Tuesday, September 17th Ixopo orphanage visit

We had a meeting today at the Chatsworth Youth Centre with the Director (Clive) of the Centre. We met him his daughter and some people from his office where we picked up a couple of women and followed his vehicle to a town named Ixopo which about two hours inland. When we had the concert at the centre, Clive asked us if the Church could help with the problems they have in this very poor city. We told him that perhaps we could provide water, but we would have to go and see it first, so Tuesday we found ourselves driving out there.

The drive involved winding roads in the mountains and was very scenic. We finally turned off onto a dirt road and drove quite a ways before we arrived. There off the main dirt road was Woza Moya, a community-based NGO located in the Ufafa Valley of rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Using a holistic approach, for dynamic HIV and AIDS community care and support, home-based care and support, child and youth care, water, sanitation and hygiene. They have created a wonderful place in this poor area where the children and women receive first rate care.
The children here are clean and their clothes nice and clean. The building is freshly painted and the outdoor play areas have nice grass with several types of play yards, with swings, etc. Everything is so organized. There are charts on the wall that give the schedule of activities for the day and the inside of the room is freshly painted with murals. Considering this is a very poor area, it was pretty amazing. Woza Moya has put in clean water systems that work through rain water and solar panels that help run everything. It is the best we've seen since we've been here, an NGO that is really doing not only a good job, but a great one. 
The toilets are very state of the art. They are like outdoor toilets, but look like a regular toilet, plus all  is contained, so there is no smell. They work by the liquid waste going through grates and the solid waste basically drying out. Because it is contained, there is no smell. The NGO works entirely on donations and Sue, the head person there has been doing this for 13 years and her husband helps install and maintain all the systems. It's very impressive. They keep this place running the right way and they are also dealing with aids' issues. Most of these children are parent-less due to the death of the parents by aids. Woza  Moya is trying to help the women who get this terrible disease deal with it and feel good about themselves. They are put to work helping out at the center and they make things there to earn money. I bought some embroidered aids squares while I was there to help them with their efforts. They also make pillows, women's bags, CDs, etc. They were having a meeting using cloth dolls that have a computer chip and talk about things like aids and try to teach the women self -esteem, not to be prejudice, cleanliness, etc.

I was beginning to wonder what we were doing there when Sue told us about the other creche where orphaned children go that is not too far away. She said there are several in Ixopo. They are doing one at a time. We got in the cars and drove over there with a young man as our guide. This place was not clean, the children were not clean and there was no place to play inside or out. There was no kitchen, no running water and very few toys. The children were very glad to see us and I felt terrible for not bringing them something, like apples to eat.


The women there didn't speak much English, but they warmed up to us as we played with the children and tried to get them to communicate with us. The inside of the building was unbelievable! There was mold all over the place, the roof leaked and every room was in dire need of paint and repair. There was one dirty rug  that covered 1/4 of the room with just a few toys on it. It was such a drastic change from the other place. I couldn't see how they could teach the children anything in this place.



The 'kitchen' consisted of a couple of children's plastic tables, a two-burner unit that could not possibly have been working even if the electricity worked, which I'm sure it didn't, but might if there was money to pay for it.










A table in the corner of the room held their plates and a bucket of water that didn't look all too clean. There was no water without lugging buckets from the community waterspout several meters away.

Some of the children were barefoot with snotty noses, but they were smiling and wanted to play with us. Elder Kyle taught them how to high five and they all wanted to 'high five' with us. They put up their dirty little hands and smiled broadly every time our hands touched.


They were also fascinated with my camera. I had to show them every photo I took and they giggled like it was the funniest thing they ever saw. I would say the camera was definitely a big hit. One little girl in pink kept calling me 'Miss'. It was so cute. They couldn't speak any English, only a few words, but they proved that words are not necessary when you can communicate by actions and expressions. One little girl, when she saw I was taking her picture, pulled up her shirt and exposed her fat tummy. She was pretty funny. I used to see chubby little kids and think they had plenty to eat, but I learned through this visit that their main staple is something they call 'pap' which is basically made with maize and water. There is little or no nutritional value, but it fills their bellies so they do not feel hungry, but their little bodies become bloated, especially their bellies.

The amazing ladies that run this orphanage

There were three women there watching the children. They are all volunteers and make do with whatever they have on hand which isn't much. One lady was wearing a hat, another had a baby on her back. Those women probably don't get much to eat either, but they give of their time during the day to watch these children and do activities with them.

Once the children realized that they could get their photos taken they all got into the act. They made faces, put their hands in the air and tried poses like these cute ones in this photo.


I took one little boy's photo and he motioned for me to take another with his hand under his chin. It was so funny. Then the little girl in pink wanted to do it to. It was hilarious. They are just children. They may not have parents and good food to eat, but they don't know their plight. They just want to laugh and have fun like all children.


We checked out a room that they hope to be able to use to store whatever items that are donated, such as food and toys, etc. so they can padlock it at night. I imagine things will be taken if easily accessible when others have nothing. A new roof obviously is the first thing they need, to get rid of all the mold and leaking. Then some paint and flooring would be good and a proper kitchen. The water issue also needs to be dealt with and this may be where humanitarian comes in.



The other care center had a unique method of rigging up a way for the children to wash their hands. They fill plastic containers with water and then rig the to a post, tie a string to a piece of wood and to the bottle and the children use their feet to tip the bottle and wash their hands. Very creative and cheap way to do it. I don't see why they could not do that here. They have a community water source for people to get water and take to their homes. Our heads were spinning with ideas for this place.









I had to take a photo of my friend that showed her tummy.








As we left the center, most of the children gathered around for a photo. We are humbled by this experience, especially knowing there are many more like this. We have seen a few, but this one so far is the worst. As we left they waved good bye and seemed very happy that we came.

I high-fived until my hand was numb and my camera had dirty fingerprints all over it, but I can't remember when we've had more fun. Children are the same regardless of skin color or how much they do or do not possess.

We left and headed back to the other center to pickup Sue and her husband, as they were taking us to lunch. We couldn't imagine where they would take us, as there was not a restaurant anywhere in this community of modest homes on the hillsides. And we had to drive a great distance from any town to get there, so we weren't sure what was in store. We got to the center and they got into their truck and said follow us, so we took off down the dirt roads trying to see through the dust of the vehicles in front of us.


Finally, we turned right where a sign said Buddhist retreat. 'This is interesting,' I thought. All of a sudden we went from a rather poor view of  the people of Ixopo into a calm green, but modest place where people of the Buddhist faith go to get away from it all, meditate and rejuvenate their bodies and their spirits. We got our of the vehicles and were led to a building where we were to eat lunch. It was already prepared, buffet style in a small room with just a few people.

Anyone can come and purchase lunch there and we did see thee white women who had come by just for lunch, but after that is was mostly our group. Lunch was vegetarian and though we didn't recognize what we were eating it was quite good. After lunch, Sue asked if she could take us on a tour of the retreat and she showed us the rooms where people stay, with the women on one side and the men on the other. She said there were nice buildings for married couples, but most of the time, even though married, they chose to use the single, separate rooms. In the lodging down each hall containing the small rooms made up of a single bed, closet and small table and chair, there is a separate community bathroom, one for the men and one for the women. She said that when you entered the lodging there was a strict code of silence there...no talking. She took us to a large room where people can talk as they gather around the fireplace, and beyond that up the stairs is a reading room with many books to choose from. That room is also used as a meditation room. We then went to an even larger room where you can meditate and I assume do yoga or other like activities. There was a woman in there with a guitar, that we heard was a somewhat famous performer, but we didn't recognize her and felt a little embarrassed that we interrupted her.

 We then walked around the property. Sue explained that they do not worship Buddha or the statue, but it is supposed to help them feel serene. We also didn't realize that this retreat is ranked one of the world's  ten best  meditation retreats. It is described as: "Just a 90-minute drive from Durban, the Buddhist Retreat Centre's remote location in Ixopo feels fully rural. Former President Nelson Mandela awarded the center National Heritage status for its environmentally friendly approach to using indigenous plants and helping to save the endangered Blue Swallow. Accordingly, walking and bird-watching on the extensive property are encouraged. In addition to scheduled meditation retreats, people in search of solitude are also welcome to come and get away from the modern world on their own. Located in a traditional Zulu tribal area, the community here does outreach work with the local population through Woza Moya (The organization funding the center run by Sue and her husband).


After our nice visit, we went back to the Woza Moya center and were shown all the things they are doing there to earn money. We saw the women sewing little bags for sale that have the embroidery design that was done by an aids victim. They also sold the squares with the design on it by itself and they made pillows incorporating the design. The women doing the sewing were in the garage and graciously talked to us and showed us what they were doing. We purchased a few things to support them in this effort and they gave us a couple of CDs. When we got home we listened to the CD and it has African songs and poetry all done very professionally by the people who work at the center, some of who have aids themselves. It is very moving, especially the poetry. We have seen a lot today, some great and some heart-breaking, but we are here to help and these are things we need to see. As we are made aware of these off the main path areas and their problems, we can bring this to the attention of the Church Humanitarian Services through the couple assigned to that mission. We will then recommend to them that the creche be made usable for the children who go there. One step at a time, Africa is slowly becoming what it was meant to be. How lucky are we to be a part of it.

Monday Sep 16 FHE at Clusters-talk about Bednar

Monday we communicated with Sipho Duma, our public affairs director about Elder Bednar's visit and the possibility of him attending to take notes that we can put on Mormon Newsroom. The Minister of Health and the Station Owner of Ukhozi FM will both be there for an hour with Elder Bednar and we want to somehow make a story out of it, so Sipho seems the best choice. He has actually been working directly with Dominic Tshabalala, our National PA Director to set up the meeting, so it is only fair that he be the one who attends the meeting.  We are waiting for out boss, Sean Donnelly to get back in town in order to get the 'okay' on this idea.

Elder Kyle talked to our Swaziland National PA Director, Jerome Shongwe about setting up a meeting with us and the District President when we get to Swaziland. We need to talk to him about Public affairs and get him on board with supporting Jerome and understanding the purpose of public affairs. We also told him to invite opinion leaders that will help with our Church getting into the Council of Churches and someone from the Department of Immigration, so we can introduce the positive impact our Church is having on Swaziland. Elder Kyle spent some time speaking with Humanitarian Services, Elder Eggett, while we were in Joburg and got some written information about the water projects that we are doing in Swaziland. This will be a good thing to bring up at our meeting next week.

That evening we had Family Home Evening at Elder and Sister Cluster's flat. Everyone was there, including President and Sister Zackrison. Elder Cluster gathered some history and Elder Bednar and printed it out so we could all take turns reading about him personally and professionally. We learned the basics, like:

David A. Bednar was ordained and set apart as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on October 7, 2004. Prior to his call to the Quorum of the Twelve, Elder Bednar served as an Area Seventy, Area Authority Seventy, regional representative, twice as a stake president, and as a bishop.

Elder Bednar was born on June 15, 1952, in Oakland, California. He served as a full-time missionary in Southern Germany and then attended Brigham Young University, where he received a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree. He also received a doctoral degree in organizational behavior from Purdue University.

 After completing his education, Elder Bednar was a professor of business management at Texas Tech University and at the University of Arkansas. He then served as the president of Brigham Young University–Idaho (formerly Ricks College) from 1997-2004.

When asked "What do you know today that you didn't know before you were called to be an Apostle?"  He said that as he visits members all over the world, it is so much more clear that Heavenly Father loves all of us individually. He always knew it, but it is so much more clear to him now. He realizes that the reason he travels all over the world is to find people the Lord wants to bless. Once he was asked to go to a stake that was being reorganized. He thought that was what he was there to do until he met an 18-year-old woman that needed to speak with him and realized that was why he was there, to help her.

Elder Bednar married Susan Kae Robinson in the Salt Lake Temple on March 20, 1975, and they are the parents of three sons. When Sister Bednar was asked how did you deal with your husband becoming an Apostle, she said that when he was a Stake President in Arkansas, she had three little boys and his stake was very big, so he traveled a lot and his duties were very demanding. She said that at first she supported him, but not cheerfully. She was often home alone with the boys when they were sick and having problems and she would grumble about it and feel sorry for herself. One day, she decided that she needed to really support him with all her heart, might, mind and strength and she prayed and read scriptures and it became a great experience for her. Her advice to other sisters who are struggling with being home alone with their children while their husband is about the Lord's business is to seek the Lord's help, study the scriptures and ask Him for a change of heart and He will help get you through it and then will bless you for your change of heart.

It was fun learning things about this Apostle and his family and will help us feel more close to him when he comes here to visit next month.

Sunday, Sept 15th -attended Queensburg Ward - talks

We attended Queensburg Ward again and were well taught. The first speaker in sacrament meeting was a girl, Beehive age, that spoke about the Young Women's Values and how if you strive to live them you will be doing as Heavenly Father wants you to do. She said that it makes her happy to do what is right. She compared the YW Values with the 13th Article of Faith. She mentioned that her teacher in YW class told her last week that she really appreciates how she smiles all the time. She told her that last Sunday she was having a bad day and came to church with the wrong attitude, but when she started to teach she looked at this young girl and her smile immediately changed her attitude. She said all she had to do was look at her and she was happier. This made the girl very happy too, to know that such a small thing as a smile can make such a difference.

The next speaker was the Primary President, Sister Creak and she is also on our Public Affairs Team for Hillcrest Stake. She talked about how she went to a stake meeting and the Stake President said he was preparing for the apostle coming October 25th to Durban. He told them that because of his preparations, he was already feeling the Spirit of Elder Bednar. We are told that all we need to do is prepare and the Lord will do the rest...that is a big promise. All things we've recently accomplished, the Helping Hands projects, the David Glen Hatch tour...they were really hard things to do, but the Lord helped us accomplish them. He knows what we are capable of and blesses us when we do what he asks. When an Apostle comes, it is really a big thing. We all should prepare to get the most out of his visit.

She then related her experience with a public affairs training meeting (with us and others) where Elder Mkhabela of the Quorum of the 70 told us about his first meeting with all the other members of the 70 and the Apostles. He was next to another Elder who was also fairly new to the Quorum. There was about 300 people there and the other Elder leaned over and asked him if he noticed that Elder Packer was wheeled in the room for the beginning of the meeting. He told him that they would wheel him out again before the meeting was over because of his poor health. He said that he had always wanted to shake his hand, but he was never there at the end of the meeting to shake hands. Elder Mkhabela, being very new, thought that he would like to shake the hands of every apostle, but knew that probably wasn't going to happen, so he said a silent prayer that he would be able to do this. Elder Packer addressed the group and then all of a sudden stopped and said, I think we should take this opportunity to have the Apostles shake hands with all of you. Then, rather than starting in order of the quorums, he started with Elder Mkhabela and the other guy's group. They were among the first to shake all the Apostles hands, including Elder Packer. There were many who said they had never seen this done before. Elder Mkhabela was overcome with the Spirit and the knowledge that his prayer went directly to Elder Packer at almost the same time he was finished praying.

Do not think Elder Bednar's coming is just another meeting. It is a precious thing. If you want to learn you study, get to know your subject, practice. If you want to get to know someone you practice getting to know them by being with them, talking to them to find out all about them, you practice getting to know them. We can practice getting to know Elder Bednar by reading about him, listening to past talks, find out about his hobby, his education, his family, so that when he comes you already know him and the Spirit can fill you with the knowledge of all you have studied...he can become a dear friend and you would love to hear from your dear friend...or an Apostle of Jesus Christ.

At the Stake meeting she attended, the Stake President said, 'You can go to hear Elder Bednar or you can stay home. You won't know what you will gain unless you show up. If you do, the Lord will bless you for attending. There were two men in wagons stuck in the mud. Both prayed for help. One man got out and pushed, heaved and pushed some more until he did all he could. Suddenly, when he thought he could do no more, the wagon moved out of the muddy ruts. The other man prayed that his wagon would not be stuck. He prayed all day, but nothing happened. We need to do our part, if we want the Lord to help us, to open up the Heavens and pour out his blessings upon us. Will we be like the ten lepers who were healed, but only one said, "Thank you?" The other nine went on their way. We would be very lost without the Lord's messengers. Read all about them...see what they have said and taught and you will gain so much from it.

Her husband spoke next because their regular speaker did not show and he was filling in the time. He continued with her theme: There will also be General Authorities at the October meetings. They are also messengers of the Lord. Once when I was young a General Authority came to our Stake Conference to speak to us. He got up to speak and two young children ran down the aisles holding their hands like guns and pointing them at each other, making at Rat-a-tat sounds of machine guns. They were right below the podium. The G.A. looked down at them and said, "The scriptures say there will be wars and rumors of wards. This must be part of what they meant."

He said it would be helpful to take notes during their talks to remember what was said. He quoted the words to the song that says "The Lord has need of helping hands." The Lord does need us. Prepare by reading the lessons in Sunday School, so you can participate in the lessons and be ready for discussions. Be there for others who need your attendance to further the discussion and speak loving words to them.

"If you get a chance to speak in church, even though you are scared, do it. The  more you speak, the more the Lord will help you to speak. I knew of someone who was very scared to speak and asked the Bishop what he could do to not be scared. The bishop called him to speak every other Sunday for six months. By the time he had done this, he was not scared anymore. He now does presentations for a large company where he speaks to hundreds of people at a time.

He continued: I used to lift weights at a gym and I was pretty happy with what I was able to do until a trainer walked up to me and put more weight on each end of the bar. He told me that I was wasting my time unless I increased the weights once in a while when it became too easy. We need to keep adding on the weights to become stronger and more able to do what the Lord expects us to do. Do not miss opportunities to do things that help you grow stronger. Accept callings - they help you to grow, accept speaking assignments - you will get better each time you do it - take opportunities to serve others when asked, instead of saying, "I'm too busy with my own stuff." Pass on a smile, pass on knowledge and love. We as a bishopric are very happy for all those who serve in the ward and attend the meetings."

In Sunday School, Brother Rieckhoff played a video of the Mormon Pioneers walking and the music, "I'll go where you want me to go dear Lord" was playing. He talked about how the members were told to leave their possessions, their families, their homeland and go to the Promised Land. How does this compare to our lives. We have struggles, requirements...different, but we still have them. The Pioneers did not know what lay ahead. They needed faith to leave everything and go. Today, we are trying to achieve getting to the Celestial Kingdom. We need to be physically, mentally and spiritually prepared to do this, just as the Pioneers that survived the trek were. In order to do this, the pioneers needed Courage & Commitment, Decision and Determination, Endurance and Faith. D&C 136: 19.
Today we need physical preparation (Word of Wisdom, exercise), prepare our conduct - Is our attitude correct, do we need humility? Are we doing all that is required of us? All of us will have to go through the refiner's fire...we will have challenges. Are you prepared to do whatever is asked of you?

Then he said, "We cannot know who will suffer when we start our journeys, or who will make it and who will not." He then showed us all these small photo cards of pioneers he had attached to the wall and asked us to write down three of the photos that we chose. When everyone did that, he called out numbers of certain photos. If we had it on our list, we were to cross it off. When he stopped calling out numbers, he asked how many had one crossed out, how many had two, how many had all three and how many had none. If we had one, that meant that we had one really bad challenge in our pioneer trek but made it anyway, if we had two, we had two really bad challenges and probably didn't make it. If we had three really bad challenges, we died along the way. The ones with none, had no really bad challenge that tested their faith and they made it. He then explained that before the trip they didn't know any more than we did who would make it and who would not. Some of them were not prepared physically, some did were not prepared spiritually and some lost their faith entirely. We will be tested in this life...It is why we are here. Let us be prepared in our eternal journey to reach the Celestial Kingdom so we can finally reach our heavenly home and be in the presence of our heavenly father and mother and Christ our brother. Let us not fall somewhere along the way.

Relief Society was just six of us. The teacher was Sister Reickhoff again. The Stake Relief Society President was there. While waiting for the class to start, she asked me if I would be available to teach RS once in a while. I told her I would be glad to when in town. She said she would tell the RS President to contact me and sort it out.

The teacher talked about Lesson 18: Church Leadership and Selfless Service. She told about the story in the lesson where Elder Snow had a Leader in one of the branches in London. Elder Snow described this leader as having “no external faults.” The man was “ambitious in promoting the cause” and had the ability to ensure “that everyone was in his place, and doing his duty.” He was diligent, “labor[ing] in the work himself more industriously than they all.” But despite this man’s outward appearances of faithfulness, the branch consistently had problems that seemed to center on him. Elder Snow tried for some time to identify the source of the problems, and he gently rebuked the branch members for not supporting their leader. Then he began to wonder if the leader may be the cause of the problem, because of some inward feeling or personal agenda.

Elder Snow prayed that the Lord would give him a spirit of discernment in the case. His prayer was answered when he found that the brother possessed a kind of half-hidden, concealed spirit of self-exaltation which was directing him in many of his movements. He would send out a brother to fill an appointment but had a suppressed wish to have the honor of it himself; if the appointment was not attended to, he would chasten the delinquent, not because the work of the Lord was in any degree frustrated or that the brother lost a blessing, but because he himself was so despised being disobeyed. In a case where a number were baptized by a brother, his heart rejoiced not so much because the persons were brought into the covenant but because it was done under his superintendency, secretly wishing no person under his charge to obtain much honor unless his own name were brought into connection of the event.

He wrote the man a letter, not to chastise him, but to teach him something. He counseled: “To become as God would wish us, we must accustom our minds to rejoice in seeing others prospered as ourselves; rejoice in seeing the cause of Zion exalted by whatsoever hands Providence may order; and have our bosoms closed against the entrance of envy when a weaker instrument than ourselves is called to greater honor; be content in magnifying a lesser office till called to a higher; be satisfied in doing small things and not claim the honor of doing great ones.” He compared the Church to a great building, with individual Saints as parts of that building, saying that we should “never feel too lofty to be sometimes cut down, squared, scored, and hewed to be fitted into the place we are to occupy in the spiritual building.”

The teacher then said that she and her husband (both teaching the same lesson) were discussing this and wondered if they were guilty of this. They both are the type who want things to get done, so they proceed to take charge and not only get it done, but make sure it is done right. They decide that they are guilty of doing this, but also that they did not seek personal recognition for doing so and thought they were still humble about it. "I hope so anyway," she said.

Leaders and teachers are called to follow the Savior’s example and serve with love, not to aggrandize themselves.

Make one prayer before teaching, and that is this: Ask the Lord that you may say something during your remarks that will be beneficial to those whom you address. Never mind whether it will be something that will add to your own glory or not, but simply bear in mind that you are called upon to address the audience and that they desire to receive something that will benefit them. This can only come from the Lord. Do not worry as to whether … those who hear you may say you spoke beautifully. Do not mind about that at all, but remove every selfishness that may be in your mind that the Lord may dictate unto you something that will be of benefit to the people.

Wise leaders appreciate the talents of others and give people opportunities to serve.
You will find, as a general thing, that talent is diffused through the many and rarely combined in single individuals; and it only needs opportunity in order to be developed. He might say to one, “Here, Brother So and so, you are better adapted to fill this or that position than I am;” or, to another, “You are the man best fitted for this department;” and so on until he gets the talents of all brought out, and instead of diminishing the public confidence in himself, such a course would add to it."

The proper way to lead is by humility, good example, and devotion to the welfare of others.
"The Lord has not chosen the great and learned of the world to perform His work on the earth. It is not those who have been trained and educated in the colleges and seminaries of learning, but humble men devoted to His cause whom He has chosen to take charge of the affairs of His Church, men who are willing to be led and guided by the Holy Spirit, and who will of necessity give the glory unto Him, knowing that of themselves they can do nothing."

Friday, Sep 13 and Sat, Sept 14 PA training articles for newsroom

Friday, after breakfast, Elder Murdock picked all of us up and we journeyed back to the office to work on our articles for newsroom. Elder and Sister Murdock started us off and then went back to their office to get some work done. Of course everyone had some problem or another. I tried to help Samantha and Elder Bybee with their problems, but there were some things none of us could figure out, so I eventually had to go and ask Sister Murdock. I encountered Prudence whose desk is when you walk in to the office. Prudence and her husband stayed with us during the David Glen Hatch visit to Durban. She is having a baby about the time we go up to the area office to work, so we have been teasing her a lot to make up for it. I grabbed Sister Murdock, who was visiting with the Olsens who came in to the office. After she came and checked it out, she basically said that was something she couldn't figure out either. She told us what we had to do to get rid of the item and the Bybees were set.

I finished one article and then started working on another. All articles will be in draft mode until we are totally finished on our end. We will then put them in preview mode for approval from all the other parties, eventually to the member of the Quorum of the 70 for final approval, and when all is approved, we then click on 'live'. Since my computer access allows live corrections, I was a little nervous about messing something up unintentionally, so I had to be careful not to click on 'live.'

Daryl from Angola was still unable to get on, but the Bybees problem was fixed. Daryl used Sister Murdock's computer for awhile and then said he was going over to the Distribution Centre to look around (It is attached to the area offices - quite convenient). We were due to leave for the shopping mall at noon to have lunch and so Sister Bybee could pick up some items that she does not have access to in the Congo; however, when it was time to leave, Daryl wasn't back yet. We sent some people to look for him, but no one could find him anywhere. After looking for 30 minutes, we finally got him on his cell phone and it sounded like he was close by and would be there any moment. After 15 more minutes, we called him again and he said he had walked back to the hotel but was on his way back and would arrive in about five minutes. After 15 more minutes, we all got in the van and went towards the hotel hoping to see him on the way. We got all the way to the hotel and still no Daryl. We called him, but he didn't answer. We all became worried that he got mugged or something. Elder Murdock took all of us to the place where we were going to have lunch and the went back to look for Daryl. He finally found him and brought him back to the restaurant. He was lost, we think. He never was clear on what happened.

The restaurant was a bakery and had lots of breads and pastries for sale. I ordered what looked to be a small meal on brochette with pesto, tomato, mozzarella cheese and ham and a small salad. It cost only $4.00. When it came, it was three huge pieces. The salad part was on the plate for me to put on top of the sandwich pieces. I was sitting next to Daryl. He had a wrap with chicken. Elder Murdock gave him his French fries, which were amazing. I asked him if he wanted two of my brochette's (that were both huge...I could only eat one) and he said yes. Elder Murdock asked him if he wanted half of his sandwich of chicken and avocado, which was huge and he ate that too. Elder Murdock then got desserts from the Pastry and Daryl ate most of that too. We just watched him with our mouths open. That guy can eat, but not a drop of fat on him. Most of the African men we've come in contact with seem to eat a lot. The women do too, but pay for it in inches.

We then let the Bybees shop and Daryl wanted to do some shopping too, so he went another direction. Afraid that he would get lost again, I followed him and waited at the entrance of the store he went into. After about 30 minutes, Samantha showed up and waited with me. When there was no sign of him 15 minutes later, she said she would go look for him. She came back and said he was buying some pants and was going to check out. After 15 more minutes, we both went to look for him and couldn't find him. We finally found him in the women's shoe department. He was looking for a present for his wife. We watched him look for shoes but when we stopped watching he disappeared again. We couldn't find him anywhere. We were all supposed to meet back at the restaurant at 3:30 and it was 3:25. We split up and canvassed the store. I finally found him checking out. We hurried toward the meeting point. It was now 3:30. When we passed the GAME store (like Walmart), he handed Samantha the bag of stuff he bought and said he would be right back, that he had to buy a bag to put all the stuff he bought in. The prices in Angola are very high, so he must have thought it worth it. He finally came out with a bright orange suitcase and put all his stuff in it.

We then took off for a fabric store that Sister Bybee wanted to visit. Sister Murdock only had directions from a woman at the area office. She did not have an address or name of the fabric store, but we took off anyway to try to find it. It was rush hour and bumper to bumper. We were downtown. Most of the time was waiting through stoplights that seemed to never end. An hour later, we had still not found it and so turned around and fought the traffic back to our hotel.
This photo shows the Mandela Bridge and the green sign on the building is for a garbage company 'Piki Tup." Quite a sense of humor.
It was a crazy day and a shame that we had to spend our last day here doing that, but Samantha and I had some interesting conversations. I asked her if she had Kombi taxis (van that holds 13 people and operates as a taxi) back in Zimbabwe. She said that they did, so I asked her if she rides in them. She said that she had rode in them, but has her own car now. She talked about how rude the two guys are who operate the taxi and get people to ride. She said that this one guy was so rude to her that she told him off and asked if he wanted to stop the taxi right now and take the argument outside (She was offering to fight the guy! Ha.). "What did he say?" I asked. She told me that he apologized and was nice to her the rest of the way. That was a pretty funny story. I wouldn't mess with her...Ha.

We finally arrived at the hotel and it was close to dinner time. We were on our own. Everyone went to their rooms. We were tired, so I turned on the TV for the first time to see what channels were available and miracle of miracles...there was a Diamondback game on! Of course it was two days old, but we thoroughly enjoyed watching it and they won, so great fun. We then went to the dining room and passed the Bybees going back to their room after eating. We were pretty much on our own for dinner, which was fine. I had a hard time finding something I wanted, so I mostly ate salad. Elder Kyle never has that problem, so he enjoyed it very much.

So, our training is over and I am feeling pretty good about knowing how to post a story on Mormon Newsroom and figuring out anything I don't know. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it's not so hard if you know your way around computers and are good at figuring things out. One thing that worries me is how long it takes to post a story. I really don't know how I can be in charge of all those newsrooms, editing and giving approval to take it live and do my own stories, plus all the traveling and financial stuff and Public Affairs stuff. When I get to Joburg I may never have time to blog again. I better enjoy the two months I have left here!

After breakfast (yummy omelette and fruit again) we went outside to wait for Abraham to pick us up and take us to the airport. The grounds are so pretty and this is the first time I was able to take some photos. After that, Abraham picked us up and it was pretty uneventful after that. It's fun to travel, but always nice to be "home" too. Next week we are going to Swaziland, so we'll try to relax a bit this week if we can. I'm not sure I know what that word means anymore...Ha.




This place is a big park-like setting in the middle of the city...amazing.

Thursday, September 12th 2nd day of Newsroom training

Today is the second day of training. We had another great breakfast at the hotel's buffet. I had a one-egg omelet that was awesome. Today we had Daryl added to our group. He is a very savvy young man that has only been married for ten months. He gets all dreamy eyed when talking about his wife. She is from Portugal where Daryl lived for a few years. He showed us a photo of her on his phone and when I said she was beautiful, he smiled and said, "I know." His wife is a kindergarten teacher. In Angola they speak Portuguese, so he was having a bit of trouble with English, but he could speak it okay. He just had an accent that was different enough to be hard to understand and our American accent was really hard for him to understand.

Today's training includes: copying stories from one website to another; adding pictures to topics and features; newsroom Facebook pages and working on the stories from yesterday to complete (with assistance, if necessary). Daryl from Angola could not get on with his password to the Angola newsroom, so he had to use Sister Murdock's computer and the Bybees, who still were not on used Elder Murdock's password. An email was sent to Salt Lake in hopes that by Friday all would be well. The time difference really makes it difficult to communicate with the office in Salt Lake.

I was pretty upset that my story had disappeared even though I saved it every few minutes while working on it. Sister Murdock could not explain it and my photos were still there, so I just had to cut and paste my story and edit it again.

Samantha showed up with her face still painted from the night before and her full African outfit. She looked Awesome. I was trying so hard not to covet her dark skin. She looks so young, no wrinkles and no freckles or other unidentified spots on her skin. I think she appreciated everyone telling her how great she looked.


We had pizza and salad for lunch. Then I started on my other article and got most of it done. They told us we could work on it again on Friday if we wanted to come in. We all opted to come in and work on our stories in the morning. I just hoped that my story would be there. It was pretty discouraging to have lost the other one and starting over. One thing I did discover is how long it takes to post an article. I am beginning to see why Sister Murdock did not have time to add new articles very often.

Elder Kyle was working on various projects with Elder Murdock while I was in the training. They talked about Elder Bednar's visit, our public affairs director in Swaziland and the dinner with the Council of Churches people, the Zimbabwe media event, the humanitarian connection, the idea of regional public affairs directors, 2014 public affairs goals, the couples conference in Kruger Park and the transition of the new couple coming to Durban, us going to Johannesburg and the couples' conference happening at the same time. A lot is going on and we will have to take over for the Murdocks when they leave. I am tired already.

That night we ate at the hotel again with the Bybees, Daryl and Samantha. The buffet changes from night to night, but I really was having a hard time finding any main dishes that I wanted, so I mostly had salad. They serve a lot of lamb here, which I have never liked. They had some seafood dishes the night before, but nothing I liked. The Olsens that we met in Bloemfontein are staying at the hotel and we ran into them at dinner. The Carlyles from Bloemfontein were there as well. Every time we went into the dining room we saw someone we knew. It must be a popular hotel for church members.

This photo shows Sean Donnelly and his wife Diane from our dinner at Moyos on Wednesday.



We spent some time after dinner taking photos of the hotel. It really is a beautiful place and one of the guys who works there told us it was built in 1895, way over a hundred years old. We decided to pretend like it was our house and I got Elder Kyle to pose for me while I took some photos of the place. It was kind of quiet, only a few people around so I took advantage of that and got Elder Kyle in some great poses. This room is a small room off of the great room. Doesn't Elder Kyle look right at home as he leans on the fireplace mantel?


There was a huge great room with lots of seating, another fireplace and a large grand piano. Elder Kyle was actually playing along with me on these poses. He did great, don't you think? You can almost imagine him being the Lord of the Manor...I love old hotels with all that character of bygone years. The wood was beautiful, the ceilings had interesting moldings and swirls. The chandeliers were amazing. Since we have been in Africa, we have stayed in the most beautiful places. We are so fortunate for this experience.

Wed, Sept 11th-1st day of newsroom training-dinner at Moyos

Today is our first day of newsroom training. After a really good breakfast buffet, we got picked up by Elder Murdock at 8:45 and transported to the office. Sister Murdock had everything set up, but when we tried to log on, she found the Bybees had not been set up properly by Salt Lake and because of the time difference there was nothing she could do about it, so she showed us on a screen some basics and then let the Bybees use her computer log in to go in and see how it works.



We started with an introduction to Mormon Newsroom, using 'Mormon' as a search word and how to write for a 'non member' audience. Then we learned how to add a new article and pictures to the Mormon Newsroom manager pages. We then had a break with some juice and muffins. When we returned we talked about how to manage topics, widgets and features. This all has to do with the items that appear along the top and sides of your recent articles. We then had lunch, an African finger food buffet. Sister Larsen decorated the table in African prints. She is very good at making a table look great. Her husband works in the area office and they have her doing miscellaneous things. They go home in a few weeks.

After lunch we worked on our individual country newsrooms and the stories that we brought with us from our areas. Sister Murdock told me that I was given access to all of the newsroom websites in Southeast Africa, because that will be my responsibility when I come to the area office to take her place the end of November. She would like me to edit and submit the articles now. Yikes! They have to go through 3-4 people for approval. I would be the first one in the line, I guess.

We finished a bit early, because we had appointments at the temple. Sean Donnelly and his wife, Diane, Elder and Sister Murdock, Elder and Sister Bybee, Samantha, another couple from the area office serving a six month mission and Elder Kyle and I were going. Everyone was excited, because it had been quite a while for many of us and we had heard good things about the session. We drove over, even though we could have walked, because we were going to dinner afterwards. The temple is very small and so cute. We really enjoyed seeing it and the sweet people who work there. It was a special experience.

After our session was done, we piled in the van (the extra couple in their car and Sean rode with his wife who met us there). No one knew exactly where the restaurant was so we kind of got lost but found it eventually. The place, Moyo's at Zoo Lake, is supposed to be authentic African food. By coincidence it also happens to be Samantha's last name. We teased her about holding out on us and not letting us know she owned a restaurant. She just rolled her eyes. Their motto is "Moyo is the realization of one man's passion for all things African, from art and design to music, cuisine and crafts."

The place was really fun and the ladies working there so cute. The menus were large hammered metal and very heavy. We were waited on by the cutest waitress, who had lots of personality and smiles. I had the best salad. Elder Kyle and Elder Bybee had Kudu steaks, but they were too rare and had to be cooked further. Once that happened they were pretty fine with it. I had a great salad with an African flair. Everyone liked their food and the ambiance.




A group of African women in authentic costumes came to our table and sang us an African song. It was really good. The waitresses also sang an African Happy Birthday song to the people at the next table.

Then a lady came along painting faces in a traditional African design. Sister Murdock, Samantha and another lady had theirs done. Samantha's looked the best, because of her dark skin.

I found out that she has been divorced for many years and has three grown or almost grown children. She and her parents have been members for many years. Her husband was not a member and she divorced him many years ago. She graduated from college and is a pretty sharp cookie.

Samantha Moyo

I asked her what she thought of Americans and was not fully prepared for the answer, though I can see her point. She asked me if I really wanted to know and then she said she thought they thought they knew everything. Apparently, she ran across some senior missionaries in Zimbabwe that acted like he was going to teach these black people a thing or two, as if they were ignorant. He even admitted that his parents were prejudiced and he had to try not to be. I was sorry that she had the impression and I think by the end of our training she liked me and at least knew that we are not like that...At least I hope so. We had a great time that night, but got back to the hotel late. Elder Murdock told Elder Kyle to make sure that Daryl from Angola got in and was checked into the hotel and that he knew about being picked up for training the next day at 8:45. Apparently, he could not get off work both training days. He is not one of our public affairs people, but volunteered to do the Mormon Newsroom for Angola when the other person said they didn't know if they could. He is very smart and well acquainted with computers. So, tomorrow is another day...good night.

Mon, Sept 9 - Tues, Sep 10- made dinner for FHE- airport to Johannesburg to pu people for training

Monday we went to the store for some last minute items for our Family Home Evening dinner that I was cooking for the couples and having at our flat. Previously, I discovered a pasta bolognese sauce that I didn't like much for pasta, but thought it would work great for Sloppy Joes with some hamburger added. It was really good on whole wheat buns, so that's what I fixed for dinner. I also fried up some chips and made hot sauce and guacamole. I made two huge salad and a crock pot full of pinto beans, plus a chocolate cherry cake for dessert. That took the rest of the day, because some cleaning and table preparation was required. Elder Kyle swept the floor, set up the tables and planned the lesson for the evening..

We had a good crowd, five couples and the Mission President and his wife. We had to borrow a couple of plates, but other wise handled the crowd with seating and utensils. We enjoyed everyone's company and the meal, then Elder Kyle gave a lesson.

The lesson was information and discussions about Muslims and the Indian Population here in Durban. We learned a lot about what they believe in and how they worship. Everyone seemed to have a story to tell about their own experiences in different areas. The main thing we discovered was that we are all children of God, that He loves us and wants us to love one another. We also learned that although we have different beliefs, we believe some of the same things. It is always good to respect and tolerate the differences.


When everyone started to leave I wrapped up the extra food that I could not freeze and sent it home with the Holts. Then I made sure that I had all the photos I needed for the articles I was going to write for the Newsroom put on my memory stick and then we finished up some last minute business before we left turning in for the night.

Tuesday we headed for the airport to Johannesburg. It was rather uneventful. When we arrived, Abraham was there to pick us up. He wasn't holding a sign with our name on it or anything. When we asked how he knew it was us, he said, "Your kidding right? Oh, two old people with missionary tags, maybe...ha. He apparently works full time for the church and one of his jobs is picking people up at the airport. We were really glad to hear that, because we have no desire to drive there ourselves and he is an expert. He also was picking up Samantha Moyo from Zimbabwe who would be involved with the Mormon Newsroom stories in Zimbabwe.

Sunnyside Park Hotel in Johannesburg

He took all of us to the Sunnyside Park Hotel, our home for a few days, and of course it is beautiful. It is near the area office/temple site and has a free buffet breakfast daily. Unfortunately, Samantha did not have a reservation, and we stayed to make sure she got one. Then we got to our room thinking we had the rest of the day to relax, but as soon as we did that the phone rang. It was Elder Murdock and he seemed surprised that Abraham dropped us off at the hotel. He wanted to come and get us to listen to a phone call from Salt Lake regarding the changes in the Mormon Newsroom. So, we left a few minutes later and went to the area office. The phone call was really not that helpful, since I had not been trained yet, but it was nice to see everyone.

We finally left there and went back to our hotel with the Murdocks to meet up with the couple from the Congo, the Bybees, and Samantha so all of us could have dinner together. They are a very nice couple with some interesting stories to tell about the Congo. It made their mission seem really hard. The mission is French speaking and both of them served missions in France. He has a masters degree in French and archaeology. He has been a librarian for the church for 25 years. She had cancer and decided not to do chemo or radiation. After reading up on alternative methods of treating cancer, they changed their diet to Vegan instead and she is doing real well. Her doctor is still not thrilled, but they are happy about it. I could not believe how many vegetables and fruit they ate. It was a good example of how we need to eat to keep our bodies healthy. They are adding some meat and dairy on this mission because when they went through their pre-mission physicals they found that they were both very low in Vitamin B12. Africa is a good place to do this, because they have never used the additives that the United States has used. No hormones and all their vegetables and fruit are organic.

That's all for today...more exciting news tomorrow!

Sunday, Sep 8th -attended Queensburg Ward to see why membership is down

This Sunday we went to Queensburg Ward. This is the ward that is in trouble, because of a lack of members. We attended once before and this time there is even less people in attendance that the previous time. When we were visiting with the Stake President last Sunday, we asked him if there was a particular ward he would like us to attend and he mentioned the struggles of this ward and how he assigned Brother and Sister Rieckhoff from the Pinetown ward to attend this ward and help them keep things going, so we got the impression this was where he would like us to attend. One of the women, Sister Creak, on our Hillcrest PA Council attends this ward with Brother Creak and they are very nice people. She is the primary president and he is in the bishopric. They are solid, humble people who are making a difference to those who do attend.

We sang my favorite songs in sacrament meeting, "I am a Child of God" and "I Stand All Amazed," so I knew this was going to be a good meeting! The first speaker, Brother Creak, said that the speaker could not be there today, so he found out an hour ago that he needed to fill in. He talked about when he attended Boy's Camp it rained most of the time and their vehicle got stuck in the mud. All the boys piled out of the vehicle and were told to push. It was hard and they almost stopped, but they had faith that if they tried hard enough, Heavenly Father would help them move it. Just when they thought they could push no more, it moved and was out of the muddy trap. He said it reminded him of the song, "Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel." The words, "The World Has Need of Willing Men." That is how it starts, with us being willing to do as he asks through the mouth of his prophet.

Even though you have fear that you can't do a good job or don't know enough to teach or do the job you've been called to do, put your faith in Him and He will help you. In Moses 6, Enos was called to preach the Gospel, but he was slow in speech and not at all the kind of person that he thought would be good at teaching others to repent. But, when Enos did what the Lord asked him to do, he had the Spirit in him and spoke eloquently through that Spirit. When we serve wherever the Lord wants us to serve, pray about our lesson and prepare as best we can, the Lord will guide us and put the words in our mouth that we learned through our preparation. Serve with all your have. A lot of prayer goes into who is called to a certain calling. This means that the Lord does the choosing.

One year, Brother Creak said he taught the Merrie Miss class in primary, where he was supposed to teach the girls to become young women. This really surprised me, because I have never heard of a man teaching that class. I taught it myself and I had to chuckle when he said that. He is this very large man who doesn't seem all that sure of himself and admitted that he used to be very afraid to get up and speak in church. This calling surprised him as well, but he was asked to do it and so he did. He had 16 girls in this class. He told us that if he could do that, which was the hardest calling he ever had, then members of the ward could accept and do their callings as well.

Brother Creak then reminded everyone that Elder Bednar is coming in October. He told us to prepare to have the Spirit when he comes. He suggested reading all we could about Elder Bednar to help us feel the Spirit of him and his calling as an Apostle. He said that recently they called someone to serve as Young Men's President that had only been in the Church 5 weeks. He knew the boys knew more than he did and was frightened, but he believed he was called of God and did his best to serve those boys and the Lord blessed him with the gift of the Spirit in his teaching and in his relationships with those boys.

The next speaker was a fairly new member as well. He quoted many scriptures without once reading his Bible. He said that on earth we are racing with God against Satan. In this race, everyone wants to be number one. When the race starts, we have to make sure we win. In this race, no one is expecting to be #2 or to come in last...We are all expecting to be #1. We live our life like we run this race, never giving up...continuing to strive to be #1 until we reach the finish line. Think of the long-suffering of Jesus. He died for everyone, so when they falter in the race, he can pick them up and nudge them forward again. If God said, you have to pay me back everything I gave you," what would you say? Jesus already paid back everyone's debt. We are only asked to pray to Him and to follow Him and His commandments. While you do this Jesus is beside you, your personal cheerleader jumping for joy while you do as is asked. In Matthew 9:21, a woman touches Jesus' garment and is healed. We need to have that kind of faith. We need to always stay close to Him.

If the missionaries want to come to your home, do not think of excuses why that is a bother and you cannot do it; You must be prepared as half of the ten virgins were prepared...prepared to say, "Yes." emember, the Devil used to be an angel of God. The devil knows your weaknesses and exploits them, but God will never let you down, because he loves you. Learn to sacrifice; learn to say 'Thank you" instead of "I can't do that!" Nephi 4:14 says that as much as they keep the commandments, they will prosper in the land. How can you win the race, if you are not running? Fight to beat the devil to the finish line by keeping the commandments until you come in number one.

Sunday School was taught by Brother Rieckhoff. He talked about how the prophet was killed and his foes thought that would be the end of the church, but they did not realize that Joseph was not at the head of the Church, but Jesus Christ is and because of that, the Church survived. Brigham Young was not a popular choice for some people. He wasn't even sure he could do it himself, but he was the one the Lord and Joseph Smith chose to be the Prophet. If the Church was not led by Jesus Christ, it would never have survived all the years of struggle to come. He then talked about how when Jesus knew he was going to die, he spent a lot of time making sure the Apostles knew what to do and had the authority to do it when he was gone. Joseph Smith did the same thing before he died. He spent several days giving his Apostles instructions, making sure they had their temple endowments and instructing them in what to do if something happened to him. They all had the authority and were capable to instantly take over. The question was, "Who?" There was a lot of arguing about who should be the  successor to Joseph Smith. It took about six months and when Brigham Young was chosen instead of their choice, many members fell away from the church; however, when Brigham Young accepted this calling and rose to speak to the congregation, those in attendance said that his voice sounded just like Joseph Smith and that if they closed their eyes, they actually thought it was him. This helped the testimony of all those who heard him speak, because they knew that was a sign that he was supposed to be the next prophet. Brigham Young prophecyed that those who did not follow the 12 apostles would not succeed. This prophecy came true for those who chose not to follow Brigham Young and the Apostles.

He then talked about the saints having to leave Navoo in the winter and pull these handcarts. He told of an experience his ward had trying to do a pioneer trek. They got handcarts made, clothing, food and all the things they could to make it seem like the real thing. The person who built the handcarts put the pieces that could easily be fit together at the spot where they would be leaving for their trek. Unfortunately, it rained that night and wood being prone to expand when wet made it difficult to get the wheels on the cards. Also since they were individually made, he marked with chalk which wheels went into which holes, but in the rain the chalk washed off...

He said they could not make it work without shaving off some of the wood and spending hours trying to fit on the wheels. Some they broke while trying, but eventually they had enough together to get them loaded. Since it had rained the night before, it was very difficult to pull the handcarts through the mud. He said his wife and he pushed until their legs buckled and muscles would not work any more. Plus he had to keep hitting the wheel with a hammer to get it straight so it would turn properly. Then it squeaked terribly. They didn't know what to do, so his wife suggested Vaseline. Of course, this meant taking all the wheels back off, which they finally did. He said the cart was really hard to push or pull. Finally the wheel started to rub against the wood cart and finally created enough friction to cause it to burn, so they stopped, took the wheels off again and cute plastic pieces from jugs to make washers that would keep it from burning. They soon also realized that they should have brought straps to hold the stuff in their carts, because when it tipped, the stuff fell out. They tried to makeshift ties to hold it in, but it was not packed tightly so everything kept moving around and eventually would spill out when you had to let the cart down to rest or change the wheels. When it came time to set up their tents they had a similar experience, where there were many items they needed that they did not have.

It made him think about the pioneers and the fact that they didn't know any more about traveling this way than he did. They all came from back east or England and most were not in shape for the arduous trip any more than he was. He said that on the mock pioneer trip when they got to rocky areas, they had to carry the cart across, because they weren't strong enough to push it over the rocks, Plus they did not have to deal with women who were having children along the way, lack of food, illness and cold weather.


He said they gained a real appreciation for the difficulties the pioneers had crossing the plains. It made them sure that they were not in good enough physical shape to do it. He then talked about being prepared for things like this to happen. We need to keep fit and healthy, because we never know what we will be asked to do. When the time comes, we want to be able to say to the Lord, "I'll go, send me," and then be prepared physically and spiritually to do it.