November 2012

        

Thanksgiving is not a holiday in South Africa. So while our fellow area office workers were at work, the senior missionaries and those who serve at the temple had a delicious feast in the White House Garage. The White House is a very nice, large home on the property in which the members of the Area Presidency live. The home is divided into apartments. The garage is a commodious three-car garage with tiled walls, so it made a great dining room for about 60 people. Everyone brought a dish to share and we had the traditional turkey (had to hunt for that), sweet potatoes, pies, etc. I made a sweet potato casserole. I had to shop at several stores before I found any sweet potatoes. Remember the seasons are reversed here. The sweet potatoes that grow in South Africa are white on the inside instead of orange. When they are cooked they turn a pale green, but they tasted ok with enough butter and sugar. We missed being with our family of course, but we had a good meal with friends. (That is me standing in the doorway leading the music.)

President Cook at the Thanksgiving dinner related that he, his wife Lynette, and daughter, who just returned from a mission to Spain, stood on a street corner in downtown Johannesburg and asked passersby what they were thankful for. He said that 90% of those they asked said they were grateful for life itself, to be alive. These people who have so little of life’s material wealth are happy to be enjoying life. That is particularly so when there is such a high mortality rate here due to HIV. It made me think of how many spiritual and material blessings for which we have to be thankful.

Monday night President Reber and his wife of the Johannesburg MTC spoke at a family home evening for the couples. The MTC here is small, usually about 25 missionaries. There are 15 international MTCs and the one in Johannesburg is the smallest. They have been getting new missionaries every 3 weeks, but with the new policy it will be cut to two weeks. The African missionaries need help as many of them have never used deodorant or shampoo before. They arrive sometimes with just a grocery sack with their belongings. The missionaries from Uganda and Tanzania don’t recognize many of the common foods they serve. Sister Reber asked them after a couple of weeks what foods they had eaten before. Their answer – rice and bananas. Many of the Africans are used to only one meal a day. The missionaries from the US and Canada learn to eat pap (pronounced pup) with their fingers. (Pap is a traditional porridge made from mielie meal, ground maize or other grain, and is a staple of the Bantus.) The Rebers said the young elders and sisters go through quite a transformation from the time they come to when they leave for the field. There are about equal numbers of black Africans and white elders and sisters from the States, Canada and England. We often have the opportunity of participating in the prayer circle at the temple when they come. For many of them it is the first time to go to the temple and perhaps the last for the remainder of their lives as they live so far from a temple.

This is a photo of Rachel Matswagothata, one of the temple sisters who ride to church with us. Her son was just made the stake president of the new Botswana Stake, the first to be organized in that country. (We either call her Rachel or  Sister Tata).                                    

  On November 30th we attended a community Christmas concert at a nearby univeristy auditorium.  It was delightful.  There were about 40 people in the chorus, 20 female and 20 male.  These were all young people and the majority were black.  Maybe there were 5 whites total.  The orchestra was mainly 16 strings with one each of flute, oboe, clarinet and trumpet.  And there was one person who played timpani and another drums.  Of those in the orchestra they appeared a little older and there were maybe 5 or 6 black persons.  The audience was 90% old white people.  It was a lovely concert with 23 songs.  The songs included favorites such as Away in a Manger, Cantique d'Noel, and Silent Night. There were also spirituals such as Mary's Boy Child and Go Tell it on the Mountains.  They included hymns from many countries.  There was Irving Berlin's White Christmas and The Battle Hymn of the Republic from the United States.  We were a little surprised that they would sing of a White Christmas and have a fake snowman as decoration on the stage as it is summer here.  Anyway it certainly got us in the spirit of Christmas and taught what a truly Christian country this is.   It is a great experience we are enjoying here.  We pray for the African nations that they will continue to work for peace and allow the gospel of Christ to be taught to their subjects that the Lord may bless them and prosper them.

 

 

October in Utah

The most exciting thing we did in the month of October was to come to Utah for some Area Auditor training and visit with family and friends.  It was also a good opportunity to deliver Christmas gifts. This must be the earliest we have ever finished Christmas shopping.  We enjoyed visiting with Brent and Sharlene Gardner and Norman and Becky McClellan and then with Renee Holding and her daughter, Sherry Beck. We have had a fun time visiting with the Russons and the Kamauus and were grateful that Crystal, Eric, Marsha, Ian, Jonah, Hayley, Tyler L., Nicole, Katelyn, Jackson, Stefani and Brent Willie were all able to be in Salt Lake for a while.  We also went with Allise’s family to Sugar City and see Tamara and Glenn and family.  A tender mercy was that Jordan’s birthday was the Sunday we were there and Spencer was ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood.  It was fun, but also a little weird in that we are still missionaries, but here we are having a good time with family who live far away from our mission area. 

 

  Nicole Lloyd and son Jacson.  Granddaughter and great grandson.

We made a couple of shopping sprees to Walmart and Walgreens and I have been impressed with how much we take our affluence for granted.  These stores are loaded with so many luxuries and great variety of every item whether it be bread, candy or clothing.  We were tempted to stock up on some things, but then remembered that we only had one suitcase a piece and a weight limit at that.  We did buy a few packages of chocolate chips and 5 lbs of powdered lemonade that should last us a few months.

The training was helpful too.  We learned more about how to work with the assistant area auditors and received some new tools such as encryption for our emails and a web library resource for documents, letters and such that will be helpful.  The auditing department had us do part of the training in breakout sessions.  It was a good model for what web can do when we bring the assistants together for their annual training.

We enjoyed the football game with Oregon State, even though BYU lost.  We got to watch a soccer game as well.  We didn’t go until after a good meal at Chuck-A-Rama, so arrived about half time and there was standing room only.  We stood near the end and saw BYU make three goals.  Cosmo also came by and Tiffany and Allise got photos of the children with Cosmo.  I think they are on facebook.

 

Tiffany, Craig, Aaron, Allise and Ammon at Chuck A Rama

Rachel Matswagothata is a sister from Botswana who works in the temple and rides with us to church. She came to our flat this afternoon to let us know the good news that her son, Clement, was selected today as the first stake president in Botswana.  He had been the bishop of the YSA ward there in Gaborone.  She was very happy, and contributed her temple work as having a good influence on her family.

We served in the temple Friday afternoon and evening.  The temple people seem happy to have us there.  Then Saturday morning we attended the session when Genet Ramokgola received her own endowments.  She is a member of our temple preparation class.  After the session she and Prince (our Elders Quorum president) were sealed by Elder Green for time and eternity.  Tom was grateful to have that opportunity.  He can’t marry anyone as he would have to be licensed by the state, but he can do sealings.  The Ramokgolas were married a couple of months ago in Ethiopia where she is from. Prince had met her while on his mission there three years ago.  Prince is his first name, not his title.

 

   Prince and Genet outside Johannesburg Temple

 

 

   Jacaranda trees are now in bloom.

 

 

 

Saturday afternoon there was an open house at the new Rabie Ridge chapel.  The Rabie Ridge ward had been meeting with the Tembisa Ward (the one we attend) while their building was being renovated.  I was able to accompany the opening hymn.  We were impressed with the building.  It is designed to hold four wards and has a chapel big enough to hold a stake conference.  Now there is only one ward meeting there, but they are expecting growth in the area.  The chapel and the furnishings are as nice as any we have seen in Africa. There was a new keyboard and hymn books.  (Tembisa inherited all their old hymnals).  The keyboard is nicer than the one in Tembisa in that it has a built-in cabinet and a volume pedal.  There are hardly any true organs in the chapels here.

 

A trip to Swaziland and Susulu Botanical Gardens

Water fall at Walter Sisulu Botancial Gardens

Big turtle at Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens in Roodepoort

Elder Roberts and cidada

September 2012

 

One morning early this month we rode with the Eppels to Swaziland for a couple of days of R & R.  Tom had promised me a silver necklace with an Africa Continent shaped charm for my birthday.  The only place where we knew one was available was at a silver shop in Swaziland.  It took about 7 hours going and only 4 hours coming home.  The difference was that we stopped in Witbank (now Emalahleni or place of coal) for pizza for lunch going and we also got caught in a very long cue (line) both in the SA immigration office and especially the Swaziland immigration office.  There were lots of people wanting into Swazi for the weekend.  I guess the attraction was the Dance of the Reeds, a Swazi festival of maidens, to be held on the 2^nd and 3^rd.  We saw what appeared to be thousands of young people, mostly girls, walking parallel to the road in the fields.  We thought at first it might be a demonstration.  We enjoyed dinner Friday evening at the Summerfield Botanical Gardens which was a very lush resort.  Tom and I shared a dish of salmon that was very good. 

We stayed at Timbali Lodge which was composed of small cabins.  Saturday we went to the silver shop where Tom bought me the necklace we were seeking. We visited the candle factory and craft center.  We watched someone make a blue and white elephant candle.  He shaped the warm paraffin into the form of an elephant using his hands, a dowl and a knife.  There were some nice shops there and we bought tee shirts for our younger grandsons with an African logo on the front.  The glass factory was our first and last stop.  On Friday we arrived too late to do much looking around.  So we stopped on our way out, had lunch and shopped.  In all it was a good trip and we enjoyed being with the Eppels.  We took our car, but he did all the driving.  Maybe he felt he knew the roads better.   

At the office we were able to ship the Chruch's financial lessons on CDs to all the units in the Area.  The units in most parts of Africa do not have fast or reliable internet connections which makes it hard to watch those lessons through LDS.org.   If the brethren take advantage of them it should make a difference in helping them to abiding by Church policies and procedures.

One Saturday we started out for a walk at Zoo Lake and ended up going to an Africaans market in Irene (pronounced I-ree-knee) with the Callahans.  We saw the Callahans as we were headed out and they invited us to join them in going to Irene.  We got a little lost on the way.  Sister Callahan put the coordinates into their GPS (Stella), but she wasn’t working well that morning.  We ended up in downtown Pretoria.  Always wanted to see Pretoria.  Tom and I helped them find the way to Irene by using a map they had brought.  I love maps.  The Village Market was like a giant country fair with people setting up stalls to sell their wares.  We saw everything from a crocodile skin (about $1,000) to children’s games, paintings, clothing and antiques.  There were only a few blacks there as this was a mostly Africaans locality.  And Africaans was the language of choice.  We couldn’t read many of the signs.  But English was also spoken so we did all right. 

Brother Jeff Clayton, who is the senior legal person here, spoke at the devotional.  He told of the miracle he and Elder Larson had when they were instruments in the Lord’s hand in getting the church officially recognized in Gabon.  Gabon is a French-speaking country to the north of the Congo.  The church has been trying for six years for recognition in that country.  Through faith, the Lord putting the right people in the right place at the right time, and softening hearts the miracle occurred.  He said he learned some lessons while on the Lord’s errand.  First, fast and pray to know the Lord’s will. We are engaged in the Lord’s work, and it must be done in the Lord’s way.  Second, do the homework – be prepared.  Third, listen to the Spirit (they had only two appointments, but felt they should stay a week).  Fourth, listen to priesthood leaders.  President Jamieson of the Congo mission of which Gabon was a part told them to take this one member.  This member had a sister living in Gabon who had political influence, but was not a member of the church.  Fifth, go with courage and faith.  Rely on the Lord to open doors.  It was a testimony to me that the Lord is directing the work here and that He loves the people of Africa.

September 16, 2012

Another huge lightning and thunder storm last night.  The hail and rain were hitting the windows so hard, we thought they might break. One nice thing about African storms is that they don’t last for very long.  Today it is cloudy with some sun.  Typical spring weather here I understand. 

One thing I did this week was to transcribe a video on how to do tithing settlement that  the MSR people are sending to all priesthood leaders here in the Africa Southeast Area.  A transcript needed to be done so that it could be translated into French and Portuguese.  Given was the one who narrated the video, but he didn’t use a script.  He just talked from the slides.  Many of the slides were taken from the LDS.org training lesson on tithing settlement.  They used photos of black people rather than the ones of whites on LDS.org.  The area presidency is stressing the importance of paying a full tithing.  There is a need for more chapels, but not all of the wards are tithing faithful.  Also in order to create new wards there has to be a ratio of 5% of all members in that ward be Melchizedek priesthood holders who are full tithe payers.

September 24, 2012

Today is a holiday – South African Heritage Day.  We participated in a fun outing with many of the area office missionaries by going to the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens in Roodepoort.  It was a nice drive with the Callahans on a sunny and warm day.  The gardens had many interesting plants and rocks, a waterfall and huge grasshoppers that had colorful bodies.  By the waterfall there were hundreds of these grasshoppers.  Some would even light on our clothes.  The foam from their mouths is poisonous, so we didn’t pick them up – well except for Elder Roberts. 

It was great to have the temple open this last week after being closed for two weeks.  We attended the Thursday session and were the witness couple.  President and Sister Renlund were in our session.  Then Friday afternoon we served as ordinance workers.  We are often assigned to be the officiator and follower on the Friday 3:00 pm session.  We noticed a few changes in the interior of the temple.  A door was added between the sisters’ dressing room and the initiatory and also one closing off the men’s clothing issue room.  There is also new carpet in the ordinance rooms and passageways, besides a new roof.

Tuesday evening we picked up Sister Naylor at the airport.  She will be Sister Taylor’s new companion and serve in the Family History Center.  The two sisters not only have names that rhyme, but they both are tall and blonde.  Sister Naylor is from Kaysville, Utah and Sister Taylor from Cambridge, England.  So it is easy to tell which one answers the phone because of Sister Taylor’s English accent.  I’m sure they think they are normal and we Americans are the ones with the accent.

Saturday we found the Bryanston Organic Market to be a good place for shopping at boutiques.  We visited at Colin Mead’s stall and saw some more of his delightful paintings of African wildlife.  We bought lunch there and for dessert shared a huge slice of an African Milk Pie.  It is what I would call custard on a very thin crust with cinnamon sprinkled over the top.  It was quite good.

30 September 2012

The end of another month.  They are going quickly.  We have been out about half of our 18 months.  We have done some good; there is much progress to be made in the training of priesthood brethren and in the administration of the program.  The assistants have made a big difference in getting the audits in on time and capturing the data in LUFAS.  The next big step will be to get resolution on the audit exceptions.  That may take some time for everyone to understand their responsibilities.

Saturday we went to Atteridgeville, a township on the west of Pretoria.  The saints there have a nice chapel to meet in.  Our purpose was to investigate a discrepancy in the amount of offerings reported by the ward and those claimed by a family.  On our way home we stopped at the Voortrekkers Monument there in Pretoria.  It is an impressive monument dedicated to the Africaan pioneers who moved up from the Cape of Africa and settled this part of South Africa about 1838.  It is a very tall building with a hole in the dome that lets in sunlight.  On December 16 the angle of the sun is such that it shines on the empty tomb enshrined there.  All around the walls on the inside are sculpture built into the wall depicting events during that pioneer period.  I was impressed in that as many women as men were included in the art and depicted as playing a part in the wars and founding and defending their homes.

 

  Voortreker Monument

Winter's Coming To An End

Aug 29, 2012

 While most of you are enjoying the last days of summer, we are seeing the first signs of spring.  The noisy birds (hadeda ibis) are back, trees are budding and the weather is mostly warmer.  At the beginning of August we had a most unusual event weather wise.  It snowed here in Johannesburg for only the 4^th time in 61 years.  The snow didn’t stay on the ground very long, but it did come down in large flakes for a couple of hours.  The locals here in the Area Office were acting like small children seeing snow for the first time, for in fact it was the first time for many of them.  Those of us from much colder climates kept our smiles to ourselves.  There was a YouTube made by someone in the Area Office that is fun to view.  Try http://youtu.be/4TbISgQgqHU .



Mama and Baby Rhino

Lion at side of road

Early this month we took a weekend trip to Ndola, Zambia.  We went to train priesthood leaders in the Kitwe District.  Kitwe, Luanshya, Kawama and Ndola are cities in the northern part of Zambia known as the Copperbelt because so much copper is mined there.  It is one of the world’s richest sources of copper.  Nevertheless, it is not a prosperous area.  There is a new, beautiful soccer stadium just outside Ndola that the Chinese built.  We did not stay in a big hotel; it was more like a motel as the rooms all had an outside entrance.  It was named The Michaelangelo and it followed the theme in the décor.  It was warmer that much farther north; the evenings felt wonderful – like we were in San Diego, CA.  There are no LDS chapels in this district.  The Church has rented homes and converted them for church use.  Sacrament meeting in Kitwe is held outdoors on a patio under a large canopy or canvas.  We sang without accompaniment.  It was reverent and spiritual.  The people may be poor as to worldly goods, but they are rich in spirit.   

Hardly anyone in the Kitwe district owns a car.  They get to church by walking, some great distances.  What amazed me is that some of the women wore spiked heels.  How could they walk several miles in such shoes?  In order for the outlying branch to come to the training they needed to be transported by combie (large van used as a taxi).  Tom (Elder Green) had a new experience.  Since the senior missionary couple lived in Kitwe and we flew into and were staying in Ndola we had to find our own transportation.  The car we rented was a stick shift.  When the driver sits on the right side of the car he must shift with his left hand.  Tom did very well and he got a lot of practice due to the hundreds of speed bumps he was shifting down constantly.  The district clerk rode with us on Sunday over to Kitwe, which was a big help because he could show us the way.  We took him to his house after and that is how we experienced the township.  He invited us in for a minute to meet his wife.  Their home was maybe two rooms.  The room we were in served as a living room and kitchen.  She was cooking something in a pot just outside the door.  There was no stove.  There was a small refrigerator in the room, a television and a couple of couches.  Their landlady was sitting in the front yard holding on to a chicken by a string which was tied to the chicken’s leg.  These people have so little.  He has one son who is in his second year of university in Kitwe.  It is probably through the PEF (Perpetual Education Fund) program of the church that he is able to go.  There is hope that the next generation will be able to overcome poverty.  Nevertheless they seem happy. 

 

Tuesday night is movie night and one Tuesday this month the couples watched a film titled Mandela and LeClerc.  It was about the years Mandela was in prison and LeClerc was the president here in South Africa.  I came away feeling thankful that God had placed such great men here at such a crucial time in the history of South Africa.  How apartheid came to an end and the blacks got their right to a democracy with majority rule peacefully was truly a miracle.  The blacks have political freedom, but it is still very hard for them to compete economically.  Education  and the gospel will make a difference.  This month about 40 miners were killed in a police stand-off and a dispute about wages and working conditions.  There was an inter-faith service for the miners which some of the couples attended.  They said it was very peaceful with talks and prayers from many denominations including ours.

 

Included are some photos we took of our Tembisa Ward members participating in a Mormon Helping Hands Project.  They were painting and sprucing up an orphanage close to the chapel in Tembisa.  Also are photos we took on a visit to the Lion and Rhino Park near Johannesburg and of us with the priesthood brethren in Kitwe.

Secretary Bird

 

Gemsbok

Tembisa Ward - Helping Hands

Young Orphan

 

Kitwe and Kiwama

 



Feeding Time

July 29, 2012

This last week we were in Lilongwe and Blantyre, Malawi.  We were met by the senior couple there, the Pretes. We stayed at the Golden Peacock Hotel in Lilongwe, which is only a year old.  It was built by the Chinese.  The Chinese are building a lot here in Lilongwe(and all over Africa), roads, railways, municipal buildings, banks, etc.  The hotel is nice and the restaurant that is in the hotel is, believe it or not, a Chinese restaurant.  The food was good.  Elder Prete has an interesting theory of why the Chinese are investing in so much infrastructure and new building here.  He thinks it is because the cost of labor is increasing in China to about $4 per hour and here it is still $1 per day.  The Chinese can still make cheap products if they can outsource to places like Malawi.

                                    

We did the audits of both mission branches, Lilongwe and Kauma, and trained the priesthood leaders all on Tuesday evening.  None of these brethren have cars and so Elder Prete provided rides in the back of his pickup for the one group and ourselves to travel to the other building across town and then back again.  The two branches meet in homes that have been converted for church meetings.  At the end of the evening on the way home Elder Prete received a call from a member that his little girl needed to go to the hospital.  Elder Prete didn’t get home til nearly midnight. We heard Saturday that this seven-year old girl of the former branch president died of malaria.  Sad things.  We are very careful to only drink bottled water and to take “doxy” medication to prevent getting malaria.

Wednesday morning the Pretes took us to Blantyre.  A couple of young boys preparing for a mission traveled in the back again.  They needed to go to the place they were born to have some papers stamped so they could get passports.  We have it pretty easy in the USA as far as communication, reliable mail service and government red tape is concerned.  The Bullocks, the senior couple in Blantrye, were involved in an auto accident recently and are having a hard time getting the police report and insurance quotes in order to get their truck fixed.  He was promised the report Saturday, but when he went they said maybe Monday – “don’t call us, we’ll call you.”

The road to Blantyre was mostly country with a few villages sprinkled in.  We saw markets with lots of folks trying to sell whatever they could.  There was someone holding up a rabbit by the ears for passersby to purchase. Many folks were on bicycles with heavy loads of coal, or maize, or even lumber.  The coal is used to cook their food.  Most of these people do not have running water or electricity.  Elder Prete told us that when they get enough cash they buy a used car battery to generate enough power to run a small lantern or perhaps a radio.  It is amazing to me that the men coming to church are clean and most are wearing white shirts, suits and ties. Elder Prete also told us of a small boy that didn’t want to take a shower.  A shower consisted of standing naked in a small, outdoor cubicle while his father poured a bucket of cold water over him, scrubbed him down with a bar of soap, and then poured another bucket of cold water on him.  It is winter here, and Malawi is a little warmer than South Africa, but still a little cool for an outdoor shower.  We saw people sitting on the ground pounding on rocks to crush them to make gravel.  In some ways it was like going back an hundred years.

We stayed at the Protea Ryalls again in Blantyre.  It is a nice hotel and we enjoyed a great steak dinner in the restaurant with the Pretes and Bullocks on Thursday evening.  We did the first audit Wednesday evening in the Zinwangwe Branch.  They meet in a home that is built on the side of a steep hill.  One has to go down some steep, irregular steps to get to it.  The amazing thing is that the members carry someone who is disabled and in a wheelchair up and down those steps.  These units just received computers, the internet, and the financial software for transmitting their transactions to the area office.  The district leaders didn’t think the rooms they used for offices were secure enough for computers, so the leaders in this branch have to either walk or take a taxi each Sunday to the Blantyre 1^st Ward chapel to input their donations and expenses.  Then on Monday they take a taxi to the bank to deposit the donations.  The church reimburses them the taxi expense.  These members walk up to 12 km (7.5 miles) to church and to other church meetings. They are humble, faithful saints who attend to their responsibilities as best they can with their limited resources.  During the three plus days we accomplished 5 audits and a training session for the branch and district presidencies and clerks. The photo is showing the street stalls and traffic (driving on left side)in Blantyre.

Friday Tom was suffering from vertigo quite badly.  He woke up Thursday morning with it, but it went away after a couple of hours.  Friday he was feeling nauseous and was quite wobbly on his feet.  In the audits he did ok because he was sitting and busily involved .  Elder Bullock and Elder Chimyumba gave him a priesthood blessing.  It seemed to help some because Saturday he was able to get up early for the training and made the trip home ok.  Sunday, he was still experiencing it but was able to drive us to church.  I hope he gets over it sooner than he did when he had it in Tokyo.

July 22

Two fun outings happened this week.  First of all on Wednesday we visited the orphanage in Tembisa situated very close to the chapel we attend.  It was Nelson Mandela Day and everyone is supposed to contribute 67 minutes to helping their community.  The 67 is significant because that is how many died when the children in Soweto marched peacefully to protest being made to learn Afrikaans in school.  So there were 40 to 50 volunteers and more arriving by bus to paint, clear weeds and junk from the yard and help clean in any way they could.  We saw about 30 youngsters ages 4 to 8 crowded in a small concrete room for school.  They were wearing blue sweaters and the boys ties – a school uniform.  They sang some of their lessons to us about the names of the months and days of the week and what they need to do to prepare for school. When we first walked in they ran up for hugs.  I don’t know if they do that to all strangers or because we were with the Savages whom they knew and loved.  I was glad I had made cookies for them.  A new bathroom was under construction and we could see a new roof that had been installed over the sleeping area.  Most of this was due to the fund raising efforts of the Savages’ daughter in the United States.  She has a website “Tembisatots.bbnow.org”   It is sad to see people living in such conditions, but gratifying to see the outpouring of community help. 

The other outing was a tour provided by Thoba Karla-Halla of Soweto.  Her mother was an early pioneer of the church here and also a friend of Winnie Mandela.  She first showed us the Mandela’s home here in Houghten Estates and then took us up Munro Drive for a panoramic view of the city.  Then we drove through Hillbrow and downtown Johannesburg.  It was interesting to see the governmental buildings and how the downtown area has deteriorated since it is now open to anyone.  Before no blacks could come into the city except on business or to work.  It reminded me in some ways of what downtown Oakland used to look like.  We then drove out to Soweto where the blacks were allowed to live. Soweto, several communities in one, derives its name from Southwestern Townships.  The coloureds (mixed ethnicity) and the Indians (from Asia)had their separate communities a little closer to the city.  South Africa before the 1990’s was very segregated. Soweta is very populated, maybe 250,000 people – houses everywhere.  Most of the homes were modest in size, but kept up well.  There were also the shanties.  Thoba told us the government had built them (the shanty dwellers) for free better houses which they lived in for a couple of months.  But then would move back to the shanties and rent out the new homes in order to make a living.   We visited Mandela’s home there.  He lived a few houses away from Desmond Tutu.  It is the only place in the world where two Nobel peace award recipients live on the same street.  The house was very small and had evidence of bullet holes where police harassed and tried to arrest Winnie when Mandela was in prison.  Impressive was a large Catholic church we visited that was a refuge during the resistance movement against apartheid.  There were evidence of bullet holes there also.  It was in Soweto in 1976 when the children were fired upon that the movement really got momentum and attracted the attention of the rest of the world.  Pressure was brought upon the South African government that eventually led to the release of Nelson Mandela and the freedoms of the blacks.  It is hard to conceive white people could be so brutal.  It happens when there is fear of losing power and retaliation. 

July 15

We had another dinner invitation this evening.  The Smiths, the mission office couple from Kinshasa who were here for dental work, were also guests.  They tell some interesting stories about life in the DRC Congo.  She is afraid to eat much of the food there.  She says she lives on Snickers bars.  He told about having to go to the bank to get 70 pounds of Congolese francs to give the missionaries their monthly allotment.  The money is dirty, frayed and thin.  It takes him most of the week to sort and count it.  It is then hand delivered to the missionaries.  There are no ATM machines where the missionaries live for them to use debit cards like other missionaries.  Traffic is very chaotic there as well.

Saturday we went shopping in Bruma, an international community we pass through on the way to the airport.  There is a small China town there plus other nationalities.  We found the small shops selling African art, statues, clothing, etc.  We bought an original sculpture of a Zulu warrior, plus an ebony nativity, aprons, an ostrich egg, and a skirt for me and shirt for Tom.  That evening we were invited to a potluck at the Webers at the MTC home. 

The weather has turned much colder.  We put the thermometer outside the front door and it went down 10 degrees to 10 ° C.  (About 40° F).   The HVAC unit in our office hasn’t been working for 3 weeks.  And it is pretty cold until the sun warms it up in the afternoon.  It is cold when we walk in the morning on top of the mall, but we wear our warm pajamas underneath our other clothing and it isn’t too bad.  In the early morning before dawn we are able to see a quarter moon near the next brightest lights in the sky, Venus and Jupiter.

We attended our last time at the temple for awhile on Tuesday and then worked a shift on Friday evening.  The temple is closed for a new roof and carpeting until the 17^th of September.  Some of the temple workers are going home and others were given new temporary jobs around here. 

One day I moved about 80 memberships out of the Tembisa Ward into the deceased file and unknown address file.  The ward has only 593 members compared to 679 before.  There are still over a hundred members whom the missionaries are trying to contact, because the ward leadership doesn’t know anything about them.

July 9

Wednesday everyone came together for an indoor picnic in Flat #205 for a 4^th of July Celebration.  We had great food – pulled beef sandwiches, potato salad, chips and dip, veggies and cookies or cupcakes for dessert.  We also sang patriotic songs and Elder Hatch, a former Utah State Senator, gave a short patriotic oration.  We have a good time socializing with the other missionaries here.

Sunday night we were invited to dinner at the Larsons.  He is in the legal department.  They had also invited Jeff Clayton who is working here as general legal counsel.   We had an interesting conversation as Brother Clayton has lived in various parts of the world including Germany and Independence, Missouri.  He lives in Bountiful and was the bishop for President Eyring and his family.  We learned that President Eyring’s wife, Kathy, has Alzheimers.  What a mountain he has to climb. (referring to a talk he gave in April Conference).  Our empathy and regard for him has increased immensely.  It was also interesting to learn of “the gatherers” in Far West, Missouri and the problems they cause due to unemployment and the scarcity of jobs there.  Brother Clayton said that there will be two centers of the church in the United States when Christ comes – one in Independence and one in Salt Lake.

July 2

Thursday we enjoyed a Skype session with most of our children and grandchildren and all of the great grandchildren.  They were having a family reunion in Brighton, Utah and enjoying the Olympic site in Park City and doing family Olympics.  It was the best Skype session yet, not only because it included so many people, but because it was so clear and we could understand all that they were saying.  Everyone of our posterity was there with the exception of Kyle and Scott (on missions), Tyler and Glenn who couldn’t take time off work, Hannah who was attending girl’s camp, and Brianne who didn’t want to take time off school.  We figure, counting us, there are 50 members of our immediate family now.  By the end of the year there will be 52 with Melissa’s and Hillary’s babies due by then.

In this morning’s devotional a tribute was made to the United States Independence Day.  We pledged allegiance to the flag and sang “The Star Spangled Banner.”  I got rather emotional when giving the pledge.  I realize how much I love my country and what a blessing it is to be a citizen when I am far from home. 

Blantyre, Malawi street scene



Overlooking Soweto



Golden Peacock - Lilongwe, Malawi

Tembisa Orphanage



June 2012

We made it to Lusaka, Zambia the first of the month.  We were able to help the finance person in the mission office some and also gave financial training to the branch and district leaders.  We showed two PowerPoint presentations; one was on the procedures for handling church donations and expenses and the other on auditing procedures.  Doesn’t that sound exciting?  We didn’t keep them much over an hour and it should have been helpful in fulfilling their callings.  We enjoyed being with the mission president, Mickel Padovich.  He has been out a year now and had the opportunity of setting up a brand new mission.  While there the Padovich’s treated us to a little safari at a place called Chaminuka.  We will add a couple of photos.  It was the first safari we have ever done.  It was much like I had pictured.  One sits in the back of an open truck, with a guide narrating in front while riding through the bush (natural countryside) looking for animals and birds.  We saw a number of different kinds of animals like elephants, lions, giraffes, a number of unusual birds, antelope, kudu, hyena, impalas, bush buck, etc.  The lions and hyena we saw were not free to roam, but the others were.  We hope to go on a couple more such trips such as to Midikwe and Krugers National Park here in South Africa.

On Sunday while in Lusaka we tagged along with the Padovichs to the Matero Branch (there are no wards or stakes in Zambia or Malawi).  They met in a large house which the church leases.  The floors were all concrete, no curtains or soft chairs, but faithful saints.  There are only two LDS chapels in Zambia and one in Blantyre Malawi. The training we did was in the Lusaka chapel.  When the meeting first started there were few members there.  By the time the sacrament had been passed there were more than 100 there.  Most of them had walked to church.  It was fast and testimony meeting.  It was a spiritual feast to listen to their strong testimonies.  There was no keyboard, so we sang a capella. With the exception of a couple of variations in the tune they sang well and with enthusiasm.  A young girl who just returned from a mission to Kenya in March gave the Sunday school lesson for new members and also the Relief Society lesson.  After the meetings a young couple was baptized.  The font was a big tub – maybe five by six feet – in the back yard.  A couple of ladders helped the participants in and out of it. The water was cold and I was glad the weather was fairly decent.  That evening four senior couples joined us for dinner in the mission home.  It was a very enjoyable day.

While in Zambia I made a few observations.  The people are very humble and childlike in their faith.  Security measures in the airport were more relaxed, although we did have to take off our shoes in Lusaka which we did not have to do in Joberg.  It was good to get a semblance of a meal on the plane rather than just peanuts and a drink.  Drivers are crazy everywhere we have gone in Africa.  They do not stop for a red light if there is no opposing traffic coming from the side.  They hardly stop for a stop sign regardless of the traffic.  They extend the green light by jumping the gun as soon as the cross traffic light (robot) turns red and driving through the yellow and even red light at the end of their turn.  It is hard to calculate what you are spending when you have to divide the price by 5,300 to get the US dollar equivalent.  Zambia “Subway sandwiches” are not as good as the ones at home.  They skimp on everything.  The internet service is not reliable – just thankful they have it.

While it was almost warm, but windy in Zambia, it has definitely turned cold here in Joberg.  I think the wind has made it seem chillier.  The temperature is only 60 degrees F, 15 degrees C, but everyone is complaining of how cold it is.  Problem is that no one has central heat in their homes or flats and they aren’t used to cold temperatures.  I did wear my leather jacket for the first time since I arrived here however, and was glad I had it.  Yesterday we bought a warm jacket for Tom for casual wear.  Zambia is north of here, so it is warmer.  The Cape Area is south and colder – even has snow on occasion.      

The other big event this month was a conference we sponsored for our sixteen assistant area auditors.  The logistics of getting them all to Johannesburg from their various countries was difficult.  Africa is composed of many small countries, each with their own rules and visa requirements.  One of our assistants couldn’t make it because the Angolan government had confiscated his passport and denied travel.   Two others never made it out of the Congo because South Africa wouldn’t let them apply until three weeks before the actual travel, and the person helping them had not gotten all the correct forms filled out in time.  It turned out to be a great conference.  Elder Grow of the Seventy, was supposed to come, but his wife got quite sick the day they were to leave.  Brothers Cantwell and Beck did make it from Salt Lake and were able to give good guidance.  The Area Auditors (the Eppels, Howells, and Greens) did most of the presentations.  Tom gave two good lessons – one on the handling of donations and expenses and the other on audit requirements and procedures for independent mission branches. Tom developed his own PowerPoint for the latter one.   Norene was able to teach them about using the Local Unit Financial Auditing System (LUFAS).  She prepared a half-hour PowerPoint show.  These PowerPoint presentations were the first ones either of us had attempted; so who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?

Neither Tom nor I have had bad colds since before we went to Japan.  We have contributed it to the warm lemonade we drink.  We couldn’t find lemonade here in Africa until recently, so maybe it is true.  Now I remember why I don’t like colds.  It has been so long since I had a real cold – maybe before we went to Japan – that I had forgotten how miserable they are.  I watched Tom suffer with his, hoping not to succumb.  But a week later I got that tickle in my throat and it went downhill from there.  The Lord did bless me though that I was able to be well enough on Saturday to attend the AAA conference and present my PowerPoint on LUFAS. 

One day the MSR department had one of their birthday luncheons for Ephraim and Tom.  Only Tom wasn’t there.  Both Elder Eppel and Jane Howell have birthdays at the end of June so we celebrated  then too. They bring pizza or chicken along with cake and soft drinks.  A tradition here is to pour vanilla custard from a carton over the cake.  It is pretty good. 

I finally got to see Elder and Sister Rands from Spokane.  It was good to see someone from home.  They are serving in Botswana with the seminaries and institutes.  They were on a temple trip.  I was sorry that Tom was not there to see them.  We also got to go to the temple with the Bonkemeyers from North Spokane.  Their son is going on a mission soon.

 We don’t have any future travel plans at the moment except to go to Malawi again in a couple of weeks to train priesthood leaders.  We will go to Lilongwe as well as Blantyre this time.  We will also need to make a trip to Angola in the near future to complete some audits and or train a new assistant.  There are a couple of branches in Luanda, Angola which haven’t been audited in 18 months.  They are the only ones with such a bad record out of 545 units.  It could be a lot worse; so we are sort of happy.

From top to bottom: Matero Branch chapel, giraffe family, elephant, safari ride, AAA conference

This week was the farewell for Bob and Ranee Lewis. He has been the executive secretary for the area presidency and has been instrumental in not only making missions for senior missionaries a spiritual experience, but also a fun experience.  She has a great laugh, makes terrific treats and has been very friendly to me. She is also my third cousin (our shared great great grandparents are Henry and Henrietta Standage.  Her great grandmother is Eda Standage Lewis, mine is Sarah Standage Stewart.  She was already a Lewis before she married Elder Lewis).  He is a really strong athletic fan.  He invites anyone who wants to come and watch games on ESPN, but they are usually about 3:00 am here.  We will miss them a lot.  Sunday evening she gave us three boxes from her kitchen – mostly spices, mixes for sloppy joes, salad dressings, etc.  Now we have Taco Seasoning, Chili powder, diced green chilis and lots of other good stuff.  Much of it was brought to her from the States by missionaries.