Monday, April 8th - heading to Ladysmith

We got up early this morning and ate a nice breakfast at our B&B (Top House B&B). Almost all breakfasts here consist of the same thing: Thinly sliced ham (that they call bacon), sausage, eggs, tomatoes, juice, toast and fruit. Their fruit is very fresh, tropical mainly and good. After breakfast, we headed back to Lesotho to meet with Sister Moorosi and the Elders. We drove to the place she thought the Public Eye newspaper was, but found out that it had moved and we had to go about a mile farther to get to the newspaper office. They welcomed us and scrambled to find enough chairs in their conference room to seat us all (7 of us). Elder Murdock introduced them to the Elders and Sister Moorosi as our Public Affairs person in Lesotho and told them that we wanted to establish a relationship with them, so our projects (like Helping Hands) could be advertised to get people to come and help and also to join with them in finding ways to help their community. The man we met with was very nice and asked for Sister Moorosi's business card. She said that after watching how it was done, she felt comfortable going to the Lesotho Times Newspaper and talking to them. Our entire goal on this mission is to help our public affairs people do the work themselves. We never want to take charge on anything that is going on in their area and we involve Priesthood as much as we can, so they can be the 'go to' in case of questions from the community or media. Our job is to train and encourage and all of our local Public Affairs people here seem to be taking the ball and running with it.

After our meeting, we crossed the border again into South Africa (a longer wait this time as people who have jobs in South Africa were also crossing the border) and headed off to Lady Smith. We got a late start, so we did not arrive in Lady Smith until after dark, about 9 pm. It was a long drive and we were tired, but the B&B where we stayed (Peaches and Cream) was great and the owner met us in her bathrobe. The next morning we had breakfast with Elder and Sister Wilding who are the MLS (Missionary Leader Support) couple in Lady Smith and surrounding area. Keep in mind, that about this time, both Elder Kyle and I are brain dead...jet lag is starting to hit. Our meeting with the Wildings was about the upcoming celebration in Lady Smith that will commemorate the Mormon Pioneer Trek and the Voortrekkers - African term for pioneer or those who pull ahead - African migration through South Africa as the wars raged around them. The idea is to show the similarities of both groups and show how the groups have come together in harmony and how the church is playing a role in that. Those members playing Mormon Pioneers will be in costume with carts and the Voortrekkers will have their costumes and authentic carts. It will all conclude in a park where a major battle during the second Boer War was fought (British against Boers - Dutch). The British used British and black mercenaries to fight the war against the Boers. The Boers were trying to extract themselves from the British rule. They were a distinct part of the Afrikaans movement and today are called Afrikaaners instead of Boers. They are a white race that speaks mainly Dutch with a little German mixed in. We had a great meeting with the Wildings and told them a bit about the family history conference in Bloemfontein. Sister Wilding is a family history buff, so she was very excited to incorporate that into their celebration. It is wonderful to see this couple so out in the middle of nowhere in this relatively small town, showing excitement about this activity and working hard to make it a success.

We then headed off for Johannesburg through the city of Lady Smith and Elder Murdock got pulled over for talking on his cell phone. He is quite a talker and talked the police woman out of getting a ticket. It would have cost him about R750, which is about $80 US. He was talking to me on the phone, but I was not driving. We left the town and entered some construction before getting on the freeway. We had a long wait, so Elder Murdock got out of the car to come and talk to us about how long it was going to take (We were following them). When he did this he smelled gas and looked down at the rear of our car to see a stream of gas coming out onto the ground about the size of a pencil. Elder Kyle looked down and sure enough the gas gauge was quickly going down towards empty. We call this our little miracle, because we were close enough to turn around and head back to Lady Smith for help. We called the Wildings and got a recommendation for a dealer that could fix it, so we headed over there. The guys went in and a young man (mechanic) came out to take a look. We were afraid we would have to stay the night, but he went in, got a clamp for the fuel line that connects to the fuel filter. In less than an hour it was fixed and only cost R8 which is about 70 cents US. He would take no payment himself for fixing it, but he just stood there looking at us. Elder Murdock gave him a brochure offering a free Mormon Tabernacle Choir CD and when Elder Kyle tried again to pay him, he said he would just like to see some American money.  He would not accept a $20 bill, but did accept a $1.00 bill for a souvenir. He continued to watch us as we drove away, as if he knew the Lord was with us. It was so obvious that the Lord was watching over us. We see miracles every day here (If Elder Murdock had not decided to get out of his car, if he had not smelled gas and looked under the car, we would have run out of gas on the freeway somewhere and been where we could not get it fixed). We traveled back to Johannesburg without any more difficulties and arrived in the evening. We went to a Family Home evening with the other group couples in the Johannesburg apartment building where a couple were speaking about their mission and a group of 12 young African men known as the band of brothers.