Monday and Tuesday, May 27/28-in ofc wking on FH fair, PA report, WC lotus, DGH

Monday and Tuesday were marathons on the computer, following up with the public affairs activities in each of our areas. The area office requested a report from all public affairs directors in the month of May. We have been busy trying to gather the information. I emailed all of them and asked for a report. We also have been working on the family history fair that takes place in Durban June 29th. Invitations are going out. Speakers have been asked and accepted and posters and flyers are being printed to be handed out by our volunteers. It should equal or surpass the one we had in Bloemfontein. We also firmed up the date with Lisa at LotusFM regarding the wheelchair giveaway. We decided on June 20th and then contacted Humanitarian Services people who want to speak at the event. I also contacted the wheelchair company to make sure the chairs will be done by next week. There is so much to coordinate and make sure nothing falls through the cracks. Our Helping Hands area director wants a report on what each stake is doing for helping hands that will culminate on August 17th. Our PA director in Durban asked us to help him get these people to respond. We finally closed up shop and went out to dinner with three other Senior Couples to celebrate Elder Kyle and Sister Stark's birthdays. We went to a Thai place and had great food and then went to The Holt's apartment for cake and candles and Happy Birthday. It was fun and these couples are really fun to talk to. We will miss them when they go home...all of them before we go, but more will be coming, so we'll make new friends.

Tuesday we have been scrambling to find a different venue for the David Glen Hatch concert in August, since the Dolphin stadium did not work out. I had no idea how hard this was going to be. Every where we look it is either too expensive or booked. We would even settle for a high school auditorium, but can't find one of those to rent either. Our PA people have been looking for months. So, the area office challenged us today (Tuesday) to find a place by tomorrow and to verify the location of the Durban fireside. It's funny when you read the original letter that David Glen Hatch wrote. He said that he didn't want to put anyone out and wanted this concert to be a good thing for the members and not a burden. I'm sure he never dreamed that we wouldn't even be able to find a venue in Durban that is not booked...sometimes two years in advance. We had a conference call around 2PM with the area office and they put the pressure on to get this done.

I heard from Humanitarian Services about the seven sewing machines that we requested for Zanele's group in Umlazi. It sounds like she may get them. They want to meet with her on June 20th after the wheelchair giveaway. I let her know that she needed to be ready. Much celebration will be had if we pull this off.






We then went to the mall to mail something at the post office and buy some allergy medicine and Ibuprofen at the drugstore. We also tried to find white tortillas to eat with the homemade chili Elder Kyle made.We went to three stores in the mall and could only find wraps with coriander. We bought them, because we were desperate. They weren't too bad. After we ate dinner, we came back upstairs to the office to continue to try and find an auditorium, but no luck. It's now almost 9 pm and we are still looking. I had to iron a few shirts for Elder Kyle, so I think we'll call it a night. Goodnight all!

Sunday, May 26, 2013 - Sunday at Berea Ward summary of Sundays

We went to Berea Ward today. So far, we don't have a home ward, so it's hard to know where to go. And, guess what? They were having Ward Conference with no Sunday School and a combined Priesthood/Relief Society meeting. That means that for the entire time we've been in Africa (almost two months), we have only gone all three hours at the same building once and that was in Swaziland. We've been to three stake conferences, and saw the General Conference tapes at three different wards on three different Sundays. The other times we were with the Murdocks going to Sacrament meeting in one ward, using the second hour to travel to another ward to be there for third hour.  We've seen two baptisms, three firesides, attended a missionary zone conference, been to two public affairs council meetings, attended a public affairs training meeting and a stake correlation meeting to present a summary of what we learned at our PA training. We presented a 'strength of youth' topic at a high school, and attended four family home evenings with other senior adult couples. We've attended the creation of a new stake, five wards and five new bishoprics; we've chosen needy candidates to give away 34 wheelchairs; we've seen the creation of a new ward in Lesotho; we've attended one history fair and helped plan two others; we've visited a Prince, two radio stations a newspaper and met with a member of the Quorum of the 70 twice. We've discussed a water project with the district president in Richard Bay, we've acquired venues and planned for David Glen Hatch concerts and firesides in Durban and Cape Town, we've crossed country borders six times; we've helped write stories for Mormon Newsroom; we've counseled the African public affairs people, spoken to Stake Presidents about public affairs and we've driven almost 3,000 miles...all this in two months. Many other things are in the planning stages and the next two months are turning out to be just as busy. When things are out of the norm, Elder Kyle just looks at me and days "TIA," an acronym for "This is Africa."

Today's meeting was packed. The people here really turn out for conferences, plus the Relief Society was serving lunch directly afterwards and that definitely helps attendance. The bishop of the Berea ward said that as a bishopric, they have to come up with a subject and scripture that addresses their needs as a ward. The stake then uses this to come up with the stake conference theme. After the stake business, the stake presidency talked about that theme, 2nd Nephi, Chapter 31, verse 20: "Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father; Ye shall have eternal life." All speakers talked about how the members could accomplish this and receive the blessings of eternal life.

After sacrament meeting, they talked to the men and women about 'Teaching the Gospel.'

President Magaqwa talked about how he heard that members of the ward were turning down callings as teachers, because they don't know how to teach. He then spent quite a bit of time telling them how to prepare a lesson and get the Spirit to help them teach. He did a great job.

The Stake president, Bricknel, asked the question, "We see churches down the street with lots of nice cars in the parking lot and singing blaring from inside, so why should someone come to our church and not one of these?" He got a lot of answers, most of which I would have given, but he kept saying, "Well other churches claim to do or have that as well." Finally he said, "We are different, because we are a covenant people, just like in the time of Christ. No other church claims this." Then he asked, "What is a covenant?" He got lots of answers, but he used the one about it being like a contract. Then he asked how the contract was binding and someone said, "by signatures." He said that covenants were like contracts with the Lord, and ordinances were the signatures. We make a covenant and then seal it with our actions. I thought it was a great message and obviously the members needed help learning what covenants and ordinances meant. It helped me too.

All of the speakers asked for questions from the congregation. Near the end, A lady in the audience asked President Bricknel if he could tell her in a nutshell what the Book of Mormon is. President Bricknel said it would take a long time to explain it and anything that could be put in an nutshell, should probably stay in a nutshell, but she pressed him, so he wrote on the dry erase board and clumsily drew the European/African part of the world and called it the Eastern World. Then on the other side, he drew the US/Canada and South America part of the map and called that the Western World. He wrote the dates below them and then told her the Bible was from the prophets in the Eastern continents and the Book of Mormon was from the prophets on the Western continents. She was a white woman dressed in casual clothing, so I am assuming she is a non member. I was so impressed that he knew the dates and although he couldn't draw very well, he got the point across very simply. He told her she she could learn from the Missionaries at the back of the room if she wanted to know more, but she said she had already talked to them.

It really was a great meeting, but we did not stay for lunch...we wanted to save the food for the ward members. On our way out, one of the elders (Elder Kuwanatsoka) asked Elder Kyle if he remembered the Swazi name he gave him at zone conference. We didn't, so he told him again: It is "Nhlakhgnipho" which means 'wise man.' The reason we forgot is because we cannot pronounce it. I told Elder Kyle to practice, but he is struggling...you have to use a little throat action to do the beginning...Ha. The other language here, Xhosa, where you use the clicks is even more difficult. I love their South African accents...it's like a cross between English and Australian accents. The Bishop's accent was very heavy. When you put the accent together with the various languages...YIKES!

Our Sundays are so wonderful. Everyone is a great experience.

We will speak with Ryan tonight and then our wonderful weekend will be complete. It makes us feel great when we can speak to all of our children and grandchildren. Love to all.

Saturday, May 25th EWK Birthday

Today is Everett's birthday, so we decided to take a break from our hectic schedule and go to the beach for the day. The weather was beautiful and there was all kinds of stuff going on: a surfing competition, a jet ski competition, skateboard competition and probably others.  The walkways all along the beach are about 30 feet wide. The sand is really fine and very soft. It seems to go on forever. There are also 4 or 5 piers that go out pretty far and are popular spots for fishing. Children were riding bikes or skateboards or renting cute little peddle vehicles that looked like ATVs. They were having so much fun. It really is amazing. It was a great day for people watching. There was quite a mixture of black, Indian, Muslim and white. All seemed to be getting along fine and having a good time. We didn't realize that it was also some African holiday, which explains the big crowds. We watched a rather large woman strip down to a girdle and bra and jump into the waves. She had about eight children with her and they didn't seem to care that they were stripping down to underwear to go in the ocean and no one else seemed to mind either.


We had lunch at Zachs, an upstairs restaurant on the walkway that we've been to once before. It has pretty good nachos (which is unusual to find) and great salads. Per Elder Kyle, great hamburgers too.










We enjoyed the food and view and then walked down the beach again. We stuck our toes in the Indian Ocean. The water was really cold, but that didn't seem to keep other people from swimming or surfing, so I guess we are just wimps in our old age. We finally just laid down on the sand and closed our eyes and said, "Aah!"



We were surprised to also see some sort of carnival rides, an olympic-size public swimming pool, plus small child pool and another pool with water slides. There's probably dozens of things we did not see, as we did not walk the entire length (over 5K).



On our way home, we went to the grocery market. I think everyone else in Durban had the same idea, because the store was packed. We bought a small cheesecake for Everett's birthday celebration.

When we returned to our flat and put the groceries away, we got to Skype Shannon, Darin and the twins and we talked to Darin's parents. We will get to talk to Ryan tomorrow. Life in Texas goes on without us, but it's great to hear what is going on there. After that, we cut the cheesecake and it didn't taste anything like cheesecake, or anything else I have ever tasted...BLAH is how I would describe it, but EK wasn't quite so repulsed. It was quite a novel party for Elder Kyle's first Birthday in Africa. If it weren't for the fact that EK had to stand outside our gated community and wait for the water truck on Friday because there was a water line break and the truck was coming through to supply us with water,  and the fact that there is an ocean ten minutes from our flat, and that our family is over 9000 miles away...it would seem like home. Our love to everyone! Happy Birthday Elder Kyle!

Friday, May 24th- no water in flat...and possible termites

Today we tried to catch up on paperwork again and juggle dates. Everything is going on at once.
We went to the area office to have the Elders make some copies of the Sunday morning conference. We are making six DVDs to take to Uhkozi radio station here in Durban. They love the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and especially the song, "Come, Come Ye Saints" which they sang at the end of the Sunday Morning Session, so we got the copies made and will take them to the station on Monday, as a gift from us. The cool thing is that they have to watch the entire morning session to get to that song they like. This was about 1 pm and the Elders that work in the area office helped us make all six DVDs at the same time...very cool machine. We then went to the mall for lunch and to find covers for our DVDs. We will put labels on the DVDs and put them in the cases to take to the radio station. I also had to look for a birthday card and present for Elder Kyle, so I split from him for an hour. I tried to be sly, but of course he knew exactly what I was doing. When we got back together, we found out that we had both found the cases for the DVDs, so we have plenty of extras now.

After we returned to our flat, we discovered that the water was not coming out of the faucet. Later that evening, when our neighbor returned home from work, he came over and told us that a water truck was coming to the road outside our gate to the duplex and if he wanted some water to hold us over until the water comes back on to bring and bucket and come and wait for the water truck. Your dad took a bucket and was gone an hour. I was starting to worry when he came back and said he was still waiting for the water truck with all our neighbors. Then he left again. I put dinner on hold and waited for him to appear with a bucket of water. When he did, we looked at each other and said, "This is Africa." This is our usual comment when something like this happens. Sometimes things seem so similar to America that we forget where we are, but then we go present at a school that is old and run down without air conditioning or enough desks for everyone, or our electricity goes out or our water stops running we realize that, "This is Africa."

We also found out today that our guestroom upstairs has these destructive worms that are eating the  wood joists that hold up the floor (kind of like termites). They are sending someone to check it out Monday and see about fixing it. The email letter warned us not to go in there as it is unsafe (Now they tell us). The next sentence in the email said get all furniture out of there. I wonder how we are going to do that if we don't go in there. ha. We spent the rest of the evening getting stuff out of that room that was in the closet small enough of us to carry. The bed and dresser are still in there. Someone else can move them. They may have to cut up the floor, spray chemicals and who knows what else. I don't know how we are going to live here while it is going on. We are sorting it out. After all, This is Africa.

Thursday, May 23rd - High school strength of youth presentation

Today we are going to do Strength of Youth at a high school for Juniors and Seniors. Zanele arranged for the high school in Umlazi. One of the heads of the school is LDS and the wife of one of the priesthood leaders. We met as a group with Elder and Sister Cluster (talking about employment and self reliance), Elders talking about dating, Zanele talking about modest dress, another lady from the church talking about free agency, Elder Kyle talking about Social Media and the avoidance of pornography and me talking about music and dancing. We only had one hour, which means that each person only had 8 minutes if we started on time, which we didn't. The Clusters took their eight minutes, Zanele took 15 minutes, I took 8 minutes and showed the helping hands video and music by Alex Boye (It's awesome) and I told about his link to Africa. The only problem was that there was no screen in the room. We used a white tablecloth over the blackboard, but there was too much light coming in from all the open windows (no air conditioning in these schools), so it was hard to see. I was very disappointed, but they liked the song and hopefully got the idea about how you should listen to music that makes you feel good. The fact that Alex put an African spin to the song really made it fun. If you haven't seen it, google Alex Boye, Have you done any good and it will come up from Mormon.org. When I tried to search directly on there, it did not come up. Elder Kyle took five minutes, the Elders took ten minutes and then the lady spoke about free agency for 30 minutes. If you add that up, you will see that we went way over.

The last lady (far right in photo) was told by the school leader that the time was up and she needed to hurry, but she just kept talking. I was majorly embarrassed, but it didn't bother Zanele a bit. She wanted to do it again Friday at another school. I told her we were too busy and it was too short of notice (which is true). We will have to see if it is something we want to continue to do. We have too many other things going and they can survive without us. Of course Zanele sent me an email telling me that I was wonderful and we must do it again. She does know how to push the right buttons. Ha. Driving to Umlazi does take a lot of time, especially if you take a wrong turn...Ha. The way she and the other lady from the ward talked on and on. They really don't need us or should I say, they don't have time for us. The amazing thing is that we passed out an obviously LDS church pamphlet. We talked about God and Jesus Christ in our presentation and it was Okay! That would never happen in the US...NEVER. Just another adventure in Kyle's African adventure.

Tuesday and Wednesday May 21 & 22nd -catching up in our flat office

Finally, we have some time in the office to get caught up. We are working on Lotus FM and the wheelchair giveaway program and trying to coordinate with the radio station, church humanitarian services and the wheelchair maker to find a date that will work for everyone. I read the applications for the people who need wheelchairs and their stories are so sad that I feel we need to get this done as soon as possible. Those people need their chairs! Oh well, I'm trying to be patient. It's a great thing the church is doing in conjunction with the radio station. They provided all the airtime and applications, etc. We are forming a great partnership with the Indian community.

We also had a conference call from Sean, our public affairs boss from the area office in Johannesburg. He wanted to talk about the David Glen Hatch concerts and firesides that will be happening in August. It is a big deal and we are trying to secure a venue here in Durban. It may be at the Ushaka Dolphin Arena downtown. Negotiations are going on to get their theatre and have a combinatin dolphin show and concert. We'll see how it goes. We also were coordinating the firesides with the Stake Presidents involved and there is some discussion about which chapel to use. We are sorting it out. Of course, we also have to do the same thing in Cape Town, another one of our areas.

We also worked on the Family History Fair for Duban and Hillcrest Stakes that will be held on June 29th. The PA council is working hard to advertise and make it a special event. Sister Smith is the expert and she is working hard on planning the program and getting the speakers. Invitations, flyers and Posters are also being worked on. Our Lady Smith history fair was cancelled, due to issues between two groups of historical people involved, but we can do something else later. This gives us more time to concentrate on the FH fair here. We will be going to Lady Smith for the ground breaking of their new building on June 13th. And we need to visit Cape Town the last week in June, as well as East London and Port Elizabeth on the same trip. This was not previously part of the Durban public affairs area, but it is now, so we need to meet the PA people and Stake Presidents.''

Things are happening here! Busy times, but all good.

Monday, May 20th - back to Durban, stopping in Bethlehem

Today is Monday and we are up early, so we can start our seven hour drive back to Durban. We skipped breakfast and just had a banana, paid our bill and now we are "On the Road Again." Somehow the drive is not as fun on the way back as the way there, because we've already done it, but I still saw things that I hadn't seen on the way up. I am still amazed by how beautiful Africa is.

We stopped again in Bethlehem at the same gas station/restaurant. We saw the same gas attendant and he told Elder Kyle that he really did want to go to church, so we got his name and phone number and told him the Elders would call.

We then went into BJs again and the same waitress waited on us. She was glad to see us and said she wanted to take her two children and go to our church on Sunday. We also took her name and number and said that two young men would be calling her and directing her to the church. This happens all the time. The people here are so ready for the Gospel.






When we arrived in Durban, we stopped at the grocery store, because we are hosting the senior couple family home evening tonight and I am supposed to make something edible for when they come and for our lesson we are going to share with them our experiences on our two recent trips. These are couples that for the most part are stuck in the area office from 8-5 daily. We also had a DVD to show them of our Elders painting the school for the orphans in Swaziland. I made key-lime pie and a fruit plate. It was a great evening and somehow we pulled it all off in the two hours we had between the time we returned and the time everyone arrived. The Lord must have helped on that one. Even my pie was ready to eat by the time we finished the lesson.

Saturday and Sunday, May 18-19 Bloemfontein -New Stake formed

Today is Saturday. We got an early start on our drive to Bloemfontein. We are going there to do a story for Mormon Newsroom on the new stake being formed there. It's part of our territory for public affairs. I am always amazed when we start driving, because everything is so beautiful! I took some photos on the way from the car, but it was so much more beautiful than these photos show. We passed by verdant green jungle-like areas, desert areas with huge mesas and plain old flat areas with the flat trees that I like. As long as we keep going to different places, I don't mind the drive because everything is new.

We stopped at a gas station in Bethlehem...Who knew I could get there from here...ha. Elder Kyle talked to the gas attendant (they still pump the gas for you, but expect a small tip) and the attendant asked questions about the church and where it was. Unfortunately, we didn't know if there was a church in Bethlehem, because we didn't show it on our materials, but we told him that we would check for him and report on our way back through. We then went into BJs (all gas station stops have food places attached). The waitress in the restaurant also asked about the church. She was a big gal, very tall and filled out. She asked how my mother's day was (thick accent, kind of hard to understand). She then said she didn't have much of a mother's day, because her oldest child is six, so no presents. She also wanted to know where the church was...I guess we better find out!

The entire drive was about seven hours, but mostly good roads. We got to the chapel about 3:40 and the adult session of conference started at 4 pm. We could hardly find a place to park. The lot was full, because they were having priesthood session and some sort of women's auxiliary training. It was a large turnout for the adult session.

Elder and Sister Shumway picked up Elder Van Reenen at the airport.  (Third from left in group photo). In the April General Conference he was called to the Third Quorum of Seventy and works under the Area Presidency. Sister Shumway said, "Elder Van Reenen was so delightful.  We had some visiting time from the airport and on Sunday when we took him back to the airport. (He loved the roast beef sandwich we gave him to eat in the car.)  Also in attendance was Elder Cook  (third from right) who is first counselor in the Area Presidency.  When he was called, Pres. Eyring said to him and Sister Cook, "We are calling you to the First Quorum of Seventy (which is considered a full-time General Authority) from now until you are age 70.  You will serve in the Area Presidency in Johannesburg and live in South Africa until you are released." He oversees 35 African countries.  The Restored Gospel is in 20 of those countries. The woman on the left is Nontuli, our public affairs person for Bloemfontein. In the middle is the District President Grobler and his wife.

All talks were centered on the new stake being formed and the five new wards being formed. It was historic, because until this stake was formed, there was only districts in the area and no wards. It is the first time that they jumped from districts to wards and stakes all at once. When President Grobler gave his talk, he said that the reason they were able to become a stake was because of the wives. He said that they needed a certain amount of worthy tithe payers to qualify as a stake and it just wasn't happening, so he went to the Relief Society Women and told them of the problem. Soon thereafter, they had enough tithe payers to be a stake. He credits the women for that. They also formed five new wards and called five new Bishoprics. Eighteen brethren from the 13 branches and one group in the Bloemfontein District were presented to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood.

Sunday, there were no places to park in the parking lot, which is a large one, and taxi vans and buses were lined up along the streets. We got there 30 minutes early thinking we would find a good seat, but we couldn't even find a good place to park. The church was packed, including the cultural hall and stage...totally full with people standing and two rooms with the service being aired in the rooms. Everyone was dressed in their Sunday best and the women in Africa love to dress up. Most women wear dresses all the time. I rarely see a pair of jeans on a woman here, except sometimes on a waitress.

Elder Van Reenen went over the sustaining of current officers of the church. He announced the new wards and the new stake.

Gerrit Grobler is the new stake president. As an engineer, he has built cell phone towers in Southern Africa.  God has been preparing him for a lifetime.  Pres. Ntsomotho is his first counselor. President Ntsmotho is a captain in the Bloemfontein police department over four divisions.  and President Newton Nyatshoba, former branch president in the Rocklands Branch, is the second counselor. President Nyatshaoba is an independent building contractor.  Five new Bishoprics were called for five of the Branches that are now Wards in the Bloemfontein  Stake. The five new wards are Thaba Nchu, Rocklands, Blomanda, Bloemfontein, and Kimberley. The business will be taken care of this coming Sunday. 

President Grobler thanked the missionaries that helped with the growth of the church in the area.

He thanked President Von Stetten for his great leadership in helping them become strong enough to become a stake.

He spoke of Missionary work and the need to have as many missionaries serving from the stake as they have coming into the stake. They currently have 13 serving in other countries, but over 20 serving in their stake. He said they should be the same and that the members need to work on getting more young people ready to serve.

He talked about the talk at General Conference and mentioned “Catching the Wave of missionary work in the stake, catching the wave of temple work in the stake and creating strong families. He said that strong families make strong wards and branches and strong wards and branches make a strong stake.

Elder/President Cook from the first quorum of the 70s talked about the forming of this stake having a lot in common with the account of the formation of the church on April 6th, 1830. He talked about how the Stake President receives all the keys necessary for the Stake and the Lord speaks His word through him to the members of the stake. He agreed that all members need to catch the wave of missionary work and temple work and they need to rise up and serve others. He talked about Elder Van Gaas (in attendance) who is a senior missionary now at the area office and how he served his mission in Bloemfontein 40 years ago. He talked how the church needs the strong stalwart stake to send the message abroad. He urged the young single adults to get temple recommends and do baptisms for the dead. He closed by saying that he has been in an area presidency for 12 years and has felt wonderful things, but this stake made him feel something even more special than he has ever felt before. He says he cannot wait to go back to the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve and give his report.

This area also had some very interesting history, as told me by Nontuli, our public affairs rep for this area. It has to do with her family:

Brother  Elias Vis Sr - African Pioneer   
Elias Vis and his wife Alice Vis and their children are the first Africans to join the church in Bloemfontein.  Brother Vis first knowledge about the church was in 1968 when the church was introduced to him by Sister Drieskel, but due to the apartheid he could not attend. In 1980, he was again invited and taught by the missionaries and he, his wife and all their children joined the church. They have been blessed with three children who all served missions. Nontuli (the first black woman to ever serve a mission in the church) served in Bristol Mission 1990 – 1992, Elias Jr served in Manchester  1988 - 1990 and Fezi served in Ireland 2005 -2007. Brother and Sister Vis also served a mission in 2007 – 2009 at the Johannesburg Temple. Brother and Sister Vis shared the gospel with many people and have seen the growth in the church and how the gospel has changed people’s lives. He remembers being asked by the Branch President, Enerst Osman, to start the branch in Maseru Lesotho and every Sunday he would drive 145 km with his family to Maseru and have a church service. Today that branch has grown to three branches and soon it will be a ward. Brother Vis has a strong testimony of the gospel and he was very happy to see Bloemfontein become a stake.

Great stuff is happening in Africa. How blessed we are to see it. I just had to show this picture of the choir. They wanted me to take their picture and they were so awesome. Amazing!

There were so many people that when the time came for the conference to be over, it was difficult getting out of the chapel. There were people everywhere. They all wanted their photo taken, so we had quite a time getting everyone to stand still for the photos.


Before I took the photos of the choir, Nontuli wanted me to take a photo of everyone. I just looked at her incredulously, as there were so many people that I knew there was no way to take all of them in one photo. Some were in the church, some going to the parking lot and some standing on the stairs, but Elder Kyle and Nontuli started rounding them up for photos and this is what we got! You'll notice that Nontuli is right in the middle. She is amazing.

Amazing Choir!

Friday, May 17th - More skin cancer

Friday, May 17th, 8:15 am, I went to the dermatologist for a biopsy of three suspected skin cancers on my face that he was worried about. He asked if I had read up on interferon, which is injections in the area three times a week for several weeks. If it works right they will dissolve the cancer, but there are side affects. The other option was for a plastic surgeon to cut it out. He wanted to know what I wanted to do. When I said that I wasn't sure. He said, "Well, if you want to go the plastic surgeon route, then we won't do the biopsies, because the surgeon can send them in to the lab when he cuts them out and you won't have to pay for the biopsies." I questioned whether the insurance would pay if  the biopsy was not done and he seemed unsure. Then he said, "Well, I have many years experience and I know they are skin cancer, so why don't I just scoop them out and send them to the lab and you may not have to do anything else. By then I was a little nervous, but he made it seem like it would be no big deal, so I said okay.

Then the real fun started...He shot me with Novocaine at the top inside of my nose by my right eye. I would be lying if I said that it did not hurt. There is just not anything there but bone...ouch. The second one was the biggest one, by my right eyebrow. He shot that one twice and wiggled the needle around under the skin...by now I am not so happy about my decision. The third one was a bump you could hardly see right by my nostril. That one hurt the most and I was ready to bolt, but they all started to get numb right away. In fact, the shot by my nostril numbed my upper lip, so I felt like I had been at the dentist. Ten minutes later, he started cutting and really did scoop them out. The only one that hurt was the one by my nostril and he had trouble with that one. I think he had second thoughts about it being skin cancer, but he had already started, so he had to scrape and dig at that one...ouch. Then he burnt all of them to make sure all cancer cells were dead. I now have three holes in my face...the one by my eyebrow is a real crater and all are extremely obvious. The only good news was that he only charged $230 for the whole procedure. I just hope I don't have to do anything else and it will have been a good idea. I see him again in three weeks to determine whether I need to have plastic surgery or if it is healing good and doesn't need it. The bad news is that right before he cut me I learned that he is an Islamist, so as he stood over me with his knife, I had a moment of worry. Actually Abdullah seems like a nice man, even though he has a long white beard. I saw a picture of his new grandchild and he was very happy to have his first grandchild. He showed me the photo on his phone. This is definitely one of those stories I can tell everyone when I get home. There are lots of Muslims living here that wear white robes and round flat hats with long beards. I see them mainly at the malls and lots of women with burkas as well. They are probably trying to escape the madness in their own countries.

That evening we decided to go to Bloemfontein for the establishment of a new stake there. Oh well, I just look like I have leprosy. But, the mission must go on and at least today, I don't feels any worse than I would with a skinned knee. I can do this.

Thursday, May 16th Zone Conference

We got in last night from Swaziland and Richard's Bay and today we are off to Missionary Zone Conference in Durban. We saw the missionaries we met in Swaziland, plus several other ones we have met over the last two months in our travels.

They started the conference by introducing everyone, including Senior Couples. Then Sister Von Stetten had them all stand up. She then went down a list of things they may or may not have done that week, like making their beds every day, cleaning their flat once that week, washing their clothes once that week, etc. After each item, the ones that didn't do it had to sit down. It was pretty funny seeing them sit down until only a few were standing. She then handed out treats to the ones still standing. They were thrilled, of course. Missionary packages from home are few and far between because of the time it and expense of getting things from the US to Africa and many of the African missionaries receive nothing, because their families cannot afford it. Treats make them very happy and they act like boys about it. Sister Von Stetten also spoke about what the Elders needed to learn from their mission that would help them be a better husband and father. She told them they needed to think about that now, and her husband yelled, "Not yet, they don't." It was funny. She had a panel of six missionaries come up and then gave them some questions to answer, like, "What have you learned on your mission that will help you be a better man when you go home." They all did a pretty good job, but there was lots of laughter when one of the Elders got the question, "What did you learn on your mission that makes you the perfect choice for a husband?" and "Do you want to marry someone just like you?"

One of the missionaries then played a musical number on the piano that was quite good.

We heard from President Von Stetten and he spoke about the many things accomplished by the missionaries in this mission and about their missionary theme from the Doctrine and Covenants, which they stood and recited. He also had us all stand and sing the primary song, only we sang, "We are as the armies of Helaman. We have been taught in our youth and we will be the Durban missionaries to teach the Durbans the truth." It was very fun. He talked to them about avoiding things that would take away the Spirit and to how to be the best they can be. The Elder he had asked to conduct then talked about how to plan your day and have back up plans if the original plans don't work. He said you needed up to five back up plans if you have five appointments in case they all are no shows. They showed a funny video about safety when driving that had two guys with low IQs making fun of the missionaries for their safety rules (like one missionary standing behind and to the side of the car and guiding the driver when he backs up in a grocery store parking lot). It was very funny and yet made some good points. They are always stressing safety because these guys are young without very many years of driving experience. They have their little accidents. Thankfully, not too many.

We broke for lunch and had pizzas that actually tasted like Pizza from back home...almost. Pizza here is really not all that good, because the crust is usually terrible and they don't use Mozzarella cheese, but cheddar or some other kind and most don't have any pizza sauce. One of our favorite Italian restaurants actually offers pumpkin sauce on pizza...Yikes. I helped cut up the brownies that the Senior missionary couples made and put them on plates to serve. Then I helped wash the serving dishes and put them away in the cupboards. There are only glasses and plates in the kitchen, because everything else disappears, so they do not have any serving dishes or bowls or serving spoons, etc. We put out bowls of bananas and apples and those disappeared like magic. I have a feeling some ended up in pockets to be eaten later.

It was great seeing so many Elders in one place. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so no pictures were taken, but I am trying to get a copy of the pictures others took at the conference. After lunch, classes resumed. Sister Von Stetten talked about how much she would miss the Elders, that they had become like sons to her. President Von Stetten talked about the new mission president that is coming the end of June and how he would now be their leader and they needed to make him feel welcome. They also read a letter that their new president and his wife wrote to them. It was a very humble, touching letter and they projected the new Mission President and his wife's photo up on the screen while they read it. Both he and Sister Von Stetten were teary as they said their goodbyes at their last zone conference. They served a total of 3 years as Mission President and right before that 1 1/2 years in the area office, so they have been gone from home for 4.5 years.

There was more talked about, but I can't find my notes and it's hard to remember, but you get the idea. There was an Elder there from Nigeria that was 6'8" with a really deep voice and another missionary from Germany that spoke excellent English with no accent and could speak four other languages. One missionary serving in Durban talked about how his companion at the MTC was now in his same mission. Another talked about how someone he knew in high school was now his companion. I love listening to their conversations. They are all so much fun. One guy that is a missionary in Umlazi came up to me and said, "Are you guys taking the Murdock's place in Durban?" When I said "Yes," he said, "Well they were really good. It's going to be hard to replace them." I wanted to smack him, but instead, I said, "Yes, we are not trying to replace them, just to follow them." He then proceeded to ask if we were going to continue teaching "The Strength of Youth" program at the Umlazi high schools. I assured him that we would, but I could tell that he didn't think we'd be as good as the Murdocks. I guess we'll just have to show him. It was a fun conference and we were glad to be there.

Aleta M. and James C. Von Stetten,
Outgoing Mission President

Dorothy & John Zackrison,
new misson President

Tuesday and Wednesday, May 14 & 15th, off to Richard's Bay

Today we reluctantly said goodbye to Summerfields and Swaziland. We had a little time in the morning, so we spent the time actually walking around the Summerfield property. We have been here three days and have not had time to really enjoy this beautiful place. This has to be what the Garden of Eden looked like.






There are statues of wild animals, including impalas in the bushes, lions sunning themselves on rocks by a pool of water, giraffes eating from the trees, elephants and a hippo with his mouth wide open in the one of the many pools of water on the property.

There are beautiful birds, including several peacocks on the property. There are statues of children on a teeter totter and holding a bouquet of flowers, just to name a few.



There are covered decks over the many water features, waterfalls, fountains, beautiful trees, plants, flowers and stone walkways, some with beautiful thatched coverings. The restaurant has a huge fireplace and it expensively furnished with beautiful views. Breakfast is served in a beautifully decorated room surrounded by windows by two of the swimming pools. It's quite a spread.





All of the senior couples talk about staying there, because it is less than $100 per night for all of this wonder.

 But we must say goodbye and head off to Richard's Bay, which is a town about five hours from Swaziland, but two hours before we get to Durban, and is also on the water. We arrived in time for dinner with the senior missionaries there, the Jaegars. They met us in a restaurant on the bay that served great food. We got to hear about what was going on in Richard's Bay and had a great time getting to know each other.

Our very nice rounded stand alone room.

The following morning we walked around the area a little and then met District President Baldwin for lunch. He told us of some water problems that they were having in the poorer areas and how he had some miscommunications with humanitarian services and was concerned that he promised the church would help with this and he wasn't sure if they were going to. He also wants to them to agree to give away 60 wheelchairs to needy people there. We agreed to help him by talking to the people in Humanitarian Services if things did not go well in his meeting on the following Monday. He is a very nice man and we enjoyed talking with him and learning of his challenges and a bit of his family history in Africa. We then headed back to Durban...I didn't even get a glimpse of the ocean in daylight, but it was a good trip to Swazi and Richard's Bay. Above picture is the outside of our room at Summerfields in Swaziland - Swaziland and its people will always hold a place in our hearts.

Monday in Swaziland -council of churches, radio with shongwe

Today is Monday and Brother Shongwe has set up several meetings for us. We went to the Lombardis so we could all ride together in their Bakki (truck). We then went to pick up Brother Shongwe, who had walked to the main road. He lives up in the mountains. We were off then to an appointment with the local radio station. We visited with the programming manager, who was a nice young black woman who was recently put in as program manager. Even though Brother Shongwe and the Lombardis went to the station months previously, this woman had no knowledge, because she was new and no one knew where all of the materials were that they left them. So we had to start over and explain it to her. She seemed pretty enthused about showing "Music and the Spoken Word, because it did not contain sermons and was pretty generic. She said she was looking for something fresh and new and this sounded like it might work. When we left, we felt that it definitely would be considered. Brother Shongwe agreed to follow up the next week. He was pleased.


We then went to meet the Chairman of the Council of Churches. Apparently, for the church to be taken seriously they need to be a member of this council. Once again, the man we met with was new and had never heard of the church, so we spent quite a while answering his questions. Other churches in Swaziland are against having our church in their council and have a lot of misinformation, so we invited the guy to check us out online and to come to the area office for a tour. He seemed to like us, but who knows what will happen when it is presented to the other churches on the Council.



We then went to meet with the King's oldest brother who is a prince. We had a hard time getting in to see him, but we finally did later in the day and Brother Shongwe introduced me as Nomvula. He was very busy and had to get to the bank before they closed, but he likes the church and was very nice. We offered him a tour of our area office and he said he was too busy, but that he would send one of his representatives. Once again Brother Shongwe was pleased. At left is the Prince, Brother Shongwe and Elder Lombardi.

By now, we had spent the entire day and Sister Lombardi needed to go home and fix dinner for the 14 young men that gather at their home for Family Home Evening every Monday. We were invited, but by this time we were so exhausted and we did not want to drive back to our hotel in the dark, so we left. But, it was a very good day.

Sunday, May 12th- sunday in swaziland ezulwini branch - Lombardis

Sunday, we followed the Murdocks to the Ezulwini Branch for church. The Lombardis were also there. The 14 men that Sister Lombardi told us about were there blessing and passing the sacrament. One of them spoke during sacrament meeting. One of them is on a mission and the rest are working towards going too. The talks were short, but very good. The hymns were sung without a piano or organ. The music leader would sing the first line of the song to give everyone the pitch and melody and then we would all start singing and sing they did...loud and with gusto. It was a nice change from some of our songs at home that hardly anyone is singing. I found that most Africans love to sing. We got out of sacrament meeting early, which was okay, because they like to take their time getting to the next meeting. Sunday School was very fun. The teacher was a well educated man and very entertaining about how we should prepare ourselves to come to church and receive the spirit. He said if we say we are bored at church, then we have not properly prepared. He asked lots of questions and really did a great job getting everyone involved, for although members love to sing, they are not sure of themselves in the classroom. I think it is because the church is still so new to them and they are not sure they have the right answers. We may have been a little intimidating as well.

After Sunday School, Sister Murdock, Lombardi and I went to young womens to give them the gifts that Sister Murdock's sisters young women group had mailed them. It was so cute. There was a box with the large posters of the YW theme, one for each girl and teachers, and a Ziploc bag with treats and a pair of socks with a quote from the D&C about walking the right path. It was very nice and each girl got a letter with her name on it from one of the girls in the ward in Utah. They were very happy, but when Sister Murdock said she had baggies with shampoo, conditioner and lotion for each girl, they were ecstatic! They started grabbing to get the one with the biggest bottles of product. Sister Lombardi told me that most of the girls have no money for these products and often do without or use a homemade soap that smells funny. So they were very happy to have these small bottles of hair stuff and lotion that Sister Murdock has collected in all of her hotel stays. Very sweet. Their YW President (on left) is very educated and a great teacher. She also led the music in sacrament meeting and has a beautiful voice.

After the block, we had two baptisms of young men. The water in the baptismal font was a little discolored...Ha, but the Elder doing the baptizing didn't mind. He practically shoved the guys under water forcefully and the brought them up out of the water pretty fast. The Murdocks then taught a Young Single Adult fireside about spreading the gospel through social media. Then they had sandwiches that one of the sisters made for everyone that stayed. It was quite a day.




That night we went to the Lombardis for dinner and not only got a great dinner, but got to know them better. What great people. I got some cooking hints for Africa and I told her how to make pinto beans and promised to help her spice them the next day when we came back from our appointments. The only low point of the day was driving in the dark back to our hotel and getting lost, but we found our way and the only permanent injury was to Elder Kyle's psyche. No lights in Swazi at night on the roads and people walk on the roads all the time, even at night where you cannot see them. He was scared to death that he was going to run over someone. Not this time.

Saturday, May 11th -Summersfield in Swazi, Orphanage

We went to breakfast with the Murdocks today at our place - Summersfield in Swazi. Elder and Sister Lombardi met us there, along with Brother Jerome Shongwe. We had a wonderful breakfast and discussed our schedule for the day. The Lombardi's are a lot of fun and so dedicated to what they are doing. They drive a Bakki (truck), because Swaziland often has dirt roads with gulleys in them that they have to drive on, including the one to their home. Since they are assigned to a District, instead of a stake, there are no high priests in the district yet, so Elder Lombardi is pretty much the high ranking priesthood at their events, as well as serving as mission leader for their district. This means that they are so busy, but such loving and wonderful people. They were supposed to leave in February, but extended their mission another six months. Sister Lombardi said, "How could we leave them?" She has become very attached and protective of the elders in their charge. She told us about 14 young men who are very poor and meet at a shack in the hills. It started with two young single men who joined the church and then brought other young men into the church. They have no families, so they have all banded together to support each other and they meet in the evening at the shack for scripture study and support to each other. Every Monday, Sister Lombardi fixes them dinner and they have FHE there. She says that no matter how much food she fixes, it is all gone. She once burnt the brownies she was making and made some more. When she started to throw away the burnt ones, all 14 said, "NO" and took them and ate them. They are heroes to me.

We then went to the NCP (National Care Point), which is one of the places in Swaziland that takes care of orphan children, most of whose parents have died of aids. They were supposed to get support from the government, who said they would take care of all the orphaned children, but when they found out there were so many (150,000 +), they said, "We cannot afford it." The care points are where the children go during the day to learn and have a decent meal during the day (sometimes their only meal). It is run on donations only and the teachers are all volunteers. They are amazing people. Sister Lombardi's daughter came to visit them and wanted to do something for the people in Swaziland, so Elder and Sister Lombardi were instructed that before she came to visit she would like them to find someone or an organization she could help. They passed by this 'school' every day, but didn't know what was going on there, so one day they stopped and asked. They found out about the lack of funding and that there were 72 orphans there, so they asked how they could help.

They said they needed to have the buildings painted and a couple of windows put in. Lombardi's got the missionaries together and they painted the building and two of the windows were donated and put in. So, Elder and Sister Lombardi became supporters of the school and took us there for the leaders of the school to thank the church for their help to the school. It was raining pretty hard all morning. Luckily, it was Saturday, so the only children that were there, were the two that belonged to one of the assistant teachers. They were very cute, but unsure about what was going on.

There was a big turnout, with eight elders, us, the Murdocks and Lombardis, plus the women who find donations, the women who volunteer to teac, cook and tend the children, plus the village chief and Brother Shongwe, our public affairs director. Brother Shongwe was conducting and he spoke, then the Main lady who started the school spoke in Zulu and was translated by Brother Shongwe. She spoke of her love for the school and those who volunteered their time to work there, plus all the donations of time and money to keep the school running. She spoke of how the church came to her and asked how they could help and she said, "We need our buildings painted." Then the church told her to pick out the color and they would paint, which they did. She was very touched by their service and spent a lot of time telling them how much she appreciated it. Then the chief started talking about how he had watched the people in the church while they did service and interacted with each other and while they painted the school, plus their interaction with him. He said that you can tell if a church is good by their works and that he knew the church was good and represented God. He then said that he figured it was about time he got baptized. Everyone's mouths dropped open, because this was the first they heard about this non member being baptized. The Spirit was so strong in that modest little school. It was an amazing experience.

Then Brother Shongwe got up and said it was the Swazi tradition that when a person came to their country for the first time and something good happened, they would get a Swazi name. He then motioned for someone in the back of the room to come up. I looked over my shoulder to see who he was motioning to and when I looked back I realized he was talking to me. So, self-consciously, I went to the front of the room. Brother Shongwe said that I had brought the gift of rain, so my new name would be Nomvula, which means "Rain." He has been calling me that ever since. He then asked me to say the closing prayer. I am not used to all of this attention.

We then mingled and got some photos and found out that they also need new outdoor toilets for the school. The ones they have are made of tin and have no doors on them, so basically the children (and the volunteer teachers, etc) are going to the bathroom where anyone can see them.

 There is a partial building that looks like someone was going to build a couple of bathrooms out of block, but then never finished. We took a look at it and realized that it would not be that hard to finish, so we talked to the elders and decided that we would all find a way to give them their toilet with doors and maybe paint the inside of the school. It's a small thing, but they appreciate everything so much. Most of the Swazi people have no plumbing or electricity. We take a lot for granted in our country. It was an eye-opener for sure.

We invited the Lombardis for dinner at our hotel Saturday night, which they readily accepted and we had a great meal and even greater conversation. Elder Murdock had chocolate cake with chocolate syrup on the side for dinner. He is a riot. Afterwards, he had corn soup. Ha. These people will be our friends forever...very fun. We tried to convert our waiter (a very nice young man) and he agreed to have the missionaries call him. hmmm



Thursday-Friday, May 9th &10th- meeting at Lotus, drive to swaziland

Thursday, we had a meeting with LotusFM (Indian Radio) to discuss the wheelchair giveaway. Sipho and Clive joined us (from the Durban Public Affairs Council). Lisa from the station was so excited to give away these wheelchairs. She had read the applications and was touched by the sad stories the contestants wrote in their application. The people were poor with hardships aplenty. We were so happy that the church could provide them not only with a wheelchair, but with one that is fitted to their bodies and made especially for them. Great stuff. We talked about how we wanted to do the giveaway (In the radio station parking lot) and how the winners would be contacted and we agreed to contact the guy who makes the wheelchairs and then get back together in about three weeks to firm up the details of the live broadcast. Then, Lisa said she knew where our chapel in Chatsworth is (our all Indian ward and community). She said she was going to go there on Mother's Day. This was a surprise, because she is not a member. Then her assistant said, "Let me know where the ward in Phoenix is...maybe I will go there." This is also an all Indian ward and community. This happens to us all the time...through our public affairs efforts, people are getting a favorable opinion of the church and often want to know more and maybe even attend.

Friday, we left at 9 am to start on our 7-hour journey to Swaziland. It is its own country, so we cross from South Africa to Swaziland and have to show passports, etc. The drive was amazing. We saw the most beautiful countryside. We passed through rolling green hills, tall forests, mountains, lakes, deserts and the most interesting trees and plants of jungle like areas sandwiched in between very tall paper trees. Paper Trees grow very fast and are planted in rows. They are very tall and spindly looking, but grow tall anyway. It was like we were traveling to different Arizona cities. Some parts looked like Sedona with red rocks, some like Flagstaff with tall trees lining the highway, some like Phoenix with mountains and desert. We passed a mountain lake that reminded us of Roosevelt Lake in Arizona. But the best part was the African part that we’ve not seen before…the trees with flat tops that I like so much and the very green rolling hills with flowers and interesting vegetation.

We kept seeing signs that said watch out for big six game and then gave drawings of the six animals, but we were always going too fast to make them all out. We had to stop three times because of steers crossing the road, so we joked about them being the sixth member of the big six game on the sign. We think we saw an impala crossing the road, but it was going so fast that we didn’t get a very good look at it, just knew that it was very large, deer like animal. We passed signs for several game parks, but we didn’t have time to drive through them.

We arrived at the border about 3:30 and had a good experience checking out of South Africa, but when we drove to the Swaziland side, it was like we arrived in a third world country and the woman who checked out passports was grumpy to say the least. For the first 40 minutes of driving in Swaziland, the landscape looked pretty desert-like and not very well kept along the roadsides, but as we got closer in, the roads got better and it was actually quite pretty. We did lose cell phone reception as soon as we crossed the border and it was disconcerting to know we could not call anyone if we needed help.  Swaziland had different cell phone usage than South Africa, so our phones would not work here.

We arrived at our hotel about 4:45 and WOW. The place is in a botanical garden and is amazing. We were blown away by how beautiful the grounds and the rooms were. Garden of Eden would be a good comparison. We met Murdocks for dinner. They came from Johannesburg. The only problem was that it was raining, but the hotel provided two umbrellas in our room and though it was quite a walk to where you eat, we got to see the beautiful gardens, pools and waterfalls (More photos to follow). Dinner was great in front of their fireplace. Swaziland is a very poor country, so this place which is in the middle of nowhere is a nice surprise. We were greeted by African people at the desk and in the restaurants, but it is hard to tell who owns this Garden of Eden. There are acres of beautiful gardens and it is all eco-friendly. There is one area where they have partly finished improvements and will make the grounds even more spectacular in a few months. The rates are less than $100 per night for all this beauty...amazing and cheaper than hotels in town.