We went to Klerksdorp for district meeting and as usual enjoyed the time with the elders. They are doing really well on learning how to lead music, a talent they can use throughout their mission and their life. Even though the zone leaders, elder Reese and elder Togiatomai were with us, for some reason I did not take a single picture. Which is a shame since this particular group of elders will not be together again before some are transferred.

After the district meeting we went to the Louws for a traditional South African braai or BBQ as we would know it in the US. There was piles of food, good fellowship, and nice weather. as we were able to spend a couple of hours with this fine family.

 Since elder Togiatomai was on splits with elders Taylor and Liera he was able to join us for the braai. Also their nephew Gerhard was visiting from Pretoria. We had met him before when we went to the funeral for sister Louw’s father.

While we were eating and talking I noticed a yellow weaver busy with either entering a nest hanging in a nearby tree. I did not realize that the entrance of the nest was on the bottom. This got me to wondering why the eggs or young birds would not fall out. But obviously mother nature has worked this out or there would not be as many weavers around as there are.

As you can see from the smiles on the faces above, one of the most look forward to experiences on Christmas is the opportunity to call home and talk to family. Now most missionaries use either Skype or FaceTime to make their calls so their family – mainly their mothers – can see and talk to them. In many areas of the mission members invite the elders to use their computers to make these calls. We invited the Potchefstroom elders over so they could use ours and have some privacy.

Elder Taylor was able to use multiple windows on Skype to talk to his family in different locations. Elder Liera mainly spent his time talking to his mom and dad. The hour passed quickly and with great reluctance they said goodbye and closed down the link.