Whew!!  What a FUN, BUSY past 8 days we have had!!! Pres. and Sister Leavitt came Wednesday, for our zone conference on Thursday the 18th, and brought Elder and Sister Truman, who are the new mission office couple from Cedar City.  (I forgot to get a picture!)  The Trumans stayed with us four nights and it was fun  to get to know them better. 

Saturday, the Leavitts took a P-day (which they NEVER get to do) and wanted us to show them Swaziland since all they have seen are the chapels!  We had a GREAT day, in spite of a bit of rain.

They left Sunday afternoon and my brother, Rick, cousin, Beverly Roe Peterson and a group of 11 others, came Sunday night and stayed through this morning!! FUN!!

THURSDAY

Our Swaziland Zone 

(along with Elder & Sister Truman, Pres. Sithole and the Assistants)

We did pizza, salad and brownies for lunch

Front to Back: Elder Van Thiel Berguys (our newest elder), Elder Smith, (our oldest elder), Elder Mtyobile, Elder Souza

 Clockwise: Elder Daybell, Elder Dos Santos, Elder Musumhi, Elder Souza, Elder Mtyobile, Elder Ott (AP), and Elder Francis

L to R:  Elder Smith, Elder Sinclair, Sister Leavitt, Pres. Sithole, and Pres. Leavitt

The last of the Mozambican elders with matching EISH ties.

Elder Sinclair, Elder Smith and Elder Francis

Our AP, Elder Bogosava, knows Mike & Phyllis Peterson, who served

their mission in his ward in Serbia! 

I went to Manzini Market with Sister Truman on Thursday

after zone conference while Bob and Elder Truman inspected the Manzini elders' flats.

FRIDAY

This rubber tree is SO interesting in front of Sister Mayala's shop, 

where I took Sister Truman.  I decided to take a picture.

A view of Execution Rock from the road to the Cultural Village and Show

Sister Truman in front of the entrance to the Cultural Village

It was supposed to rain on Saturday, so the Trumans decided to go to the Cultural Show on Friday, while the Leavitts were doing interviews and training with the elders.

We met Sifiso Silindze in our branch after work on Friday, while the Trumans were at the Cultural Village, and gave him his mission call!  He called us when he opened it.  He is going to serve in the Ghana Accra Mission Nov. 22!  (Just a month away!?!?)

This cute mom was by the side of the road, feeding her baby, 

when we went to pick up the Trumans at the Cultural Village. 

SATURDAY

Our first stop on Saturday, after breakfast, was the Swazi Candle Factory.  They all really enjoyed it and the sisters found some fun candles to buy!

Pres. Leavitt at the Swazi Candle Factory

pointing to a cat sleeping in the middle of the baskets Ü

 We also stopped at House on Fire in Malkerns

I realized I have never taken a picture of the entrance to 

Eludzidzini Royal Residence, where the Queen Mother lives.

This is the back of the Royal Residence from Lobamba

They enjoyed the Glass Factory too.  I love this sign painted on the wall,

where you stand to watch the glass-blowing. Everything is made from recycled glass.

Weaver bird nests in the tree by the Glass Factory

It was raining a bit and all five male peacocks were lined up on the railing.

The pea hens were gathered on another porch of a shop across the way.



Rick's group came in on Sunday night (LATE) so we met them at the Oshoek Border to take them to THE BARN where they stayed in Malkerns. Nathi Dlamini took a kombi to Johannesburg and met them at OR Tambo Airport to drive one of the vans to Swaziland. He drove them all over on Monday and Tuesday.  We picked him up in Mbabane and took him to the van and at night took him from Malkerns back to Mbabane.

MONDAY

Every trip we made to Malkerns, we passed all these 

pretty jacaranda trees lining the road

The first thing Monday morning, Rick's group helped at the Siphosethu Pre-school and Day Care, right by THE BARN!  They enjoyed singing songs and letting the children sing back to them.  Then they went outside and gave them the soccer balls, jumprope, bubbles. stickers, and hula hoops and played games.

Rick and his group of sponsors and teens had spent two weeks in Ethiopia and Uganda and decided to come to Swaziland for just 3 days before they flew home.  

There are 79 children, ages 3-6 in this pre-school.

My cute cousin, Bev (Roe Peterson) led the group with "You Are My Sunshine".

I can't wait to see all of Rick's photos and add some on here!  I didn't really take that many because he takes such amazing ones!! 

When they started to leave for Mlilwane, one van ended up

in a hole off the side of the driveway but Bob had a rope in our truck and 

Nathi pulled the van out with his van!

We went to Mlilwane so they could hike to the top of Execution Rock.  They loved it!  We were not hiking, so our cute zone leaders led them up there since it was P-day for them. 

Elder Sinclair and Elder Smith

I took this from the gate as they headed for the base of the mountain to start their hike.

We went to Pizza Inn and got pizzas and sodas for them for lunch when they got back.

Wildebeest

We saw wildebeests, zebras, kudu and they saw crocodiles

and warthogs on their hike.

Interesting trunk on this palm tree....?

After the hike and lunch, we took them to the Cultural Village

and Show and they also hiked to Mantenga Falls. 

This Swazi woman was working on the roof of this beehive hut

We loved watching this cute mom and baby monkey on top of the hut.

They enjoyed the Silversmith shop and craft shops at Mantenga. The monkey below found an avocado at the pizza restaurant, grabbed it and took it up the tree to eat it.  

He dug out the pit and threw it down out of the tree.

TUESDAY

We took them to Motjane Care Point where there is a pre-school for the orphan children around the area.  There are about 25-30. They have no outside toys, so Rick's group gave them soccer balls, hula hoops, jumprope and bubbles.

The group sang for them and they performed some of their songs and their play for us.

(The wall is prepped by Nathi's friend, so they could paint it later that afternoon...)

We went from there to the Glass Factory and shops there and had lunch in the little restaurant above the Glass Shop.  

Then we drove to kaSchiele High School, where Nathi's wife Masisi teaches, and they did a presentation on the Days for Girls kits and handed out 75 kits that were made in Manzini by Swazi women!  The girls were SO excited and so was their principal!! Our 6 teenage girls also taught them a rhyme about protecting themselves against guys who may want to do things they are not comfortable with. 

"Stop!  Don't touch me there. 

This is my "no-no square". 

These parts are not to share.  

S-T-O-P! 

Get your hands away from me!"

The girls LOVED it! Ü 

The girls were SO happy to get their kits and SO appreciative! 

We went from the high school back to the orphan pre-school and Rick and his group painted the walls inside the school light blue.  (When Jamie and her girls come in November, they will paint the ABCs, numbers, shapes, a house, a child, and trees showing the seasons.

(Why were we not surprised that Rick, Abby and Chloe ended up with paint on their faces?) 

After painting, Nathi had an idea to go up the back side of Sibebe Rock and eat at the restaurant that just recently opened up on top at the Sibebe Resort!  So we drove up a VERY long, VERY steep, CRAZY, SCARY road!!!  The restaurant was out of all desserts and half of the entrees we ordered and the food was not that great.... but it was an adventure!!

It took a LONG time to get our food and it was freezing up there!  (I didn't even have a sweater....) Nathi's wife Masisi, joined us.  We took them back to the chapel to her car and one of the women drove that van and followed us home to Malkerns.  

WEDNESDAY

The group went back to Siphosethu Pre-school and did some storytelling, etc. then said good-bye to all the kids.They had made some hearts & notes to thank us. They are SO cute!

We drove to the Swazi Candle Factory and shops and then stopped for lunch at KFC.  They were interested in the Blue Roof Shops, so we spent a little time there. Then we stopped by a few members' homes to say hi and have them meet my brother and cousin.  With our truck and two 7 passenger vans, we only went to a few homes that were easy to get to....

The group enjoyed visiting a few families in our branch on Wednesday afternoon. 

Here we are with Fikile Precious and Armstrong Ngubeni and their daughter, Ivy, who live in Lobamba. It was fun to introduce Rick and Beverly and their group 

to a few of our friends in Ezulwini. 

Abby and Ivy became instant friends! Ü

We found a cute boy pushing this "car" made from a juice and a milk carton with the lids as wheels. When we wanted to take a picture of it he ran away..

We ate at Corner Plaza ~ Galito's / Pizza Inn.  Then they all came across the street to our flat, where I had lemon bars and fudge nut bars for dessert with piña colada to drink.

THURSDAY

Rick and friends left early this morning and drove to Johannesburg to fly home this afternoon.  They will get home Saturday night. We drove to Malkerns to lead them to the border at  6:30 a.m.  

We were going with our branch in the morning to the Johannesburg Temple, but Bob woke up sick this morning, so we won't be going....  We took Elder Smith and Elder Francis and their companions to a "farewell" lunch at Mugg & Bean today. They leave on Monday for Johannesburg and fly home on Tuesday! 

We will REALLY miss these two!!

We are so excited for Sifiso (left) in our Ezulwini Branch, to go to the temple for the first time tomorrow!! We have taught him the Temple Preparation lessons. (Also Getrude, our RS President! We taught her and I got her husband and brother's info on FamilySearch and printed cards so their work can be done!) 

Andile Mbuli (right) just got home from Uganda on his mission.  He will be speaking in Nhlangano Branch this Sunday, when we go down there to do training with Pres. Mahlalela, counselor to our district president, for the 2019 Come Follow Me changes. 

It is still hard to see....but this is the best picture I have of the monstrous Conference Center and 5 star hotel, that the King is building in the middle of Ezulwini.  We pass it everyday, but it is SO big you have to be far away to get the whole thing in the picture!! And this is actually not the whole thing, but just the right half!

My favorite blue-headed lizard on a wall by our flat