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| Tshabalala - Family History Speaker |
Saturday we got up and at breakfast at our hotel. We then took off for the Bloemfontein chapel. We drove through some very nice neighborhoods and were surprised to see such a beautiful chapel.
We were told that the plans for the chapel were mixed up with a chapel that was supposed to be built in the Islands and they had most of the chapel built before they realized their mistake. This chapel and their membership is still small, but they are growing and the chapel is loved by the members there. The Family History Conference was organized by Sister Nontuli, our PA person for that area. She put together a list of speakers who were mostly non-members, but very knowledgeable about African history. The keynote speaker was Dr. Mathole Serofo Motshekga, the Chief Whip of the Majority Party. The Chief Whip, is the most senior party Parliamentary Office Bearer; is the political manager and strategist for ANC Caucus and acts as a communications link between ANC MP's and the Executive (Cabinet). He is also Very interested in African roots and geneology and a history buff, plus he is friends with Dominic Tshabalala, our area office Public Affairs specialist, who also spoke at this conference. From those two we learned much about African history and then we heard from a couple of people from the War Museum in Bloemfontein and a man who is a DNA genealogy buff, who shared some very interesting facts on DNA and it's association with different areas of Africa, to tell a person where they came from. Apparently, the church helped the war museum transfer thousands of documents into digital files that can be accessed by the computer. The Branch President then gave a beautiful testimony of the importance of family history. They then broke into five classes, each one a different level of family history knowledge, from those first starting to those who were very experienced.
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| Elder Murdock, Dr. Motshekga, ?, Stake President, Elder Kyle |
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Break for lunch at family history conference
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After the conference split into the different classes, Sister Nontuli asked us and the Murdocks to take the speakers out to lunch. Unfortunately, we had told one of the other Senior missionary couples that we would have lunch at their home with four other couples after the conference. The Wyatts were fixing us lunch. We didn't know what to do, so I suggested that we if it was okay with the Wyatt's that we take the speakers there for lunch with us...supposedly six extra people. The Wyatt's said okay and Elder Murdock sent one of the couples to buy more food. Instead of six people, there were more like 16 and the Wyatt's home was very small, but we made it work. I helped serve up food and we ate a mexican meal that consisted of tortillas, mince (hamburger), guacamole, sour cream, tomatoes and cheese, etc. Everyone made their own. Dr. Motshekga sat on the couch and noticed a triple combination sitting on the table next to the couch. He opened it up and it opened to the picture/diagram of the twelve tribes of Israel, and he said, "What is this? This is what I was talking about. Where did you get this? What is this book of Moses and Abraham? I must have this book." Those were Sister Wyatt's scriptures, and she was not going to let him have them. Luckily Dominique went out to his car and got his scriptures and told Dr. Motshekga that he could borrow them until he got him his own copy. It was amazing...just more evidence that the Lord has his hand in all of this success in Africa. After the luncheon, we got back on the road and traveled to a B&B just before the border of Lesotho, in a town called Lady Branch. We checked in there for the night and Everett and I relaxed while the Murdocks visited the Olsons, a MLS couple assigned to Lesotho, but living in Lady Branch. They watched Saturday mornings conference, while we got much needed rest.
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| Lady Branch Lodging |
We were told that the plans for the chapel were mixed up with a chapel that was supposed to be built in the Islands and they had most of the chapel built before they realized their mistake. This chapel and their membership is still small, but they are growing and the chapel is loved by the members there. The Family History Conference was organized by Sister Nontuli, our PA person for that area. She put together a list of speakers who were mostly non-members, but very knowledgeable about African history. The keynote speaker was Dr. Mathole Serofo Motshekga, the Chief Whip of the Majority Party. The Chief Whip, is the most senior party Parliamentary Office Bearer; is the political manager and strategist for ANC Caucus and acts as a communications link between ANC MP's and the Executive (Cabinet). He is also Very interested in African roots and geneology and a history buff, plus he is friends with Dominic Tshabalala, our area office Public Affairs specialist, who also spoke at this conference. From those two we learned much about African history and then we heard from a couple of people from the War Museum in Bloemfontein and a man who is a DNA genealogy buff, who shared some very interesting facts on DNA and it's association with different areas of Africa, to tell a person where they came from. Apparently, the church helped the war museum transfer thousands of documents into digital files that can be accessed by the computer. The Branch President then gave a beautiful testimony of the importance of family history. They then broke into five classes, each one a different level of family history knowledge, from those first starting to those who were very experienced. 
What a neat story about the scriptures. You guys are already meeting so many interesting people. That is so cool! I am glad you guys finally got some rest and some Mexican food...LOL. Although not likely as good as you are used to, I bet your bodies were jumping for joy!
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