Winter in June, July & August!

The big event for South Africa was the world cup from mid-June to mid-July. It has certainly brought unity to the South Africans we know! They are so proud of their country for getting the stadiums ready and getting some of the road projects completed. We hear reports that transportation after games was not what it should have been, but, other than that, things seem to be going quite well. All of the games were on local TV, so we have watched many of them.
In celebration we had celebrations at lunch time every Friday in late May and June, preparing for the games. They taught South Africa diski dancing and sang the national anthem, and, of course, taught some Vuvuzela lessons. You can look these up on google to learn more. The last Friday before the start of the games was a big celebration. We danced and sang and ate BorsRolls (like hot dogs, sort of), and had a show about all of the stadiums. Most offices dismissed at about 2:00, and the streets were packed as we drove home…most offices closed then. Then, there was vuvuzela music throughout the city most of the night. That really can be annoying. In fact, there is talk of restricting vuvuzela action in the stadiums, but the locals say it is a cultural tradition which shouldn’t be messed with. Anyway it was really neat to be here during this time.
Another big event for us in June was a regional young adult fireside. It was a multi-stake event where young adults from the whole area were invited. They divided the group: the men met in the cultural hall and the women met in the chapel, where Debi was the speaker. We could not believe the attendance. The chapel was clear full, so there were about 250 ladies in attendance. Debi did a lot of preparation and was a little nervous as we got close to Sunday. We played a video clip from Neal A. Maxwell, and she showed some pictures of people we’ve taken with music in the background at the end. She asked questions to get audience participation (we had two roving microphones) and had a Power Point presentation. She talked about Esther, and told about Eliza R. Snow. It was great. She even showed our family picture as part of her talk. She gave a powerful testimony of the gospel, expressed hope and love to the sisters. She was the only speaker and the presentation went about an hour. Lynn really enjoyed the evening (especially since he didn’t have to speak; however, he was responsible for the technology). It is so nice to be among the people. A van load of young adults came from Tembisa which was really nice for us to see them. As a side note, they each had to pay $4-$5 for the combie or taxi fare.
We did have one challenge, and that was when Debi woke up with a sore throat on Friday before the fireside. So we were concerned about her losing her voice. She rested Saturday morning while I went to the temple. We had the missionary who is the area medical advisor (a retired doctor) look at her and he said it looked like a virus so just watch it. Well, after a blessing and some prayer, she did better on Sunday and did not lose her voice at all. We were very grateful.
We are moving forward on our other work. Debi is keeping the website updated. After doing some visiting one day and seeing the children playing with flat soccer ball, Lynn got a wild idea about trying to figure out a way to donate some soccer balls to children and youth in the area. So far we have given a couple to the ward and plan to give some to an orphanage and probably some to a couple of the youth teams in the township. We completed our interview with Prince, who is the returned missionary that was put in prison in Ethiopia. We think we’ve mentioned this before. The story is now published in the area website (http://www.lds.co.za/) under the young adult section. Basically, he was serving in the Uganda Mission. Upon going to Ethiopia to prepare for a visiting General Authority of the Church, he had a visa problem as he was trying to get back into Uganda. So he was thrown in prison for about 12 days. He says there were 9 men in one small room and he shared a mattress and blanket with 4 others. He taught the gospel to several prisoners and the Ethiopian lawyer who help him get out. The lawyer later joined the Church. He really made the best of a very difficult situation.
We have to be honest that we do miss home as we think about summer time, vacations and the holidays coming up. But we are doing very well. It seems like as we start to get discouraged about anything, that the Lord helps us get buoyed up. We really feel that we are where we belong right now.
A few weeks ago Sunday was quite interesting. As we started priesthood meeting, the bishop came and gave Lynn a handout he received from the stake president about music. The handout discussed the purpose of music and a few basic guidelines. Then he said, the he was going to have a meeting will all adults after Church and he wanted us to present the material in the handout. Debi had mentioned there might be a meeting after Church, but we thought it would just be with a few people who are directly working with music. Well, can you picture Lynn leading a discussion on music and encouraging members to sing and join the ward choir? He tried to pawn it off on Debi, but after the regular meetings one of the members really needed to talk with her so Lynn had to start the meeting himself.. Debi joined as the meeting started so she said a few words also. At least Lynn didn’t have to sing!
The music class is going great. Debi has about 12 students. We had a mini recital and the people were so gracious and helpful to each other. Most of them were nervous, but some were excited. They really are doing well, though, and it is good to see the dedication some of them have to learning and teaching others!
The work on the Internet project is becoming very busy and will continue to be for the next few months. It’s interesting working with South African contractors and seeing how things get done. The local Church leaders really seem excited about being able to use the technology to broadcast meetings and better communicate with bishops and others in each Church congregation. Many Priesthood leaders are just unable to make it to stake meetings because of transport cost, time, and security. You might be interested to know that in some areas we have challenges with phone lines and cables being stolen so we’re trying to figure a way around that. We’ve had to be somewhat creative to secure the computers and other equipment in the buildings, but I think we have it figured out. Well that’s probably more detail than you want to know. The interesting thing that is happening is that we’ve been asked to see what we can do in a number of other countries beside South Africa. As we say in the west, that is a horse of a
completely different color. We may have to go to some of these places to see firsthand what is available and how things are done. Actually we would love to go to some places like Kenya or Madagascar, but the most likely places are Zimbabwe, DR Congo, and Kenya. We’ll see what happens.

We’ve had a number of choice experiences with the addiction recovery group. We have a number of new people in the group. A couple weeks ago there was a great discussion and one of the people who started about three weeks ago expressed his appreciation and determination to make some changes. He said that he really feels good after each meeting and the feeling lasts a lot longer than when he does something that is very temporary and has serious consequences. We discussed step 4 which is making a written inventory or yourself. This is really a difficult step and is a process that takes a number of weeks or even months. We read scriptures about how the Savior can help us if we will turn our will over to Him. It was one of those times where there was a strong spirit in the meeting with very honest and open comments. The meeting went 10 minutes longer than we normally do. However, after the closing prayer, the people did not want to leave. There was such a wonderful feeling in the room. We hope and pray that everyone will remember this time as the challenges of life come up over the next week. We really felt some good things are happening although we realize there are ups and downs.
We had an interesting experience recently. We went to a country called Swaziland for a day. Well we had an interesting episode at the border between Swaziland and South Africa. When you enter Swaziland you have to first go through the check out process on the South ‘Africa side, with passports and car papers, and then check in at a building in Swaziland. Leaving, it is the reverse. (This is the way at all of the country borders…kind of like the “bug station” some of you will recall, but you have to get out of the car and show more official information.) Anyway, on the way home, we forgot to stop and get our papers stamped at the customs counter, so Lynn went back in and when he came out the guard at the border asked to check our trunk. (They just do this randomly). When he saw a Joseph Smith pamphlet, he asked about it and said he would like one. Lynn said he could have one if he would read it. He was really excited and gave us a thumbs up sign as we drove through. You just never know when you may be able to do some missionary work!



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Get your vuvuzelas ready! The World Cup is here!

Can Elder Warr WakaWaka!

Tembisa Ward Members at the YSA Fireside

Watkins, Tembisa Elders Quorum Presidency and Warrs go visiting in the township.

Fun after church

Part of the Keyboarding class

What a gap: April 11 to June 18…I guess you could say we have been here long enough to get pretty well into things. We’re finding our way around and driving on the left, and preparing for winter instead of summer right now feels somewhat natural. We’ve experienced a couple of Braai’s (barbecues) and learned that we have a geyser (pronounced geezer which is the water heater) in our flat.

The big excitement in South Africa is the World Cup starting in two weeks. They are closing schools for 5 weeks and making all kinds of plans. For example we understand the country is hiring 50,000 extra police and security. We’re not sure where they are getting them from or how they’re training them. Security for visitors is a big concern. Lynn will surely sneak in a few games on TV, especially the opening game of the US and England.

Lynn has found a substitute for racquetball. It’s called Squash. The game has some similarities to racquetball in that there are four walls and you score about the same. The racket handle is longer, the strings are smaller, the squash ball doesn’t bounce nearly as much so you have to move quickly, the court is bigger, you have to hit the ball above a line on the front wall that is about a foot above the floor, and you can’t play off the ceiling. Anyway, he’s plays once or twice a week with some guys at the area office. Sorry to say, Debi has taken no pictures, since this all takes place prior to 6 am. Lynn says he is winning some games with the younger guys…again no witness, but he is a missionary!

Sometimes we wonder if we are doing enough, but as we try and relate the highlights of the past month or so, we find there is a lot to share, so we’ll just touch on a few things. About a month ago we started visiting less active people in the Tembisa Township. It’s quite an eye opener to go into some of the homes and to see the neighborhoods. Most of the homes are nicer, but smaller, 600 or so square feet and have electricity. However, some are shanties without power and water. Our hearts go out to these people. Many are unemployed and do not have a lot to do. The children play mostly in the street. One family we visited consisted of the grandmother, daughter, grandson. This dear sister was delighted to see us and explained how she hasn’t been feeling well. She said she would come to Church and she has each week since we visited her. She has a limp in her leg so it is hard for her to get around. Well, she walks about a mile or two to get to Church.(Most of the people walk to Church). What faith and love of the gospel she has shown. In our last testimony meeting, we were so impressed with the testimonies of the youth and young adults. They gave sweet powerful testimonies of the gospel. There were probably 10 youth and 5-6 young adults who bore their testimony.

Just to give you a feel for how things are, let me summarize a couple of conversations that were in priesthood meeting recently. First, the bishop announced a stake priesthood meeting during the week and was encouraging the members to go to the stake center. Well here is the challenge: they need to pay the equivalent of $4-5 for transport to the stake center. This would be like asking the priesthood members in Highland to pay about $20 to go to a similar meeting. Also, it takes about an hour to get to the meeting. Eleven young men and about 7-8 young adult men went to the meeting. My how these young people are devoted to the Gospel! On another Sunday they reviewed Elder Ballard’s talk to the fathers and sons that he gave last October. If you can recall, it was a great message counseling fathers to listen to their sons and for sons to share with their Dads. During the discussion a question was asked what you do if you never see your father or he is otherwise not involved with you. When asked how many young men and single adults fit this situation, about ¾ of them raised their hand. We find this is typical in most of Africa. Many of the generation of middle aged men died due to Aids or are simply not involved with the family. We have a tremendous respect for these people’s faith and testimony. We work in the temple every Saturday morning. How wonderful it is to work with these people!

We went to our first Braai in the township about a month ago. It was in honor of the temple missionary couple who has been going to Church with us. It was at the bishop’s home. The bishop’s home is probably one of the better homes in the area. It looks nice and is well furnished. It has electricity, water, etc. We were amazed at how gracious this family is and how they have opened up their home to others. They have 3 children living with them, but have taken in three other children who have either lost or been abandoned by their parents. You could just feel the love in their home. For dinner they barbecued some Worts which are like Brats strung together in links. They looked like coiled snakes on the barbecue. They served a bean dish and melee, which is a corn based product which is most of the people’s staple. They melee looked like mashed potatoes, but it sticks together more. They told us that they eat without utensils. At first, we thought they were teasing, but found out it was true. They first brought around a pan of water to wash our hands in. (Yes, we all washed in the same water). Then you use the melee to pick up the beans or pieces of Wort. They gave is spoons, which we used a little, but we had to try it with our hands. One of the men said he prefers to eat with his hands because he has a closer experience with his food. (??) It was so nice to be in their home. We felt like we learned so much about the culture of the people.

On other fronts, we’re having some very interesting assignments. Lynn is trying to figure out how to simplify using Internet technology in all the meetinghouses for training meetings and other stake meetings. There is Internet here, but it is not as reliable and costs more. Securing equipment and cabling is a challenge. Also, the area presidency is asking us to look at DR Congo in addition to South Africa. The Church is growing so much in DR Congo (The mission averages about 200 baptisms a month), but the infrastructure is much worse than South Africa. There are a number of ad hoc congregations in DR Congo just waiting for the missionaries. Use of technology will help the work a lot and make it so more members can participate more in stake and other meetings. So we’re sure there is a way to make this happen, we just have to figure it out.

Debi is working on the Area Church website and with family services. We got the new website launched a couple of weeks ago. Debi serves as the content editor. The address is www.lds.co.za if you’d like to take a look. We’re both working on a training program on counseling for Bishops and Branch Presidents.

Last Sunday Debi gave a 1-hour fireside talk to about 250 young single adult women. It was well received, and the Lord certainly magnified the effort! Debi also is accompanying in Sacrament meeting and teaching keyboard lessons each Sunday to about 10 students. Lynn is providing some assistance. He’s sure glad he started taking piano lessons last June.

We love talking with the people we meet. They love to joke and tease and are so friendly. Our missionary tag is like a magnet. Lynn is working with one of the security guards at the apartment building. He has a Book of Mormon and is a spiritual man. He always asks about the Church. We’re going to connect him with someone who attends a ward close by. Debi had an interesting experience in the grocery store. She kept seeing this lady at various places in the store. Finally the lady came up to her and pointed to her tag and said would you pray with me. Well, Debi visited with her and told her about the Church and the Temple. The lady said she wanted to come to Church and gave Debi her name and phone number. We’ll see what happens.

Well, as you can see, it’s hard to keep this very short. Be assured we can witness without a doubt that this is the work of the Lord. This is his True Church and we love being able to be involved in some small way. We also note that this work is more difficult than we ever thought it would be, but are so blessed.

Wena uphila njani? (Zulu for "How are you doing?")

I suppose lack of updates on the blog for the entire month of March (and into April) indicate that we’ve gotten busier…and we have. We seem to attract assignments quite quickly, and we have spent most of our time fulfilling them, as should be. It is definitely time for an update!

Lynn is doing a wonderful job of getting us places. We have visited Gaborone, Botswana, a Church Recreational property called Hartebeetespoort (sp?), Johannesburg Botanical Gardens and the National Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens, to name a few.

Travel to Gaborone was the big assignment over this time. Much of our work, and especially Lynn’s, has been to prepare for the broadcast of the Roodepoort Stake Conference. The Stake is so spread out that leaders wanted to broadcast from the Stake Center to two other buildings, the furthest being across country lines in Gaborone, Botswana, 300 miles away from Johannesburg). All of the technology was set up and tested (we thought) and ready for Conference weekend. We didn’t know what to expect in Botswana, but we certainly enjoyed ourselves and met some wonderful people.
On our way we stopped at a game reserve called Medikwe and stayed in the Mosethlha Bush Camp. It is right on the border of South Africa and Botswana. The accommodations in the bush camp were little huts that were quite comfortable. There is no running water or electricity there. You pump and heat your own water for showers and lanterns are set up along the paths and in the huts after dark. They take you on a “game drive” in the evening two hours before dark until about an hour after dark. The neat thing about this game reserve is that none of the animals are in enclosed areas, so they all roam and have to hunt or feed on their own. In the evening we watched a number of animals, zebras, wildebeests, wild dogs, kudu, springbuck and numerous birds that were very colorful. We also watch two female lions, 5 cubs, a male lion, and an elephant near a water hole. We felt safe but I did notice that the driver carried a rifle with him. Then at 6 in the morning we went on another game drive and saw rhino, giraffes, African buffalo, rhino, and a large herd of elephants. We watched the elephants in the bush and at a water hole for quite a while.

Saturday morning we pulled in to Gaborone. Crossing the border was interesting. You have to stop on the South Africa side and prove you are authorized to have the car (the office gave us the necessary paper work), and go through immigration and customs. Then you go through the same thing on the Botswana side and you had to pay the equivalent of about $20 for road tax and insurance. We really like Gaborone. It was much less hectic than Johannesburg. People would bring their cows or goats along the road. Although there are some poor areas, the people appeared to be better off financially than in the townships in South Africa. Gaborone has shopping centers that appear quite nice and we were in a good hotel. It turned out we were quite busy with the conference so we didn’t have much time to drive around much. We’ve already decided to try and go just to Gaborone on some holiday in the future
When we arrived, Lynn went over to the Church to see how the technology was working and found out it wasn’t working. The first meeting which was a leadership training meeting started at 2:30. We had to replace some equipment that apparently was damaged because the room where the network routers were got too hot (It had a room air conditioner but they didn’t leave it on). Since the stake was supposed to be handling the technology, Lynn wasn’t sure how much to push them because they had not done all the backup and contingency planning they were instructed to do. So he tried to help everyone stay calm and we certainly prayed a lot. Anyway we got everything working by 4:00 for the Saturday adult meeting. We had a minor glitch but no big problem. For the Sunday meeting, we reviewed some back plans and did our best to get ready. On Sunday it was unbelievable to see all the people coming to the conference. We had prayed diligently that the people would want to come and that everything would work. Elder Koelliker, the area president was presiding at the conference so people wanted to hear him. Well the building was clear full with 620 people in attendance. There were 500 people at Roodepoort where the conference originated and another 200 in another location. We loved the meeting and again just love these people. They are so gracious and their love of the Lord and gospel just radiates from them. There were two branches from about 70 kilometers (50 miles) away that each came on buses. We have a picture of the Kanye Branch attached. The missionaries just started working in this area 11 weeks ago. They started with 2 members and have baptized 11 more people. There were about 65 people at the conference, most of them investigating the Church. They meet in the Elders’ (2 young missionaries stationed in Kanye) apartment for Church because they haven’t got a building yet to meet in. They hold two meeting blocks each Sunday. The elders said they get about 60 for the morning meeting and about 20 for the afternoon meeting.
While we enjoyed the meeting, Lynn admits to being quite relieved when the last prayer was said and everything was still working. We felt quite strongly that we were supposed to be there and that was confirmed after the meeting. We had some opposition in getting there that we had to work through which We’ll share another time in more detail. The Church is really blossoming in Botswana. The people are very receptive and interested in the gospel. Even the security guard at the gate seemed interested in the Church.
Debi was asked to do a workshop (three session rotation) during Roodepoort Youth Stake Convention in March. She had been asked about it a couple of weeks before, but since we work in the temple Saturday mornings, said it wouldn’t work unless someone could transport Debi. (There is more of a need for men at the temple during that time, so we figured Debi could go, but not Lynn). Wouldn’t you know it…they got back saying they’d be happy to get Debi there if she would present. Sooo…she prepared a motivational workshop, wondering how the culture here would work with it. Of course, all materials are in Highland, but she was able to scrounge some emailable things from friends at Riverton HS, and depleted the Church distribution outlet here of any youth related materials (love those Mormon Ads)! It turned out that the kids really seemed to relate well. Most of them were from several hours away and it’s amazing how similar they are to the kids at home, even though there is a great difference in culture and background.

One of the members of our recovery group who has had a problem with smoking in the past went the Temple for the first time on March 20. He announced that in group, and we are so happy for him! His wife is not a member, but she is very supportive (quite a change for her from years past), so there may be other changes coming to bless his life. It was kind of amazing, because a couple of weeks ago our office buddy, Dudley (a very talented computer geek), had invited Mike and his wife to dinner on Friday, and told us about it, rather apologetically. We didn’t expect to see Mike that night, but he showed up, saying that group was where he needed to be. The program has really been a blessing to him!
Tembisa Ward just gets more like home to us all the time, which is strange to say, as we and the couple we bring with us each week are the only white people there. We are just loving the people. Lynn started taking pictures of the Young Single Adults in order to make a page about each one of them, to get to know them. They love the attention and interest! We were asking them to write their names down so we could match them up with their picture. Debi then asked them to write their age by their name…she’s bad at telling ages anyway, but simply cannot believe that some of the ones that look like YM or YW are in their mid to late 20’s!
Lynn sat next to one young man (Prince) one Sunday in class and he shared that he had been put in prison on his mission in Ethiopia. While in prison (2-3 days) he taught several of the men the gospel. When it came time for him to leave, he said several of them had tears in their eyes and embraced him and thanked him. It’s hard to believe, that is still happening Lynn was just reading in Acts about Peter and John being thrown into prison and it was quite interesting talking to Prince and relating the two experiences. We have a romance blossoming within the group and a couple are engaged. The challenge the young man has is the tradition that the Zulu have of Lebolla, which is like a dowry many young men still like to come up with for the father of his bride. He is looking at the equivalent of 1-2 thousand dollars. Anyway the young lady was lamenting that he was saying it would be a year before they got married. Hopefully, they can work something out before then. Also, we began working with the new Elder’s Quorum president on visiting and working with some of the people who don’t come to Church very often and those investigating the Church. We’re looking forward to getting more familiar with these wonderful people. Most of the people joining the Church and coming to Church are young adults or young families. There are a lot of middle aged women with children (or grandchildren). While there are a number of good men, a lot of the men are just not around. A large number have died primarily due to aids and others have some other problems. However, the young adults, young men and young women appear to be doing great. They look very sharp and they give strong testimonies of the gospel. There are over 100 young men and young women (teenage) in addition to the 50-60 young adults. It’s really fund to talk to them and learn about them. We can’t help but think of our grandchildren as we interact with them.
The keyboarding class in Tembisa Ward is amazing! The class has now grown to 4 Young Women and 6 Relief Society sisters, including the RS President! Needless to say it is a challenging situation. On top of that, we have a total of 4 keyboards. Sooo…we share during class, and some of the women are able to share during the week. We really need more keyboards, and materials, and are making it a matter of prayer. Debi is scrounging around trying to find available keyboards and/or groups that might want to take us on as a service project. The thing is that the sisters are so dedicated, and they really want to learn in order to bring music into their meetings and to teach others. They are so kind to each other as they work together to learn. The oldest sister is probably in her late sixties and seems to speak very little English. A week ago she had a very difficult time working on the simple song we were doing, and the younger sisters tried very hard to help her. This Sunday she was one of the first to volunteer to demonstrate what she had practiced over the week, and she did very well. We all applauded her, and you would think she’d won the lottery! She had practiced so hard, and she had really made progress and gained confidence. These people are so inspiring! We will try to get a picture of the group next week. By the way, Lynn is really doing well and practicing faithfully on our keyboard.
Friday evening we had a new experience. We had cancelled our normal Friday Support group, since most of the members were going to be out of town. It turned out that there were needs for couples to be part of a class at the MTC. We went out there at 7 and were assigned to sets of missionaries to be taught. They had been at the MTC only a week, and were to get to know us and try to teach us. We were asked to take off our missionary tags and take on the personality of someone less active or not a member of the Church. We decided that Debi would be herself, only 45 years ago, before she was baptized. Lynn played the part of a friend who really wasn’t interested in the Church, but was interested in Debi. It was fun acting the part, but also, it was pretty neat thinking of where Debi has come spiritually since then. It has caused her to do some deep thinking and numerous prayers of gratitude this weekend! The missionaries were wonderful. In the first set were a very nervous elder from Syracuse, Utah, and a black elder from Uganda. It was amazing how spiritually mature the black elder was. The MTC President told us that many of the missionaries from countries in Africa have already been mission leaders and have had a lot of experience sharing the Gospel…he certainly had! The second group was a threesome, Elder Ramsey (we think) from Portland, Elder Larabee from Kaysville, and an elder from Africa whose name we cannot remember how to spell. Again, the black elder was the more spiritual of the three, but the other two were very strong, as well. Elder Ramsey remembered seeing Peter and Thomas at church, though he is not in your ward, Ryan and I-Shuan. He also knows the Wards. It’s a small world! All in all it was really a good evening!

It was our Spring holiday last week, with the office closed on Friday and Monday. We took the opportunity Friday to visit the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Gardens on Friday with another missionary couple. What a beautiful place! I There is a wonderful waterfall which we hiked to the top of, and many lovely gardens.We really enjoyed the “bird hide” where you can sit hidden and close to an area where there are lots of birds. It was so interesting to be so close up and observe many types of birds. There were also eagles at the top of the waterfall, which were fun to watch. We were glad we went early in the morning, because it was misty but not hard rain, but by the time we finished our picnic lunch, the rain was coming down and we had to come home. There has been quite a bit more rain than usual since we have been here. We thought we’d be in the dry season by now, but not this year apparently.

We are feeling more adjusted and useful as time goes on. Sometimes it feels like we have too many plates in the air, but that seems to be what the Lord has in mind for us right now. We just try to prioritize each day and do what we can. We have wonderful support from the other senior missionaries and we love the people in S. Africa more each time we have a new experience with them. Waves of homesickness have certainly been hitting us recently. We miss you all so much. We just have to get busy and remember why we are here when that happens. We seem to have experiences so often that remind us that we aren’t doing this work on our own…we wouldn’t have the natural capacity to have projects succeed like they often seem to. When we launch the new country website in April, there will be some amazing stories which we hope you will take the time to read. The Lord’s hand is in this work, and we are thankful to be able to witness it.

Sikhona. Singezwa kini. (Zulu for "We are fine. May we hear how things are at your home?")

February 28, 2010

This week we have realized that we are definitely getting into a variety of assignments. We felt that we wanted to do all we can while we are here and so the schedule is filling up. We have seen the Lord’s hand in this work and know that we will be able to do what is the most important. It’s amazing how ideas have come into our minds on finding better ways to do some things. In addition to day to day functions, I have three major projects that have surfaced. The main one is providing connectivity to Church buildings in South Africa. So for a couple of weeks we’re meeting with stake presidencies in the evenings so we better understand their challenges. For example, one stake goes from Roodepoort (about 35 kilometers from Johannesburg) to Gaborone, Botswana, 5 hours away. In another stake, a bishop of a ward travels about 5 hours round trip each month to attend his training meeting. In addition to the time and cost is the safety when traveling late at night.

Debi has been very helpful in developing a basic computer training course for the missionaries and office staff. We taught it for the first time this past week. This will be really helpful so people are more enabled to do what they need to.

We had a great meeting with the addition recovery group on Friday. One man seems to be warming up to us and we felt that we made significant progress. One other man in the group, who is traveling right now, has made some great commitments. Debi also picked up another assignment. She has been asked to be like the editor or kind of the web master for the Church’s website for all of Southeast Africa. That will be some responsibility. I will try to pick up some of the technical support. The other social services work is still being formulated, but Debi does have one session with an individual this week. She will be trying to avoid counseling directly, so we’ll see how that goes.

We had another group from Madagascar at the temple this week. As near as I can tell, it takes anywhere from a week’s to a month’s income for them to come. The Church does have a fund for people coming for the first time, but others need to pay on their own. As we help people in the temple, they are so appreciative and grateful. You can’t help but just love these people. Again, we really enjoyed meeting with the ward in Tembisa. Debi has two piano students so far, and I am going to see what I can do to help with the young adults. These people are very sharp. We have attached some pictures of the community where the people live. The “Squatter homes” are just sad. Thankfully, I think most of the people live in better homes. We took some pictures of those that are around the Church. Note that these “better” homes average about 600 square feet. They do have electricity and most have indoor plumbing. (jlw)

"Uyakwazi ukushayela imoto Debi?" (Zulu for "Can you drive a car, Debi") "Yebo!"‏

February 23, 2010 This was a week of firsts for me. I had my first driving lesson on Saturday, and I must say that Lynn was quite patient. I feel quite a bit more confident now, but he has me convinced to hug the middle line, which is nerve wracking. I guess a couple of times I was almost on the sidewalk on the left hand side…oh well, there really weren’t any pedestrians! I’m a far cry from being ready to drive in traffic! I also taught my first “piano” lesson on the keyboard Sunday. I had one little student who is about the age of Rachel and Eliza. Her name is Josephine and she didn’t get started with the group of 4 a year ago, and has tried to catch up, but needs the individual attention. She is certainly eager, and really trying hard. After her lesson she introduced me to her older sister, and then about an hour later the sister asked if she could have lessons, too. Then, a young lady who was just baptized asked if she could join the class. I am now trying to get another keyboard to be able to use. It’s pretty amazing to see how excited they are. The plan is that they learn enough to play in church, and also commit to teach others. I’m trying a second angle: Josephine is giving me lessons in Zulu pronunciation, in that I still can’t quite pronounce her last name…it has one of those clicks in it! It’s pretty fun! Our support group seems to be going well. One of the members really made some tough commitments last week, and has been so honest in analyzing his challenges. We feel that he is making wonderful progress. He works for the U.S. government, and will be working in Virginia the next couple of weeks, but liked the idea of our keeping in touch with him while he is gone. Lynn sent him a text today…he and Morgan seem to relate really well. I think that Lynn’s experiences as a Bishop and mine as a counselor help to make us a good team in working with these people. Work in the area office keeps bringing new assignments and challenges. We are preparing to teach our first “Basic Computer Training” class to new missionaries and employees in the building. We’ve developed an outline which includes training interspersed with cartoons and videos. It is a day-long class with pizza for lunch, and we’re attempting to make it as painless as possible. We’ll see how we survive in team teaching! We’ve been called to work in the temple on Saturday mornings. We have to be at the temple at 6 am and the shift ends at 12:30. We worked last Saturday for the first time, and loved it. It adds a new dimension to our work here, and we are happy about it. It does mean that we need to change our Preparation day to Monday in order to get things done and be able to do any field trips. Yesterday we went to the Lion Park which is about 45 minutes away from our flat. We fed giraffes and drove through the lion camps. We had some young lions follow our car a short distance after we photographed them. We also saw zebras that we could reach out of the car and touch, and quite a few other African animals and birds. (See pictures and video/the lion in the video winked at me!). It was a really nice morning and the weather was beautiful. (dmw)

Yebo! ("Yes" in Zulu)

Happy Valentines’ Day Everyone!

Yes, they do celebrate Valentine’s Day in Africa. We celebrated a couple days early combining it with a follow-up anniversary dinner last Thursday. We did go out on our anniversary to an Italian restaurant. It was nice but quite basic, so when another couple invited us to celebrate their anniversary with them, we decided to do it again. We ate at Chiefs Boma buffet. They have wonderful dishes – salads, vegetables such as squash, pumpkin, etc. cooked quite uniquely. The desserts such as cheesecake, cakes, and custard dishes were really good (too good)! There was quite a variety of rice, potatoes, etc. For the meat, you could choose from some prepared dishes or select the meat you wanted and they cooked it right on the grill. They had quite the meat. We had things like ostrich, impala, warthog, and a skewer of what they call the big five (lion, leopard, elephant, rhino, and buffalo). They had traditional African drummers and the setting was just beautiful. The buffet was very reasonably priced so I’m sure we’ll go back again.

On our preparation day, we went to an African craft market. They all know who we are and some of them are pretty aggressive sales people. Negotiating is the custom. It’s hard to negotiate with these people because we want to get a fair price, but we also know that they really are quite poor. As we drive around there are lots of people on the street at the robots (traffic lights) walking by to sell you things, collect any trash, or just try and entertain you for a donation. It’s hard knowing how to handle these, because most of them are really in need, but it’s also somewhat risky rolling down your window, because there are some thieves and robbers out there.

We are quite busy at the area office. We are really seeing where we can help improve a number of the processes to save time and money. We are preparing for a stake conference in one of the suburbs called Roodepoort. They will have a visiting General Authority of the Church and they want to broadcast the meetings from Roodeport to Gabarone, Botswana. Very, very few people will be able to attend from Botswana (4 hours away) and another area that is about 2 hours away. The staff has a web casting solution they are going to try. Something like that would be quite straight forward in the US, but here it’s a different story. Lynn’s main assignment is to work with the stake leaders to understand their needs for conferences and other meetings and then see how to apply the technology to those needs. It’s going to be very interesting.

We are continuing our work with the addiction recovery group. We had another participant last Friday who is quite dedicated. He lives about an hour away. Debi is doing great working with them. Our hearts go out to these people as they work to overcome their challenges. It’s interesting how both of us have had some experiences with people like these—Debi at the school, and Lynn when a Bishop. However, this is new to us and we really need the Lord’s help in doing this. It is quite challenging. The local Church leaders we’re working with have also indicated that they want Debi to help in a couple other areas, so we’ll be learning how to do that.

A most unusual thing happened to one of the missionaries here. His name is Elder Gary Packer. He is actually our District Leader. One of his assignments is to represent the Church at the Condominium Association (The call it the Body Corporate) for Duke’s Court where we live. At the last meeting, a 70 year old lady really was quite disruptive, as she evidently has been in the past. They called security to remove her. In the process of her leaving she fell down. A few days later she filed assault charges and the police came at 5 am to arrest the president of the association and then the next day Elder Packer was arrested and hauled off to jail. Elder Packer described the jail as a room about the size of a small living room, with concrete floors. There were 16 men in the jail and 12 mats. The odor, etc. was really bad. He spent about 9 hours in jail and then was able to post bond. The next day they went to the judge. Fortunately there is video of the meeting and lots of witnesses so the judge indicated there was insufficient evidence for the charge. While in the jail Elder Packer talked with the other inmates. He taught them the Plan of Salvation and to sing “I am a Child of God”. He said they all wanted to pray with him before he left. What a way to handle a difficult situation! It’s a great blessing that the case is dismissed because Elder and Sister Packer are scheduled to go home in two weeks. He will then be coming back in July to be a mission president in DR Congo. The Lord is in charge of this work and somehow things seem to work out.

Once again, our hearts are full as we come home from Church. There was a baptism for a sister today and everyone is so kind and cheerful. We are really loving these people. Debi is starting to help with music lessons. I’m going to be helping the leaders, but the Bishop is so busy, that we haven’t had a chance to define the specifics yet.

VISIT TO LION RHINO RESERVE January 30, 2010