Friday, September 29, 2017

We are putting up photos on our wall in our flat of all the elders we work with in Swaziland during our 18 months here.  Here are the photos of the ones we have here so far....



ZLs in Ezulwini ~ Elder Powell and Elder Feliciana

Elder Sinclair and Elder Smith (DL) ~ Manzini Fairview Branch

 

Elder Chaimane and Elder Brown ~ Mbabane Branch

Elder Campbell (below) is going home and Elder Chaimane
has taken his place as Elder Brown's companion.



(Oh my goodness!!  This Blogger is going crazy and I have to leave now...
Can't line up the photos!?  Can't get the names underneath!?  : /  )



We had two wonderful days with our mission Pres. Leavitt and Sister Leavitt for zone interviews and zone conference in Mbabane, Swaziland on Wed., September 27th and Thurs. September 28th.

We drove to pick up two of our Manzini elders Wednesday, drove them to Mbabane, then picked up our ZLs and drove 58 km past Manzini (out in the middle of nowhere almost to the Mozambique border) to the King Swati III International Airport to pick up Elder Chaimane.  He is from Mozambique but didn't get a visa to South Africa, so he flew to the Ghana MTC then to Johannesburg and on to Swaziland.  His flight came in at 4:55 pm and he was SO happy to see us!! Since Elder Feliciana is from Brazil and speaks Portuguese, he was able to communicate best with him.  We drove back to Mbabane in the dark, just in time for him to be interviewed by Pres. Leavitt.

He will be companions with Elder Brown (Layton, UT) in Mbabane since Elder Campbell (Chino Hills, CA) left after zone conference to go to Johannesburg, where he will complete the last 3 weeks of his mission and his parents will come to pick him up. Elder Chairman is an awesome young man!

After we brought Elder Chaimane back to Mbabane with the ZLs, we picked up our Manzini Elders again and took them back home to Manzini. They had a teaching appt. a 45 min walk from their flat, so we drove them there. It was pitch dark when we drove home!


Our First Swaziland / Mbombela Zone Conference 
September 28, 2017

The Jensens, Senior Couple in Nelspruitt, South Africa (2 1/2 hours from us) and the Nelspruitt
and Kanyamazane, South Africa Elders, joined us in Mbabane, Swaziland for Zone Conference

(I couldn't help but think "Where's Sister Wold?" when I saw this photo! I didn't get the memo
to wear black!! : /  )

Back Row L-R: Elder Hamilton, Elder Campbell,  Elder Avril (Mbombela Zone), Elder Chaka, 
Elder Noguiera, Elder Schwalger, Elder Feliciana, Elder Perez, Elder Brown, 
Elder Sinclair (from Queen Creek, AZ), Elder Smith 
and Elder (?) (Mbombela Zone ~ from Switzerland).

Front Row L-R: Elder Chaimane (Mozambique), Elder Francis, 
Elder and Sister Jensen (Mbombela Zone ~  from Provo), Us,
Elder Wilcox and Elder Kokotiko (Mbombela Zone) and Elder Powell (New Zealand).



On the way to Manzine and the King Swati III International Airport 
(The airport is in the low veld and it is VERY dry and much browner
there.... We came within 37 km of the biggest game part in all of Swaziland
called Hlane.  It is more savannah and much warmer there.


I can't get over the BEAUTY of Swaziland!!





The King Swati III International Airport
(It is VERY pretty and modern and Elder Wold read 
that it cost close to 1 billion dollars!!



Not many cars outside and when we went in we could
see why!! ONE arrival and ONE departure!? 


This is the biggest suggestion box I have ever seen!? Ü



Cute Elder Chaimane, who was still smiling even
after sitting at the airport in Johannesburg for 9 hours!!!
No flight until the one he came in on.... : /



Elder Powell (New Zealand), Elder Chaimane and Elder Feliciana


Driving back to Mbabane on Wednesday night... There was
SO much traffic!! Everyone here uses their high beams 
ALL the time at night and people walk along the highways
wearing DARK colors!  It is SO scary driving!!


Us getting "squeezed out"!!! 
(It reminded us of Ethiopia! Ü )

What happens when you lay your camera down....after Zone Conference!! Haha!
Elder Feliciana (Brazil) with Elder Brown (Layton, UT) and Elder Schwalger (San Diego, CA)




This sign cracks us up!  It's along the road to the 
Chapel in Manzini so we have passed it several times... Yikes!

Monday, September 25, 2017

We have met some GREAT friends here in Swaziland and have also eaten at some good restaurants.  Here are a few....


This is Nathi Dlamini.  He is our facilitator here in Swaziland.
(Kind of our "Habtu" here!) We took him out to dinner when he brought
his beautiful wife, Masisi, to meet us last Saturdaynight here in Ezulwini.  
We ate at the SPUR.


(We are puzzled by the SPUR's American Indian logo!?)


This is Nkosingphile Ndwande.  He is 26 years old,
an RM who served in Johannesburg when Bob and 
Martha were there. He is our District Councilman over
YSAs and Seminary and Institute.  We had a GREAT meeting
with him on Friday. 



We had chicken and beef schwarma and fresh
lemonade with mint and herbs on Friday at Wraps 
and Grill, an Egyptian restaurant.  Both were YUMMY!


(Across from Wraps and Grill, we found a beauty parlor
and made appointments with Eve, for Bob to have his  
hair cut and me to have mine done too! The ladies were so nice!)





On Saturday, September 22nd, we joined our district YSAs for an activity at Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary not far from Ezulwini.  We were all to meet at 9:00 am, but the YSAs all rolled in from Manzini and Mbabane at almost 11:00 am.  (They all laugh here and say it's "Swazi Standard Time"!)

We did a drive through the sanctuary in our own vehicles, ending up at a campground near some places people can stay in, and had a little devotional, visited, played games and had a braai!! We left at almost 5:00 pm and it was still going on! Mlilwane is in such a BEAUTIFUL place!  It's surrounded by amazing scenery on every side!! We had a WONDERFUL day with the YSAs!







The ceiling in the hut where we paid


I LOVE all the trees here!  BEAUTIFUL!!!


There were several large skulls on display....




Even the restroom was so typical of Swaziland,
round with the thatched roof


There were so many pretty birds!!


Off 


I couldn't stop taking pictures!



This guy is a blesbok


I LOVED the zebras!!



Trees were everywhere....


A big termite hill !





In this lake was "Crocodile Island"....



We all had to stop and get out to get a closer look at the crocs!! 


Here are 25 of our great YSAs in the Swaziland District of the Church
(Two more were taking the picture...)


A close-up of the crocodiles.... I zoomed in! 



These were the most interesting trees, perfectly 
even along the bottom!? 


I LOVE the pretty jacarandas.  They are all over Swaziland!


Colorful birds!!



Next to the fire pits/ grills was this swimming pool!  Several
of the YSAs swam but it was pretty chilly!!


People can stay overnight in these houses.



A very interesting cactus-like tree






SO PICTURESQUE!!!


This tree was FULL of birds!! 



Warthogs wandered all around the campground looking for
food!  It cracked me up how they kneel when they are looking...







I enjoyed playing with this cute baby! 




Some more pretty flowering bushes I like and
some fun birds' nests in this tree





Gcebile (black jacket), who teaches Institute, and her sister and friend, 
who are also YSAs from Mbabane, who did most of the food preparation



Lungelo Victor Nyoni, who was Christian Bingham's 
companion in Uganda the same time we were in Ethiopia.
He also knew Spencer Taylor very well and served with him
in Uganda. Nice guy!! He did most of the cooking for the braai (BBQ).


This tray was hand carved from mahogany.


We ate chicken, beef, pork, russian sausages,
pap, their staple food ~ which is a mixture of cornmeal 
and water, and salad.  (Bob and I shared this plateful of food!)




I organized a "speed dating" activity after the braai .
They really enjoyed it!!