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| Water fall at Walter Sisulu Botancial Gardens |
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| Big turtle at Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens in Roodepoort |
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| 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 2nd
and 3rd. 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
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