The Lovingers come to Africa

February 2013

Crystal and Eric came to visit us!

We have really enjoyed having Crystal and Eric here with us and have tried to show them as much as we can.  Monday we took them to a devotional at the Area Office where they got to meet many of the senior missionaries.  Later that evening they viewed a couple of West African Church history videos at a missionary fireside.  We took them to a great place to get steaks afterward.  Tuesday it was out to lunch with the Eppels and then a temple session afterward.  Something Crystal ate must not have agreed with her as she excused herself from the endowment session.  She was able to participate in the prayer circle for the MTC missionaries just prior to that though. 

 

Must stop and tell you about the Eppels.  They were scheduled to leave for a month long trip to Madagascar on Thursday.  When we had lunch with them they told us they had received distressing news about their son, Desmond, who lives in Peoria, Illinois.  He had a seizure at work and was diagnosed with a brain tumor in the hospital.  Surgery was going to be performed on Thursday.  Their daughter who lives in Camas, Washington flew to Chicago to be a support for him.  The Eppels postponed their trip until they heard the results of the operation.  We were all praying for him and put his name on the temple prayer roll.  We were so relieved when we got home from Madikwe Friday evening to learn that the operation had been a success and they expected a full recovery.  So the Eppels left for Madagascar trusting that the Lord would bless their son while they were on His errand.
 

Wednesday morning we left early for Madikwe game reserve in the northern part of South Africa.  In fact it borders on Botswana.  It was about a 5 hour ride.  We got there in time for lunch and then an afternoon drive in the bush to spot animals and birds.  Madikwe was created in the 1990s and is owned by and operated by the Northwest Province Game Board.  Besides protecting the wild animals it was also created to provide employment for the local people in an eco-tourism industry the only viable industry the government deemed could exist.  So they moved out the local farmers and small towns people and created this huge game reserve, the 4^th largest in South Africa.  Some of the species were imported from other reserves; some had survived the people who had settled there.  It is a blend of eco-climates so it is a habitat for a great variety of birds and animals.  There are several private businesses who have leased some of the reserve from the government for lodges – places for people to stay.  Madikwe is different than Kruger or Philanesberg in that you can’t just drive around in your own car and make a day trip of it.  We stayed in the only bush camp where one experiences camping as opposed to staying in a hotel.  The little cabins have nice beds.  There is no electricity, so paraffin lamps are used for lighting at night and donkey boilers are used to heat water for showers.  All the food is cooked over a fire.  One night we had a delicious potjie (dutch oven) stew.  We are awakened at 5 am for a 5:30 drive in a Land Rover.  These drives last about four hours and cover a lot of territory.  Some of it is on graded roads and some just through the bush on little trails.  It was much fun and a great safari experience.

Our driver’s name was Justice and he did a great job in finding animals for us and knowing what animals and birds we were seeing.  Our first two drives starting with the evening drive the day we got there and the morning drive the next day we had a couple from South Africa that really knew their birds.  They were helpful to those of us with less birding knowledge.  We identified about 37 different kinds of birds and that doesn’t count the many we just let go. 

 A long-tailed paradise-whydah.

  A southern yellow-billed hornbill.

  Eating at the Boma restaurant in Victoria Falls.  We ate antelope and warthog. Elder Green and Eric ate Mopani worms and we joined the floorshow in dancing.

  These wild dogs could have enjoyed wildebeest for dinner.

 

As far as animals that we saw there was an abundance of zebras, impalas (not the Chevrolet kind), and wildebeests.  There were other animals but not in the many, many, groups.  We saw some kudos, warthogs, giraffes, rhinos, lions (no males however), elephants, wild dogs, African wildcat, water buffalo, springbok, and maybe some others.  One kind of unusual thing involved one wildebeest and a pack of about 22 wild dogs.  Wild dogs are noted for their ability to take down a wildebeest even though they are pretty big.  This wildebeest just wandered right into this pack of wild dogs and Justice, our driver, said well there is dinner for the dogs.  We stayed around, not because we wanted to see a wildebeest slaughtered, but it just seemed like an opportunity that doesn’t come along every day.  Anyway the wildebeest, when the dogs surrounded him just stood his ground and pretty soon the dogs lost interest and as far as we know they never killed him.  Another interesting item was a giant bull elephant that was walking down the road towards us.  Justice pulled over and backed off the road behind a tree and we waited for the elephant to pass.  He did and just kept going.  It seemed like he didn’t even notice us.  Justice said he was out looking for girl elephants.  Later in the evening we were driving and again this same giant elephant was coming towards us.  There was no real place to pull over and hide at that place so Justice just pulled over to the side of the road.  The elephant continued to plod along towards us. As he got closer he took a little swing away from us and it looked like he just wanted to go by us with some room to spare.  Then he started to swing back and was coming right for us.  When he was only a few feet away and headed right at Tom.  Justice started the engine and we took off.  Tom asked if elephants could turn over one of the Range Rover trucks and Justice said they could and had; so we were happy to get away.  It was a fun few days.

The next week we took a trip to see Victoria Falls.  It is located in the corner of Zimbabwe, Zambia and Botswana.  We stayed on the Zimbabwe side.  We got quite wet at Victoria Falls and not because it was raining.  It just felt like it was raining.  The mist from the falls was very heavy.  They call the Falls “The Smoke that Thunders”.  We took a cruise up the river later in the day and looking back to the Falls it looked like smoke arising high in the sky.  We saw hippos in the river but no crocodiles.  The hotel where we stayed overlooked a watering hole and it was fun to use our binoculars and watch the animals enter and exit our “stage” as we viewed it.  One afternoon one of the kitchen staff took the leftover raw meat and fed the vultures.  There must have been 100 or more vultures swoop down and fight over the pig’s head, and other scraps.  Then there was a marabou stork which patiently sat in a tree just waiting for the vultures to leave so that he could have the bones.  We had a great time at Victoria Falls and then did some other things around here including a trip to the Rhino Lion Park the day the Lovingers left.

 "The smoke that thunders"

 

A week later we made a quick trip to Mozambique to attend the Coordinating Council held in Maputo.  Jaimie (Jai’-mie) is our assistant auditor there.  He can speak English well.  We invited him and his wife to dinner at the hotel Friday evening.  She doesn’t speak English, but appreciated being invited and promised to learn English.  The official language in Mozambique is Portuguese. Jaimie also picked us up at the airport and took us to the coordinating council meeting Saturday morning.  Elder Bricknell promised us 20 minutes at the beginning of the meeting.  We actually were given an hour and a half.  The senior missionary couple in Beira is going home soon with no replacement coming.  They have been making all the Sunday deposits for the branches there.  It is thus time for the branches to take more responsibility and they need to be trained to make their own deposits and write their own checks.  Solomon Malidadi in Beira is literally going the extra mile to train a couple of the dependent branches.  The counselor in the Mission over these branches was at the coordinating meeting – so hopefully they will do better in getting the audits performed and done on time.

 

The temple was closed for a couple of weeks for maintenance, but is open now again.   We attended a great session with the Senior Area missionaries after a zone conference on Thursday.  A dinner was enjoyed in the sister’s flat afterward. Elder Renlund spoke in the zone conference about “mighty prayer”.  We commented on how the prayers of the African saints are humble and sincere.  They are grateful for life no matter their circumstances.

In the Church News this week was announced the formation of 58 new missions effective July 1^st.  The Africa Southeast Area there will be two new missions, Angola Luanda and Botswana, Gaborone.  We were interested that our old mission, Tokyo South, was resurrected. The Lord is hastening His work and the time is coming for His Second Coming.

We heard from the Kings from Washington that they accepted the call to be area auditors here in Southeast Africa.  They will enter the MTC on June 10^th and arrive here on June 18^th.  We are now starting to think about going home and will need to make arrangements.  We have mixed feelings about knowing the end is coming.  I am excited about going home and being with family again, but also feel there is more to be done here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

January 2013

Tom had another good and interesting experience in the temple.  He was asked to be a follower on the first session of the shift.  I went along as a patron.  We usually don’t have brother followers on sessions here just the officiator and a sister follower.  The reason he was asked to go in was to help Elder Rakotonjanahary, from Madagascar, as he officiated his first session after being here for a number of months.  His English is not very good, but he is anxious and willing.  He actually did pretty well.   Tom had to give him a few clues, but it went well and it was fun for Tom to be of help.  When we were done his wife, who was the sister follower, thanked Tom for helping her husband and being patient with him.  He also thanked Tom and gave him a big hug.  After being in Japan we can understand the problem when you don’t know the language very well.  There are a number of languages here that the regular temple workers need to deal with, many more than we ever could imagine in Spokane.

The Eppels have been assigned a major project in Madagascar.  They will leave on January 31^st and won’t return until March 2^nd.  They will be training priesthood leaders and doing all but one of the 41 units’ audits in the country.  One audit will usually take about 2 hours when the data is good, which in many cases is not true.  These will also be done in French, which Elder Eppel speaks only a little, which will add additional time to the audits.  They will be busy traveling, training, and auditing the whole time they are there.  We told them they might come back older than we are when in reality they are about 9 years younger.  Obviously there is something needed in Madagascar to require this much effort.  Elder and Sister Rakotonjanahary’s name is typical of what names are like in Madagascar.   We are glad the Eppels have Madagascar as one of their countries. 

 

One Friday morning this month we left early for Botswana.  We followed directions we got from Google and only made two wrong turns.  It took about an hour to process the papers at the border and in all about 6 hours to get to Gaborone.  We enjoyed seeing Bob and Janet Rands from Spokane who are serving in Gaborone as the seminary and institute directors.  We had lunch with them and then went to a small game reserve near where they live.  We saw lots of warthogs including some babies who were nursing.  We also saw zebras, impala, monkeys, and a couple of large antelope called elands.  We also went by the place where they filmed the movie “The First Ladies Detective Agency”.  The set was in pretty sad shape as the weather has caused it to deteriorate.  When we got back to the Rands they showed us the first part of the movie on video.  We could see what the set had looked like originally. 

Verdet Monkey


Hartebeest

      Ladies #1 Detective Agency/ Warthogs

 

The next morning we trained President Clement Magswagothata and his counselors and clerks of the new Gaborone, Botswana Stake in their new financial responsibilities.  They are enthusiastic and well organized.  We think they will do very well in getting the audits done and in teaching the local units to follow church policies.  We left about noon for home.  This time it only took about a half hour at the border and we followed our GPS and were home by five.  The GPS took us home a slightly different route.  One interesting sidelight – along the shoulders of the main highways in Botswana graze cattle, goats and even donkeys.  One has to keep an eye open not to run over some stray who takes a mind to cross the road.

 

The car we were assigned to drive had about 5,000 to 6,000 kilometers on it when we got it.  The car needs to be serviced every 15,000 km.  Well we hit that a little while ago; so we made arrangements with the Area car manager to have the car serviced today.  He led us on a very exciting 20 km drive in rush hour traffic.  He knows the way, but we didn’t have a clue where we were going.  Except for the bus that almost crushed us it went well.  We had to go back and get the car after work and that went much better.  The lady at the Nissan dealership said we were good until the car reached 30,000 km or a year went by; so unless the car breaks we should never have to have it serviced again.

We are getting ready for the audits for year-end 2012, but there probably won’t be many done until February.  We hope they all start early and get them done by the March 15 deadline.  We are also getting started planning our assistant area auditor conference that will be held on April 25-27, 2013; so we are keeping busy.

The Area Office is in the process of completing the annual history for 2012.  Each department has to write the happenings they experienced during the last year.  Tom did a great job of doing the history for the auditors.  The main progress we made was in the calling of all the local assistant area auditors.  These brethren will make a difference in being able to train and follow through with the local priesthood leaders in seeing that church financial policies and procedures are observed.  The Eppels had a touching experience as they trained in a very remote area in the Congo.  I will share with you what Sister Eppel related.

“One of the highlights of 2012 was a training trip to the remote Luputa Stake in the Kasai Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  What a wonderful training meeting!  There were 41 men in white shirts and ties reverently seated and prepared for the meeting.  The singing of the Church hymns was beautiful.  There was such a strong spirit.  The Stake President was a fine young man.  They all sat attentive during the training – very participative and involved.  All in all an incredibly spiritual experience and well worth the difficult trip.

The next morning at about 7am on the return journey the area auditors passed a Bishop riding his bicycle back to Mwene Ditu.  Amazing to think he had ridden all that way to attend his meetings the day before and who knows what time he had left that morning on his way home again.  A two and a half hour trip by car!!  The commitment to and love of the gospel of that group of priesthood leaders was truly inspiring.”

This last Friday night Loretta Sibanyoni from our ward received her own endowments. We gave her the temple preparation lessons in Tembisa.  I was able to be her escort, except since I was also on shift as an ordinance worker, I was also the follower on the session.  She confided that she had seen negative comments about the temple when she “googled” the church shortly after becoming a member about two years ago.  So she was a little nervous about going.  She said it was much different than what it said on Google.  The assistant matron who gave her the instruction did it in a loving and comprehensible manner.  Hearing her do that brought up sweet memories of the times when I was privileged to do the same thing.  We took her to Muggs and Bean, a small restuarant,  for something to eat afterward and then home to Tembisa.  Understandably she didn’t want to take a combie (taxi) home by herself so we offered to take her home.

Yesterday Crystal and Eric arrived! They brought us mail (Christmas cards mostly), brown sugar, vanilla pudding and most important themselves.  It is so good to see them.  We took them to the devotional this morning and will go to a family home evening tonight.  They even walked with us at 5 this morning.  They will be here for two weeks.

 

 

 

December 2012

 

 

Early in the month 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.

One of the highlights of the month was the Tembisa Ward’s Christmas party.  It was announced that it would run from noon on Saturday to 6:00 pm.  This seemed very long to us, but they never planned on starting at noon, but at 1:00 pm.  Africans are noted for being late, and they know it as well as we do; so they set the early time.  We got there about 1:45 pm and it had just started.  It was a nice party with lots of primary age children from who knows where.  There definitely aren’t that many at church.  It was good as member-kids brought their friends and all had a good time.  Tom was asked to be Father Christmas (Santa).  He found a Santa suit that somebody in the Area Office had.  It went well as the kids seemed happy to see Father Christmas and many followed him around.  On the lawn outside the children lined up to receive a small gift from Father Christmas.  One little girl gave him a kiss, as you see in the photo. 

 

 

The other interesting thing about that party was the food they served.  Several women spent the afternoon in the kitchen preparing the food for nearly a hundred people.  A few of the men cooked the meat on the brai (grill) outdoors by the parking area.  They served a salad that resembled cole slaw, beans with chilies and pap.  Pap is a staple food of the natives.  It looks much like mashed potatoes but is heavier and made of maize or corn meal.  It doesn’t have much of a taste, but it is filling.  They piled the pap on the children’s plates and gave them a small serving of beans and a small piece of meat.  We wondered if the children would eat it all.  But they brought back empty plates and were looking for more.  No utensils were served.  Everyone, including us, ate with our fingers.  Also there were no tables with chairs for everyone.  They don’t have the facilities for that.  The children all went to a couple of small classrooms and sat on the floor.  The adults ate out on the lawn or standing up.  They brought us two big plates with salad, beans, a good portion of sausage and chicken and steak and pap.  We said we would just share one and thanked them.

 

 

 

 

We made a trip to Luanda, Angola to train an assistant auditor and the district presidency.  It was about a 3.5 hour flight and over 1500 miles.  Everything is very expensive in Angola; a car wash is the equivalent of $50.  President and Sister Thompson fed us and let us stay at their place for the night.  We offered to take them to dinner, but they said the traffic was so bad that they drove as little as possible and they weren’t very impressed with the restaurants they had tried in their neighborhood.  The traffic was the most memorable thing about Luanda.  For one thing one drives on the right side of the road there.  The roads themselves are in pretty good condition, except the major roads are at the most 3 lanes wide going one direction and four or five lines of traffic try to squeeze in.  It reminded me a little of Los Angeles freeways, only the traffic was only inching along and cars kept barging into our lane, motorcycles kept darting in and around, and pedestrians crossed wherever they felt they had a chance.  Elder Eppel, who has seen a lot of Africa, says that it is the worst traffic in Africa including Kinshasa in the Congo.  To make matters worse it is impossible to make a left hand turn off of these main roads because they have built concrete barriers down the meridian.  About every 5 kilometers they have built in places to make U turns.  So to make a left someone has to drive to a U-turn and go back the direction they came from until they come to the corner where they wanted to turn and then make a right-turn.  It makes for added mileage and traffic. 

There are many modern buildings in downtown and many under construction.  But Luanda like so many other places in Africa is a city of contrasts.  The people on the street appear poor.  And there are slums and shanties on the outskirts of the city.  There are the little stalls along the roads (no sidewalks to speak of) where people try to sell food, clothing, trinkets, souvenirs, tires, etc. Several times while we were at the Thompsons the power went out and their backup generator came on.   I was glad to return to South Africa.

The Buhamahlo orphanage in Tembisa is one several of the missionaries here have tried to help.  We went with some missionary couple to provide the orphanage a Christmas party.  The Tshbalala family (Dominic is an employee in the Area Office) did a Nativity and we sang Christmas carols, ate lunch and gave some gifts to the kids.  It was a fun morning and we think the kids enjoyed it.  One of the missionary couples had rallied their family and they bought Mama an industrial type sewing machine that she loved.  In the accompanying photo Mama is wearing a duck (headdress) and flowered top.  The Tshabalala family is in costume, the rest are the orphans and help.

 

On December 17^th, a national holiday, the temple missionaries and area office missionaries rode a steam locomotive train from Johannesburg to Magliesberg which is a couple of hours west and north of where we live.  We parked the car at the bus/train station in downtown Joburg.  Even though it was about 8 in the morning the place was filled with people – all going somewhere with kids and baggage in tow.  Our group filled one whole box car.  It was a fun ride and we got to see places we haven’t seen before such as Krugersdorp.  Most townships have shantie villages on the outskirts.  The photo is one near Krugersdorp.  It is hard to imagine how people live in such places.  Magliesberg was our destination and we ate lunch there at a nice hotel and spent some time investigating the small shops in the town.  Since it was a public holiday (Day of Reconciliation) most of the shops were closed.

 

 

 

 

 

Happy New Year.  Time is going by so quickly.  Another week, another month, even another year just went by.  It is a reminder to me of how precious time is and how I must make the most of it.  As we never know how much more time we may have.

Christmas was wonderful in that we got to talk and Skype with our children and most of our grandchildren.  We spent Christmas Eve with a few other missionaries relating our testimonies of Christ.  On Christmas we shared a meal with the other missionary couples and spent the day relaxing.

  Hippo on his back

The 26^th of December is another national holiday in South Africa – Day of Goodwill.  We invited the Kraczeks, a new missionary couple,  to go with us to Pilanesberg which is a big game park about two hours north of here.  We arose early and left here about 4 am.  We had been told that it is good to arrive about sunup in order to see more animals.  It is one of those places where you drive your car around the park and keep your eyes peeled to see what you can.  We saw a rhino. hippos, and some giraffes in the distance and kudus (large African antelope), impalas (small antelopes), warthogs, wildebeest, and a large millipede up close.  We also saw many colorful birds.  There were a couple of places where we could get out of the car and walk in a protected area to observe the animals more closely.  These are called “hides”.  I think Americans would refer to them as “blinds”.  In one of these blinds we saw a kingfisher (bird) with a small fish in its beak whacking the fish and smashing it against the tree limb.  I supposed it didn’t care for a live meal. It was there we also came across a small crocodile.  Sister Kraczek really wanted to see an elephant so she could report to her grandson that “yes, they had seen an elephant”.  The park reported having 200 elephants, but they were hiding from us that day.  The Howes, another senior missionary couple, also were in the park that morning and they did see one on the same road we had been on.  How can you miss an elephant?  The Howes explained that even though they are big, they blend in with the environment.  The Howes also saw some fun hippo activity in a hide.  I will share a photo they took as well as a couple we took.  To see more of this happy hippo go to my facebook page.  Photos of hippo by Sis and Elder Howes.

 

 

 

 

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