Our Branch Christmas Party

Last Christmas season, we had a Branch Christmas Party planned.  Early in December, we had an outbreak of mumps, and the party had to be  cancelled in order to eliminate the possibility of the whole Branch coming down with the mumps.  The few cases that we had get passed around to several others, including our Branch President.  He ended up in the hospital with meningitis as a complication of the mumps.  The bottom line was, we never had a Christmas party.

Because we hadn't had a Branch Council in almost two months, we hadn't started planning a party for this year.  When we did finally meet, it was almost the end of November.  We brought up the possibility of a Christmas party, and with the school nearing the end, and people leaving for holiday to visit family, many people were going to be leaving early in December and wouldn't be back until January when the children started school again.  It was finally decided to have it the following Saturday, November 23.  This meant that we wouldn't be having Church before the party was to be held, so there was the chore of contacting everyone.  The Primary President had a little Nativity Play that she said she would take charge of assigning parts for the entertainment part.  They usually just do games.  Our Branch President didn't want to have a Braii, (B B Q) because that took too long and all the men would be down doing the cooking and wouldn't be able to be a part of the happenings.  It was finally decided that Lynn and I would be in charge of the main course and the Relief Society and Young Women Organizations would assign out the other food.

So with less than a week to get things ready, we started working on a menu, decorating etc., as well as sending out mass SMS's (texts) to everyone.  We decided to do Chicken Salad on rolls for the main course and salads , desserts, and drinks to finish off the menu.  People don't do any decorating for Christmas over here, in fact almost no ones even puts up a tree.  In order for it to feel like Christmas, we had planned to take over our small tree and what other decorations we had to make it feel festive.

Friday after District Meeting, we began to haul in all our things to get the Primary rooms set up for the Party.  We would have the Nativity in the Chapel area and then move into the Primary room for the eating.  This was the final result:

Our wonderful tree!

Our new item this year - a lighted angel.

We tried to put a little Christmas something for each table.

We set up chairs along the side for overflow.  We're thinking positive!

This was on the serving table.  We put our little music box in the middle so it wouldn't be handled too much.  It was sound activated and played "Let it Snow" whenever a loud sound happened.  Then snow would start falling down in the background as it lit up.  This was the delight of all the kids.  They couldn't figure out what made it start playing all of a sudden.  Some of the little preschoolers even carried small chairs from the nursery to stand on to get a bird's eye view of it.

On the back side of the table was our little Nativity.  It was the only one we could find last year.

We put the drinks on a separate table to avoid some spills onto the food.

Getting the food set on ready for the invasion of hungry people.

Nicholas was our first narrator for the start of the Nativity.

Each speaking part was followed by a Christmas Carol by one of the Branch organizations.  

This group was the Relief Society.

Mary (Sarah) and Joseph ( Bryan) arrive in Bethlehem. 

Nolwazi does her part of the narration.

The Branch Presidency & Elder Baxter contribute to part of the music.

The Shepherds on their way to see the Baby Jesus.  

Dressing the Shepherds was a production in and of itself!

The angels and shepherds herald in the birth of the Savior. (Baby Zande)

The Young Women Leaders add to the music also.

Despite all the last minute preparations, no rehearsal, and confusion and excitement of the children, it really turned out nice.  Everyone felt the real Spirit of  the Christmas Season.  We then went into the Primary room for the luncheon.  Unfortunately Lynn and I were so busy keeping trays and bowls refilled and drinks poured to avoid spills, we didn't think to give our camera to the Elders to take some pictures of people enjoying their meal.    The atmosphere and the spirit that was there, made the members just want to hang around and visit and enjoy the beauty of the day as they set their minds to the beginning of the Christmas season.  Even though many members had to work or had car problems, we had about  70 members and investigators in attendance.  Needless to say, there wasn't a crumb left afterward.

To finish off the occasion, I had made White Stockings, so  each family could take one home.  This was Jesus' stocking.  On Christmas Eve, each family member would write on a small piece of paper what gift they would gift to Jesus.  This would be something that they would do individually to bring them closer to the Savior, and help them to grow spiritually.  The papers would be put into the stocking, then the next Christmas, when the decorations come out again, the stocking would be hung on the tree.  On Christmas Eve, the papers would be taken out and each gift read, and the person would decide how well they did on the gift that they committed to give to Jesus.

Even without a lot of planning, or time for people to schedule this event on their calendar, we felt that it was very successful and the members came away with a joyful, meaningful feeling of Christmas!

South African Thanksgiving - 2013

We are always excited for the holidays, and this year was no exception.  With Thanksgiving soon at hand, I started planning the menu.   This was not difficult as I am such a traditionalist, I started planning the same things that we usually have.  Sister Hunt had to be in DuBai to help with a new grand baby, since her son had to be in Nigeria for work.  The timing interfered with our Thanksgiving Day plans, but that was fine.  We didn't have another senior couple last year and I managed to do the preparations all by myself.  This year it would actually be easier since I actually had a stove top and oven, which I didn't have last year, as mine died during a thunder and lightening storm the day before Thanksgiving.  I was way excited to have such modern facilities right at my fingertips.

We did our shopping for the feast.  We knew that turkeys would be a challenge, so we started shopping early for them.  Several of the ones I saw had an inch of frost on the inside of the package, so I knew they were old and had been in the freezer for a long time.  I did find some at another store.  They even had the pop up timer in them.  I was excited!  "They're getting more modern every year in Africa", I thought.  The only problem was, they were very small.  They were even smaller than the regular turkey breasts that I usually buy at home.  Even though there would be 7 of us, I thought I should get two  just to be sure.  You know, these Elders eat a lot!

These sweet little turkeys, getting ready for the pan.

With the groceries all bought, I was set.  I just needed to plan my schedule, since I was to bring all the rolls for the luncheon for Zone Conference.  They had also planned to do a Thanksgiving dinner.  I thought this was a little much to have a dinner on Thursday and and another one on Saturday.  But, since I wasn't in charge of it,  I just did my food assignment and kept my mouth shut!  On Tuesday, I made my rolls for Zone Conference, 90 of them, and put them in zip lock bags and put them in the freezer to take out Friday morning when we left.  This way, I would have these preparations out of the way and wouldn't have to  do it Thanksgiving night.

These were just a few of the many that I made.  

The good thing was, they turned out nice!  Hooray!

.

On Wednesday morning, I had my day planned to a "T".  About    8:30, we received a message from Jennifer that she was in town, and would I like to go Visiting Teaching with her?  Great, this wasn't on my schedule today, only food preparations!  However, I thought what a sacrifice it is for Jennifer to come over an hour to Nelspruit  and the expense involved for taxi fare.  I also knew that when you do the Lord's work first first, everything else falls into place.  So I changed my schedule and told her, "Yes, I could go Visiting at 10:00, and told her I would pick her up at the Church at that time.

I got another call from a member who lives an hour away in another direction saying she was in Nelspruit and could I pick her up and take her to Kamagugu to pick up her baby from the other Grandma's.  So I met her and picked her up, then went to the Church to get Jennifer, then to Kamagugu to drop Trish off,and we started off to do Visiting Teaching.  Several people weren't home, but we were able to catch two of the sisters.  We came back to our flat.  I fixed her some lunch and then dropped her off at the taxi area for her ride back home.

At 3:00, I finally  started on my pies, dressing and other food preparations.  Surprisingly enough I was able to get most everything finished without staying up all night!  Actually the Lord blessed me to be able to get these things done in a timely manner.

These sweet turkeys are getting ready for the pan.

All went well with my other preparations with the exceptions of the turkeys.  I noticed that on the bag that the turkey was packaged in, it said, "Packed with Brine"  I wasn't sure what brine meant.  I soon found out when I went to make the gravy on Thursday.  When I was bringing it to a boil to make gravy, I tasted a little bit of it to see if it was flavorful enough.  Wow!  what a surprise.  The broth was so salty I could hardly stand it.  I couldn't understand why it would be so salty, because I had rinsed it well.  I tried everything I could to downplay the salt factor, but it was still bad.  Even the turkey was very salty when we sliced it.  Oh well, we would just have to put lots of dressing and cranberries on it!

We had been able to find real orange sweet potatoes this year.

Last year, all we could find was white!

The pumpkin and lemon meringue pies were all done and were waiting on the shelf on the patio.  

The banana cream pie was in the fridge.

The table was set and ready/

Elder Saintonge and Elder Flynn were strumming and chillin' 

while we waited for the KaNyamazane Elders. 

Elder Baxter donned his African Apron while he sliced the turkey.

The dinner is finally ready!  

Turkey, cranberries, potatoes & gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, 

fruit salad and rolls, and 3 kinds of pies!

                  Despite the earlier problems, the meal seemed to be enjoyed the Elders.

Starting on the left:  Elders Flynn, Elungu, Hunt, Baxter, Saintonge, & Kolani.

Making memories!

                             While we were all together, we held our District Meeting
                    since we had to leave early in the morning for Tzaneen for Zone Conference.

We enjoyed our pies after we finished with our meeting.

Thanksgiving was a new experience for our two African Elders, but they seemed to enjoy most of it.
                        They each got to fix another plate to take home with them for later.

It ended up being a very good day!  Our last Thanksgiving in South Africa!

More African Adventures

Besides being able to see all the exciting sights of South Africa, Joyce and Nadine were just as curious to see just what we did as missionaries.  They enjoyed going with us on visits and meeting the people who we call our "Family".  Truly, some of them call us "Mom & Dad"  We love it.  We feel very honored!

They came with us to visit Sister Jennifer.  

She is probably one of the most dedicated members in the whole branch.

These are some of Jennifer's little neighbor children who come to purchase a small snack from her little daughter, Senethemba.  They let us take their picture.  

The large tubs under her house are used to do her washing.

We had plates of cookies to deliver to say "Happy Halloween".

This is Nomvula and her two little boys Thabiso and Bandile.

This her daughter Nallie and her niece Phyllis.

They are 13 & 14 years old.

These are Lucky and Nokuthula twins, Omphile on the left and Lebohand on the right.

I sewed a piece of ribbon on the stem of this Halloween hat and 

it made a great door decoration!

I was lucky enough to find some Jack o lantern lights.  I was excited to hang these on our gate of the patio.  Good thing we took a picture the first night, because the next night when we went to plug them in, they didn't work!  :(  Go figure, the tag said, "Made in China")

This is the McCarthy Family, Frick, who is Adri's brother, Adri, the Primary Second Counselor, and her husband Barney, the Second Counselor in the Branch Presidency.

Thandiwe, her daughter, Nolwazi and the little brother, Thabiso.

One morning as we were on our way to another adventure, we saw some women 

with their loads on their head.  Over here, this is very common.

These ladies took the prize for the biggest loads.  They were gathering their loads of wood to be able to cook their meals for a few days.  In addition to carrying her load of sticks, she also picked up her baby and put him in her towel or blanket to carry him.  These women are amazing, and very hard working.  This picture was taken at 8:00 a.m. and they had already gathered this much firewood.  

While traveling through a little town called Graskop, we went into a little antique shop.

They had several old hats with a sign that said. "Feel free to try one on"  So I did!  I think I could fit right into the culture here, as they always wear a fancy headdress to match their outfit.

Pretty stylin', wouldn't you say?  (Hope I don't get head lice from that bit of fun!)

In order to give Joyce and Nadine a taste of genuine African culture,

we made arrangements to visit the Shangana Cultural Village, not too far from where we stay.

Outside one of the huts in the village.

A picture with the Chief of the Village.

Some of the dancers acting out the history of the village.

 One of the Warriors.

Toward the end of the show, they gathered people from the audience to dance with them.

Lynn even joined with them to do the hand clap gum boot dance. 

The Witch Doctor prepares her magic potions to help cure the Chief when he is ill. She tossed rocks and shells and then reads them to help decide what to do to treat the patient.

After the program, they served a traditional African dinner of rice, vegetables, pap, fruit,

shrimp, two kinds of fried worms, one was like this one, and another lighter in color, shrimp, chicken,

and hot bread.  Some of us passed on the fried worms, But Elder Baxter tried both kinds. Not too bad".

It was an interesting, informative, and fun evening!

The Nelspruit Branch Temple Trip

Our first Branch Temple day since we arrived 14 months ago was Nov. 2.  We left at 5:00 in the morning to drive to Johannesburg.  Because of the expense in renting a taxi for the five hour drive, and the shortness of Branch funds, each person was responsible for finding their own transportation.  That was quite a chore in and of itself, as many of our members don't have cars, and those that do are constantly trying to repair them and drive them on a wish and a prayer.  This day was no exception.  The McCarthy family borrowed a small bakki (truck) to make the trip, and their son, Karel and wife Elize and friend Louise, and Frick went in Karel's car.  They left about 10:00 Friday morning.  About an hour and a half into the drive, Barney's Bakki had stopped and they sent us a message to keep them in their prayers.  The alternator had gone out.  Somehow they were able to get it pushed to a shop and two hours later they were on their way again.

Thirty minutes later, Karel's car had become stalled because they had no gears.  After doing everything they could to get it repaired, Louise finally said, "Karel, you have the Priesthood, give this car a blessing so we can get on our way!"  They took time for a prayer, and within minutes, someone stopped to help them.  Soon, they were on their way again.  They arrived at their Backpackers Inn at 7:00 that evening. A five hour drive ended up being nine hours.  They were thrilled to get there as all but Louise were receiving their their Patriarchal Blessings the next morning.

Jennifer, her son Melusi and daughter Senethemba and Nolwazi who live in the Hazyview area, were riding a taxi to Lydenburg, about 1 1/2 hours away, to spend the night with the Branch President and

ride with him to Johannesburg the next morning.  On the way, the taxi broke down and they had to call another taxi to rescue them.  While they were waiting, a truck came along and ran over Nolwazi's bag, crushing most all of the contents, including her toiletries.  This is tragic for a young girl!  She put her clothes in Jennifer's bag and they finally got on their way and made it to the President's house about 10:00 that evening!  Satan was trying his hardest to keep our members from getting to the temple the next day.  After receiving word of McCarthy breakdowns, Lynn thought he should go get two new tires on the front of the car since they were starting to get a little too smooth.  We thought that the way the Branch's luck was going, we better not chance it!

The next morning, we picked up  Sister Purine at 4:45 to ride with us and Joyce and Nadine.  We had nine people scheduled for Patriarchal blessings Saturday morning.  To help out with some of them, we had asked the Stake Patriarch of the Binoni Stake if he could come and give some of the blessings.  Just before we arrived in Joburg, we received a call from the Binoni State Patriarch that he had had a family emergency, and was in no condition to be able to give any blessings.  He apologized, and asked us if we would see if Patriarch Hoffman could do them.  We expressed our condolences to him and continued our drive. We were grateful that we made it to the temple at the appointed time.  

Some of our members and young people were scheduled to do baptisms.  The heater in the font had gone out and the water was extremely cold.  Most of them still did the baptisms amid shaking bodies and chattering teeth.  While they were doing baptisms, Joyce, Nadine and Lynn and I did a session, doing some of the family names that Joyce and Nadine had brought with them.  In checking with Patriarch Hoffman, he said that he was too tired and too old to give more blessings than the five that he had done that morning.  Unfortunately Melusi and Nolwazi weren't able to get their Patriarchal Blessings.  I felt bad for Nolwazi, so I opted to spend the time with her on the Temple grounds.  I bought her a snack from the  machine near the Distribution Center.  We sat under a tree near a stream and visited and relaxed in the beauty of the grounds. 

Despite all the problems that several people had encountered in getting to the Temple, they were still very elated and grateful for the opportunity to spend the day at the Temple.  They truly felt blessed for this great blessing.

We did manage to take a few pics on the grounds before we started on our journey home.

Joyce and Nadine were grateful for the opportunity to attend the Johannesburg Temple.

Four happy travelers!

We had a quick sandwich after leaving the Temple before we headed home.  Just before we arrived back in Nelspruit, about 9:30 that night, Jennifer called and said there were no more taxis going to Hazyview that late at night, so President Sigauke was driving them home.  Knowing that it would be about midnight by the time he drove them home and drove back to Lydenburg, then having to leave at 6:00 the next morning to drive back to Nelspruit to church, I asked Jennifer if they just wanted to come and stay at our house and then go home after church the next day.  She said they would come to stay.  

They arrived about 10:30.  I made arrangements for Melusi to stay at the Hunt's flat so he wouldn't feel like he was in a harem with all the women.  He was fine with that.  He was so tired that it didn't really matter to him.  He had been up since 4:00 and just wanted to go to bed.  I made a bed for Jennifer on the couch, and made a double bed on the floor for Nolwazi and Senethemba.  Everyone was happy with that arrangement.  We were all  so tired, that we forgot to take some pictures of this unique slumber party!

Surprisingly enough, things worked out well for everyone to get ready for 9:00 church the next morning.   We did have to have the Elders come and drive some of our friends to church.  Despite all the challenges that the members had encountered the day before, they bore beautiful testimonies the next day at Fast and Testimony Meeting!  There wasn't a dry in the chapel.  Our testimonies were strengthened as well to see how people with so little, and who had encountered so many problems just in trying to get to the Temple, would feel so blessed by all those experiences.  They will bask in that beautiful experience for a long time, as it will probably be a year or longer before they have the opportunity to attend the Temple again!  After Church, we brought our guests home for some lunch before we took them to the bus and taxi area to return to their homes.

We take so much for granted!  How blessed we are to have several temples within a 30 minute drive!  It's time for us to count our blessings!