Monthly Archives: March 2009

Monkey Business

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The one on the right has just grabbed the apple I left on the post. The middle one is the most I have seen on the fence since the first day when every post had one on it. The left may be a repeat. It is a picture of the alpha monkey watching me to make sure his family is safe.



Week in Pictures

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In Indonesia it was motorcycle loads. Here in Swazilands they do not have many motorcycles but the women carry a large assortment of loads on their heads. It is harder to get them because I tend to be past them before I can get my camera ready. I feel strange stopping and asking the women if I can take their picture but they do not seem to mind so maybe by the time we go home I will have a good collection.



Our Week in Swaziland

Well we got to spend another week in Heavenly Valley. The temperature continues to get cooler – which is wonderful – and the rains came down – which is OK too except they came right after I got the car washed on Friday and by Friday night it was covered in mud.

Monday we had a wonderful P-day. We got our time in at the internet café so we could read all the letters we got from family and friends and answer some of them. In the afternoon we went with elders Katende and Kona to the Mlilwane nature preserve that is only about 15 minutes from our boarding. Elder Kona really wanted to see it before he got transferred on Wednesday and we gave him a reason for going. We saw a hippo, a crocodile, many warthogs, a buffalo, zebras, and many different antelopes. For a preserve that sits in the midst of lots of homesteads it is pretty good but we look forward to seeing other preserves before our mission is up. President Mann encourages the couples to see the mission and enjoy the wonderful scenery and animals.

Tuesday the Wilsons headed for Durban for a mission presidency meeting so we were the only couple in Swaziland. Since it was the last full day in the area for elder Kona and our own elder Makono, we told the district that we would treat them to lunch at KFC. We had no trouble getting them to agree. In the evening we invited elders Eddy and Makono over for ice cream and introduced them to The Great Dalmuti. Elder Makono said goodbye for the last time – the only time we know we will see him is at the All Zone Conferences but we will always remember his smiling face.

Wednesday half the elders in the zone headed off to Durban for transfer day. We went out with elders Eddy and Katende to see if we could track down any of the Ezulwini ordinations that are missing. We got to travel the back roads and visit some of the homesteads we have been to before. We found out that most of the men had certificates and they would bring them on Sunday. We also found that president Shongwe kept good records so we are hoping that will help us clear up the rest.

During the day we bought a couple of new slashers – manual weed whips – and then went to Manzini to get a file so elder Eddy could sharpen them. I felt that we wasted a lot of energy trying to cut the tough grasses with dull slashers and was more than happy to pay the $4 US to find out if I was right.

In the evening we went to the Shongwe homestead where the elders taught a Preach My Gospel lesson to about 10 young people. It was wonderful to sit there and see all these young men and women gather together to talk about a gospel subject. Most of them had a PMG and it was obvious that they have been reading in them.

As we left Elder Eddy told us that when they started these lessons a few weeks ago, it was more of a social gathering and they had a hard time getting the youth to stop talking to each other long enough to teach them anything. But now they are quiet, pay attention and most of them join in the discussion. It is something that would be good to have in every branch and ward in the church.

Thusday was an interesting day because we got to go do some slashing at our newest Ezulwini convert’s homestead. As I have mentioned before Nathi is one of the most spiritual men that I have met and is very serious about learning what he needs to do to keep the commandments. The sharpened slashers were a great success. We were able to clear in about 30 minutes an area that would have taken a couple of hours with the normal slashers.

After we finished slashing Nathi got the makings of a fire and then picked some fresh corn – this is not the kind of corn we are use to at home – so we could have cooked corn for lunch. The way they cook it would not pass health standards in the US but it works and our first fully Swaziland meal turned out pretty good.  

After lunch Nathi wanted to discuss fasting and fast offerings. He had read the pamphlet on tithing and fast offerings and wanted to make sure he understood what he needed to pay. He directed most of his questions to me and I was happy to answer them. As we talked about offerings and tithing, he committed himself to paying both because they were commandments.

He also wanted to discuss making a business plan so he could get a loan – he needs to borrow about $70 US – to expand his small business. I told him I would get a couple of books and then we could have a good discussion and I would help him with his plan.

In the evening we got to meet the new missionaries who will be serving in Ezulwini and Nhlangano. I should mention that Nhlangano is pronounced kind of like it was spelled Shlangano with the Sh sound made by sticking your tongue against the top of your mouth and blowing air out both sides of your tongue.

Elder Murch, who will be serving with elder Eddy here in Ezulwini was trained by our own elder Katende. He is from Issaquah, Washington and has been out about four months. He seems well trained and willing to work.

On Friday Portia – a young women who is trying to get enough money to pay for her boarding at school –  came over and cleaned the house. While she was doing that I took the car up to get it cleaned. While I was waiting the 90 minutes it takes to get a car cleaned here, I struck up a conversation with another customer. He turned out to be a major in the army, is married and has five children – four sons and a daughter. We had a good talk about military life, the guarding of bridges, and other things. As we were talking I realized I did not have a single piece of literature to give him. So as soon as my car was finished I rushed back to the boarding, got a pamphlet about the plan of salvation and took it back to him. I really must remember to be better prepared for the times the Lord puts good contacts in my path.

We were supposed to go out and visit with the elders but once again their bakkie broke down and since the Wilsons were busy with piano lessons way down in Nhlangano we got to help the elders get it to Manzini to try and get it fixed for the third time. I think that bakkie could guide itself to the garage. When we got back to Ezulwini we volunteered our car to the elders so they could get some work done. We did not want elder Murch’s first full day in Swaziland to be a complete bust.

Most of Saturday was spent in Mbabane helping elder and sister Uffens put on a training program about family health, HIV/AIDS and unwed mothers for the district RS leaders. The sisters had a light lunch – it also allowed those who had a long ways to come to make it here so the actual training could start on time. I set up the electronics, Mary played the piano, and we both handed out the pamphlets as they were needed. The best guess is that 4 out of 10 people in Swaziland are HIV positive. Elder Uffens said that due to the AIDS the population in Swaziland has fallen from 1.2 million to under 900,000 in the last decade. Hopefully our youth will learn to be chaste and thereby avoid this terrible disease.

On Sunday we attended the Mbabane branch meetings. The PEC meeting was very good as they talked about people more than programs. It was missionary Sunday and I got to speak in sacrament. I had an outline of some scriptures I wanted to talk about but I also put my trust in the Lord’s promise to provide the words that I needed to speak. As I spoke I felt the spirit helping me fill in the ideas I had outlined. One part of my talk I had not even thought of was testifying about the need to read the Book of Mormon as a family each day. I guess that some of the members needed to hear this today. The Lord does watch over his missionaries.

Mary taught the literacy course in Sunday School (three students this week) and I worked on trying to get some more information about ordinations. I just hope that we can get this cleaned up by the time we have to leave. I had a chance to talk to the Elders quorum president, Brother Sampson, about home teaching. In PEC I could tell he was pretty discouraged about it and so I gave him some counsel about how he might approach it. I told him not to be discouraged but to make sure that he and his counselors and the other leaders did theirs so they could lead instead of push the rest of the brethren. He thanked me and said that he really needed to hear what I had to say.

After the meetings there was a baptism of a young man. President Mtshalintshali was worried because he had deadlocks and did not want to cut them off. I said as far as I knew this does not disqualify him from being baptized. I then told them the story of Fritz Schmutz and how he went from looking like a hippie when he was baptized to being one of the most spiritual men I have ever known. Now I hope this young man will prove me correct.

So we had a wonderful week of serving in Swaziland. Some days are more spiritual than others but each day the Lord seems to provide us with some experience that makes us know we are where we should be and doing what we should be doing. We would not mind staying in Swaziland for our whole mission but I am pretty sure that we will be re-assigned about the middle of April. We will of course go where the president wants us to go and know that we will have opportunities to change lives – including our own – and receive many blessings.

How wonderful it is to be called to serve here in the South Africa Durban mission. It is an experience too few members get or take the opportunity to do. I just wish we had started serving missions sooner so we could have experienced more countries, met more great people, and received more blessings.

 

 

 



Ezulwini-Mababane Soccer Mathces

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The famous Ezulwini – Mababane soccer matches that are held whenever they feel like it. This is the Ezulwini field much more beautiful than the Mbabane. In the middle picture the young man on the right is elder Katende jumping for joy. This is before the match but he scored 2 goals and Mbabane won 4-2. The last picture is elder Nare. Not only is he a great defensive player but he also has a beautiful voice. He is hoping to get into BYU Provo and as soon as we get some books from the US we are going to help him prepare for the TOEFL test. I should mention that they play when the temperature is in the high 80’s.



More Children

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Taken at the Ezulwini Market – note how African women carry their children with their legs spread on each side of their back.



Landscapes –

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Just a little of the unbelieveable scenes we see each day. From L-R – Small homestead on the border between Swaziland and SA. A field of sunflowers on the way to Johannesburg. The main river in Ezulwini valley as it crosses under the Tea Road. A double rainbow on the way to Manzini.



Swazi Stop Signs

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There are herds of free-ranging cattle everywhere – including on the highways where cars can be going 80 – 100 mph. You have to always be on the watch for them because they tend to wander on to the road whenever they feel like it.



Week in Pictures – Continued

Since I am never sure that they are going to post, I decided to break the week up into a number of segments.

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These are rather self evident – they are pictures of our boarding. Kitchen, living room, dining area and rest of the living room. It is very comfortable and we found out on Saturday that it has under floor heating if it gets really cold in the winter. I can not imagine the need for it but it is nice to know it is there.



A Week in Pictures – Joburg Temple

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These are from the Johannesburg temple. The left one is of a ha-di-da – a noisy, but beautiful bird found thoughout South Africa. Here it is perched on a bench in the courtyard of the temple. Next is a picture of the Moroni Spire taken from the back wall of the temple grounds. There is no way to take a good picture of the front of the temple because of trees and a very busy roadway. But I think this picture gives a good idea of the beauty of this all brick temple. The last picture is Mary in the courtyard with the front door in the background.



A busy week – most of the time

I forgot to mention that on Sunday March 1, we had a general authority at the Mbabane chapel for sacrament meeting. Elder Watson of the First Quorum of the 70 was here with his wife and Elder and Sister Headlee. As far as anyone could remember it was the first visit by a general authority to Swaziland. The visitors shared their testimony in sacrament meeting.

Also on Sunday the 1st we held our first Literacy class with one student. We are hoping to teach teachers so when we leave or if we leave they can teach the class. The sister we had is quite fluent in reading and writing English so it will take us a couple of weeks before we might get into any material that will help her.

On Monday Elder Eddy came over and asked if we knew a Steve Ashton. We said they used to be our neighbors. It turns out they are now neighbors of Elder Eddy’s family and somehow they found out that we were in the same area and said to say hi. It has stopped being surprising to us to find people we know or who know people we know wherever we are in the world.

Tuesday we had an adventure. We were going out with the elders and on the way to the first appointment  their bakkie broke down. It just stopped and then a cloud of white smoke came from under the hood. Where we broke down was right under a bridge and in Swaziland that is not  good thing. It seems that they station soldiers at most major bridges to guard them from terrorists blowing them up. If you stop under a bridge the soldiers are likely to come over and question you at the end of an automatic rifle. So we pushed the truck down the hill to get it out from under the bridge and out of the traffic lanes.

Elder Wilson came and rescued me and Mary while the elders waited for the tow truck to come. It turned out to be a burned out starter. The good news was that the dealer was able to fix it in just one day. Since the elders needed a vehicle to do their missionary work, we loaned them ours so at least they could drive near to their appointments and then walk where the car should not go.

In the evening we went with the Wilsons up to  Mbabane for their Couples Night class. Where there were 5 couples last week there were 9 this week so the word must have gotten out that it is a good class to attend. I was impressed by all the comments and participation. The couples who were there last week came prepared to share their thoughts about the reading they had been given as homework. The Wilsons hope that this class will lead into a temple preparation class so more couples will get ready to go to the temple to be sealed.

Wednesday is District Development Meeting so we took the Ezulwini elders up to Mbabane to the meeting. The most amazing thing happened – the Mbabane elders were only 5 minutes late. I am afraid the elders have learned to run on local time which is Mormon time plus 15 mintues – or more. But the meetings are always spiritual and it is good to sit and hear how the district is doing.

We later in the day took the elders down to Manzini to pick up there car. In the evening Mary made macaroni and cheese from scratch and we ended up sharing it with the Wilsons – who had been so busy that they did not have a chance to eat – and Elder’s Eddy and Makono dropped by at just the right time to clean up any left overs and have some ice cream. I think the elders could live on ice cream.

Thursday was a very exciting day. We drove with the Wilsons to Johannesburg to go to the temple with a group from the Manzini branch. The GPS took us on some strange route that was about an hour longer than we expected but we did get to see some amazing landscape. I will show some of the pictures we took along the way and outside the temple.

Since the area offices are in the same compound, we were invited by Elder Watson to come in and visit with him and sister Watson. We got to spend 20 minutes with them in their home and to meet the Area President Elder Parmley. The amount of paper work these brothers must deal with was evident from the amount that covered their desks. Between traveling over most of Africa and dealing with all the decisions that they must make it is gracious of them to take the time to see us.

The branch was supposed to get there by 2:00 pm but by 3:00 they were still not there so Mary and I went to the 3:30 session so we could meet with Howard and Janet Barnes who are serving as PEF missionaries in Johannesburg. The session was very small by Provo standards but the feeling was the same. How wonderful it is to be able to go to any temple and feel so much at home. The kindness of the staff who are serving there was as always full of charity. There is a spirit in the temple that is just not available anywhere else.

After the session we took some pictures and as we were walking back to our apartment to wait for the Barnes they drove up behind us. What a joy it was to see our friends and neighbors who we have not seen in over 2 years. They left on their mission about 10 months after we did and will be going home in April. We went to dinner with them and spent the time catching up with what was going in our lives, talking about our mission experiences, and what had happened in the ward since the Barnes had left. It was sad to have to say goodbye to them but we will see them in about 16 months.

We got back to the temple in time to go to the sealings of the Manzini couples. It turned out not only were they late, but they also had a major problem with recommends. But Elder Wilson, the temple staff, and a call to President Mann got most things straightened out so they all could go through for their endowments and then be sealed and have their children sealed to them.

What a special time it is to sit in a sealing room and look into the lovely faces of the brides and see their smiles as they are sealed to their husbands for time and all eternity and then to witness the sealing of the children – one couple had a boy and the other had 7 children. Once again the temple staff was so gracious in how they dealt with the children. The sisters who care for the children were able to witness the sealings and you could see how much they loved to see this by the glow on their faces. What a wonderful spirit there was in that room. This is what the gospel does and why we need to share it with everyone around us. We can not be selfish and keep the blessings of the gospel and the sealing ordinances of the temple to ourselves.

Friday morning we were up early and drove home to Swaziland. By the time we got home we were very tired and we were happy to have a rather quiet afternoon.

On Sunday I had an experience that reminded me that it is the Lord’s church. In the morning I was doing my scripture study when once again 1 Nephi 3:7 came to my mind. I have been thinking about Nephi’s choice of the word “prepare” in that scripture. I have been thinking about why he did not say that the Lord would ‘provide’ a way. It seems to me – and maybe it is just me – that by using prepare it leaves it to us to find the way the Lord has prepared and not wait around for the Lord to drop the answer or way into our laps. I think of Nehpi and his brothers’ struggle to get the plates, the way he had to figure out how to overcome the loss of their bows, and of course the building of the ship. In every case the Lord prepared a way but he did not provide the plates, the bow or the ship. Nephi had to do his part and in some cases struggle to do as the Lord commanded.

We have the assignment of clearing up some of the ordination records that have never been recorded in Johannesburg from the branches in Swaziland. I must say that I have been somewhat discouraged by our progress. We have mainly been working with the Mbabane branch but Sunday morning I felt that after the Mbabane branch that we shoud go down to Manzini. We knew that there would be a baptism so the branch president and clerk should be there.

However after the Mbabane meeting I seemed to be developing a slight headache and thought we might not go down. Instead we would go home so I could get something to eat and that would take care of my headache. We could go to Manzini next week. But when Mary came out of Relief Society she asked if we were going to Manzini and I said yes.

We got there in time to watch the baptism and after that we were able to meet with the branch president. I told him about what we were there to do and he called his clerk in and asked for the yellow copies of the Aaronic Priesthood ordinations. They had amost all that we need to clear up their records. The Lord had prepared a way and I almost did not do my part. I forgot to trust the Lord and work hard. I had forgotten the mission motto: Faith + Obedience with exactness + Hard Work = Miracles.

I forgot to mention that Mary taught our second literacy class and we got one new student. Hopefully next week we will get the other 2 who have been asked to take the class.

And that ended another wonderful week in Swaziland. What great blessing we are receiving as we serve. I know that the Lord is watching over our children and grandchildren while we are serving here. We cherish their letters – even the short ones – but we are where we should be and doing what we should be doing. The gospel is true!

The Mickelson’s our PEF couple were here on Friday and Saturday to meet with some local students. We spent most of Friday afternoon visiting with them and then went out to dinner with the Mickelsons and the Wilsons. The restaurant we went to Saturday night is on the grounds of a botanical garden. It is a beautiful place. We ate outside in a pavilion surrounded by a lagoon. That is where the picture of the hippos was taken.