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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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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