and gave it to their worker or Nanny at the house. When we got into our car after the second visit, it was stone dead! We called Thandiwe and told her we wouldn't be able to make her appointment, and would she call someone to come check the car or just tow us into their garage to repair it. While we were waiting, the helper of the house came outside. I explained that we couldn't move the car because it wouldn't start. She said that wasn't a problem, but that she was the problem. She asked us if we prayed for sick people. We told her we did. She said, " I am sick, can you pray for me? We told her we would and who would she like to give the prayer. She looked around at all of us and said, "Mama". ( Over here, they call all older ladies "Mama") As we were walking into the house, I asked her what some of her symptoms were, and where did she feel sick. She told me that she had gone to the clinic that week and they had diagnosed her as HIV positive. They had given her some medicine to take, but she was feeling very sick and weak. I immediately said a silent prayer asking Heavenly Father to help me say something that would make her feel better, in spite of the situation. One of the most awkward prayers I have ever had to give!
A few minutes later, the repairman came to check the car. He also thought it was the starter motor, so he left and said he would be back with the tow truck. We called Elder Hunt to come rescue the Elders and us. After watching the tow truck situate the car so they could tow it, we got on our way. We were thankful that Elder Hunt was available to come get us in White River, which is about 25K away from Nelspruit.
Lynn and the Elders tried to check things out to see if their was any juice getting to the engine.
They had to pull the car out of the drive way before they could load it onto the truck.
Before long, the car was on its way to the shop for repairs.
The bad thing was, we were without wheels for the next 24 hours.
Thanks to Elder Hunt, we were able to get home. Appointments finished for the day!
After we got home, I took a minute to check my email. I had a note from Jennifer to call the bank, that they had a question about some withdrawals to my account. I called them, only to discover that someone had made an inquiry to both my checking and savings accounts, and had proceeded to make a total of 4 withdrawals from my savings account, totaling almost $700 that day. They had used my correct pin number. I was flabbergasted! I still had my card in my wallet. I don't know how they got the pin. The withdrawal was made from an ATM just outside of Joburg in a town called Sandton. We were in that area about three weeks ago to Zone Conference and had visited the Organic Market. I had paid for my purchases with my debit card. I had forgotten to tell them to run it as a credit, so I had to put in my pin. No one was around, and the worker was back behind the counter. The Elders said that people can get the information off from the magnetic strip when it is swiped. I was upset that people use their intelligence to be dishonest instead of using it to made an honest living! The ironic thing was that Lynn had just received his new credit card that day. He had to cancel his old one because one hour after he had made a purchase in Nelspruit, someone had stolen the number and tried to make an online purchase of about $1,000 USD to buy some phone equipment. The credit card company declined the purchase, so it didn't go against his card, but the card had to be cancelled.
As I spoke with the bank, they admonished me not to make any purchases here on the card. I explained that was the only way we had to withdraw cash. We usually use a credit card for everything, however, we have to have cash to buy electricity and a few other things. The good thing was, that the bank reimbursed the whole stolen amount, even the charges. But they did say that if it happened again, they wouldn't reimburse my account again. However, in the meantime, we have no way to access our cash until the new card gets here, which will probably be 2-3 weeks.
Thursday, we were just leaving with Elder Hunt to go pick up our car, which they said wasn't the starter motor, but the battery!, when Sister Sigauke called and said she was really sick and needed to go to the E R to be checked, the baby was still the hospital. I had Elder Hunt drop me off at the Hospital so I could stay with her baby while she went to be checked. She ended up being in the E R for 8 hours. They started a drip on her and were trying to decide if they were going to keep her overnight. President & Lynn came around 6:00 p.m. They had just been down to give her a blessing. Lynn and I left to go get some dinner for President Sigauke and Nomvula, who was also still there with her little boy, Bandile. Finally, about 10:30 p.m. Sister Sigauke was released. We took her home with us to spend the night, while President stayed overnight with their baby.
Lynn took her over to the hospital the next morning early so she could be there when the doctor came to make his rounds. Fortunately, he released the baby after being there almost a week. Bandile was also released later that morning. We were glad to be able to help them out.
We have a Young Single Adult Conference coming up the latter part of September. In order to make it possible for some of these young women to go, we were going to have to take them to the Joburg Area. Lynn thought that as long as we were going to have to take them and bring them home, we may as well go as chaperones. Since Friday was the deadline to pay registration before they raised the prices, we had to make a trip to the bank to pay the fees for us and the other single girls that we were taking. After paying the fees, we then stopped at Lorraine's work to have her sign the form. I had to sign Maggie's form since she is in Polokwane, about 5 hours away. She is the one who lived in our Branch, but left her boyfriend and moved back home in December so she could live the gospel. She received her Patriarchal blessing the same time we took two of our Branch members to receive their blessings and also their Temple endowments. Lynn is determined to find some good single black men for these righteous women.
Saturday, one of our families was moving. We had offered to help and I told her I would bring dinner for their family Saturday evening. The KaNyamazane Elders brought their bakki (truck) and our Elders were there helping load when we arrived. We loaded our car and all drove to the new house. Unfortunately, the present renters were still there, and the house was not empty nor had it been cleaned! We unloaded the things we had brought and put them in the garage for the present time, then drove back home to get some rope to help tie down the next load. When we returned to the new house, there was still a ton of stuff and mostly garbage at the new house. They had emptied one room so we could sweep and mop it to have a place to put the appliances coming on the next load. I knew there was no way they were going to be able to get their beds set up for sleeping, so we told them to gather their jammies, and come for dinner at our house and plan to spend the night. They hesitated, but knew we were right about them not being able to get their things set up that night.
After a stressful day of moving, the Ngema family was grateful for a
hot meal and some warm baths and showers.
Just before going to bed, Lebo, their teenage girl asked me if I had any "bed time caps."
Unfortunately, since I don't wear one to bed, I didn't have one. I told her I used to wrap toilet paper around my head to save my hair do, and would she like to try it?
This was the result. It wasn't as cute as her little sister's ruffled cap, but it saved her hair a little! :)
They had dinner, baths/showers and with only one extra bedroom, we were able to make beds on the couch, floor and chair & footstool for seven extra people. It felt just like home when several families are home to spend the night. And, yes, the Baxter Bed & Breakfast is still alive and well, even in South Africa! haha! The family left early the next morning to go attempt to dig their way into their house. After church, I worked on dinner for them in between doing batches of their laundry. I noticed a large hamper of laundry there and knew with all the unpacking they had to do, she wouldn't have time to get the kids things done and ready for school Monday morning. I had the Elders come for dinner as well, for a total of 11. They were very appreciative of our hospitality. We were grateful to be able to help them out.
At Sacrament Meeting that day, it was overflowing with members sharing their testimonies. They have such humble, strong testimonies! At times, we wonder if we are doing any good, but then we hear members share their testimonies and refer to us as "Mom & Dad", our hearts are overflowing with gratitude for the opportunity to be able to serve here with such beautiful people! It seems that our family continues to grow as we become "Mom & Dad" to so many!
I'm sorry that this epistle is so long, but as you can see, our days are filled with wonderful experiences of being the hands of the Saviour, to help some of His children in another part of His vineyards. We are so thankful for the opportunity to serve in this beautiful area. We just celebrated our one year mark! How fast the time is going! It is going to be hard to say good by to these families that we have come to love!
We love and miss all of you and pray for you each day. We are thankful for the blessings the Lord continues to bless our family with at home while we are here. We are thankful that Shantel & Dallin's new little Eliza Grace, is finally home with her parent's after spending almost a week in the NICU. We feel so blessed that all went well as we continue to count our blessings. We hope you are continuing to count your blessings too!
Yes, know that this Church is the true Gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth today!
