Sunday, April 20th - visiting orphanage with ryan and liz passing out darin bracelets

Sunday was all planned out for when Ryan and Liz and family came, because Liz said she would like to visit an orphanage. She also had gathered some white shirts to bring with her and we had some more of Darin's CTR bracelets to give away, so  I asked our good friend Dominic for some good ideas for church and orphanage. He told us about a branch about 30 minutes from Joburg and said there was an orphanage just around the block from the church that needed help.

Everyone was interested in going, so we found the chapel in the GPS and made arrangements to meet Dominic and his family at the church (not the building they attend, but he was going to take us to the orphanage after church to introduce us). We picked up the gang at the Jacaranda House, where they were staying, bright and early (7:15 AM). They looked amazingly refreshed considering 22 hours on airplanes.


We found our way there pretty easily and got to see a little of Johannesburg on the way. We went to sacrament meeting, which was nice and then I took the bracelets and went into primary to see if I could give some to the children. Once again, we had more older primary kids than young ones, but everyone wanted a bracelet, so it was fun handing them out.







Liz disappeared into the nursery and we finally made our way there to find her with a child on her lap obviously enjoying being right where she was. We could not get Liz to budge. She stayed there the rest of church.










These cute little guys wanted their picture taken after we gave them the bracelets. Isn't it wonderful how these great Africa people dress up for church?
They all do it, no matter which church they attend or how little money they have.







This is the nursery leader. She looked about 15, but was probably a lot older than that. I'm sure she was glad to have Liz help in the nursery. We gave her a bracelet too!
Liz's mom and sister-in-law joined me in Relief Society. Liz stayed in the nursery (How she found the nursery in a strange building was mind-boggling-kind of like a sixth sense). We were taught a lesson regarding the history of the early saints and the teacher did a good job. As a matter of fact, this branch was running really well. I was impressed with their membership and participation. I am hoping the small branch we attend in Secunda will someday be as great as this one.




After class, we caught up with Dominic and his family and were given instructions on the orphanage location.  As we walked to the car we kept getting stopped by the youth asking us for a bracelet. I explained that they may be a might small as they were made for smaller children, it didn't seem to deter them at all. We would hand some out and then get stopped again all the way out to the parking lot. It seems they were especially popular with the older kids.


Finally we got out to the car thinking we had finally made it, when a young man appeared and asked for a bracelet. We gave him his bracelet and he let us take his photo (but wouldn't smile). Then Liz and her mom pulled out the shirts they brought and we found the branch president and asked him if any of the young men could use a shirt. He said, "They sure could." and he took the shirts off our hands. I could tell that he was happy to have the shirts, especially for young men joining the church that are too poor to buy a white shirt and for their missionaries going out in the field. Yea Liz! Great idea.




We could have walked to the orphanage, but
Dominic instructed us to drive (I think he was worried about our safety), so we drove over and parked. Children were already appearing at the fence, excited that we had come to see them.







I armed Liz and Ryan with CTR bracelets to give out to the children and they were mobbed when we went inside. It was obvious that these children do not get gifts very often.

They were very excited by their bracelets. I was worried in the beginning that the children would knock them over. They were all craving the attention. Liz and Ryan handled it very well...her being sweet and Ryan trying to restore a little discipline. Cute.


There were not as many children as usual, because they were without electricity for about a week and it was a bit cold at night. The woman who runs the orphanage called on some favors from the community to help by letting some of the children stay with them, but there were still quite a few there. It didn't take long for Ryan and Liz to find some admirers. This little guy in the blue shirt was not too sure about riding on Ryan's shoulders at first, but later did not want Ryan out of his sight. The problem was he kept trying to hold on to Ryan by covering his eyes. Ryan is keeping the boys hands down in this photo.

Liz was so sweet and compassionate that she would have held all of them if she could, but this guy seemed a bit big for a wee lass to handle. She is stronger than she looks! All the children just wanted to be held, to feel special and to receive some attention. They were all relatively clean and well taken care of by the ladies at the orphanage and it seemed most had a pretty horrific story regarding their lack of parents.






Some other senior missionaries showed up with lunch for the children. They brought hot dogs and cheetos. We brought apples and juice, so they had quite a feast. They said a prayer in unison before their meal and they were all very polite.









They sat at little plastic tables and ate their lunch. They kept showing me their bracelets. Elder Kyle and Bethany helped pass out juice. The children seemed fairly polite and especially liked the cheetos, but they were not like the Cheetos in the US...yuk!... but the kids seemed to like them.









Liz continued to pick up admirers and seemed to love every minute of these children climbing all over her. Her mom was talking to children too and picking up her fair share of admirers as well. Bethany and Walt (in background) are talking to one of Dominic's six children who seemed to feel very comfortable there. What a sweet thing to teach your children...caring for others.

The Tshabalala family are wonderful. It was obvious that they have been there often to help out the orphanage, plus Dominic can speak their native language, which helps when you want to tell them something. Most of the children cannot speak English, so Dominic explained to all the children that the CTR letters on the bracelet means "Choose the Right" and explained the importance of choosing the right. This is Dominic with his youngest child. Dominic is the Manager of the Church Employment Center at the Area Office. We miss him in public affairs.

Everyone is happily eating lunch, but not much on manners...lots of open mouths when chewing. Ha. Dominic's children sat right down with them and had lunch too.

Taking photos of the children is fun, because they love to see their picture afterwards. I got a lot of finger prints on my camera by them trying to get a look at their photo. Most of them have never seen a photo of themselves before.



This little boy was just too cute to omit from this blog. He was very young, but seemed pretty smart and not the least bit worried about us grown-ups. He just kept eating EVERYTHING! Ha.










One little girl would not eat, so Liz picked her up and talked to her and hugged her. It took quite a while for the little girl to respond, but eventually, she got the child to eat everything. Amazing. She has a knack with children...hmmm. What a cutie!

This little girl had a sad story and as with all the children maybe some problems with trust. Some children are left due to unwed mothers, some due to their parents dying of aids and some because their parents had addictions that got them in trouble. All of the stories are sad and the children are the ones who suffer, but this day we were able to help in some small way bring some fun  and food into their lives. It was great to see other senior missionaries also helping the orphanage, some for over a year. Sister Dabell said that she let her hair grow longer because the children love to run their hands through it. How sweet.

This little boy was facinated with Doug's (Liz's dad) boots. He pulled up Doug's pant leg and then picked up his foot and banged his hand on the side of the boot. He just kept doing this...no one knew why, but it was pretty funny, even to Doug. This went on for quite a while and Doug was very patient with the boy. He didn't say anything, just let the boy keep banging on his boot.






Liz's mom, Adri, was interacting with the children quite a bit and when the older kids started playing instruments and dancing, she really got into it. Dominic's oldest daughter was teaching them how to play the drums and sing a song. One little boy did not need any help. He was quite good, but everyone tryed to bang the drum.







This little boy kept wanting Ryan's glasses and eventually put on my glasses too. When we left, he wanted me to give him my glasses. When I told him I could not see without them, he didn't care. I think he just wanted me to give him something. The glasses were all I had, but alas, I could not give him my glasses or I would not be able to see and we did give him a CTR bracelet as you can see in the photo.






Liz hit it off with the lady who runs the orphanage. She told us that she has been doing this for 25 years. She expressed a desire to go on vacation, but says she doesn't have anyone who can take over for her. If we didn't live 9000 miles away, there is so much we could do to help her. It makes us want to look for these kind of situations at home. I'm sure there are many ways we could help those in need right in our own towns.




She gave us a tour of the place and explained how all of the children climb into bed with her to try and keep warm at night while the electricity is off. Not too long ago the roof leaked and they moved the bed in the only place it did not leak and they all slept on that bed. Someone donated the labor to fix the roof. Someone else finished off the ceiling on the inside and put in cabinets. Another time the kitchen was remodeled and slowly it began to look like a school.




We went into the classrooms and they had fun stuff on the walls and were obviously trying to teach the children all the right things.It is pretty amazing all she has accomplished and the generosity of mostly church members has made a real difference to her and the children. Even with all they have been given there are still challenges. Her electricity keeps getting shut off, because she can't pay the bill. Food is always in short supply. Every-day living expenses are difficult to meet, so they must depend upon donations. There is never enough, but she smiles and doesn't complain...

The hard part was leaving. The boy clinging to Ryan and the girl crying when Liz put her down were hard to take.Liz was unable to keep from crying herself, but when it was suggested that she give the little girl to one of the other volunteers she did so and the girl seemed to accept that. All they want is some attention... someone to care. Bethany was also getting her share of admirers. As we pulled away, there were children at the fence who did not want us to go. The boy who wanted my glasses was still asking for them. At least for one day, we helped put a smile on their faces and there were other's to take over in helping.

We were silent in the car for a while and then reflected on our day. We all agreed it was wonderful to contribute and we wish we could do more. It felt good. We felt good. Life is good...
We are in Africa and that has made all the difference!

April 19th - The wedding Gang Arrives!

We got back from Durban and then did all the last minute stuff to get ready for the Woottons and Ryan's visit. We signed out the Church van so we could transport everyone. We brought it home Friday to be ready to head for the airport Saturday morning to pick up the travelers. I made sure the flowers, cake and food would be ready in time for the wedding.

The excitement was great as we drove to the airport that morning. When we arrived, it showed that the plane was actually a bit early, so we were ready and waiting to take photos when we first saw them, but customs took longer than we thought. I counted 10 groups of airline pilots and flight attendants, but still no Ryan. We sat down awhile and then stood up awhile and finally, Elder Kyle spotted Ryan.







They were finally here! Ryan and his dad shared a moment as we saw Ryan for the first time in over a year.







Then Liz's family arrived and Liz shared a moment with her Mom as well. There were plenty of hugs all around and so great to finally have them all here. Liz has a great family. How fun to expand our family so quickly!





We were worried that everyone would be so tired, but they were surprisingly awake and ready to go. Liz was very sweet and her brother and sister-in-law were a riot. Mom and dad Wootton were surprisingly alert and very nice. I was probably more tired than anyone, because I had trouble sleeping with all there was to do and all the excitement of the wedding.



We loaded up the luggage and drove the gang over to the house Ryan had rented (upstairs at least). Everyone got settled while Elder Kyle and I went out on the back patio to enjoy the lovely day. Doug actually fell asleep and got a power nap. The ladies took showers and felt so much better. After everyone was clean and feeling perky again, we loaded back up and took everyone to lunch. We went to Moyos, which is an authentic African place with African music, food and gift shops...very cool place.


Adri got her face painted by one of the native ladies. This face painting is traditional for certain African tribes and we've actually seen ladies in Durban with this style of paint on their faces. Of course Adri looked beautiful with her face paint and wondered if it would last until the next day. "Only if you don't wash your face," I said, in hopes that she wouldn't, but the next day the paint was gone...sigh.

We all chose the buffet and it was pretty good, but even though Ryan piled his plate pretty high, he didn't like much of it...no surprise there, but at least he tried several different things. After lunch, we checked out the gift shop and then walked around Moyos to take in the African architecture. Moyos was interesting enough to warrant some photos.

Doug and Walt were digging this native lady~!








Ryan liked the rock rope decor on the outside too.













We then strolled through the park, where it seemed everyone was enjoying the beautiful sunny day. The area is called Zoo Lake, because there is a lake there and maybe even a zoo as well, though we've never been there. Who would go to a zoo when you have game in the wild?

People had fired up their Braais (BBQs), had coolers of drinks and were even dancing and singing some African songs. There was a fountain in the lake and ducks and geese walking around looking for people to feed them. It was quite pretty.

All of a sudden the group came upon this darling little girl sitting all by herself on a large park bench.












I asked her to smile while I took her photo and she finally did. Very cute little girl, but no worries, her family was close by. For whatever reason she just wanted to sit on the park bench by herself.



This pretty much ended our Saturday. We went back to the house and dropped everyone off so they could get a good night's sleep and be ready to go to Church bright and early the next day (they all groaned when we told them they had to be ready to be picked up by 7:15AM. What a great day we had...first day in Africa for six people. We were like proud parents...with Africa as our child.

April 10-April 17th taking shupes to beach giving out bracelets

After our trip to Namibia, we attended church at Secunda on Sunday. The primary children were given rubber-band CTR bracelets created by our son-in-law, Darin. He sent 100 of them to give to the children of Africa. Here are two very happy customers in primary.









Even the young women wanted to get into the act, so here are three of them proudly displaying their bracelets!

We decided we needed to make a trip to Durban to pick up a wedding present for our son and his soon to be wife. We saw something there that we thought would be perfect, but we didn't get it while we were there and didn't find anything else we thought would be as perfect, so we needed to go back to Durban and get it.





Sister Shupe, who works with us in the Public Affairs office and her husband who is a lawyer down the hall are from California and Elder Shupe is a surfer, so the idea of the beach really appealed to them. We decided we could squeeze in the trip from Thursday the 10th to the Sunday the 13th, so I got online looking for a hotel on the beach 'deal'. After much searching on the internet, I found a hotel called 'Belaire Suites' that said they were on the beach with views and they were very reasonable. I booked two rooms and hoped for the best.


It is about a seven-hour drive with stops, but the Shupes are very entertaining, so time passed quickly. Elder Kyle drove, since we have been back and forth many times. This was our first trip that did not totally involve Church work, so we all felt a little relieved to get some time off. The Shupes were worried about what kind of hotel I picked, especially when I told them how reasonable it was. They were giving me a hard time, until we walked into the lobby and found the hotel was wonderful! The low price was just a bonus.

Both our rooms had an ocean view. The rooms were large and nicely appointed and breakfast was free and consisted of a full breakfast bar of hot and cold choices. The lobby was modern and the people were friendly. The restaurant hooked to the hotel had delicious food and we walked just a few steps and we were on the boardwalk on the ocean...not bad Sister Kyle.








The Shupes were thrilled with the choice and the fact that the 'boardwalk' was right outside the front of the hotel. Elder Shupe was a bit disappointed that there weren't much waves and the Bishop that knows the best surfing spot was out of town that weekend, so he had to content himself to walking on the beach, but it was still great and the weather was BEAUTIFUL!







The cool thing about the boardwalk is the many restaurants and places to rent bicycles, skateboards, surfboards and many other fun things. We saw runners in a race, kids and adults on bikes (some tandem) or skateboards. Everyone seemed to be out enjoying the beautiful weather. We enjoyed it as well and stopped at the ice cream shop that Sister Shupe had been salivating for since we got there.





On Friday, we went to Victoria's Market to get the sculpture. We were amazed that it was still there. We shopped some with the Shupes but they were not serious shoppers, so we just picked up a couple of things and then drove around the area to give the Shupes a feel for Durban.


We also checked out the stadium where the World Cup Soccer was played. It is pretty impressive and even had bungee jumping from the roof of the stadium for those adventurous (And I might add crazy) souls.




Saturday evening we went to the Cinquinis' flat (our old flat) for dinner on the rooftop of the garage (Why didn't we ever think of that?). Other than risking our lives climbing up on the roof with food and plates, it was lots of fun and the weather was beautiful. The mischievous monkeys were nowhere in sight and the food was delicious. The Cinquinis really know how to put on a party! They also invited the mission office couples and it was fun to catch up on all the Durban activity. What great couples we serve with here in Africa. We love them all!

4Reasons Group

After dinner we went to Berea Chapel to catch a concert by a singing group from Mauritius, one of which is LDS (a wonderfully talented soprano). Actually all of them were amazing. They sang very uplifting songs and all had operatic quality voices, but sang inspirational songs we all recognized.  Their sponsor stood up and told us that he saw them perform at a church event and decided they were good enough to actually make money doing this, so he has helped promote them and brought them to South Africa to test their performance with paid tickets.


 It was well worth the small sum to hear them perform. I am sure they will do really well in the future. Their group name is 4Reasons. Watch for them...It will not be a surprise if they eventually make it big! The tenor (with ponytail) is most amazing. He received standing ovations, but all were GREAT! What a fun evening.


Sunday we attended Berea Ward and saw a lot of familiar faces.We felt right at home there and enjoyed all of the talks. We introduced the Shupes to some people and they enjoyed seeing a good representation of a mixed race ward.

All in all, we had a great trip and got back with no problems. Everyone was relaxed and happy and we were especially pleased that we got the gift we went there for. Excitement was in the air...only a week before everyone arrives for the wedding.