I took some great pictures over the weekend but unfortunately just after I downloaded and edited them on to my MacMini it crashed and I can not get into it. Hopefully I can take it in to the genius bar when I get home and they can get it going again…to add to the problem my back-up drive crashed a few weeks ago and I had not bought a new one…oh the joys of electronics. Now I am using my 9 year old HP with Windows….hopefully it will last for the rest of our mission.

15June15 -Kruger Trip – Mercure Hotel Sign

15June15 -Kruger Trip -Mercure Hotel

 

 

15June15 -Kruger Trip – The Swans

    

We woke to find unusual weather for Potchefstroom – the area was blanketed with fog. It was thick enough that we could not see the large church just a couple of hundred yards from our fence…the flag pole is about 50 yards away. It was like this all the way to Klerksdorp where we went to attend District Meeting with the elders. After the meeting we took them all to McDonalds for this transfer’s last lunch. Usually we do this after the last District Meeting of the transfer but since we will not be here next week we kept the tradition alive by going a week early. The elders did not seem to mind it at all.

When we first arrived at the Klerksdorp chapel we found Brother Brown who is in charge of physical facilities for the area, his father, and elder Wild digging holes to put in the new sign for the Church. President Robbins has been trying to get one for months so he will be happy to see that it was done.

Wow am I behind in adding text to the last few posts! But they say  that a picture is worth a 1000 words so hopefully you can enjoy the pictures and make up your own copy!  But I will try to catch up before Sunday for those who are interested!

 

  

It was very, very cold this morning – cold enough that there was frost on the lawns which is unusual here. While it is true the Spirit did keep us warm on inside, sweaters, hats and gloves helped keep us warm on the outside! Only elder Turauskis thought the weather was pleasant – he wore a short sleeve shirt, no sweater or coat, no gloves, and no hat.   

   

It was another beautiful late fall/early winter Sabbath day in Ikageng. The only problem was that the school for some reason did not have any power. But Mary had thought ahead and one of her students brought their keyboard that runs on rechargeable batteries. Before the meeting started those who were already in the chapel started singing hymns – they were led by 9 year old Lorato Kujane – the young lady with the keyboard. It was wonderful to stand out side and greet the members as the arrived while hearing the beautiful singing of favorite hymns. What a great way to start a day of worship. President Ncapayi arrived with sister Brummer and two of his children who posed when they saw the camera.

    

Sister Thulo always has a smile on her face. Sisters Ratema and Kujane enjoy the sun between meetings.

They then see the camera and hug while a group of young women share their week. Sister Gruber talks to elder Wild who is from Manchester England and just came into the area on Tuesday.

Elder Barton and a recent convert brother Gomolemo are discussing missionary work. Brother Matlhare with his namesake. If only I had little Kgomotso’s energy! But then a little later he was peacefully sleeping in sister Kwaikwai’s arm – I wish I had taken a picture of that.

The YSA sisters are in one circle and in the background and in the picture on the right the YW are meeting. I just notice how many black and white dresses and skirts the women of all ages are wearing – it must have just felt like a black and white day!

Friday we drove once more to Vereeniging – this time for Zone Development meeting. We made great time and got there really early. I saw a man working in the yard putting in a sprinkler system so I walked over and started talking to him. Joseph had been working for this company for four years. I shared a couple of our cookings with him and after the meeting I introduced him to the missionaries from Orange Farms where he lives. Hopefully the Lord prepared him to be be ready to hear the gospel and the brief meeting with us will change his and his family lives for Eternity. The Sharpeville chapel is a good functional meeting house – we wish we had one in Ikageng.

Still while waiting for the elders to arrive I got to meet Jeffery – it is nice that they had names that I could both pronounce and spell. Jeffery has worked for the security company for about 18 months and is responsible for four areas in Sharpeville. He says that alarms going off keeps him busy. Unfortunately I did not get his phone number or address but I did give him a passalong card. We will see what kind of ground the seed will fall on.

I took some photos before the meeting. Elder Rizk is with elder Rodgers who was transferred back into the Vaal Zone for the third time on his mission. He has served in Sharpeville and Ikageng but now he is serving in Ennerdale. The other companionship in the Orange Farm district is elders Nicotra and Yates – elder Yates in the district leader.

I caught elder Savage smiling as he played the piano before the meeting and also elder Tukia one of the zone leaders.

Elder Neuenschwander is in his last transfer and if you look carefully you can see Mary  in the chairs on the right side of the photo. Elder Tukia wrote a welcome message on the white board.  

The Ikageng district was the last to arrive about 10 minutes late. Elders Todd and Dye are the most noticeable in these photos. Elders Wild  and Turauskis are also visible but the bright light from the window kind of washed them out.

Elder Mdletshe’s new mission bag  – he served in our district some 7 months ago. Elder Neuenschwander gave his testimony as this is the last zone meeting he will attend on his mission. Earlier he told how he and one of his companions set goals to find and teach father led families – they set a goal of talking to 5 fathers each day. I asked him if it worked and he said it did.

Elder Dye also bore his final testimony to the zone. After the meeting everyone gathered around and made decisions on where to eat lunch together. We could not go with them because we need to hurry home so Mary could get ready for Seminary.  

I have waited until now to talk about my earlier experience of not listening to the spirit. I had gone out to get the car fueled, pick up some treats for ZDM and then went to the school to pick up a missionary application that I was going to give to the Klerksdorp elders to take to president Robbins. He will make some copies for his branch and for president Mogapi – they both have young men who want to go on missions. As I drove into the school parking lot I realized I did not have my keys with me. I had left them at home because I ignored an earlier prompting to find them and put them in my pocket as I would need them later. So two days in a row I was not sensitive to the spirit and in both cases I soon knew it.

However this time it just cost me an wasted trip to the school because after we got back from ZDM we got some lunch and went to school to eat it – this time I had my keys. I called the Klerksdorp elders, who were still in Vereeniging, and told them I needed to meet them as they drove past Ikageng to give them the applications. I kept in touch with them and when they stopped off at the Ikageng elder’s flat for a break – a game a chess and some reading – I went by and successfully gave them the application.

Since then I have been praying that I would be more sensitive to the spirit and its promptings. We will see in the future how it works.

While I was running around doing errands Mary was holding seminary. Only 4 students showed up but their spirit was strong. Our changing to Friday afternoon should make it more available to the youth but some of them seem to always have something going on. I am proud of those who do come and also who have done the work so they can get credit for their work. After the lesson they played a really long game of Go Fish – which everyone loves – where Shavonne Kruger was the clear winner and Papa Thulo pulled in last. But there was lots of laugher and smiles all around the table. Apples and cookies were the welcomed treats for the trip back to their homes.

On Wednesday May 27 we drove up to Parys to visit Louis – the first picture on the left below and sister Bobbi Swanepoel  – the one with Louis on her lap. We always have a nice visit with this amazing sister who has been in the Church for years and remembers everything. She is also very talented and she is making a baby quilt from the blocks in the photo. She also paints and writes poetry. We are just sorry that she does not live a closer to Potch so we and others could visit her more often.

Thursday was rather exciting for us. We got up rather early and caught a brilliant orange sunrise photo. We drove the Louw family to Vereeniging so the could catch a bus to Durban to attend a funeral. The bus station and the train station are the same. This old – and not very well kept up – steam engine was on display. Since brother Louw worked on the railroad he knew all about it.

Unfortunately we were standing around the back of the car talking and not paying attention. So a young man opened the driver side door, crept in and took our GPS and Mary’s purse which had her iPad, Camera and of course her wallet. I saw him just as he was about out again but he was too fast for me.

Later I told Mary I was prompted to lock the doors but since her door and the boot was open it would not work and I did not follow up on the promptings. She then told me that she felt she should shut her door and the boot but again she did not follow up because some of their luggage was still in the boot. So we have no one to blame but ourselves as the Lord tried to help us but we ignored him. A couple of days later I was listening to some conference talks and the speaker mentioned that when we were prompted we needed to act…

In the evening we drove over to Klerksdorp where the branch presidencies had a meeting with president Dunn. I did not get any pictures of the president but I did get one of elder Barton with president Kwaikwai. Elder Peterson with elder Wild. Elder Wild just came in to the area on Tuesday night on an emergency transfer. I then took a photo of elders Wild and Barton who will be serving together in the Ikageng area. Elder Wild is a real short timer and like elder Dye will probably die – that is be released – here.