Monday, January 29, 2018

Yesterday, Sunday Jan. 28th, we drove to Nhlangano with Tirhani Ngomane and Pres. Mahlalela, in our District Presidency, to attend their branch and meet with the YM/YW and YSAs and Seminary and Institute teachers the third hour.  Tirhani spoke to them and Bob and I added messages and testimonies.  Here are photos we took.  We had quite a large group, but discovered that many were 12-13 year olds and YW leaders... so they are not in the photos.  (I took Snickerdoodles for the students.)

When we got back to Manzini, we met with the District Presidency and while we waited for them, got to watch the YSA Devotional with Pres. and Sister Uchtdorf. It was WONDERFUL!
Long day!! 



Seminary students in Nhlangano Branch with their teacher, Bongani Vilane,
in back in the middle


Institute teacher, Djabulile on the left with her students
(A few adults  attend too)



I had to get a picture of this little cutie with her fun hair! 






Some scenery on the pretty drive to Nhlangano....












Saturday, January 27, 2018

We had a GREAT activity today in Manzini with our Seminary and Institute teachers and students!! It was a Swaziland District "Kick-off" for the new 2018 school year, (that started on Tuesday, January 23rd).  Sister Tirhani Ngomane, (sitting in front with the red skirt in the photo), our NEW S&I Coordinator, came from Johannesburg and is staying with us. We had about 75-80 people there and the games and food were a BIG HIT!! (They loved my brownies! I made 105 of them and they ALL disappeared in a hurry!!) Pres. Sithole did a great job with the food.... a meat stew on rice.  He made enough for 70 and we ended up with not enough for the leaders, but that's okay.  

Here are 2  photos of the group at the end, but some left before the photo was taken.  (We didn't get any other photos because we were SO busy with the games, etc....)








On Wednesday night, we went to visit the Mayala family with our Zone Leaders.  I had to 
get a picture of the sky as we waited for them to get home!  It was breath-taking! 





This was taken the opposite direction.  I LOVE 💗 Swaziland's mountains!!! 



Cute Naomi Mayala, 8, had the cutest braids for the first day of school.





Yesterday, we were in Mbabane and I loved these plants by the side of the road...





We have a pretty golf course along the road we travel several times a day!
I always forget to get a photo but remembered today.  These don't do it justice.
It is SO well kept and SO pretty and is huge! 







The sign on the right below means a speed bump.  Swaziland LOVES speed bumps and they are in the strangest places!!  Sometimes there are 3 or 4 in a row!  And sometimes there is NO sign, NO paint on them and you don't even see it until you are right on top if it!!






We got news today that we are losing four of our Madagascar elders, who are going back to serve in Madagascar on February 8th!!  They are Elder Passey, Elder Jordan, Elder Freestone, and Elder Chounlamany.   One more, Elder Pulley, may leave Feb. 20th and the last two, Elder Pace and Elder Willey will leave on April 3rd.... : /   I am SOOOOO sad...  I will miss them all SO much!!  We'll be down to 12 elders again....one companionship per branch, like it was 5 months ago when we arrived.  

We also have Mozambique elders who will be going home in April, May and June!! : /  So 
we have BIG changes coming in the next few months... 

Friday, January 19, 2018

With our dear President Thomas S. Monson's passing on Tuesday, January 2nd, we have a NEW prophet and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!  President Russell M. Nelson is our Prophet with Pres. Dallin H. Oaks and Pres. Henry B. Eyring as his counselors.  We watched the special message (first time this has been done) from Pres. Nelson to all of the members of the Church at 6:00 pm (9:00 am in SLC) and the Press Conference at 7:00 pm (10:00 am in SLC) with our four Ezulwini elders at our flat on Tuesday, January 16th.  (We had root beer floats afterwards!  We found Frankie's root beer for the first time and bought vanilla ice cream. )  Ãœ  Their messages were WONDERFUL and they handled questions from the press in such an inspiring way!  We LOVED hearing them and our testimonies were strengthened SO much.  We KNOW they have been called of God and are SO thankful for prophets on the earth today!

We LOVED getting to watch Pres. Monson's funeral live online on Friday night at 9:00 pm (12:00 noon in SLC), What an AMAZING life he led and what an inspiration he is to all of us!   We will never forget his wonderful counsel, his fun sense of humor, his dedicated life of service and his example of ALWAYS responding to promptings!!  His counsel to read the Book of Mormon DAILY has made such a difference in my life!! Ãœ  How we love him and will miss him... (Our Maybree got to attend the viewing and the funeral with Temple Square missionaries in her district.) 






We drove to Johannesburg on Wednesday afternoon, when we found I could get 
an appointment on Thursday with the specialist in Johannesburg on Thursday morning.

We had GREAT news!!  Thanks to prayers from our family and mission friends, after an ultrasound and thorough examination, the doctor informed me that there is no need for surgery!!  HOORAY!!  I am SO thankful and SO relieved!!  What a blessing! Ãœ 

Here are some more photos taken on the drive between Swaziland and Johannesburg...


African animals behind the AZLU Petroport halfway to Joburg...







I am still fascinated by the huge boulders on mountainsides and just 
lying all over the ground in Swaziland....



These trees are so interesting! There are NO branches most 
of the way up the pine trees!





We are in such a BEAUTIFUL place!!




Sister Wagner found this fun Zulu Nativity! I will look for one next Christmas!


She has been looking for animals to go with it...
They are all made of beads!



We went to the Church Distribution Center in Johannesburg near
the Temple to get some things for our District Primary Training on 
Feb. 3rd.  I found this book and the personal stories of members in
our Africa Southeast Area are SO inspiring! We know some of 
the people whose stories are in the book. Ãœ  (Tirhani Ngomane, 
Lungelo Victor Nyoni, Thoko Shongwe, and Elder Bukenya)




Woo hoo!  The taco seasoning packets didn't make it in Jamie's package but 
look what we found at Thrupps in Johannesburg! We hit the jackpot!



We were walking back to our car last week from Sister Ketsiwe's home
in Lobamba and I found "baby's breath" growing all down the sides of the 
road and a big field full of it!! I have never seen it for sale but here it was 
in Joburg. I think someone in Lobamba should consider selling it....?? Ãœ 



Wednesday, January 10, 2018

We drove to Johannesburg on Sunday, after the baptism in our branch and drove back home today.  (I had two doctor appointments there.)   We got to meet Elder and Sister Boyer from Cedar City, who are the new office couple, (taking the Hunts' place) and visit with Pres. and Sister Leavitt and Elder and Sister Wagner too. (We found out President Leavitt's youngest brother, Matthew, served his mission in Romania with our Jon! Small world!) We enjoyed staying at the mission home. 

We met Seble and her husband, Zama Mngomezulu for lunch on Monday. We knew her in Addis Ababa in 2014 and she also brought her friend, Helen Getachew and her daughter, Katelin 7. Helen is a member who grew up in Debre Zeit but got married and moved to South Africa in 2009. She knew almost ALL of our DZ friends and many in Addis
too! It was really fun to visit with them!

We attended a session in the Johannesburg Temple and met our S&I Coordinator there, Sister Tirhani Ngomane. Tuesday was a busy day at the mission office with transfers! There were elders all over the place! 



Front to back: Pres. and Sister Leavitt, Elder and Sister Boyer, Us, 
and Elder and Sister Wagner at the Porterhouse Steakhouse




Lunch at Tasha's in Sandton at Nicolway Center 



Seble and Zama Mngomezulu




My brother Bob, and Martha, told us about THRUPPS.
We found A&W Cream Soda, Cranberry Sprite, Reese's Peanut
Butter Cups, Mint OREOS, and a few more things there that 
we have never seen here anywhere else! Ãœ 


We saw our name on a street sign!


Bob also told us about this Mexican Restaurant like 
Chipotle or Costa Vida.  It was GREAT! (First Mexican 
food we have seen here too!)



Oh my! It WOULD have to be right next door to 
Häagen-Dazs! The salted caramel ice cream was
UNBELIEVABLE!! (Krispy Kreme was also in that
Rosebank Mall! Good thing it is 4 hours away from us!)


 The clouds were really interesting on our drive back to 
Swaziland today... We got a few sprinkles but not much rain.


We drove straight to the Post Office in Ezulwini and our Christmas package Jamie sent on December 7th finally arrived!! The only trouble was....it was stamped "Received in damaged condition in New York".  It was re-packed in a whole different box!?!  In looking at the packing slip, it was missing 14 seasoning packets (like taco seasoning and alfredo sauce), a pound of pecans, and some candy. But we LOVED what was there and the CUTE cards the grandkids made for us!! 


Our granddaughter, Ashlyn drew this picture of the Johannesburg Temple 
and sent it for my birthday! It came in the package today.  Ãœ 


All of Jamie's kids sent us cards for my birthday and Christmas and
so did Lydia.  They are SO fun!!  I had to hang them up! 


We have a new ZL! Elder Cox from Perth, Australia! 
Elder Powell is a new AP in Johannesburg now. We
will miss him...


We love seeing things similar to what we have in the U.S. but not quite
the same.... Just found "Tinkies" that are exactly like our Twinkies in how
they look (vanilla or chocolate) with the three holes on top, but they don't
quite taste the same. Ãœ  These were in Ezulwini.