This post spans much of our mission so far. Sister Bobbi Swanepoel lives about 50K from Potchefstroom. Due to her health and lack of transportation she is not able to attend any meetings so once a month we travel up to Parys to visit with her and to bring her the sacrament. She is a lifetime member and was one of the 6 members present when the Soweto branch was formed soon after the revelation of the Priesthood. She is rich source of stores about the early days of the church there. For instance she was told by PH leaders that she could not visit in Soweto at night with a PH member as a companion. So she took her 12 year old deacon with her on all her visits.

Parys is a ranching and tourist town with the Vaal river running on the outskirts. The Vaal is one of the largest rivers in South Africa and is the largest tributary to the Orange river. We first saw it as we crossed over the highway bridge and both remarked how it was a real river. Sister Bobbi later pointed out that it was approaching winter and that it was actually quite low. In the Spring it often overflows it’s banks and floods parts of Parys.

Mary posed on a bridge over a small side stream of the river. Unfortunately the door on the other side it kept locked so we could not explore the island which is mainly a golf course.

This is a downstream shot and then an upstream shot from the bridge but neither can take in more that about 1/2 the width of the river at this point.

One of the wonderful experience of going to Parys is the kilometer after kilometer of cosmos that line the road. It stands about 4 feet high and reminded us of how much we enjoy cosmos when we are at home. It is mostly pink and white with only a few of the deep purple blooms we love so much. By the middle of April the cosmos has pretty much died out so we are glad elder Knowles took this picture when we went out in March.

It has been said that a new bishop/branch president will have a funeral and a wedding in the first few months of their call. Unfortunately it proved true as I had the sad experience of presiding over a funeral for the 38 year old son of a faithful couple in our branch. Samuel Tlotleng died of massive kidney failure just hours after visiting his father.

I presided, my counselor Bongani Buti conducted – he needed the experience, Mary played the keyboard and lots of members helped with the meal afterwards. Funerals are big and expensive in South Africa. The family and friends cook most of the morning in preparation of the 100-150 family and friends who will attend. However brother Tlotleng had funeral insurance for all of his family so the cost of the service, plot, and tombstone was taken care of.

One positive note was that another of the Tlotleng’s sons said that he liked what he saw about the church, the members and the service that he wants to know more.

 

When we went to the couple’s conference we had a full day off to do sightseeing. The Meldrums suggested that instead of doing the bus tour of Johannesburg that most couples chose, that we could go to the Monkey Sanctuary that was about 90 minutes away. The Taylors volunteered to drive and we made a day of it.

While seeing the monkeys was fun, the best part of the adventure was walking on a raised walkway though the forest with a stream running under us.

 

Some of the monkeys were not afraid of us and others got away as fast as they could. The picture on the right above is a mother with a little one on her back. Below one came up and seemed to be begging from sister Taylor. The monkey on the right below was about the ugliest one in the park that we saw – he really looks like he is mad at us for invading his space.

The guide told us that the monkeys eat at set times each day and then curl up in the trees and sleep. The one on the right above seems to be annoyed that he can not eat his lunch without someone taking a picture. The one on the right is sleeping off lunch.

Other than monkeys and birds the only animal we saw was a small red duiker – we had seen a number of them on our last mission but only got one picture so I was surprised to see this one in a monkey sanctuary!

As I mentioned the most striking part of the experience was the beauty of the landscape. Flowing water, rock paths, suspension bridge and a very long raised wood pathway through the trees.

Our faithful guide with Mary who brought out a bushbaby for us to see. Since bushbabies are nocturnal he had to wake this one up. The only other time we saw a bushbaby is when we went on a couples retreat to Tembe Elephant Park on our last mission to South Africa. Somewhere in this blog is some pictures of them in a tree at night – their eyes are huge!

After we were finished at the sanctuary the Taylors took us a craft market where there are hundreds of booths all will to sell the tourist something. They are very familiar with our badges so they call out Elder – Sister. We ended buying a nativity set made of banana leaves that is assembled in a beautifully decorated gourd, a red ball gourd with guinea fowl feathers painted on it and a beautiful table runner. As we were getting ready to leave a band set up and Mary and sister Taylor joined in the music making!

One of the great blessing we have had on this mission was the fact that elder and sister Knowles were serving here before we came. They are a great couple who served as branch president and relief society president. They had the daunting task of finding a new place for the branch to meet and then getting it in shape for meetings, storage and offices. I am sure the Lord knew that this was not something we would do very well so sent the Knowles here first.

They lived in Johannesburg to be near her ailing mother and so they drove about 4 hours each day to work in Potchefstroom and Ikageng. In working with them for about a month before they went home, it was easy to see how much they loved the members and how the members loved them. They are truly a hard act to follow but we will try our best.

The Knowles with elder Bird who served here as district leader. Then with Lolo who is the humble woman who runs an orphanage with 13 orphans. I will write more about this a little later.

One of the last activities the Knowles organized was a temple trip where 6 members received their endowments and a couple was sealed for time and all eternity. Before they left the branch planned a farewell party.  It was all done by the branch with almost no help from us.

At the party members of the branch expressed their thanks and gave them presents for them to remember the branch. You could tell the expressions of thanks came right from their heart. Just a couple of weeks before they were scheduled to be released sister Knowle’s mother passed away. It was a tender blessing for sister Knowles since her mother had been ill so long.

The first time we came to South Africa we arrived two days before a wonderful couples conference was held in Swaziland – which happened to be where we were to serve our first 2 1/2 months. So we got to meet and share experiences with all the couples in the mission. This time we had to wait a month before we attended one. As always it was a great experience as we got to know each of the couples and introduce ourselves to them.

The first day we all met near the mission office and spent the morning getting to know each other. There was a very informative presentation by President Mbletke of the mission presidency who talked about living under apartheid and how he came to join the church. Joining the church completely changed his life by opening up educational opportunities that he had not dreamed of. We were thrilled to hear his name announced as a new area 70 at conference. He will be a wonderful one.

Our good friend elder Taylor looked at the camera as I took a picture of setting up for the conference. Elder and Sister Davie serve in the Randburg

The Brummers serve in Mokopane and the Clowards serve as S&I missionaries.

 

E/S Harwood serve in Seshego as MLS missionaries.

After the morning meeting we all met at the temple for a session. The Johannesburg temple is a small one and there were enough of us that we not only filled the seats but they had to bring in chairs. It was very special to share this experience with all of our fellow senior couples.

After the meeting we all gathered at Mike’s Kitchen for a meal where the conversation was more important than the food – but the food was also very good. I got to eat Kingsklip for the first time in over 3 years!

 

I rather feel like Mormon when he writes some of his thoughts in the Book of Mormon. However some pictures are taking a long time to load so I thought I would write about getting a haircut in Potchefstroom.

One of the small malls we visit has a real barber shop and I decided that I really must get my hair cut before President Omer says something about my curls. So after washing my hair in the sink – one of our geysers (hot water heaters) is not working so there is no hot water in the bathrooms – I went there. I knew it was a holiday but I thought since many stores are open to cater to all the other people with days off that he might be also. Well I was wrong – almost. When I got there the shop was dark and i was about to walk away when a man asked me something in Afrikaans and then again when I answered in English. It turned out he was the barber and he was just heading home.

I told him I would come back tomorrow but he opened up his shop and gave me one of the best haircuts I have ever had. We had a good time talking about his life, his training and how he ended up being a barber. It took about 20 minutes and the cost was only 50 rand or about $5! I told him he had my business for the next 16 months.

Soon after we got to Potchefstroom we drove back to Joburg for Zone Conference. I took pictures of missionaries because that is 1/2 what the blog is about – letting the families back home see their missionaries. We learned in Fort Lauderdale that some missionaries do not attach many pictures to their letters. Unfortunately I do not know the elders and

Elder Mavulnda and his companion. Elders Jackson and Johnson…I think I asked elder Johnson where he was from at least three times but I can not remember where it was.

Elders Sibandze and Lyon. Elder Lyon managed to get in more pictures than anyone else. Elders Smith and O’Riordan – elder O’Riordan serves in the Soweto West Zone and we inspected his flat  just a few days ago.

Elder Stilgoe with elder Lyons. Elder Dummer taking pictures with Mary in background.

The Soweto West and I believe the Soweto East Zones with President and Sister Omer.

Between storms this is our view from our backyard. The Ikageng branch meets in a very nice public school in the township. Ikageng is a township of about 250,000 and it continues to grow. Some time before we arrived a group came in and did a lot of painting at the school. This includes some murals as well as painting doors, bathrooms and such. From what elder Knowles told us it really improved the looks. Before the Knowles found this school and arranged for a rental agreement the branch met in another school that was really terrible. So we really are thankful that they worked so hard to get a better place to meet.

Another one of the murals – they show lots of talent. This charming young lady is Booboo – other than the fact that she has a hard time sitting still in church she is a true joy to behold.

Sister Thulo is on the left and sister Williams is on the right. Our first Sunday at the branch I took some pictures of the members so I hopefully would remember some of their names. When they asked us to speak and bear our testimony I warned the branch that while Mary would soon know all of their names, it would take months for me to do that. I really was not kidding – for some reason putting name with faces anywhere has never been something I do well. That was very embarrassing when I was bishop and after 8 years I still struggled with someone’s name.

Sister Cindy Lekebe and brother Johannes…sister Lekebe is in the RS presidency and brother Johannes is the SS president. I think brother Johannes has a suit for each week of the year – I am not sure I have ever seen him in the same suit twice.

Brother Andres Louw is a fairly new convert and is a great addition to the branch. He saved us by being our audio/video specialist for the recent conference sessions we showed at the branch on Saturday and Sunday. The missionaries when who were serving in Potchefstroom when we got here were elder Bird and elder Rogers…elder Bird was the DL and was from Rexburg. When I mentioned we had served in the Fort Lauderdale mission he asked if we knew an elder Pearce. Of course we did and I could tell him we were at the airport when elder Pearce got home. Also that we had just seen him the Sunday before at our farewell! Small world. Elder Rogers is from Arizona and is going to freeze soon. Since this was taken elder Bird has made zone leader and elder Rogers now serves with elder Kelem from Kenya.

When we were in South Africa before we had monkeys, cows and lots of larger birds around our flats. here we have smaller birds and really small lizards. The lizard in the close up is one of those dots on the 16″ tiles. I think it has a hard time competing with the ants for food.

Banks here are really well protected. The entrance door is actually a glass enclosure where one person goes in, closes the outside door and then the inside door opens. I made the mistake of trying to join another patron in the enclosure – I was firmly told that was a no-no.

Before we left for the airport one of the last things we did was make our bed – a picture to remind us there is a home sweet home between missions. Our iPads were kept busy during our trip to Joburg.

At the mission office on the 28th sister Bishop – the mission secretary among other things – gave us an orientation about the mission. Elder Bishop is in charge of the cars and E/S Bishop handle all the mission apartments. After our orientation elder Bishop took me out for a test drive to see how I would do driving  on the left side of the road. Since I had done this for 18 months the last time we were in South Africa it did not take long to at least feel like I would not have too many ‘oops’ moments until I was comfortable driving here. Being in the office and seeing missionaries coming and going made us remember our Fort Lauderdale mission. Since Potchefstroom is about 90 minutes away and there is only a small district of 6 elders serving within 50K of us, we will not get to know the missionaries like we did on our last mission.

We drove on the N12 – a 2 to 4 lane highway where high speed cars and low speed trucks share the road. In the areas where there are not four lanes and it is not divided there are passing areas where the slow vehicles move over – hopefully – so others may pass. We are told that there are many deadly accidents there – also there are speed traps where you go over a hill and on one side it 120K per hour and 80K per hour on the other side.  But we made it without any problems and picked up our keys to our new home away from home.

We live in a very nice 3 bedroom, 2 bath townhouse that has a very large garage and is in a fully walled set of 12 homes. We are told that it is very safe here but even so every door and window has steel protection just in case. Our neighbors have beautiful plants by their entry way. All the floors are tile and the Bishops did a wonderful job furnishing it for us. Sister Bishop had asked what colors we liked and so we have wonderful grays, blues, purples and pinks through out the house. I will take some pictures of everything some day and post them here.

We have a nice patio and a cute backyard. The yard has not been taken care of for months so the grass was about 10-12 inches deep and everything else was overgrown. Soon after we arrived it started raining – not just raining but pouring. In fact 12 of the first 14 days were here it rained. According to all those we talked to this was highly unusual for this area. At the time I hoped this did not mean we brought the bad weather with us. Of course here it is just starting to be Autumn where at home it is just starting to be spring. It will be about 18 months between our springs but we are use to that!

One of the first things we did after unloading our bags was to go shopping. There is a very nice mall not 5 minutes away from our house and lots of grocery stores all over the place. The first night we were here was interesting because there was a loud noise that woke us up and then another loud crash that followed. It turned out to be two un-related events. We think the first was a neighbor’s cat that managed to climb in through one of the small ventilation windows that we left open. I tried to catch it but it managed to escape back through another window. The crash was the result of one of the glass light covers somehow working loose and crashing to the tile floor. It shattered in a million pieces and after 2 months I still find a small piece now and then. So that was our first day and part in the South Africa Johannesburg mission. We know this is where the Lord wants us to be for 18 months – now we just have to figure out what He wants us to do.