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).
