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.

A Little More about Africa - May 31, 2012



Giraffe at Sunset



Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill

These are some great photos taken by Elder Howes on a trip to Midikwe - a game park in northern South Africa.

Recently I attended a women's conference for our church.  The guest speakers were Elder and Sister Cook of the Area Presidency, President Chatora our stake president, and Elder Hartman, the mental health advisor for the Area.  The theme of the conference was “Overcoming Challenges”.  After the talks members in the audience were encouraged to ask questions of the panel (Cooks, Hartmans, Chatoras, Sister Clarke) regarding their own challenges.  Most of the challenges are ones most women have – how best do I treat my non-member husband, what can be done with rebellious teen-age children, and how do I explain to others the need to work out of the home, etc.  The one problem that was unique to South Africa dwelt with the marriage tradition here called “lobola”.  There are many young people here who are not getting married.  One of the reasons is “lobola”.  Simply put lobola is an African long- time tradition of the groom paying the bride’s family for his bride with cattle or cash.  Nowadays it is usually cash.  The tradition was meant to bring the two families closer together, but today is often abused.  For instance the bride’s family, including extended family like uncles, use the money to pay off debts rather than help the young bride set up housekeeping.  Or the groom may feel that he has purchased his bride and therefore can treat her as his property.  She must stay home and cook, tend the children, etc. while he philanders.  She cannot leave him because her family cannot afford to pay back the lobola and under the lobola system the children would go with the father.  Her family may also not be supportive because the husband may still owe a substantial part of the lobola.  It also contributes to the problem of AIDS because of the promiscuous behaviour of the husband.  So many young people are putting off getting married because they cannot afford the lobola or need to use their resources for education.  Lobola is a controversial subject here in South Africa in and out of the church.

We have had great opportunities to meet wonderful people, the senior missionary couples and the African Saints.  Earlier in May we went on an overnight trip to Harare, Zimbabwe where we trained a new assistant auditor, Godfrey Matsika.  He is young and intelligent.  He works for KPMG, a big auditing firm.  We gave him much direction and insight into what his position as an auditor for the church involves.  If these assistants catch the vision and aren’t afraid to magnify their calling, the financial program of the church here in Africa will be greatly strengthened.  It was only a two hour flight to Harare from Joberg, but it took over six by the time we were picked up at the Area Office around 9:30 am, were taken to the airport by Abraham, waited for our flight, and went through customs in Harare.  We paid $30 each for visas when we arrived.  Zimbabwe uses the US dollar as its currency.  They must have a limited supply of bills because the ones and fives are so soiled and wrinkled.  It felt good, however, to be dealing with a currency which we understood.  A hotel taxi took us to our hotel, The Miekels.  It is a historic five star hotel and we had very nice accommodations and dining.  We flew on British Airways this time and were again given a meal going and a nice sandwich on the flight home.  Harare is a city of six million people and is the capital city.  We saw very few whites and the ones we did looked like tourists or visitors.  It is a fairly modern city except for the infrastructure.  The streets were badly in need of repair.  The people were better dressed than those we saw in Malawi and there weren’t nearly so many makeshift roadside stalls or shacks. Across from the hotel was a large floral shop which was composed of several stands holding dozens of beautiful flower arrangements.  There must have been some weddings (or funerals) on Saturday because early in the morning there were several customers come to buy flowers.  We noticed that the flowers were covered over or taken in somewhere for the night.  By six-thirty am they were available for sale.

It was great to see Patrick and Rayleen Bonkemeyer this month.  The Bonkemeyers used to live in North Spokane and have since moved to Cape Town in South Africa.  Their son, Dustin, has received a mission call to Santiago, Chile and came to receive his endowments in the Johannesburg Temple.  Dustin was a youth when a few years ago at Christmas time we did 600 baptisms for the deceased in the Spokane Temple to even out the number of baptisms and confirmations.  I remember the early Wednesday morning because that was the time my grandson, Sean Lovinger, baptized me 50 times as a proxy.  Sorry to say, I didn’t remember Justin from then.  Tom and I officiated the temple session they were on and then took them to eat at Mike’s Kitchen afterwards.  

Tomorrow we will be going to Zambia and part of the reason we are going is to help train the mission office personnel there.  It has been a long time since we were the mission office couple in Tokyo; so we went for a refresher course to the mission home here in Johannesburg.  It was more than a refresher course as we used a program called MOS, (we think it stands for Mission Office System) but now they use iMOS, which as we understand it means Internet MOS.  There is a new office couple in Lusaka, Zambia and we hope to be of assistance in getting them trained in the financial software they will be using. While we are there we will also do some training of priesthood leaders in church finance and auditing.  We will be there almost a week. The mission president promised to take us on a little safari, so if we remember the camera, we should get some good animal pictures.

Trip to Malawi

April 25, 2012

The third of April was our 53^rd wedding anniversary.  We celebrated (?) by going to the small country of Malawi.   We met the Bullocks (senior missionaries and a counselor in the Zambia Mission presidency) and the Pretes who are a missionary couple serving in Lilongwe, Malawi.  The Bullocks were very kind to us, driving us to our appointments and having us over for lunch.  They told us that Malawi is the most densely populated country in Africa and one of the poorest in the world.  One of the first sights that met my eyes were people carrying heavy loads of something black wrapped in large packages (coal I learned later) on their backs, heads and/or bicycles.  There were lots of vehicles but many more people walking or riding bicycles.  There is a fuel shortage as the country has to import petrol and doesn’t have the right currency to do it.  Apparently the suppliers want a more stable currency than the Malawi kuwatcha (currently the exchange rate for the US dollar is 162:1).  So they have to wait until they have enough dollars or euros to import it.  There must have been a hundred or more cars each in the two main petrol stations in Blantyre just waiting for petrol to arrive.  The cars were there at least three days. The owners just leave them at the station or parked in line along the street. (See photo below)  Finally Friday night some of the cars started to move.  This happens all the time according to the Bullocks. 

We stayed in a Protea Hotel, the Ryalls.  It was fairly comfortable and had a good dining room where we ate most of our meals.  For lunch one day we went with the Bullocks to a Chinese restaurant which was good even though there was no fortune cookie.  It was interesting to me that in a city where the people are so poor that there were so many big modern bank buildings and car dealerships.  Some must be able to afford cars even though their homes were not more than shacks.  Unemployment is a real problem.  Elder Bullock said that when it rains the sand from the dirt roads runs downhill.  Some people then gather the sand into a pile and sell it to contractors who need it for building. Everyone does what they can to eke out a living.  All of the streets in the city are lined with little make shift stalls selling used clothing, food, building materials, junk.  There is one area that I would compare to an American flea market as the whole area is nothing but these stalls.  Clothes are strung along a clothesline for like a block.  I wondered what they did when it rained, as there were no coverings or shelter.  I came away counting my blessings.

Other interesting sights we saw in Malawi included little goats on a harness being driven down the main street like one would walk a dog, a man in a cart being pulled by two donkeys, a small firepot (photo below) that is used to cook entire meals for a family, and women in colorful purple shiny skirts and headpieces to match walking to church (Good Friday). 

The church audits which were the purpose of our trip went fairly well.  None of the buildings had computers, let alone the internet.  Leaders need to be advanced money for airtime (cell phones) and internet cafe charges to retrieve emails and taxi fare to go to the bank to deposit donations.  They are trying to follow church procedures and except for obtaining receipts are doing quite well.  There is one fairly new large chapel in Blantyre.  It was where Elder Nelson came to dedicate Malawi for the preaching of the gospel last October.  Two branches meet there.  A year ago a district was organized and the two branches were divided to make four.  The two new branches meet in small houses, one on the side of a cliff whose entrance is down a steep flight of steps.  One of the members of this branch is in a wheelchair and has to be carried up and down these steps each Sunday. We did not go to that building.  The other new branch is renting a small home that has been converted.  But there is not room for everyone and many people need to stand out on the porch or grounds for sacrament meeting.  This is not very convenient especially when it rains.  The church is still growing there despite the challenges.   

Blantyre is surrounded by small mountains and was green as they get most of their rain in the summer (December through March).  There were beautiful plants and trees and would be a nice place to live, if one could make a living. We were there for three days as South Africa Airlines only flies in and out on Wednesdays and Saturdays.  We did get fed very well on the plane even though it was only a  little more than a two hour flight.

We spend most of our time in the Area Office.  All of the 545 unit audits were due March 15^th.  As of the end of April we still have 74 to come in.  We also do special projects.  I was asked by the Area presidency to make some charts and slides for the Area review coming up showing the demographics of the church members in Southeast Africa.  It was interesting to see that over half of the adult members are single.  The wards here are not your typical family ward in the United States.

             We are poor photographers – mostly we forget to bring the camera.  So these shots were taken with our cell phone.  We will try to do better.

We see some lions.

March 25, 2012

This has been a fun week except for a cold.  At last I have recovered from a hoarse throat and runny nose that has been bothering me this week.  It is the first cold I have had in several years, and I remember now how miserable they are.  Tom was so sweet to make dinner for me one night when I wasn’t feeling very well.

Wednesday was a holiday – Human Rights Day.  We celebrated by going to the Lion Park here in Johannesburg and then to the Apartheid Museum.  The Lion Park had a gift shop that had some African things such as aprons, candle holders, and ostrich eggs.  We didn’t buy anything because we figured we have time to shop around some to get what we want most and at the best price.  First we walked into a penned in area and saw baby lion cubs (some were white), giraffes, zebras, hyenas and ostriches.  I didn’t know that male ostriches have black feathers and the females have brown feathers.  Then we drove in our car through some other fenced in areas and saw zebras and gazelle, lions, cheetahs, wild dogs and birds of various varieties.  It was a warm morning and the animals, particularly the lions were all taking naps in the shade of some tree.  There were several white lions.  These are not albinos, but a recessive genetic trait like red hair in humans.  They are rare because they do not fare well in the wild as they have no camouflage.  We saw one mother lion with four cubs who were nursing.

The Apartheid Museum was interesting as it gave the history of the apartheid movement here in South Africa and especially of the role and life of Nelson Mandela.  The discovery of gold and diamonds brought many cultures and nationalities to South Africa and caused the Boer people to defend their political hold by a strict policy of segregation.  I admire Mr. Mandela for his efforts to avoid strife and to bring about a democracy peacefully.  South Africa seems to be the most stable government on this continent and also the most civilized.  I wouldn’t blame the people of color here to be angry and upset with whites, but all seem to be working in peace.  I think the blacks still have a long ways to go though to catch up economically.  I saw one small community that seemed to be nothing more than tin shanties built very close together.  I am very thankful for the comfortable circumstances I was born into.

We met the Jeffries this week who are serving as member support missionaries in Mutare, Zimbabwe.  They came with about 17 other members to the temple so that these Zimbabwe saints could receive their endowments and perform work for their ancestors.  They were busy in the temple for two days.  When they come they stay in patron housing which is part of the office complex here.  Anyway the trip involved an 18 hour bus trip.  The worst part per the Jeffries was that the bus driver insisted on playing music so loud the whole time that it was impossible to carry on a conversation.  The Howells bought them ear plugs for the trip home.  I am so blessed to have lived relatively close to a temple my whole life.  I was surprised to learn that in the Congo there are bishops and stake presidents who have not been endowed as they cannot afford the trip to South Africa and obtaining passports and visas is very difficult and expensive.  The newly announced temple in Kinshasa will be a great blessing.  But I believe it will be a miracle in the completion of it.  The church does have a temple patron fund to help such members who live so far away from a temple to come for the first time.

March 20, 2012

The weather is turning cooler and we wear sweaters when we walk in the mornings.  This morning was very clear and we saw a sliver of a moon in the eastern sky. 

Sunday was the Centurion Stake Conference.  Saturday conference was held in the Centurion Stake Centre, a beautiful new building.  The talks were very good.  I enjoyed listening to Sister Armstrong, the temple matron.  There were six speakers, three black and three white.  Sunday morning’s session was held in a big conference centre in Kempton Park.  It also was fairly new and very commodious.  There were water bottles placed under each chair.  Perhaps it was to keep down the number leaving to get a drink; it wasn’t that hot a day.  The talks again were very good.  A young girl, who is leaving on a mission soon, gave a talk on virtue.  Pres. Armstrong, temple president, and President Omer, mission president, both spoke as well as President Chatora.  President Chatora is only one of two stake presidents in this coordinating council (7 stakes and 1 district) who are black. 

The senior missionaries were treated to a St. Patrick’s Day brunch on Saturday at the Savage’s flat.  The Blakes, a senior missionary couple from Park City, Utah who are serving in Benoni Stake were invited to show Sister Blake’s paintings and art work.  She spends her evenings painting (mostly water colors) using photos she has taken of animals and people here in Africa.  She takes artistic liberty with the photos and produces some very good art.  She gave us all a print of one of her water colors.   She also does scrimshaw which is engraving done on ivory or bone and then pigmented, much the same way that tattoos are done.  These are in black and white and also color.  They are not serving along with other senior couples such as we, nor do they have television, so they have a lot of time in the evenings and not much social life.  We enjoy the social life as it is more than we had in Spokane, but I also enjoy the quiet evenings at home working on family history.  The photo is some of her scrimshaw.

 March 11, 2012

Sunday and another thunderstorm.  Not as bad as last week however. 

It has been another good week.  On Tuesday was the Area Audit Committee meeting.  I greatly admire President Cook.  He can move a meeting along. There seem to be more defalcations reported.  We were assigned to report on the Ennerdale Branch so that it could be shared with the stake and branch presidents.  It was a more of a compliance audit.  We ended up quoting the church handbook for relevant points and then stating what conditions we had observed.  Also this week we found out that another audit couple, one who lives locally, is coming to join us as Area Auditors the 10^th  of April.  We were quite surprised and do not know where they will be located as there are no additional desks in our office.  Also we are quite sure that there isn’t that much work to do.  We will see. 

Saturday we headed to Rosebank Mall and shopped at the African Craft booths.  There were many carvings, jewelry, tablecloths, etc. fashioned by Africans.  All the shop owners were anxious to show us their wares and persuade us to buy something.  We bargained a little with them.  Tom kids me about bidding against him.  The owner offered one price, Tom came back with a 100R lower and I compromised between the two.  Sounded good to me.  

March 4, 2012

This was a busy week.  Tuesday I went with Elder and Sister Roberts to teach music at the Kempton Park Ward.  Wednesday evening we stayed late at the office to train Vincent Cockbain, one of our new assistants for the Gauteng Coordinating Council.  Thursday evening we had the delightful pleasure of eating dinner with President Carl and Sister Lynette Cook of the Area Presidency.  Friday afternoon and evening we worked at the temple and attended a session.  Saturday we took a walk by the golf course and came home on the other side of the freeway.  Today I taught the Sunday School lesson and we got stuck in traffic on the way home.  All four lanes were channeled into one so that workers could repaint the white lines delineating the lanes of traffic.  It took us nearly an hour more to get home. 

The Lewins and Howells were invited along with us to dinner with Elder and Sister Cook.  She served roast lamb and mashed white potatoes along with sweet potatoes and a green salad.  The dessert was the best I have tasted since here.  It was a chocolate cake topped with whip cream, nuts and chocolate sauce.  The Cooks were great hosts and he entertained us with stories of giving his first general conference talk last October and a time when he was a newly called Area Seventy and was assigned to the Garland Stake in northern Utah and Elder Packer asked if it would be “convenient” for him to accompany him.  His first general conference talk was titled “Looking Up” and he started it with telling about being in an elevator with President Monson and being told it is better to Look Up.  The talk made him very nervous, especially about the requirement to be just under nine minutes. He was able to practice it in the conference center using simulated monitors, but when the time came when he looked out on the audience it was total darkness.  His son-in-law congratulated him on only taking 8 minutes and 30 seconds.  Just before his talk while the choir was singing he went down and stood next to Elder Holland who gave him a fatherly hug.  I asked Lynette if she had timed him.  She said “No, I was praying for him the whole time.”

The stake conference with Elder Packer was still fresh on his mind even though it was nearly eleven years ago.  At the time Elder Packer asked to go with him the agenda for the meetings had already been worked out with the Stake President.  Elder Packer told him to reschedule and that they would just “go by the spirit.”  With only 10 minutes to go before the Priesthood Leadership Meeting Elder Cook did not know who was going to speak, but assumed he would be given some time.  Before the meeting started Elder Packer told Elder Cook to be quiet and to tell the organist to play more reverently.  Elder Packer spoke for the first 15 minutes and then invited Elder Cook to speak next for another 15 minutes continuing the theme of “going by the spirit.”  Elder Cook said he was relieved when it was done, thinking he could relax until the next meeting.  But after Elder Packer finished his next 15 minutes, he again invited Elder Cook to speak for another 15 minutes.  Elder Cook wasn’t sure what he was going to say but managed.  Then it happened again.  Elder Cook was asked to speak for another 15 minutes.  The only speakers were Elder Packer and Elder Cook.  Elder Packer was giving him a teaching lesson in following the spirit.  He was then asked to speak again in the adult session, twice, and again in the Sunday morning session.  As Elder Packer was leaving he motioned to Elder Cook and said, “I guess you   might want to know how you did.”  Elder Cook wasn’t sure whether he wanted to know or not.  But he said, “Sure”.  Elder Packer’s reply was “well, call me sometime.”  Elder Cook got enough courage to call him and was told he had done all right.  In discussing the story with other seventies he realized he was not the only one to be broken in by Elder Packer. Elder Samuelson told him that at a regional conference he was seated next to Elder Packer on the stand. Elder Packer asked to see his talk, which he read and complimented Elder Samuelson.  Then he proceeded to put the talk in his own briefcase rather than giving it back to Elder Samuelson.  When it came close to the time for Elder Samuelson to give his talk he got up the courage to ask Elder Packer if he might have his talk.  Elder Packer said, “Oh, you will do fine,” and did not give him his talk.

February 26, 2012

Another  warm, peaceful Sunday.  This one was special because President Cook and his wife accompanied us to church.  Elder Cook likes to visit different wards and branches much like we used to do when we were in the temple presidency.  It was a good sacrament meeting, Prince – the elder’s quorum president spoke as well as Elder and Sister Cook.  Tom gave a great Sunday School lesson on the Isaiah chapters in 2^nd Nephi.  I am getting to like Isaiah more all the time.  The second counselor in Relief Society gave the lesson today.  The remarkable thing is that she and her husband were just baptized three weeks ago.  After church there was another baptism for a mother and her daughter; a nephew of Thokozani, the clerk; and another adult sister.  The baptisms are held in the kitchen which has a font at one end.  It is too small and many need to stand.  There was a good spirit there.

We walked yesterday morning at Zoo Lake again.  I enjoyed seeing the birds and trees.  Most mornings we walk on the top of the mall across the street.  It was designed for parking cars, but it makes a good walking place especially early in the morning.  When we go at 5 now it is still dark.  By the time we come back around six it has lightened up, but it is still before sunrise. 

Bishop Burton of the Presiding Bishopric was supposed to have come this last week to South Africa.  But he decided to only go to Kinshasa in the DRC Congo instead.  While he was there he spoke to us in the Area Office via Skype.  The new Director of Temporal Affairs, Brother Benoit, was announced.  He will replace Leon Holmes who is going to be a new mission president in Ghana.  He also talked about the new temple to be built in Kinshasa and encouraged the saints there to prepare themselves spiritually for it. 

Monday evening was family home evening for the Area Office missionaries.  The Smiths who work at the temple and are from London spoke about their lives and conversion to the church.  Sister Smith had a terrible childhood, being in an orphanage, abused by her stepfather, and being very poor.  She bore strong testimony as to how the Lord helped her to let go of her anger and forgive her mother and step-father.  In vision she saw the torment of her now deceased mother in the spirit world as she saw the anguish and pain her children were enduring that she was mostly responsible for.  It was a touching evening.

Missionary Life in Africa

February 5, 2012

Today I heard an awesome thunder storm.  Once the lightning seemed to be just overhead and the thunder immediately behind it.  It was so loud I jumped.  When the rain came a few minutes later it was hail followed by huge raindrops.  I could see the rain bouncing 4 to 5 inches off the stair landings outside.  Summer here is the rainy season.  I was told it doesn’t rain from the middle of April til the middle of October.

Wednesday morning as we rose at 5 am to go walking, we didn’t get any further than our front gate.  The gate is only two feet in front of our door.  After we closed the front door and needed to unlock the gate we realized that we had left the keys inside and that now we were trapped in that small compartment in front of our door.  No one goes by our door much as we are in the middle of the building and the elevators and stairs are at each end and especially not at 5 in the morning.  There we were with no phone or anyway to contact anyone of our predicament.  A neighbor lady happened out in about a half hour in her bathrobe.  We asked her to summon the security guard downstairs to let him know we needed a key to get in.  She came back with his instructions that we would need to go down ourselves to make the request.  That wasn’t going to happen.  He finally did come up and summoned a caretaker in the building who knew where the Howells and some other missionary couples lived in the building.  The Howells were leaving that morning to go to Zambia at 8, but he came to see what he could do.  About 6:30 we had a little crowd commiserating with us, but not able to help.  Then Tom remembered how we got into a locked room in the temple one time when no one had a key.  We tried a putty knife (too inflexible), a credit card (too short) and several keys that people gave us to try.  Elder Nielsen then cut up a plastic folder so that we had a strip about 6 inches long and 2 inches wide.  Tom worked it into the slot, pushed back the latch and we were in!!  After two hours in confinement we were happy to be free.  We are repentant and check to make sure we have our keys before going out the door.  We should make a list of things to remember before leaving (name tags, door keys, car keys, lunch, etc.) and post it on the inside of the front door.  We saw such a list in the flat of a couple who invited us to dinner today.

The only outing we took this week was a walk at Zoo Lake with the Nielsens Saturday morning.  We did better coming home from church, only missed one turn, but the GPS soon got us back on the freeway leading home.  Today was fast and testimony meeting.  We heard some great testimonies from youth and older people.  I was surprised to find out in Relief Society that all except 4 or 5 were members of the church less than 10 years and about half less than 5 years.  The church is growing so fast here.  I taught the Sunday School lesson today.  I want to learn the people’s names, but I have a hard time pronouncing them.  The lesson was on Chapters 1 and 2 of 2^nd Nephi.  I realized that one cannot do good unless there is the choice to do bad and one chooses to do good.

February 19, 2012

Trip to Durban.  We saw much country side – lots of corn, cows, and hills that just popped up out of the ground.  We experienced good highway, tolls, trucks, and construction.  A top speed of 120 kmh (75 mph) is allowed.  Our GPS is in the shop so we used maps to find the way.  We missed the final turn getting on the freeway, N3,  out of Johannesburg.  With luck (Lord’s blessing) we managed to find another entrance, but it took some time.  The trip one way took about six hours.  I spent the time reading Bad Luck and Trouble by Lee Childs to Tom as he drove.  I would rather not drive as I have not learned to do it on the left side yet.  Sometime when we go to Durban I would like to see the Indian Ocean.  We didn’t quite get there this time.

We had a meeting with Sean Kennedy, a newly called assistant area auditor, who is young , vibrant, and capable.  He brought appreciated drinks and cookies.  The Internet was not accessible as we needed a password.  Learned it is possible to get 3-G card to have anywhere access.  The training took 2 hours.  We were happy he was able to access CDOL (church directory of leaders) and LUFAS (church program for auditors) on his laptop as he had one of those cards.  The Hillcrest Stake Center is a beautiful building.  It was a misty day.  Sean taught us some new vocabulary – freeway exits and entrances are called fly-ons and fly-offs.  We stayed overnight in Pietermaritzburg in the Stay-Easy hotel.  Dinner was in the nearby shopping mall food court – Nandos.  The chicken was quite spicy.  We had a small, but comfortable room.  Breakfast was included. 

Temple Attendance.  Intended to go on Thursday evening, but storm was so heavy that big limbs broke off the trees blocking the streets around the flat.  So we decided to go on Saturday.  Friday we started working as ordinance workers.  Prayer meeting started at 2:10 and the last session was over at 9:00 pm.  I was actually released about 8, but I had to wait for Tom who was assigned the last veil.  I enjoyed doing the ordinances again.  First thing I was assigned to the initiatory for an own endowment without even being reviewed.  It had been a couple of months since I had done any initiatory ordinances; the Lord blessed me to remember.  And also the cards were posted in each booth.  There were two booths; the flow in one was clockwise as in Spokane and in the other it was counter-clockwise.  I was in the counter-clockwise one and it took a little getting used to. There was no assignment sheet with regular hourly assignments; the shift coordinator just reassigned us as the need arose.  I had the opportunity of not only doing initiatory, but also doing name issue and presenting at the veil.  The sisters all seemed very nice and friendly.  I especially like Sister Giles and Sister Bird.  The Birds and Smiths are neighbours of ours in Duke’s Court.  Most of the temple workers are missionaries.  Some are what is called “black-badge” missionaries meaning that they receive their call from the prophet and are assigned for 18 to 23 months.  Others are called by the temple president for varying terms, usually one year.  These are South Africans who leave their homes, live in Duke’s Court where we do, and work in the temple every day.  We ended up going to the Saturday noon session.  It was very small (6 patrons) and we were the witness couple.

Tembisa Ward.  A couple of weeks ago I started bringing pages from the church keyboard lessons to give to Elder Mamba, a young, full-time missionary.  I was helping him at the keyboard before church and decided just to stay and accompany the hymns as the only other option they were using was to use the programmed hymns.  No one objected, so I did it again this week.  I even accompanied the choir this week.  They have a small choir which sang during the meeting and also as the congregation was leaving the chapel.  The sisters could use some training in conducting as they start every hymn with the downbeat whether they should or not.  I taught the gospel doctrine lesson this week on Chapter Nine of Second Nephi.  It is Jacob’s discourse on the atonement.  We have so much to be grateful for to the Savior.  I felt there was a little more class participation this week.  I pray that I will be able to understand what they say better and especially learn their names and pronounce them easily.  This week we took two temple sisters, Mabel Dicken from Durban and Val Kuennig from Cape Town, to church with us.  The temple missionaries are not given cars, so they are assigned to wards where they can go with us who have transportation. 

Last week I spent quite a bit of time doing a 1500 piece puzzle.  It was a picture of the Great Five (elephant, water buffalo, leopard, rhino and lion).  It took me about five days to finish it, and I didn’t stay up late at night working on it either.  I know I shouldn’t start on puzzles because I can’t leave them alone.  This one was one that was in the small library at the Area Office.