Thursday, May 31, 2018

Monday, we had a special conference broadcast (youtube live) from the Roodeport Chapel in Johannesburg, at our flat, with Elder L. Whitney Clayton (senior President of the Presidents of the Seventy), Elder Kevin Hamilton (Africa Southeast Area President, who we met in 2014 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, when he was a counselor to Elder Renlund), President Bestor (MTC President) and President Leavitt (Mission President) and their wives who all spoke. It was REALLY good!  All 12 of our Elders here in Swaziland came to watch it and we had Texas Sheet Cake after it was over. 


It was Elder Nogueira's birthday so we stuck a candle in his piece of cake and sang to him! 
(He goes home to Brazil in just 26 days!)



We love the sky here, the clouds, the sunrises, and the sunsets!  This was taken the other night just after we drove in our gate and were walking from our truck to our flat. 
(We almost missed it!)



The other night, we took Rice Krispie treats to Amanda, our YSA rep, who is newly activated in our branch.  She lives with her mom (not a member, and who does not like her attending church), her handicapped older sister, (who has had 5 strokes) and her little girl, Precious, who is 7, and little boy, who is 3.  As we were leaving, they were talking about their chickens, (about 8 or 10 of them) who sleep in their trees.  I had to get a picture!  These are their wonderful plumeria trees that have gorgeous flowers in the spring/ summer! 




We drove past these flowers yesterday for the first time and I had Bob turn around and go back so I could get a picture! They are SO bright and colorful and SO different! (Isn't that "fork" fence interesting behind them!? 





I just can't get enough of these yellow flowering bushes all along both sides of the road in Ezulwini and on the way to Mbabane.  They are EVERYWHERE and grow like weeds! 



We have been teaching Sindie, who lives with our owner in the complex next to ours.  She takes care of the owner's kids, Tipholele age 10 and cute little boy age 4, and fixes meals, etc... (The owner lives in a beautiful  BIG home with an outdoor swimming pool and servants' quarters.  Her husband passed away in a car accident a couple of years ago, so she moved Sindie into a bedroom in her home and she is just like part of the family. Futhi, the owner, teaches siSwati at the high school.)  

I just LOVE Sindie! She stopped the Elders several weeks ago, as they were coming to our place and asked them to teach her.  (She once attended church in our Nhangano Branch a few years ago.) So we have been going over with the zone leaders after our Coordination Meeting on Tuesdays to teach her. Tipholele joins us too. They are both reading the Book of Mormon. Sindie's mother lives on their homestead far away and is quite sick, so she has been going to see her on the weekends and has not been able to come to church yet, but she loves everything we teach her and really likes everything about our church. 

She was outside this morning, so I opened the back door and visited with her.  She is leaving in the morning to go see how her mother is doing. She is SO worried about her.  So I asked her if she would like to take some cookies to her.  (She LOVES my Chocolate Chip Coconut Oatmeal Cookies!) SO I made some for her and also wrapped some up for her to take to her mom tomorrow. She came over to get them, just as I was going over there, so she came in and we visited awhile. I had to get a picture of my dear friend, Sindie!  She is between Jon and Jeff in age. She wears her hair straight in a long ponytail. She has the greatest smile and cutest laugh. She is SO sweet! 


Sunday, May 27, 2018

We finally got to attend church in Gege today!  We picked up Elder Bowen and Elder Molteno at the zone leaders' flat at 7:30 a.m. and got to Nhlangano at 9:00 a.m. (since we drove the elders back down, from bringing their truck to Mbabane for a new clutch, etc... on Thursday. They needed to change and get clean clothes on before church!) We met with our seminary teacher, Bongoni Villane, who is preparing to serve a mission, before the meeting started, then attended the Nhlangano Branch at 10:00 a.m., just until after the sacrament. We had to slip out to drive to Gege's sacrament meeting that started at 11:00 a.m.  

The members in Gege, which is a 40 minute drive from Nhlangano, meet in Brother and Sister Malinga's home. They were among the first members of the church in 1987 here in Swaziland. (I wish I could have gotten a picture of them!)  They told us that the members in Manzini used to meet in their home in Manzini, then moved a couple of times as they outgrew each meeting place, until the beautiful Manzini Chapel was built.  There are now two good size branches that meet in Manzini and the District President's office is also in the Manzini Chapel. They retired and moved "home" to Gege and started the group there. 

The Malingas have a plot of land they are hoping a chapel will be built on for Gege.  Their son is an architect and is all ready to draw up the plans.  The problem is that there are not many Melchizedek Priesthood holders in their group. (Brother Malinga was the only one today, besides Elder Molteno. Elder Bowen stayed in Nhlangano for the block.) There were about 40 in attendance there today in Sacrament Meeting. What SWEET members!! We LOVED being there. (Bob and I and Elder Molteno were the speakers of course!)  Most of the roads out there are dirt and are REALLY bumpy with lots of potholes!!  They ARE building a NEW paved road to the side of the old dirt road, but it is a long way from being finished! (We drove through beautiful countryside but it was very difficult to get photos on the bad roads and through a dirty windshield!)


It was a LONG drive on a dirt road to Gege, up and down hills...


out in the middle of nowhere....


and past forests with three different types of trees!



We finally got to the turn-off to the Malingas' home, where church is held.


This is their home, but after we parked and go out, we found that the meetings are actually held in another building to the left of their home (not in the photo)...  Primary was held outside in front of the round building straight ahead. The kids brought their little plastic chairs from the front two rows in Sacrament Meeting, outside for their Primary class.


It was interesting to see all the ears of corn hanging on the fence and the huge field of maize and the many cows the Malingas have.


Several photos didn't turn out, but I did get this one on the way back to Nhlangano.


Another photo taken on the way back to the church in Nhlangano... (It is hard to see it but this bridge over a little river has NO sides on it and it's a long way down!)

We met with the seminary and institute students in Nhlangano after their block
when we got back just after 1:00.  Seminary and Institute have not been happening  
there, so we did our best (again) to try to get them excited about attending weekly.
We'll see what happens!?!

(Notice the pretty blue sky.... On our drive home we ran into rain both in Manzini 
and in Ezulwini and it was VERY overcast and COLD!! )




Yesterday morning, we had District Leaders' Council here in our flat.  There were 10 of us, with the zone leaders and three district leaders and their companions. We drove to Manzini to pick up Elder Francis and Elder Musumhi.  After the meeting, we drove Elder Sinclair and Elder East back to Mbabane to their appointment.  It was in a pretty area we have not been in before called Malangweni, which is just at the turn-off to downtown Mbabane. There are STEEP hills they have to walk up and down!  


Malangweni has a BEAUTIFUL view!! 

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Since we lost three elders last week, we got three NEW ones here in Swaziland! It is SO fun  that it is such a SMALL WORLD 🌍 in the church!!  One of our elders is from South Wales, where Elder Wold served his mission from 1970-72!  It turns out that our good friend, Jim Gilmour performed Elder East's parents' marriage 33 years ago and his parents grew up with the Gilmour kids in Llanelli!  Elder Mtyobile is from Cape Town, South Africa and was in the Langa Branch, which is the branch we visited with my brother and his wife in 2006, when he was mission president 2005-2008.  Elder Mtyobile and his family were baptized in 2008.  Our third new elder, Elder Musumhi, from Zimbabwe, stayed in Harare with a family
as his mom lives FAR away in a rural area.  His "mum" whose email address he gave me, is the mother of our friend, Fekadu Yonas Haile's wife, Sarah!!  


Elder East from Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales
with his companion Elder Sinclair from AZ




Elder Musumhi (who is a doctor) from Zimbabwe

Below is Fekadu with his wife, Sarah, and her brother at BYU - IDAHO



Elder Mtyobile from Cape Town, South Africa


L-R: Elder Francis, Elder Musumhi's companion and 
Elder Brown, Elder Mtyobile's companion in Manzini


Our updated wall with our three new elders, Elder Myeni in Sierra Leone, Elders Willey and Pace back in Madagascar, and Elder Powell back home in New Zealand.  We miss our elders who have moved on!


This looks like an accident, but it isn't!! This is just a perfect example of how CLOSE cars get to each other here... especially in parking lots, as you are pulling in or out of a parking space. They come within INCHES of your car as they try to squeeze past you!!  😲



Thursday, May 17, 2018

We just returned from Johannesburg today. We drove over on Tuesday, so Bob could go to an ENT for his sore ear. Wednesday and today there was a senior couple gathering in Johannesburg for the couples in our mission. We first drove straight to the Mission Office to say "good-bye" to Elder Powell who was leaving to return home to New Zealand!

After the doctor appointment, we did a bit of shopping at Thrupps and Rosebank Mall's African Craft Market, then we went to dinner at La Rosa Mexican Restaurant on Tuesday night. It was just the Wagners, Boyers, Fugals, Jensens, Sister Leavitt and Bob and I. Bob woke up Tuesday morning with a really sore lower back but we went to SA anyway.... Tuesday night it was feeling worse and Wednesday morning he could hardly get out of bed and could barely walk! So he stayed in the little bungalow where we slept this time, behind the mission home, all day long on Wednesday! 😥 I went to a fabric warehouse, Chamdor, with the Jensens, then he insisted I go to lunch with everyone at a FUN restaurant called Olives and Plates.  

I also went to the temple with the other couples in the afternoon, but Bob just couldn't do it. That night at 7:00 pm, he was able to walk very slowly down the driveway to the mission home for a light supper and visiting, even though he was really in pain.  This morning, they were going to a museum, etc. but there was no way he could do that .... so we just drove home, stopping at a couple of places to pick up a few things we can't find in Swaziland. (Salted tortilla chips, corn tortillas, enchilada sauce, refried beans and flour tortillas at Azteca.)



Elder Powell from New Zealand



The traffic in Johannesburg is awful. This was 6 pm
on our way to the Mexican restaurant.... We aren't use to traffic like
this at all, living in Swaziland!  




I always get a kick out of the spelling on signs here....
This fabric warehouse was HUGE!! 


I found this cute African fabric for the YW to make these cute cases for 
their Personal Progress books, journals and For the Strength of Youth
pamphlets, all of which they JUST received for the FIRST time! I got them from
Johannesburg 2 weeks ago.... (They have waited for 2 years to receive YW materials.....!? They will need to get started to finish in 1 1/2 years before the program is changed.) 😊







Lunch at Olives and Plates on Wednesday
Left to Right: Boyers, Sister Palmer, Wagners, Jensens, Sister Willis, Sister Foxx, 
Leavitts, Fugals, Me, and the Todds (from Denver, who we just met yesterday)! 


Fancy schmancy dishes we ordered...



The desserts were amazing, but we didn't order any.





All 14 of us serving in the South Africa Johannesburg Mission 
(We had no one to take the picture but wanted the Leavitts in it too, so they took a selfie! 




Julie's Miranda entered the MTC on Wednesday in Provo and
was able to stop by Temple Square to see Sister Spilsbury on her way! 
We are SO proud of these granddaughters serving missions!!




It is FALL here! We saw a LOT more trees in Johannesburg with leaves
changing color than here in Swaziland. Many trees have already dropped 
their leaves and are bare there!  But I only got this one photo....



We also saw flowers there that we haven't seen before.



I just LOVE all of the flowering trees
here in Africa!! They are GORGEOUS!! 



Interesting bushes....


We stopped at a Burger King for lunch! 
(Something we don't have in Swaziland!)

We met a cute family that is moving from Joburg to 
Swaziland in September.  They gave us their name and phone number. 
Their little girl had the most BEAUTIFUL big brown eyes! I wanted a 
picture of her.  But when she smiled her cute smile, she scrunched up her eyes...




Google maps are great to get us around Johannesburg when we have 
no idea where we are going! But today, it took us on a crazy route through
townships.... I snapped this quick pic.





I never get tired of the beautiful mountains between Joburg 
and the Swaziland border... You just can't capture the scenery out the window!!






Saturday night and Sunday, we had several of our elders come over to use our laptops and WiFi to Skype home with their families in Brazil, Tonga, UT, ID, and Queen Creek, AZ for Mother's Day.  We also got to Skype with Sister Spilsbury in SLC and Elder Wold in OK (for just a few minutes when he was skyping with his family).  It was GREAT!! 



Temple Square missionaries get to have their family come ONCE during their mission.
SO Julie's whole family went to SLC and had Maybree (Sister Spilsbury) take them on an hour tour and then have lunch on Saturday.  On Sunday, they went to her Sacrament Meeting and all five of the kids sang a special musical number!  SO....since Maybree didn't need to call home on Mother's Day, they said she could call US in Swaziland! FUN!



Below, Elder Pace (who left on Monday morning for Madagascar), 
Elder Nogueira from Brazil and Elder Siale from Tonga play around
with silly suckers while Elder Sinclair was skyping his family. (I also made 
carmel popcorn for the elders who came to Skype at our flat.) 



 We got up EARLY last Monday, to pick up Elder Myeni in Manzini and take him to 
King Swati III Airport 1 1/2 hours away, to fly to Johannesburg, then to Kenya
and on to Sierra Leone where he will serve the last 18 months of his mission.  He has served here in his home country, while waiting for 6 months for a visa to Cape Town ! He was finally re-assigned to the Sierra Leone Freetown Mission.  

The sunrise was SO pretty! 




Elder Wesley Myeni from Mbabane, Swaziland
He is an outstanding missionary!! 




I LOVE these cool trees at Royal Swazi Spa. They have LONG vines 
that hang down, with pretty pink flowers on them!


Low clouds and a pretty sunset on Monday night ended our day....