Africa in May

Burmese Phython

Croc City

Dimakatso(bride), Tabong (groom) and Mpho

Wedding party dancing in street

More street dancing

Elder and Sister Green - wedding celebration

June 2, 2013

The 1^st of May is a holiday in South Africa, Freedom Day.  It celebrates the rights of workers similar to our Labor Day in the USA.  Together with a few other senior missionaries we went to a reptile farm where we saw crocodiles and snakes.  There was a snake show where a naturalist introduced several non-venomous and venomous snakes.  The black mamba is one of the most deadly snakes.  Snake bites can poison you either through the blood stream or the nervous system.  Then there are those that constrict its victims to death.  We saw and handled a bull python, and a Burmese python, and saw a spitting cobra, puff adder, and black and green mambas.  The yellow python around our necks in the photos was friendly, but heavy.  We learned that crocodiles lay hundreds of eggs but only 5-10 survive to adulthood.  Those that survive sometimes live to be 100 years old.  They have amazing healing properties – crocodiles have no scars and have a great immunity to diseases.  They are responsible for eating many people each year who get in their path.  They can swim and run faster than we can – so we will stay out of their way.

Tom and I were given the opportunity of teaching a condensed version of the Teacher Development Class in Sunday School.  I enjoy teaching, but I learned from the lessons in Teaching No Greater Call there are things I can improve upon.  For instance, here it is difficult to know the students very well when we do not live in their community nor or are we able to visit their homes.  So we do not know their backgrounds or family circumstances.  We do well to remember and pronounce their names correctly. 

One other sister this month from the Tembisa Ward received her own endowments. I was her escort and her son who just returned from a mission accompanied her.  She seemed to enjoy the experience and especially being in the celestial room.  We took them back to Tembisa and stayed for a bridal shower for Dimakatso.  In typical African style it was announced as starting at 1, but didn’t start until 2.  It was a surprise shower sponsored by her sisters and the Relief Society.  Instead of playing games those of us who were married gave her counsel.  Most of the advice was in Zulu, but what was in English I appreciated.  Hilda, the primary president, emphasized the importance of prayer and family home evening and staying out of debt.  Several advised against living with in-laws.  Apparently in African culture the wife does not correct or counsel the husband.  Some spoke of now we should be living the gospel culture and letting go of the traditions that do not agree.  Our Relief Society lesson on Sunday also followed this theme of husbands being more supportive at home.  It is not uncommon to see women carrying babies on their backs and at the same time balancing a water container or other load on their heads while the men walk along side without any burden.  We think mores are changing, especially in the church, and men are helping more in the home and are not quite so domineering.

Dimaktso Morapedi got married the following week.  We attended the sealing in the temple on Friday.  There were a few guests including her sisters, Mpho and Kedibone.  The ceremony was simple, dignified and beautiful.  The next day they had a ring ceremony in the morning in Tembisa, went to the temple for photos and then back to Tembisa for the reception.  The reception was supposed to start at noon.  Knowing African culture we arrived about one.  The bride and groom and wedding party did not arrive until 2:30.  They parked their cars about half a block away and then in what I would call a ‘congo line’ only in couples with the bride and groom leading the way, they danced down the street, turned and then back into the tent in front of the house.  The tent was decorated as nice as any cultural hall I have seen with pink filmy material and bows and white seat covers and white leather thrones for the bride and groom.  All the time the loud speakers were going with loud African music.  At times it was difficult to communicate because of the music.  There must have been at least 100 people there by the time the program started.  The program started with prayer and then had short tributes by several friends and family members.  Between talks someone would spontaneously start singing and all would join in.  We didn’t join in because most everything was said and sung in Zulu.  After the program everyone cued up for the food – a big meal.  We left about five and the party was still going strong.  I am glad we got to experience an African wedding.  What is puzzling is how the family who lives in very modest circumstances can afford such an affair.  African funerals are also very expensive as the family is expected to feed all those who come to console them for up to a week before the funeral.

We are running out of weeks.  We are now down to about three weeks left in our mission.  We are trying to stay busy and not let the thoughts of home cloud our minds. There is still some training that we need to do before we leave.  We will be going to the Benoni Stake Center (close to Johannesburg) to train the new stake presidency in that stake shortly.  We also have a trip planned to Cape Town to train a stake audit committee and the auditors.  It was just announced that Africa will be doing audits on line for the first time in August.  Lots of opportunity for training it seems.     

We had our quarterly zone conference this past week.  Elder and Sister Cook, he is 2^nd counselor in the Area Presidency, were the program.  He had been a mission president in New Zealand before his call to the 1^st Quorum of 70.  I always enjoy hearing from both of them.  They actually did what happens in many zone conferences.  They showed us how to do an “after baptism” lesson which would encourage new converts to go to the temple right away to do baptisms.  It was fun and reminded us a little of our mission in Japan where we did that kind of thing in zone conferences.  We all then attended a temple session and Tom and I were the officiator and follower.  After that we came back to Dukes Court and had a dinner of soup, bread, salad and of course dessert. 

 We get a spiritual lift from the Monday morning devotionals in the Area Office.  Recently Georges Bonnet, our DTA (Director of Temporal Affairs) spoke of his trip to Kinshasa in the Congo over the weekend.  Bishop Stevenson, the Presiding Bishop, met him there.  Brother Bonnet testified to the mantle that Bishop Stevenson has and that he is the man the Lord wants at this time.  Bishop Stevenson was very impressed with the building program going on in the Congo.  Men are trained to be carpenters, plumbers, electricians and then put to work building chapels, etc. for the Church.  The Church is growing so fast there, and this program is helping to solve the problem of housing the saints.  President Renlund, Area President, was also there and called a meeting for the youth on Saturday afternoon.  1,100 youth showed up ages 12 to 18.  The twelve-year olds were invited to come up and bear their testimony of the Book of Mormon.  There was a little hesitation at first, but then after the first one, several came up and bore strong testimonies of the Book of Mormon.  The closing hymn was “I Know that My Redeemer Lives.”  Brother Bonnet said that not since he was a young boy in France had he sang that hymn in French.  But there was such a spirit with everyone bearing their testimony through music that he remembered all the French lyrics.  He remarked that it was doubtful that such an attendance and performance could be repeated in Utah.

 We have sent a few boxes home.  We sent one parcel by airmail which has already arrived.  The others were heavier and went by slow boat.  It may be the end of the summer before we see them.  We didn’t think we were collecting very much, and we haven’t compared to some.  It will be nice to have some mementos of our time here in Africa.