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.
